WICKED!!!!!

Michael is wonderful and surprised me with Wicked tickets as my Christmas present. We went and saw it this last Sunday and it was fabulous!!!! The performers had beautiful voices. Every time Elphaba had a solo I got the chills. Oh, it was just so magnificent. The picture to the left is before the play from our sweet seats in the Orchestra. How pimp is that dragon? (The dragon above, not the devilishly handsome dragon on my arm. Rarrrr!)
This picture to the right is during the intermission. Yes, that is me beaming! Elphaba just finished singing "Defying Gravity" and it was beyond spectacular! I love how she hovers over the stage with the lighting. Oh mann.. LOVE IT! Oh and how nice of you to notice. Yes, I am wearing green eyeshadow. Just my little homage to Wicked for the night. Good eye Blogger Reader... Good eye!

These next two pictures are from when the power went out right before the song, "For Good". Those poor girls. Elphaba grabs Glinda in the middle of their dialouge and everything goes dark! The emergency lights come on over the stage and the girls kinda stand there for a moment before testing to see if their microphones works. They don't. The crowd applauds, and the girls do an awkward little move before running off stage. They dropped the current but had everything going within 5 minutes. They recovered flawlessly and "For Good" was perfect! The first picture was taken with "no flash" the 2nd was on some kind of night setting. Whoa.... You know those girls who can make goofy faces and yet still look adorable? Yeah, I'm not that girl.

Here is the end of our magical evening. I was sad to have it over, but I will remember every moment! I feel so blessed to see such an amazing production in London and again in Salt Lake. Thank you for such a thoughtful gift Michael! I loved it!

Why how nice of you to say...

I was babysitting my brother's kids tonight and Parker (age 5) was entertained by one of his books. He is learning to read so he is very interested in sounding letters out to read them. The particular book he was reading today had pictures of animals, househould objects and kids pointing out their various body parts. He would sound out a body part, "Nnu-oh-sss. Nose. Where is your nose Chelsey?" I would point to my nose and he would do the same. He then moved on to the next part. "Mmmm..ow-thhhh. Mouth. Chelsey, where is your mouth?"
When he got down to chest I patted my chest over my heart. He likewise pats his chest and says, "My chest is small. Your chest is big Chelsey."
I can honestly say this is probably the first (and last) instance where someone has sincerely thought I was big chested. :) Mind you, it was seconds later where Parker's little sister Nannah pointed at my stomach and said, "You have a baby in your tummy."
Thanks for putting me back in my spot Nannah. :)

Swim Lessons

I have never been fond of the idea of swimming. Ever since I was a kid I just didn't quite trust being completely enveloped by water to then emerge alive and breathing.
As you can imagine, I was teased considerably (mostly be my siblings) for never learning how to swim. When I say I don't know how to swim, let me clarify that I dont know how to swim. I can't do the doggy paddle, the floating in water thing or really being submerged at all. It just plain terrifies me. I decided it might be a good idea to conquer a fear and build upon my self-esteem a little bit. After many hours of "shopping around" I signed up for swim lessons. I know... terrifying right?
Today was my first day at 7:45 on a Saturday morning! Now that's dedication! When I first got there, I'll admit I kinda questioned what I was thinking. I was first instructed to put my face under water and blow bubbles. I was pretty pleased with myself until my instructor, Ezra, said, "Let's try to go a little longer, about 10 seconds worth." Is he crazy?! I can't even say how unnatural "breathing" under water is. ::shudder:: Once I kinda got use to that, I was surprised how quickly I was able to progress. During that 1 hour I was able to float on my stomach while blowing bubbles in the water. With the assistance of a kick board I could swim on my belly blowing bubbles once again. At the very end of the lesson I was full on swimming on my back! I swam about 5 laps on my back until the session was over.
Dude, I rock! I am so proud of myself and can hardly believe it. If anyone would have told me a year ago what I would have accomplished today in such a short session I would have laughed... LAUGHED right in thier face.
So I have additional swim lessons over the next few Saturdays and I am very excited about it... although I still hope I don't die. That would be a major bummer.

