Thursday, December 27, 2007

Ballroom Team Website


Hello again!
I haven't posted anything for a while because I have been waiting to get some pictures from the concert. Instead of me posting pictures on here, you can do something even better and check out my ballroom team's website:
www.freewebs.com/uvscballroom
There are some really awesome pictures on there, some even have me in them! hee hee Enjoy!

Friday, November 30, 2007

Ballroom Concert!

Well, for those of you who live nearby, this week is your opportunity to come view yours truly in the UVSC Winter Ballroom Concert!
Last night was our opening night, but you still have a whole weekend to come AND a Monday- a Great FHE idea. . . .
Anyhow, there's a show tonight at 7:30, a matinee tomorrow at 2, and tomorrow evening at 7:30 AND a show Monday at 7:30.
Last night went pretty well for an opening night. . . . very few blunders- a broken shoe, me almost being dropped. . . .
Hopefully, I'll get some pictures up on here soon so stay tuned- BUT the best thing you could, besides living vicariously through photos, is come yourself!

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Come, Those Who Plough The Seas!




So, here we all are at the UVSC Ballroom teams' Halloween party! It was a lot of fun and everyone has told me that my children are the cutest children, ever. They sure make great pirates, that's for sure!

A Rolicking Band of Pirates, We





Friday, November 2, 2007

Head Honcho's Birthday Party

Some pictures of the actual celebration!


Fun With Leaves

This is a sort of "Where's Waldo"-esk, or perhaps an I-Spy sort of picture. Can you find the three monkies hidden in the leaves?

Sunday, October 21, 2007

The Head Honcho Goes Over the Hill



Yep, it's true. My darling has taken one giant step closer to kicking the bucket- he turned 30 this week! Patrick been to a lot of different places and done a lot of things. He is a great father and he has worked so hard and put up with a lot to support his family and I am so grateful for him! Not to mention the fact that he has a great sense of humor, is very friendly, and willing to do anything I ask of him! I love you, Snookums, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

First Day of Snow!



When I say "first" I REALLY mean first! Our children haven't really experienced snow since we've been living in lovely snow-free environments these past six years. The most snow we got was in VA- a light sugar-coating that melted two seconds after the sun came out! So, it was really exciting to see a wonderful fluffy blanket of snow this morning when we woke up!
Of course, it was mostly melted by the evening but we did manage to get this one photo for your viewing enjoyment- Oh, and the picture may be posed but those poor little cherubs all got hit with snowballs after the camera stopped rolling, beastly father!

Monday, October 1, 2007

a snack

These days you never know what your kids are going to do when you're not paying attention. My kids make video blogs.

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Today is my wonderful mom's birthday!

So, to celebrate we got together with Hil and Levi and made a little video of our celebration for this awesome woman in our lives!
I am so grateful for my mother. She is one of my best friends and always there to offer advice about anything that plagues me. I'd rather ask her for help than anyone else because she is a treasure trove of inspiration and such a great example. I hope to some day be as good a mother and person as she is!
Happy birthday, MOMMY! I love you!!







Saturday, September 29, 2007

Noises

This is a series of interesting noises for your entertainment!
First, we have Esther-loo:

Now Eve:

Isaac's turn:

Dancing Fools


Two dancing monkies- do you think there's a future for them in ballroom dancing?
Perhaps Isaac could learn not to lead so forcefully. . . .

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Fun With Photo Booth

I adore Photo Booth. The day we got our laptop, I played with this particular feature for over an hour. Yep, it's that fun. I don't know what it is about the gruesome faces you can make or the horribly disfigured view of yourself- there's just something really entertaining about it all! SO, Estherloo and I were playing with it earlier and we had Daddy/Paddy come and join us- so here are some fun shots to share!


Freaky X-ray setting- we only took one of these because it scared Esther.


Retro.


Superheros or Supervillians???

Aren't we a handsome family?


Like mother. . . .

Like daughter.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

The Eyes



This is Eve practicing her "pout face". She likes to pull this out every once in a while while attempting to wheedle something from you. So now you've been warned- beware of the eyes!

A sleeping Esther is a thing of beauty!

Our darling youngest is a small bundle of never-ending energy. She goes and goes and goes all day without stop! Well, that's not entirely true- she is forced to take a nap every day, so maybe that is the source of her power or something. . . This picture was taken one night when I got home from rehearsal late and she was passed out in the hallway. It's just a rare sighting to see her asleep, so I captured the moment for posterity!

Sunday, September 9, 2007

Bye Bye Navy, HELLO SCHOOL!



The Darby family has undergone quite a change since the last blog I started and then neglected- and since I can no longer access the old blog anyways, I thought it would be a great idea to start a new one to go along with our crazy new life!
So, here it is. . .
As you can tell from the title, we've gone from being a Navy family to being poor college students. Patrick's enlistment was up in April and we decided not to re-enlist for various reasons of which I will not elaborate at this time. Now the goal is to pursue higher education.
SO, we said goodbye to the Navy and hauled the kids and the cat across the country to Utah!
And here we are.

Patrick is going to BYU, majoring in geology. He loves rocks and science, so it's a perfect fit! He has been taking classes here and there when he could and he is in his junior year. Two-ish years to go until graduation and then he plans to finish his master's degree here as well. The plan is for him to continue on to a doctorate program somewhere- but where that will be is up in the air. Until then, we are happily settled here!

As for me, I am working on a double-major of music with an emphasis on vocal performance and movement studies with an emphasis on ballroom dance at UVSC. I am right on the brink of being a sophomore so we've got a few more years until my graduation. I was originally planning to transfer to BYU when I had enough credits but I am really enjoying the less-stressful environment of UVSC and so I think I will stay.

Isaac, too, has gone on to educational pursuits. He started Kindergarten last week! My baby! I can't believe he is so old. He has been ready for Kindergarten for a while and was soooo excited to begin ever since we registered him back in May. His school has a wonderful program of Spanish Immersion that begins at Kindergarten-level so we signed him up for it. He is so excited to learn Spanish! I taught him how to count to 5 on the way home from registration and he still remembers like a good little parrot. He had a great first week of school, singing songs that he learned and showing papers he worked on.

Eve and Esther-loo-who, however, are enjoying thier time outside of the educational system. Eve enjoys wearing her Princess clothes and playing with animals and snuggling her blanket. Ether loves to follow Eve in whatever she is doing. They both love to jump on the trampoline, swing on the swing set, play in the pool, play in the mud, pick flowers from the garden, and watch movies.
Eve actually fractured her elbow last week while playing "Crack the Egg" on the trampoline. She has a splint attached to her arm with bandages. I am kind of relieved that the days of casts for everything have passed. We can take the splint off for bath time, wash the bandages- it's very nice! She's got about two more weeks with the splint then they'll take more x-rays and see how things are going. She has taken this all in stride. She's carefull with her arm with the "boo boo" but she doesn't whine about it.
Esther is learning of the joys of potty training and we remembering the harrowing experiences. She has figured out that she can take off her diaper and we've had few interesting experiences with her running around in the buff with a questionably-clean bottom half. Ahh the joys of parenthood!

Well, that sums up the life for now. Stay in tune for updates!