Chelsea's Going to Michigan!!!

After months of stress and agony, Chelsea found out that she has been accepted to the UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN's Musical Theatre Program!! We are ALL thrilled out of our minds!

The University of Michigan is one of the top three, most elite Musical Theatre programs in the entire country, and they only take 10 girls and 10 boys each year. This year, they had about 700 apply! It's such a big deal to get accepted that the Dean of Admissions, Laura Strozeski, actually calls each kid personally to let them know they've been accepted. When Chelsea got the call, she was upstairs in her room. She came down the stairs mid-phone call just crying and saying "Thank you SO much" over and over again. When she hung up, she screamed "I got in!" and fell on the floor crying. Once we established that it was indeed Michigan she was talking about, I fell on top of her, and eventually, most everyone else that was home piled on as well. We all just laughed and cried for an hour in shock.

It has been her dream to go to UMich. At this point, I don't know that admissions to any other schools are going to even matter. Her mind is pretty much made up. But, we'll be curious to see where else she gets accepted to! We went out to Texas Roadhouse Grill to celebrate, along with Chelsea's best buddy Trent Cox and her boyfriend Carson Stilson.

Compact Car?? Yeah, right...

My dear hubby must have a problem with his vision. Or a problem with spatial perception. Or a problem with reality. Whatever his problem is, he somehow determined that his humongous HUMMER was just fine to fit in the COMPACT CAR place at Texas Roadhouse Grill the other night. I'm sure all the other guests really appreciated it as well.

What I plan to rip off from other people's blogs: Item #1 - BAD VIDEOS FROM YOUTUBE!

That title may be a bit harsh, because I don't plan to actually rip anything specifically off of other people's blogs, but my cousin Mindi's blog has inspired me. I just love checking out her "bad YouTube videos of the week."

Now, being a complete YouTube junkie, this idea has tremendous potential. There is a never-ending supply of horrible (ie horribly-funny) stuff on there. However, to balance it all out, I will also be adding in some of my true favorite (good) videos. Of course, many of these will have my fabulous children in them. BUT, I'll try to give everyone equal opportunity to make the blog.

I have just the right one to start off with here. I just have one question, why didn't I try this for the talent competition instead of that stuffy old violin solo??

Meet The Family

Woohoo! First post is officially up! I feel like I've already accomplished something amazing! Let's be honest here, I REALLY should be doing laundry. Or cleaning. Or playing checkers with Spencer (my almost-10-year-old). But while I'm on a roll, I'd better add some fun stuff. How about pictures? Sure, pictures are FABULOUS!

Let's meet the family. First, my dear hubby Scott! Here we on on our 20th Wedding Anniversary out to dinner at my absolute favorite restaurant of all-time, Texas Roadhouse Grill (there's nothing like having permission to throw peanut shells on the ground in public). But wait, this is supposed to be about him.

Let's add some descriptive words for Scott: Handsome (he just gets better with age - not fair..), aggressive, loud (as in voice, not as in obnoxious -- well, not most of the time at least), smart, determined, capable, handyman extraordinaire, serious, and an amazing dad. Scott is a real estate mogul (well, ok, not really. But he's a mogul in the making!). He drives the most obnoxious teal EXIT Realty Hummer, and it suits him perfectly. And I mean that in only the most loving way. More about him later.

Next, let's meet Chelsea, my future Broadway STAR!!! My firstborn, and my only daughter. She is the most amazing girl on the entire planet. And I'm completely serious about that. Not just saying that because she might read this someday. Really. Anyway, she is a senior in high school, just about to graduate in two more months---yowza!

Chelsea is an unbelievably gifted singer, an amazing actress, and a pretty darn good dancer. In fact, she was just admitted to the University of Michigan to study Musical Theatre for next fall!!!! I'll tell more about that later too, because it's ridiculously huge news. Just a quick fyi for now -- they had about 700 apply to the program, and they took 10 girls and 10 boys -- that's right, my daughter is an ALL STAR! We are just busting buttons, we're so proud of her (or maybe that has something to do with how much I've eaten this week...).

Next up is Alex.

Alex is 15, soon to be 16 in June, and we cannot wait for the day the kid has his own drivers license. I should start a countdown calendar for it, I'm just that excited. Since we are living out of his high school boundaries, he is nowhere near any of his friends. Add to that the fact that he's become bestest buddies with a bunch of girls from as far across town as you can get, and we end up driving him around TOO much. Alex is kind of my clone child. Not that we look exactly alike, but his is pretty much a reincarnate of myself at his age. Main similarities: serious love of loud rock music, never missing an opportunity for a social gathering, has a posse of friends (affectionately called Alex and his pack of wolves), and some fabulous ADD/OCD tendencies. Plus, he's a long, lean string bean. Just like . . . uh . . .I USED to be. He's a fabulous kid and I just adore him. Most of the time.

