Elena's school Talent Show

Elena is such a sweet pretty little girl. She has practiced so very hard at piano this year and her talent has really sparkled and paid off. SO if it seems like I'm bragging a little, I definetly am, this girl is AMAZING!!





This is the video I filmed from her school talent show, you might have to turn the volume up to max because the desired sound in a room full of 300 kids seems to backfire just a little with the purpose of filming a really great piece of music. "Malaguena"

Year End Orchestra Recital

We had our year end orchestra recital the other night. You will see my dark hair in the back row most of the time because it was hard for Dan to film me from the places he could stand. We have worked sooooo hard for these songs. The second score called "Hoedown" was written for us by a 90 year old viola player in our orchestra. It is brilliant, we love playing it. I have had such a wonderful experience playing with the community orchestra this year. It is a huge part of my life.

Old but new boat

We were so excited this past weekend to try out our latest toy. Dan purchased a beautiful old bayliner boat from a friend for a real steal. He spent hours and hours with the help of a good friend fixing it up and getting it lake ready. I was quite nervous when we dropped it in for the first time because I thought we might re-enact the titanic- but lo the heavenly day- it floats! It didn't blow up and it didn't sink and it went fast and slow when you wanted it too. This was the first time I've ever driven a boat so Dan was making me do all sorts of things out of my comfort zone, like going in reverse and steering through narrow passages. One time I was driving kind of slow, we were cruising along and Dan suddenly decides to plummet head first in to the deep blue. He said he wanted to test if I could quickly turn around and come back for the brilliant overboarder in time before another boat comes along and squashes, Maysa had to raise the flag for that one. Probably theres laws against a 3 yr old raising the flag... hmmm, I made him drive after that, I mean after my mini heart attack. We found out the steering is out of whack and it needed more coolant and something fixed on the impeller but everything else is working fine. Hopefully it will continue to purr as we are excited for many more outings to the lake. We took it as for as you can go on either ends of the lake, we also toured it through the "Little Venice" homes no wake zone so we got a grandiose view of all the rich pro baseballers homes. We love the Parker strip on emerald cove, I know I talk it up too much. But what can I say, my kids like it better than disneyland! Our good friends from Vegas were there with us and we all had so much fun, they have a boat too so we did alot of tubing, skiing and swimming, sand castles and of course hottub and karaoke at the poolside bar. So I've got a load of pictures to dump, but won't post too too many. Just almost too many :)

We are quite proud of all the work we've done, lots of buffing and cleaning too, it was a mess when we first bought it.



Here's Dan with that satisfied grin he's been storing 10 years. What is it with men and their toys...


This was so cute, on our 10 mile journey to the dam Maysa just tuckered out from all the rocking and swaying so she lied down in the front of the boat and was out like a light.




I don't know whats better than cruising on a boat looking at all the fun lakeshore sites that cars don't get to..


The kids liked the tube but the water is still a tad chilly this time of the year. ELena got up on skis and stayed on but didn't get a picture.
Work hard, play hard, thats us, ce la vie.

The Grrrrrrand Resort!

Dan works for a really great company. Every year Frito lay hosts a big party for the drivers at the Arizona Grand Resort. We get to stay overnight with the whole family and enjoy a fancy banquet at the Rustlers Roost. They hand out the yearly awards and safety bonuses as well. Dan was in the top 4 for unloading the most cases. Most people don't know how physical Dan's job is. Picture those really long semi trucks. He might unload 3 or 4 of those in one day! So far he has booked 85,000 miles with Frito Lay in Arizona, they didn't count his hours in Canada! The resort has a big waterpark complete with waterslides and tube rides down the lazy river. The weather was A plus as usual. This is our second year coming here. Here are some pictures.




This amazing water structure was just huge, the picture does no justice.



This isn't as fun as it looks ...... really.............. :) Palm trees, 85 degrees, tubing down a nice peaceful river...


We know, we know we are geeks beyond measure. Every time we go on vacation we break out the all the hawaiian gear. I don't know why we do that, we love holidays and wearing hula shirts just makes us feel fantastic. The great thing is Phoenix is similar to Hawaii in some ways and thats why we love it!! You can laugh, we won't care!



Dan's birthday was also last weekend. He wanted me to make grasshopper pie and enchiladas just like his mom makes. So I did. Lucky guy I spent the entire day cooking! He is worth it, Dan is a extraordinary husband and father, he is constantly making sacrifices for us and we are so grateful to him. The grasshopper pie was so good we decided to make 2 more!