My Wicked 9 Month Wait...

I am in my first trimester. The first trimester of my countdown to the broadway musical, Wicked, coming to Calgary that is.

I can't believe it was Amanda informing me of this information rather than the other way around. I usually stay on top of the tour schedules of all my favorite broadway musicals and try to figure out ways to get to the cities that they travel to. Of the broadway musicals I've seen - Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, Lion King, Phantom of the Opera, and Wicked - I have to say that Wicked and Lion are my favs. However, Wicked has a special place in my heart.

When I was attending BYU I used to work at the music and dance library. I spent a lot of time cataloging books and scores and while I did that I would listen to whatever I could find in the CD collection. Side note, that meant I carried around a discman. It didn't seem that long ago but the discman really makes it seem forever ago. The soundtrack to Wicked came out around that time and the library acquired a copy of it. I pretty much hoarded that CD and would keep renewing it to myself at the front desk despite the large demand there was for the one copy. I literally would listen to that soundtrack my entire shift and this behavior went on for weeks. The only downside was that I couldn't sing out loud to it in the library. There are strict rules against singing at the top of your lungs at the library apparently.

Listening to the Wicked soundtrack reminds me of when Dave and I would get together with our good friends Nate and Kelly for games nights. More often than not we would find ourselves involved in a marathon round of Settlers of Catan, overdosing on candy, and thanks to Kelly's great taste in musicals, the Wicked soundtrack being played on repeat.

My last, but not least, Wicked memory was when Dave and I went to California to visit his brother's family. We were able to see Wicked in LA and during the entire play I could barely be contained in my seat. I literally had tears of joy during some of my favorite songs. Dave didn't quite understand my exhiliration until 3 years later when we attended the NBA finals game between Celtics and Lakers in Boston. During the warm-up he turned to me in his excitement and said "Now I know how you felt at Wicked."



So it's time to break out the soundtrack again, this time I'll be listening to it on my ipod, and in 9 months I'll be having Wicked contractions, and I can't wait.

August Wedding

Jordan and Cherisa can now add their August wedding date next to the August wedding anniversary of Mom and Dad's which has been holding its spot for nearly 30 years. If anyone knows how to make a marriage work, it's them. I'm grateful for the example they've set for their children. I look to their example as I work at my own marriage and family.

Jordan and Cherisa make such an amazing pair. They complement each other and it is obvious how much they adore and enjoy one another. I truly don't know if I've seen a more beautiful and pure bride. She looked as though she had lived her life in the temple.

After the sealing we took pictures to keep ourselves occupied while we waited for the new couple. It was a really nice experience to see all my siblings there dressed so nicely; we really enjoyed one anothers' company. They are all such wonderful people. All of them.

The beautiful flower girls or should I say fairies

sisters at heart

Just married

Mom admiring the newly married couple come out of the temple

Mom with all her girls

The reception

Mom waited 27 years to do this
Alison waited 6 years to do this...

The dance at the reception was incredibly fun. I don't know who had more fun between me, dad, Alison or Amanda. Dad might have won it by going into the middle of the dance circle at least 4 times to show off his timeless moves, but I think we would all have to agree that Alison had the most fun. Something magical happens when she gets to dance. This is truly the happiest I've seen her. I completely understand how she feels. I thought about becoming a wedding crasher just to go to the dances.

The entire wedding experience was fun, exciting, sentimental, joyful, and just felt right. We all are so excited for Jordan and Cherisa and this exciting new chapter in their lives.

Engaged!

on June 30, 2010 Dave and I had gone to bed after a tiring day. At around midnight we heard a knock on the door and we assumed it was Ben saying he was locked out of his apartment. I thought about ignoring it, but when the knocks persisted I stumbled out of bed and threw on my house coat. Groggily I opened the door to find Jordan and Cherisa standing there. My mind jumped to the only explanation of why they would knock on our door so late. Before I could say anything Jordan excitedly told me they were engaged and Cherisa showed me her beautiful ring. If I had not just been woken up I would have cried out of joy. I felt so happy for them!

Cherisa is beautiful, kind, full of the spirit and of life. We all love her and can't wait for her to officially be a part of the family.

Identities

This past May, Mom, Amanda, Alison, Dave, Charlotte and I headed out to Elbow Falls for an afternoon. It is so beautiful there and although it wasn't quite as sunny as we had hoped for we still enjoyed our time outside.

When I looked back at the pictures I took of this day, I noticed that the pictures captured the personalities and identities of everyone. I thought it was really cute and interesting to see how the essence of that person shone through a single picture.


Dave: Kind, easy going, helpful, great dad, loving
Charlotte: loves the outdoors, loves her dad, loves to do things, happy

Amanda: fun, silly, really coming into her own, knows who she is, happy, loving, sister


Alison: happy, energetic, full of life, innocent, life of the party, creative, knows how to pose :)

Mom: reflective, calm, peaceful, full of love and faith, beautiful, loves family togetherness

Happy Birthday Dad

We celebrated dad's 57th (I think) birthday with a round of golf. Dave, Jordan, dad and myself all went to Darcy Ranch and enjoyed a really fun and beautiful course. I think it's all in our list of favorite Calgary courses now.



We headed back for the usual cake presents and ice cream.

Hope you had a great day dad, you deserve it!

PS - You're probably the youngest 57 year old I know

Banff

Dave and I were lucky enough to escape to Banff overnight without Charlotte. We had so much fun (no offence Charlotte, we love you). It was like we were boyfriend and girlfriend again . We laughed tons, flirted, had great conversations, rode the highly overpriced gondola (which was spectacular), swam at the pool, ate at a ridiculously delicious (and again overpriced) breakfast buffet, shopped on Banff Avenue, ate at Earls, bought chocolate caramel apples and watched Eclipse in our room at the Banff Springs Hotel. At one point while we were strolling down mainstreet Dave exclaimed, "What a beautiful day! Now hold my hand for heaven's sake!" How cute is that? really the trip was perfect.

We took another picture first like the one above but I was in the foreground. I switched places with him and he totally called me out on why I wanted to switch. He said he didn't want to be the one with the big face either. Sorry Dave.

I love being married to Dave because whether it's a date night or a stressful moment he can always make me laugh... okay some stressful moments it just makes me more mad, I'll be honest :)

Special thanks to mom and dad for watching Char for us! We owe you!