NYC the Sequel

Whoa. Its has been a looooonngg time. And now for a super quick recap of my super awesome summer. Probably lots of pictures. And I will probably forget lots of stuff. At least I am back on the blog-o-sphere.

New York the Sequel, June 24-29
Four full days. Six full broadway shows. Pretty much we just wandered NY until our next show whilst we were there. A grand ole time I daresay. Kaylee and I had a blast. I pretty much need to go live there for at least a month.

Washington Square Park

 BEST PIZZA EVER

 Bryce Pinkham from A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder

 Aladdin!!

 Adam jacobs, aka Mr. Aladdin sir. Amazing. And he was pretty much shirtless the whole show...just sayin

 Michael James Scott. No not from the Office, but the man who played Genie. Talent. And so funny!

 Outside Lincoln Center

 Strawberry Fields Forever

 Happen to run into Miss Emma from Shumayela while in Central Park. What are the odds? A dog also adopted us a friends. I would have kept her.

 Hans Christian Anderson

 Belevadir Castle 

 How close we were to the Pippin stage. One of the actors said he recognized me when we were at the Stage door. I must have a familiar face.

 Ciara Renee, the Leading Player

 Original Broadway Pippin!!

 Mr. Kyle Dean Massey

 Early morning at the Today Show watching Phillip Phillips

 Yummy deliciousness at the Bouchan Bakery.

 Kaylee made a friend there.

 Joshua Henry from the show Violet. His voice is like butter.

 Sutton Foster!!!!

 I took so many pictures...I may have fangirled just a bit. But shes lovely.

 Mr. Radcliffe. Sadly we did not see him in person, but this poster was more than life size, so that's even better right?

 Zac Braff, we didn't actually see his show. But pretended we did. Kaylee had him sign her Mamma Mia program. haha good times.

 Last Times Square photo

 These are a few of my favorite things!

Turns out these are the only pictures saved on my computer right now. And I started this project too late to upload any right now. So you only get NYC. But I promise I did lots of fun and exciting other things this summer. I'll make a vow, that I will not go another 5 months before my next entry. Not even 5 weeks. Maybe not even 5 days. We shall see.

But really life has been good. So good. I am a little sad that summer ended so quickly. This year has flown by. But everything has been really fun, so the only complaint I have is that it seems to be going a little to quickly. Okay I do have one more complaint. I wish someone would invent a time machine already so I could travel back in time and relive all these good days. Alas, until that happens I am stuck just looking at photos and other such things. Oh life is grand.

Post from May 25 that I forgot to publish apparently

I have had a wonderful last few weeks. Seriously I have had so many awesome things going on. But it has made me really busy. Until last weekend I almost forgot what it was like to be home before 10pm. Every day was full. Here are some highlights of the last few weeks.

Songquest.
A concert the younger choirs in our organization put on. Guelph Youth Choir was in town, so I got to do lots of fun things with these super choristers. The concert was amazing. Watching these kids perform makes me so proud, and amazed at how much they can accomplish. There were six choirs in all that performed, and each did such a great job. I loved watching this concert, and helping out.

ESO Choral Spectacular
The following week was full of rehearsals for our concert with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. So many practices, but so so worth it! I LOVE singing with the symphony. It really is one of my most favorite things in the world. And it was even better because the choir was featured. So we had some choir mega hits that we got to do. O Fortuna from Carmina Burana is oh so epic, and amazing to sing. That piece alone makes all the rehearsal worth it. But there were so many other songs that I loved doing. We even got to perform a couple songs without the symphony. The best was when we sang Emlajeni, and African piece. The crowd went wild after we finished, and it felt so good. Especially since the Winspear Centre was full. We ended the concert with 'Sunday' from the musical Sunday in the Park with George. It was a beautiful way to finish, and such a gorgeous piece with the symphony.

Stars on Ice
Oh yes, this happened. And it was awesome! I loved every moment of it. SO many great skaters. The line up included my favorites, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, Patrick Chan, Kurt Browning, Katelyn Osmund, Jeffrey Buttle, Joannie Roachette, Megan Duham and Eric Radford, Shawn Sawyer, Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje. The program was just incredible. Their talent was so so so good. And I loved all the music. Seriously I wish I could buy the soundtrack to the show. Lots of good showstopping numbers. Nathalie and I had a blast!

