Dancing In Heaven

Yesterday morning my little sister's dance teacher passed away.
She had suffered from breast cancer years ago, and beat it, but recently got cancer again (I think it was in her brain - I don't know the details) and it progressed very quickly. She had been in Hospice for a few days and she finally passed away.
Her name was Bev and she was a beautiful dancer! She loved the stage, and she seemed so natural in front of an audience. When you watched her in a show your eyes were drawn to her - you couldn't help it!
She also loved to teach. She was fantastic with the little ones in her studio and her companies always won awards for creativity and technique. She always expected the best from her dancers.
I remember a beautiful picture that always hung in the Dance Academy - it was of her, bald from chemotherapy, in a black dance outfit and she was posed in a beautiful dancer position. The entire thing was black and white. In black letters all around it it said, "Forever the dancer, Stronger than cancer". She looked beautiful!
My sister and Bev were very close. Laney loved Bev and loved dancing for and with her. When Bev would give her a compliment it was golden to her. Bev was always very patient and worked with Laney's knee problems and helped her become an amazing dancer.
Because they are so close, Bev took Laney as her "personal assistant" on a cruise. Laney spent the entire week sharing a room with her and snorkling with her and taking tours and swimming - they had a blast and became even closer.
Bev was very sick during The Nutcracker, but she got up a danced with them. Her last show.
Laney told me that during one of the shows Bev suddenly forgot where she was, who was around her and what she was doing.
Fortunately she is very natural on stage, and she recognized the kid who was playing the nutcracker. She went over to him and grabbed his hand and suddenly she remembered - he led her to the chair and she went on with the show.
Soon after that she was put in hospice.
Laney has been having a really hard time.
Then it happened yesterday, and Laney took the day off. She spent the day at school and then she went out with her boyfriend and I guess they talked for a long time...
I know that she will be ok, my sister is amazingly strong, but it is going to be hard for her.
So if you could all please keep Bev's family, my sister, and all the other dancers in your prayers while they all deal with this loss.
I know that Bev is in a better place and she is now able to dance without pain.
And I know that she is watching all of her little dancers from the best seat in the house!
Good Bye Miss Bev - we will miss you.

A Little Bit Of Romance

I am a helpless romantic, so let me preface my sweet story with a little history:
Once upon a time in High School, I watched the movie "A Walk To Remember" (I also read the book and loved it!!).
Now all you girls remember how she writes a list of things to do before she dies, and he comes up with romantic little ways to help her accomplish those things (like the part where she straddles the state line so she is in two places at once, or when he gets her a temporary tattoo - romance at its best) and I cry every time!!!
So, being a romantic teenager, I decided that I needed to write a list of things to do before I die.
On this list I had all sorts of things like get married in the temple, go to college, sing in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, be on Broadway - and I also put some crazy things like hold a star and dance in a cloud.
Well, when Jon and I were dating I told him about the list and read a few of the things on my list to him.
Later on in our relationship, I was at his house and he set this little rock in my hand. I asked him what it was and he explained that it was a little meteor that had come off of a falling star, so I was holding a star!!
It was truly the sweetest thing!
Ok, fast forward to this weekend - Sunday morning around 5:00am
We were driving back home from Snowflake, trying to get to back in Tempe before church. I had fallen asleep on the drive, and suddenly Jon pulled the car over. He gently shook me awake, turned the radio up, and opened my door.
I got out, a little confused, but then I saw it - the fog was so thick we could barely see past the car! He took me in his arms and started dancing with me, and told me that now we were dancing in a cloud!
Just one more example of what an amazing husband I have!
I am truly the most spoiled girl in the world!

The Circle of Life for One Spoiled Girl!

For my Birthday in October my super sweet husband got me tickets to see The Lion King at the Gammage!! You can bet that I almost burst out of my skin and my voice got 3 octaves higher (anyone who knows me knows that I tend to get squeakier and squeakier the more excited I get).

Well I had to wait until January to actually see the show, which I was really bummed out about at the time, but it ended up being so fantastic because today was like having my Birthday all over again!! 

The Lion King is absolutely the most beautiful show ever performed on a stage anywhere!! From the first scene when they are singing "The Circle of Life" and all of the animals enter and they are all dancing and moving - you really haven't ever seen anything so beautiful!

Of course I had heard that it was great, I had seen the costumes on TV, I had heard the music, so I was afraid that all the praise was going to be just hype and I would be disappointed - I have a bad habit of going into "critic mode"n I see shows - especially popular ones - but I am here to tell you that everything they say is true - in fact, it's an understatement!

Between the costumes, the dancing, the singing, the story, the make-up, the sets, the acting - it is absolutely brilliant and will absolutely change your life!

