Props for Paul

Paul and a friend of his from work, Phil, decided a few months back to put an art show together at work including all the people in the modeling department, of which he is a part of. It's pretty cool that Dreamworks encourages their employees to do things like this and helps them with the set up and everything. They even had an opening night where anyone can come and view the exhibit.

Anyway, basically anyone from the modeling department could submit their own art work for display in the show. Paul doesn't have a lot of time to do his art like he'd like to, but occasionally at night he will find some time to work on some digital painting, while I sit in the chair next to him and talk his ear off. He's been working on a book with his mom for years, which he keeps redoing as he gets better and better at his skill. I'm so proud of him for all he's done. Not only is he an amazing 3D modeler, he is also a very talented hand drawn artist and digital painter. The art show opened last night and went off with a bang. So many people were there and gave him and his friend, Phil, many high praises for organizing it so well. Below are some of the entries.

Kull Shin creates sculptures out of wire. I like how the birds go all up the wall and onto the ceiling.

Bronze sculptures from Haeng Sook. I love how expressive they are.

Photography from Sean Choi.

Abstract art from Phil Zucco.

A shot of part of the hallway exhibit. It's not a huge gallery, but they had a good 15 entries I think.

The rest is some of Paul's work he put on display. He was smart and got a large digital frame where he uploaded some of his work and it rotated through a bunch of different stuff. He only took a few pictures though.

These are two pictures from his book in progress. The bottom one is my favorite.

This is a helicopter he modeled and did a tutorial for an art school located here in LA. They sell his DVD to students now. It's pretty cool he has something published. Really great for his portfolio. It was a brutal year on the family though, since he did it at the same time as having a full time job. I don't think he'll be doing anymore. hehe....

Here's a shot toward the end of the evening. Paul said the hallway was so crowded at one point that there was hardly any walking room.

Then they had all the entries sign their name and put where they are from. Definitely a diverse group of talented artists. Way to go honey!!! I'm SO SO proud of you.

Leah's Birthday Interview

Leah, how old are you today? Four

What is your favorite color? Orange

What is your favorite animal? a Lion

What is your favorite food? cheese pizza

What do you want to be when you grow up? a mom

Who is your favorite Disney Princess? All of them

What is your favorite cartoon? Maggie and the Ferocious Beast

Where is your favorite place to go? Chuck E. Cheese and Disneyland

What's your favorite restaurant? a pizza store

What is your favorite toy? dress up and barbies

"Can I please just watch my movie now?"

Hm....okay, interview over. Happy Birthday sweet girl! Love you!

Leah's 4th Birthday Party

Now most people right about now would be saying something like, "wow, I can't believe my baby is 4 years old! Where has the time gone?". This is not the case with Leah. Not because I don't love her. Not at all. But because I feel like ever since she was a baby, she has seemed "older" to me somehow. I can't really figure out why, but she always has. And honestly, half the time I keep thinking she is starting kindergarten in the Fall. But nope, she still has another year of preschool.

Anyway, for Leah's fourth birthday, we decided to keep it small. I told her she could invite two friends (like we did with Ashlyn when she turned four) and that we'd go do something special that we couldn't do with a large group. We talked it over and decided that since Leah LOVES to have her nails painted, that it would be fun to go to a nail salon with her friends. Then she decided that Wendy's would be a good place for lunch, cake, and present opening. The happy day arrived and Leah could NOT have been more excited. She picked out the perfect outfit and told me how to fix her hair, and we were off. We picked up her friends while Daddy took Ashlyn to get her friend, Grace. We met up at the salon where each girl got to pick their own nail polish color. They gave them the full treatment with cuticle trimming, filing, hand massage, and paint job. Then they topped it off with flowers on their thumbs (and hearts for the "big" girls, a.k.a. Ashlyn and Grace). There was a cute little pet shop next door, so we stopped off there to see the bunnies and other animals and then headed across the parking lot to Wendy's, where there was none other than Wendy herself, there to greet us. Now I don't think Wendy's gets very many birthday parties because they were SO hospitable and seemed kind of excited to have us there. Wendy took care of our every need and they even gave us a discount. The girls all ate, we sang Happy Birthday, had cake (and Frosty's), opened presents and then called it a day. I think Leah had a lot of fun and I hope she felt special.

Waiting for it to be time to leave.

Here we are, at the nail salon with Ashlynn and Darby (the two friends she chose to invite. Both of whom are older than her, which didn't surprise me at all. She doesn't have very many friends her age.)

Ashlyn and Grace were ready for their turn after the littler girls.

Grace was an old pro, this being her THIRD manicure in her short little life of 6 years. I think I was at least 16 before I ever got one and I know my Aunt was in her 30's before she got one. It's a new generation I guess.

Leah with "Wendy".

Paul was on Brandon control the whole morning. It worked out quite well because my friend Tina ended up coming with me since her husband was taking her boys to another bday party that day. Tina was a great help and fun to have around. Sorry I got no pictures of ya girl! You're the best. I totally owe ya.

Here's the birthday "cup"cake.

Blowing out the candles. It took probably four or five tries. I don't think she has to worry about her wish not coming true though. She starting blowing as soon as the song ended. I don't think she stopped to make one.

