Disneyland Trip

Last weekend we checked the kids out of school and took off on a Wednesday afternoon for a whirl-wind Disney weekend. After spending the night in Mesquite we arrived in sunny southern CA on Thursday afternoon. That afternoon we got used to our 'family suit' (2 rooms, 2 bathrooms and a living room - pretty sweet for less than $130 a night) and we spent the evening swimming and walking around Downtown Disney. Little did we know this would be the last sun we would see on our vacation.

Friday at Disneyland was a total blast! The park was empty all morning and by lunch time we had seen the whole park and ridden everything we wanted to ride. The crowds got heavier in the afternoon and evening, but with wise use of the fastpass system, it didn't slow us down. The longest line by far was for Peterpan (of all things) and that's because the ride broke down right as we were about to get on. (Thank you to all the people who got out of the way as Chuck and Jared vaulted the railings to make and emergency potty run while the ride was getting repaired.)

We got in line for the Casey Jones Jr. Train just as the fireworks were going off and had a great view sandwiched between Toontown fireworks and the fireworks in Fantasyland. The highlight for sure was watching "Fantasmic". In all the years I've gone to Disney theamparks I've never taken the time to watch one of these night time shows (this is the best time to ride rides as the lines are short), but Kaitlin really wanted to watch it, so half hour before the show we asked a motherly looking Cast Member where the best place to view the show was. She directed us and we had a great view and the show was Incredible! The day had been cool and cloudy (sweatshirt weather) and as we watched, cold rain began to fall. We sat there and shivered but the show was still well worth it.

The next morning we woke to rain, but undaunted, we headed out the door for our day at the tide pools. When we got down to the car it wouldn't start. A jump from the hotel maintenance man didn't help. We got the kids settled in front of the Disney Chanel ( a treat because we do not have cable at home) and I called an old friend that we knew in our last house that had moved "somewhere around Anaheim". To make a very long story short, our friend, Becky Hunter, left the movie theater (she had had tickets to the premier of Harry Potter for 2 weeks) and came to drive us to a car repair place. We learned our car needed a new alternator and Becky Hunter had our car towed on her AAA to a repair place that she trusted. It was well past noon by then and rain was coming down in sheets. Our friends offered to drop our family off at a mall close to the repair place so that we could catch a movie while they worked on our car. We took the kids to see "Despicable Me" (it was very cute) and then walked around the mall for awhile until our car was fixed. Although our day at the beach was lost, we are so grateful for our friend who was our Good Samaritan that day.

The drive home the next day was supposed to be only 11 - 12 hours, but turned into a 16 hour ordeal when we hit a blizzard in Beaver and the highway was closed. We went on a detour which ended up to be a two hour nightmare. Without going into detail, lets just say that the highlight was finding the closed small town gas station that had a pop machine outside so we could get sodas to drink. While the drive home was horrible, we were grateful that we made it home safely.



Thanksgiving

A quiet Thanksgiving at home was just what was needed for my family that still was not 100% recovered from our Disney adventure. In the morning we went and saw "Tangled", the new Disney movie, which we loved. For Dinner we enjoyed a rotisserie chicken, potatoes, stuffing, frog-eye salad and home made rolls. Ruth made a pumpkin pie, crust and all, by herself.

On Friday we drove up to my parents house to visit with them, my brother Richard and his family from TX, and my sister Donna. We had a good visit and were able to take part in the traditional "Thanksgiving Snow Flake Cutting".

Colonel Pickering spends a lot of time on stage watching the interaction between
Higgins and Eliza.

Chaz was really great in the scenes where he spoke on the phone. He had great comedic timing.

Chaz stands next to the household staff watching Professor Higgins.

Chaz Appears in My Fair Lady

Chaz's musical My Fair Lady opened on Friday. On Wednesday I chaperoned a field trip where Kaitlin and all the 9th graders went to see a dress rehearsal of the play.

On Saturday all the family came over for dinner at our house and then went together to the show (I served the Veggie soup that I posted on this blog last month). We were all proud of Chaz and thought he did a great job.




Here is a scene right before the horse racing scene where Colonel Pickering is explaining to Mrs. Higgins that her son is bringing a flower girl to Ascots.



This is Chaz's big solo. The "You Did It" song is right after they get home from passing Eliza off at the ball.

Chaz's Musical This Week

Chaz is very busy putting the finishing touches on My Fair Lady. They open on Wednesday morning with a performance for 9th graders from the middle school. The evening performances are Friday, Saturday and Monday all at 7:00 pm. I hear that ticket prices are $7.00 for Adults, $6.00 for students and $5.00 for children. Like I posted last week, we'll be hosting a dinner at 5:30 at our house on Saturday, for anyone who would like to come and eat before the show.




Parent/Teacher Conferences

We had conferences with Ruth's and Jared's teachers and received good reports for both of them. Jared had to do an oral presentation this week in his class. He is a shy guy and this was very hard for him, but he got through it. A new quarter started for Chaz and Kaitlin this week as well, they are both doing fine.

