Erik, ended '09 by starting the first of his two years to earning a Bachelor's degree in IT at University of Phoenix which he is very excited about. In November he was ecstatic to find out he was chosen for the role of Seymour in the musical Little Shop of Horrors, at Cosumnes River Coll
ege. This is a role he has always wanted to do, but waited until he was extremely busy, and didn't really have the time to do it before he took it on :-) Erik was also involved in four other musical productions in '09, which included (starting the beginning of the year to most current) Alexander Who is Not, Not, Not, Not, Not, Not Going to Move (which he was nominated for a regional award, or Elly for Supporting Actor in a Young People's Musical) as the Father, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat as the Pharaoh (and due to emergency casting one of the brothers for half of th
e show's run), Footloose (at Woodland High School, also a casting emergency, as you can tell by the venue) as Reverend Shaw Moore, and finally, in High School Musical 2 (Naomi and Kaori's favorite :-) as Troy Bolton. Erik was honored to receive the local theater award for Supporting Actor in a Musical for his portrayal of Pharoah (the Elvis-like king in Joseph). This show also won the local theater award for Best Overall Production of 2009, an award his show, Streetcar, won in 2008. In addition to brushing up on his acting and singing skills, Erik decided he wanted to learn s
omething new and earned his Class M1 Motorcycle License this summer. He was so excited that he went onto craigslist and bought his first motorcycle (an old, but reliable 1986 Yamaha Radian) and for his first ride, rode it home from South Sacramento.
ege. This is a role he has always wanted to do, but waited until he was extremely busy, and didn't really have the time to do it before he took it on :-) Erik was also involved in four other musical productions in '09, which included (starting the beginning of the year to most current) Alexander Who is Not, Not, Not, Not, Not, Not Going to Move (which he was nominated for a regional award, or Elly for Supporting Actor in a Young People's Musical) as the Father, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat as the Pharaoh (and due to emergency casting one of the brothers for half of th
e show's run), Footloose (at Woodland High School, also a casting emergency, as you can tell by the venue) as Reverend Shaw Moore, and finally, in High School Musical 2 (Naomi and Kaori's favorite :-) as Troy Bolton. Erik was honored to receive the local theater award for Supporting Actor in a Musical for his portrayal of Pharoah (the Elvis-like king in Joseph). This show also won the local theater award for Best Overall Production of 2009, an award his show, Streetcar, won in 2008. In addition to brushing up on his acting and singing skills, Erik decided he wanted to learn s
omething new and earned his Class M1 Motorcycle License this summer. He was so excited that he went onto craigslist and bought his first motorcycle (an old, but reliable 1986 Yamaha Radian) and for his first ride, rode it home from South Sacramento.Gaylene has kept herself busy at home watching Kaori, and also two other children. Being a stay at home mom is hard enough work by itself, but Gaylene seems to manage babysitting, as well as taking on other activities. This summer Naomi attempted her first year of fast pitch softball, and Gaylene took on responsibilities of Team Mom. Even though this was Gaylene's first year too, she was up to the task and did a great job. Also, this summer Gaylene took a trip by herself to 
Minnesota to attend and help set up her (nearly life long) friend Alison's wedding. She had a wonderful time and enjoyed being all by herself with old friends. At church she was called to be in the Nursery leadership. She went in and was a part of making a lot of necessary changes to help produce a better environment for the toddlers and has been proud of the improvement she has seen in their behavior and learning.
Minnesota to attend and help set up her (nearly life long) friend Alison's wedding. She had a wonderful time and enjoyed being all by herself with old friends. At church she was called to be in the Nursery leadership. She went in and was a part of making a lot of necessary changes to help produce a better environment for the toddlers and has been proud of the improvement she has seen in their behavior and learning. Naomi took on 2009 and didn't look back. She still enjoys spending time with her friends and reading everything in sight, but as mentioned before, she has taken on some other activities as well. She started off the year playing basketba
ll with the YMCA. She did pretty well, especially considering she was on the younger side of the girls playing and had the help of Erik being one of the coaches. After hoops, she took on her first year (and maybe her last according to her :-) of 
fast pitch softball. She struggled to pay attention most of the time but showed some great skills when she could remember she was actually playing a game :-) Really, though, when she was focused she could hit the ball, field grounders, throw from second to first base and even catch pop flies. She took a few weeks out of the summer to continue her swimming lessons the fantastic Morley's Swim School. Also, thou
ghout the year she participated in ballet at the Woodland Opera House. She moved up to the next level, and showed a lot of talent (next year she will move up again). This is where Naomi is in her comfort zone, and she absolutely adores going to class each week and even going up on the Opera House stage for recitals. Naomi, also continues to excell in school. Her teacher even approached us to see if we were interested in moving her up another grade! We decided against it, but she is learning so fast and seems to take everything in with ease. She tested reading at a fifth grade level, and can't get enough of it for that matter.