Here are some pictures of my favorite scene - The Circle of Life (I got them off of the internet - don't worry, I would never disobey the "no photography in the theater" rule)

The entire time I was watching the show I kept thinking about my dad who served his mission in South Africa and who would tell me stories about the tribal languages and show me pictures of the people. I know he would have loved it so much!

After the show I got even more Birthday presents! Jon got me a Lion King t-shirt and the soundtrack (which I plan on putting on the computer and then giving to my dad - I know he will love to listen to it!).

I am seriously the #1 most spoiled girl in the world!!

Thank You Jon for my second 21st Birthday!!

I love you!!!

A 2-Hour Adventure!

Last night Jon and I decided to ride the new light rail to Phoenix to see the building where he will be working - and to find out the amount of time it will take him to get there so he knows how early to leave.
It was so exciting!
We took the free Orbit bus to the light rail station and then we hopped on the light rail.
Have you seen the light rail! It is a gaint, worm-looking bus that goes super fast!!!
Here's a picture just in case:



Super cool huh!
Anyways, it felt like I was in the movies. Here I was, the leading lady in New York riding the subway with my handsome prince. All around me there were mysterious strangers and I couldn't help but wonder what their stories were.......and yes, I was guilty of making up my own versions of their life stories as I rode along.
The light rail also has these HUGE windows, and my honey is so sweet so he let me have the window seat (yup, he's a keeper!!) so I got to see all the sights between Tempe and Phoenix.
So then we made it to Phoenix and I was awestruck.
This happens to me every time I go to downtown Phoenix. I see all of the huge buildings and I realize how much of a country girl I actually am.
I love to see the skyscrapers and the old buildings and all the lights and cars and people walking all around!
So we walk across a couple of streets and hop on a free government bus headed to the State Capital.
The bus stops right across the street from the Capital Building at the Arizona Museum of.......a bunch of mining stuff. We took some pictures next to a giant tire (but they are stuck on my phone for now, sorry guys) and then walked up a couple of streets and there it was!
The Arizona Court of Appeals!!
The building is beautiful!! It looks so old and classy and big and exciting, and all of these people with suits and briefcases were walking in and out - they looked very important.
Jon pointed to a row of huge windows and explained that that was where he would be working, with the judges - namely Judge Philip Hall.
He was so cute because he was trying to act like it was no big deal, but I could see the excitement he was feeling as he told me all about it and showed me the building.
I was so incredibly proud of him!! He is such an incredibly talented guy and he is going to be working at one of the most important buildings in the state!!
After we looked around, we hopped back on the bus, back on the light rail (which was even more exciting now that it was dark outside!), back on the second bus, and home.
It was a fantastic trip! I was bursting with pride for my husband and all of the excitement that came from interesting people and the big buildings and...........it was just so great!!!!!!!!

Debt and Dances

Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a huge fan of our dear ol' President Elect. It's not that I haven't tried to like him and support him - I mean, he is the leader of our country - but as soon as I begin to settle in to the idea of him being an OK guy - someone the country can "deal with" for the next 4 years - he does something else so.....not OK that I just lose all faith I had.
Here is today's especial pet-peeve:
As we all know the presidential inauguration is coming up and with it comes the grand inauguration ball. This is a huge party for all of Washington's elect to celebrate the new president - kind of a way to kick off the new term.
Don't get me wrong - I think it's a nice tradition. Who doesn't want to celebrate such a great achievement and such an exciting chapter in a person's and a country's life?
The problem I have is spending $150 million on the party.

That's right, our nation is in a recession and it's leaders are spending $150 million on a party!!!
It is rumored that the new First Lady will be wearing a "regal colored, one shoulder gown" and all of the designers are dying to dress her.

When President Bush had his ball he spent less and the entire country was criticizing like crazy!
All they could say about it is, "We could be spending that money on other things that would be important to the country - research, poverty, unemployment, 3rd world countries...."
Now that it is Obama everyone is alright with his budget, in fact, they are encouraging it!!
Jon has lived in Washington DC and he is always telling me how beautiful and amazing everything is there, and I have watched the PBS special on the White House. I know how beautiful and majestic it is there - so what do they need to do as far as decorations? Now, they are gong to have some gourmet food for a lot of people and stuff like that - but $150 million is more than most normal American families live off of in years!!
So here's what I'm saying, we are in a recession, we are all trying to budget and be frugal - why doesn't our President elect have the same standards? Why can he go around spending money on parties??
Just something to think about..............
-Sorry about the ranting and raving guys! I'm just annoyed!

FInally Good Luck...and Movies

Usually I am spending my blog space whining about bad luck that seems to follow me everywhere - due to breaking 2 mirrors in a 3 year period) - but somehow a bit of good luck seemed to get lost on it's way to someone who hasn't broken mirrors and land right on me!

