Veterans Day Concert

Last night the Golden Corridor orchestra that I play 2nd violin for, held a concert to honor the Veterans. Last year's concert was about 4 times bigger, probably because we were in a much bigger hall. This year was small but still very fun. We played 7 different songs and Dan was so sweet to stand and video all of them for me. Including 4 songs from the youth orchestra. I am going to post my 2 favorite numbers from last night. Take a minute to watch, you won't regret it!





O, America you’re calling,
I can hear you calling me:
You are calling me to be true to thee,
True to thee… I will be.

O, America no weeping,
Let me heal your wounded heart:
I will keep you in my keeping,
Till there be… a new start.

And I will answer you, and I will take your hand,
And lead you… to the sun:
And I will stand by you…do all that I can do,
And we will be… as one.

O, America I hear you,
From your prairies to the sea,
From your mountains grand, and all through this land,
You are beautiful to me.

And… O, America you’re calling,
I can hear you calling me:
You are calling me to be true to thee,
True to thee… I will be.

And I will answer you, and I will take your hand,
And lead you… to the sun:
And I will stand by you… do all that I can do,
And we will be…as one.

O, America you’re calling…
I will ever answer thee.
The fact that William Joseph wrote the music does not suprise me. This is one of the most American heartfelt lyrics I've ever heard. They are truly touching. Brad Kepler the soloist often sings for us, we are lucky to have him.




We played this tribute for the armed forces veterans. Airforce, marine, coastguard, army and navy.

Cindy's Wedding

Cindy is Dan's youngest sibling. She had the faiytale wedding she always dreamed of, and now they are off in Paris, France enjoying Disneyland and the Eiffel tower. They are such a cute couple.


Can you believe that I only snapped one picture of the bride and groom and they weren't even POSING! I'm going to have to steal a better picture from someone.

Dan and Maysa just danced it up at the reception that night, it was very cute.

The purple girls were all the older girl cousins, aren't they so sweet. They really loved being together and hanging out.


These were the flower girls with the white and yellow dresses. They LOVED being flower girls and throwing flowers out of their baskets, even when they weren't supposed to.








Dan, his brothers, Dad and Grandpa. Aren't they a great lookin group.
SO there you have it. I wish that I took way more pictures, but we were having too much fun visiting and playing with cousins and family we barely ever get to see. Dan has 7 brothers and sisters, they were all there. I will post a better picture soon.

Trip to Canada

We had a really great time in Vancouver B.C during spring break. Mostly we visited family. We also visited Glen Canyon park, Crescent Beach and White Rock Beach. We had 2 Canadian thanksgiving dinners while we were there, it was fun.





These 3 pictures were taken at white rock beach. It was sort of a chilly day, the sea wind gave me a bit of a headache. But it was beautiful, the beach is such a novelty to those that abide in Arizona.

Fun hottubbing at Dan's sister Lillian's house. Dan's little brother and wife Viviana were there as well.

Maysa playing with cousin Fynlee.


Glen Canyon park....

... and Suspension bridge...

lots of fun with cousin Leah.

Its scorpion season!

Oh yes this is for real, our neighbors found this nasty monster scorpion in their yard and put it in jar. It was dead when they found it, I had to take it out of the bottle to get a picture, and yes I wore gloves.
Welcome to Arizona!
We have been extremely blessed to not have any scorpions at all in our house in the past 377 days. Yes, we do see them in the yard still especially in September and October. NASTY WASTY, I hate them. But I know for sure the Lord has blessed us in keeping them out of the house. We took exceedingly great pains to seal the house last year and haven't had a problem since. However, if you would like to come to our yard after dark with an ultra violet flashlight, we'll show you a few and how they light up neon yellow. ITS LIKE FREAKY FRIDAY, it really does give me nightmares. Be grateful if you've never seen one! Nasty, nasty, nasty