Your skirt, Chels...

So, yesterday I was shopping for a new top to wear to present my research at UCUR today, and I found a cute skirt for Chelsea (who asked me to look for a pencil skirt for her). I decided it was so cute that I needed to wear it together! And now I decided I want to keep it. So this photo is for my mom, who wanted to see what I wore, and for Chelsea, who can now decide if she wants me to buy her another skirt for her to keep--'cause this one's mine now!

For Mama and Papi!

I few years ago I was playing with my guitar and started learning a few chords and put together the "Love is Spoken Here" song and created my own rendition of it as a dedication to my mom and dad. I was planning on taking the 2 verses and one day editing them together and giving the final result to my mom and dad as a gift to them for the way they raised us boys... I had forgotten about this whole project and I stumbled across the audio file of my recording tonight. After a few unsuccessful attempts at editing, I finally asked Giselle to help me. Her audio editing skills are right up there with the pro's. She did a great job piecing together the song and making the final verse of me singing with me (ha ha, what a team!)... so here it is:
To Moma and Papi,
Thank you for raising us up in a home full of love. I love you both so so much!!

Click the pink play button below to listen:

Chocolate!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For anyone who really knows me...this will not come as a surprise!

For Valentine's Day, Noah got me a 3 lb. Hershey's solid chocolate heart. This may not sound like that much...that's why I included a picture of the EMPTY carton. 1/30 of the heart comprised a serving according to the nutrition facts, and each serving had 220 calories! That means in ten days I have consumed
6,600 calories
of pure milk chocolate (with little to no help from Noah).

Basically, I am a happy camper. I wish this chocolate overdose had turned me away from the stuff for a while, but I would be just as happy to open a new one right now, haha....I LOVE CHOCOLATE!

Off to Europe!!

Well, it's official! I purchased my tickets this weekend to fly to London and be there to watch Giselle compete in Blackpool with the UVU Ballroom company! The best part is that I'm not going alone... My parents and Earl and Billie Sue will be there as well. We're going to go to Paris for a few days and then up to Blackpool to meet up with Giselle and the team and watch them dance and then head down to London for a few more days before coming home. This will be my 3rd trip to Europe (It's becoming my regular vacation spot) so I will get to be the tour guide for mine and Giselle's parents (First Europe trip for all of them). Earl and Billie Sue will fly out on May 23rd and Giselle and the team fly out May 24th and then my parents and I on May 25th. We'll be coming home on June 4th (My parents and I) and June 5th (Everyone else).
I'm sure we'll be gathering hundreds if not thousands of pictures on this trip! Cant wait to post them all!
Love you all,
Noah

What Next?

So, you can't tell that well from the pictures, but I have hives all over my trunk! There is a cluster on my stomach, some on my back, and on each side they go from the hips all the way to the armpit! I even have a cluster on one of my elbows. Why me?

My stress levels are lower now than they've been in MONTHS, I've been on the same medication from MONTHS, I haven't switched soap or detergent or lotion or any of that stuff...I can't figure out where these guys came from...

Updates, Updates...

So, the ball has been continually rolling since the Silver State deflation, and we have lots of updates for everyone!

First....it's official! Noah is enrolled with Quantum Helicopters in Chandler, AZ and will be moving to Mesa on March 12. He is really excited, because he will get to be at school for 4 hours everyday--2 hours of flying and 2 hours of ground school. He'll be living with Nik and Anissa from March until June. If you haven't already checked out their website, there's a link in the last post. Here's what the facility looks like...it's roughly 20 minutes from Nik's house, so when I move down in June, we plan on looking for an apartment somewhere in between Mesa and Chandler.

I found this cool picture of downtown Phoenix, and I just thought I'd put it on here...

But this may give you a better idea of the Arizona we will be growing to love!

Another cool update is that I have found a studio where I can temporarily teach and take class. I will still be heading up the Ballet and Tumbling programs at Body Motion, but replacement teachers will be hired until I move back. Also, since I'm so close, I'll be visiting often and teaching classes here and there, choreographing dances for our competitive teams next year, and of course running our summer dance program with Billie Jo this year.

This is Dance Connection Too...the studio I'm currently in contact with to work for. They are one of the absolutely top studios in the area, and it's located in Gilbert, AZ about 10 minutes from Noah's school, so it's really close, too!

They have 7 studios, and this is their main one. They're planning on having me be a major part of developing their Ballroom program, which is currently in it's growth stage, and I'm going to TA as many other classes as I can so I can become an even better teacher for my Body Motion kids!

I'll be staying in our house until June, and between now and then we are going to decide if we want to sell or not. Most likely we will work with a property management company to get a good renter in and continue to build our equity while we let them pay our mortgage. The market is just not that great right now, and the only people that are selling are those that have to, and we'd probably suffer for it by at least $20,000.

Anyway, that's the latest. Pipe in with what you think!!!
Love, Giselle

New Beginnings...

Well, it's been an eventful couple of days - that's for sure. Silver State Helicopters (Noah's school and future employer) suddenly and abruptly closed its doors due to financial troubles that it had been hiding, leaving thousands of students and instructors (including us) out in the cold, as well as leaving us with some restructuring to do for our lives. Somewhat of an Enron situation :(

We're leaning heavily at this time toward finishing Noah's training in Chandler, AZ, which means most likely spending the next year teaching there, as well.

Here's a link to the new school we're considering. It has lots of perks - including an in house administrator to do all the FAA tests, so there's no waiting around or traveling to be able to take your exams. They hire an even greater percentage of their graduates than Silver State did, and the weather there makes it ideal as a CFI since there are hardly any days you can't fly (and since CFI's are paid hourly this is a great thing)... The CFI's build hours really quickly, too, and that's the best thing that can happen, since hours is basically the only thing that makes your resume.

Click Here for the New School - Quantum Helicopters

It's sad that this thing happened, but it's much better that it could have happened at this point of Noah's training than any earlier or any later. He's in a perfect situation to transfer to another school and finish up. Chandler is about 20 minutes from Mesa, so we'd be able to stay near family, and be close enough to Utah to still feel at home, and visit A LOT! Chime in with your thoughts...