I need a job...

I haven't been working since Mid November. The bills are piling up. I'm slowly but surely losing my sanity by feeling "useless" and "unproductive". My sleep schedule is COMPLETELY off. ::sigh:: Things are not looking good kids. Then to top it all off, I heard about the creme de la creme on the radio. I came straight home to check it out on the internet and it's true:
Russell Crowe along with Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush, and Nicole Kidman are part of the 2009 Australia Legends Stamp Collection. So any Australian Citizen can just walk into the post office, get a role of Russell Crowe, lick the back of him and slap him on the back (of an envelope).
So being in the United States I don't really have a need for these stamps because after all I can't use them to send mail, but let me tell you what...I. can. use. them!
This little developement just might give me that extra burst of motivation to get a job so I can buy things that I don't need, but must have!
In conclusion, if anyone knows of any available jobs please let me know. My happiness very well depends on it. If nothing else, my birthday is July 2nd. :)

Sundance 2009

This year I had the chance to attend 2 Sundance Films. The first was called Tyson which is a documentary of Mike Tyson's life. Michael and I drove up to Park City at 7:00 in the morning (Yikes!) for the premiere. Mike Tyson wasn't there for the Q&A, but the director was. It was a pretty sweet experience. The movie itself was good and I still can't believe how fast he was back in his prime! Yow! There were many interesting parts, but I loved when he talked about beating his opponent before he even got in the ring by means of confidence and intimidation. Wow, it was really something!

Tonight I went to a Salt Lake showing of Rudo y Cursi with my dear friend Kristen. It's about two brothers (played by Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna, both of which I adore!) who follow a talent scout out of their little town to play soccer in Mexico City. It was a really good show and it had us both laughing and oohing over Gael. Gael, I want you to want me! :) I also saw my friend Alana while we waited in line. It was good to see her again as she is plain adorable!

So although I didn't in fact see Bruce Willis or Owen Wilson at Sundance (yet again) I quite enjoyed it this year!

Sledding

Lindsey asked me to upload her pictures from her camera. Amongst the pictures are some from when our family went sledding at Sugar House Park on 12/14/2008. I couldnt' resist putting some up:

Savannah going down tummy first...

... as Kierstin watched Parker going down backwards.

Nannah on Daddy's back...

... and a close up of Parker having a blast!

Keri preparing for the ride while Lindsey and I goof it up!

Ken, Me, Lindsey, Matt, and Keri link hands hoping to survive the big hill...

SUCCESS! We made it to the bottom still connected (and in one piece) where Parker wait.

Matt, Kierstin, Lindsey, Keri, myself, Jaden, Savannah, and Parker at the end of the day.

We had so much fun and are excited for the next snowfall to go again!

Candy Land

Today I watched my brother's kids: Parker, Savannah, and Porter. We had a lot of fun today playing Candy Land!

Parker and Savannah took turns for their dinosaur friends so they could use all 4 playing pieces.

Porter enjoyed eating his Top Ramen while the kids played...

...He really enjoyed his Ramen!

Afterward I went over to my sister Lindsey's apartment to watch a cute movie we love called Two Can Play That Game (mostly due to Morris Chestnut. Yummy!) Lindsey and Travis have 4 cats in their apartment (I think Courtney would be in kitty heaven here) and I brought our dog, Sierra over. They all did very well with eachother for the most part... until Juno swatted at Sierra. All is good though, and we had so much fun tonight!!!!

Sierra (aka Monkey) and me.

Sierra is getting acquainted with Jake and Jessie.

Lindsey and Jake danced a little jig...

... before dancing with Monkey.

And this next picture makes me laugh because Jake and Jordan look like little Devil Kitties or something:

Come Play with us...