Olympus High School Class of 2000 Alumni Website

We headed down to Temple Square for family night last night and had a blast!  

This basically sums up Tallie at 10 months!  EVERYTHING in her mouth, LOL!  She is one spunky girl.  I think she is basically a complete opposite of Lance at this age.  She is high energy, spunky, VERY LOUD, very smiley, laughs all day long, has to be moving all the time, and can't sit still for one second.  She won't eat any baby food or take a bottle.  She only likes what we are eating and drinks out of a sippy.  She makes every day exciting.  Love ya Tallie Tootles! 

I love this picture of Lance!  He is a thinker and takes time to notice the beauty, sounds, noises and environment around him. 

We had to take this as blackmail if they every got married!  Ella won't let go of her man!!! 

If you haven't been down to Temple Square lately to see the flowers, you must.  They are UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!!! 

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Family night at the Temple!

Good news:

• My husband arrives tomorrow for a four day weekend! I’m still buried in work, but we’re going to escape to the city to see that new Disney museum…
• I checked another thing off my 101 in 1001 when I got my name in The Napa Valley Register as one of the people working on Beauty and the Beast. My amazing Aunt Carole was all over the article, so you should go check it out.
• I also checked off my ten days of volunteer service. And I have the circle skirts to prove it!

Bad news:

• I’m apparently operating in a world where dressing all of the chorus members up in costumes reminiscent of Easter eggs on acid is perfectly acceptable behavior.
• Making a human-sized teapot is at the top of my least-favorite-things-on-Earth list.
• Indulging in the local cuisine is doing nothing good for my waistline. I might need to buy an extra airplane seat for the ride home.

Hope all of your lives out in the real world are going swimmingly! I’ll report back again when the most important part of my day doesn’t involve making sure the skirts on the napkin kick line are properly fitted…

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Update on the Napa-ness

I’m not what you would call a “yes” person. I really like being at home and doing my thing, so I lean towards saying “no” to going out and getting involved in extra stuff and doing things that I probably ought to be doing. I’m kind of adventurous, but really I just like to stick to the stuff I know. And, unlike many of my friends, I have no problem using the phrases “Sorry, but I’m swamped and can’t help” or “Not this time, but try me again later.”

But I’m definitely having a “yes” kind of month.

It all started with my new year’s resolutions and wanting to change up my life a bit. Although I’m a pretty happy camper in my little situation, I felt like I was starting to mentally (and physically) atrophy a bit from just sitting around the house doing my thing. So, I decided 2010 was a good year to take on some new challenges. I decided to run a half-marathon, get more involved in the community, and pick up some extra freelance work instead of spending so much time searching for a 9-5 job. It was time to break out of my rut and push myself into new situtations

Fast forward five weeks:

My quest for new situations has been successful…maybe even a little too successful. I went to that blogging conference and joined the ranks of people who treat blogging like a job and, as a result, the Disney Wedding Blog has exploded. I have seven times the traffic that I did a month ago and therefore I have seven times the emails to answer, spotlights to run, and posts to plan out. I’m also getting contacted right and left by vendors who want to talk to me about giveaways and additional programs, which is great for the site but a little overwhelming for the Carly. I even have a couple of different multimedia projects going on that will make the blog even bigger. It’s great, but it’s all happened really fast and I haven’t quite caught my balance yet…

I also opened the door to some freelance work and got hit with so much stuff all at once that it looks like I’ll be making more in the next six months than I made last year working my 9-5. This is completely amazing, but I haven’t quite gotten used to the idea of being my own boss and setting schedules and doing all the things I’m going to have to do to make this work. I think I’ve got it under control, but my desk just looks like a giant haystack of post-it notes right now…

Finally, a big “yes” went from “yes, I’ll fly out to help you with some costumes” to “yes, now that I’m here I can do these as well” to “yes, I can act as a consultant for the whole show” to “yes, I’ll fly back out, handle the costumes for a cast of 94, and stay until opening night.” So, even though I got back to Utah yesterday, I’m headed back to California in the next couple of days and I’ll be elbows deep in Beauty and the Beast until the end of the month. It completely sucks that I’ll be away from Kyle for so long, but I think I’ll have a pretty good time while I’m out there and I’ll be able to see my family more than I usually do.

