. . . idols . . .

. . . let's just say that

i will not be turning into a

coyotes or cardinals fan

any time soon . . .

. . . the round trip to glendale

was 120 miles . . .

{. . .well, that and the fact that no one likes hockey

and the cardinals stink . . .}

. . . when we finally arrived,

pregnant daughter

was about to perish from hunger . . .

. . . so i did what every

respectable mom would do . . .

. . . i took her to hooters . . .. . . we located our seats inside the arena . . . . . . and found self-portraiture

to be a little tricky . . . . . . so, i gladly took myself out of the photo . . .
. . . besides . . .
. . . asking the nice folks
who were sitting in front of us

to help with a digital camera

just didn't seem a viable option . . .

{. . . this nice lady is intently watching

jordin sparks and chris brown's

video of "no air" . . .}{. . . the 80's called and they want their scrunchies back . . .}

. . . guess who wasn't at the concert? . . .

. . . ryan, randy, paula and simon

were, of course, nowhere to be found . . .

. . . in their place,

they sent this

obnoxious giant pop tart -

{did you know pop tarts is/are sponsoring this tour?}

he's strawberry AND blueberry! . . .

. . . the concert was arranged

david letterman top ten countdown style . . .

#10 - chikezie

started the show

he was full of energy,

singing "i believe to my soul",

"caught up" and

"walking on cloud nine"

#9 - ramiele malubay -

. . . oh, dear . . . not so good . . .

. . . she started with "i want you back",

which was okay, but then . . .

. . . on "love will lead you back" . . .

. . . perhaps her spiky boot heels were too high,

or her jeweled pants too tight,

but something went wrong -

terribly, terribly wrong . . .

. . . everyone around us was

looking at each other in pain . . .

. . . she went so flat

about half way through,

and though she was

surrounded by monitors

{and even wearing them in her ears},

she never found her way back

into the key the band

was playing the song in . . .

. . . "if i never see your face again"

wasn't quite as bad,

but, by then,

the damage had been done . . .

. . . bye bye ramiele! . . .

#8 - michael johns -

. . . thank heaven for michael johns,

who rose onto the stage

via hydraulics belting

"we will rock you" and

"we are the champions"

moving smoothly into

"it's all wrong"

and finishing with

"dream on",

which is the song that got him

kicked off the show,

but was a showstopper in concert . . .

. . . good for him . . .

#7 - kristy lee cook

. . . this girl is gorgeous and

about as big around

as your pinkie . . .

. . . she sounded great and

was really darling as

she danced all over the stage . . .

. . . her numbers included

"squeezin' the love outta you",

"god bless the usa" {of course}, and

"little cowgirl" . . .

. . . we unanimously gave her

the "most improved" award . . .

#6 - carly smithson

. . . this girl's lung capacity is amazing . . .

. . . she can only be described as

powerful . . .

. . . she also looked like

she had lost weight . . .
. . . her three-song set started

with wind-blown hair {see the fans?}

and "bring me to life". . .

. . . she started her second song,

"crazy on you"

kneeling at center stage

before she really got going and

rocked the end of the song,

then she finished with

"i drove all night"

and a standing ovation . . .

. . . carly introduced the next performer as

the "whitest person i know,

and if she messes up

the beginning of her song,

she'll just start over"

which was supposed to be funny,

but i thought it came off as

kind of snarky and mean . . .

#5 - brooke white

also rose to the stage,

piano and all,

via hydraulics . . .

{i'm having her hair in the next life!}

. . . amid big-time hometown cheers,

she sang/played her soulful version of

"let it be"

wearing only one of her stiletto heels . . .

. . . you could tell she was happy to be "home" . . .

. . . she put her other shoe on and

carefully made her way

to center stage

where her guitar

was waiting . . .

. . . we were instructed to

"snap it out"

while she performed

"1, 2, 3, 4" . . .

. . . her set ended at the piano

with "yellow" . . .

. . . appropriate . . .
. . . by the way . . .

