Other Summer Activities

Our summer was filled with activities. Here is a summary of such activities.


Disneyland with my sister Sarah

Goofy's Kitchen





Disneyland the next day




Madeleine tripped on a crack in the sidewalk and got a trip to the First Aid Station for a bloody, fat lip. Dr. Mickey's prescription: Popsicle


Tea Party at the Fairy Tea Cottage in Seal Beach





Disneyland Zoo Crew Reunion 2009 at Hart Park





Knott's Berry Farm



Maddie with her boyfriend Jackson




Dinner at the Chicken House


Sea World with my cousin Brittny, Brian, and little Lexi and my Aunt Jan with my Mom and Dad












Angel Game with Madeleine





Swimming in the Backyard Pool





Wardlow Labor Day Luau 2009

Madeleine loves to dance!


Our friends Geoffrey and Bonnie

Wardlows dancing to "We are Family"

Cousin Alyssa, Rachel, Maddie, and Bonnie



Beach time with my sister, Auntie Sarah






More Disneyland




Can you see why I didn't have time to blog?

I'm Back!!!

It's been 7 months since I've blogged, and I'm back! Life has been so hectic that blogging has seemed a luxury I couldn't afford. But Maddie is healthy, I'm working for myself, my master's recital has been sung, and my thesis paper written, and so I think I have to time to catch up.

So much has happened in the last 7 months, I can't even go through it all. When last I blogged it was tax day, April 15. Shortly thereafter I interviewed and started working at the Curtain Call Performing Arts Academy of Corona. I worked there from May 1 through August. I met so many wonderful people during my stay there, so many talented young performers and their wonderful parents. I realized during that experience this summer, that it works best for us if I continue to work from home. It ended up being too hard for Madeleine and for me to work outside the home as many hours as I did. Fortunately, I have been able to maintain many relationships I created there.

One terrible experience our family had this summer was that Madeleine got very ill in July and was in the hospital for 36 hours. She had been suffering with a sinus infection for a week, and I had difficulty getting her to take her antibiotic medicine. She then developed pink eye. Poor thing.

Madeleine with her sinus infection


Madeleine with Pink Eye at the beach


We celebrated Independence Day and we thought she was getting better. Then Sunday night, July 5th, while I was at rehearsal for a fundraiser show for Costa Mesa Playhouse, Maddie came down with a high fever. Jason and I were concerned. It was difficult because the next day, July 6, was the first day of Theater Camp at Laguna Playhouse and I was the music teacher! I went to camp and my mom watched Maddie. Her fever spiked several times during the day. By evening she was so ill that Jason took her to urgent care. Later that evening while I was at rehearsal, I got a call from Jason in hysterics telling me that Madeleine had had a seizure and the ambulance was coming for her! It was the worst night of our lives.
Maddie had a febrile seizure when her temperature spiked from 99 degrees to 104.7 in about 30 minutes. She was transferred to CHOC in the middle of the night and was released late the next day. She remained sick for a few more days. It was a wake up call for Jason and I that Maddie has a tendency for seizures and that we need to remain more diligent about her health.

4th of July




Get well present from Jason's company



During the month of June, Jason got to play Lt. Brannigan in "Guys and Dolls" for Performance Riverside. It was his fourth time being in this show, and has played 4 different parts: Harry the Horse, Nathan Detroit, Big Jule, and now Lieutenant Brannigan. He had a really great time.


Even though Maddie was so sick, I was lucky enough to still perform in "Les Ensembles", the fundraiser show at Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse. I had great fun singing the best ensemble numbers from musical theater, including "Sunday", "Cell Block Tango", "One Day More", and "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat".

This fall, I resigned from my position and Curtain Call Academy and focused my attention on finishing my master's degree. I spent all of September writing my thesis paper, and all of October preparing for my master's recital. It has been an immense amount of work, but totally worth it. My recital was on November 7th, and I was blessed to have about 70 of my closest friends and family with me. I sang 22 songs in 4 different languages. I sang pieces from Purcell, Mozart, Bellini, Strauss, Debussy, Poulenc, and Richard Rodgers. It was a wonderful experience and a real confidence builder. I really felt like a diva (in a good way).






I felt like I had momentum after my recital, and on Monday, November 9th, I auditioned for "Sweeney Todd" at Musical Theatre West. I haven't worked with that theater group for 18 years, since they were called Whittier-La Mirada Light Opera. I was cast in the ensemble! I am very excited being part of a professional cast for a professional theater.

Life has been crazy these last 7 months, but Jason and I can't complain that life is boring!!

Our little Maddie will be 2 years old in a couple of weeks. We can't believe it. Cute birthday pictures to come.

Tax Day TEA Party

Today, April 15th, is Tax Day, and everybody around the country are dreading paying their taxes. But the taxes are getting worse all the time. How much more is the government take from us next year, and the next and the next. If you live in California, like I do, state taxes, including income tax, sales tax, and car taxes, have skyrocketed so much that we have to work even harder to pay for those who don't contribute at all. Enough is enough!!!!