Hairspray at the Mayfield Dinner Theatre
This was a feast both of food and good theatre. Kaitlyn, Elise, Nathalie and I went for Nathalie's birthday. It was such a fun girls night out. While waiting in the car Nathalie and I had an epic sing along to musicals in my car. Of course someone would pull up right in front of us, and of course I would recognize them. Then its that awkward decision of whether to pretend you didn't see them and keep singing, or stop and pretend nothing happened. I finished the song, but maybe not quite as animated as before. I ate so much food. It was a buffet so I made sure to get my moneys worth. Our table was full of delicious eats. My personal favorite was the strawberry mousse in these cute little glasses. I literally ate at least five of them. The show was just as good as the food. I have always loved Hairspray, and they did such a good job. The songs are so infectious. And the dancing makes me want to get up and dance, though that night I had a slight food coma so I would have moved a bit slower. I wish I could justify going again. We all had a great time!

May Long Weekend
It was so nice, I didn't really have much planned. Which was glorious. Friday night I had a Me party. I caught up on everything that had fallen by the wayside in the last few busy weeks. I did laundry, cleaned, ate pizza and watched a movie. Such a good night. Sometimes we need those.

On Saturday I had a lovely breakfast at Amelia's house. My brother Davin was in town so I got to see him too. Amelia and I hit up the store Rickis and I found tons of stuff on mega sale. Shopping. yay. Especially with such great deals. That night I babysat for Val and Chris while they went to the Temple. I had a lovely time with the two little ladies, Macy and Rachel. Such cute girls. When Val and Chris came back I had a nice visit with them. I am really glad to have them in my life.

Sunday after church Nathalie and Kaitlyn came over. We made a delicious chocolate cake and ate it. It was such a nice evening. We looked at our facebook pictures and had a grand time reminiscing. I do enjoy our fun spontaneous activities. Happiness.

Monday I got lots of things done. It was a nice leisurely day. I rode my bike a lot. This weekend was such great weather. Finally it felt like summer. I love getting outside and enjoying the sunshine. This is really the best time of year, because everything is that fresh new green. Not very dark, but lighter and vibrant. Oh it is so wonderful!

This week has been just great. I've been enjoying the outdoors as much as possible. We've taken the kids outside lots, and then they are super drained for nap time. Double win! They are so darn cute.  On Friday I had dinner with the Shumayela crew, minus Malaika. We had a lovely dinner at an authentic Italian restaurant called Allegro. It was so yummy. Crazy good food. Then on Saturday I helped out with the Brailtone Choir. It is made up of wonderful people who have various disabilities. They really made my morning, their love for singing is just so great. Afterwards I had big plans for my afternoon. I was going to clean, go to the Temple, get some planning done for Primary Auxiliary Training, and maybe make muffins. Instead I ate lunch and fell asleep for nearly two hours. At which point Nathalie texted me saying she was watching horse jumping at the Equine park. I went and got slurpies and joined shortly after. Quite a nice afternoon. I then went to What the Truck, where tons of food trucks are. The lineups were crazy long. But the food was delicious. Just now it occurred to me that so many of of these experiences I am writing about involve food. haha. I know what I like I guess.

I went on a lovely walk to the Legislature this evening with Kaylee, Susan, and Tristin. It was sort of overcast, but everything was such a vibrant green. And the blossoms smell so good. It smelled wonderful. I wish I could bottle that up and have it with me all year long. I guess I will appreciate it all the more because it has such a short season like this.

In other news, I have started to apply for teaching jobs. It is something I have been thinking a lot about. I do love the place I`m at now, but I feel like I need to move on. I realize that I may not necessarily get a teaching job. But I feel like this is the right thing for me to do, Heavenly Father is leading to something. So come this fall, my life is going to change. I don`t feel nervous about it at all, that`s how I know it is the right thing for me to do.

