Marli-speak

Marli has some super cute words for stuff. She says "keeta" for candy and over Christmas, she was saying "Santaca" for Santa Claus. Most other words she says pretty well. She leaves off some of the consonants sometimes, but mostly, she gets the words down. She also loves to count and she just points to items and says "one, two, one, two, two..." It's pretty cute. :) I'll be able to post some more pics soon once I get my computer back and the disks with everything on them. Then, I'll be able to post Christmas happenings.

Got the Role!

About a month or so ago, I auditioned for A Little Night Music (Sondheim) at Lyric Opera for the role of Petra. I got it! I'm very excited because it's quite a different role than I'm used to playing. I usually get cast as the young girl who is in love with the leading man....well, not in this show! I'm the saucy maid who tells it like it is and does what she can to get to the top and only wants to have fun. Awesome music in this show and I'm looking forward to beginning rehearsals.

I've also taken on choreographing for my friend, Olivia's, musical up in Carlsbad at the school where I did my student teaching about 6 years ago. They're doing Into the Woods (yet another Sondheim show). I start that this week. :) I choreographed Once on This Island for her a few years ago and I'm excited to work with her again.

I'll also be starting up with Edudance again this semester after a semester of no classes. So, I have a pretty busy schedule to start off the new year! Lots of things to do. :)

New Year's Resolutions

1. Be better about getting organized.
2. Really get my cake biz off the ground. I already have 2 wedding cakes booked for this summer, a baby shower cake in a couple of weeks and more to come!
3. Update my blogs more.
4. Make more money than last year in all areas of life (ballroom dancing, cake decorating, Mary Kay, performance, etc.)
5. Expand my family (hee hee-no there's nothing to report......yet)
6. Be accountable with my businesses.
7. Find time to scrapbook (naptime should be set aside for that again, ja?)
8. Attend the temple more often (Ibis and I went 9 out of 12 months last year...not bad for quadrupling our efforts). But, I'd like to stick with it and attend at least once a month to truly reach that goal.
9. Be very diligent in my calling as Primary President and get all the knowledge I need of the position so that I can be a great leader to the children in my ward.
10. LOSE 5 MORE POUNDS! Attending the gym is something I've grown to love and I definitely need to keep that up.
11. Hardest one of all.............cut back on the sweets. That should help me to attain number 10, don't ya think?

Well, I'll keep everyone (that would be all 2 of you who probably read this blog!) updated on these as the year goes on. Hey, it's always good to have a goal, right?

POWER ON!

Change is in the Air

Ever since Ibis and I were married, we've both had callings in our ward filled with a lot of responsibility. He started out as a Sunday School teacher for the teen group and I was a Nursery Leader. After about a year, I was moved into the Primary Presidency as Second Counselor and Ibis was moved into the Elder's Quorum Presidency as a counselor. Well, for the past 2 years or so, I've been there in the Primary and he's been Elder's Quorum President for the past year I believe. Recently, I've been called as the Primary President. I'm a little intimidated, but I know it will be okay since I've been in there and pretty much know everything that goes on in the Primary! I guess my calling in this ward is to stick with the little ones. They're so precious and they truly need the love and support of their leaders at church. We have a few convert children in the preteen classes, which is super important! We also have children whose parents don't come to church but they allow the kids to come. It's a major responsibility for me to be able to keep them coming and raise them in the Gospel. I'm looking forward to this change and I hope I'll be able to live up to the calling!

Family Photo Shoot

Here they are! Rachel Wattson of Rachel Wattson Photography took our pictures. Her website is www.rachelwattsonphotography.com if you're interested in seeing more of her work. We had a blast! Ibis is such a good daddy!

Of course, my hair is long in these pictures and I just recently chopped it off and donated most of it to Locks of Love. That was the first time I'd been able to do that and I would love to do it again once it grows out again. For now, I have a cute little bob that's shorter in back and longer in front. But, I have no pics yet of it, so stay tuned! Marli had sooo much fun at this shoot because she pretty much got to just run around the playground and Rachel snapped photo after photo of her laughing and playing. Fun day.