Category: summer fun (Page 2 of 7)

Chinese girls

August 7, 2013 / Superpaige / 0 Comments

After all the changes that we’ve been through in the spring, losing both Cole and Larissa, I wasn’t hip for hosting any exchange students this summer. Let’s just have a nice quiet summer with the four kids, right?

Somehow the family thought it would be fun to host again, even though I told them over and over again that I would NOT be around, since the hosting was at the same time as our final rehearsals and opening of the Scarlet Pimpernel. Ryan assured me that he would be fine, even if I wasn’t around. Ha.

A few things were actually in my favor this time.
#1-Carpool. I actually had a lady from Alpine call me and say that she and another lady each had vans and were willing to carpool, they just needed a third person. Hooray! With each of us housing two students,that’s 6 kids to haul back and forth, so you really need a van or big car to be able to carpool. Last time we did this, I was kind of late in finding a carpool, and could only find someone with a small car, and the driving was unbearable. This time, I had to drive only 9 times. Hooray! I told them that I needed to drive in the mornings, since afternoons get crazy, especially when I have to turn around and go back to Orem for rehearsal, so mornings were best. But it was dang hard getting myself and the girls up to leave by 7:30 each day.
#2-Distance. The home base school, where all the classes and activities started, and our place to pick up and drop off, was at about 800 North in Orem. While that’s still a ways away, it’s better than driving all the way to Provo, or BYU. On a good day, I could make it there in 20 minutes.

#3-Megan could drive herself and her sisters to the buddy program. They always do a buddy program with American kids, and this year three of my kids were old enough to do the buddies. There were 5 days of activities that they did together, although my kids flaked on the Seven Peaks day. They just didn’t want to go, and said it wasn’t as fun as in past years. But whatever. I didn’t have to drive them!!! Hooray!!! Megan couldn’t drive the Chinese girls anywhere, but she can drive her sisters.

I feel bad that I wasn’t around to take them to do fun things. In fact, the last week, I would only see them in the morning, as I would be leaving by the time they got back. But Ryan was GREAT. He took them and John to see Despicable Me 2, took them bowling a second time, brought everyone to the theater to see a dress rehearsal of my show, and took them to yogurt. He took everyone to the parade and Fireworks for the Highland Fling. He even took them to fix a broken ipod case. What an amazing guy!

Hopefully they won’t look back at their time here and think, that was boring.

On their last night here, we invited over another host family and our new carpool buddies, and had a barbeque. The girls came alive with friends to talk to, and everyone had a nice time. That night we even all played “Mafia” in the basement.

Although we were a little unclear on the rules, it was fun.

Monday morning I took them to school for the last time. I gave them both hugs and Yao said sweetly, “We will miss you!”. I hope we can keep in contact with them. It’s always fun to send Christmas cards to our foreign friends.

Of course, it’s NOT fun to mail them stuff that they forgot. We found a camera in the back yard after they had gone, and now don’t know how exactly to get it back to her.

Trying to avoid the Guillotine, night after night.

August 4, 2013 / Superpaige / 0 Comments

Whew! Made it through the week, and what a week it was. On the rehearsal schedule it’s called “Tech Week”, but most people refer to it as “Hell week” because it’s…well…difficult. Rehearsals run long and tempers run short when adding costumes, lighting and sound, scenery, and hair and makeup to. Yes, those are the things that really make a show come alive, but it’s an adjustment.

It started last Saturday, when, after having rehearsals at the outdoor stage all week, we had to come in on Saturday morning to record the singing onto the tracks, and then have a scene change rehearsal. Everyone learns what scenery they are responsible for, and when those things need to come and go.

Here’s a model of the set, and all these set pieces change and move and turn around to change from England to France, a ballroom to Percy’s office, and even a boat. The set, REALLY is amazing. But, to get everything changed around…well…that’s pretty amazing, too.

There are four pages of this kind of notes, telling us who is assigned to each piece of scenery and when to move it where. It’s quite amazing, actually, and we have our stage manager Julie to thank for that. But we had to rehearse the on and off, and when those things come, and it was getting very hot and sweaty. I think we stopped at 1:00. We had to come back at 6:00 for another rehearsal.

By Sunday, I was wiped out, and enjoyed sleeping in, and a pretty restful day. Well, restful if you could church, nursery, then a trek fireside. But no rehearsal.

