Getting Back on Track after SOTW

Being in the play has been a lot of fun. I'm so glad I had the opportunity to participate and meet some new friends, but that's not really what this post is about. I guess for the last month and a half, being totally bombarded with rehearsals and performances, I got completely off track with my life, kids, house work, scripture study, sleep... ugh, just everything. I would wake up in the morning, hang out with the kids, maybe throw in a load of laundry, lunch, naps, and then at 4:00 pm start to get ready for SOTW. I'd get in the shower, do my hair and makeup, and then be at the church for 5:45 pm and come home sometime around 10:30-11:00pm. I would be so exhausted when I came home, that I'd just jump on facebook, then hit the sac.

Last night, as I lay in bed (around 1 am) Rosie woke up. She ran to the gate and started to whimper and call my name. I thought if I ignored her, she's go back to bed. I was wrong. After about the hundredth time hearing her say "mommy" I went in to put her back to bed. I picked her up and sat down on her bed and she rested her little head on my shoulder. As I sat there hugging her I started to realize how much I missed her while I was in the play. I hadn't had a lot of quality time with her and I hadn't been there the last few nights for bedtime prayers and stories. I then had this profound feeling as if someone was saying "this is YOUR daughter, you little girl, your first baby." Now obviously I know that she's my little girl, but I guess sometimes I forget that she's so special. She's not just some kid that runs around messing up my kitchen cupboards and eating gold fish crackers. She's MY baby, the baby that used to grow in my tummy, that used to be 7 pound 11 ounces, that made me a mother and better person. She's the girl that was sent to us from heaven, to be part of mine and Dave's life forever. I can't really fully explain how I was feeling last night, but I just felt a lot of love for Rosie and gratitude for having such a beautiful child of God in my life. I sat there hugging her, crying happy tears, as she quietly fell asleep in my arms. I sat there for a few moments longer, until I tucked her into bed, kissed her goodnight, and went to bed myself. I left her bedroom that night with a desire to spend more quality time with her, to be a better example, and better mother to her and Joseph. Rosie truly is a gift from God and I love her with my whole heart.

I'm grateful for little experiences that help me remember the most important things in my life.

Me Ka Aloha
- Elisabeth

Savior of the World, Half Way Point

Two performances down, three to go! Things have been going pretty good so far. There's been a few microphone glitches, early or late music cues, but all in all things have been great! One thing I've been struggling with is getting my harmonies during the "Alleluias" but during the last performance I nailed it!!
So on Saturday, my dear friend Rebecca announced that she's been sick and she's having troubles singing. AHHH!!! She's Mary Magdalene and sings a pretty long solo! Poor girl, had a tough time getting those high notes and started crying during the second verse. There she was, four feet from the front row, with tears streaming down her face as she sang "where is he who dried the tears, of the suffering soul?" SO, I guess it really fit with the scene and the lyrics. A few people thought that it was amazing and that she should do it like that every week. She came off stage and burst into tears, but then said "there must be someone in the crowd that needed to see that." She's totally right. Her performance must have helped someone feel the spirit and touched people's hearts. I know, from backstage it sounded really authentic and she sounds great, even when she's sick.

Well, we're a couple days away from Thursday's performance and more cast members have announced that they too are sick! Sheeeesh, what's going on??? The girl that plays Elisabeth (sings a solo) is sick. The guy that plays a shepherd and a disciple and sings a bunch of songs with harmonies, is also sick. The woman in charge of costumes is sick, a chorus member is sick, AND I'm getting sick too!!! I'm not sniffling or coughing, YET, but I feel that tickle in my throat, and that fatigue plaguing my system. I'm totally popping the vitamin C and drinking a lot of liquids to keep myself healthy. Admittedly, I went out for a 5 Km run tonight instead of resting but I've got to loose that muffin top. Yes, I'm THAT vain LOL!
Here's a picture of me and the girls in our costumes. If you read this, please pray that everyone gets better!

Me Ka Aloha
- Elisabeth

Joseph is CRAWLING!!! Rosie is SINGING!!!

I feel like I've been waiting FOREVER for Joseph to actually crawl and for Rosie to actually sing. You see, Joseph has been successfully "army crawling" for a while now, and he's pretty darn fast too. I was expecting him to crawl around 6-8 months because other baby boys his age were crawling at SIX months and if was anything like Rosie, he'd be crawling at 8 months and 1 week, so I figured it would be somewhere in between. Well, I guess once he learned to army crawl, he decided that he was getting around just fine, so why crawl for real? He was doing fine "army crawling" to steal Rosie's toys, chew on the TV remote, and get himself off our bed. I have to admit that seeing him "army crawl" around, especially when he was eager to get something (which happened about 1000 times a day) was really, REALLY cute! Any way, like I said in my last post, I've been rehearsing for the Savior of the World play, and every time I'd come home, Dave would say that Joseph had been crawling for real. Dave said it was just a couple of steps, or knees, but still. I've seen him do that a few times myself but he never walked his hands forward.... UNTIL TODAY!! I caught him rocking back and forth on his hands and knees while trying to get into Rosie's tent. Then it happened!!! Joseph took 4 steps, er- crawls in a row. WAY TO GO BUDDY!!! He's still reverting to the army crawl most of the time, but I'm sure in the next few weeks we'll see the real deal more often. Now if only he could learn how to get himself out the pickle he's been getting into lately. He'll crawl over to a table, or chair, try to pull himself up to standing, get stuck, and cry until I remove him from the situation. Wow, all this moving around has actually made him a heck of a lot thinner. His waist isn't bulging out of his diapers any more. Is it bad to miss his chubbiness? I'm sure before I know it, he'll be walking around like a little man. Sheeesh , they grow way too fast!

