I love piano music ...

I rarely get on YouTube, but I couldn't help but play this song over and over while I was going through my pictures tonight. Listen to the entire thing because you'll hear how the song came to be at the end. I tried embedding the video, but if that doesn't work, you can click on this link which will send you to YouTube: Love Story (Taylor Swift) meets Viva La Vida (Coldplay)

The first part of this song reminds me of Lauren (John's niece) and Reagan: When the song "Love Story" came out by Taylor Swift, Lauren told us it was her favorite song. I was shocked one day soon after when we were in the car and it came on the radio ... Reagan immediately said, "this is Lauren's favorite song!"

The second part of this song is dedicated to John and Chris (Heid) ... it's sort of an inside joke between the two of them and we joke that it's "their song!"

Jon Schmidt is a pianist who lives in Salt Lake City so I think it's pretty cool that he's gotten so much attention for this YouTube video and his arrangement of these 2 songs put together. My readers in Utah have probably seen this a lot by now, but maybe it's new to some of my NJ readers (if I have any left, since my blog has suffered so much since I started working!). For those of you who still check in, THANK YOU!

Lauren's Confirmation

Tonight was Lauren's Confirmation at St. John's in Hillsdale. We got there just after it started, but the church was already packed full and there was nowhere to sit - not good with 2 little girls! After standing in the back for a little while, we opted to take them outside and let them run around on the grass...

They had so much fun running around together!

Here's Avery offering her big sister a snack (goldfish)

We all went over to Jose and Doreen's house afterward for food and cake to celebrate Lauren

Maribel and Marcelo

(Maribel was Lauren's Sponsor)

Pepin with his kids, Maribel and Jose

Jesus and Debbie

Ethan and Josh playing the Wii

Lauren with her parents, Doreen and Jose

Sweet Sisters, Gabby and Lauren

Lauren with her godparents, John and Dawn (Doreen's Sister)

Avery and Amanda

Gabby and Alexis

Lauren and Reagan

Avery giving Lauren "loves"

Here's the famous cake! Lauren is in love with Kris Allen, this year's American Idol ... she photoshopped her picture over Kris's wife :)

She's too funny ... she even changed her name on Facebook to read "Lauren Fernandez Allen"!

Papa loving Avery

Marcelo, Joaquin and Gabby

Nayda, Lauren, Catherine and Alexis

Lauren cut out Kris's head and saved it in her freezer ... she later changed her status on Facebook to read, "Kris Allen's head is in my freezer!"

We decided to stay until cake was served, but it was WAY past the girls' bedtime. Reagan couldn't even finish her ice cream cake she was so tired! As soon as we got in the car, she asked for permission to go to sleep and passed out cold immediately. Once home, we easily transferred her to her bed and she was down for the night. She has always been very adaptable and easy when it comes to staying up late/sleeping in. Unfortunately, her little sister Avery is NOT as adaptable and functions so much better when kept on a proper schedule. We purposely let Avery sleep in, then put her down for a late afternoon nap, then woke her up just before church. We thought she'd do okay if she stayed up late, but our plan certainly backfired. She was wired for the entire ride home, then wouldn't go to sleep until about 1:00AM. It's interesting to see how different our two girls are. Friends always thought we were crazy when we'd let Reagan stay up so late, yet she has always adjusted so well that we didn't see any harm in it. Avery is on a pretty good schedule and whenever we alter it, she refuses to adjust!

Lauren's Quinceañera

Last night was Lauren's Quinceañera. Lauren is the daughter of John's cousin Jose (whom we call Pepito). To the left is the Fernandez family, Doreen and Jose, and their gorgeous daughters Gabby and Lauren.

For those of you who aren't familiar with this spanish term and tradition, it's basically a "Sweet 15" birthday party. Here's some information I found about it:

Today's ceremonies embrace religious traditions, and the virtues of family and social responsibility. The custom is a celebration of the young girl (la Quinceanera), and a recognition of her journey from childhood to maturity. The celebration highlights God, family, friends, music, food, and dance. In the Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central and South American traditions, the custom can be referred to as a Quince (XV) Años, a Quinces, a Quinceanera, a Quinceanero or a Fiesta Rosa. The celebration traditionally begins with a religious ceremony. A reception is held in the home or a banquet hall. The festivities include food and music, and in most, a choreographed waltz or dance performed by the Quinceanera and her court.

Lauren made a grand entrance by coming down these stairs where her name was spelled by balloons. She looked absolutely gorgeous!

Maribel, Lauren and John

Nayda, Lauren and Pepin (Lauren's grandparents)

Marcelo, Lauren, and Maribel (Lauren's aunt and uncle)

Debbie, Lauren, and Jesus

Lauren's parents Doreen and Jose ~ Gabby and Lauren

Jose and Maribel (brother & sister) ~ Gabby and Jose

John and I were SOOOOOO incredibly tired! After working our tails off all day with the garage sale for charity, we barely had enough energy to get showered, dressed and out the door for the party. Once we were there, we had a wonderful time, but we definitely felt drained (maybe it's just me, but I think we looked pretty drained too!).

The Boys being goofy ~ Jose, Jesus, John and Marcelo

The Ladies ~ Maribel, Amanda, Doreen, and Debbie

One of the traditions is to do a candle-lighting ceremony. Lauren said something about all the important people in her life while a personally chosen song played in the background. Then the person/people came up and lit a candle. When she got to John and I, she remembered how John always spoiled her as a little girl and they went on skiing vacations together. Then she thanked me for being one of the only people in the family who supported her adoration of David Archuleta on American Idol ... of course, a song by David Archuleta was playing while John and I lit our candle :)

The last candle was for all of Lauren's friends ... is it just me, or do these girls and guys look a bit older than 15??? Oh how I used to love hearing that I looked "older" when I was their age :)

Man, this kid could dance! I'm not sure what his name was, but he was the son of the family hairdresser Joel. He knew all the hot moves and had the ladies wrapped around his little finger ... even 9 year old Gabby :)

The young ones preferred dancing in close groups ...

The adults needed room to really move!

It really was a fun night and a fabulous party. Doreen spent so much time planning the event and all her hard work paid off. The food was absolutely delicious and the DJ had fun music playing all night long. It was the first time John and I have been out on a real date and left a babysitter at home to put the kids to bed. Poor Nicole ended up babysitting for us for a total of 11 1/2 hours yesterday (5 hours during the garage sale and 6 1/2 for the party)! I don't remember the last time I had such a packed day that was so completely draining ... I'm happy it's behind us and I can now focus on our trip to Utah! Salt Lake City, here we come! (Thursday evening, June 19th!).