Christmas lights!!

What a fun Thanksgiving weekend!! Last night I got to see the lights on Temple Square. It was really fun! The grounds were beautiful!! We also made it to a concert at the Tabernacle that was fabulous! I love this time of year!!

Me and Matt

I love this girl!!






I also got to see the lights turn on at the Gateway Mall this weekend following a Jon Schmidt concert. It was fun! Someone donated this HUGE pine tree that was covered in 85,000 Christmas lights! All blue and white -- probably in honor of BYU:) At any rate, I loved it!!

Wish "Granted!!!"

Today was the most incredible, rewarding day with regards to my job!!! I am so grateful and blessed to have been the lucky beneficiary of a grant that I applied for this school year from the 100% 4 Kids Foundation for $8000!!!! I will use this donation to purchase wonderful, high quality instruments for my students who cannot afford to rent an instrument, or provide one for themselves. It is amazing to me how supportive so many people are of the arts in education, and that the media would jump on the opportunity to capture this event as well. Not only did this incredible foundation donate to our cause, they also planned for David Cho from the Utah Symphony to come to one of my schools, and rehearse and perform with my students!!! This is an experience that I will always remember and cherish. And I think that my students will too! I was interviewed by Fox 13 News today, and the Salt Lake Tribune came out to take pictures as well. I love music and all the amazing opportunities it has given me throughout my life!!!

I was able to personally thank David Cho, from the UT Symphony, for coming out to my school to promote the arts in education. And he gave me a hug.

These are the fabulous people from the grant foundation. Scott, the president of 100% 4 kids, is on the right, then Hannah, Liz, and Alison-- who set up the UT Symphony and the media's appearance today, me, and my boss. I was impressed at all the effort they put into this event. What a great day!

The First Snow of the Season

I love to take pictures, and thought I would capture the first snowfall of the season. This is the view from my house. Love it!

New Computer!

This last month I purchased a brand new computer, and I love it!!! I even bought a nice office chair. It's such a great set-up. It was custom-made for me (thanks Jake :) ! I love how fast the computer runs, as well as the nice 22'' screen.

It's Autumn

I wanted to capture some pictures of the beautiful fall leaves while they are still on the trees up the canyon.

Emily's Wedding

One of my best friends got married this week!! She looked beautiful, and so happy. It was such a gorgeous day, and she had a beautiful reception. I got to be one of her bridesmaids. It was really fun!! Her flowers were just gorgeous. My bridesmaid flowers look so nice in my house.

Abigail

I love my niece Abby so much! She could not be any cuter ;) Her smiles and laughs and hugs made my day!

Abby LOVED this necklace that I brought with me. She loved putting it on and taking it off over and over again.

She is walking now, too. One night while I was playing with her, we were singing and reading books, and walking around the house. Then she started waving and saying hello to the dogs. What a cutie!

Fun with my family over UEA Break

I love October, and I love that I get a break to go do something fun. I couldn't think of anything I'd rather do more than visit my family!! So I made a visit this week to see my sister and her family. Thanks for such a great trip!

We went to the zoo while I was there, which is a beautiful facility! We had fun, even though the weather was HOT!
What a cute sister I have!

UEA Break

It was so much fun to see two of my really good friends from college, Jodi and Criscell! We met at the Temple. I love these girls! And it was fun to go out to lunch afterwards. Abby and Caysja are such adorable little girls!!

Austria and Italy pictures

pic #1: This is me standing in front of our beautiful chalet hotel in Austria. It was nestled in the middle of the Alps.
#2: My Mom and I enjoying real Italian pizza for lunch in Bolzano, Italy. We asked for lemonade, and we were so happy that what they brought us was the closest thing we had to real lemonade on our whole trip!
#3: This was my lunch in Lake Garda, Italy. I could have been happy to stay there for several days. It was a gorgeous, relaxing lake!! This was seafood with spaghetti.
#4: Also Lake Garda.

Pictures of Europe

This is me at the top of our drive through the Swiss Alps. I will always remember how beautiful and amazing that drive was!
The mountains to the left are from our drive around Lake Lucerne, Switzerland.

The other two pics are me, and my Mom and my Aunt on our cruise down the Seine river in Paris.

Favorite highlights of Europe :)

Europe was fantastic!!! I can totally recommend it to anyone to plan now for an incredible adventure over there sometime in the future. Some of the highlights for me were riding a gondola to the very top of the Stanserhorn in the Alps. As you can imagine, the view was spectacular!! Also, visiting the town of Lake Lucerne during the Yodeling Festival, and seeing people from all the 26 cantons or provinces of Switzerland wearing their traditional clothing. Also, visiting Bavarian castles, like the Neushwenstein Castle in Germany, and the Linderhof Castle, home of King Ludwig III, taking a gondola ride through the canals of Venice, seeing Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey in London, not to mention having the most perfect seats for Phantom of the Opera, and Lion King at the Theater District. I can't stop there, there's more favorite highlights, like seeing the Louvre museum and the Eiffell tower in Paris, and visiting Juliet's balcony in Verona, Italy, and trying escargo, gelato, seafood with spaghetti, and smoked eel from the Netherlands. What an incredible trip!!! I feel so blessed to have had this opportunity, and to be able to make these memories with my Mom and my Aunt.

Adorable Abigail

This is my adorable niece Abby. She loves music, being with people, and laughing. I can't believe that she's walking now!! And I get to go see her this week. Yay!!!

It's the gang!!

Here is my family! We had a family reunion this summer to celebrate my Grandma's 90th Birthday!! What a sweet, talented, funny lady!! We had such a great time being all together with everyone. We had kareoke nights, and played golf and ultimate frisbee. It was so fun we're going to do it again soon!!!