Monday morning I had start my week of driving the Chinese carpool. I was supposed to have the girls ready to go by 7:30. We may not have always left by 7:30 every day. Had to pick up four more Chinese kids and take them to their school in Orem every day, so there was no sleeping in.

I kind of dragged through the days, taking a naps when I could. At about 4, I started curling my hair. Some days I drove to the theater with hot rollers in my hair. It’s still kind of a work in progress, and the hair changes every night.

It would start out curly like this

One of those days I convinced Ryan to drive the morning carpool for me so I could sleep in a bit, and by opening night I was at least not SNEEZING all over every one.

http://youtu.be/JVOpqCdbIac

Kudos to Bryson, who made this video of the cast before opening night. I wish I didn’t look so GROUCHY, but considering I felt like crap, well, what else should I expect. I love seeing everyone ELSE in the video, and love the music.

Saturday was a LONG day with breakfast at the park for Highland Fling, a Parade (which I had to skip), a wonderful funeral for my friend Diana (hopefully I’ll write more about that later), then a bridal shower for our niece Camille that we aunts were hosting. I went straight from there to the theater for our second show. I didn’t do any singing on stage, because singing makes me cough, and if I start coughing, it’s not pretty. But that’s ok. They can do without my voice for a bit. Just typing that makes me ready for a nap.

So today is Sunday. It’s our last day with our Chinese girls, and we were going to do something fun, but I was seriously just so tired, so we decided to just go to church and spend the day at home, then invite the other host family and their girls, as well as my parents over for dinner tonight. I was coughing a bit much in church, so I came home after sacrament meeting, and brought the Chinese girls with me. I had a heavenly nap.

I’m looking forward to THIS week. Yes, we have performances on Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, but that means we get Tuesday and Wednesdays off! And we send the exchange students on their merry way tomorrow morning, so that will eliminate that added pressure (mostly on Ryan, since he’s been the one taking them places. Friday after we all went to their closing social, he took them to the mall AND to fix a cracked ipod screen. He’s awesome!)

S0, if you are local, I sure hope you’ll come and see our show. It really is GREAT. I’m a tiny part of the show, but I still love being part of the show. I may complain about how tiring it is, but it’s such a great experience.

Slow down, summer!

July 25, 2013 / Superpaige / 1 Comment

Summer is kicking my trash.

Seriously. The two Chinese girls have been here for a week now. What cute girls they are!

Their names are Xiou and Yio, and they are really fun. They have “school” every day where they learn about things in America, and then go off on an activity. Yesterday they went shopping at Park City outlets. They had fun, although said it was TOO much shopping. They came home with quite a few shopping bags, so they must have made the most of their time. This week they also had fun at the Clas ropes course. Today they go to BYU. Some of the days, my three girls also go with them as American buddies. Megan had fun at the ropes course, but she was WAY sore the next day.

They are pretty good about getting up in the morning on most days, but I’ve had to wake them a couple of times. They need to be ready to leave by 7:30. This week I haven’t been driving..yet. But next week I’ll be on mornings, and will have to pick up four other Chinese kids and take them to Orem by 8:15 am.

We have been bowling, shopping at City Creek, went to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert in the conference center, hiked around bridal veil falls,
and out to dinner.

We took them to see Natalie’s play, Peter Pan, which ended on Monday, too.

One of them really wanted to cook, and when they saw John making an omelet one day, they were amazed. So, on Saturday, I taught them how to make an omelet.

We took them to church, and a little family party at my sisters. For Pioneer day we did sparklers and pop its out in the front yard and watched the nearby fireworks.

This morning my girls left for girls camp for three days. All three of them!!

Meanwhile, I am gone every night at rehearsal.
We moved over to the outdoor theater this week, and it’s fun to perform on the hill, but so different. I’ve never done outdoor theater before.

When we aren’t on stage, we sit on the grass on our blankets.

The show opens in just over a week!! What?

I had my costume fitting this week, and I LOVE my dresses. Except my peasant outfit, which has this corset thing. Not sure how I am going to get IN and OUT of that thing, but I’ll keep you posted.

I get home from rehearsal between 10 and 11, and then I have to decompress a bit, so I fall asleep around midnight. Then I have to get the girls up around 7 and get them breakfast. Next week I’ll have to drive them to Orem every morning, after later and later rehearsals. By about 1:00 in the afternoon I’m SO tired, I tend to crash and need a nap. Not every day is nap conducive, I tell you.

And have I mentioned our yard work?

