A sneak peek of Broadway's...The Lion King!

Making its debut in Salt Lake City next summer is...The Lion King! Can I tell you how excited I am, oh man! Well a few weeks ago, my mom brought in her mail and opened a letter with the emblem above on the card. It was an invitation to a preview of the show. I was shocked as to why she received the invite. I'm the one who cares about it! The invitation said she was allowed to bring one other person and I was determined to be that one. No one else in the family fought me on this, so I was able to go! So today we showed up to the preview, checked in, and found ourselves treated to a small gourmet bar before the show began. My mom and I were so shocked, we don't know how we ever got invited to it. We felt like royalty, and if we drank we would've enjoyed the bar, I guess! :) But we grabbed our free water bottle and took our seat.

The President of Broadway Across America in Utah came out and educated us on the history of putting The Lion King on Broadway. It was so interesting! He then showed us a video showing Julie Taymor, the genius behind it all, and how she created the masks, props, etc! The preview included three broadway cast members who flew in to perform 4 numbers including "Shadowland", "Can you feel the Love Tonight", "The Circle of Life", and "Endless Night". It was so awesome, a little taste of broadway just for us! The lady who plays Rafiki was dressed up in the entire costume! And...I think it was the same woman I saw play Rafiki in NYC! So you can pretty much imagine me on cloud nine! Right?

Oh man, and then to top off the night, they told us they had goodie bags for us as we leave the theatre. Well I thought it would just be some papers and stuff, but it included a bean bag of one of the characters, the musical soundtrack, a book of pictures from the musical, and a preview dvd of the show! I was pulling the stuff out of the bag like it was Christmas, I told my mom I could cry! Not really, but I was that happy! We really felt treated like Queens and now we just need to find out who to thank! We walked back to our cars feeling pretty good! Now my mom is stoked for The Lion King, and I can't wait!

It's so cool! The giraffe actors are on stilts via hands and feet. Amazing, huh! This photo is of the opening act, the Circle of Life!

Simba! I just can't get enough of how cool all the props are. Julie Taymor sculpted them all in an African design. She wanted the actors and actresses faces to still be seen and allow the audience to use their own imagination to put the whole play together! A movie is so realistic, but in a play, she wanted to give the audience credit for putting it all together!

Simba & Nala! Can you feel the love?

He's going back! Simba realizing what he needs to do!

It's on! Mufasa and Scar going at it...brothers!

This is the soundtrack from my goodie bag! It's my favorite! Elton John and Tim Rice...amazing job!

And this is the cute Simba bean bag I got! I had a great time and am so thankful my mom and I were given the opportunity to attend this event!

It was a great halftime!

October 24, 2009, BYU vs TCU...end of story! Sorry, there's not much to be said, BYU just didn't show up to the game! Nevertheless, it's always a pleasure to be back in Cougar Town! I love BYU, my alma mater! My friend Jadee from work was able to get us tickets and so we jumped at the chance to go! So even though the game was sad, we took a chance during halftime to have a little bit of our own fun!

P.S. My voice is doing so much better, I can talk and people can understand me! It's still a little deep, but better!

Jadee Hallman and I at halftime! P.S. don't look at the scoreboard! We looked cute, decked out in our BYU apparel!

BYU setting up for a play at the beginning of the game!

Luckily the thunder and rain clouds passed by before the game started! Yet, I couldn't help but capture the beauty of them lingering over the field!

Enjoying halftime!

Go BYU!

Weird faces!

Go Cougars!!!

Cougar growl! :)

A look into my life during the past week!

Yes, sadly I have almost gone through 2 bags of these in a week. Last week, I began to have a sore throat. I felt better saturday morning, and thus decided to go to Lagoon. Yet, as I neared the end of that night, I began to feel a loss to my voice. Sunday morning, I awoke to nothing! No, I don't have swine flu for any of you wondering, but I have diagnosed myself with laryngitis. Its been so frustrating because I feel good, good enough to do what I normally should and want to do. Yet, my voice has limited what I can do, especially at work in the healthcare field. I have still had some coughing and congestion, so I've taken work off this week to recoup and regain my voice. It's been weird, you don't think about how much you need or love your voice until its gone.

Remember this cat, from Emperor's New Groove, well Yzma (the woman who is scary beyond all reason) gets turned into a cat and says "is that my voice, is that...my voice...oh well"! Well I have felt like this and when I quote it, it's actually quite funny! I have such a junior high school boy voice that cracks and squeaks. It's great, in a funny way!

And I thought I'd update you on the latest book I'm reading. My goal is to read all seven books again, yet this time, as I read them, I treat myself to buy the next one. That way, I will eventually own all of them. Go Harry Potter!

Where's Waldo? Oh there he is! No, not that one! Me? yup, I'm going to be Waldo for Halloween this year! My friend Annie and I are going to be Waldo and Wanda! We found some sweet glasses last night, we've almost found our shirts, and next we're going to find a hat pattern and Annie is going to make our hats! I can't wait! Stay tuned for updates and pictures!

