At Last ... The Ball

Oh, what a BALL! Last night was a magical evening that will be remembered for years to come. I think our total number of ball guests was close to 300 people. I was busy working the crowd and didn't take many pictures. In fact, I missed taking pictures of some of the people that really did the most to help pull this all together. Before I go any further, let me give a HUGE thank you to Dan and Lisa Thomas and family, Stirling and Kif Augustine Adams, and Shauna and Roger Andersen and family. (Especially their son Steve who was so charming when he personally greeted guests at the limousine and opened doors for the ladies.) I can't believe I missed getting a picture with Melissa! We were like a couple of crazy old ladies when we were planning our outfits. And finally the Pennyroyal Cafe who deserve every one's future business.

Now, on with the ball ... I promised Marcia the first picture I would post would be of "the dress". Really, this is the whole reason I wanted to throw the ball. After seeing this dress in store window, It went something like this -- "Marco, why don't we ever do anything fancy? I just want one great event a year that we can get gussied up and go all out on."

To which he said, "Hey, I know, what we need to do is throw an Inaugural Ball!" It was much cheaper than flying to DC. It was definitely more fun than flying to DC, sleeping on some one's couch and standing for hours in the freezing cold!

All great parties start with great music and they don't come any better than C.B. Jazz. This is the group we had play at our wedding reception seven years ago. I think most of them are still alive and they sounded better than seven years ago!

Last spring I was taking pictures of Provo's Gallery Stroll and met this singer named Hailey Singley. I called her up out of the blue a couple of days ago and asked to if she would sit in with the band and sing. (Normally, they have no singer. I didn't even bother to call and ask if it was alright if I hire a singer off the street!) Boy, did she ever sing. I think she only sat out on two or three numbers. She completely made the night.


Initially, I had decided not to bring my kids but they had heard my talk it up so much that they weren't going to let me party with out them! I am so glad they came. Zina danced all night long. As for Xanny, well, except for the part where the limo dropped him off at the parking garage ALONE and we nearly called the police because we couldn't find him for 20 minutes, he had a great time too.

They both looked very dapper but never held still long enough for a real picture.

My mom looked stunning in her pink sparkles. I wonder where my Zina got her penchant for pink sparkles? Hmmm.

The real belle of the ball was cousin Kjirsten, seen here with her pransom hince, Jonathan. (Nice tiara!) She is student teaching art in SLC and she worked tirelessly to help it come together. Unfortunately her brother, Soren, had to get back to BYU-I in time for Tuesday morning class and missed the ball. Thank you, Soren, for the weekend of slave-labor. Let's do it again on a Saturday.

The place looked great. We hung flags everywhere -- one in honor of each registered democrat in Utah County (somewhere between 12 and 15!) I stole the rest of these pictures from Cindy's blog. I was super happy that all my favorite people came and danced the night away.

(All my girls)

(Cindy and Whitney -- looking gorgeous and 20 something.)

(ambiance shot with Kendal, James and Rachel)

Thank you, Marco!!! It was a lovely (fancy) evening. I love you.

( I promise to post more picture as people send them to me.)

You are invited ...

Consider yourself invited to the Official Un-Official Inaugural Ball right here in Utah County. Let's just say I stopped waiting for an invite from the President-Elect himself and decided to throw my own bash.

Click here:
(THE OFFICIAL LINK TO THE UN-OFFICIAL BALL)

There will be dancing and a cash Mormon-Bar. Maybe they should name the bar "The Surely-Temple". I hope you all come ... even if you voted for the other guy!

Christmas with the Cousins

(Xanny and twin cousin Max)

Ahhh, it's Christmas with the cousins ....

This weekend we had a blast with my sister Marcia's kids. They recently moved to Colorado and it's great to have them closer. (Even though it took them 8 hours to fly here with the icy weather.) Our kids are great friends, especially Max and Jane who are right around the same age as my kids.

(Sweet Jane)

The girls twirled and wore beautiful golden crowns inside the warm house.


Baby Tate ate large amounts of saucy noodles.

(Baby Tater)

(Belle)

Isabella spent most of her time with her twin cousin Maddie.


And the boys spent hours and hours outside making snow caves and getting frost-bite!

Thank goodness for the miracle of hot coco. I think their brains returned to normal functioning levels after enough warm liquid.

I promise Xanny was much happier than he looks in this picture!


Now everyone is caught up on Marcia's kids. Merry Christmas, Wrides. We'll see you for New Years!