It’s mostly Ryan doing it, but the rest of us have helped, too.
Once we got our fences up, it was time to landscape that back fence line.

All 280 (Is that right Ryan?) feet of it.

Ryan tilled it, trenched it, put in sprinkler lines and power outlets, and is digging out the rest of the weeds so we can lay down a layer of newspaper and then mulch. I’ve kind of lost track of the number of truckloads of mulch we have gotten, but I think it’s around 10. Not like dump truck loads, just our small truck filled with compost from the recycle center.

And there’s our tomato plants in the buckets. There are more in the garden area, too. Soon. Very soon, we will have tomatoes.

Silly chickens think I planted these flowers JUST for them to eat. Argh.

And remember this kitty? She’s been with us for a whole year, now! Happy Birthday?

So, yeah, things are crazy busy for me right now. And I’m tired. So tired. But I know it will just get worse next week. If I can make it through rehearsals, then actually DOING the show will be fun. And our visitors will be gone, and I’ll have a couple nights a week off. Just in time for school to start. Slow down, summer! You’re going to fast, and dragging me along behind you!

Peter Pan

July 23, 2013 / Superpaige / 0 Comments

I should let Natalie guest post this.

Took the kids plus one cousin to see Natalie in Peter Pan.

Great show!

Two of my friends as pirates. I could have been a pirate. Darn. It would have been SO much fun.

Natalie had a great time in the show. It’s been kind of a pain to get her to rehearsals, and she’s missed out on a few fun things, but that’s what happens when you do a play (don’t I know it). She did a great job and we are Proud of her.

Why are you …so…old?

July 10, 2013 / Superpaige / 0 Comments

Being in a play with a bunch of young people. Hmm.

My first impression of this cast was, WOW, what talent. Seriously, the first time we sang Madame Guillotine together, I was blown away by how we sounded. And there was so much LESS time wasted, without a bunch of little kids. Those choral rehearsals were really great. But as I looked around, I thought that only a couple of these people looked old enough to be married, let alone have children. Let’s face it, having little kids is not really conducive to spending almost every night at rehearsal. Why do you think it took me until I was nearly 40 to try out for community theater? Family. I’m not sayin I don’t love my family, I DEFINITELY love my family more than anything in the world, and if they would do theater with me, I would LOVE that. And isn’t it great that I can still do theater even after spending all those years as a stay at home mom?

Anyway, I digress. A lot of people in the cast are high school or college kids. While waiting out a scene or learning blocking, they CANNOT a-sit still or b-shut up. Honestly. For a ball scene, they put me with this one guy, I’ll call him E. He and this other guy, who we shall call B, talk, talk, talk, through the whole scene. And not just talking, it’s Lord of the Rings impersonations, acting out light saber battles, quoting lines from OTHER movies that I couldn’t place, and all manner of other things. They are entertaining, but if I’m trying to listen or learn dance steps, it’s annoying. The director came by and said, “Does he EVER stop talking?” I shook my head no. He’s probably bummed that he has to have ME as a partner, when there are so many cute girls that he COULD be flirting with, had he only been paired up with them instead. Oh, well. He did talk TO ME long enough to mention that he had met a really neat girl at the singles ward the other day. I asked if he had asked her out and he said he did. Then he said she came over to his house and they talked. I was quick to remind him that hanging out at your house (or your parent’s house) is NOT a date, and he needed to take her somewhere to do something. Not that he asked for my advice or anything, but as a mother, I figure it’s my job to point that out to him.

Speaking of dancing, I was actually pleased that the choreographer at least PUT me in that scene. As she was assigning everyone places for the ball scene, she came by and said, “Are you ok to dance?” to me. Really? I know that I’m old and fat and out of shape and I didn’t do great on my dance audition, but I CAN learn the simple steps to a ball dance, thank you very much. I was afraid that she would purposely NEVER put me in a scene with any dancing. The other big group number, Madame Guillotine, they have me as a prisoner heading to the guillotine, while almost everyone else does this amazing dance and sings the song. We prisoners don’t even get to sing the song, and it’s the best song in the show. Darn. But, I shouldn’t complain, it’s time on stage, right? I was afraid that she totally hated me and wasn’t going to put me in ANY dances at all, but thankfully it’s not that bad.

