SITKA IN APRIL

Sierra and I spent a glorious week in Sitka.  Yes - we worked - but BOY! did we ever play too!  Much to Sierra's happiness, there was a little rain.  But we spent most of our days in the sun in 50-60 degree weather ... PERFECT!  Following are some pictures of our wonderful time there:Above:  Sierra near John Brown's Beach where we collected sea glass.  

Below:  Sierra and her friend, Helaina - during lunch hour on Sandy Beach at low tide.



Above:  The day before leaving, Sierra went to school and I sat on the beach COMPLETELY ALONE listening to the surf and watching sea lions.  It was PERFECT.

Below:  Beautiful Sitka as the plane starts to take off.



Above:  Sunday morning was the lowest tide of the month ... we thought it a very appropriate Sabbath activity - to walk along the beach :)

Below:  Sierra at Halibut Point Rec - it was a GORGEOUS day.



Above:  Sierra and I posed with our family's dear friend, Elmo at church (the building is made of cedar and SMELLS INCREDIBLE)

Below:  Sunday morning we found all kinds of sand dollars like the one below, wedged between rocks in tide pools.




Above:  Just an artistic picture:)

Below:  My sis, Camielle, at the beach with us.


Above:  Sierra

Below:  Camielle



Above:  Another artistic picture (I'm getting good, aren't I!??!!)  This one has Sierra in it.

Below:  Sierra working the recorder and switcher for the show.



It was a great trip.  This is Sierra at Silver Bay.  This was after our little stop at the chocolate factory ... mmmmm!  I just realized - no pictures of Camielle's son, Joshua, on this post.  I'll have to add him later - OR - go to my facebook and look at the album I just posted.

That's it for now :)

CATCHING UP ....

It's been a crazy-hectic few weeks lately!  I'll just post some pictures with comments to catch everyone up .....

My Dad flew out from Texas for a quick interview on "The Vegas Splash!".  He's a financial adviser with Eagle Strategies, LLC - and he did a fabulous job.  Our family was so glad to have him here!

 

It was Azure's turn to help with the show ... here she's posing with two of the entertainers I interviewed:  Yves Frulla (Celine Dion's Keyboard Player) and Jay White (Neil Diamond Impersonator - boy is he GOOD!)

It wasn't JUST a family day .... but there was a lot of family there!  My brother, Bruce, representing Tahitian Noni International was a guest on the show as well as (below) my cousin, Susan, representing TechnoHue.com (she's the one in blue - the other is Nola, a cosmetologist)

Brad was also with us on our last taping day of the season - I LOVE these long-distance production shots he got!  We taped at the Galleria at Sunset mall and it was a blast - a little noisy, but nonetheless, lots of fun.  

People started to congregate when Jay White (as Neil Diamond) started to sing "Sweet Caroline" ... by the end of the song, we had a huge crowd.  He was so "authentic" that I was immediately transported back to high school.  SO FUN!

MAJOR yum!  We taped 3 short segments with these sushi chefs ... of course, tasting it was THE BEST part ... they stayed after their segments and made up the rest of the food they brought for the cast and crew .... HOORAY FOR US!

So, that was the end of taping for Season One!  Very exciting!  The shows we've taped will air through mid-June.  We'll get started taping for Season 2 probably in May.  This is tons of fun:)

With the help of Bryan's past Teacher's Quorum Advisor (Brother Leja), Bryan made this BEAUTIFUL chess board for me out of maple and black walnut.  Here he is playing a not-so-quick game with Grandpa Call.

The week before taping the show, the kids and I drove up to SLC for part of conference - some of us spent time on Temple Square listening, then headed up to Idaho where we spent the week with Brookie & Steve with their "Trash Queen" business.  It was a fast, but FUN trip!

Those are more pics from our short time together in Utah ... (oh yeah, HAPPY BIRTHDAY CACI!) ... it was so fun to see our PREGNANT Brookie!  Such a CUTE tummy!  Az stayed with Trevor, Caci & Jace for the week, having tons of adventures, and the big kids and I enjoyed the week learning what REAL HARD WORK is with Brookie & Steve-o.  Good memories!

(but we all missed Brad!)

A BIG Happy 51st Birthday to Brad!!!!!  We love you !

DAVID ARCHULETA'S BIGGEST FAN

For Sierra's birthday, all she wanted was a trip to SLC to see David A. in concert.  So everyone contributed, and that's what she (we ) got!  It was a really fun trip ... Here are some highlights:

This was right before the concert started ... we were headed to our seats (way up!) when Sierra spotted the drummer (Eli, I think) from David's band.  It was so funny ... she tapped him on the shoulder and just said, "Hi".  If I weren't there with the camera, I think Sierra would have just stood there staring at him saying "Hi" over and over again. 

This is right after the concert with Amy-something ... the warm-up singer before David came on.

Ok - the CONCERT was ENJOYABLE, the after-party TOLERABLE, being on the VIP list for the afterparty and walking past the long line to the gigantic bouncer, then being let right in ... well, that was just THE BOMB, or SICK, or WHATEVER THE VERNACULAR is today ...  (THANKS TREVOR ... YOU HAVE GREAT CONNECTIONS!)

Unfortunately, David never showed up at the after-party ... so Sierra settled for a picture with his 15-year-old brother, Daniel.  (He performed and is quite the guitar player!)

... and a picture with his dad (hehe) ...

... and a picture with David Osmond (Idol contestant) ...

All in all, it was a really fun night!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIERRA.