Have you heard of a little show called...WICKED!?!

My sister Erin is performing in Wicked the 2nd National Tour and at the beginning of August they were in Tulsa, OK. As a family we decided to fly out and see her and her show. Why Tulsa you ask....well Erin is the understudy to Madame Morrible (one of the semi-main characters) and she had the chance to show the world (or Tulsa) her incredible talents as Madame Morrible. I had not seen the show yet and thought it was a perfect opportunity to see it. It was an AWESOME weekend, not only because I was with my family, whom I L.O.V.E., but becasue Erin was AMAZING! If you havn't seen the show yet you need to see it...and if you want to see it with Erin in it let me know!

Here are some of the highlights!

MapQuest 2...iPhone 7

Sommer with her MapQuest printouts. Let's just say we are lucky Erin has an iPhone with GPS.

The only good thing we were looking forward to about going to Tulsa (besides Erin) was that fact that our hotel had a pool. Of course, as you can see from the CAUTION tape behind Caitlyn and Sommer, that the pool was closed for maintenance while we were there. Thanks for nothing Tulsa!

I spent two days baking homemade goodies for Erin and the family. Everyone loves homemade oreos, chocolate chip cookies, and banana bread!

Erin and her roomie Libby pointing to thier names...they are truly STARS!

Waiting for the curtain to go up!

So happy and proud.

We met Erin at the Stage Door after the show like groupies. We are by far her biggest fans.
i love this picture because caitlyn looks like a beautiful blue giant compared to the rest of us...Erin is actually the only one crouching down, we are a short family!

Erin and her Morrible costumes in her dressing room. One of her dresses is worth $10,000. It is amazing to see how elaborate each one is. They were all so beautiful.

Erin and Mom
Erin with 1/2 her make-up on for Morrible. It takes her awhile to get all dolled up!

For Saturday matinee show Caitlyn and I didn't get tickets, so the Music Director let us sit down in the Orchestra Pit with the musicians. It was so cool to see it from that perspective. It is amazing to watch all the talented musicians doing what they do best, plus it is fun to be soooooo close to the actors. In this picture we are standing by the Directors stand. The phones are how he talks with the stage. They call to tell him when they are ready to start.

Erin as Madame Morrible.
Isn't she beautiful.

Play it up Erin!

My Dad and I went to the Saturday evening show together for our daddy-daughter date. We got to see Erin as her usual Shen-Shen character. This would be the third time I saw the show in two days.

My sisters and I have a little joke about owls. As you can probably tell from my blog background. Erin surprised us with these awesome owl rings when we arrived in Tulsa. I love them...aren't they soooooo cute!

WHOOOO's hand is WHOOOO's?????

Caitlyn being beautiful as we wait to see if we won the lottery.

Erin, Mom, Me, & Sommer
work it sommer!

Sommer and my Mom left on Sunday so it was just the four of us on Monday (dad, erin, caitlyn, and me) and it was Erin's day off, so we had to find some fun things in Tulsa to keep us entertained. We each asked different people what there was to do in Tulsa that was fun. Everyone responded the same..."we have a zoo and a water park." Don't they know you can find those in almost every town in America...we wanted to know what was fun and original to Tulsa. We figured they didn't have anything so we did what we do best: Shopping (at TJ MAXX), Eating, and Bowling.

We went to a resturant called Joe Mommas Pizza. It was really, really good and if you are ever in downtown Tulsa check it out.

Erin and Caitlyn at the biggest bowling alley I have ever seen...50 lanes!

p.s. they had their bowling balls color coordinated by weight and each color had it's own rack...now that is my kind of organization. Nice work Tulsa you didn't let us down compeletly!

My cute Dad

Check out my score...I am the E at the top! Yep that's right 139! In case you didn't know or have forgotten...I am the intramural bowling champion of 1999 from Ricks College.

I LOVE MY SISTERS!

test

test, test....1234...

Friday Flashback

This weeks Friday Flashback is dedicated to the worlds greatest parents...MINE!! They are the most loving, supportive, caring, and dedicated parents I know. I love them so much and I am so grateful for the close relationship we have. Thanks Mom and Dad...you're the BEST!!!

Engagement Pictures

There were so many great pictures of my parents but I chose this one because I felt like I was looking at myself or one of my siblings with a wig and mustache on!!! Plus isn't my mom beautiful.

The classic mirror pose...priceless.

a grandpa bartschi favorite

4th of July

For those who don't know the Fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays. I love the colors red, white and blue (as you can see I am decked out in all three!!), barbeque's, hanging with family and friends, and like a little kid I love fireworks!!! Roomies: Becca, Emily, and Ali

This year we decided to go to our ward party on the 4th. As you can tell we are outside in the 110 Arizona heat...at night! We had good company, good food, and great seats for the annual City of Chandler fireworks show. What a great holiday!!

It's all about Family!!!

