Sister Tea Party

Today my sisters and I went to afternoon tea to celebrate Yvonne's birthday. We had a fantastic time. The iced herbal berry tea was DELICIOUS!! We took these last cheesy pictures to show how much we LOVE having tea-- it's pretty, yummy, NO KIDS, peaceful and fun! We wish we could do it more often.

A day at the beach!

Yesterday we all went to the beach in Santa Monica. The kids had a fantastic time!! They ran around like crazy, buried each other, and caught sand crabs. We finished off the day by riding the ferris wheel and the roller coaster on the Pier.

Visiting Grandma Olga at Forest Lawn

Today we packed up my Dad and all the kids (minus Brenda's two oldest who are visiting their other cousins,) and went to visit my mother's grave. First, we all went to lunch at Porto's in Glendale where we got delicious sandwiches and treats. Then, we went to my mother's grave and put some beautiful flowers on it while the kids ran around and played. It really is such a beautiful cemetery--we grew up visiting it because I have two uncles and two grandma's buried there. So we played there all my life! We had a really nice time and stopped to put flowers on my grandma's and uncles graves as well. We miss you, Mom.

All 3 of my are sisters visiting!!

As of today, I have all three of my sisters visiting. They will be here for the next week! Between us, we have 16 children. It will be complete chaos, but lots of fun. Here are a couple pics of some of the kids--soooooo cute!

We met Uintah!

Today we got to meet Craig's nephew Luke's new baby, Uintah. He is 4 months old and super, super cute!! I had forgotten how little babies are! It was so fun to hold him and Craig, Ceci and Bella enjoyed feeding him his bottle. Grandma Ginny made a delicious dinner of pasta and meatballs and we got to spend a really nice afternoon together with Jessie and Chris too. We love little Uintah! Congratulations Luke and Lindsay!

The Beach Boys!!

We went last night to see the next free Alhambra concert: The Beach Boys! We brought the girls, which wasn't the best idea, (they got cranky) but we still had a GREAT time. Craig is a HUGE Beach Boys fan. The only actual original beach boy was Mike Love and we missed Brian Wilson. Our favorites were: "Don't Worry, Baby," "Forever," God only knows," "Good Vibrations," and especially "Darlin." It was really fun. :) We love music!!

So. Pas Farmer's Market

It's been a while since we've been so it was really nice to go. We got lots of fresh organic produce, played with bubbles with the bubble man, and then later I got to sing with Dan and Pat a bit. :)

Make sure to click on "older posts"

if you want to see all the 25 (and counting) different blogs that I've posted from our Utah trip!! Even more to come!! :)

WE SAW FEIST!!

Last night Craig and I went down to San Diego to Humphrey's by the Bay to see Feist. She was AWESOME!! She is a fantastic performer, totally cute and even really funny. Every song was amazing. She opened by standing behind this screen and singing a riff, looping it, singing a harmony over it, and then looping it again with more harmony. It was ANGELIC! She sang something about heaven- but I didn't know the song. For a sampling, see this. (Although not the same song she did last night.)

Besides incredible performing, Feist put on quite a visual show. She had two women to the side doing art on an over head projector that was displayed behind her--it was so amazing! I honestly can't describe how cool it was! Here are the songs she did:
When I was a young girl
Mushaboom
My moon, my man
The limit to your love
I feel it all
Honey, honey
Who could love you more than me (new song?)
How my heart behaves
1234
Gatekeeper
Sealion Woman
Encore:
Intuition
The Water
Let it die

Although Humphrey's was a beautiful place, and right by a bay where people were watching from their boats, it also has to be the most uptight place I've ever been to for a concert! During "Mushaboom" I thought I was going to die if I didn't get up and dance--but EVERYBODY was sitting in their chairs! So I got up to see if there was some corner I could dance in, only to be told by two security guards that I couldn't stand ANYWHERE! So, sadly, I went back to my seat. :( Thankfully, as the show went on more people started to feel the same way as I did and people stood up to dance and a few times we ran up to the front. (During "I feel it all" and "Sealion woman.") Even Feist herself kept making funny comments to the security guards. She sang about how we just have to shuffle our butts in our seats! :) So the guards kinda gave in and I spent the last four songs in the front row! I can't wait for her next album and tour! (But not at Humphrey's!)

