Visit from Liz

Yesterday and today, we had the privilege of having Douglas' sister, Liz and her 6-month old daughter, Emme come to visit from Texas. We haven't seen Liz in a few years, so it was great to spend some time with her. We also got to meet Emme for the first time. We had a blast!

Liz and Emme

Uncle Douglas and Emme


Seriously, could she get any cuter?


So photogenic


Who is that pretty girl in the mirror?




The first thing we did was go to...


Can I have some?


Uncle Douglas is so silly




The Turner family is huge on Disney, so of course we had to play...



And we topped off the night with...




Today, we went to the beach


We took a walk down the pier


Not exactly the best picture, but it works


3 Turners: Liz, Douglas and Meredith (who joined us for the day)


Douglas bugging Emme




We came home and watched...
...which I slept through because I was exhausted.

And then we said goodbye to Liz and Emme. Thanks for the visit!

Pot Roast and Potter Fest

Pot roast and potatoes cooked in the solar oven (our first dinner experiment.) It turned out well.

Potter Fest continues with movie #3

Pregnancy Pet Peeves

I love being pregnant. I have no complaints. Except when people are rude. Twice in the last couple days, people have asked if I'm having twins. And they both knew I was only having one. Why am I offended at this? Is it because I feel that question is almost like saying I'm fat? I must come up with a smart comeback. And my other pet peeve is asking me if I've had the baby yet. Today I was asked that, so I looked down at my big tummy just to double check and said, "Nope!" I still have 5 1/2 more weeks until my due date. And I'm probably going to go past it. I'm dreading seeing people as my due date approaches and being asked, "Are you sure you're not having twins?" or "You haven't had the baby YET?" Ok, I'm done.

Mary Ellen Edmunds

I just returned from an AMAZING fireside where we had the pleasure of hearing from Mary Ellen Edmunds. She is an LDS speaker who is known as "The Happifier." She loves to make people happy.

There were happy face balloons and sunflowers everywhere.

We all got to wear happy face stickers.

The leaders on the stand and Mary Ellen all wore huge (like a foot in diameter) round yellow happy face nametags. There was this general feeling of happiness before the fireside even began. Mary Ellen is absolutely hilarious and gave us many tips on being happy. She spoke so fast, I had a hard time keeping up with notes. I am on a spiritual high right now. Awesome!

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Tonight we went to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Welk Theatre. It was opening night and a sell-out crowd. It was such a fun show and very well done. We went to the cast party afterwards, which was the best they've had for a long time. I wish I could see it again. It was so good!

OCMCO recording sessions

These past 2 days have been incredible. My mom and I drove to Segerstrom Concert Hall for two 5-hour recording sessions to put together an Easter cd titled "That Easter Morn" for OCMCO. It's been exhausting and exhilarating. I've played many 5-hour rehearsals, but that was nothing compared to this. It's been an amazing experience. It was quite difficult to have 4 choirs and an orchestra completely silent before and after each piece and to perform to the best of our ability. Sometimes it was so frustrating having to record the same thing over and over and over again, but it was worth it in the end. It was also tiring just to drive to the concert hall. It takes over an hour with no traffic, so we're pretty tired by the time we get there before we have even begun to record anything. Then record for over 5 hours and drive back at 10 or 11 at night. Exhausting. But so worth it. I can't even describe the overwhelming feelings I've experienced over the past 2 days.

Funny story: Yesterday the orchestra's call time was 6pm, but the choir's was 5pm because of an a capella number. We left at 3 to pick up a couple of the choir members and get them there by their call time and we planned on killing time for an hour before our call time. About 4pm, traffic on the freeway stopped. Literally. Like, not moving an inch. For 30 minutes, we sat there wondering what was going on. People got out of their cars, took pictures, played Chinese fire drill, responded to nature's call by the side of the road... it was pretty entertaining. Then for the next 30 minutes we moved a few feet every few minutes until we had traveled a whopping mile-and-a-half. Then, at 5:00 the traffic started going the speed limit. Random. Turns out there was a motorcycle crash and the driver had to be life-flighted to the hospital. So, they shut down the freeway while they did that. Then opened it up again when they were done. We arrived at the hall at 5:45. So, we were pretty beat by the time we got there. Luckily, they were running behind, so the choir members (the few of them who came from San Diego county) who were stuck in traffic were able to record most of the number.

