Goodbye, Joseph

Monday was the last night of Joseph.  We sold all 965 seats in our pavilion and still had people come with lawn chairs and sitting in the grass. It is the first time ever that the Pavilion has been sold out. Over the entire run of the show 3600 people came and saw Joseph, smashing all previous records and expectations. We had a great show and everyone was very sad to see our time together come to an end.  Most of the cast was in tears before they even took the stage.  I, however, was mostly relieved to see my time as Children Choir Director come to an end.    When the show was over Kaitlin, Ruth and I ran around taking pictures on the set.  On Friday we had a cast party. I received a very nice thank-you and gift card for my service.  I am happy to announce my retirement from production for at least a little while.

A New Look

Kaitlin has been plotting the demise of her long hair for some time now and finally this week she got eight inches cut off her locks.  She loves her new hair and I think it is sassy and befitting her personality.  She is so excited to start High School this next week, and this haircut is just an outward expression of this next phase of her life.


"Over hill, over dale, Through brush, through brier, Over park, over pale...I do wander everywhere."

On Wednesday we left for Cedar City and the Shakespeare Festival.  We saw Midsummer Night's Dream and The Music Man. Both were excellent. We especially enjoyed Midsummer Night's Dream which had some of the best performed physical comedy I'd ever seen.  (Before we went I had the girls read a simplified version of the play. I worried that Shakespeare might be a little hard for Ruth, but she was laughing and loving it the entire time).  The next day we drove to Navajo Lake and spent the morning hiking to Cascade Falls. It was a wonderful hike with both beautiful red rock and tall pine forests. After a picnic we drove to Mammoth caves and did some spelunking.  These are lava vent caves that are open to the public.  We had fun exploring them. Ruth, who is terrified of caves, was brave enough to go into the entrance area and a little ways down one shaft.  We were proud of her.  On Friday, before heading home, we took a backstage tour of the Shakespeare theaters, which we all enjoyed.

In the statue garden outside of the theater. 

Jared is "trying on" King Lear's" crown. It fit perfectly

At a lookout point with Zion's National Park in the distance.

There were a few scary drop offs along our hiking trail.

A funny sign posted on the bathrooms at the trail head. Not sure why I should treat the bathroom like it's in my face.

On the way to Cascade Falls.

At the mouth of the small chute of Mammoth Cave

Kaitlin decided against crawling through this small entrance to one of  the chutes. 

Down the "long chute". This cave was pitch black and is a wintering place for bats.  (We wished we had brighter flashlights, but alas, we only had the $3 one from Walmart)

On the backstage tour at the festival. 

BomBora

Saturday was Chuck's work day at our local amusement park.  We were exhausted from our Cedar City trip the day before, so we slept in and showed up around lunch time.  That still gave us ten hours of fun.  Our favorite ride was a new roller coaster  named BomBora, which we rode eight times.  This was the first time Jared was brave enough to ride the coasters, and he went wild riding almost every coaster in the park.

Any Dream Will Do

We had a busy week with 'Joseph' performances Monday & Thurs-Saturday. On some nights we had adventures.  We had the night when one of my choir girls got covered with orange soda right before going on stage and her mic went live while we were getting her changed in the dressing room, and the night when our whole sound system kept blowing the breaker and dying in middle of the show, and then Saturday night a micro-burst wind storm blew a brown wall of sand through the pavilion at what must have been 30+ mph winds (I came home wiping grit from my eyes and teeth). But through it all the show seems to get better and better and we are having a great time.  Our last show is tomorrow night.

Ruth and I'd like to thank so many of you for coming out.  We always get lots of support from our family and friends and it means a lot. So Thank You!  We hope you were entertained.  And for those of you far away, I'm posting a short little video of the last song of the show where I was able to get a really good shot of Ruth. This is the night of the micro-burst winds and you can see the hair of the audience members flying.

Third Time's a Charm

Imagine less hair, bigger hat.

Chaz passed the driver's exam and got his driver's licence this week. He also started a second job in the deli at a  local grocery store which pays much better than the Wendy's job.  He went to training yesterday and today and came home with a little black hat that makes him look a little like Aladdin.  He plans on keeping both jobs until he can get more hours at the grocery store.


Just Around the River Bend

On Wednesday I pulled the younger ones out of school and we rafted the Provo river. We rented a raft from this outfit that drove us up the river and dropped us off. It was a little over an hour float down the six miles of river to our ending point. It was a beautiful day, not to hot, and the water was cold. Chuck was our captain and Chaz and I were at the front as the main paddlers.

