Hunter Hayes Concert

Last week, I went with a few of my friends to a Hunter Hayes concert at UVU.  Hunter Hayes is a country singer and he has some great songs.  When I made plans to go with my friends, Mom and McKay realized they couldn't miss out on the fun so they got tickets too.

Don't I have the cutest friends?

And here's Mom and McKay!  I think they had more fun than anyone else there.  McKay is such a party animal and music is his favorite thing, so take him to a concert and he is in his element.

It was a really good concert!  Hunter Hayes was incredibly talented and a really great performer.  He played a lot of songs from his new album that is going to be released soon, and they were great.  Concerts are so fun.

Spring Break!

A few weeks ago was our spring break.  Todd had to teach, so we stuck around here.  We went to a super fun concert at BYU -- Synthesis, the jazz band.  They are terrific.  Then we went up to Salt Lake for a few nights.  We spent time at the Salt Lake Temple, Todd and Abby went to a Blazers v. Jazz game (Blazers won, yea!) and we  had fun at the zoo,  The Cheesecake Factory,  the City Creek Center Mall and and the Gateway Mall fountain.  It was so nice to get away!

McKay has so much fun at the fountains!  He loves to get wet!

Zuri the baby elephant is almost 4 years old!

Springtime on Temple Square

Every year around Easter time, our family goes to Temple Square to enjoy the beautiful flowers and take pictures.  I have a fun history of pictures from nearly every year.  It's special to us because Todd and I were married in the Salt Lake Temple, and we lived a few blocks from there the first few years we were married.  We have loved visiting this beautiful and sacred spot for many years and have many happy memories of life near there.  

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints temples are  sacred to us because we believe that they are God's houses here on earth, and it is there that we make sacred, personal, promises to God.  We believe that because of the sacrifice of the Savior and his resurrection that we will be able to live together forever, and it is in the temple that we are sealed into family units.  Our family is so grateful for this knowledge and for this wonderful time of year that we can reflect upon our Savior.   

Abby takes pictures from unique perspectives.  I love her photos!

Just our little family hanging out on Temple Square.

My parents were with us this year.  Don't they look great?

Another Abby  shot of the temple.

Abby

Todd and his boys.

The doctrine of our faith teaches us that through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, when Alex and McKay are resurrected their bodies will be whole and without blemish.  We adore them just the way they are, but we all look forward to the next life when they will be able to walk and talk with us.  

All That Jazz! (Todd and Chris)

This has been a wonderful week!  We started out with Todd's birthday on Monday... I love to celebrate Todd because he is so awesome!

This is last year because I didn't take any pictures this year.  But he looks pretty much the same.
Once you're grey, well, you're grey.

McKay, Todd and Alex in Seaside, Oregon

Todd's mom and dad came from Oregon to help us celebrate.

Todd's mom and dad -- aren't they cute?  And they are so nice!

We went to the Brick Oven  for dinner and then had cake and ice cream and presents.  It was fun.  Happy Birthday Todd!!

Then on Wednesday, Todd and I and his mom and dad had a real treat... we went to see Chris Botti in concert at Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake.

Chris Botti

He was wonderful!!  We all had a blast!!!  He played a lot of jazz that night as well as several other genres.    The fun thing about his music is that he collaborates with lots of other artists... sometimes they accompany him, and sometimes it seems that he accompanies them.  There's a lot of variety and it's exciting.

For this concert he brought a pianist, violinist, a guitar player, a bass player, a drummer, a keyboard player, and two vocalists.  They were all amazing. They played for two hours with no intermission and it was a joy!  

We all were blown away by what a great entertainer he was.  Besides being one of the best trumpet players on the planet, he was warm and funny and seemed to spend most of the night drawing our attention to the talents of the artists in his band.  He was very humble and really enjoyed just hanging out on stage even when someone else was in the spotlight.  

Our whole family loves to listen to his CDs.  They are easy to love and have a great variety of musical styes.   Our favorites are: 

Impressions

Italia

               

and

Chris Botti in Boston

The special guests on these albums include -- Andrea Bocelli, Sting, Vince Gill, Josh Groban, etc., etc.  I listen to Impressions nearly every day.

Whenever I attend a concert like this, I'm humbled when I consider how many hours of practice it takes before the artists are ready to share their talents with me. I am so grateful.

 Live music gives me so much joy!  It was  fun to share the evening with Todd and his mom and dad!   

Let's Go to the Movies

Hi everyone (everyone as in the maybe two people that read this blog), Abby here.

One thing that our family loves to do together is go to movies.  It's a fun option for us because it is a totally normal thing that we can all do.  Then again, even going to movies turns out to be not very normal for us, since we can only sit in certain seats, and it's hard to keep 3D glasses from falling off of Alex and McKay's heads, and we have to make sure there's no ice in McKay's drink, and it takes like half an hour to get Alex's coat off.