All of these “yes” moments have led to good things, but now I’m in a place where I wake up and spend my day trying to wrap my brain around a million radically different projects. I’m out of my comfort zone (to say the least!) and I haven’t been bored in a really, really long time. I just hope I’m not taking on too many things at once…

Oh, and check back tomorrow for a “yes” that you don’t want to miss!

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Just Say Yes

Want to hear a story?

It’s even illustrated (if you consider the mandatory scrapbook pages that every Utahn teen must make “illustrations” and not “terrible attacks on photos that never wanted to be associated with construction paper”).

In the eight grade, I was almost failing out of school. Boredom and general apathy towards life kept me from finishing my homework or attending my classes, so I rocked out a solid 1.5 GPA, much to the horror of my teachers and parents and all those concerned adults hovering around my adolescence. In a random act of intervention, my English teacher stepped in and asked me to be a part of the drama program. We had done a theater project in which I had drawn costumes for Pygmalion and she used this to talk me into doing the costumes for the school play, knowing that I was friends with Katelyn (an extra..party guest #2, I believe?) and some of the other girls who’d be on stage.

Oddly enough, I really took to it. I liked the social side of being involved in drama and I liked the creative side of sewing the costumes. It’s true that my early designs were a little…off. The jester’s costume was kick-ass, but I dressed Cinderella’s godmother like a giant banana adorned with sparkly, metallic, ruffles. Hey, you can’t win ‘em all.

Drama led to getting my grades up and enrolling in drama classes when we made the jump to Sr. High. I tried to get involved as a costumer my sophomore year, but it wasn’t until my junior year that I was allowed to do all the costumes for a school production. I did the costumes for our fall musical and really got into all the period pieces and creating something different for everyone. That production saw about 300 costumes, but I loved it. It was crazy and exciting and different…and it was enough to make me sure that I wanted to be a costume designer for the rest of my life.

And then, it turned into work.

After I did the musical, I did all the costumes for the school productions until I graduated. This included the Shakespearean Festival…a production that apparently needed all new costumes, laboriously hand-sewn, and usually made out of materials you aren’t supposed to sew with. My least favorite conversation introduction in the history of the world is, “I was at the thrift store and I saw this shower curtain and thought of you…” To the 1% of you out there who will ever direct a theatrical production in your life: just buy fabric. Don’t bring curtains and drop cloths to your costume mistress and ask for reproductions of the gowns from Shakespeare in Love. You might get them, but she’ll hate you forever.

To be fair, those costumes were beautiful. They had no business at all being involved in a crummy outdoor production at a high school that couldn’t get it together enough to actually put up a set, but the costumes were gorgeous. So it was still sort of fun. Almost. When I wasn’t missing class to launder someone’s sweaty tunic or spending my lunch period sewing up the crotch of an old pair of tights.

My senior year, I even got to wear the costumes I was making, which sort of upped the fun factor. I did all the costumes for the school play, which meant sewing pretty dresses for myself and Bryttin. That was fun. Kind of. And I got a couple of awards for doing it. Also fun. For those two minutes that they mattered.

Ok, it was officially pretty un-fun by that point and it led to a major blow out with my drama teacher and a few months of lost sleep. I don’t know when the work of sewing all those gowns managed to grind my passion into a slimy pulp, but I know it was right around the time I got a full-ride scholarship to the University of Utah for theater studies. I was so over costumes at that point, I never wanted to see another zipper…but I went and I made myself this promise: “This will all have been worth it when they’re flying me out to big cities do to the costumes for big Disney productions.”

Fast forward: my mom and I are flying to California tomorrow to do the costumes for Beauty and the Beast. We’ll be gone for a week, during which we will likely be stressed, overworked, and vaguely panicking. It occurred to me that I got exactly what I asked for ten years ago. And you know what? My today self doesn’t like being overworked and buried in thread much more than my yesterday self did. Just goes to show that you shouldn’t kill what you love to do by turning it into your job AND bargaining with your future self doesn’t always pay out the way you think it will…

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A Long Story to Make a Short Point

If you look closely at London, you will noticed she cried on every ride. The only one she did not cry one was Autotopia. It scared her being in the dark. To be honest, I think the kids rides are too scary (the indoor ones). We just gave up on rides. She was so happy seeing the characters, so we just concentrated on that. When she got off of the Winnie the Pooh ride she looked at me and said ,”I want to tell Winnie the Pooh that I don’t like his ride” with tears streaming down her face.