There’s one other guy who is older than me. Did I mention that I knew him from BYU? I got a chance to chat with him a bit last night, and he did remember that we went out a couple of times back then. He even brought it up, so that’s good to know he does remember me. When we were learning the ballroom scene, he actually spoke up and said that she was going too fast for him to remember all these steps, and could she make sure to say the counts. I was glad he said something, because I was feeling the same way, but was far too insecure to pipe up and say anything like that.

Last night we were blocking a scene where Percy and his men help some prisoners escape. It’s all set to music, no singing, and the director and choreographer had to figure out what was going on when, place everyone, rehearse, etc. I am not a prisoner in this scene, rather in the “mob” that is there to watch the execution. We mob members don’t really do much in the scene except give Percy’s men a place to hide, so it was really boring for us. And I got to stand near some OTHER young people and listen to their conversations. It’s so weird to be transported back to the drama world. Theater people are a unique brand of people. They want to be funny, likeable, and the center of attention. I don’t really fit in with them, as again, I’m old, but I do join in their conversations sometimes. I’m trying to learn people’s names each time I go to rehearsal. Most of the girls seem nice, and the boys are the ones that are always goofing off and never stop goofing off. Last night seemed like a huge waste of time to everyone who was in ‘the mob’, but at the end, the director had us all sit and said, “THANK you so much for your cooperation. This was a difficult scene, and we were so worried about getting it right, but you’ve all done a marvelous job, doing what you were told, and not complaining. I think you are a marvelous and talented cast, and I really enjoy working with you.” Wow. He must not have heard all the complaining that was going on in back in the mob.

So, while it is fun to be a part of this show, I am not really feeling like a part of the show, yet. I still feel quite like an outsider. An OLD outsider. But hopefully that feeling will go away as I meet more people. Maybe I’ll make them some cookies.

TREK

July 7, 2013 / Superpaige / 1 Comment

week Megan and Natalie went on Trek. After a whole month of prep, they left on Monday morning. I had t get them to their respective churches by 5:45 am.

It was a relief to have them drop off their stuff on Saturday, because it just felt like we were NEVER done getting the stuff! We had bonnets, but I sewed two skirts, two aprons, altered some shirts, sewed elastic in some pajama pants for bloomers, and we borrowed or found the rest. After buying the tick spray, the hiking socks, the dishes, small Book of Mormons, moleskin, bug spray, sunscreen, vasaline, etc, etc (times two), I probably spent over $200 outfitting these two girls for their roughing it experience.

I woke them up around 5 so we could leave at 5:30. I took Natalie to her drop off church first, and she was the first one from her “family” there.

Both girls had great “families” and had had a few activities with their Ma and Pa and family to get to know them and feel comfortable with them. I am SO THANKFUL for all the wonderful people who worked so hard as Mas and Pas to make this experience a good one for our kids.

Then I took Megan to her drop off point, which was our church, and I asked if they had gotten their ancestor cards. NO! said Megan. WHAT? Each person walking on trek was supposed to find an ancestor who actually crossed the plains, make up an ancestor card and have it laminated. They would wear that ancestor card while they walked. And they had forgotten them. Ugh. Time to race back home. We got home, Megan ran in and grabbed those two cards, looked for her sunglasses that she had forgotten, and then I took her to her drop off point. Because of our detour, it was a little past 5:45, but she wasn’t the last to arrive.

(There’s her cute Ma, waving to us)

Then I had to race over to the church where Natalie was, and bring her that ancestor card. Mission accomplished, and all by 6:00 am.

Then I came home and fell asleep on the couch, I’m not going to lie.

I thought about them all day, worried over how they would do with 13 miles of walking that day, if they would get sunburned, if they would get along with their families, praying for them to have good attitudes and not get blisters. It seemed quite without them, and quiet in the neighborhood. All the teens aged 14 and up were gone, as well as several sets of parents..all on trek. I texted my neighbor and mentioned that I wondered how the kids were doing. She texted me back and forwarded me a picture her husband, the bishop, who was there on trek, had sent her of her girls. The message read, “Girls say hi. L–hello we love you. E–We’re in hell.” That made me laugh, and was a little bit reassuring to know that they were alive. The next day he sent a message for me. “Ericksons–Blisters, but everyone has blisters, great and brave on women’s pull, great attitudes.” I don’t know if he was sending updates on every family, but I appreciated that little bit of info to know that they were working hard and hopefully keeping a good attitude.

Thursday, it was lonely without three of my kids. I couldn’t help thinking about Cole, and wondering what he was doing for the holiday, and hoping the girls were ok, too. The four of us went to the This is the Place Pioneer park to have a little fun.

