What's with the hands?

Does something seem backwards to you about these hands??

They ARE backwards! This is one of my brother Jason's many talents, he can play the piano backwards, and not just any song..he plays the Entertainer this way. He starts out playing forward and then switches backwards partway during the song without missing a beat!!

Then as an assistant pulls the bench out from under him, he'll get down on the ground to play the middle half of the piece, and he even uses his head to play the foot pedals!! It's amazing, then he comes back up---still playing, not missing a note---as he crosses his arms back around and finishes the piece! It's quite amazing!

Grandmother & Grandfather Ralph were visiting from Utah for Jason's Homecoming and they came to visit Monday evening. Here Kyler is enjoying reading some books with Grandmother. It was great having everyone over for a visit.

All Together Again!

Sunday was Jason's Homecoming from his mission to Louisville, Kentucky, spanish speaking. It was so wonderful to have the family all together again!! We decided we should take a family photo, since it had been 2+ years since we'd had all my siblings together in one place.

Ryan flew in from Utah (thanks Ryan!) for the special day and Amy was still in town too. So here you have us all...yes, from OLDEST to youngest..
Dad (old of course) Mom (just a little younger) Heidi (super old) Amy (not too old yet) Ryan (still young) and Jason (still a wee one)


It was so great to see everyone again. I'm so grateful for my wonderful family! I love you all! =)

Yosemite Museum

The little boys enjoyed the cave they could hide in!

Cameron and his little Pika friend!

Kaylie at sunset with the Golden Man--Ansel Adams. Isn't the scenery beautiful!

Here's the whole gang, including Grandma and Grandpa, who were at Yosemite with us! We had a lot of fun!

Gorgeous Views

These views speak for themselves!

On our way up!

We decided to hike up to Vernal Falls Waterfall while visiting Yosemite. It was about .7 miles each way, but wow was it steep! It was our children's first real hike! It really was a hike! Here is Dallyn taking a break..he was a great sport!

Cameron enjoyed climbing the rocks along the way! He just kept chugging up the mountain!

Oh and did I mention that Kyler rode in style? And Dallyn rode most of the way up in the stroller too! Scott was worn out by the time he got to the top!! People made comments as they past, as it was quite a sight for Scott to be pushing a stroller up this steep grade!! Way to go Scott!

Kaylie was my hiking buddy and she did an awesome job! Here she is resting from the sun!! It was a hot day!

We made it to Vernal Falls!

After all that hiking we finally made it to the bridge where we could enjoy Vernal Falls. There wasn't too much water left since it is August and a dry year at that..but it was still beautiful!

As we walked back down from Vernal Falls Cameron spotted a little squirrel friend getting a snack. Can you see him? Straight back on the rock behind Cameron...Cam's favorite part of the trip was seeing all the wildlife!

Back at the campsite the children enjoy lunch outside on the log bench.

Campfires weren't allowed but we could do charcoal BBQ's so we tried to roast marshmallows with briquettes. It didn't work that great..but Kyler did try to eat a smore!! =)

A new qualification for my resume...

Ok, so who knew that I'd be adding a new qualification to my resume this fall? Well, I am and its the part of Director for Elk Grove Musical Theater's junior cast production of

Yep! You got it..I'm going to be the director for the 32 member cast, children in 2nd through 6th grades! We had our auditions last week and it was fun to be on the 'other side' of the auditions! Usually I'm the one coaching my kids on how to read their lines, what to sing, etc. I have this week to decide on the casting for the play and our first rehearsal starts next Wednesday! I'm really excited (and a bit nervous) about this new endeavour that I'm undertaking, but I sure hope it'll be a great experience! Stay tuned and I'll share more photos as we approach the performance in November...

Until then..i guess my resume just got a little beefier (j/k!)...=)

Looking Back at the Good Ol Days!

My good friends from high school came to visit last week and it was great to catch up with them. We had a leisurely lunch and then came back to the house to play with the kids. We try to get together a couple times a year and its great to spend time together like we used to in the good ol' days! It's been 13 years since we graduated highschool together...wow..where does the time go?? Thanks girls for coming to visit!!

Ready, Set, Race!!

Scott participated in another race this weekend! This time it was at Donner Lake up in the mountains near Tahoe. It was so beautiful there! Here is Scott with the kids before the race begins! Fifteen minutes and counting...

Here he is stretching to prepare for his pre-race warm-up!

All suited up with a cap & goggles, ready to do a few warm-up laps. At least the water is 67 degrees..much warmer than the SF Bay!

On your mark...get set....GO! Here they are...off and running, or rather swimming!! Good luck Scott! We'll meet ya on the other end of the lake in about an hour and 10 minutes!!

2.7 miles in 1 hr. 18 minutes!

So as far as the eye can see doesn't even allow you to see the other shore where Scott started this race! WOW! It's amazing to me that he swam this far. The kids kept commenting on how HUGE the lake was and that they couldn't believe Daddy was swimming across the whole thing.

You can see some swimmers coming in...Scott was among them.

Here he is as he came up from the water onto the shore. His time was a bit longer than he had hoped due to the really choppy and rough water..the worst in 6 years! So considering all, Scott did really well! =)

Here he is crossing the finish line, he placed 59th out of 350.....pretty amazing really! =)

Because he sprinted the last few minutes Scott's muscles were screaming at him when he got out at the finish line. So he decided to get back in and swim some more to cool down. After all the excitement he had some lunch and then sat in a chair for a good hour before he was ready to walk back to our campsite.

Fun at the Beach

After the race was over the children enjoyed playing on the beach. Kyler was content with his bucket and shovels, he could have played for hours!

The children found a spot in between all the kayaks to play in the sand, too bad I didn't bring their swimsuits!!

Back at the campground the kids enjoyed finding treasures while Mom packed up and Dad fixed our electrical wiring.

The beauty of Donner Lake...it was so pretty being up in the mountains, it is so beautiful there!!

Grand Finale

At the end of convention a UPS man enters the stage with a package...asking Shelli where he should deliver it to? She asks him who it is for...when he mentions he's not sure, she offers to help him. He then says that the label on the box says....'EVERYBODY!" Screams erupt, fireworks go off...

A UPS truck drives into the convention center(I got photos of the screen showing it) and all of a sudden a hundred UPS workers all in brown come running up the aisles handing out the new set to everyone!! Stampin' Up! workers dressed in brown UPS shirts join in to help hand out the thousands of sets donated by UPS to say "THANK YOU" to Stampin' Up! for their continued patronage over the years. It was AWESOME!!

Here is all the confetti, lights and screaming excitement!

Rachel and I after we were handed our sets from a Stampin' Up! employee gone UPS worker for the day....Yeahoo!! This set was on my wishlist..so I'm so happy to have it!! Stampin' Up! is so awesome!! Thank you Shelli!!