So Rosie is finally singing. She would sometime say the words to a song, like "tappabells tappabells" that's jingle bells to those of you who don't understand Rosie talk, but never sing the melody. I was starting to get worried because I know A LOT of kids that have been singing since they were around 1 year old. I sing to Rosie every day and I couldn't understand why she wasn't singing too. Well the other day (as she was sitting in time out for emptying the kitchen drawers) I over heard her singing twinkle twinkle. She even knew all the words! Hurray!!!! Later that day I also heard her singing "animal crackers in my soup". She doesn't quite have the tune down perfectly, but it's a step in the right direction. Maybe she'll teach Joseph how to sing by his first birthday. Well, time to put my kiddos to bed. Me Ka Aloha - Elisabeth

The Savior of the World - Musical

Next week is opening night of The Savior of the World musical production put on by my stake, and yours truly will be performing in it, or trying to perform. I wasn't planning on being in the play at all because I'm WAY too chicken to sing in front of people, especially since there are people at church that are amazing, and I would hate to be compared to them. So the play held auditions, and I didn't audition. The cast was chosen, and my plans were to show up in the audience.

WELL.... about a month ago I got a call from a friend begging me to take her place in the cast because she was worried that she wouldn't be able to, due to health issues. I have to admit that I was very hesitant, mostly because I didn't know how I was going to juggle rehearsals and family. I probably would have said "no" if it weren't for Dave's encouragement. He promised to take care of the kids for me and told me that I would be great and that this was a great opportunity. Let me just say that I'm glad he convinced me.

I had actually said a prayer a while back (I almost forgot about that) asking Heavenly Father to help me become a better singer and to help me learn how to sing in harmony. I've always wanted to be one of those people who can just harmonize with anyone, during any song, and believe it or not, I've been practicing. Yes I've been practicing with the LDS music player online where you can select which part of the song you would like it to play. I also try to get Dave to sing the melody of a song, and I try to sing the alto. I'm still working on it and I feel sorry for anyone who sits beside me in church because I must sound like crapola.

So any way, play practice has actually been a lot of fun. It gives me a chance to meet cool people in the stake, get out of the house, without the kids - well almost without the kids (Dave brings them during lunch so I can nurse Joseph). There's so many nice and hilarious people in the play and we've been having a blast! Brother Bigley, the director, has been working (and praying) really hard to bring this play together and he's doing a great job.

So like I said before, next week is opening night. Wish me luck!!

Me Ka Aloha
-Elisabeth

American Idol top 16

It may or may not surprise you that I am a huge American Idol fan. I have been from the beginning and I've been pretty good at picking the winner (or runner up) right from the start. Two years ago everyone thought David Archuletta was going to win, and to be honest, I thought he might too. However, the week that David Cook sang "Hello" which was during the top 20 or something like that, I remember saying "this guy is awesome. I hope he wins" and he did. Last year, during the top 12 week Kris Allen sang "Remember the time" and I thought he was amazing. The focus at the time was on Adam Lambert and Danny Gokey, but I thought Kris was amazing, even though nobody even knew who I was talking about. Even Access Hollywood had their predictions for top 5 guys and Kris wasn't even on the list. Any way, week by week Kris got better and better until he won! I wish I had wrote down my early prediction, so this year that's exactly what I'm going to do.

Tonight is the night that 2 girls and 2 guys are going to be eliminated. Here's my predictions for who will be voted off. Girls: Paige Miles, Lacey Brown, or Didi Benami (too bad because I liked her in Hollywood week - if it were up to me, she'd be in the top 10). I haven't been paying too much attention to the girls this year so I might be a little off. Guys: John Park, Todrick Hall, or Aaron Kelly. For sure John Park will be voted off, he just doesn't have "it".

Here's my predictions for top 5 girls: Katelyn Epperly, Crystal Bowersox, Siobhan Magnus... and ummm ummm this is a tough one, let me get back to you after tonight.

Top 5 guys: Casey James, Alex Lambert, Tim Urban, Lee Dewyze, and Andrew Garcia (not necessarily in that order).

Dave thinks Casey James is going to win the whole thing, but he doesn't have the best track record.

What do YOU think?

Me Ka Aloha
-Elisabeth

Is it March Already?!

You've probably been wondering where I've been for the last 2 weeks, right? I can't believe it's March already and spring is around the corner (hopefully). Well, I've been busy watching the Olympics and dealing with sleep deprived, teething kids. It's been a busy/fun 2 weeks and I love the Olympics more than ever. Since the Olympics were in Vancouver BC, there were commercials, and amazing segments featuring the beauty of Canada. Even though I'm technically an American, I AM PROUD TO BE CANADIAN! Seriously, the Olympics made Canada look so pretty and a wonderful place to be. There was one particular commercial that they always played during the Olympics (for Rona) and it gave me goose bumps - for real because the landscape and nature scenes were incredible. The Olympics made me want to A) visit every province, especially British Columbia B) buy a Canada sweater (but they were all sold out) C) get back to nature, in home decor, fashion, food, cleaning products, leisure, etc. D) buy a house with a large property with trees and maybe even waterfront in a smaller town with a strong community, E) encourage my kids to achieve their dreams. I'm sure if you've been watching too, you know what I'm talking about that. Any way, I found some super cute houses in Presque Ile Provincial, and Sandbanks Provincial Park that could honestly be my dream house. They were around $400 000 and they were waterfront properties with at least 4 bedrooms. If we were rich... man I'd buy one right now. I guess that's the goal for the future ;)