Panoramic Tribute

Today was the 8th grade class panoramic photo.  Taylor and some of her friends made these shirts as a nice tribute to Mrs. Graesser.  She was their Vice Principal last year and passed away in a tractor accident at her family farm.  She is deeply missed and I love that they decided to honor her in this way!

CJSF Field Trip

Olivia, Taylor, Mandy and Alexa

Taylor had a very long, but fun day on her CJSF field trip today.  I dropped her off at the bus at 6:45am for the drive to the Museum of Tolerance in LA.  They toured the museum, learning about the Holocaust and even meeting a Holocaust survivor. They learned about prejudice and discrimination historically and today.
Then they were back on the bus for a tour of the UCLA campus.  They got a campus tour, visited the bookstore/gift shop and had some time to walk around.  With college only four years away, I hope this will at least get her thinking about what she needs to do to go where she would like to go.
It was a long drive home through rush hour traffic and a quick dinner stop at McDonald's before I picked her up at 8:30pm.  I think she was just happy to miss a day in the classroom!

Fiddler on the Roof Jr.

 After four busy days with five performances, the cast said goodbye to Fiddler on the Roof, Jr.  I watched it twice and was blown away by the talent of these young performers and really hope Allison has found something else to love!

 

She sure loved performing with her best buddy Reanna...doesn't she make the cutest little son? :) Between soccer practices and games and play practice and shows, these two have spent nearly every day together since September!!

 She also loved seeing familiar faces in the audience.  On Friday night, she saw her teammate Augustina and at Saturday's matinee, she was thrilled to see Lorien from school and Isabella from soccer.  I even saw her teacher, Mrs. McBride, but she left before we could get a photo.

 Saturday night, Kate and her kids were there to show support and Carson even said to Allison, "That was the best show I have ever seen"!
Pretty good coming from a kindergartner.
Allison will enjoy the next few months off, but I know she will be thrilled to join the cast of Annie in the fall!

Becoming

Last night, Taylor and I attended the Becoming Brave Girl's Conference at Rancho Community Church.  It is a 2-day conference for middle school and high school aged girls and the purpose of Becoming is to enlighten girls to who they are becoming in life. 

We sat with Rachel and her girls, Isabelle and Sophie, Lauren and Erin and her daughter, Emma.  We loved the worship time together and the dancers from Dunamix.
Julianna gave a wonderful talk on the differences of Mary and Martha in scripture and how they were both equally loved by God.  She made clear to the girls that they are each individually knitted and created to be who they are and they shouldn't waste time trying to be someone else.
We laughed along with the Q & A Men's Panel, as girls texted in questions...mostly about relationships, dating, insecurities, etc.
There was a delicious candy bar and popcorn/drink station and they played the movie "Brave" to finish off the night.
Isabelle and Lauren spent the night at our house and the girls are looking forward to another full day of guest speakers, a fashion show, activities and shopping!

Opening Night

After months of rehearsals, tonight was finally Opening Night for  Fiddler on the Roof Jr. at the Old Town Temecula Community Theater!

Leslie and I dropped off our performers at 5:30 for their call time and took the big girls out to dinner at Rosa's before the show.

Reanna, Allison and Faith were so excited to do this production together and have been great friends throughout the whole experience.  They have practiced every Tuesday and Thursday from 4-6 and have spent long hours at the theater this week for the dress rehearsals.

Faith and Allison both got roles as daughters and Reanna got the role of a son and a bottle dancer.

 They did an amazing job and I know Allison has loved the experience...from the rehearsals, to the singing and dancing, having a dressing room and learning from some very talented performers and instructors...it has been a truly blessed activity for her.

After the show, they were spoiled with flowers, hugs from Chip and Teresa who came to watch and lots of wonderful praises.  They will have another show Friday night, 2 on Saturday and the final matinee on Sunday.  Matt and I are excited to see it together on Sunday and I think they will see some familiar faces in the audience for all of the shows!

Proud Owner

Taylor is officially the proud owner of an iPhone 4S!  After months of begging, pleading, hoping and praying, I think she feels her life is COMPLETE! Apparently she is the last kid in middle school to get one (not buying that at all).
She has been asking since the start of the school year and we made a deal that she needed to get all A's this semester and really be a help around the house. She held up her end of the bargain, so we held up ours and she couldn't be happier...hard work actually does pay off!