It Ott to be Christmas

Some Holiday Cheer with La Familia Ott ...

Marco and I decided we would be fine with Xanny marrying either Acacia or Quince. You know my advice -- pick the perfect mother in law and just see what is available.

We traveled north to see Santa, Rudolf and Christmas lights. Santa was a no-show and Rudolf here tried to eat Acacia's hair. Hey, it's Christmas!

Every little girl dreams of a pink flocked Christmas tree. Call me if you need to know where to find one.

It was freezing and somehow Zina escaped with out a coat. Good thing my car is a traveling Gypsy caravan with plenty of fuzzy red fabric. She stayed warm but we didn't stay too long.

We headed back to the warmth of the Ott household where we ate Sheppard's Pizza. That would be pita's with sauce, capers and some good goat cheese. It's our new Christmas food. Zendina and I should write a cookbook! "Organic Holidays for the Hippie Mormon Mom."

The absolute highlight of the evening was when Acacia grabbed this ornament off the tree and declared, "THIS IS ETHIOPIAN!!" Yes it is.


Baby Asher is the perfect cherubic heavenly angel especially in the warm glow of Christmas decor. I kind of wish Santa would bring me one of these in my stocking with a tag that says "To: Andi." Then again, maybe not.

Thanks , Otts. I think we just came up with a great no-plan-tradition for years to come. Have fun in Canada!

I'M NOT WOR-TH-TH-Y

LISTEN TO ME, PEOPLE. This is Marco @ 50mm f/2 - 1/50 second, 6400 ISO handheld. Did you hear me? 64-freaking-hundred ISO lit only by his laptop in a dark corner of the house. H-A-N-D-H-E-L-D.

  LITERALLY, STRAIGHT OUT OF THE CAMERA. 

(I KNOW! I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!) 

He's perfect. It's perfect. I am not worthy! It's not Mark that I am talking about. But it is MARK II (ironic, I know) as in Canon EOS 5D 21.5 mega pix. At 21.5 mega pix, Marco could be accused of "over-share" in that shot. 

Did you see that noise? What kind of noise is that? Who gets that kind of noise? You looking for some amazing noise? I've got some amazing noise. I've got noise you can practically sing to. Just think of a dark reception room. That's the kind of noise I'm talking about. That's the kind of noise you could fall asleep to. I know what you are thinking ... 

You are thinking, "She's not worthy of that noise." 

It's been a great day.

Lizzer, this one is for you.

Bed-Time Story ...

So this Santa thing has gone on for a while. The kids argue with each other about whether Santa is True (with a capital T) or not. Zina is the steadfast defender of Santa and Xanny is the doubting scientist with concrete proof that there can be no Santa.

Tonight Xanny asked for a "time" from when I was a little girl. I told him about when I six years old, I did an experiment. I decided if Santa was real,  I would find an orange in the toe of my stocking on Christmas morning. The orange - that was the Santa test. 

And then I told him this time ...

Once upon a time, there was a boy who asked his mother if Santa was real - if he was true. The mom thought for a long time and told the boy it didn't matter if he was real or not, it mattered only that the boy believed in him. "Believing is fun", said the mom to her boy. "Believing in Santa is good practice for becoming what grown-ups call a Believer." 

Later on when the boy grew up, he was really good at believing in things even when he wondered if they were 100% true or not. He knew it was more fun to believe than to know if it was always true. He was happy in a confusing grown-up world of doubts and half truths. 

The End. 

Then Xanny said to me in his sleepy falsetto voice, "Mom, would you be sure to buy some oranges and give one to Santa on Christmas Eve so that I can wake up to find one in the toe of my stocking?"

Sure, Xanny.

I think he gets it. 

This was a good lesson for me this week. God asks us to be believers first. In our doctrine, being a believer is more important than knowing if it is True with a capital T. God clearly tells us that we CAN know the truth of all things, but he never tells us that we MUST know the truth of all things. But he does command us to be believers and doers.

So, that's it. Who cares if Santa is true. Who cares if our grown-up lives of love, purpose and work are true -- not God. If we were to ask God to tell us whether love is "True" I am sure He could give us a solid "yes or no" but that's not His point. He would say, "Hey, my point is that you should believe in love even if sometimes you don't know that it's real. Believing Is Way More Fun! Believing that someone altruistically wants to bring you something sweet because you are nice is especially fun. And ... it's good practice for becoming a Believer with a capital B."

Maybe tonight I will ask Heavenly Father to buy a few extra oranges to hand out.