Celebrity siting: The Organ-izer

Being that I have the most excellent driving skills ;-) I took Grandpa McKell to see a concert by Seth Rye, the most popular organist in the world! Since Grandpa has connections with the Lowrey Organ people, they invited him to this extra special concert at the Sleepy Ridge Golf Course Clubhouse. Grandpa was pretty excited, and the golf course was beautiful! I pretty much planned on studying throughout the whole thing, but then we were seated on the front row and I was actually quite captivated by Mr. Rye's skills. Plus, I let him borrow my pen to sign a CD cover, and was referred to frequently throughout the performance. He is extremely talented, and interacts with his audience as he performs. He was acclaimed the most popular entertainer by Keyboard World Magazine, has over 30 albums, and he is the "featured artist" on the Disney Magic Album. If any of you have seen the Disney Light Parade, this guy played the organ for ALL of the music during the parade.....and he played it for us (with a video) on Tuesday. I think Grandpa and I were the oldest & youngest people in the room of over 160 people. Everyone was fascinated that he will be 91 next month (and he kept telling them, so cute!). Enjoy the pics! They are a little crazy because they were taken on my phone (so G'pa is missing some of his head in one d/t the lighting).

Seth Rye, Me, Grandpa McKell

Seth & Grandpa

Seth showing Grandpa ALL the buttons/sounds

For all you organ enthusiasts: www.sethrye.com

Graduation.....for REAL!

Graduation + Utah Football = Happiness

We made it!

It's a bittersweet feeling......I'm so happy to be done, but I will miss seeing all my friends! We have been through a lot together, and they all did an excellent job conveying our experiences at graduation. The awards were well deserved, and there were many people who prepared a little speech after they received their diploma (I forgot they even expected us to say anything!). Thanks for all the neverending support, encouragement, and endurance from my family and friends! I really appreciate those who came to the graduation, and I am most impressed that Grandpa McKell was able to set foot in the Univ. of Utah FB stadium. Graduation was held in the conference/press room on the 6th floor of the Eccles Colosseu...loved it! I especially want to thank and express my love for my long-suffering husband Mark......he has gone to bed without me for countless number of nights, sat next to me on the couch & made me productive when I thought it was impossible to focus, answered my text eye consults during his busy day, cleaned, cooked, washed, repaired, maintained EVERYTHING, all while seeing his own patients 5 days a week, working on his own business/office, and maintaining the farm! Incredible!

What's next? I will take my boards in about a month, and start more actively pursuing a job a little closer to where we live.....I'm done commuting!

Once again, thanks everyone for being there when I most needed them!

Family

(see other grad post for additional members)

Friends!

Couldn't have made it w/o 'em!

P.S. More pics to come when I get a hold of my mother-in-law's camera and get those up here! Stay tuned.....

Here it goes......

I am obviously not the most diligent blogger......but I am going to attempt to catch up a little bit. There will be stuff inserted in the proper order....eventually. So if anyone actually reads this, you may want to scroll down after reading the latest for previous stuff you haven't seen yet. I hope this is not too confusing. Plus, I'm not sure where my camera is......I need to get a new one. Here we go....

The New Kids on the Block

I have been spending some time with the newest niece and nephew lately, reminding them who their Favorite Aunt is........ Addi is my lil bro's adorable little girl, and Tanner is Ashley's (Mark's sister) lil guy, he is the newest addition to the family. I just wanted to show them off! Addi is almost 7 months old now, and Tanner is just a few days shy of 3 months. I start teaching them that I am favorite aunt while they're very young..... Enjoy their cute lil smiles!

Addilyn Shay Zingelman

Tanner Steven Christiansen

Note: some of these pics are a kind of stolen off their parent's blog......just thought I would credit the original authors. The not so good quality ones are from my phone =0).