Even though it wasn’t the hottest day of the week, it was still WAY too hot to be wandering around dirt roads acting like a pioneer. Hmmm. And the girls were doing that for four days.

To face the heat, we had root beer floats. Very American, right?

WE came home in the afternoon, and the girls got back around 3:00. I thought they would be SO tired, but they were full of energy, talking and laughing about how dirty they were.

Megan said, ‘Look at my tan!’ and showed me her brown legs. They were indeed brown, until she wiped them off with a wet wipe, leaving a streak of white leg where the dirt had been.

I kept telling them over and over…’Go TAKE a SHOWER!’, but they were telling me about trek and laughing (getting dirt all over). Finally I got them to both take showers. Long showers.

Something about why do I even try…

June 27, 2013 / Superpaige / 3 Comments

Summertime.

It’s all about FUN family memories, together time, and bonding as a family, right? In my mind, that was what we were going to do.

It was a relatively FREE day. The first day of the week where we didn’t have lessons of some kind or a babysitting job or work to clutter our day, so I could do something fun with the kids. I had big plans. I had to go to SLC anyway to pick up some prizes from radio stations, so why not take the kids and do something fun in the city while we were there?

The day began with one child asking, ne..BEGGING to go to lunch with her friend who had invited her. It was her late birthday present, after all. But child, I cajoled, we are going to do something “Fun”. She chose her friend over us. Sigh. One down, that still left three of them, and we would do something fun. We could go to a museum, go to City Creek and shop, or maybe bowling. When the kids heard bowling, they cheered. Bowling it is, then. But FIRST, we need to do our jobs and clean up the house.

I was busy making 4 quiches. Why was I making quiche at 8:00 in the morning? Because I had to take a dinner in to a neighbor, but we already had plans for the evening, and if I’m going to do any baking on a 100 degree day, it will darn well be in the morning. So, there I am, making a mess in the kitchen at the SAME time I am asking them to clean up. Hypocritical? Yes, actually. But I was WORKING, and wanted them to be working, too.

A certain 9 year old decided he wasn’t going to work and was going to be rude and obstinate with his mommy. It’s kind of a pattern with that boy. Without going into the lovely proud parenting moment details, let’s just say we got into it, and that boy is going to shape up or not have ANY fun this summer. At all. Ever. So, after an attitude adjustment and some work and an apology, we were nearly all ready to go.

Lunch date girl’s friend cancelled, so NOW she wants to go with us, again. Fine.

Get snacks, look up where the bowling place is, get water, use the bathroom, and ….

grabbing my water bottle to get out the door, the lid is not screwed on properly and I drop the WHOLE thing on the floor. Small stubborn boy was actually the one who helped me clean it up.

We got out the door later than I had planned, but I still had high hopes.

It takes a while to go to three different radio stations. They are not centrally located, and with traffic downtown, before I knew it it was 1:00 and the kids were hungry. Drive through McDonald’s solves that problem, but where in the world is this bowling place? Not everyone in the world has a GPS, so I was just trying to find it by the address, in an area of Sandy I don’t often drive. Oops, turn around…AGAIN. Found it! We went inside, and we learned that
a-FREE with your pass does not mean free. It means it will cost you $3.75 per person to rent SHOES.
b-There is a wait of 20-30 minutes before we can bowl.

Looking at the clock, I realize that we don’t have 20-30 minutes to wait because oldest daughter has to work at 3, and here it is already 1:15. And I promised them FUN! Hoping they don’t revolt at the compromise, I suggest we get a redbox and ice cream cones and go home. Luckily, they went for that idea, with only a tiny bit of whining about not being able to bowl when I promised them TWO movies. So, instead of a FUN outing with the kids, I dragged them around in the car for hours, only to get a redbox and ice cream cones that we could have gotten 3 minutes from our house. Together time? Whatever.

All I know is that we are all hot, tired, and cranky. My attempts at fun fell flat, not to mention some unpleasantness over the doing of jobs.

So, now, one kid went to work (oh, let’s not even discuss the drama we had there over shoes and the inability to find them), one kid went to play with friends, and two kids are lounging on the couch watching those movies, and I’m going to trudge out in the 100 degree heat and make sure my chickens have water and are not frying up in the sun.

We call this summer.

Happenings in the House

June 25, 2013 / Superpaige / 1 Comment

I haven’t posted pictures of our home improvements lately..WHAT? Well, I had book club here the other day, and I decided to host the book group downstairs, since it’s nice and cool down there (and it stays cleaner than the upstairs family room).

