New York City!

We woke up at 3:30am to meet the group at the airport!
I had a lot of Starbucks on this trip!

The first night we walked through Time Square and couldn't believe our eyes!
The buildings were so tall, signs so big and bright, and the streets filled with people!

The next morning the rehearsals began. This is Sue and I getting ready to begin. (Note: Starbucks in hand.)

I got to meet John Rutter. He signed my music, "Best to you Danielle, John Rutter, New York 2009." I auditioned for the crazy-high soprano solo. I've never been so nervous to sing in my life! But I took a deep breath and ended up being the alternate in case the soloist couldn't do it!

The view from the 28th floor of the Hilton!
We stayed here and they also held rehearsals on the third floor.

Central Park.

Ground Zero, Twin Towers.

Self-portrait from the top of the Empire State Building.
It is here where I realized just how enormous New York really is!

Backstage entrance for performers at Carnegie Hall!

Performance night! We sang Rutter's "Gloria" and "Winchester Te Deum." It was the most glorious hall I've ever seen. I can't wait to watch the DVD we ordered. The acoustics are near perfect from the audience, but it was hard to hear on the stage so we had to glue our eyes to him and just trust! There were 200 people in the choir- it was incredible.

Spring spring spring!!!

"Back!"

Raegan's latest new thing is to ride piggy back on Gramma! We were in Ellensburg last weekend, and she kept saying "back, back!" She would hop on, kick her legs, and giggle like crazy as she rode around the house. My mom was so great, hauling her up and down the stairs to her heart's content!

Super Shrimp!

We've been taking Raegan to Saturday morning Super Shrimp swimming lessons at the YMCA!

"Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall!"
This is one of the fun ways the little shrimps are taught to get into the water!

Circle time!


After lessons Raegan was sporting her new hat from Gramma
and her cute flip flops!

Popsicle baths...

Teething four big molars hasn't been easy, on any of us. So, a few times last week I gave Raegan ice cream pops in the bath. The popsicles iced her gums, and the bath was instant clean up!



The teeth are all through now, and that makes TEN! You can see one of them on the bottom right of her mouth in this picture.

A video of Raegan "Talking, Singing, & Dancing!"

This is my first video post, and I'm crossing my fingers that you can all view it with ease! Just click the play button below.
Raegan is such a musician, and you'll get to see her sing and dance to her latest favorites! Also, she's loving her animal sounds these days...

Sunshiny Day!

Tacoma is a great place to live, but the winters can be hard because we go for so long without seeing the sun. But today it was OUT! Not a cloud in the sky. It's still chilly, but we went out to walk along the path near our street. I love watching my little toddler run run run!






Our friend Danni drove up in her new car! She just turned 16, and she came to show us her cute white bug. Raegan thought it was super cool!

"I Could Have Danced All Night!"

Last weekend Raegan and I took a weekend trip to Ellensburg for a "My Fair Lady" reunion! I was cast as Eliza Doolittle my sophomore year in high school, and it is still one of my favorite memories of all time. So, 11 years later, EHS performed it again for the first time, and the original cast decided it would be fun to see the show together! My best friend in high school was Mrs. Pearce in the show, and she ended up directing the current show! It was very very nostalgic and really fun to see old friends!


Meanwhile, Raegan had a blast! She loves going to her grandparents house- so many toys, books, and of course two of her favorite people on earth! Uncle Chris came to play too- "Kunkle" as Raegan puts it. We went to a fun game night at Valley View with Grandma where we "explored" (aka. destroyed) her classroom and ran around with the big kids.


This bunny rocks. It laughs when you squeeze it. Every single time it laughed, so did Raegan- really hard. That's one funny bunny.

Thanks for the pictures Gramma!

Our friend, Claire.

Raegan had her friend Claire over to play this morning! They were laughing so hard together, falling into the ball pit and crawling around.

Isn't Claire a doll!? They both have blonde hair and brown eyes and are such great friends!

Raegan loved having somebody to play with and show her toys to.

Giggling girls... what a fun morning!