Happy Birthday Brooke!!!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1552077057
Hey Brooke!!! Here's a special something we cooked up for your birthday. I know how much you hate it when people give you birthday gifts in Christmas paper or Christmas cards, soooo this one's for you!!!
Love ya,
Jo

Concerts, games, recitals!!

Caroline posing with her picture on Santa's lap
after Eldorado concert.

Elementary school Christmas Concert. Love the enthusiasm!!
Concert with the Eldorado choir.
Katelynn playing at the piano recital.
Oops. I thought this was Collin.....it's so dark. Anyway, we'll just pretend it's him!!!

Since the first of December we have attended 10 different events.....dance recitals, basketball games, piano recitals, school concerts and so on. We only have six to go before the end of this week!!! Oh, and lets not forget hosting the teacher luncheon and two classroom parties!! And I wonder why I'm feeling frazzled.
The choir at Eldorado invited some kids from Caroline's elementary school to participate in their program. The choir sang a beautiful song from the movie, "Prince of Egypt" and the elementary choir joined in, singing in Hebrew. Caroline and a few other girls were chosen to sing a part of the song. You should have seen her trying to hog the microphone! Really.....where does she get it?!!!! Off we go to see Katelynn participate in the Youth Choir Concert tonight!!!!! SAVE ME!!

The latest

The holidays are always so crazy. There's never enough time to accomplish everything I would like. I did accomplish one thing this year that rarely happens.......family picture day! I made the whole family get up on Saturday morning and get ready. They all grumbled, but did it. I hope they turn out okay. We are a scary bunch! We came home and took a few pix in front of the tree. Stinkin Braeden is getting tall!

Kate and Collin had their piano recital Monday night. They did a great job! Katelynn is always sooo nervous and Collin is cool as a cucumber. Maybe it's because he really just doesn't care!!

The Hollywood Kids website is up and running and accepting new students (cross your fingers). We have signed a lease on our Northwest location and will start building two studios, a stage and a vocal room. We're in the Desert Saints magazine too. So spread the word, post us on your blog, tell your friends, tell them to tell their friends and so on and so on..........aaaaahhhhhhh!!!!

What's there to blog about anyway!!!

We met the Jensen's in Del Mar.

Okay. I'm pathetic. But, really it's been insanely crazy around here. Hollywood Kids is expanding. We are opening a huge studio in the Northwest. The studio will be more than 3000 sq. feet. With 2 dance studios and a stage. We've hired 3 drama teachers, 3 dance teachers, 2 voice teachers, 1 tumbling teacher and a makeup artist, who will teach a fun class on stage makeup! We've scoured all of North Las Vegas, and then some, to find the perfect space, only for it to fall through. We've met several Real Estate Agents. But it looks like we have another space that will work. We have an official website http://www.hollywoodkidsacademy.com/. It's almost ready to begin registering students. I still have to put my bio on there. Yuck. Margie and I will not be teaching out there, but we will still have Hollywood Kids Sunrise at Margie's house. We are working on 101 Dalmations for the kids and High School Musical for the Teens. I've been working hard to get everything choreographed. It's been quite a process! Exciting and SCARY!

We went camping last weekend in Carlsbad, California. What fun!!! Our campsite was on a bluff, overlooking the ocean. It was so neat. The weather was perfect. All we did was play on the beach. After church on Sunday we visited the Mormon Batallion in San Diego. It was cool cuz Tom has a great, great, great.....grandpa who served in the Mormon Batallion. We enjoyed the ocean and went boogie boarding. Braeden and Collin did some surfing as well! Sooo Fun. I can't wait to go back.

It's hard to believe that I have made three new posts today. It's more than I can say for Jen and Carla. I haven't heard from them in days! Jen's kids are even out of town. SLACKERS!!! Just kidding ladies! The craft show was wonderful!!!!

HALLOWEEN

I'm not sure what I think about this costume either. She was
some sort of evil ballerina.
Supergirls Rule!!!!
Collin's found this talking head. Creepy

Halloween was a blast! The parties, parades and trick or treating were much fun. I have a picture of the three youngers, but I haven't received the only picture of Braeden from Tracy Jensen yet. Although, I don't know if I want to receive that picture. Brig found costumes for himself and Braeden. Brig was Flash Gordon and Braeden was Batman. The only problem was the Batman costume was a little large, so they thought it would be funny to dress as Batman in his later than prime years, and stuff his costume with a pillow. He didn't have a mask, so we painted it on and his lighter hair didn't quite fit, so they found a black wig made of yarn, which was in two braids. I'm not sure what to think of his costume.

BIRTHDAYS

Here's some birthday wishes I missed. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Lisa Bolton, who turned the big 40 this year. She still has her sanity in spite of being married to Derrick and handling all of Whitlee's one-liners and left hand turns with style!!! ha ha Seandra Wilson also turned 40 and was thrilled to exit the 30's, only to have surgery shortly after! Happy and speedy recovery Seandra!!! Happy Birthday to Mindy Birch, who is still a spring chicken and turned 29 this year. Lisa Swain is 40 and holding!!! Happy Birthday to you too!!!!