People's Choice Awards #3

This morning we were off on our annual trip to the People's Choice Awards.  We met at Joy's after dropping the kids off at school and loaded in the minivan (just another sign of our age)!

 We had a nice lunch at Yard House and then made the long walk down to the check in area.  We passed the front of the Nokia theater and the set up for the red carpet along the way.

 Although we are one good-looking group of ladies (wink), we sure felt like the oldies this year.

 Once inside the theater, 5 of us were placed in these seats.  It was the holding area for the seat fillers. A few others (no names mentioned) broke the rules and found their own seats down front.

 Soon enough, Wendy and I moved from this spot to the 4th row!  We were 3 rows behind Taylor Swift, Jennifer Aniston and Sandra Bullock and 2 rows behind Heidi Klum. Jason Aldean was sitting in the next aisle over which is where we then were moved after a few commercial breaks.  When we turned around Paris Hilton, was sitting right behind us!

I thought we had good seats, but not nearly as good as Jenn, Erika and Chrissie.  They were in the front row for several awards, sitting in between Jennifer Aniston and

Taylor Swift!  They had to move when Sandra Bullock took her seat, but found another front row spot a few sections down and were plastered all over the tv!

 I ended up getting booted back to the holding area for the last 40 minutes of the show, but not before getting up close for Jason Aldean's awesome performance.

 We had a great night and this show never disappoints.  It's kind of fun pretending to be a Hollywood socialite, at least for one night a year!!

Arsenal FC Winter Classic

 Ashley, Taylor and Maylie were asked to "guest" for the GU13 Black team this weekend in the Arsenal FC Winter Classic.  They have some injuries on their team and needed a little help.

 The girls had a great weekend...winning 5-0, 4-0 and 3-1 to advance to the championship.

 By 2:15 on Sunday afternoon, we were almost frozen solid on the sidelines, but the championship games was a heated battle between the Hawks and Canyon FC.  I think our team took about 40 shots on goal and completely dominated the game, but just couldn't find the net.
After a double overtime still at 0-0, we unfortunately lost in penalty kicks.

 We saw this beautiful rainbow during the awards ceremony

and the girls walked away with a 2nd place finish in the tournament!

Happy 50th Teresa!

 Chip and Teresa have been our sweet and wonderful neighbors for the past 9 years and we were so sad to have them move away in October.  But tonight we got to help Chip pull off his 50th Birthday surprise for Teresa at Longshadow Ranch Winery.

She thought she was just going there for a quick glass of wine before dinner and was shocked to see a room full of family and friends there to help he celebrate with wine tasting and dinner!

Happy Birthday to a dear friend!!

Movin' On Up

Matt found out this morning that he got the GET (Gang Enforcement Team) Sergeant spot at his station!  He has been working in the office for the past few months and was really anxious to get back out "on the streets".  He is thrilled to get a take-home car again, he is happy about his new hours and really likes the guys that will be working for him.
This his is 3rd position in just over a year and it is clear that his hard work is paying off.  Way to Go Matt!!

103

These two best buddies just spent every minute of the last 103 hours together!!  They missed each other so much while we were out of town last week.  Leslie would text me saying Reanna missed "her Allie" and Allison said to me, "I just don't feel complete without her".  So sweet!
In their 103 hours together, they went ice skating twice, had 4 sleepovers, played restaurant, made homemade bubblegum, had Mexican Train domino marathons and rang in 2013!

Ringing in 2013

 We continued our tradition of Game Night to ring in the new year.  The Lebitski's brought some pizzas for dinner and we had a great family battle of Spoons.

 Nice "duck face" Matt!

 Leslie and I played Mexican Train Dominoes with Allison and Reanna

 and Taylor and Lauren played Super Mario Bros on the Wii.

 At 11:55pm, we got the sparkling cider and hats ready, while watching the countdown on TV.

 At midnight, they all blew their horns

 and popped the poppers all over the family room.

2012 was a great year for our family with lots of memories to cherish, but we are looking forward to a happy, healthy and blessed 2013!!