We only ran into the bushes once and a wall once, other than that... oh... and I took an icy plunge trying to stop the boat at a take-out point... but other than that we worked together perfectly.  It really was a lot of fun and I'm so glad we went.


"A Vote for Ruth is a Vote for You"

When we found out that student council elections were the morning of our river rafting trip, we called and postponed our trip two hours so Ruth could go to school and give her speech.  She practiced and we rewrote and rewrote until it flowed and she could give it with confidence.  All her hard work paid off and she was elected to the 6th grade student council.  She is very excited.

Keep Going Joseph

Joseph singing to Ruth

 Never in my life had I been so tired that my eyes have gone blurry, until this last week.  All week Ruth and I were at Joseph dress rehearsals until ten to eleven o'clock at night, and then up at seven to go to school.  We tried to rest, I tried to nap, but that only helped a bit.  By opening night on Thursday I was literally having problems focusing my eyes to drive the car to Zumba with Kaitlin.  I don't know how Ruth has done it. It is her second week of school and she was able to get up and get going every morning without complaint.


Opening night one of the moms presented me with a "throne" that all the kids had signed. In the cup holder she had placed a cool drink and told me that after all the hard work I'd done with the choir I deserved a chance to sit and rest.  She then took a picture of me with the kids.  

My great kids choir (most of them anyway)

The show has been a big success.  We've had good sized crowds and they seem to get bigger each night. And this is only the second show I've ever done where we got a standing ovation even before the first bow.  The children have learned the routine and there is a lot less micromanaging on my part.  Mostly I just say to line up for such and such and they do.   The down side is that the kids are a little bored and have lost some of that initial spark and excitement.  So I do a lot of pep talks and cheering to keep them going.  We are only three nights into an eight night run.

Can you see Ruth?

Kaitlin has been coming with me every night to help with the kids.  She plays and does crafts with them and has become quite popular.  She hasn't even seen the show yet, because she says that she would rather be back with "her kids".   Chaz also has come a few nights to help put away the set.   On Thursday night Ruth won the "super singer" award, that our music director gives out to the best choir member that day.  She was pretty proud.

Back stage silliness

On Saturday some of our cast went around doing 'flash mobs' at various locations to advertise the show.  We drove down to local shopping area to watch, and then to the Walmart parking lot.  It was fun to watch, though we did not participate.

Chaz Milestones

Chaz has made a few steps forward this week. He started at his new job at Wendy's.  He's already complaining about dreaming about not letting the fries burn.  Next week he'll be working quite a few shifts, mostly late nights.  Chaz also sent in a college application.  It's good that he is starting to look forward and at least consider future plans.  Finally, with all these late night shifts it's become more and more important that Chaz get a driver's license, so Chuck has pushed him this week to brush up on his driving and will take him in next week for his test.

Back to School

It's the end of July, the sun is shining, it's hot, the zucchinis are on, and Ruth and Jared have started school. Welcome to year-round school. On Tuesday we had a meet-the-teacher morning and then the kids started classes. While they headed off for new adventures, my nephew Orion came down to spent the week with us. While Ruth and Jared were getting used to new teachers and friends, Orion and Chaz played a lot of wii and hung out with Chaz's friends. He's a good kid and it was fun to have him visit. By Friday all the kids were tired and ready for the weekend.


A New Job for Chaz

He may not have red hair and freckles, but after weeks of unemployment Chaz got offered a job at our local Wendy's. He starts on Monday. It is only part time, but it's a start.


Go, Go, Joseph

Our play opens this Thursday night at 8:00pm and then runs this weekend and next. All week Ruth and I have kept late hours doing dress rehearsals for the play. We've had a couple of crazy nights. Every new piece of costume, or change in choreography, threw my children's choir into a tizzy, but by the weekend things were settling down and the show was starting to run more smoothly. It will be the best show we've ever put on at the pavilion, but still I'm sure the first few shows are going to be an adventure. With a wink, I'm telling all my friends to come the second weekend.

Jersey Cream

Jersey Cream is the color the inside of our house became this weekend. Yes, it is possible to paint the entire upstairs of your house (minus bedrooms) in one weekend. That is, if you work from morning to night. (We have never been more thankful for the rest of the Sabbath day! Our shoulder muscles are thankful too.) In the 5+ years we've lived here, we've now painted every room in the house except for Jared's. The irony is that Jared is the one that has been begging to have his room painted since day one. Poor boy, he is still waking up to the color taupe. Next project, flooring.


