Gotta Love the Costco

Well I think it is official, Costco is one of the best stores ever. I just took a ton of my photo negatives over to Costco and they put them on a CD for me. They can fit up to 40 negative strips for the cost of the CD. So I paid a total of $2.99 for each CD of negatives. Pretty dang cool in my mind. So I thought I would add some pictures of the mission. Here are some favorites.

Yard Work!!

I know the thought of sprinklers is great right? But when you tell someone you are putting them in they say, "ooohhhh", the "been there done that" expression! Well needless to say we are right in the middle of a yard makeover!! We are going to be killing everything in our backyard, and putting hydroseed down.....that is after we get the sprinkers in. I obviously would like to be done with this, but the weather hasn't exactly been cooperating lately. NO MORE SNOW PLEASE!!!

The Water Main Hole!!

Right in the middle of our front yard, pretty.

Spring Semester is pretty much over for me. I have another vocal jury on Friday, the 18th. Summer Semester starts on the 30th; but from here on out the rest of my classes will be easy!

Other great news, my Grandpa Keiser turned 100 years old on April 10th!! What an awesome man!! He has always said he wanted to live to be 100, and now that he is, he is asking what he should do now!

My Cute Grandpa Keiser

Also.......with our new 3 year old, comes the expected POTTY TRAINING!! Fear may grip your mind and heart..............but we have had success! Ali is doing very well, and is so excited to tell everyone she goes pee-pee in the toilet! Love that girl.

Yeah for Ali!

Adam is crawling!

Scouts & Birthdays

Last Friday Joseph recieved a really neat scouting award. He recieved the District Award of Merit. It is the highest award that a District in scouting can give. It was pretty cool. He had no idea he was getting it until that night. He did say that when when my parents showed up he started to get an idea since there would be no reason for them to be there if he wasn't getting anything. But it was really neat, we had his sisters stay in the hall with the kids until they were announcing his award. They snuck in and screamed like crazy for him. He enjoyed it I think. He got the award with another lady from our ward who has also done a lot to help the boys. And yes, for some reason he has a beard again. The very next day Joseph helped with scouting for food where our local district filled two full semi trucks with food.

Additionally we had another birthday in the family. Ali is now 3 years old. coming up to her birthday, Joseph and I would ask what she wanted and all she would say was PINK. So for her birthday she got PINK. Everything was pink. Thanks to the neighbor, Ali had a completely pink birthday with pink cake, pink ice cream, pink plates, pink mac and cheese, pink juice etc. It was really quite cute.

It's Been A While!! Sorry!

Time has quickly passed by without any updates. We are sorry. The hectic semester for me (Lindsey) is now in the past. I am on to much calmer semesters until I am done. After Spring Semester, going down twice a week, I will only need to go down once a week, for a voice lesson. My life is slowly getting back to normal. (Whatever normal is!) Joseph is still doing an awesome job at being the man he is, and busy being scout master! This summer is already being schedualed with a lot of camping.

This year everyone will turn a year older. Adam will be 1!! Can you believe it?! Ali will be 3, Reese will be 6, Anna will turn the big 8! That makes me feel old......it will be my big 30 this year! EEEKKKK!

Spring is going to bring a lot of yard work. We are going to attempt sprinklers and seed or sod. But it is going to be great! We'll keep you updated this time! Spring also means planting flowers and a garden! Last year my father in law transplanted some iris in our backyard, and I didn't have a water hose long enough to reach them, and then just forgot about them. He made a comment that I was the only he knew of that could kill iris.........but wait!! They live! I am excited for more flowers to plant!

Fun Times are ahead!

Finally!!

I DID IT!!!

I am now in Advanced Vocal Instruction!

I had my Vocal Jury today, and sang the French song Diraiton, mentioned in the previous posting. Afterwards the compliments that I received were that it "melted their hearts"...one teacher asked if I spoke French....that it was warm and beautiful!!!! And then she said that I passed, into the Advanced level!!!!

YEAH!!

This is a huge relief for me, and now I am that much closer to graduating!

I also am able to do independent studies for the rest of my electives, so I won't have to go down to UVSC except on Fridays for piano and voice. This is greatly anticipated after going down every other day since May. Now I just have a final on Monday, and one on Wednesday, and then I am done for the semester! Welcomed relief!

Thank You for those who thought of me today, it was very beneficial!

Lindsey Sings into our Hearts

Well since this is going to take a while to upload, I thought I would tell you about it. I know that you will just see it and I really don't need to explain this. The video that we loaded is of Lindsey's recital. For those of you who don't know, she is studying Music at UVSC and will end up with a degree in music very soon. This was a small recital where she sang two songs. The participants varied in all levels of music and it ended up being a very enjoyable evening.

Lindsey first sang a French song followed by this song from the Messiah. I will just let you listen. I really enjoyed hearing her tonight, and have asked her to sing more. I usually hear her sing with her sisters, and it was nice to hear how beautiful her voice is as a soloist.

She has her vocal jury in a week, which will tell her if she can move into the advanced vocal instruction. This is a big thing, so remember her next Friday, December 7th at 10:45 am. Please do not call her as she will be singing and it will really mess her up if you do. I am sure you understand. Thanks.

Happy Birthday Great Grandma

We just got home from visiting Lindsey's grandparents, where we celebrated her grandmother's 93rd birthday. It was a short and simple visit, we got some pictures and had some treats, and got to visit with cousins. We also got to try out our new camera. So far, I really like the pictures, and we may even try a video if I feel brave. I am not sure how it will work.

Ali with her Grandmother, and Great Grandparents

Ali playing fetch with her cousin Parker. They had been doing this for some time before the video, and yes that is a real dog toy they are using.