All of this is a bit challenging, but the biggest challenge is finding movies that are appropriate for us all to see together.  However, lately there have been a lot of good movies coming out that we've all enjoyed.  Here are a few that we've seen lately and that we recommended.

Saving Mr. Banks

 This movie was gorgeous.  The story was incredible, the acting was incredible, and the cinematography was incredible.  Also, Ruth Wilson was in it, who plays the main role in the Masterpiece Theater version of Jane Eyre that Mom and I love so much.

The Book Thief

If you haven't read this book or watched the movie, stop everything you are doing and make that your highest priority.  Mom and I saw it back in November and then we had to run out and buy the book.  Both the book and the movie are absolutely stunning on all levels.  Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the book:

“People observe the colors of a day only at its beginnings and ends, but to me it's quite clear that a day merges through a multitude of shades and intonations with each passing moment. A single hour can consist of thousands of different colors. Waxy yellows, cloud-spot blues. Murky darkness. In my line of work, I make it a point to notice them.” 


“I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race-that rarely do I ever simply estimate it. I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant.” 

“Somewhere, far down, there was an itch in his heart, but he made it a point not to scratch it. He was afraid of what might come leaking out.” 

It is just so full of brilliance and amazing writing that I don't know what to do with myself.  The movie almost made me cry and I never cry.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Not everyone that I've talked to has loved this movie as much as we did.  But oh man, it is now one of our favorite movies ever.  The cinematography was gorgeous (cinematography is a big deal to me if you haven't figured that out yet), and Ben Stiller was hilarious.  I've been listening to the soundtrack on repeat for the past like two weeks.  Mom keeps saying that if you laughed a lot during this movie, you have a similar sense of humor to us.  And the storyline was pretty profound.  Hollywood needs to make more movies like this one.

The Lego Movie

"Everything is awesome!  Everything is cool when you're part of a team!"  This movie was actually really cute and funny, and a lot better than I thought it would be.  We all liked it a lot.  We generally don't like kid movies that aren't made by Disney, so this was a fun surprise.


So, in this world full of R-rated, stupid, inappropriate movies, it is nice to know that there are still some great options out there for our family to enjoy together.

***You may have noticed that Frozen was not included in this list.  We all really liked Frozen, but we're not really understanding why everyone is obsessed with it.  So if anybody has a solid explanation for me of why Frozen is the only movie I've heard people talking about since Thanksgiving, I'd love to hear it.

Skiing Season!

Yesterday our ski season started! We will ski every week this month.

McKay with his fun and talented instructor, Anna.

When the triplets were four, I saw poster advertising snow skiing for disabled kids, so I signed the boys up!  They skied at Sundance and Snowbird six to eight times a year, and their kind instructors would give Abby a lesson each time, as well.  Todd and I started feeling left out, so we learned how to do it, too.  

Abby and Todd waiting for the lift.

Now our whole family skies together four or five times a year at Park City with the National Ability Center program.  We love skiing and we love doing it together!

People always ask me how it works for the boys to ski.  They sit in a chair with skis on the bottom and the instructors push them or hold onto ropes attached to the back of the ski to steer them.

  

The ski, with padding added.

Alex

McKay

 Our family has come to look upon this time together with tremendous joy, and we are grateful for the kind people who make it happen.  Todd and Abby and I have really improved in out skiing skills over the years, but we still aren't as fast as Alex and McKay!  We usually can ski all over the mountain, but we are most comfortable on green runs and a few blues.  Park City is a great place for us because there are so many green runs.  

The weather was beautiful yesterday and we had a great time! I love this family of mine!!!!

Temple Trip

Yesterday our family decided to go to the temple.  In our faith we go to the temple to perform ordinances such as baptism for those who died without the opportunity to receive the ordinances.  We have the good fortune of having 6 (soon to be 8) temples within an hour of our home.  We decided to go to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple in South Jordan, because it is the only one of the 6 that has a changing room for people with disabilities.  When we got there, however, we saw that the temple was closed for cleaning.  Well, only one city in the world has two temples, and that is South Jordan, Utah.  So it was only a short drive for us to go to the Jordan River Temple instead.  This was our first time to go to the Jordan River Temple as a family.

The temple is such a peaceful place, and it is especially nice to go there as a whole family.  Invariably, people thank us for bringing Alex and McKay to the temple.  Sometimes people don't realize that Alex and McKay can do temple ordinances, but this is one thing that they can do perfectly well.  All they have to do is take the place of a deceased person, and their bodies are perfectly able to do that.  And it always makes Alex and McKay (and the rest of us) happy to be there.

