So much to be thankful for

Last year I got Josh Groban's new Christmas Album and it is amazing, there is a wonderful song that makes you think, and yes we all have so much to be thankful for.

For as long as I can remember, my mother has taken care of children in our home. We have formed amazing bonds with some of the children. Sadly for some of them they don't come from the most stable of situations, and we create some sense of stability in their lives. Last night we were informed that one of the children we used to watch a long time ago was killed in a car accident over the weekend. It is a really sad situation because his father didn't want anything to do with him and his mother was left to raise him on her own. She tried her hardest, but it was still really hard for him to fit in and get over the problems he had. He at times would cause major frustrations, but we had to just keep going and make him feel welcomed and accepted. He finally had found a place were he found his nitch, and was on his way home from playing with I think his jazz band when the accident happened.

When things like this happen I am reminded of how fragile life is. My mother is amazing and has done so much for so many. She does so much for others, and often time gets taken advantage of by others, yet she just keeps on going. I love her so much and am so thankful she is mine. Christmas is always crazy with all her many projects, but I don't think I would have it any other way.

Christmas is going to be different this year. The Ridings always have a Christmas Eve Dinner, Program and Party. We eat, do the nativity, family talent and eat dessert. This year my grandpa is in a rehab center because he broke his leg 6 weeks ago and isn't strong enough to come home yet, so christmas eve is going to be different. We are just going to gather at the rehab center for about an hour, not the 4 or 5 we normally do. I hope it will be ok, but it will be, and we will all still be together. We are very thankful for his progress so far and can't wait till he comes home.

Another thing I am thankful for are my nieces. Cali is adorable and I love to play with her. She has so much energy. Little Abby is doing great and keeps improving. They are hoping to take her off C-pap on Christmas, and just be on high flow oxygen. It is amazing how much she is growing and the progress she is making.

Merry Christmas!

Orlando here I come!

I was offered today the internship of my dreams. I am moving to florida in January to help run music festivals at Disney World. Is that not the perfect job for me? I'm so excited. I leave in less than a month, but not sure yet, since it's about a 3 day drive from az(ewwwwwwwww). Tiffany and I will probably making the drive together because she is extending her college program and going to be working photopass, which is a perfect job for her!



I think one of the things I am most excited about is that Craig Jessop is going to be one of the adjudicators for one of the festivals. How awesome is that?

Orlando Adventures

We had an awesome time in Orlando, we did a lot and got some VIP treatment along the way!

The Best free thing we got, (there were many with our great perks which we have) was going and seeing the ICE show at the Gaylord Palms resort. They are building one here in mesa, so my dad talked it up with the manager and got us free tickets. We got the star treatment. It was the first time I had ever used valet parking.


This is the coolest thing! Literally, they carve awesome sculptures from 2 million pounds of ice and keep it at 9 degrees. They give you a parka to wear inside.

They had a nativity scene made out of Ice, there is an angel that weighs 2 tons.

If you can't tell we were freezing by the time we left. We didn't think about taking gloves with us. Jill almost lost her camera when we returned our parkas, but we found it. On black friday they had a polar bear club event where people could go run through it in their swimsuits. I wonder how many people went?




Afterwards you get a free cup of hot chocolate to help you warm up again! They even had some light shows to watch. I can't wait until they build the one here and we can have the ice exhibit. We walked around the resort a little to see all the cool things it has, which there are many. After we had seen everything my dad wanted to show us we walked back to the front of the resort to fetch our car. We took our valet ticket and handed it to the lady at the window. Our keys were in a special spot, and then we looked up at saw our mini van parked out front the resort with a BMW, Lexus, Cadillac and other fancy cars. I wish I would have taken a picture of that, our car parked with all the nice ones infront of a fancy hotel. It might have made us look more white trash if I did!


Tiffany and Jill flying with dumbo

Tiffany and I posing with the "sand sculptures" of Goofy and Donald

Tiffany and Jill at Winter Summerland Mini Golf





I have been home from Orlando for a while now, but have been too busy to post, because when I got home, I went straight to rehearsals for our musical revue at school, which was last tuesday. It was an amazing show, and made a 3-day week really really long. I will post more later, it is not bedtime!

Ode to New York

Oh My Gosh! It's been a year since Emilie and I took a trip to NYC and I won my car. I can't believe how fast time has gone and how truly blessed I am to have had something so amazing happen to me. Having a brand new car with no car payments has helped me so much this year, and especially semester as I have been student teaching.

Admiring the lovely do not disturb sign in our wonderful hotel room



Emilie and I at the Skating Rink at Rockefeller Center, definitely not as big as it seems on tv!



Posing for the traditional tourist photo shot by our tour bus.



In front of the Roseland Ballroom, the reason I won the trip to NYC to go to the MTVu Woodie Awards, interesting experience and we left after 30 minutes!



Playing in Central Park, what a fun time!





In the car after I just found out I had won the car



This is my I just won a car face! I wasn't quite sure how to react, and Emilie will always make fun of me for that!