I bought these two chairs at a yard sale. I went out with Robin, and when we found these, neither of us had enough cash on us, and when I went to the bank to get cash, I realized that my ATM card had expired, so it was kind of a process getting money, then I had to call Megan to bring the truck down to Orem to pick up one of these chairs because I couldn’t fit them both in the Suburban, but it was worth it. These are the COMFIEST chairs!

I moved the treadmill over to this corner. I really don’t like having this big old treadmill that you run into RIGHT when you come into the room. I like where they are now, and we’ve been putting it to good use. The girls are going on pioneer trek next week, and I’m trying to get them to walk the miles every day. Today they need to walk 5 (yesterday was 4, tomorrow will be 6). Natalie’s been doing her walking, but I don’t know about Megan. Silly girl always says she’s too tired after working.

The fooseball table is here in the tiled area. Someday that will be a counter, but for now, it’s open area. See that yellow wire? Ryan ran a camera to the back of the house, and I’m not sure how long that yellow wire is going to be running across the floor…

I took these pictures when Larissa was trying to pack.

Poor girl could not fit everything in, and she was upset and didn’t want to be in pictures, but I tried. We ended up with quite a bit of stuff that I need to mail to her. Have I done it yet? No. I’m TERRIBLE about getting to the post office.

I’m really encouraging the kids to do things to MAKE their own money this summer. I’ve got John delivering eggs to sell. He gets $1 for each delivery. It’s not much, but it’s a little bit of cash for him. He can also wash the car and do extra jobs. Jenna has gotten a regular babysitting job where she does goes at least twice a week for one family. She would like to do more babysitting, and so would Natalie, but they have to get their name out there. Natalie is now my chief lawnmower, and she does get paid for that. She’s also done some animal feeding when people are out of town. Megan has started teaching her summer art class again. She taught it last year, and it ended up being a class for only 2-3 kids, but it was almost every week. This year, she made up her flier, and I gave it out to friends, and she had 8 students come over. At $6 per class, that’s quite a bit of money if they all come. Jenna and John come, too, but they do not have to pay.

The first week she gave them all their sketch pads, and they drew some different kinds of doodles. This week I think there were 9 kids (including Jenna and John) and they worked with clay to make sculptures. They will let the clay air dry and then next week they can paint them. It’s nice that we can set up the tables in the basement, and they can do their class there, instead of on my kitchen table like they did last year.

Jenna heard about her cousin who made 1,000 paper cranes and the legend that if you make that many cranes you will get your wish. She’s decided she will do that herself.

If you were looking for ME in the house, you might find me in one of these two places…
Sewing

or with my chickens.

I’ve been buried in fabric and projects in my office. Trek clothes! I have sewn two skirts and two aprons, and altered three shirts for the two girls. All I have left to sew is the bloomers. I’m getting sick of it, I tell you. And BUYING all the stuff for trek has about broken the bank. Moleskin, bandaids, tin cups, socks, tick spray, sunscreen……

The chickens are always fun. If I open the back door, they hear that noise, they see me, and they come running. Especially if I am carrying the chicken bucket, where I keep all my scraps and food for them.

Now that we have the back yard fenced in, I let them roam through the yard for several hours each day. That way they can find more bugs and weeds to eat, and fertilize more of the yard than just their pen. We also have these mini chickens.
The small chickens stay in the old small coop inside of the run. That way they can be outside with the other chickens, but they are protected from the pecking and bullying that goes on with the bigger chickens.

I’m not sure how long I have to keep them separate, but for a while yet. The chicks are about two and a half months old now. They are getting pretty big, but not big enough to hold their own.

The kids like to take them all out and play with them.

So, yes, we are enjoying our summer break so far. How about you?

It’s Play Time

June 18, 2013 / Superpaige / 5 Comments

I began my approach to Ryan with “Now don’t freak out, but…” He quickly chastised me and said he never freaks out, but he WOULD be freaking out if I started a sentence like that again. I began again, “I know it’s crazy and I probably won’t make it, but…I want to try out for ‘The Scarlet Pimpernel’ at the Scera theater.” There, I had announced my intentions to the one I love, I HAD to do it.