Halloween Fun

Our Halloween started on Friday with the school Halloween parade and games. I'm Ruth's Room Mom and got to put on the Halloween Party for her class. On Saturday it was cold and rainy but we still had many trick-or-treaters. Jared and Ruth both got a big haul of candy.









New Calling for Becky

It's been three years almost to the day since I was asked to be the President of the Primary at my church. Well, today I stepped down as president and received a new assignment. I'm now the Primary Music Leader. That means that every Sunday I'll lead the singing and teach the children new songs. I'm feeling very relieved to have that big responsibility off my shoulders and I'm looking forward to singing with all the little kids. (this is a picture of my presidency at our last meeting)








Jr. Honors Society

This week Kaitlin was inducted into the National Jr. Honor Society. To be in the society she had to have a 3.8 or higher and do 10 hours of service a quarter.


My Fair Lady Coming Soon

Chaz's production of My Fair Lady is Friday the 12th, Saturday the 13th, and Monday the 15th. I'm putting on dinner for anyone interested in coming to see the show on Saturday the 13th. Dinner is at 5:30 and then we'll head over to the show at 6:30pm. All are invited - just RSVP. I haven't heard yet on ticket prices, but in the past they've been around $8.00.


Daddy/Daughter Hoedown

Chuck and Ruth went to a Daddy Daughter BBQ and Hoedown this week with Ruth's Activity Days Group (like Girl Scouts). They learned a line dance and Chuck was stiff the next day.

If you Give a Mouse Some Birdseed....

...they'll want to have 20 babies and live in your garage all winter. To combat our infestasion we accidentaly discovered the Birdfood Bag Trap-o-Matic. An ingenious mouse trap based on the simple notion of friction and gravity. The mice go in, but they can't climb out. But if left long enough they can chew out, so vigilance is required. We are a catch and release kind of family. The kids have taken joy with every catch, talking to the little things as we release them in the back yard. However, as of the 20th mouse, Chuck and I started to wonder if we weren't just recycling the same 5 or 6 over and over again. Something more drastic may need to be done.


Primary Program Success

Today was our Primary Program. Each year the children at our church put on a special program where they talk about what they are learning in Sunday School each week. We have a very large group with 154 children. They had speaking parts and sang songs. It all went very smoothly and we even ended on time (again)! I got to speak at the end and I was very emotional, but got through it. Now I'm feeling much lighter, so glad that it's over for another year.


My Fair Lady and Homecoming

Chaz is in middle of crunch time for his musical My Fair Lady. We are scrounging for costumes, and he is always at practice. In fact, Chaz hasn't been home much. This week was Homecoming at his highschool and being a class officer he has been busy planing events and going to meetings and football games. He helped decorate and put on the Homecoming dance the same morning he also painted sets for the show. When I have pictures from the dance I'll post them, so you can see how handsome he looked.


Family Picture

We had to take a family picture to attach to our application to be in the Nauvoo Pageant next summer. So here it is.

Ice Skating

On Saturday Ruth, Jared, Chuck and I went ice skating at the Olympic Oval. It was the first time for the kids. Jared had already learned to roller blade this fall so he took to ice skating quickly. Ruth struggled but kept with it and by the end was skating on her own. While we were there we also watched some hockey, and we watched Olympian Derek Parra teach a short track speed skating class. Both were fun to watch.


Veggie Soup Recipe

I've made this soup recipe that a friend gave me twice this fall and both times it was delicious.

Garden Soup

Saute:3T butter
2 med/small zucchini diced
2T parsley
2T basil
Add: 1/3 c. flour - still well
Add: 3 c. chicken broth
1 tea lemon juice - and bring to a boil.
Add: 2-3 tomatoes diced
1 12 oz can evap milk
1 c. frozen corn
Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 5 mins.
Stir in 1/3 c. parmesan cheese
2 c. colby jack cheese
Salt and pepper to taste.

New Church Assignment for Chuck

Today Chuck got a new church assignment. For the past four years he has been working with the teenage boys in scouting and Young Mens or youth group. Today he was given a new assignment as High Priest Group Leader. High Priest is a fancy name for the older men in the church. So yes, Chuck, the youngest man in the group at 45 has been put in charge of all the "mature" men. He will be in charge of watching out for all the old men and widows, that they get checked up on every month and he will organize service projects and make service assignments as needed. He also runs the weekly group that meets on Sundays. Chuck is very excited about this new job, and very relieved to be done working with the teenage boys (who had worn him pretty thin as of late).


Nothing Much

Nothing much else happened this week, so I'm including more pictures from our fun outing to the corn maze last weekend.

We really loved the bouncy pillows.

All the swings on this set were sculpted tire dinosaurs.

This was the largest blow-up attraction that I've ever seen, but ultimately we all chickened out going through this spook-ally except for Chuck.

Riding on the pumpkin coach.

Pump water down the rain gutters to race the ducks.

Jared did not like the corn maze.