This 'n That

American Idol: Last weekend we - Mom, Zack, Caitlin and I - went to LA for the AI concert. Keep in mind that the tickets were purchased right after we got home from our Taylor Hicks encounter, when excitement was high. The concert was fun, although very "staged". Each singer came out, sang 2 songs, then during the 3rd song, the next singer would come out. They introduced each other, had light, brief banter to the crowd, thanked everyone for making their dreams come true, and moved on. The sound was so loud that at times it was difficult to hear their voices. The graphics on the screen were cheap, psychadelic waves. There was not even a pause or intro for the winner, which I thought was kinda lame. While there were some enjoyable moments, there were also some painful ones, ie, Pickler and Bucky singing and "dancing" to "You're the One That I Want" from Grease. Ick. Poor little Elliot made a difficult wardrobe choice - he wore an oversized LA Lakers jersey, untucked, a little golfers cap, and he has one of those amish-type beards. The jersey hit his legs almost to his knees, and his skinny little legs dangled from the bottom of the jersey. He looked like a gangster leprechan. But he has a great voice. And no matter what Mandisa wears, it's not a slimming color. But, again, great pipes. I could go on, but won't. It was kinda fun - quick, but fun.

Family Reunion: Stay excited. That's all I have to say about that.

Movies: Haven't been to any, but while in LA, Caitlin and I watched "The Break-up" and "Rumor Has It", both with Jennifer Aniston. Entertaining enough, but I enjoyed "Something's Gotta Give" so much more. It was on TV a few weeks ago, and I found myself laughing out loud - that's the one with Jack Nicholson and Diane Keeton, right? Anyway, it was funny.

Little Girls: Joys - both of them. Sarah went up to Utah to see some friends for her birthday. Jared stayed home from work with the girls. They all loved it. The girls love hanging out with Dad. Quantum leap - Emma won't eat any kind of sauce. Sadee, on the other hand, will eat ketchup with a spoon, or salsa, or guac. Emma is in pre-school and loves it. She has learned lots of new things - like how to sit criss-cross applesauce. Hey, that's important!

Food: Ummm, for all those who think Provo is Mecca because it has Cafe Rio, just wanted to let you know that Gilbert just opened a Cafe Rio. I haven't been yet. There is another restaurant here that has the same kind of food - Costa Vida. Very popular. I have been craving Chinese food, though, and wish I could go to Peking Garden. sniff sniff

Blogs: Let's pick up the pace, people! Vacations are over. You don't have to post photos every time. I'm trying to re-commit myself and take my own advice. I've been reading everyone even though I don't always make a comment. And, Melinda, I don't think Amy would mind at all if you posted a photo of her water skiing! I've even resorted to looking at the blogs of Melinda's friends, starting with Jeni Miller. That took me to her parents, which somehow led me to Don and Janet's blog. That's when I put an end to it! I decided that I had better things to do than keep up with the travels/free-time of the Miller's. Although, I'm excited to know when "The Rawl Berry Patch" people finally get to move into their house. Can't wait to see the painting of the rooms, but I can do without photos of cheesy fries for awhile. So do you believe me now? I want to know about MY relatives.

So that's it for a few days. Deep, huh!

Whose Judy am I?

Last week I was sharing a carton of Mayan Chocolate with Emma and Sadee. I had the spoon and was giving them bites, trying for a bite of my own now and then. Ross was there, too. He got his own spoon, dipped in for a larger bite then ate on it for a few minutes. Emma was quite concerned about this - what's he doing, Judy? I'm sharing, Emma. But...but...but you not hims Judy...That's right, Emma. I'm you's Judy! And don't you forget it! By the way, since Sarah has been without a computer, I'll just let you know that soon Emma and Sadee will be sharing their Judy with another little one - in March. How can there be enough cuteness for another baby? I just don't know!

Middle of August

I have been reading all the blogs, but I have not posted for quite some time. It seems that everyone has been on vacation and sharing all the photos. We have not really been on a full-fledged vacation this summer, but we have taken a few weekend trips which have been documented previously. The most recent trip was to Vegas a couple of weekends ago. We went for Mom's birthday - since she is such a Vegas type of lady. You can read all about it on Zack's blog. I encourage you to visit his spot! He is as enamoured of his camera as any of the Melchin clan and has some nice photos to show for it.

I will add my 2 cents about the Vegas trip: I guess I knew what I was getting in to when we planned the trip, I just never realized how really disgusting the Strip can be. I realize that it's a nice city, overall. But the Strip area is definately not for me. I think it only took about 10 minutes for me to come to that conclusion. We do not drink, we do not smoke, and we gamble poorly. (It only took me about 5 minutes to lose $20.) We dress modestly, we don't really draw attention to ourselves, and we don't drag our kids out on the sidewalk at 11:00 at night. We don't really do anything to earn "comps" from the casinos or hotels, and most of the shows I wouldn't see for free. We go to bed early, wake up relatively early, and we don't need a drink to wake up. But...

The show we saw at the Mirage -"Beatles LOVE"- was without a doubt the most exciting, evocative, emotional thing I've experienced in quite some time - even better than Taylor Hicks. You can hardly imagine how one could combine the artistry of Cirque de Soleil with the music of the Beatles - but it has been done, and done mighty well. I have to confess that I did not want it to be over...ever. The music in and of itself seemingly takes me to another world. Add the creativity of the stage show, and I was in a world of my own. I hope I didn't embarrass my family, but honestly, I didn't care all that much. The show was just for me! I highly recommend that if you get a chance, SEE IT!!! You will not be disappointed. Zack's decription of our reaction when the show was over is very accurate. I was looking around at people wondering if they had seen the same thing I had just seen!

Ok, after the show we went to eat at Joe's Stone Crab. For several years I have had a craving to try stone crab. Can I say that I no longer have that craving? Just think of rubbery, sinewy, cold chicken that tastes like crab, with a really thick egg shell on it. It was not at all what I expected. The sauce was delicious. Becky and I traded - I ate her shrimp and she ate my crab.

So now we have nothing to look forward to - except for the American Idol concert in a two weeks. We are driving to LA for a Saturday night show, and we'll drive back Sunday. Oh, and when we drive in the car? We get to carry on our shampoo and toothpaste.