**UPDATE!!** I found the song she sang for the opening-- it's called "Help is on its Way" See it here!!

Mila's Birthday!

Today we had a big party for Mila, my sister Yvonne's youngest who turned three. With all the cousin's here, (Brenda & Yvonne have 10 combined!) it was an instant party--just add cake and pinata!! It's been a really fun sugar fest!

The Spinner's!

Alhambra has a free summer concert series-- Tonight was the first one with the Spinners. They are a group that takes me back to my childhood-- total old school. These guys are getting pretty up there, but boy, could they sing and DANCE!! Craig and I were right at the stage and had a blast! They did:

Could it be I'm falling in love?
It's a Shame
I'll be around
Working my way back to you/Forgive me girl
Cupid/Straight to my lovers heart
Never knew love before
Games people play
Rubberband man

We had so much fun!

Singing Karaoke!

My sis, Brenda is still here visiting from Japan. Today we went to sing Karaoke with her son, Josh, her husband David, his brother Jimmy, and his wife, Janette. We had sooo much fun!! We spent three hours singing the Beatles, Abba, Madonna, Neil Diamond, etc. I LOVE Karaoke!

Swimming with Grandpa

Just had to put this pic up!! We love having our cousin's here!

We're back from our trip to Utah!!

Well, we rolled in last night (this morning, really) at around 3am.  We made it home safe, and now we're just trying to adjust to being back.  We had so much fun!!  I plan to blog something for every day of our trip and I'm just going to put the date that it happened, even though I didn't blog even once while we were gone.  (I'm weird that way.)  What a great time we had.  I already miss my friends and family there sooooooo much! Make sure and click on "older posts" cuz I've really added a lot!

Young Living Farms

The day after the concert, we drove home to L.A. I really didn't want to leave. I hated saying goodbye to Susan and Andrew--especially because I didn't get to see them as much as I wanted to. On our drive home, we stopped at Young Living Farms in Mona, Ut. I'm totally into their essential oils (I'm even a distributor.) I was supposed to meet Edie there, but I took too long packing etc., and I missed her . . . :(

I LOVED these Lavender fields sooooo much!! Then we saw this gorgeous butterfly. If you click on the picure of the flowers, you can see it in there.

The American Idol Concert!!

We had a blast at this concert! As we were walking in, we saw this darling older lady with a shirt that said "I'm 85 and I love David Archuleta!" That's the effect this kid has.
We sat really close on the side. Each Idol sang 3 songs each from the 10th runner up to the winner. One of our favorite parts was when after Michael Johns (3rd) finished his first song (We will rock you) and he goes, "It's getting hot in here . . . better open up my jacket . . ." So he unbuttons his jacket to reveal his "I voted for David Archuleta" t-shirt. The audience went NUTS!!! Then he goes, "I think I need a bit of liquid refreshment." So he pulled out his David Archuleta bottle, shows the picture of David, takes a drink and then says "aaaahhh sweet nectar." The audience went wild!! This was sooooooooo cool and funny!!
David's performance was perfect. He sang "Angels, " "Apoligize," "Stand by me," and "When you say you love me." He sang like an angel. I can't begin to say how gracious and humble David was. So endearing. At one point he said "It feels so good to be home-- you don't even know!!" He sang his heart out and thanked us profusely. I enjoyed the whole concert even though I really just wanted to see Brooke and David. I kept pretending to yawn during David Cook to make Brenda laugh. After the concert, we waited for the idols to come out and they signed autographs again. Yvonne and I sang to David again and he looked up to see us and smiled at us. We sang "You're the voice" which was a song he sang on Idol. (I know I'm a nerd.) This was so much fun!!