Well, until next time....who knows when that will be. Here`s to sooner rather than later. :)

Good People

Sometimes I am in awe of how good people are. I see these people doing good things and genuinely caring for those around them. These are the people that see the positive in every situation. They do things selflessly, not thinking about what they may be missing out on. These wonderfully good people make me want to be better. I want to care more, serve more, and be a lot more selfless. I want to make other's lives better in some way, like these who have changed my life. And it will be something I know I will have to continually work at. But as I do work on being better, I will forever be grateful for those examples of kindness, charity and love. The people that truly convey Christlike love to others. They are all around me. And they don't realize the difference they are making.

My Girl

Catch up time. I need to finish my February adventures. I forgot to mention one night from my Utah trip. It was excellent timing actually. My Uncle Justin, and cousins Caden and Siahna were in Salt Lake from Indiana visiting my cousin Tvae and her husband. So Dawson, Davin, Sierra, and I headed to their house and we had ourselves a fine games night. Not to mention some time just chilling with their ferret. Davin was scared of it. Such a blast!

I got home from Utah on Tuesday and had a huge choir concert on Saturday. I will write about that next time. But right now I am watching 'My Girl' for the first time. And I am having a really hard time focusing on this blog....man this movie is sad. And I keep waiting for them to play the song My Girl, but it hasn't happened yet. If they don't play the song I will feel very let down. Whatever happened to the main girl? I am going to have to google her after this. I am pretty sure she has faired better than her co-star Macaulay. I wonder how his parents thought of that name....I will have to google that too.  I also watched 'Up' today, which has sad parts too. I should probably watch something all happy next. We'll see.

And now I am going to end this and watch the rest of the movie. Til next time!

Utah trip

Hello One and All!!!

It is exactly a month since my last post. Unplanned of course. I have had an excellent month. but seriously, if 2014 continues like its going, it will be over before I know. So I am trying really hard to love every moment. Sometimes I forget, but there is a whole lot of beautiful stuff happening around to remind me to be grateful. So lets do an update of this past month. Lots of exciting things!!

On Feb. 14 I left to Utah with my brother Davin and sister Sierra. Davin had his first double Big Mac since getting back from his mission. He thought his stomach was going to explode after. Obviously we are going to have to make sure that boy stops working out and eats McD's much more often if we have any hope of being more in shape than him. We made a quick pit stop in Stirling to visit Grandma and Grandpa Lybbert. Then we were off to Utah. It was really nice having Davin and Sierra driving with me, cause it gave me lots of chances to snooze in the back. A perfect road trip. We got to Orem on Saturday around noon. Greeted enthusiastically by two of my old mission companions, Summer (who ran to my car as soon as I pulled in) and Riena (who lazily waved from the balcony). We visited lots over the weekend. And did some fun activities too. Including the Nickle Arcade, which I was somewhat successful at. Like I got enough tickets to get a mini flashlight that almost lasted until I left Utah. We went skating at the Hockey arena for the Salt Lake Olympics in 2002. I think it was good luck for the hockey games team Canada had coming up in Sochi. We also hit up the trampoline place Hang Time. It was such a blast. I think I may have found my calling in life, jumping in a room full of trampolines and foam pits. If I ever become moderately rich I am installing one of these in my house. I didn't take any pictures but Sierra did, so when she sends me some I will upload them.
I did however get a video of Davin playing with the interactive floor and lots of kids. Hilarious! He fits right in!

While in Utah I made sure to hit up Sonic drive-in at least twice. Its a pity I didn't get to go more. But I did get spoiled in the food department, thanks to the wonderful cooking of Mira and Trina. Delicious! I also made sure to support our Canadians in the Olympics. Ice Dancing was on, so of course we cheered them on. Tessa and Scott skated beautifully and won the silver. If I were a judge I would have given them an unbiased gold, but I'm not. Such is life.  Here are some of the only pictures I took, this was at 11:45pm right before I left to drive back. We are cool. Clearly.

