Dancing....WithTheStars!

This week, we had American week. So all of the dances were to patriotic songs and there was a whole lot of red, white and blue. Ironically, there were several sambas which was a but funny as it's a Brazilian dance but it worked. I like the theme weeks. They kind of fit all of the dances together so they're more like parts of a cohesive whole. Plus, they tend to reign in some of the excessive sexiness. More often then not, the rumbas this season have been more sweet than sultry. It's nice to be able to watch a rumba without feeling like I'm peeking in a bedroom window.

Here are some of the dances that jumped out at me:

Romeo and Chelsea: He was so cute in his little tux. Between that and the music, I kept thinking of Fred Astaire. Watching him dance just makes me smile.

Hines and Kym: I like Hines and think it's funny that his cheering section has those yellow towel thingys. Costume wise, I think dress whites are sharp but Kym's fringe ensemble seemed a bit (or a lot) much. His rumba was sweet and I was really impressed by his hips.

Kirstie and Maks: John Travolta cracks me up and their dance cracked me up. Seriously, an American flag on his side with leather pants? Hilarious. Personality wise, they could be my favorite couple.

Chelsea and Mark: Samba pants crack me up, they look so fun to wear. Chelsea really knows how to move her body. I've often wondered about the celebrities who can't wiggle their hips (the women anyway). That's pretty much how I dance. They (Chelsea and Mark that is) look like they have a lot of fun with their dances and it's great to watch.

I haven't seen the results yet so let me just say, I think I'm done with Kendra and Petra. Either of them could go and I would be ok with that.

Woo Hoo?

Jason got a job. (Yeah!) It's in Honolulu. (Fun!) It's only part time. (Bummer) It should become full time soon. (Shwewsh) We have no idea when. (Annoying) When it does, we will be moving there. (Exciting and Sad) In the meantime, Jason is commuting so he will fly up there for three days then fly back. (Boo!)

As you can see, we are experiencing a whole range of emotions.

A Day at the Park

One day in CA when it had stopped raining we all went to the park.

This park was put in a few years ago and I'm always amazed at how fun it is. It was definitely not here when I was in school.

Anna didn't really like the merry go round when it got going. I'm kind of surprised there is one since they are usually considered not safe. A friend told us of a time when he was little and got stuck under the old merry go round at this park (it was much bigger). Apparently they aren't safe.

Wanting to go down together.

Never mind. It looks a lot steeper from up here. She never would go down that slide. She's discovering fear which I guess is a good thing but can be a bit annoying.

The monkey bars are ok though.

Jason trying to keep himself off the ground.

Facing off.

It was great to get out of the house and play.

Trip to California

About a week ago we got back from a trip to California. We went because my little brother got sealed in the Oakland temple (woo hoo!) and ended up staying for three weeks. We had a lot of fun and were sad, and slightly surprised that it went by so fast, when it was time to go home.

Here's a rundown of what we did:

The sealing. Here they are leaving the temple. Talk about a couple of fun people. To read more about it, check out my sister's blog.

Froze to death in the rain. Story: as we were driving up to Oakland, it was raining really hard and the car we were borrowing needed new windshield wipers. We stopped to buy new ones but did not know how to take the old ones off, it didn't have a little release lever like ours does. By the time we figured out that you just push it off, our fingers were so numb we could only get it off with the help of a screwdriver.

Played at the park and visited the beach. Posts to come because we actually remembered our camera for these ones.

Jason and Dave put recessed lighting into Hilary and Dave's kitchen. Hilary and I chatted. It looks awesome but we didn't seem to take any pictures. I'll put a link to Hilary's blog when she posts about it.

We helped Jason's sister pack up for her move to Texas. It was a late night but we were able to get her off and she got there safely. We were bummed that we couldn't spend more time with her but on the plus side, she gave me her Kohl's cash and I bought a bunch of new jewelry.

I got my hair cut. I was able to get it from Kristen's neighbor (who is awesome) through a silent auction to raise money for girls' camp. That day I had Kristen and Hilary take my picture since it will never look that cute again.

Anna getting ready to race in Grandma's apron as a dress.

Anna had a ball playing with her cousins and other grandparents. It took a couple of days for Anna to really warm up to my parents and grandpa but by the time we left, they were her good friends. She even got to be good friends with Grandpa's nurse Crystal.

Dancing....WithTheStars!

I love this show and lately I've boon feeling a need to discuss so I have decided to discuss it on my blog. I don't know if I will do it every week but at least some.

This season has been fun. When they first announced the people, I didn't really know them (other than Kirstie Alley and Ralph Macchio, but only after I saw that he was the Karate Kid). Now I not only know them but now I even have opinions on their dances.

Last night, they had Classical Night. They had a 42 piece orchestra, an opera singer, and a famous violinist. I loved the music. Each song was a favorite. Putting the dances together was really different for the professional dancers because they often choreograph to the word. Since they couldn't do that this time, they had to focus the stars on the music. Also, the beat isn't as obvious in classical music. It turned out well and I liked them all, for the most part.

Now onto the dances. Chelsea and Mark were interesting and it really worked with the music but I have to agree with Len that all of the magic stuff kind of detracted from the dance. Of course I love the Viennese Waltz and like it to be more traditional. All of the Paso Dobles were interesting to the different music and it seemed to work. Sugar Ray and Anna were funny in their kind of tongue in cheek routine. I don't think I'll ever forget the sight of Sugar Ray in the bright blue ballet tights. Kirstie and Maks have been an interesting couple to watch. I don't know if it's a difference in Maks or if Kirstie just doesn't let him get to her but he seems a lot nicer this season. Amazingly, they look like they have fun working together. Their dance was pretty good too, even if her shoe did come off. At least she had that time on the floor to put it back on.

I don't know that I have an opinion about who should go home today. The past two eliminations, I had people that I wanted to leave but then they did so this time we'll just have to wait and see.

Tootsie Roll Sunflowers

The day we went to California, we had our ward Relief Society birthday dinner. I was sad I had to miss it but was excited to be seeing family. In an effort to contribute to the evening (the presidency wouldn't let me make food in advance) I volunteered to make the centerpieces.

For Christmas, I got these books from my mom for making candy or fruit or cookie bouquets. We decided to go with a candy sunflower.

I found it didn't take as long to make as I would have thought, I made 7 while watching 4 movies. Here's how to make it.

Take a 2 1/2 inch styrofoam ball and with an exacto knife, cut a slit, about 1/2 inch deep, in it going all the way around the ball. Then attach tootsie rolls with straight pins. I found it worked best to go in concentric circles starting from the outside and working in.

I did just one side of the ball but you can do both sides if you want. With this size ball, it took about 12 oz of tootsie rolls per flower.

Next comes the cellophane. I cut 10 inch squares of yellow cellophane, 7 per flower. Pinching it in the middle, form a loop with your other hand and slide the looped fingers along the cellophane to gather it. With a butter knife, poke the pointed end of the cellophane into the cut. I used a touch of tacky glue to make sure it stayed.

For the stem I used a 3/16 inch wooden dowel and painted it green. I also painted the back of the styrofoam ball green.

To assemble, I put a block of styrofoam into a 4 inch pot. Since the pot tapers at the bottom, Jason cut the bottom of the foam so it was triangular and wedged it into the pot putting the cut off parts on the side to keep the foam block from wiggling. In putting the dowel into the styrofoam I found that it worked better if it wasn't straight up and down but angled one way. Handy since that's the way it wanted to go anyway. Then I put the flower on the top, angled up a little so it didn't topple over. I sent some Easter grass to cover the green foam for a more finished look. Tie a ribbon around the pot for decoration and it's done.

Jason cracks me up