Last, but certainly not least, Caroline turned Six-years-old on the 13th of November! We had a fabulous birthday on the beach in Carlsbad and then had a party with her friends yesterday. I can't believe my Sweet Caroline is six!! She has brought so much joy to our home. There's never a dull moment with Caroline around. I think I could publish a book of Caroline Comments.

Happy Birthday Whitlee!!

Whit, age 8. Rodeo Queen!
Whitlee and Katelynn.
Whitlee and the "Brown Braeden" the next time she saw him, he was blonde and she didn't like it! She wanted the Brown Braeden! Cute dance picture!
Whitlee, Caroline and the poor sucker who got his ears pierced!!

Holy Cow!! Whitlee is 18! Sorry I'm a day late, but here are a few of my favorite pix and memories of Whitlee.

Famous one-liners:

Run Forest!!
I can teach you how to make a left hand turn!

Nobody this good looking should feel so sick.

Where's the Brown Braeden? I like the Brown Braeden!

C'mon. You're an adult now and you can make your own decisions. I think you should get your ears pierced. (And he did!!!!)
I'm dating a boy who is a twin. I call one brother "Lazy Eye" and the other "Dumbo Ears". I then asked, Who are you dating? She replied, "Lazy Eye"

Oh Whitlee. It has been a fun-filled 18 years. Just watching you grow up has been a great source of entertainment. I look forward to many more years of your great stories around the dinner table.

Love,

Auntie Jo (AKA "Aunt Doe Doe")

Happy Birthday Tom!!!

Here's a few of my favorite "Young Tom, or Tommy" pix!

Camping at Valley of Fire

Wow! Two posts in one day. Maybe that will make up for going two weeks without a post. Last Thursday we loaded the van, hitched the trailer, packed some food and headed out to Valley of Fire. We camped, roasted marshmellows, hiked, played games (Tom is the Champ of "Pretty Pretty Princess) and enjoyed some time with our family. It was sooo much fun!!!!
We hiked a big rock right above our campsite. So here's a picture of our trailer with our shadows above.
Yes. Braeden really is THAT TALL! The dog was the biggest chicken of the bunch. There were a few times we had to carry the big baby!!
The rock climbing is AWESOME!!!!
Braeden found a friend!
Really. Tom came with us. He just had the camera most of the time!

Stake Play

Yeah!!! It's over!!! The quad-stake plays were last week and I can finally breathe a sigh of relief. Our stake did The Wizard of Oz. It was really cute. The munchkins were darling, especially those "Lolipop Guild" boys. They wore shorts with long socks and had their hair slicked to look like Alfalfa (sp?). Caroline was pretty darn cute as well! It was a lot of work, but fun. There were days I called those little munchkins "Sugar Filled Cherubs". In the end it was well worth working with such great little munchkins!

Happy Birthday Derrick!!

Happy Birthday Derrick!! You are my favorite brother. The reason you're my favorite is because I have no other. I like this picture. It captures the affect you have on people! Lots of love from your sister who still has emotional scars from believing she was adopted!

Happy Anniversary!

18 years ago we began our journey together.......

....it hasn't always been easy......we've had our up's and our down's

.....we haven't always agreed on everything, but we always work together....

....we work hard, and we play hard.......

....together, we have brought four wonderful children into this world....

....and through it all, you have always made me laugh!Happy Anniversary Tom! I love YOU!!!

WHAT TO WEAR!!!!

Okay. I need any opinions about what to wear to my reunion. Vote for the best blouse and don't look at the dorky face with my eyes closed!

20 years

I finally decided to go to my 20th High School Reunion. (Shut up, Chuckie!!!) So, does anybody have ideas on how to lose 10 pounds in 6 days? The only idea I have is to catch a nasty stomach flu! I don't know what to wear. I know what not to wear, which is everything in my closet! I went shopping for clothes, but all I could find was a "body enhancer" aka girdle. It's supposed to smooth the waist, hips and thighs. It actually works pretty good. I wore it yesterday and it hides all the rolls, but after three hours of church I couldn't wait to take the sucker off. I thought my eyeballs might pop out! Any ideas on how to pull myself together for this one? (Really. Shut up, Chuckie!!!)

Perspective revisited

Kate and Collin were trying to get on my last nerve a few days ago. Same old stuff.....Collin can't open the frozen orange juice can.....or do anything I ask.......and Katelynn is constantly looking for some foreign object in her food, water, ice, bowl, cup, spoon, everything that's about to be put in her mouth. Really, you should see her at the dinner table....it takes forever to finish a meal. So, instead of throwing my hands in the air, or yelling "WHYYYY" and wondering where I went wrong, I just laughed and took picutures. Enjoy our disfunction!!