There are TEA parties organized around the country (a la the Boston Tea Party of 1773 as a protest against taxes). If you get a chance and believe in keeping your own hard-earned money and fulfilling your own potential, not the government's idea of your potential, then attend a TEA Party.

TEA - Taxed Enough Already

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Jason and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary yesterday, March 25th. I feel so blessed to be married to such an amazing man. He and I have been through a lot together in our 3 years of marriage and almost 5 years of being together. But despite lots of stressful life events, I am also so grateful for all of the wonderful things. We have been sealed for time and all eternity to each other, we have shared the stage together, we have our beautiful daughter Madeleine, we've bought our first house, Jason has started a new career and is moving up the corporate ladder quickly, I have almost completed my master's degree, and we are just genuinely happy together.

This year, we were able to have a wonderful romantic dinner at the Summit House in Fullerton. For those who have not been there, I highly recommend it. The restaurant sits atop a hill overlooking Fullerton and Brea. The food is amazing! It is famous for its prime rib. We not only had prime rib, but its famous creamed corn, creamed spinach, and Yorkshire pudding. The best surprise was the baked brie we had for an appetizer! My goodness...cheese baked in a pastry, my favorite! And lo-cal too! We had a wonderful time together.

I wish everyone love the way I both give and receive it in my marriage.

March 25, 2006




March 25, 2009






The Feast


My flowers from my hubby

My Evil Nemesis

For those of you who may not know, we moved in October to Corona. We moved to an unincorporated part of Corona near Chino Hills. The land we live on used to be all dairy farms, but suburban sprawl has entered to create a nice suburb. However, some of the land's previous life remains, including lots of wildlife and jurassic-park size insects.

When we moved in, we hired Orkin to come and take care of all the insects and spiders that had inhabited our home that had been sitting foreclosed for close to a year. At least two spider hatchings had occurred there. After Orkin had worked their magic, we have had very little insect problems. A couple of spiders here or there, some large grasshoppers (but grasshoppers eat bugs, right). All seemed well.

Monday morning before Madeleine woke up, Jason and I were up and getting ready for our week. Jason left early for his weekly Monday morning sales meeting, and I was left in a quiet house. I thought I would shower early before Maddie woke up. I took a nice long hot shower and began to dry off when I look down at my bathroom tile and saw....the largest, most evil-looking SPIDER I had ever seen outside of an aquarium glass at the zoo! I screamed bloody murder and ran into my bedroom. When the adrenaline subsided, I creeped back into the bathroom to examine the intruder. As I examined it, I believed it was probably a tarantula and perhaps even poisonous. What was I going to do? My first thought was to do what my arachnophobe sister would do...grab the baby and drive away, never to return. We would simply have to move.

But then I realized how much money and time we've spent on this house and realized moving wasn't an option. I have 2 cats. I thought I could let them loose at the spider and see if they could kill it. But what if it was poisonous? They are small enough that they could be killed. Or they could just maim it enough for it to escape but not die. Then I would have a pissed tarantula in my house. I couldn't just ignore it, I have a 15 month old toddler who could be bitten by it. I had to kill it myself!! I am the mother lion of course. I must protect my lair.

Still naked, I put on my big hiking boots, ready to squish it. I could just use a paper towel...what if it jumped on me or spat on me or hissed at me? On the count of three, I stomped on it as hard as I could. This is the gross part. Massive amounts of liquid squirted out the sides of my shoes!! AHHH!!! Was it just spider guts or was it the venom? I concluded that now I had venom all over my tile floor! After flushing the contents of the bottom of my shoe down the toilet (including the two crab-like legs that had been severed) I had to wash and sanitize my floor. I had to do this all before Madeleine woke up. It was a harrowing experience.





As you can see, the spider has a glowing evil eye staring into the camera. He (or she) also has a hair or phalange sticking out of its face (another evil feature). It is either for smelling or trapping its prey. I think it looked like those curled-ended mustaches that evil henchman always have.

Maddie's First Shamrock Shake

Jason and I have been on Weight Watchers since December. We both have been successful, both of us losing close to 20 pounds. So for St. Patrick's Day we decided to have a treat. I made corned beef and cabbage for the first time for Jason. His grandma made it for him every year, and he has missed it for a few years, so I gave it a try. Thank goodness for my new kitchen

I wanted a treat for myself, so I went to McDonalds (which I never go to) and got the traditional Shamrock Shake. It was pretty yummy. When we got home, I saw that Madeleine was watching me drink it, so I thought I would give her a treat as well. She loved it a little too much. She was gulping it down. When I took it away, she proceeded to have a big tantrum. She then was hyper (like I thought she would be) for several hours after.





She also had green-filled diapers for two days.

Jason in Sweet Charity

I will have pictures of Jason as Big Daddy on stage soon, but I did tell you I would have pictures of him to follow. Isn't he adorable?
This part is perfect for him and he's doing an awesome job. The ovations have been wonderful for him. Seeing him in action just makes me love him more.

For the faint-hearted...don't worry. He is not really advocating smoking either of tobacco or of the "evil marijuana weed commonly known as pot." (a line from the show). This is all pretend.








The show runs until March 29th if you get a chance to see it. It's a really good show and Jason is in his element. It's a lot of fun.