Daughter Date to the Dancing Princesses

Last night Halle and I attended the Spokane Youth Ballet's performance of The Dancing Princesses.

I have been wanting to take Halle to a ballet for some time now. I vividly remember the first ballet I saw. I was 10 years old, I was living in England, it was Sleeping Beauty, and it was a school field trip. My memories are a swirl of beautiful emotion seeing music alive through movement. I was completely enthralled. I remember getting books about ballet from the library afterwards and trying to practice all the steps and moves in the illustrations. But I quickly realized I would never be a dancer - just an appreciator.

I was very nervous about the whole ordeal. I've never really spent money on entertainment before (except date nights with my hubby). I hate driving into downtown Spokane and I really, really loath finding parking. But all went well!!! No getting lost, no accidents, and I found a great parking spot - totally free.

Halle and I had a small walk in the rain and had fun avoiding all the ginormous puddles accumulated on the sidewalks and crosswalks. Our seats were great. Pretty close - where we could really see the stage, and a little off to the side. There were mostly kids and moms seated around us. Just one dad to be seen in our little section. Just one 6'5" dad with the biggest, broadest head you have ever seen. And who was he sitting in front of? Me of course. Luckily his little kid was sitting in front of Halle and she had a great view. My view was great as long as leaned to the left or right of the BIG HEAD! I had stuffed our coats under Halle to help give her a boost up in her seat - I should have brought a couple more so that I could have had a boost too.

The dancers, costumes, and back drops were fantastic. Especially cute were a bunch of 3 to 4 year olds running around in overly sparkly fairy costumes. The funnest part for me though was to turn and face my daughter and watch her face. She was completely engaged - every story line and emotion written on her face. I hope she had a great of a time as I did and that this will be one of those memories she will cherish for ever.

Hello 2011

It is a brand new year. I'm excited for so many changes and have a ton of goals - which I am really, really, really going to obtain this year. One of course - is to keep up on my blogging.

I really want this year to count as a good one because it is my last year to be in my 30's. Yes, that big old 40 will be sneaking up on me before I know it - and I want to be fabulous before I hit that number.

Another big inspiration was the Relief Society lesson that I taught yesterday on keeping the Sabbath day holy. I am really good from refraining from things that I should not be doing - but I really haven't made it a wonderful and joyful and sanctified day. So yesterday I shared my lesson with my kids and we talked about how we can make our Sundays better - especially now that church is in the morning and we have the whole rest of the day. We set a goal to scrapbook/journal every Sunday, read from the Friend, write letters to missionaries and family members and have quiet time (so mom can take a nap!). I would also really like to incorporate some service into our Sundays - I still need to think about what we can do to help others as a family (so any ideas - pass them on!).

I have also realized how very quickly little toddlers turn into children and then tweens. I want to devote much more time to my family - the time is really counting down until they leave the nest.

I've also started on some fix-it projects around the house and am finally getting ready to actually decorate the house that we have now lived in for 9 years. Yes, I'm a little slow on some things - but I am getting there.

So hello New Year - I've got a lot planned for you this year. Wahooooo!!!!!!!