My Advice...

...GO SEE DEAR EDWINA! It could very easily be my favorite show I have seen since living here. Those kids were ah-mazing and oh so cute. There was one little boy that I could have taken home with me, oh, and I almost did when I was herding my own kids out the door I mistook him for one of mine...he looked at me and I turned my herding to a pat on the back. Nice cover, creepy lady trying to take other kids home with you! My kids LOVED it, even Colt sat and watched and clapped at all the right spots. I think I might have to learn some of those "advice" songs so that I can sing them most annoyingly to my kids when they need it. Seriously, you must come/go see it!

Spent The Night With Pirates...

...and had myself a pretty good laugh. OVAC (Oakley Valley Arts Council for you non-locals) put on the production of The Pirates of Penzance and I have to say if any of you ever get the chance to see this play you should. It is a great show (or at least ours was-maybe you all wont be as lucky). For about 2 seconds I missed being in a play, but then remembered all the time it took to get ready for one and the fact that my baby is only 6 (almost) weeks old and then I just enjoyed watching it.

Don't forget to set your clocks forward...I am off to bed so I don't loose an hour.

Oh and PS Colt slept for SEVEN hours last night...wahooo...of course these hours started at 8:00 so I didn't get to take full advantage of them going to bed at 10:30 like I did, but still YAY for him!

The Painful Transformation...

...of a city raised country girl turned saloon dancer is tonight's topic and I know you all are just thrilled. Sorry for those of you that have already seen it! I am so happy you all came to the show, but for those of you that have missed out on seeing the play I thought I would at least share my transformation. Start time is 4:00 with a shower, blow dry, and then over 80 curls (I lost count but there is at least 80) and the make up. End time 6:30 with barely enough time to throw some food down to the belly before I finish the lipstick. So 2.5 hours of prep for a 2 hour and 20 min. show...wow is it worth it?! It has been LOTS of fun and the cast and crew are great, the crowds have mostly been WONDERFUL, and the play is just down right a good laugh so yeah I guess it has been worth it but if/when I am in another play and if we have to do ringlets I am going for a wig!

Tonight make up became 10x's more painful as you might notice in the before picture I am sporting the second trimester cold sores. I am very thankful they have held off this long, but 2 more nights would have been better!




You like my dead ends and blond tips? They are being cut off as soon as I have a second to get my friend to do it for me...hint hint...I am just going to show up one of these days!

So tomorrow is the final performance and I will be happy to have my evenings back, but at the same time I will miss the hanging out and meeting new friends.

Il Libro è Finito...

...el libro es terminado...le livre est fini...Das Buch ist beendet...книга закончена...βιβλιάριο τελικών...and a 100 other ways to say it, including THE BOOK IS FINISHED so why don't I feel that sigh of relief yet? I keep waiting and it is coming I know that it is. Maybe it will be once we get them all back from the printer.
(10 points for who ever can name all the languages without looking them up)
Opening night was also tonight and it was our best performance yet. Those of you coming to see it are in for a GREAT treat!

Well it has been another busy boring day so I am going to bed and hopefully I will get to have some fun with the kiddies tomorrow...at least make it to the pool.

Sneak Peek...

...into Paint Your Wagon...this is a behind the scenes look into who we really are...a bunch of crazies, but it was great fun even if it wasn't perfect...tomorrow's show will be!

I put Greg in charge of documenting the play for us since tonight is the only night they allow cameras and from what I can see on the LCD screen they look pretty good. He took over 200 pictures so it might take me a day or two to get through them all and then I will post them all of facebook for those that have an account there and for those of you that don't ask and I will show them to you some other way.

I reserved some tickets today but if you haven't told me for sure I haven't reserved them so let me know or you can call 208-677-ARTS and reserve them yourself.

I Knew I Shouldn't Have Made a Plan...

...it never fails that something keeps me from doing what I want. Today it was the fact that I did not feel well most of the day (I am feeling much better now, thanks for the concern). I did grab the camera for a second though cause the kids AGAIN were playing school...I really don't think I can do their cuteness justice with words (or pictures for that matter). They even do their "homework" and have recess and Skye has to have a "nisol" (aka pencil) too and they write in their notebooks-do you love that Jacey has the trucks and tractor one and Dax has the fairy one? I love it, and I love that they are playing so well together lately (especially on a morning I don't feel good).




Oh and I promise that Skye does have clothes...although it may not seem like it

As a recap to all my projects...
Paint Your Wagon starts Wednesday (family-if any family wants to come watch it is free this night) and then regular performances start on THURSDAY...the program is complete (and I have to say it look GREAT) other than we need to change the stage manager to me...yeah if the scene doesn't have all it's props set up, or if the lights come on too early/late that is my fault. I do get to boss people around though so that is always fun.

The rodeo book is in the final CRUNCH it has to be to the printers Monday and as I am blogging Kaydee and I are getting emails with more work to do...talk about people waiting until the last minute (and it isn't our fault). So this weekend if you see us and we have computers attached to our arms that is why...I think we have pretty much decided that sleep is not going to happen until Monday night. It will be nice to get that project to the printers and be able to sit back and enjoy being in the play. There is a light at the end of the tunnel and we can almost see it!!!

My PlayHouse Buddies...

...since I spend so much time with them throughout the week (3 hours 4 days a week) I thought I better document them here in the blog so I can remember them once life moves on from the play...you know how that happens. We are having a blast and it has been great to meet new people and get to know these great characters! There are more people from Burley in this play than Oakley so most of these guys I had never even seen before.