But anyway, it's been an interesting experience recording an entire cd while 7 1/2 months pregnant and I'm not sure I want to do it again (while pregnant, that is), but I have no regrets and am so glad I got to do it. I can't wait for it to be released (I'm assuming next year around Easter.) It's been an absolutely thrilling experience.



I found some pictures online so you could see how stunning this building is.

The outside of the hall

View from the stage

From one of the balconies

Close-up of the stage and organ

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to my awesome dad and to Douglas, my wonderful husband and father-to-be of our little girl! Today, we celebrated by having my grandparents over and eating an amazing dinner (prepared by Mom) of steak, corn on the cob, potato salad, garlic bread and pasta with spinach and bacon. We topped it off with homemade strawberry cheesecake. This past week, my dad has been building a solar oven with Jared and we used it today for the first time and made chocolate chip cookies. They were actually really good.


Tonight, we continued our Potter Fest with movie #2!


Hope you all had a wonderful Father's Day!

OCMCO Concert

Last June, I was recruited to play in the Orange County Mormon Choral Organization's orchestra for their patriotic concert. This year, they invited me back and my mom was able to play with us, too. Tonight was the patriotic concert, "Goin' Home" and it went really well.



Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa is absolutely gorgeous and the acoustics are awesome.



Here is an article about the Easter concert this past March. I wasn't in it, but it will give you an idea of what the groups and the hall look like. Amazing!

Ward Baby Shower

Tonight, I had a baby shower where all the ladies from the ward (congregation) were invited. It was well-attended and I got some really cute stuff. There was awesome food and beautiful decorations. I love baby showers and so it's really fun when it's mine. Special thanks go to Katie and Chanel for putting it all together!

Katie finishing the decorations

Winnie the Pooh theme

Yummy food

This is probably about 2/3 of the people who were there

The gifts

Time to open the gifts

One of the many cute baby girl outfits

After all the gifts were opened and transported back home

Potter Fest 2009

Tonight we began our family Potter Fest.

(#1 was erased after we watched it)

We are huge Harry Potter fans and have seen all the movies at midnight (when it's offered.) So, of course this year we plan on seeing movie #6 at midnight, too. We decided to watch all 5 movies again (one each Sunday evening) before #6 is released. Tonight we started with #1.


We tried to stick with Hogwarts-themed food, but it was either too much meat or Every Flavor Beans and Chocolate Frogs, so we did the best we could.

Chicken legs...

...and asparagus...

...plus potatoes, chips and 7-layer dip (homemade lemonade not shown)...

...pumpkin pie (instead of pumpkin pasties)...

...and what Sunday would be complete without chocolate chip cookies?

Can't wait for next Sunday!

A new member of the family

Remember my cousin, Ann, who I shared my family shower with? Well, she gave birth today to John Gregory ("Johnny"), a whopping 4lb 9oz baby boy (4 weeks premature.) He's small, but we knew he would be because he was having growth problems inside the womb. Now that he's out, he can receive proper nourishment and grow healthy and strong. Both mom and baby are doing great. And you wanna know the cool thing? My grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary is today. What an awesome present to welcome their first great-grandchild! Ann's giving birth makes me realize that my time is coming up fast. I still have 8 more weeks until I'm due, but she could come earlier and still be healthy. Only time will tell.

Balboa Park

Last Saturday, a friend and I drove down to Balboa Park to hear the last rehearsal of the season for the San Diego Youth Symphony. I was a part of the group for 8 years under the current conductor (plus an additional year under a different conductor with a few years' break in between.) My friend is also an alumni violist and we decided it would be fun to go and visit the few people left in the group we knew and of course the conductor. It was a beautiful day, so of course the park was packed and it took us 20 minutes to find a parking spot. It was a fun little trip.

About 1/3 of the orchestra, with the conductor at the very right


One of my favorite things about Balboa Park is the architecture. Everything there is just so beautiful. I only wish I had gotten more pictures.