When I went to the Scera to audition, I was scared spitless. Really. Who did I think I was auditioning for the Scera? This isn’t just our friendly neighborhood community theater. But I had said I would do it, so I signed up, went in there and sang my audition song. I was shaking with fear and relief when I came out of there. I had done pretty well, but I was still not sure. When the kids asked me where I had gone, I just said, “nowhere”.

Much to my surprise, I got an email inviting me to audition a few days later. I was to prepare to sing two pages of the song ‘Madame Guillotine’. So, I practiced, learned the words to the song, and tried to prepare myself to go to the call backs. There were singing and dancing call backs, and I was auditioning for a spot in the ensemble. I was again terrified, even MORE so than the regular audition. This time we had to sing that song in front of everyone else who was there auditioning, then we had to learn a dance and perform that in groups of 4 or 5. I really suck at dancing, and I felt SO OLD and FAT. Really. I was there with a bunch of 20 year old skinny girls who can sing up a storm, and who all seem to know each other from other plays they have done together. I felt about as out of place as I had at my first summer theater audition, back a few years ago. Somehow I made it through without tripping or falling flat on my face. One lady came up to me after the dance part (or should I say..pure torture), and said, “You’re doing a good job.” I just about cried. “Thank you so much”, I said, “I just feel really old.” She assured me that they need all ages for a play like this, and I should feel proud of myself. I asked if she was auditioning, and she said, no, she was here for her daughter for morale support, not to mention she was her ride. Thank you, unknown lady.

I went home sweaty and feeling conflicted. On the one hand I was proud of myself for doing such a hard thing, on the other hand, I wondered WHY I had put myself through that. The next Saturday they held the auditions for Peter Pan, which is at Alpine Community Theater. I hadn’t heard if I had made it into the Pimpernell thing, so I auditioned with Natalie for Peter Pan. I rocked that audition, I must say. I sang Madame Guillotine, which I had been practicing, and the dance for that audition was so much easier, and I didn’t have trouble with it. Maybe because I wasn’t nervous, I felt more like I was among friends.

I went home and opened my email and saw..
Dear Paige,

Thank you again for auditioning for The Scarlet Pimpernel at the SCERA.

We would be happy to have you in our cast & would like to offer you a role in the Female Ensemble.

Please respond to this email ASAP to accept the role.

Our first rehearsal will be on Monday June 17th at 7:00pm. We will be working through music and the costume designer will be there to take measurements! Please make every effort to be there! We will have the full rehearsal schedule made at that time.

I look forward to working with you!

Thank you!
What?! Wow! I had made it! But now I wanted to be in Peter Pan! But I had tried for the Scera because of the scheduling (they don’t perform on Wednesday nights, which is my bell rehearsal night, and they didn’t start rehearsal until mid June, so I could get through concert season and the end of the year stress of May), so I really had to go with that one, even though I kind of just wanted to ditch them and stick with Alpine Community Theater, where I have friends.

I had to tell the Alpine people that I couldn’t do their show, but they must not have gotten my message because I was called back and cast as a pirate, even though I didn’t go to the call backs. I hated having to tell them I couldn’t be in their show, especially after they cast Natalie in the show (she’s an Indian rhythm dancer).

So, Natalie will be in one play (PETER PAN!) and I will be in another play (THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL).

I went to my first rehearsal this week. We start with music rehearsals so we can learn all the songs. They actually gave us a lot of the music at a pre-rehearsal meeting a few weeks ago so we could look it over and start learning. Although I didn’t know anyone, it wasn’t totally uncomfortable. I recognized some of the people from auditions, and one sweet girl named Erica introduced herself to me (there are 3 Erica’s in the cast). There’s actually a guy I knew in college in the show. We went out a few times back in my sophomore year, but apparantly I wasn’t very memorable, because when I said, “I think I know you from BYU”, he didn’t remember me, but just said, “I thought you looked familiar. Were you in my voice class?” It was German, but that’s ok. I don’t expect everyone to have my stellar memory. (ahem–hopefully you realize I am joking, I can’t even remember what we had for dinner last night, but I didn’t go out with that many guys in college, so I do remember most of them).

I am only in the ensemble of this play, so I won’t be on stage a bunch, but it can’t be less than my two appearances, no lines in Cinderella a couple of years ago. I am excited to be a part of this show. There’s so much LESS time wasted without all those kids! And the quality of the voices! Wow! I’m already blown away. I can’t wait to hear the soloists sing, and see how it all comes together.

So, that’s what I’ll be doing for the next two months. And if you are in the area between August 2nd and the 17th, I hope you will stop in and see the show!

