Jeffrey and Jennifer's wedding day

Below are some pictures of Jeffrey and Jennifer's wedding day. It was a beautiful day to remember!


There are more to come of pictures at the Temple and the Ohio reception but I was anxious to post these!

Amazing, Brilliant piano player - William Joseph

I discovered William Joseph today when I read my friend's email. She was able to attend one of his concerts recently. Is all I can say is WOW!

2009 Dance Recital

I was so relieved to finish up my dance recital on June 7th. No one but another dance teacher knows how much work it really is. I had extra practices the week of the recital, 1000 programs to type, print up and staple, trophies to purchase and set up, mats, a tumbling wedge, chairs, canes, pom poms, stools, and wooden prop suitcases to haul, 200 name tags to place on individual chairs, chairs to set up, coat racks to set up (for costumes to be hung on), rewards for the contests to purchase, gifts to purchase for teachers, student teachers and backstage managers, people in place for fund raisers (we donate 100% to local cancer survivors), recital music to be burned, senior DVD to be completed and burned, tuition to be collected, recorded and deposited, emails to dance parents to be typed, registration and DVD forms to be made available, a meeting set up with the stage lighting professional, ETC.

It was EXTRA HARD this year with our son's wedding the next week. We left the night of the last recital (June 7th) for Columbus. I was exhausted because I also had to pack, and find substitutes for church callings and my exercise classes besides pay bills, stop the mail, and find someone to care for our lawn and garden.

I said A LOT OF PRAYERS and God answered every one. He gets all the credit- period. I could not have done it without HIM.

He was aware of what I needed and I am so grateful for His Goodness to me and my family. I truly am dependent on HIM.

My recital theme was "Dancing Across America". It was a fun recital to present. Our students danced to everything from "Boy from New York City", "Sweet Home Alabama", "Kansas City Stomp", "Chicago" (the Frank Sinatra tune), "Big D (Dallas)", "Virginia Reel", "Good Morning Baltimore", "Massachusetts", "California Girls" - anyway you get the picture. The finale was Neil Diamond's "America", and the students came out in red, white and blue T-shirts and took their bow and did a group dance with the American Flag and Statue of Liberty incorporated into the routine.

The students did a nice job on all their dances and I was pleased that everything kept "moving". I received many nice comments from parents who were pleased with the recital.

Each class performs two dances, with the exception of the tumbling and ballet students who only perform one dance/routine. I hold the recital in our local high school auditorium and there are three recital performances in a row, Thursday through Saturday night.

I wish I would have taken pictures at the recital! I had my camera ready to go, but I am always too busy to do that. I am going to ask mom's to send me some of the pictures they took. Some of the photo's below are gifts from students (which I love).

I am grateful for the world of DANCE which lightens my heart and gives me a creative outlet. I am grateful to my students who brighten my life in so many ways. I love working with these happy, carefree, beautiful boys (I teach three boys) and girls!

Our box gardens

Here are some pictures of our garden once William finished all the boxes. We named them individually after the girls in the family. Since Tanner and Michael are not married yet, we are using their names. (Once they are married, we will name the garden after their spouses names). Their are 6 gardens and their names are the Lynda garden, the Tanner garden, the Michael garden, the Laura Lee garden, the Sarah garden and the Jennifer garden.






Here are pictures of our gardens about three and a half weeks ago:









We came back from Utah a week ago today (from Jeffrey and Jennifer's wedding) and everything in the garden had grown at least double in size. We are so excited about it all and we are enjoying fresh radishes, fresh red leaf lettuce, fresh spinach, fresh green onions, fresh cilantro (in homemade salsa), fresh oregano, and fresh tomatoes. I have many herbs in my garden and need to start using them! I have dill, oregano, parsley, mint, peppermint, thyme, rosemary, basil, lavender, chives, cilantro, and oregano - I think that's all of them. I have green beans, green peppers, red peppers, beets, black beans, cucumbers, yellow squash, zucchini, jalepeno peppers, cabbage, celery, and carrots, all doing well.

I am learning as I go, but William has been very interested in the garden as well and helps weed. He at this very moment is building supports for the tomatoes, squash and cucumbers.








We are having SO MUCH FUN with this garden. There are so many people from town who comment about how nice they are and our neighbors say that people drive by slowly looking at them and even stop and reverse to get a better look.

What a great hobby! I love eating fresh salads from our garden! I wished some of you lived closer. We will be trying to get rid of our zucchini soon!

Also, does any one know what to do with fresh mint and fresh peppermint?