Do you wanna hear all about it? Of course you do!!

First:   I was in a car accident a while ago (see previous posts) and we were very afraid that the guy who hit me was going to lie and that his insurance wasn't going to take our claim. This was a source of many pimples in my life for quite a while, so imagine my relief when we got a call from his insurance telling us they decided to take our claim and fix our car! We got the car completely fixed and we got a rental car and everything!

Second:   Jon has interviewed for a few externships with no success....they have mostly been small law practices and stuff. Then he got called in for an interview with a judge at the Arizona Court of Appeals (the big league). He went and interviewed and just a couple hours later he got a call letting him know he got the position!! Jon was so cute about it! You could tell that he was trying to hard to act calm about it, but he was so excited (still is so excited about it). It was like a huge weight had been lifted off of him and he has been so much happier since then! I was so proud of him!!

Third:  Back to the car issue. We were hoping that the other guys car insurance would pay for part of the medical bill that my medical insurance wouldn't pay for (whoa - that sentence sounded like a grown-up one huh?) and possibly the co-payment. We didn't think that we would get anymore from them then that - nor did we really care to get more than that. Well, needless to say that after a conversation with the agent about the bill, the time taken off of work, and other things...well....I will just say they are giving us a bit more than we were hoping for. 

With that we are now able to get some cell phones that work! I got mine tonight, but Jon's upgrade doesn't come till April.

I love my new phone!!!

So that is the story of my good luck! I am so happy!! 

New Subject

Lately it seems that we have been watching a bunch of movies. Some of them have been really good and others have been less than really good.....here are Malori Jo's thoughts on the movies:

Marley and Me

I give this movie 2 thumbs up! I loved Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston! I'll be honest - I thought it would be a cheesy dog movie, but it proved me wrong. 

This movie was about so much more than a dog - it was about life. Not just "movie life" - by that I mean the way Hollywood thinks "real life" is for the normal American - but actual life. 

They struggle through jobs they dislike, jobs they do like, not making enough money and therefore having to live in less-than-safe areas of town, children, depression, marital fights, marital bliss, and other things families and couples go through. 

Still, the theme of this movie is sticking together. In spite of all of the problems Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson's characters stay together and grow together through it. 

Ok, the movie is also about a dog - a cute, pain-in-the-butt dog that you grow to love so much!!

Not only that, but it was a clean movie! Imagine that!

I laughed, I cried - this movie is a must see!

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button

When I left the theater after this movie I wasn't sure how I felt about it. After I thought about it, I decided that is was a "cheap theater movie".  Let me explain what that means - it is worth seeing, but don't pay for the actual theater........not that good.

Don't get me wrong, Brad Pitt was fantastic, the make-up blew my mind, and the story was interesting. 

Still, the movie was 3 hours long, and it felt like it. It was long........

Also, the character of Benjamin has many different "partners" - one of which is a harlot and the other is married! He is quite a drinker too.....this movie is not for the kids that's for sure.

But, it was beautifully done and worth seeing - in the cheap theater - if you have nothing else to spend 3 hours on.

The Mummy 3 (and I don't remember the rest of the name)

This movie was pretty lame....

I was so sad because I really liked the other Mummy movies.

The special effects were kind poor, the plot was really poor, and the acting was really really poor.

The lady they got to play his wife was especially bad. I really loved the first lady, and this new lady did not fill her shoes at all!

I don't even remember enough about it to tell you how awful it was - and I just watched it last night!!

Don't waste your time.......

So there you have it - straight from the horse's mouth (I don't really understand what that cliche means....)

Stay tuned next time for more thoughts of Malori Jo!

Welcome 2009!

I have a million pictures of Christmas, but alas, I am back on my work computer which is pretty picture-less.
So, instead of writing all the details about the holidays and filling my blog with holiday pictures, I am just going to tell you that it was incredibly awesome!!! We had such a great time with family! We got totally spoiled as far as Christmas presents go (on both sides) and we had a lot of fun!
It was also an added perk to not have to go to work the entire time!!!
Now that a new year has started up, a person naturally reflects on the last year and looks forward to the year to come.
So what is ahead in 2009 for the Salines? Well, Jon will finish his 2nd year of law school and get started on his 3rd and final year! I am planning on starting school in the fall where I will major in English and eventually get my law degree as well (kind of a copy cat, but I will have an in-house tutor - pretty sweet deal if you ask me).
We will celebrate our 2 year anniversary......
That is about all that I can tell you right now....the rest is sort of up in the air! I guess we will see what happens!!
It's kind of exciting isn't it??