Mid-week Date Night....

It's rare lately that we are able to find time during the week to see each other, let alone go out on a dinner date... but this week we did! And it was awesome! We went to Macaroni Grill and did a little shopping, etc.... basically just enjoyed some time together. This semester has been really tough on Troy so it was a much needed night off. :) Gotta love mid-week date nights! :)

Tonight we are off to the symphony to celebrate Halloween... haha! No, we aren't in costumes, but I am at least in a orange top and shoes. :) And tomorrow is the Ballet... looking forward to that too!

My favorite part of the party....

Taking a break from cleaning to dance with Troy on the porch to a Frank Sinatra song.... It was perfect! :)

A few more silly photos of our costumes...

Here we are with Bryan (the friend who so generously let us use and abuse his house for the party!) He is such a great guy! And we were so happy that our friend Tracy (and fellow RWDC Board Member) came to the party! Poor guy... I put him to work helping with the door, cleaning, DVD duty, etc... but he still had a great time, I think! I hope so!!

3rd Annual Charity Halloween Party, continued

The party was a great success! We estimate that there were about 350 people in attendance... and we raised $1490.00 that will go to the Cancer Wellness House and possibly some to Huntsman Cancer Institute as well. We also gave a discount at the door for anyone who brought canned goods for the Utah Food Bank. We ended up with about 160 cans of food. All in all a very successful fundraiser! :) And I just love how everyone goes all out with their costumes... makes it so fun!

Thanks Troy for all the help!! Love you!

3rd Annual Charity Halloween Party Preparations...

This weekend was our 3rd Annual Charity Halloween Party. While the parties take a ton of preparation work... they always seem to be a success and we generally raise quite a bit of money... which makes it all worth while! Here are a few shots of the preparation and set up...

Our “stay-cation”... It’s a silly term, I know…

Last week was Troy’s fall break from the U, so we decided to have a little mini-vacation. I took a couple days off work and we spent some time goofing off… It was great! We haven’t had a lot of free time during this semester – it’s been a bit brutal – so we tried to forgot about school for a couple days (worked better at some times than others.. haha!) and tried to just enjoy ourselves. We didn’t manage to get to a few of things we had planned – i.e. the zoo, a play, a movie, etc – but we still enjoyed the break!

Here are a few highlights –

- We had a lovely dinner with our friend Kathleen Gardner (formerly of the Utah Symphony/Utah Opera). She has become a dear friend to both Troy and I and while we miss seeing her at the Symphony and Opera, we were happy to find that she seems to be enjoying her new job with Odyssey Dance Theatre. It was wonderful for us to visit with her a bit and we “talked shop” a bit too…. It’s funny how many of our discussion lately revolve around Vivace, Studio D, Ririe-Woodbury, Odyssey, etc etc.

- The next night we attended Odyssey Dance Theatre’s Thriller… it was a fun Halloween themed show. There wasn’t as much focus on dance as Troy and I would have liked, but the show is very entertaining and the audience loved it. Many of them attend the show year after year and cheer very enthusiastically for their favorite numbers. After the show we attended the cast party and met several of the dancers, as well as, the Company’s Founder and Artistic Director, Derryl Yeager. We enjoyed the evening very much.

- Next on the agenda for the stay-cation was for me to do one of my favorite things…. SLEEP IN! It was Heaven!! :)

- Our 3rd Annual Charity Halloween Party is coming right up on the 25th, so a portion of the weekend was spent doing prep work for the party… getting decorations, finding volunteers, picking up food and candy, etc. Everything seems to be coming together quite nicely! And we can’t wait to don our Globetrotter costumes! (Thanks again for the loan Pand!) The party this year is a combination food drive for the Utah Food Bank, and a fundraiser for cancer research/care. We are looking at a couple different options now for the donation to go to, but I think a portion at least will go to the Cancer Wellness House.

- Along with the shopping for the party, and what seemed to be a never-ending quest for a new suit for Troy… haha! (The real challenge was finding a place that could have it done by Saturday! Yikes) We managed to have a delicious dinner at one our new favorite restaurants… Fratelli. It’s a little Italian Restaurant in Sandy that is just yummy! On Friday we met one of the owner’s (his brother and the other owner is the chef) and were introduced to his whole family via the photos on the wall (ancestors who came through Ellis Island, etc). The photos were great! We are excited to head back on November 1st, the night where they are celebrating an annual tradition by donating their proceeds to the Utah Food Bank. I love when I get to see company’s giving back to their communities! I am looking forward to the dinner and to being a part of their event.

- Saturday was the Season Opener for the Utah Opera – Madame Butterfly. Along with the opera we attended a dinner before the show, and a Soiree after the show. What a fun evening! The dinner was especially fun because we were seated with the Peterson Family. Glade Peterson is one of the Founder’s of the Utah Opera and while he has passed away, his lovely wife Mardean (I hope I spelled that right!) was there. Their daughter Michelle is the Company Manager for the Opera and their other daughter Leslie is the Director of Development for the Symphony/Opera. Kelvin, their son, happens to work with Troy at Continental (and so does his wife, Robin) so it was just a fun evening for us! We always enjoy chatting with Robin and Kelvin, but it was great to meet Mardean and Michelle, and to see Leslie again as well. We felt privileged to be a part of their family for the evening!

The Opera was amazing! Troy has seen Madame Butterfly many times, but this was my first time and I very much enjoyed it! I can easily understand why it is the most frequently performed opera in the United States. I just loved it and Troy did too! And the little boy just stole the show - He was great!

The Soiree was great fun as well! It was officially a Vivace Party, but we also had several of the opera donors attend, as well as, a large number of the cast and orchestra. Troy’s sister Tamara also joined us at the party and as always, we loved seeing her. There was great food, all with an Asian theme (dessert sushi, spring rolls, etc). There was a costume showcase featuring new designs from two of the seamstresses from the Opera Costume Shop (one of them being our friend Jennifer – go Jen!). The new USUO CEO (Melia) was even wearing a gown designed and created by someone from the costume shop. She joked about the company starting a new line of business “Gowns for Galas”. Troy and I have met Melia on a few occasions now and also met her husband, Mike that night. Mike was very entertaining and so far we like Melia too. We hope that she does an excellent job with USUO.

I hope to have pictures from the Opera Soiree soon! :)

- And thanks to all the Hickman Clan for a great dinner on Sunday! It was wonderful to see everyone (everyone that's in Utah... we missed those in Idaho)!

Silly "What Car would you be" Quiz...

Good thing Troy likes Corvettes... haha!

I'm a Chevrolet Corvette!

You're a classic - powerful, athletic, and competitive. You're all about winning the race and getting the job done. While you have a practical everyday side, you get wild when anyone pushes your pedal. You hate to lose, but you hardly ever do.

Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

ABQ Vacation... Great fun!

Here we are at the Balloon Fiesta... Trevor lost interest in the balloons after all the cool shapes had taken off, but he was a total trooper with his coloring. :) Oh... I forgot to post this balloon for Troy... Continental was a sponsor of the event... Santa Fe was a great adventure... and a fun little town. Bought some gorgeous jewelry and had a yummy lunch at Tia Sofia's. And we even managed to get a few family photos... And a favorite activity for many.... The shooting range! :) I wasn't shooting very well this day, as you can see from my target below, but I still loved it! And Brad's new assault rifle was pretty cool to try out. :) The kids all loved the park... and look, they are all little budding "tree-huggers"