One of our favorite places!

No, the snow isn't my favorite place, but I really wanted some great snow pictures. Even if I hate being cold, I have to admit that I love pictures. So on our way to "one of our favorite places," I kept trying to snap a great white pic. It didn't really work. Instead, I decided to take pictures around "one of our favorite places"

M - A - G - L - E - B - Y - S- !!! The Utah Valley Symphony gave all of the members a gift card for Christmas, and we were more than happy to use it. Thank you so much UVS! ... and just in case you didn't know, we are mourning the fact that this restaurant moved from the Riverwoods to Springville this weekend. I guess we'll just have to drive south to get some amazing bread.

We got to sit in the big arm chairs by the window. It was awesome. And then it started to snow-- so beautiful! The tree outside the window looked incredible all covered in white. I had to stalk it all evening and get a picture.

And here's that tree :)

Another shot of the tree

The Riverwoods-- we love going up there for movies and dinner (Magleby's or Macaroni Grill). It's our favorite movie theater because the lines are never as bad as theaters by the malls. We had some time to kill, so I took pictures between dinner and a movie (Sherlock Holmes-- loved it.)









The only bad thing about going to the theater at the Riverwoods... Paige saying "You can see the sweat!" in her ad for R. C. Willey. We don't like her too much. Sorry Paige.

The Tale of the Incredible Pig

I have been trying and trying and trying to get some posts up, but our Internet has been fighting with blogger. So I apologize to our four avid followers.

This is a blog dedicated to Maggie. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

This is Maggie.

Kate and her little pig. I love this picture-- do you spy the pig butt?

Maggie coming out of the sheets

Cozette uses Maggie as an alarm clock to wake up Kate. Actually I don't know if she still does because Maggie recently ate some of Kate's hair! Seriously.

Kate and the piggy

I wanted a picture of Maggie's teeth, and this is the best one I got :o)

Renee

I wanted to dedicate a post to Renee. It's not much, but she deserves a lot. I met Renee's mom, Michaelle, at the MTC in the summer of 2008. Michaelle is from Haiti and usually volunteered to be an "investigator" for the missionaries learning Haitian, but this week it was closed. Randomly we were assigned to be together for the French missionaries. After talking a little, she told me about Renee and how she wanted to play an instrument. Shortly after, I got a phone call, and Renee began lessons. Even though there was a time without a smaller cello for Renee, she seemed to love learning about music and the cello. Her memory is stinking amazing! One of my favorite Renee memories was when she was learning Mary Had a Little Lamb. It was a little rough, and we had a recital coming up. I was nervous that she wouldn't be able to play it. At the recital, I helped the cute, shy girl up to the stage, and she played it basically perfectly! She was so excited, and it was obvious that she really practiced. I don't think there is anything more a teacher could want.

Renee was my second cello student, and sadly, her family just moved to Georgia. Well, it was exciting for them. Michaelle hates the snow and couldn't wait to be somewhere warmer. I saw the whole family a couple weeks ago at the memorial service for their four month old baby, Nathalie. She was born last year at 26 weeks and seemed to be doing a lot better after the first month. She was even taken home. I don't know the whole story, but I was glad to be there to help support their family. I saw several pictures of Nathalie at different lessons, and she was a beautiful little girl. It was a very special service, and I was honored to be invited and asked to help participate in a musical number. Hopefully they are doing well in Georgia, and I cross my fingers that Renee will keep up the cello. She was really starting to understand and play well. I am definitely going to miss her and her wonderful family.


I wanted to have some pictures to remember their family, so I may or may not have taken the next few from Michaelle's facebook...

Christmas-- Nathalie



Renee, Marie-Laure (Lolo), and Yael (Yaya)


Michaelle and Kulve-- two of the nicest people I've ever met!