TINKERBELL

London loves Tink. She waited in line to see her. She would even shout “Tinkerbell, I’m here!” in the line. We first met Fawn, Tink’s friend. London was so happy. If you look at the picture on the top right, you will see London’s expression when she discovers Tinkerbell. She was really excited, until she saw Tink’s friend Terrance. London was a little nervous around him. Hence London’s nervous face.

Before we waited in line to see the Princesses, you could get your face painted. From this moment on, London was nothing but smiles. London met a cute little French girl in line. She had a Minnie Mouse baby. London told her she had a Minnie doll. London asked the girl what the doll’s name was. London replied with a shock, “Mine is named Minnie Mouse too!”

London was in Heaven and I have to admit I got a little teary eyed when she met the Princesses. She would not stop hugging them. Sleeping Beauty is her favorite. London was approaching Cinderella right when she saw Sleeping Beauty. She ran up to Cinderella and said, “Sleeping Beauty is my favorite, and she is right over there!” Whoops. Cinderella was really cute and explained that they were best friends. By the time we got to Sleeping Beauty, she had been switched out. London really did not notice, because she really was in Heaven surrounded by Princesses.

TOON TOWN

Camden LOVED driving the cars.

DAY 2

The one thing Camden really wanted to wait in line and see (:

PRINCESS DINNER

We went to the Princess Dinner. London was decked out like “Sleeping Beauty Princess Aurora” as London calls her. It was so much fun. The food was nummy and the Princesses take time to come around to each table. Aurora was so excited to see London dressed up like her. Notice Camden’s excitement too. Blank expression and eating a yellow crayon. London met Ariel and Aurora, her 2 favorite princesses (:

calling Grandma Sam and telling her about the Princesses.

Camden Loved the rides. His favorite was Pirates. He went on it two times. The second time, he bounced in the line out of excitement. He would point out each pirate and the dogs. That is a pic of him on the ride (1st pic 3rd row). He would not sit down.

DAY 3

Goofy’s Kitchen

HALLOWEEN

Little Bo Peep and her Sheep. Yes, I dressed up too. The other adults were party poopers. They did not realize that they take things very seriously at Disneyland. I went 80′s. I really did not want to go out a buy a costume so I threw some things together that I had. We saw Adam Sandler and Scott Macintyre (Blind guy from American Idol) trick or treating and Jason and Johnny stood in front of Jon Voight in the security line at the airport. It was such a fun time of year to go!

The one thing Cam wanted to wait in line and see (: He is such a boy.This pic is for London. She was with Jason when we saw Handy Manny. I had to snag a pic with him to show her. I almost forgot to post it. I know, you LOVE my costume!

I am sad this trip is over.

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Disneyland

We started to set up a tent close to the water and then it happened. Mosquitos. not just a few… enough to SEE the swarm. we tried to get the poles in the tent as fast as possible to hide from the impending blood suckers, after just two poles we climbed into the haven to escape our impatient predators. I quickly changed to cover my body and pete, well pete just stayed there. Being the covered one, I ran out again and finished the tent. With night closing, the temperature dropped about 20 deg. it was freezing. We tried and tried to get warm and comfy, but to no avail there was not enough blanket for both of us and Pete didn’t have any long pants. silly pete. Being so cold he pulled out his McGuyver boyscout skills and used my skirt and his necktie to conjure this:

I’ll give him mad props for his creativity. Still didn’t help my situation. Pete can sleep ANYWHERE. seriously, anywhere. so, he actually got sleep. I on the other hand tossed and turned trying to cocoon in the blankets in hopes of staying warm. It didn’t work too much. We ended up leaving at around 5:30 am so we could get real sleep in our bed.

At least it was an adventure that we’ll laugh about for a long time. and remind us to always follow that vital boy-scout motto. So here’s to you Eagle Scout. Those merit badges sure paid off.

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My Husband the Eagle Scout

Mia Joan Anderson was born on Tuesday, July 21 at 8:30 AM. She weighed 7 lbs, 13 ounces and was 20.5 inches long. We are all doing great! Mia is a happy little baby and is a good eater and sleeper. We are so grateful to have her here safe and sound. Here are some pics.

Me the night before we went in for the C-section. As you can tell, I was SO ready!

Proud daddy

It’s so fun to have a new baby!

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Baby Girl has arrived!