   

We left back to Canada at midnight Monday and drove through the night. I did make Davin and Sierra watch "The Cutting Edge" on the way back. Up until that point I had failed as a sister, since they somehow had never seen it. Good thing I set things right. It was excellent. Toe pick! We stopped in Stirling again on the way back and visited the grandparents along with my Aunt Coralee and some of our cousins. It was brief but lovely nonetheless. All in all a successful trip.

The rest of the month is going to have to wait. I am going to bed, I know this daylight savings time is going to kick my butt tomorrow.....

CANADA IS GOLD!

Life is in full swing. I have a couple main things that seem to be taking most of my time. 

Here is the break down of my week. Out of 168 Hours in a week.

Work-40

My co-worker Carla that worked in the Baby room with me recently moved, so I now have a new room partner at work. I definitely miss working with Carla every day, but I`m enjoying working with Lauren as well.

Lunch breaks-5

mmmmm perogies and broccoli 

Choir-Usually 5. This week though its 13.

We have a HUGE concert coming up. Which everyone should attend!!! Seriously it is going to be amazing. All of it is African music. Coupled with a dance company, and lots of special guests from around the world. This concert almost always sells out, so if you want tickets let me know. There is going to be so much movement and wonderful music. For a while each time I came to choir I would see more new pieces that we were adding to the concert. Which can be a bit daunting when most of them are in various African languages. But I am listening to the examples all the time and I feel a lot more confident with all the music. Gradually they are all getting memorized and we are adding in lots of movement. It will not be boring at all! I can`t wait!!

Sleep-45 if I`m lucky

I really should get more...

Old Testament Class at the Institute of Religion-1.5

We are studying the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I find it absolutely fascinating!

Tap Dance Class-1.5

Watch out Sutton Foster. I`m getting good! haha...

Stake Primary Meetings-2, plus about 1.5 of stuff relating to that. I get to visit various Primaries, at least two weeks out of the month. For those that don`t know, this is the children`s organization at church. Since I moved to Edmonton I have been attending a Young Single Adult (YSA) congregation (also known as a ward) at church. Recently I got asked to be the secretary for Stake Primary, which oversees 12 different congregations. It is a blast. I am loving it so much. I just love watching the children as they gain simple testimonies of the Gospel. On the weeks that I don`t attend Primary I go still go to my YSA ward.

Add in travel time and other random stuff and errands, it doesn`t leave much down time. How you may ask, do I spend my down time. As of Friday, I have become Canada`s biggest fan watching the Olympics. 200 points goes to CBC and their incredible coverage. Originally I was going to get cable for the occasion. But ended up leaving it too late. Turns out I don`t need cable. Everything is online! I can watch full events live, or go back after they are done and see the entire event. They also have highlight videos and news stories as well. I have the app on my phone, and it has been constantly playing. I admit my favorite event is figure skating. I cant get enough. Seriously, the new event `Team Figure Skating` totally captivated me. If you don`t understand how it works, google it. With my favorites Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir leading them in Ice dancing. They won the Gold Medal last Winter Olympics in Vancouver and are going for it again. Except their closest competitors from our neighbors to the South have been undefeated this whole season. A story has been leaked that the Russian judges and the American judges struck a deal that the US would bump up the Russian scores in the team event if in return the Russians bumped up the scores for the US in Ice Dancing. If this is the case, I will be very angry. I admit that America does have very talented Ice Dancers, but Canada`s just have something extra. Anyways, needless to say I am so ready to talk all things Olympics. And before I move on, I want to say how impressed I was with the Opening Ceremonies. I wasn`t expecting much after seeing all the Sochi pictures of hotels and other random things that have been circling the internet. But seriously, Russia did not disappoint. So much that now I want to go to Sochi, despite the bathrooms having multiple toilets or pictures of Putin everywhere or the complimentary stray cats. Go Russia! After seeing the Opening Ceremonies I also feel that I should now read War and Peace, since I found out the main character`s name is Natasha. Yes, now I have to read it. As I type this I am watching curling. Canada vs. Germany. Canada is ahead by one. Sweep!

Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue, defending Olympic Gold Medalists

Figure Skating Team Canada. Right after they won the Silver Medal!

Opening Ceremonies in Sochi. I have those mittens.

GO CANADA GO!!!!!!!!