Here is a link to watch the video clip, it's crazy that it is still there. Disregard anything that maybe on this website, It is not mine, MTVu's so there may be interesting things!

http://www.mtvu.com/video/?id=1574322&vid=189006

I'm and Aunt again!

This weekend has been crazy. Kim's water broke for some reason on wednesday night, and they were able to stop the contractions and gave her the steriod shot to help the baby's lungs develop a little more. kim became a ticking time bomb and incubator just waiting till baby Abigail would come out, in either a few days or 9 weeks. It appears baby abby is just like her mom and wanted to come when she wanted to come! She arrived about 4:30 this morning and weighed 1 pound 14.9 ounces. My mother said her color is really good and she had her eyes wide open. She was only about 26 weeks along so we are going to have to wait and see how it goes. She was supposed to stay in for 2 more weeks until we get back from Disney World!

From the Mouth of Babes

My life is crazy. Every time I go to write a new post I want to start off by saying what a crazy week it was, because they all have been. This week just added to the craziness of it all! Thursday Mom, Dad, Kim and I went down to Thatcher to watch Marilee in Fall Sing. It was great fun, my sister is amazing (watch out broadway!)but i hate the quick trips down there, we got home at 12:15 am yuck!




But that is when we had to go because friday night was Mesa High's homecoming and my parents were asked to be the alumni guests, and my niece was the adorable little girl that got to carry the crown to the new homecoming queen. Then my mom had 2 weddings that weekend and not to mention homecoming flowers.
here is my cousin Ashley struttin her stuff at homecoming.


My niece Cali is so adorable, and her cousin Kaylee came to the football game with her to play. My parents and Cali headed over to where they needed to be for half time and I was left sitting by my sister in law Chelsey's family. Little Kaylee then asked me if I was a kid or a grown up, I told her I was a grown up, and that I was the same age as Aunt Chelsey. She then asked if I was a mom. I told her no, and that wasn't enough of an answer for her, so she asked why not? I really didn't know what to say and so then Anita, chelsey's mom throws in that I hadn't found a dad yet. Kaylee then wanted to know why. I just haven't found one yet. She then pointed to some boy sitting in the stands, and said there is a boy. I told her that I have to find one I like, not just any boy. I wish it were that easy to find a "dad" it would make my life so much easier!

Cali and I hanging out at the ball game

That is story 1 about out of the mouth of babes, the other happened the next day, my sister's friend came over to have my mom do something and brought her kids. The older one saw the skitters in the hallway and was very curious as to what they are and how they work, so I took it outside to show him. If you don't know what a skitter is, they are the funnest toy for "bigger" kids and little kids, google it, they are so much fun. So my dad had just planted our winter grass and you know what that means, fertilizer! As we were driving by he said, "it stinks like cow poop" I replied, yes it does. A little later he wanted to know who pooped on the grass, how did it get there? It was so funny. Kids say the darnedest things!

Only two weeks till I fly out to Florida! I am so excited and ready for a vacation, especially a Disney at Christmas time one!

Another One Bites the Dust!

Again, I had another busy week, surprise surprise! My mentor teacher was gone for 3 days while she took her son up to the MTC. It was a really good learning experience for me. It was a little nerve racking, just for one day because while she was gone there was the District Secondary Choral Festival, and since my teacher was gone I got to be incharge and take our top girls to the festival. I was really nervous leading up to tuesday since I would be directing at the Mesa Arts Center in the gorgeous Ikeda theater, and in front of some big name choir teachers in the district. I survived and the girls did an amazing job. It was a wonderful experience for all us, and we learned so much.



Then this week, Lindsay and I bid farewell to our dear friend Kelly, who decided to ditch us and get married. We will miss our trips to Streamers with her, but I guess settling down is more important! Her reception was fun. She is in to reenacting, and so is her dashing new husband (who actually owns a top hot, how many people do you know that owns one?), and historical stuff, and so her dad totally incorporated that into the wedding video. They met at "This is the Place Park" where he is a tin smith (one of 13 in the country), and they did some filming there, it was great, and then they did some old fashioned dancing, it was so fun to watch. Their getaway vehicle was amazing, her dad works for the mesa fire department, so he was able to arrange getting the old fashioned fire truck for them. When I got home I told my dad that I want that, and since he is the vice mayor I think he has ways to arrange that for me, and so he informed me that I only have 2 years left, so I really need to start working on that! Afterward we went to Streamers to celebrate. We go so often the owner remembers us, it is so sad. Someday we will take a boy with us, because it is great fun.





Also this week was my sister Kimberly's Birthday. I made a totally awesome cake for her. She loves the piano, and so her cake was piano themed. I saw some cakes where they had taken white chocolate kit kats for the white keys and regular ones for the black keys of the piano. I wanted to do that, but I couldn't find any white kit kats, so my mom came up with the awesome idea to dip sugar wafer cookies into white chocolate. It turned out so cute, and delicious, but really rich because of all the white chocolate.