. . . no dancing for brooke,

which, as we all know, is for the best! . . .

. . . the first half ended with

a group performance

by idols #5 through #10

as they patted themselves on the back

for "idol gives back" . . .

. . . a l.o.n.g intermission featured

these two losers

duking it out on a

new version of guitar hero . . .

{oh, guess what? . . . another tour sponsor}

#4 - jason castro

. . . mr. dreadlocks

{aka the most laid-back person alive}

sat on a stool and

sang "over the rainbow"

while strumming his ukelele . . .

. . . oops! a roadie had to come out

and plug it in for him - hello! . . .

. . . he also mixed up the lyrics . . .

{love the red kicks} . . . second song - "crazy",

then "daydream" . . .

. . . i need a nap . . .

#3 - syesha mercado
this girl is not laid-back and

she has rehearsed - a lot!
you could tell she knew

exactly what to do and

when to do it . . .

all the while looking fabulous

{except i really love when

she has her crazy 'fro hair better}

look at her legs!

look at her shoes!
and wait! listen to her . . .

. . .she was really good . . .

. . . she opened with "umbrella"

{even i knew that song},

then "i ain't got you",

ending with a very powerful

and heartfelt "listen" . . .

#2 - david archuleta

. . . FINALLY! . . .

. . . with the fog machine going crazy

right along with the crowd,

archie and his piano appeared,

he opened his amazing teenage mouth

and my ears were very happy

as he sang "angels". . .

. . . the runs, his range - i'm a fan . . .

. . . wow! . . .

. . . so is amanda . . .

. . . as idol numero dos,

david a. got to sing

four numbers . . .

. . . you would think another perk

of being in the top two

would be some sort of cool wardrobe,

but nope!

he had the worst outfit of the night . . .

. . . a cheap black jacket

with sequins sewn

around all the edges - really tacky! . . .

. . . but not to worry . . .

. . . just close your eyes and listen . . .

. . . following "angels" he

went right into "apologize" and

i'm pretty sure

i liked it better

than the original

{sorry onerepublic} . . .

. . . next he strutted around to

"stand by me"

which included a

longer/way effective clip of

{that formerly pesky}

"beautiful girls"

at the end . . .

. . . superb . . .

. . . he finished with josh groban's

"when you say you love me"

which gave me goosebumps . . .

#1 - david cook

. . . he really likes himself,

and surprisingly,

i liked him, too . . .

. . . david and his guitar

kicked off their five songs

with his version of "hello"

{of which i am a fan},

followed by his current hit

"time of my life", and

"don't want to miss a thing". . .

. . . i'm thoroughly enjoying it . . .

. . . amanda? . . .

. . . not so much . . .

. . . he videotapes the crowd

so he can remember

this amazing moment,

there is some small talk,

including news that

his brother's tumor

has stopped growing,

then he dedicates the next number

"my hero"

to said brother,

and closes with his amazing take on

"billie jean" . . .

. . . i was expecting

at least one group number

and it came at the very end

with all 10 idols

awkwardly prancing around to

"don't stop the music" . . .

. . . of the two davids,

if i were buying a cd - no question.

i'd go for archuleta.

to watch in concert - no question.

cook.

. . . just my opinion,

but it was a fun night . . .

. . . oh, to be six . . .

. . . here's addi . . .

. . .today was her birthday party . . .

. . . it's not officially her birthday yet

but we had an ice cream celebration anyway . . . . . . we played 'don't eat pete' . . .
. . . 'pin the cherry on the ice cream cone' . . .
. . . addi . . .
. . . and halleigh got a little confused
about the object of the game . . .
. . . but then they caught on . . .
. . . good guess darby . . .
. . . great try halleigh . . .
. . . no girly ice cream party is complete without a camo blindfold . . .
. . . we tried to bust open the piñata . . .
. . . everyone gave it their best shot . . .
. . . chris took his life in his hands
being the 'holder' . . .