Parade Preview

We love going to the Days of '47 parade preview every year. This year was no exception. As is our tradition we picked some of our favorite floats and posed in front of them. Float creations are notoriously a little on the creepy side, so we like to make our faces as creepy as the critter we are posing with.



















Sunday Pioneer Fun

I had such a great time at church today. Since it's pioneer day I arranged for a few people from our ward to come and play some pioneer music. We had a harmonica, and guitar and fiddle. The kids liked it all, but especially loved the fiddling. We even called our fiddler back for an encore. I dressed up in a pioneer costume and talked to the children like they were pioneer children. Some of my performers even dressed up. It was a lot of fun.

Pioneer Trek

Last week Kaitlin went on a four day pioneer trek with other teenagers from her dad's church. They rode a bus up to Martin's Cove and there, in small family groups, they pulled/pushed a handcart over 30, hot and dusty, miles of the Oregon trail. While it was really hard, Kaitlin loved the experience. Highlights for her were being carried across a river by the "brothers" of her trek family and visiting the pioneers graves at Salt Water creek, and testimony meeting on the last day. She came home with blisters and bites, but many happy memories and some new friends.

For my family that has never heard of Pioneer Trek, our local TV news did a news story about it last night. Here is a link to the story and a video.


Up House

You may have seen it on the Internet or on the news. Yes, they have built the 'Up House' just a few miles from our house. I noticed it a month or so ago when I saw them painting a new construction bright yellow. Then last week we drove over there to visit it and take some pictures. They say the inside is all the same as in the movie (but you can't go inside without buying a Parade of Homes ticket). It's going up for auction soon, if you're interested.


Hero Camp

I spent a day with Jared this week at cub scout day camp. He spent one day at "Dinosaur Camp" and I got to spend the day with him at "Hero Camp". What I wasn't expecting is to show up in the morning and have the Cub Commitee Chair hand me all the paperwork and telling me no scout leaders were coming and asking me if I would be in charge for the day because I'd done it before right?... um... no. But I took charge anyway, and off we went with 22 boys to day camp. You should have seen me checking them in:

Scout Lady: What is your troop number.
Me: That's the little red numbers on their sleeves right? I don't know.
Scout Lady (looking through my papers): Did Tyson take his medication today?
Me: He takes medication?
Scout Lady: Does Daniel have his epi pen with him today?
Me: I have no clue. Is that important? Should I call him over here to ask him?
and so forth....

The camp was very nice with lots of trees and shade and they had some pretty fun activities planned for the boys. Jared especially loved the bb gun shooting.


The Renovations Begin

Our hickory floors were delivered yesterday and are now sitting in our stripped down front room absorbing our air. My designing friend and neighbor, Julia, (who runs her own business you can find here) came
over and helped us choose a new paint color, since our pinky walls don't match or orangy floor. And here's the thing. In an open floor design with vaulted walls, you can't just paint one room, you have to paint the whole thing. So I guess that's what we will be doing for the next week, or two, or three. I know I've talked about this before, but I just don't have a brain for this kind of thing. I guess it's the same reason I can design a complicated scenery movement plan for a play, but can't seem to get rid of the pile of clutter beside my bed.



Go, Go, Joseph

Ruth and I are still working on the musical. Yesterday Kaitlin came with me and we spent eight hours painting on the set. In one more week we'll be starting run-through rehearsals. The show is really coming together and I think will be our best one yet. It will be the 1st and 2nd weekends in August.

Happy 18th Chaz

Chaz celebrated his birthday a week or so ago. He and Kaitlin made his favorite Chocolate Revel bars and he spent the evening doing some mysterious teenage things with friends. He is still on the hunt for work and, I hope at least, is pondering what to do with the rest of his life. Meanwhile he works around the house a few hours a day to earn his keep.


Injury Free 4th of July

We enjoyed a fun holiday at my parents house. We always love their home town parade that goes one way and then comes back the other way. You'll never find a better collection of wild grandmas on four wheelers and princesses on ridding lawnmowers. Our favorite this year was a float with two motorcycles and a little spotted donkey. The airplane candy drop went off without a hitch, no bleeding or anything (read about last year's adventures here). Jared even caught one. We wrapped the day up with a picnic with my family and my Aunt Edith from Canada and two of my cousins. In the evening we shot of fireworks with the neighbors. With the change in the fireworks laws our sky was alive with aerial fireworks. It was like living in middle of a fireworks show.