Coming in third is Nathan! Nate is a new teenager, having just turned the big 1-3. He'll do anything to avoid having attention brought to him (completely UNLIKE his three other siblings). He is totally Scott's child in this regard. As confident as Scott is, the thought of having to ever do karaoke is enough to have him hide in a bathroom somewhere. Anyway, as usual, I digress. Nathan is the strong silent type. Unless it has anything to do with his little brother, Spencer. In that case, he's the big bully type. Gotta love the kid, but he definitely seems to feel the need to be in charge of at least ONE other person in this family. And seemingly, no one on the entire earth is capable of irritating Nathan quite like Spencer. (Probably because Spencer is the loud, constant-talking kind).

However, Nathan is a fantastic kid who is smart, always brings home straight A's, and almost always does what he's told without having to be reminded a hundred times. What a concept! He's turning out to be a very good violinist, although he has adamantly denied any enjoyment of being in the school orchestra. However, he's been complaining less lately, and quite frankly, we think it might have something to do with the abundance of cute girls in orchestra. He also is a great piano player.

And rounding out the team is Spencer! Spencer is a wonderful child with absolutely NO filter between his brain and his mouth. Whatever is going on upstairs is guaranteed to come out the pie-hole. So, that makes life here full of . . . noise. And FUN! As mentioned before, he drives his brothers absolutely batty, but I tend to do a pretty good job just tuning a lot of it out. But just look at that kid, I could just eat him up! He's so adorable. Totally loving, and always willing to share. (Unlike his brother Nathan, for whom sharing is against his personal ethical creed). Spencer is the most like Chelsea -- he loves to sing (at the top of his lungs, and without fear), and I can totally see him being a performer as well. As I type, he is enthralled with watching the Sound of Music on TV. Oh my.

An intro to the fam wouldn't be complete without presenting Marco, our adorable dog! He's a Cavachon, which is a mix between two purebred dogs, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel (his father) and a Bichon Frise (his mother). The result is the most perfect family dog on the planet. He doesn't shed, almost NEVER barks, he's hypoallergenic (just like a good shampoo), and he's cuter than anybody else's dog. We love him to death. We got him two years ago from a breeder in Ohio, Century Farms Puppies. HEY! That gives me the greatest idea! I think I can put LINKS in here!!! Oh my goodness, let's try this out. Let's try and put in a link to his breeder's website. http://www.pets4you.com/pages/centuryfarm.html

Holy cow! I think it worked!! The breeders at Century Farms are Rex and Deb Myers, and they were absolutely wonderful to work with. One of our friends loved Marco so much that they ended up getting a cavachon from Century Farms as well. Marco came all the way from Ohio on an airplane, and flew right into St. George on Skywest. He even flew first class (first class cargo that is).

OK, unless I'm forgetting someone, I believe that's all of us! I can't wait to try some more fun blogging tricks next time!

Ok, I've wanted to do this for-absolutely-EVER, and I'm finally taking the plunge into Bloggingdom. I don't have a clue what I'm doing, or what this is going to turn out to be. But, at this point, I'm trying to overcome my tendency to over-analyze and over-plan. I am really good at "getting ready to get started." So HAH! There, I'm started!

I absolutely LOVE the internet, more than I should. I have an uncontrollable amount of curiosity in my brain, and the internet is the end-all in information. When (IF) I actually ever finish doing something online and my brain has a momentary lapse, I just think to myself, "Hmmm... what do I want to find out about next?" Ok, that sounds completely stupid. Oh well. NO RULES -- just right! (OUTBACK!! Gee, I must be hungry.) Back to the no rules rule -- I am going to resist the temptation to fix my stupid thoughts after I type whatever flows out of my brain. Stupid thoughts are officially allowed on my Blog Adventure.

So, as I was saying. I love the internet. And I have always wanted a place to electronically store my thoughts, pictures, random events, etc. A journal just doesn't do it for me. Far too one-dimensional. So, I'm thinking that a blog combines my love of the internet, photos, random thoughts, and the ability to share all this uselessness with anyone I want. So, welcome to my world! The Blog Adventure begins!