Missed last week.

Because I was gone... having fun... with my daughter... in California. My nephew got baptized a week ago, and Princess M and I decided that it was the perfect opportunity to go see family, celebrate a baptism, and spend a day at Disneyland while we were so close.

Here's M with her airline ticket right before boarding the plane.


And here's a shot M took of the parade in Disneyland.

I let her take pics on the digital camera, while I used the Flip camcorder. I need some time to edit those, so I'll have to post them later. (Besides, I'm having trouble loading video to this blog; it may take a while.)

It was Princess M's first visit to Disneyland (I've been using the trip as obedience incentive for a long time now.) We went with my brother's family that lives there, who also happen to have a daughter just a little older than M (as well as older and younger siblings). We only had time for one day, so we only got single park tickets. I was so disappointed to find out that the restaurant where you can dine with the princesses was actually in California Adventure Park, not Disneyland. So we had a lot of fun, rode a lot of rides, saw a lot of really cool characters, played with cousins, but were not able to find a single princess all day long! Even the parade, that we went out of our way to get right up close to, was princessless. They had Mickey and friends, Alice in Wonderland, and Mary Poppins, but not a single tiara in sight. There was NO WAY we were traveling to Disneyland and not letting Princess M talk to a fellow princess.

Finally, at 7:30pm we discovered a small attraction nestled away up in the corner by Toon Town called the Princess Fantasy Fair. Upon entering, we realized we hit the jackpot. Rather than being a "ride" of sorts, it was more like a wedding reception. Only it was one princess after another in succession that you waited in line to stand by, talk to, and then take a picture with. M got to see her princesses at last! And just in time too. Not 5 minutes after we were done, all the princesses gathered up their skirts and left. The attraction had closed for the day. Thank Heaven we got there in time!

I'll try to get the video upload working. M's first ride on the teacups was a blast! She kept wanting to go back over and over. And yes, she LOVED It's a Small World! You know, it's not half bad either when you're with a 4 year old who is having a great time!

What I didn't enjoy was the price of food there. OUCH!!! Seriously?! $5.00 for a 1/4 cup of macaroni and cheese that is so bad even my 4 year old won't eat it! Come on! My father and brother arrived in town around dinner time and very graciously met us outside the park with Little Caesar's Pizza. What a lifesaver!

It really was a lot of fun, especially being with my family, and their knowledge of the park and how each of their kids went out of their way to help show my daughter a great time. They are totally awesome!

The baptism was wonderful! My nephew J is quite the special boy, just so full of love and energy. It was great to be with family too. I found out that apparently everyone in the family, but I, knew about my parent's call to the Palmyra Temple mission. I'm so excited for them! We may have to go to visit the Hill Cumorah Pageant next year.

Aside from a few tantrums, we really had a wonderful week, and it was sad when it came time to fly home. REALLY sad (did I already mention tantrums?) ;) Thank you Art and Julie for putting us up for the week. You have a wonderful family, and we can't wait to see you all again.

Ballet Recital

Princess M had her first ballet recital on Friday. She's had so much fun with ballet the past couple months and was thrilled to perform on stage for everyone. Unfortunately, Alex had to leave town for a business trip, so he didn't get to see her dance. I commissioned my brother John to come and record the performance on my flip camera. He graciously agreed and even picked up a bouquet of flowers for me to give to her after the performance. As luck would have it, the ushers forced him to stop recording 10 seconds into the dance. Apparently they were selling videos of the recital outside. Well, since I was not about to pay a ton of money to buy a 3 hour video, just to see my daughter dance for 2 minutes, I had Princess M do a second performance of her dance at home afterwards, which we recorded. I discovered that you can't turn my flip for a tall shot and just turn the video in editing; so please excuse the sideways shots. (You live, you learn.) Enjoy the video:

Oops

I just realized the video of Princess M singing didn't load correctly when I posted last. I updated last week's post and it should play now.

Love at First ... Sound?

Yes, it's true. I've fallen in love. (Alex, I hope you're not too jealous.) I didn't mean to; I wasn't looking for it. It just happened.

In a way, it's Alex's fault. He just had to sing 4 little words tonight, "Somewhere over the rainbow." It wasn't even what he meant to sing, since I had just been talking about the new lullaby that I sang to M tonight from that classic film, "An American Tale." Yep, he meant to sing "Somewhere Out There," but then again he mixes his songs alot; and I love him for it.

Well, his mixup got me to thinking that "Somewhere over the Rainbow" would be a great lullaby too; and I already knew most of the words. And not too long ago I heard a acoustic jazz version (Nora Jones like) of the song that I just LOVED, but I couldn't remember the artist. So of course I had to get on the Internet and google it.

That's when it happened. I found a forum talking about several of the different people who have recorded that song. WOW! I had no idea so many people have done a version of Judy Garland's classic. In fact, did you know that it has been deemed the undisputed BEST movie song of all time? And in WWII, along with "White Christmas" it was determined to be the song that best represented the United States? Interesting... back to the forum.

There I was browsing some of the artists mentioned; thinking, "No, it wasn't Jamaican... No, it wasn't a guy... No, it wasn't Cher... Wait... Eva Cassidy...now there's a name it just might have been." I found a Youtube video made to her song and began to listen. Although it wasn't the exact version I was looking for; it was the same style, and most excellently done. Incredibly done, in fact; and that's it. I fell in love. There were a whole bunch of Youtubes done of some of her other songs, and the more I listened, the more she has climbed to one of my very favorite artists. (You should look up her rendition of "Danny Boy". WOW! I'm listening to it now, and I've got goosebumps. In fact, hold on.. I have to listen... I'll be right back.)