. . . tate got really excited . . .
. . . "let's get this straight . . .
. . . there's a stick and
i'm SUPPOSED to hit something with it?" . . .
. . . but the piñata would not die . . .
. . . what with the cone itself
being made of a pizza box
and then covered with burlap and all . . .
. . . finally chris showed the piñata who was boss . . .
. . . everyone quickly snatched up

their share of the goods . . .

. . . and ate candy . . .

. . . while they waited . . .

. . . for ice cream sundaes . . .

. . . halleigh proved once again that
she is, in fact, allergic to ice cream . . .

. . . gift opening always starts out

in an organized fashion . . .

. . . cinderella with her magic wand was a big hit . . .

. . . ashtyn brought a darling yellow purse . . .

. . . barbie clothes have soooooo many tiny pieces . . .

. . . good thing darby was there to clean up . . .

. . . tate decided he'd rather chill
on mom & dad's bed
with his elmo slippers and toy story . . .

. . . he did make a brief appearance

to check out the loot -

note the sticker bracelet and glue sticks . . .

. . . he busted some sweet moves with balloons . . .

. . . good thing he didn't catch on

when brent was demonstrating

the art of helium inhalation . . .

. . . he modeled mrs. potato head's specs . . .

. . . brent terrorized the baby . . .

. . . amanda practiced being a boy mom . . .

. . . tagg snoozed . . .

. . . halleigh modeled a new outfit . . .
. . . so did the birthday girl . . .
. . . and she showed off her bling bling flip flops . . .

but her mom said not to look at her nasty toes

. . . all in all, it was a pretty good day . . .

. . . it's great to be six! . . .

. . . don't blink . . .

. . . there i was . . .

. . . cutting up a cantaloupe . . .

. . . looking out the window . . .

. . . thinking to myself, "is that rain?" . . .

. . . amazingly, yes it was . . .
. . . unexpected . . .
. . . yet always welcome . . .
. . . it lasted maybe five or ten minutes . . .
. . . then the wind blew . . .
. . . i've never seen so many
seed pods on
our enormous ash tree . . .
. . . or in our pool . . .
{p.s. this little shower dropped the temperature
to about 90 degrees at 6 p.m! woo hoo!}

. . . announcing . . .

. . . a cute new blog for your reading pleasure . . .

{it's about time!}

. . . he's there . . .

. . . as you may or may not know . . .

. . . drew has landed safely in mexico . . .

. . . he sent a package home

before leaving the mtc . . .

. . . things he didn't think he'd need . . .

{pamphlets in english, all the dearelder letters

from me, bill, his sisters, and a few of you

[don't worry . . . it wasn't ALL of his letters],

a couple of pair of b-ball shorts, some t-shirts,

an awesome missionary exercise guide,

and his skinny jeans}

. . . i still have laundry skills,

even though there isn't

much laundry to do any more . . .

. . . of course, i always

check pockets before washing . . .

. . . good thing . . .

. . . i found this in his jeans . . . . . . i ♥love♥ this boy . . .

. . . good news from provo . . .

. . . we heard from Drew today . . .

. . . in the mailbox . . .

{letters AND photos}

. . . and on the phone! . . .

. . . turnabout . . .

. . . is fair play . . .

. . . let me begin by saying that

alisse and i are tight . . .

. . . she's borrowed stuff from me before . . .

. . . stuff like sign language books

and photos . . .

. . . so who could blame me for

borrowing these shots from her? . . .

. . . for those of you who

don't get to see amber's blog . . .

. . . here is . . .

. . . tagg christan hansen . . .

. . . {and his cheeks} . . .

. . . four days old . . .

. . . thanks alisse {and good job!} . . .

. . . and the winner{s} is/are . . .

. . . i asked my missionary son, drew,

to choose four random numbers

between one and thirty

{see question number seven} . . .

. . . congratulations to

cammac,

kacee,

sue, and

jckhadlocks . . .

. . . cami, sue and kim -

come on over and choose . . .

. . . kacee - we'll talk . . .

. . . if you have access to amber's blog,

you can see photos of tagg here . . .