I am going out of order of fun summer activities with this one, but I couldn't wait to post about it. My cousin Amy Wilson loves the game Family Feud and when she found out that auditions to be on the show were coming to Phoenix she couldn't resist. She got an audition time and went out searching for family members that wanted to 'team up.' Well of course I was in the moment I heard about it. I would not miss a fun opportunity like that, especially with all the extra time I have lately. We were still on the hunt for 2 more players (we needed five and Amy, her husband Scott, and I made 3). We have a lot of family here in AZ and thought it would be a piece of cake...but unfortunately EVERYONE had something going on or was out of town. So we called my sister Caitlyn and asked her. Well as you can imagine...she was game. She bought a ticket from Utah just to come to the audition. Not only did she come, but she asked our other cousin, Chelsea Lee, in Utah to fly in with her so we could have a full team. So after a lot of hard work, phone calls, and cheap flights our team was complete! They flew in an hour before our audition and we headed straight downtown. We were one of the last to check in which turned out to be to our advantage. We sat for a few hours watching other families audition while we practiced and strategized. When it was finally our turn to 'play' we got up and killed it! We won both questions and gave a very enthusiastic and fun audition. Well needless to say they liked us and wanted us to stay and talk with them. (very few were asked to stay) They interviewed us, took our picture, and took videos of us. It was so much fun we had a blast. We will find out in 2 weeks if they want us to go to LA for a tapping. I really think that we are going to be picked! Wish us luck.

The Girls: Chelsea, Amy, Caitlyn, and Me

waiting, practicing, and strategizing for our audition.

Scott, Amy, Caitlyn, John O'Hurley(host), Me, Chelsea

"WE'RE THE WILSON'S AND WE ARE READY TO WIN FAST MONEY"

This is the guy we interviewed with after we auditioned. He was very cool and we had a lot of things to talk with him about. As most of you know...we know how to talk! We spent a lot of time with him. He asked us to yell the quote above and cheer into the camera...it was hilarious. It was a little weird to have the video camera in your face at first, but we aim to please so we cheesed it up perfectly.

Our questions:

1. What kinds of animals would you find living in your attic?

-I picked Raccoon...and got it! I almost had to use my 'fall back word (banana) because I couldn't think of anything...but then it just came out. I thought I was going to get a strike, but as luck would have it some people have raccoons in their attics...scary!

2. What could you buy from a book store other than a book?

-The other team got three strikes so we had a chance to steal and we chose my answer...Notebooks!....and we won!

Friday Flashback

*Friday Flashback is a day to remember the good old days and reminisce on how things used to be.*

First Day of School

(I know it seems a bit early but school in Arizona has already started.)

At my house we always took the "first day of school' pictures in our cute new outfits. We would spend a lot of time shopping trying to find the perfect outfit to wear on the first day of school (thanks mom and dad!) because it was the most important outfit you will wear all year. I remember laying my clothes out on the floor like a stick figure before I went to bed. One time I was so excited that I wore my outfit to bed so all I had to do is wake up and go! I love going back to school: the new clothes, pencils/crayons, pencil boxes, lunch pails, trapper keepers...it gets me excited just thinking about it.

This is me on my first day of Kindergarten. I rocked the side pony!

I loved this outfit from the ruffle jean shorts with matching shirt and scrunchie, and the boots! Watch out world!

June 2009: Wilson Family Reunion

Newport Beach, California

Wilson Reunion.

Get ready for a lot of pictures!

This is the Wilson clan...well those who were able to come. We are actually missing a lot of people, hopefully we will see them at the next one.
Wilson's getting silly. I think we need to define what "silly picture" means to some of them!

Bob, Caitlyn, Me, Sommer, and Trish
We really missed Erin (who is on tour with a little show called Wicked) and Andrew (who is serving a mission in Fresno, CA)

Human Foosball

Warning: this is a very dangerous but very fun and entertaining game.

That little head on the far right in the water...that's me!

Caitlyn, Me, Bob, and Sommer chillin' on the beach

Sand Castles

This is my favorite picture of Tate (cousin Terri's son). He is so adorable.

The two of us spend a lot of time playing together. Almost everyday we were there we would see dolphins swimming close to shore. It was better than going to Sea World!

Wilson's are competitive creatures by nature. There was no holding back when it came to beach volleyball.

My Dad...isn't he cute!

Mom, Me, Cait eating s'mores at the bonfire. delicious.

Ladies Luncheon

It wouldn't be a Wilson Reunion without bowling. It's a tradition!!

My cousin Brett has many reptiles that he uses in a show he does for kids. He offered to bring them to the beach house so we could see them. It was really cool. Thanks Brett!

I don't remember what this one was called...but it did have a really cool tongue. P.S. that's Brett!

This is his albino python. So cool!

Trish or otherwise known as Greatest Mom Ever!

This is hands down my favorite picture/moment from the reunion (sorry Caitlyn). She was trying to have a Brittany Spears moment with the snake but then actually had eye to eye contact with it and freaked out. It was so funny.

That snake is SO heavy. Hence the strained smile on my face.