Ok, it's done. I can continue...

I'm a pretty focused person. I came from an intensely focused family. We Sherwoods are great at getting things done, because once we start, it's very, very, hard to stop before it's completely done. However this intense focus has a few drawbacks too. I can't multitask worth anything (don't get me talking while I'm driving a car); and "Just a minute... I'm almost done" could really mean 3 more hours. (You know, we honestly believe it's only going to be just a few more minutes... it's amazing how fast those hours fly when you're so focused.)

And yet, there are a couple songs out there that speak so completely to my soul, that I have to stop whatever I'm doing, close my eyes, and just listen, and feel my soul swell as I drink in the beauty of the music. Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata," The Mormon Tabernacle Choir's "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing," Sarah Brightman/Andrea Boccelli's "Time to Say Goodbye" and her "Pie Jesu." Those immediately jump to mind. This version of "Danny Boy" may just have joined those ranks for me.

I would place her sound in my untrained ear as similar in style to Nora Jones(I love Nora!) and yet a little more pure in tone like Sarah Brightman (I love Sarah too). Not that she's new in any way. I think I read that she died young in the late 90's. It's just that I'm now discovering her music for the first time; and yes, I'm in love. (I really would love a cd... hint...hint...Alex)

My Parents are joining the Blogging World!

My sister just posted this, but for those of you who may be interested, but don't follow her blog, I'm announcing it again. My parents are preparing for a mission and have decided to start a blog for those of us who would like to follow them in their adventure. Check it out at http://topoftheforest.blogspot.com/

I'm excited to see where they will be called to serve.

Isn't it truly amazing what we are able to do these days to keep in touch? How very exciting it will be to follow a missionary couple through their sorrows and joys, successes and disappointments, and in their journey doing the Lord's work. My Dad has often told me that he wished he could be a fly on the wall and watch as I went through many of my life experiences. Now we really can, in a small way, participate through these instant media available to us.

This will be my Dad's 2nd mission and my Mom's 1st. I really hope they will write regularly despite all the time constraints of missionaries. What a fantastic living journal this would be. In any case though, I just know they will be fantastic missionaries. Whatever mission they get sent to will be very lucky to have them!

Oh, for reliable technology!

So a while back our camera stopped downloading. After a while we figured out it was the memory card. So we bought a new one, and yeah, we had success downloading again... to Alex's computer. But when I tried to save them to my computer, the new card froze up my entire screen...permanently. Had to remove the card and hard shut down my computer; every time. Meanwhile, we've been taking pictures, having fun things I want to blog about, and even specifically taking pictures just for the blog; but have not figured out how to conveniently get them to my computer for uploading to the blog. I tell you what, when I do get the system working again (need to buy a new card...again) then I'm going to have one long post to upload. Here's one recent event I'll throw out while we all wait. Last Friday was our ward's talent show and Princess M decided after we got there that she wanted to get up and sing a song for the ward. She was thrown on the program at the last second to get up and sing a cute little song that her Grandma Lynda taught her, "Sing a Song of Sixpence." It was really adorable, and she did a really great job, all by herself up there on stage (she's fearless!) Well since we hadn't planned on this performance, we of course, did not have a camera or my new flip with me. A great big thank you to the Mullis's for posting a bunch of pictures of the talent show on their blog, so I was able to get a picture of the event! (Thank goodness I brushed her hair before going to the ward activity!) Although I don't have a recording of the talent show performance, I do have a video of her singing the same song for an ecard to her Grandma Lynda. Enjoy!

A Quick note before bed

Has it really been an entire month since I last posted anything? I guess so. I've actually taken several pictures in that time that I intended to post and blog about, but then I had some issues with my computer reading my new memorycard, and then I just got swamped with work. Things have finally let up a little, and I just had a really sweet bedtime with my oldest daughter.

Usually bedtime ends up in an arguement and threats on what will happen if she gets out of bed one more time... but not tonight. We had a pajama party tonight after putting the baby to bed. We pulled out the old foot spa and gave each other pedicures and watch a cute movie together. Then after the usual bedtime routine, we read a couple fairy tales together (red riding hood and jack & the beanstock) and had the sweetest little talk about what she's going to do when she grows up and gets married. Apparently when she marries Prince A (another little 4 year old in our ward) he's going to build her a house right next to mine so she can still come visit me with her kids, and it's all going to be up on a hill. Oh and she's asked me to go talk to his mother about it, because they are going to be moving to Alaska soon and she wants him to know that she's going to marry him.

And then she said goodnight and just went to sleep. No fights or anything. It was really a time to treasure.

I'm very grateful tonight. Gratefull for my beautiful and sweet daughters. Grateful for the priveledge of being their mother. Grateful for the quiet, sweet moments that we can share when I'm not too worried about getting back to work. Grateful that we'll be going to the airport in the morning to pick up my wonderful husband; I've missed him so. Grateful that Banana Girl did so well on her first day in nursery today. Grateful that she's old enough to go to nursery. And grateful for little girly giggles that come so easily from both of my girls when I take the time to be a good mother.

We have our challenges just like everyone else, but really... Life is Great! and I'm grateful.