You request--I deliver!

Well, Chels, here you go! If you're wondering what this is all about, check out the "Crazy Russians" blog and the comments that go along with it. Enjoy!

Come and Stay!

So, I know we don't have a real bed in our guest room, but doesn't this look at least a little inviting? I came up with the bright idea of putting our air mattress (which stays pumped up--haha) on TOP of our futon. I thought it was comfy when I was testing it out...but I'd love for some of you to check it out yourselves! Come and stay a while--or at least know that it's open to you if you ever need it.

One Night Only...

So, most of you know that I'm dancing for Rick Robinson right now, and we are getting ready for our upcoming show! Here is the link with the info!

http://www.utahvibe.com/Professional.aspx

Crazy Russians

Rashetas and Rashetas and a Buti...

Well...I know most of you knew that we would be going to Phoenix this weekend, but plans have changed wildly in the past week. Noah's grandma (Lary's mom) passed away, so all of the family is here for the memorial service on Monday. The Phoenix Rashetas stayed with us on Friday and Saturday nights, and Dak and Tara will be coming to stay Sunday and Monday nights! Mia was also able to come to our house on Saturday during the day, so here are some of my favorite pics of the weekend so far...
Mia proudly holding baby Landon...

Baby Landon with his favorite uncle Noah!

The proud Mama!

Livi with Noah...

The crazy 2-year-olds loving Petrie! When Livi woke up this morning, the first thing she said was, "I wanna play with Mia!" They were so cute together and I was so happy to have both of my crazy nieces having fun at my house!

Back to life...back to reality!

Well, since only Billie Jo has posted in the last few days, I thought I'd tell you all a little bit about what's going on with me...just to keep updated and everything.

Yesterday was the first day of my last year of school, HOORAY!!! I have 19 credits, and all of them are upper division dance theory courses. This means basically that they're classes dealing with all the non-dancing side of dance, and that the professors are out to prove that there is such a side of dance, and so each one of them (of course) believes that they ought to bury us in reading and writing about dance in its many forms. One such class is entitled Dance History. It is through this class that I will be learning more about World History than I ever wanted to know...coupled with the way that affected dance through the ages since its first existence. In short, our professor has informed us of PERSIA. Politics, Economics, Religion, Science, Intellectual Trends, and Art. I will study the PERSIA of each time period since the beginning of dance...and that means A LOT of reading. (Maybe not for you law boys.) But for me, 100-150 pages per week just for that class seems like a bit much.

I'd like to think that this is my "heavy" course for the semester, but it's actually the lesser of two evils. My 4 credit Kinesiology class promises to be a brain buster, and a challenge for memorization even for me and my trusty flashcards. Normally, they don't offer these two classes in the same semester, because it's too difficult of load for the average student. Ha ha...love it.

Finally, my favorite prospect of the semester--Current Issues in Dance. This class consists of (no textbook) issues thought up by the student, discussed by the students, and researched by the students. I'm not actually sure what our teacher is planning on doing all semester, since she didn't have a syllabus for us today and told us she planned on letting us "shape the class." Besides that, I'm the only Ballroom major, and since all the modern majors are a)extremely opinionated and b)exceptionally biased against all other forms of dance, I think it's going to be such a fun class. I was already informed today that my genre of dance was merely "entertainment" while modern dance and ballet (not all ballet, but some) are real "art."

So, enough of my complaining...what have you all been up to today? I miss and love you...get back to me soon. And if you can spare it, I'd love a little sympathy. I'll be up late reading, so I'll be sure to get your responses quickly! Lovies!

It was a late night! 2am-6am flight

Well...Last night, or I guess early this morning I finally did my first night cross country flight. I woke up at 2:00am and headed down to the airport in Provo and started pre-flighting the helicopterand filed a flight plan from Provo to Ogden while my instructor showed up. We ended up departing around 3:15am and just followed I-15 all the way up. The winds were very calm and we had the doors off so we could feel the pockets of warm and cool air along the way. We stayed about 500-1000 ft above the freeway the whole way. We landed in Ogden and refueled and then headed back but made a few stops along the way practicing touch and go's a various airfields along the way. We also decided to take a tour of SLC at 5am and flew around all the big buildings and the temple downtown. It was so fun to be able to just fly around the buildings so low and slowly (one more reason you just gotta love helicopters) enjoying the peaceful sleeping city below. I got home around 6 and went back to bed. My instructor told me that if I ever had any intentions of flying for an EMS service such as life flight, this was a good taste of what that would be like. Well, it's noon so I better get ready for the day and get to work!