Frightmares at Lagoon!

Yesterday, my friend Annie and I met a friend of hers from Amsterdam at Lagoon! I hadn't been in a few years so it's always a pleasure to enjoy the memories old and new! Frightmares was going on as well, which was a blast! Now I have to say, I had a little sore throat a few days leading up to going yesterday, but then with all the excitement, I have officially lost my voice now! Way to go me!

A view of the swings from the sky ride!

Capturing the serene feeling of the sky ride!

A view of the "lake" from the Old Lagoon Train!

I couldn't believe how many beautiful colors of fall Lagoon had! I particularly loved this yellow tree! Just breathtaking!

Ok, these tombstones were everywhere, with some funny, catchy sayings! I took pictures of my favorite ones for you to enjoy! This one is hilarious, "Here lies Beethoven, one of the world's most renowned decomposers!"

Good stuff, huh!

Now this trio just had to fit in the JetStar ride, which is meant for two! Yet, we knew them. Annie's friend is Joyce, in the middle, and the other two are her second cousins who joined her at Lagoon! To say the least, Annie and I found this funny, but the other riders seemed annoyed because it took them awhile to get seated! This is a picture of them struggling to get the seatbelt on.

Say cheese!

Ohhhh, heeeyaaaaa! (Imagine that said in a karate tone of voice) :)

Annie looked at this picture and thought she was huggin the merry-go-round giraffe like it was her boyfriend! I guess for the time being it's ok!

Annie on Francis, so she named it!

And me on Mr. Frog! It is the merry-go-round, but I'd like to call it "Mr. Frog's" wild ride!

...just swing'in

Pumpkin Carving 101

Last night, October 16, 2009, my friend Annie and I whipped out my new pumpkin carving kit and began lessons. I picked a design of a ghoul standing next to a coffin with a bat and Annie picked a ghost in a haunted forest. I also picked for us to watch Harry Potter 4, because its the only movie I own close to a Halloweenish theme. She brought over strawberry lemonade, popcorn, and ice cream for our carving session. She knows my weakness already for lemonade!

Where's Annie?

My pumpkin at the beginning!

Annie's pumpkin more closer to being done than mine!

I'm supporting my BYU pride while carving my pumpkin! Go BYU!

Hey, Go Annie! She's an Aggie, but I still like her!

Our tools!

The finished product!

Ohhhhh! Very nice!

CLS 5K Fun Run!

Hey, hey! Ya, check it out, this past Saturday, October 10, 2009, my friend Amanda (in the green jacket) found out about this 5K from a friend so we decided to do it. I received bib number 1! Now how often does that happen to someone in their lifetime! Not very often, so to say the least, I was pretty stoked, as you can see from the picture below! Yet, the fun part was that it benefited the Christ Lutheran Church and School. Sweet! The run started outside of the church/school, down some neighborhood, into Murray Park, around Murray Park, and back down the neighborhood to finish in front of the church/school. The run was actually a nice one, it was a beautiful day besides being freezing cold at the beginning. It had hills, downhills, flat wooded areas, trees, and a cute bridge to run over in the park. Amanda's friend Annie, who she met in the MTC, joined us and I came to find out she's in my ward. Yeah, a new friend! She's awesome and we all had a great time!

Bib #1 baby! Oh yeah! And we also had police escorts down and across the streets. I felt so special, never had a police escort before! Sidenote, I got bib #1 because of my name was the highest alphabatized name, but I try not to think of it in that way, I am #1!

The crew after the run! I was pretty warm through the race, but I didn't want to take time to shed the layers! I knew I could place, since there wasn't that many people in our age group. There was probably 10 or so, and we knew we could take them!

Top Female Winner overall goes to..... Amanda! Way to go girl!

Here's a shout out to all their sponsors. Really we just thought the shirt was funny! We figure it will be a great pajama shirt. The front was actually cute, but we just love that we ran for the Community in Christ & Christ in the Community!

Post-medal ceremony! Annie won first place in our age division, Amanda took first place female overall, and I took second place in our age division. Go us!

Here's the statistics! I came in 25 out of 100+ at a time of 31.32.694! At the very end, I had been running with this lady who I came to find out was in the 40-44 age group. She kept passing me, then I'd pass her, and I was determined to beat her in the end. Finally, I saw the finish line, flags and all, and I just got this surge of energy like I've never known before. Usually at the finish of races, my sprint is a walk, but I was actually sprinting. As I flew by her, literally, she grunted! Oh, it was beautiful to behold and as I passed the finish line ahead of her, I breathed victory! I may not have won the race, but I beat her! Haahaaha! And I don't feel bad, she was decked out in all the latest running gear, fanny pack, water bottles, and everything. She appeared hard core, and I was just thrilled to be able to beat her. :)

Here I am, second place finisher in the 20-24 female age division!

The front of the medallion!

And the back, got to love the engraving! CLS 5K 2nd place!