Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Everything was beautiful at the ballet

Alex and I are the proud owners of season tickets to the San Fransisco Ballet.

Let me tell you... we LOVE it.  Like... a lot.

The Nutcracker was beautiful, so we ended up getting tickets for the three story ballets this season, and went to our first last Saturday.



It was called 'Onegin' and we were mesmerized- by the costumes, the scenic design, the choreography, the passion in the dancing... everything.  I wish there were more pictures online of the set and costumes.  If you skip to :40 in the video, you can get an idea of the scale of the set.  I can't say enough about it!

Monday, January 9, 2012

2011 Catch-up

Here is a (brief...or not) summary of our 2011.  It was quite a year, and I did a rotten job of documenting it... but here we go!

FEBRUARY
Valentine's Day... the perfect note on the sweetest bouquet.  I'm quite aware of how blessed I am.


I sang here for President's Day.

We went to some really cool ice castles in Midway.
MARCH

Went to the Chabot Space Center with Angie and Jim during our trip to Cali to visit Stanford/Berkeley.

Alex and Jim (they have the same birthday!)

Melinda and Angie!

Angie, trapped on the moon.  Don't you hate it when that happens?

One of my favorite pictures of Alex...ever.
We loved Stanford's campus- but...
Alex chose Berkeley!
Alex also attended the Holi festival (Festival of Colors) in Spanish Fork.


APRIL
After 8 long years... we graduated!!
Parents were proud.
(It was really early...I'm not crying.)  See that GORGEOUS lei?  My dad performed some miracles, and, thanks to some lovely Costco employees, got it for me just in time for:
Me to pray in convocation.  I think I said we were really excited to be done two or three times.
We were surprised with a serious graduation present: a brand new car!!!
Went to La Caille to celebrate!  We want to live here.

Went to NYC as the stage manager for New York Showcase with the MDT seniors.   Heather joined us.
(Best scones EVER.  Worth the price of the plane ticket.)

May

Alex went hiking in southern Utah with his friends Brenton, Jeff and Stu.
I'm pretty sure I was still in New York.  Or sleeping.

June
Cross-country drive #1.  Found this little house in Denver and fell in love.  It is 4 stories.

Kudos to the person who named this place.  Very assertive.
Independence, MO Visitor's Center.
Adam-ondi-Ahman


The gorgeous B&B we stayed in!  The Inn on Crescent Lake in Missouri. 

It's a real lake.  Alex looks great in that life vest!


JULY

Spent our summer in Nauvoo.  (Thanks to Logan Bradford for the picture!)


Ate at the Ivy, of course.


AUGUST

Went to Boston and Palmyra with the family.

President Christianson (mission and fmr. stake pres.) gave us a tour of the Sacred Grove.

Alvin's tree

They learned a lot at the Grandon printing press

BYU blue at the Peter Whitmer home where the Church was organized.
The Mayflower II
Went to see Natural Bridge State Park in Massachusetts 
It was really cool.  We had a personal tour!
The Berkshires.  It was so beautiful!

The top of Mt. Greylock
Went to Saratoga National Park

Mom and I went to "America's Stonehenge" which was actually pretty cool.

Boston brownstones.  I loved Boston.

Boston Public Garden.  Gorgeous.

At the Public Garden

A carriage ride around Boston, courtesy of Dad


We even got a free tour of Edith Wharton's home.

It is huge.

Tanglewood!  The highlight of the trip.  Look at that property!!

Seeing John Williams conduct the Boston Pops!

Mom and Dad loved Film Night, too!
September

We moved here!  This is our little apartment in northern California.
Annabelle was reunited with her dad after the long car ride with mom.
Went to my first baseball game.  (Go Giants!)

October


Angie and I got creative!  We put up these lovely curtains...

And got some great lamps from IKEA...

And we built this beauty all by ourselves.

Here is Angie, hard at work!

We celebrated Food Day at Berkeley with Angie.

Annabelle made her movie debut!
She was a little wiggle worm, but very cute.



November

We had our very own 'baking day.'  We are awesome pepperkakor makers!

Went to the Santa Cruz boardwalk!

It was a super fun day with Jim, Angie, Jon, and Brittany!

Emily got married!  A good round of Perfect Wedding and Martinelli's was needed!

I had a concert in the Tabernacle.  (That's me and George Dyer.)


December


We celebrated Mikolas with the Hoffmans!  Amazing, amazing meal.

Went to the San Fransico Ballet with Angie and Jim to see my first professional ballet...

The Nutcracker!  It was amazing!

Lots to do in San Francisco!

Belly got a Christmas haircut.

Came home to Utah for Christmas.  Glorious break!
We also celebrated our 4th Anniversary!  (This pic isn't from that night... I just liked it.)