Prettiest 4 year old...

Because Ellie took a Latin ballroom class this summer, she got to come to my house once a week and sleep over, then hang out with me all day until her dad went home from work. I kept promising Tess that she could come for a sleepover sometime, too, but the summer stayed so busy that we almost ran out of time! After Katie McNeil's bridal shower in Peoa on yesterday, I brought Tess home with me. This morning we swam in the pool, watched Dora, and played on the playground before her mom came to get her. I love this girl, and I think she's just about the prettiest thing I've ever seen.

My Birthday Present

That's right, a cruise! We are going to the Bahamas, take two! This time we are going with our friends, Nate and Celeste, and Celeste's brother and his wife. They invited us to go, and we couldn't refuse! We found an awesome deal and are both able to go really inexpensively. We will go for my Fall Break...from October 11 to 15.

This, as well as the picture above, are snapshots of the ship on which we will be sailing, The Majesty of the Seas! It's the same ship we were on before, so we know it's going to be so so fun...

This is a photo of one of the nightclubs inside the ship where they have dancing and little shows at night. It's a really neat ship, and I can't wait to go. We learned from our first cruise and are more than excited to get more out of our cruise ship this time around. We know where everything is and what is the most fun. Plus, I'm sure I'll take more advantage of the pool since this time I'll have other girls to lay out with! Isn't my husband the coolest? I think it's safe to say we have a new hobby--traveling!

Happy Birthday!!!

I am finally 21! My birthday was great, thanks to all of you! Because I was still recovering from my stomach flu, Noah treated me to breakfast in bed consisting of toast and applesauce...it was perfect! I ended up having to go to work at Hapari all day, then Noah and I met up with Mom and Dad (McNeil) for an early/quick dinner at Goodwood! It was the first big meal I had eaten in a week, and it was so so good! Mom came with me to rehearsal and Dad hung out with Noah at home, then we went to see the new studio where our dance company will be housed. Upon arrival back at the house at nearly 11 p.m., I was surprised by Nate and Celeste waiting for me with a wonderful gift!

All the phone calls and gifts were appreciated so much. Thank you thank you thank you for making my birthday special! I love you all!

Landon Rasheta

Check out those cheeks!!!!

Click on the photo so you can see up close how adorable he is!

Here's Landon with his proud oldest sister! He is so darling and we cannot wait to see him! We will be visiting Phoenix the 24th-26th for our first meeting with the new Rasheta family AND see their new house!!!!!

I flew solo today!

I dont have any pictures of it but I flew solo for 1 hour today! I flew out to an air field about 10 miles west of Utah lake and there I flew all by me onesies. It was such a cool experience to fly around and know that I was doing it all alone. I'll be flying solo all this week and next and then finishing up some final stuff to hopefully get my private pilot license on Aug 22nd and then I'll start on my commercial training!

Stolen Photos!

Okay, so this post won't be any fun for the McNeils because all these photos were stolen from Chelsea's blog...but since I forgot my camera this weekend, I wanted to show the Rasheta family what we were up to his weekend and how much fun we had!

We missed out on a lot of the fun on Saturday since I had an 8.5 hour rehearsal! We weren't able to participate in the work project at my grandma and grandpas house or float down the canal...but we enjoyed all the amazing food and plenty of visiting time with our immediate and extended family!

The Pulse

Meet the faculty of the Pulse tour!

I am 100% committed to going to their convention in Las Vegas on November 10th and 11th and I think I've convinced Billie Jo to go with me! I am so so so so excited! Wish us luck!

Drumroll please...

Baby Rasheta now has a name....................Landon Noah Rasheta! We're so proud!