Artist Abby

This is Allison reporting this week.  I was fortunate to grow up with a real live artist for a father.  Our home was filled with beautiful artwork!  Sadly, the artist gene skipped me totally. Sweet 16-year old Abby, however, got plenty of talent from my dad.  She has taken art classes for years and comes home with beautiful drawings and paintings, like this pen sketch of the Taj Mahal in India.

And this is a cool pencil drawing copy of a sketch my dad 

did of a church in Normandy, France.  

 She recently began a pottery class and has been throwing bowls for me to eat my cereal out of every morning. And she's made little pots for decorations and condiments.  It's really hard to throw pots... (my dad says he can't do it!) and I am so proud of her accomplishments!

One of our favorites:  a pastel of the Godiva Cheesecake 

from The Cheesecake Factory. 

(The actual cheesecake is delicious as well as being pretty!)

I am so proud of my Abby and all she has accomplished.  It's a bit of heaven for me to have her stuff hanging on our walls and decorating my house.

Sacred Gifts

I'll just go ahead and post today as if it hadn't been over six months since our last post. . .

Saturday our family went to the BYU Museum of Art to see a special exhibition entitled Sacred Gifts.  It features paintings of Christ of three renowned European artists: Carl Bloch, Heinrich Hofmann, and Frans Schwartz.  It took 12 years for the museum to arrange to have all of these paintings brought in from various locations to be shown all at the same time.  The show includes many beautiful paintings, but two impressed me the most.  The first is Christ and the Rich Young Ruler by Heinrich Hofmann.  It's a popular painting that you have probably seen before, but seeing the actual painting up close made me appreciate it much more.

The second is Agony in the Garden by Frans Schwartz.  I don't think this painting is as well known, but it is beautiful, and I stood and looked at it for a long time.  The picture below does not do it justice.

Anyway, our whole family loved the exhibition.  I recommend that anyone near Provo get out to see it before it closes in May.

Sixteen!

I guess it takes a big event to remind me to post on our blog, but we had a big event last week, so here I am.  Alex, McKay, and Abby turned 16 on Friday.  First things first, Abby went to get her driver's license.  I'd do the old "Stay off the roads!" joke, but she's actually doing a great job, so I think you're all okay.

In the afternoon on their birthday we went up to the Gateway and McKay got soaked in the fountain

and we went to Bruges Waffles.  Mmmmm waffles.  We also saw an Imax movie about monarch butterflies.  It was fascinating, but there were no employees available to answer all of our butterfly questions.  We tried to time things properly to get home about 7pm, because we had a surprise party planned.  But by the time we got there, we had had so many goofs that Abby, McKay, and Alex weren't surprised at all.  But it was a great party anyway!  Our wonderful neighbor Kitty made them each a cake.

And we had a Kettle Chip tasting contest.  We had a bag of every available flavor of Kettle Chips, 20 in all.  (Okay we were missing Unsalted, but that doesn't really count.)

The contest winner?  Jalapeno Jack.  It's a limited edition this year for their 30th anniversary, so if you see it, be sure to pick up a bag.  Anyway, it was fun to share the birthday with some of our best friends and to celebrate Abby, McKay, and Alex.  Happy Birthday!

Disneyland!

So about a month ago, we visited the happiest place on earth and had a fabulous time!
(And I'm bad at blogging so this is late!)

We were a little worried because McKay wouldn't be able to ride all his favorite rides---Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain Railroad---since he just had his surgery.  But Thunder Mountain was closed anyway, and he had tons of fun on the other rides.

We had three-day park hoppers and stayed at the Grand California hotel.  Staying at that hotel is definitely the way to go even though it's pretty expensive.  There's an entrance right out of the hotel into California Adventure, and an entrance straight into Downtown Disney which leads into Disneyland.  The whole not having to ride shuttles or rent a car or anything makes it a lot easier on our family.  Not to mention they have three different pools and it's a gorgeous hotel and they give you little chocolates at night.  :)  Oh and they show old Mickey Mouse cartoons in the lobby which is so fun.

Anyway.  We spent a lot more time in California Adventure than we have in the past.  Number one reason?  Cars Land.  Oh, it is the cutest thing ever.  It's like you've walked straight into Radiator Springs--it's laid out exactly as you see it in the movie.

Mater, Lightning McQueen or the fire truck who's name I don't know 

just might come cruising down the street and say hi.

And you can go to the Cozy Cone and get snacks.  All the snacks come in cones.  

I had yummy churro bites from there while we watched the Pixar Parade one night.  :)

The main ride in Cars Land was the Radiator Springs Racers.  This was a good one because it was really cute at the beginning, seeming like your average Disney ride where you go through and all the characters talk, and then you enter the "race" and it picks up speed a bit and becomes a little more roller-coaster ish.  We went on this one a lot because it was one that we could all ride and we all really liked it.