She scored in the dress up clothes department. Her favorite thing to do. She changes usually 4 or 5 times a day.

Her Princess Tiana dress from mom and dad. Thanks again Becky for helping me get that discount. It was SO worth it. She LOVES the dress.

Giving thank you hugs to all her friends.

And here's the princess in all her glory. I love you little Leah Peah. You may cause your mommy some grief, but I sure love you lots and wouldn't trade you for anything. Happy Birthday!

Birthday interview to follow. Stay tuned!

HOLY LONG POST!

What an amazing and awesome and wonderful weekend!!! Thanks to a long weekend for Paul (and two days off school for Ashlyn) we got to drive up to Utah to be there for our friends sealing in the Salt Lake Temple. It was SO incredible and I'm SO glad we were able to go.

Little background. This is the Dahl family. Renee, my good good friend who use to live down the street from me back in Van Nuys, married this guy Jared. She wasn't a member of the church and he had gone inactive as a teenager. Anyway, they got married, had two kids and then she met the sister missionaries. That's when I met her also. I had JUST had Leah, like literally three weeks earlier (in fact Renee came to my baby shower in our friend Jackie's backyard and she didn't even know me). A couple weeks later, Renee got baptized (which I missed because I was still in lala newborn baby land). Renee started coming to church and was even in the Primary presidency with me(yes, she's THAT good). We formed a little group of friends, who I affectionately call my "encino girls". We hung out all the time. Had play dates at each others houses, went swimming, on outings, out for Girls nights out. Everything. It was great. Time passed, Renee kept going to church. Her husband started coming too, and their kids started getting involved and making good friends.

Eventually, we all moved away and out of the ward, but we all kept in close contact. Then Renee moved to Utah. That was a very sad day. She had her third baby and then her fourth. They kept going to church. They made good friends with some people in their ward who talked to them about taking the temple prep classes. They agreed. They even went to do baptisms for the dead. Us girls down in CA were all VERY excited for her. Then one night I called her and she told me they were getting sealed. I literally jumped up and down with joy. I was SO happy for them. Immediately I told her we were coming (yes, I invited myself). Time quickly approached and three out of the five of us "Encino girls" were able to come up to Utah with our husbands and families for the special occasion.

It was a long drive, but the kids did very well and my mom was MORE than amazing and helped out any way she could by watching the kids practically the ENTIRE weekend, so that we could be with our friends.

Here they are after being sealed. It was such an amazing sealing. I was crying. Jackie was bawling (sorry Jackie). It was a very neat experience. After Jared and Renee were sealed, they brought in their kids to be sealed to them. And I know Renee was probably completely overwhelmed and little Tyson was crying, but really it was the most beautiful experience to see them all together being sealed for time and all eternity. I am SO glad we were able to go.

Afterward, we went to lunch and then later that evening went to dinner at a member's home (the one's who had given them the Temple Prep classes). The next day we went to the Dahl's house to let the kids play in the snow and to give us girls a chance to chat a little more.

This is my FAVORITE picture. Don't they look so cute. I seriously don't think I've ever seen Jared so happy.

The CA group. We literally felt like celebrities. Everyone in their ward kept coming up to us and thanking us for coming and saying how nice it was of us to make the trip. All I kept thinking was that I was the lucky one to get to be here and share in their special day!

The McCoy family. Lots of you that follow my blog also know them. We have lots of friends in common. Isn't this a cute family photo.

Renee hates having her picture taken. I don't know why? Look how adorable she is!

Jackie and Brad Finnigan. Yes, they live less than 30 minutes from me and Paul and we literally got to see them 10 times more than we ever do in CA. It was SO much fun!

Yet another picture I had to make Renee let me take.

Me and Jackie at the movies with our hubbies. Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief. It was cute! Made me want to read the books.

Snow day at the Dahl's. They live in Park City and it was snowing like crazy. In fact, we couldn't get up the hill to their house and Renee had to drive down and pick us up. No AWD on our car. It's a CA baby. It's never seen snow before.

YES, it was THAT cold!

Leah wasn't too happy with me. Is she ever???

Later that day, we decided we needed to spend some time with my mom and stepdad. So we headed out to the Aquarium in Sandy. It was really cute. Not too big, but definitely big enough to spend an hour or so there. And they had some pretty cool things to see.

Why doesn't our Aquarium have this awesome little step so the kids can see better?

That's a cockroach. The largest kind out there. Disgusting! And in the words of Brandon (which are few), BLECK!

Coolest looking frog ever. It was SO blue. Apparently it's skin is poisonous. Figures!

These were rubber eels I think. They really did look like rubber. It was creepy.

Awesome little fish huh? It can see above and below water out of those two eyes.

Brandon taking a little chapstick break.

And to top it all off. The end of my 2 weeks sugar free (dessert free) experiment! It wasn't really a diet, although losing some weight would have been nice. It was more to prove to myself that I really could do it. And I did. No cheating for me. This was the best way to end it. At Nielson's Frozen Custard shop in Las Vegas, Nevada after eating dinner at Cafe Rio next door. SO yummy. This custard is at least twice as dense as ice cream and is WAY more creamy. Mix in some reese's peanut butter cups and you have a little bit of heaven in a cup.