ll with the YMCA. She did pretty well, especially considering she was on the younger side of the girls playing and had the help of Erik being one of the coaches. After hoops, she took on her first year (and maybe her last according to her :-) of 
fast pitch softball. She struggled to pay attention most of the time but showed some great skills when she could remember she was actually playing a game :-) Really, though, when she was focused she could hit the ball, field grounders, throw from second to first base and even catch pop flies. She took a few weeks out of the summer to continue her swimming lessons the fantastic Morley's Swim School. Also, thou
ghout the year she participated in ballet at the Woodland Opera House. She moved up to the next level, and showed a lot of talent (next year she will move up again). This is where Naomi is in her comfort zone, and she absolutely adores going to class each week and even going up on the Opera House stage for recitals. Naomi, also continues to excell in school. Her teacher even approached us to see if we were interested in moving her up another grade! We decided against it, but she is learning so fast and seems to take everything in with ease. She tested reading at a fifth grade level, and can't get enough of it for that matter.Our little one continues to grow (maybe not physically, but we've got hope still :-) and learn. She lov
es playing with her big sister and gets along very well with the little ones, Olivia and Haven, Gaylene watches during the week. She loves to sing and dance and is doing well learning her numbers and letters in preparation for preschool in the fall this year, or next. Naomi is very helpful, and they love playing school where Naomi's the teacher and Kaori is the student. Also at the Opera House, she began ballet (in the beginning pronounced by Kaori as BULL-lay, so cute) and is actually doing pretty well. She is on the younger side for her class and being so small, she looks so puny next to the other girls, but she loves going to class every week, and showing everyone her "positions". She is a huge Tinkerbell fan, and both her and her sister could watch Phineas and Ferb (Disney channel show) all day long if they could.
es playing with her big sister and gets along very well with the little ones, Olivia and Haven, Gaylene watches during the week. She loves to sing and dance and is doing well learning her numbers and letters in preparation for preschool in the fall this year, or next. Naomi is very helpful, and they love playing school where Naomi's the teacher and Kaori is the student. Also at the Opera House, she began ballet (in the beginning pronounced by Kaori as BULL-lay, so cute) and is actually doing pretty well. She is on the younger side for her class and being so small, she looks so puny next to the other girls, but she loves going to class every week, and showing everyone her "positions". She is a huge Tinkerbell fan, and both her and her sister could watch Phineas and Ferb (Disney channel show) all day long if they could. 
We were fortunate enough to use Erik's company CFO's season tickets three times this season, to watch the Giants win (that's right they won all three games we attended :-) once with a dramatic bottom of the ninth comback walk-off three run home-run by Kung-fu Panda, Pablo Sandoval. We went once as a family, once with Erik's Dad, Vic, and once as just the happy married couple :-)
And mentioning the happy married couple, in August, we took an 8th anniversary trip to Monterey, and Santa Cruz. It was a lovely weekend! We made sure to visit the famous Monterey Bay Aquarium, and also rode the third oldest Roller Coaster (three times :-) in the United States, The Giant Dipper at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.
In October we took a family trip to Utah to see Gaylene's sister's new baby girl, Brighton. She was adorable and we really tried to make the most of the time that we had in our short trip. In addition to getting to know our little niece, we had the chance to visit with Gaylene's siblings and their families. Becky and Randy took Erik golfing on a breathtakin
g (literally at times with the altitude ;-) mountain side course while Jason and Karen took Gaylene and the kids minigolfing nearby. We were also able to go fishing with Karen and Jason and eat our spoils (one fish- we were happy but Jason was dissapointed). Naomi was very patient on her line that never ended up with a fish at the end. We were impressed that she enjoyed it as much as she did. We also were able to visit the Museum of Ancient Life in American Fork at Thanksgiving Point (the dinosaur museum). It was really interesting and fun and a good place to take your kids. We got to stay afterward and watch a 3-D movie about dinosaurs (a private showing as we were the only ones in the theater). That was a lot of fun as well. We also got together with everyone and had dinner before we left and spent a lot of time jumping on Becky and Randy's trampoline.
g (literally at times with the altitude ;-) mountain side course while Jason and Karen took Gaylene and the kids minigolfing nearby. We were also able to go fishing with Karen and Jason and eat our spoils (one fish- we were happy but Jason was dissapointed). Naomi was very patient on her line that never ended up with a fish at the end. We were impressed that she enjoyed it as much as she did. We also were able to visit the Museum of Ancient Life in American Fork at Thanksgiving Point (the dinosaur museum). It was really interesting and fun and a good place to take your kids. We got to stay afterward and watch a 3-D movie about dinosaurs (a private showing as we were the only ones in the theater). That was a lot of fun as well. We also got together with everyone and had dinner before we left and spent a lot of time jumping on Becky and Randy's trampoline. We wanted to also recognize two very special people we lost during the year, Denise Lara and just two weeks ago, David Garsky. Both of them close to 4o and too young to go, but we will always remember them and the wonderful memories we had with each of them. Additionally, as the entire universe is aware of, Erik lost his childhood (and adulthood for that matter) inspiration Michael Jackson.
Well, that about sums up our year. It has been packed with stuff, and 2010 looks to be the same way. We're ready for it though, and we'll be sure to come out of it on top and with smiles on our faces and gratitude in our hearts. Thanks to all who have been a part of 2009 and created memories for us to enjoy and remember always. We love you all, and hope the best for you in 2010!
1 comment:
Olivia wants to add that Gaylene's the best baby sitter ever! Jen and Howie want to add that they love it when the ask Olivia how her day was and she says "kaori's my friend!"
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