There was also a new Little Mermaid ride in California Adventure which was adorable.  We all agreed that California Adventure has definitely stepped it up a notch.  Cars Land was exactly what it needed to draw more people and have more of the Disney feel.  Dad and I also rode Tower of Terror a few times, and California Screamin'.  Oh and Mom was brave and rode those ones with me too!  Way to go Mom!

So California Adventure was definitely good, but we can't leave out Disneyland.  

On the last night we rode all our classic favorites--Casey Jr. Train, Mr Toad's Wild Ride, Peter Pan.  We did the Tiki Room of course (Alex's favorite), and Pirates of the Caribbean, and all that great stuff.  And of course we got corndogs and beignets and Dole Whips.

Oh and I went to Captain EO all by myself.  Nobody else would go with me.  Captain EO was this weird little Michael Jackson movie in Tomorrow Land, and it was basically the best 20 minutes ever.  Ok not really, but it was good.  Just imagine Michael Jackson in a Star Trek-type setting singing and dancing in 3D.  And the seats would bounce along with the beat, which was kind of weird and wonderful at the same time.  It's worth going to if you've already done everything you wanted to do in the park. 

Here's Mom and McKay being very excited for the parade.

And here's me with a chipmunk (Chip or Dale? Pretty sure it's Chip but I always mix them up) 

at the restaurant at our hotel.  No matter how old I get, this still make me smile.

So it was a good Disneyland trip.  One of the best.  

In other news...

-Spring Break is next week and The Band Perry's new CD comes out that same week.  

-Dad's birthday is on Sunday!  So is Easter!  WHOO!

-I joined the golf team at school and I've never played golf before...heh.

-Thinking about the Downton Abbey season finale still stresses me out and it was like a month ago.

-This month has been missionary month...all the youth in our ward do missionary-type activities and this week is the last activity where we go to someone's house in the ward and have dinner and give a lesson.  All month we've been encouraged to get up by 6:30, listen to church music, stuff like that.  And we're even separated into companionships and stuff.  It's pretty fun.

-Mom has challenged herself to go off desserts for a little while!  She's doing a great job!

So I guess that's it for today.  Peace out.  

Heart Attack

Because McKay is still recovering, we haven't had any big adventures this past week, but we did have fun last Monday night when our cute friends came and Heart Attack-ed McKay's bedroom door.

These sweet kids are the children of our Heather, who started working for us when we first moved to Utah and our kids were 3.  She is wonderful and took such good care of us!  Then she got married and we adore her husband and her kids and love to see them whenever we can.  We are grateful for these friends!

The kids brought McKay a Milky Way, some rootbeer, a couple of cool Lego guys, and lots of hearts -- notice that there are several blue ones, as little Ella found out that blue is McKay's favorite color.

We can't believe how fast all these kids (ours and their's) are growing.

We have long recognized that because of McKay and Alex's disablities, we meet the most wonderful people in the world!  Thanks to everyone who takes care of us  -- body and soul!

Night Skiing

McKay is healing, but has had more pain the last few days.  I think he's having muscle spasms.  He is mighty brave, but he will be glad when he gets feeling better and can go out of the house more.  He is really stuck here!

On Friday nights our friends Meridith and Scott come to watch Alex and McKay so that Todd and I can get out on a date.  We are so grateful for them -- Meridith is a nurse, so even when the boys are sick or recovering from a surgery, we can usually still go.  (They're probably better off with her than us!)  Meridith and Scott bring their 2-year old with them, and we adore him and are so thankful for the wonderful way they all take care of our boys.  (Sorry Scott -- the only picture you that I could find was from our New Year's Party last year... hence, the crown.)

On Friday I had been feeling kind of cooped-up and stressed out, so I didn't know what I wanted to do on my date with Todd.  He came up with a wonderful plan.  We went night skiing at Sundance and then had dinner up there at our favorite restaurant.  We had so much fun!  The weather was perfect, it wasn't crowded, there was a full moon, and neither of us fell.  It was wonderful to just relax and have fun!



Last night, Abby and I went to the BYU production of Phantom of the Opera.  It was terrific!  I could hardly believe how beautiful the talent, costumes and set were.  We had a great time.  What a blessing it is to have BYU nearby and to be able to have such amazing entertainment.  That is really quite a show!

And finally, Abby and I have been busy decorating.  I thought of this cool way to hang up Abby's artwork -- I love it and we can interchange it when we want.  I put two strings up in my craft room, a small one in the boys' room, and one in the hall.  It is so cheerful!

And Abby created a wonderful photo wall above her bed.  She is so creative!  I love her cheery yellow walls with the turquoise accents!

And finally, I couldn't resist a picture of my sweet Abby knitting!  I taught her a few years ago but she didn't do much, but this Christmas she started a new project... and I am working on socks!  It's very fun.