Rapoport Academy Talent Show

On April 11th we had a school-wide talent show. It was put on my the high school as a fundraiser and as you can imagine with high schoolers they thought they were "all that". It was decided by those students putting on the performance that they didn't want to give out awards because it wouldn't be fair to the little kids at the elementary who are performing. (They didn't want to hurt their feelings!)

This fired my kids up. So, Mrs. Robinson and myself put together a dance for our 3rd and 4th graders who wanted to perform. They practiced in the afernoons for about 5 weeks. This is only half of the performance because unfortunately there wasn't a video of the whole thing. The beginning of our show was amazing, but you can get a good idea of how well they did with this last half... Standing ovations!

We are putting together an end of the year performance and these kids were asked to perform again. (Shhh! Not to mention we are putting another performance together as well!) I will make sure this time we will have video of the whole thing!

Race to the Alter

Recently my younger brother propsed to his girlfriend, Ronna. I am so excited for the 2 of them! As today marks one year since Brandon and I have been engaged, the Levesque family is now preparing for 2 upcoming weddings... both of which no date has yet to be set, still.

My cousin Matt was there to capture the moment on film. He is an amazing photographer (who will hopefully capture my wedding) and was able to take some really cute shots of the two of them and he has posted them on his blog. Check them out at:

http://www.matthew-morgan.blogspot.com/

You can also view his website at:

http://www.matthew-morgan.com/

Congrats Steven and Ronna!

Hello from Rio!

Well, I am just about done with my nearly 6 weeks on the road with USA Softball. Overall is was a good summer and a successful one for the team (always a good thing). We leave for the US tomorrow evening after winning the gold metal in the Pan American Games here in Rio de Janeiro. We had great weather our first two days here, however the weather turned to rain which made for interesting field conditions and forced us to have 2 days of games called due to wind and unplayable field conditions (who would have figured bad weather in the middle of the rain forest). We have been going stir-crazy here in our room here in the village. We have been playing Spades and planning next years Olympic tour to kill time. Needless to say, all of us are ready to get back to the states!

Rio is quite beautiful, however the crime here is pretty bad. Other than 2 trips out for dinner, a trip to the mall (the largest mall in Latin America) and a sightseeing trip to Corcovado mountain to see the Redeemer statue (WOW), we haven't ventured too far away from the village. We have also been fortunate to have a good bit of security come with us wherever we go.

The food here is WAY better than what we had in China. The food in the dining hall hasn't been all that bad, but we find ourselves eating the same thing over and over again. We did order in Domino's Pizza one night which was a pleasant break and tasted pretty much the same.

As for the sightseeing trip...The team took a trip to see the Redeemer statue...it was absolutely amazing. The views from up atop the mountain were spectacular as we looked down upon the water, the famous Sugarloaf mountain, Copacabana and Ipanema (i knew a girl form here) beaches.

I hope to have more pictures uploaded soon! Off to pack!

Dead Sea Scrolls

I am on the countdown here in California. Its a bittersweet feeling as it always is. While I love being at home where I am able to see my loving and supporting family and where I am blessed with plenty of recreation and relaxation, there is so much that I miss in Texas. I will miss so much here, but I am ready to return and see my wonderful friends and to be reunited with my "traveling fiance"!

Like every trip home, with less than a week left there is so much that I want to do. So I thought I would take a few breaks from posting wedding information to share some pictures and some of the fun activities I have been able to do while at home.

I will start with my recent trip to Balboa Park in San Diego. My Dad, brother, grandmother, and great Aunt Margie all set off yesterday afternoon for a trip to the Natural History Museum. The purpose of our visit was to see the Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibit. It was wonderful! I learned so much and really enjoyed the time exploring the museum.

Here are some pictures of the trip. Unfortunately, I was not able to take pictures of the scrolls but if you ever get the chance to see them in person, I definitely recommend it!

More Beaches

We went to a number of different beaches. All of them were mesmerizing, and each one possessed a different characteristic that made it unique. Although I could not picture actually getting married at any of these places, (inconveniences as mentioned in previous posts) I could definitely see myself spending a day relaxing and enjoying each one. Most of these beaches would be wonderful for engagement photos or just a fun day out in the sun! I know a lot of people have not been to California or have seen some of these places so I thought I would share some of the photos I captured in hopes to portray the beauty of each one I was able to experience. Special thanks to my cousin, Matt, for driving me around Southern Orange County to experience these lovely coastlines. Also to my brother, Steven, for sacrificing his Friday night to "do wedding stuff" with his big sister.

Salt Creek Beach

Salt Creek Beach was a beach in which you could actually hold a ceremony on the sand. In fact, there have been numerous weddings there. It looks like a gorgeous place, but there are many inconveniences to having an actually sand ceremony, especially here. At Salt Creek, a major inconvenience was the HUGE hill you had to walk down AND up to get to the beach. Probably ruled this out as an option, but the Ritz Carlton sat on top of the cliffs over looking this beach. ahh...maybe in another life!

Pines Park, Dana Point

A very small park, but located on top of a gorgeous cliff. This park has a wonderful view of the ocean,but is not very big to hold any type of ceremony. There was another smaller park off to the right that could hold a decent size wedding, but its location really blocked the view of the water. Just thought I would share some pix...