This week we…..

June 9, 2013 / Superpaige / 0 Comments

This week we gave our gifts to Larissa.

These shoes were a secret project for her, with a whole bunch of things we love about Larissa, or things we did together, or fun memories. It’s kind of like a scrapbook in a shoe.

I think she was surprised and really liked them.

We had also made a photo book of many pictures of the family and the activities we did this year. It’s hard to put all that we have done, and all that we feel into a book. But we tried.

They gave us a gift, too. Like our new cuckoo clock?

This week we played with our new chicks. Yes, we have some new chicks. We actually got them on the last or next to last day of school, and they were about 5 weeks old. So in only 4 1/2 months, they should be laying!

The small chickens have to stay separate from the bigger chickens, so we’ve put them in the old small a-frame coop. It’s not great, and it’s really falling apart, but it works for them right now.

They are already pretty big, but most of that is feathers and fluff, and they can pretty much squeeze through the opening in a chain link fence, and they run really fast, so we have to keep an eye on them.
The kids LOVE playing with them, and they need to be handled a lot so they get used to us, too.

Of course, in order to get new chickens, we have to thin the herd a little bit, and we took the two oldest chickens, who we KNOW are not laying any eggs, and delivered them to a guy who said he had just moved into a new place in Lehi and had a pasture and wanted some chickens to eat bugs. He didn’t care that they are a bit on the old side and not laying anymore. We put them each in a box and took them to Lehi to their new owner.

And don’t think we were too lonely with Larissa and Simone gone. Robin texted on Monday and wanted to know if I could go with her to get a pedicure. Of COURSE! I needed to get my feet ready for summer, but it’s really more fun to be pampered with a friend, so we went together. The next day she and Sarah came over, and Sarah stayed to entertain the troops. They started with some Koolaid dieing of the hair. I did not participate this time around, but John even got into the fun.

Don’t forget the baseball. As stated in a previous post, it was tournament week for John, and how wonderful for him that his team made it to the final, and even won that game.

I have been working on sewing and otherwise acquiring trek clothes for my two girls who will be going on trek. This week I bought the special tick spray, some spf 45 lip balm, and sewed up two skirts and one apron. I found this shirt at a garage sale on Friday, and said, “Wouldn’t that make the cutest trek shirt?” and the lady said, that’s why I made it, for my daughter to wear to trek. Natalie saw it and said, “it’s a cow shirt.” I KNOW! Isn’t it GREAT!? I don’t know if she likes it or not, but if she doesn’t go for it, Megan will probably take it as one of hers.

We haven’t heard from Cole except for that quick phone call on Tuesday, but I pretty much expected not to hear anything until his p-day on Monday. Crossing my fingers that we will get an email on Monday.

Saturday was a day of work. Yard work, washing the cars, and here’s Ryan adjusting the lights on the outside of the house. He even put up speakers outside for our summer party season. I went over to the community theater for a work day. All the parents are required to put in at least two work days, where you work on sets, costumes, or whatever. This time we were moving set pieces and wood from two different storage facilities, and taking them over to the junior high. Then we painted a bunch of “walls” with white primer so they can make them into something else. I would really paint sets again, if they need me to.

Saturday night, our friends Tess and David had invited us to see Ragtime at the Hale Center Theater.

Can you believe this was my first time at the Hale Center Theater? Really. It’s amazing what they do with that small stage. It was a POWERFUL performance with AMAZING singers. Usually there are a couple of powerhouse voices and then one or two that aren’t quite as good. Not so with this show. Such a talented cast.
You can read about it here. It was so nice to get out with friends, and we are so grateful they invited us. Who should I see in the lobby buy my Aunt and Uncle! It was nice to chat with them for a few minutes, too.

Sunday John gave a talk in Primary, and while I was in there, the primary president pulled me aside and told me they were thinking of making a change. I won’t say until it’s official, but it looks like I will be leaving my little friends in the nursery. Ryan will stay there (as least as far as I know), but I’m ok to make a change. I have missed going to Relief Society, and seeing other people in the ward, not just the ones that have nursery aged children.

Yep, it’s been a good week.

Category: summer fun (Page 2 of 7)

Chinese girls

Trying to avoid the Guillotine, night after night.

Slow down, summer!

Peter Pan

Why are you …so…old?

TREK

Something about why do I even try…

Happenings in the House

It’s Play Time

This week we…..

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