The play is coming along wonderfully and is a very fun play...I encourage you all to let me know what night you want tickets so I can reserve them for you...seats are going fast! I was talking with the ticket lady tonight and she was saying that the 25th is almost sold out already so if you want that date for SURE let me know ASAP.

Anyways here is the cast...my playhouse buddies...
The awesome directors...Kent Severe and Amylee Stratton

"Ben Rumson"
Jennifer and Julio (they are married in real life and fall in love in the play...so cute...oh and she looks quite a bit different IRL-I almost didn't recognize her in costume)
The polygamists my favorite line is "Brigham Young had 27 wives and I wager he didn't have half the trouble I have with you two" and "Your as useless as a milk can in a bullpen"
The studly (yet often lonely) miners
The vivacious Fandangos
About 1/4 of the crew that put the stage together and make us all look good up on stage.
This really has been a good opportunity for me. Totally out of my normal comfort zone, and I am not sure if I will do another one yet but it has been good to stretch my wings and try something new.

ps) so I just woke up and had a crazy dream that someone got a hold of our program that Kaydee and I worked so many hours on and changed it to be quite harrassing...now I am worried to get them back from the printers.

WHELP I am IN...

...I was cast in "Paint Your Wagon" you may now call me Fandango Mary. Mark your calendars for the life altering (yours and mine) performance it will run July 16th-August 1st. I am excited! I was telling Greg about it and after a couple of min. he turned to me and asked so what exactly does a "Flamingo Girl" do? Are you going to be like the "Flamingo Girls" in Vegas...first off honey how do YOU know about flamingo girls in Vegas and second I am NOT a flamingo girl...it was kinda funny...maybe you had to be there though. We had our first rehearsal tonight which I had to miss, but it is okay because I got to spend the night with some awesome students finishing up our photography class. I had a BLAST teaching it and hope that they learned a little bit more about their cameras and how to use them to create the images they want. I loved it so much I am already planning the Fall class.

UUURRRCH...changing gears (like my brakes) I am not sure we will survive this summer unless I put my kids in a bubble. First Dax tripped in the front room and got a nice little gash in his thigh from the rocks. Greg lovingly bandaged that up only for Jacey to run into a tree a few min. later and poke/scratch her eye lid. I will have to get some pictures tomorrow. All I can say is it is a DANG good thing she has eye lids and that she blinked at that exact moment or otherwise it could have been a LOT worse. It was pretty swollen tonight and we will watch it, but I am pretty sure it is mostly just a scratch on her eye. Skye is a walking head bump. She is at that (not so) perfect height where every corner is right at head level. She bumps it at least once on the fire place and the microwave and the table and the chairs...

AHHH I will be prayin' that we make it safely through the summer...oh yeah did I mention that today marks the first official day of Summer Vacation. Yesterday doesn't count since they would have had it off anyways. YAY! Lots going on this summer...we will by BUSY, but busy is good!

I Did IT...

...I got up on stage in front of people and sang a solo and my throat tightened up and my voice shook like there was an earthquake, BUT I did it. I auditioned for the play Paint Your Wagon that will run Mid July-Early August. I wont know if I got in until later next week, but you can bet that I will blog about it either way. I am glad I did it and that I have a friend to do it with me.

So how 'bout a bit of happiness for today. It rained and it poured and most days I would have stayed inside my little house bundled under a blankey, but instead we hung out at the park and helped with a birthday party. Had tons of fun and right as I was walking out the door to go audition this is what I saw...I love rainbows. Every time I see one it reminds me of Gods love and it always reminds me of that song from my childhood "I'll Build You A Rainbow" and it reminds me that life continues after death.

A Mother's Review...

...so tonight was Family Night at the playhouse and I have to give a huge shout out to all those cute little orphans (although I don't think a single one of them have ever come to my blog) they did such a WONDERFUL job and anyone considering going to see the play MUST do it just to see these cute (albeit a bit messy) orphans...you will want to take every single one of them home with you. It just goes to show what a LOT of hard work can do.

The rest of the play was very fun to watch too. Little "Oliver" amazes me. I know I could never do what he is doing. That kid has talent. I really enjoyed Fagin's Den (even with the hip popper-that's for you Wendy weren't you the choreographer? just kidding I am not sure that could be helped) and Nancy was GREAT! I do have to say that there were a few scenes that I wish the stage lights had been up a little higher...it is hard to get a good picture when there is hardly any light up there...sheesh...it would be nice if they would take into consideration those of us that sneak our camera's in. The directors have been very fun and easy to work with through this play-although I was not in the play I was at every one of Jacey's rehearsals and they had great patience. Oh and did I mention the choreographer of the dances? She was brilliant and they all looked great up there.

Okay now that I have turned this post into an Academy Awards speech I do have to say this play has been a great experience for Jacey and if we can make it through the next few weeks of late night performances I think another play might be in her future she has had a lot of fun with it!

So as I mentioned I snuck my camera in (although I did have permission and it was only Family Night) and have LOTS and LOTS of pictures if you want to see them let me know as I only feel comfortable putting Jacey's pictures (okay and maybe a couple others) up on my blog.

Jacey Gets To Be An Orphan...

...We got the call tonight letting us know that they want her to be one of the orphans and her response was
"Do I get to wear orphan clothes?"
"Yes, Jace you do!"
"Cool"


I will be sure to let you all know when the play is so you can come see her in her first pre-Broadway play :)

Jacey Wants To Be An Orphan...

...and so she braved an audition at the Opera House today for the play Oliver. If you know Jacey you know that she has always been very shy and unsure of herself. When she was little she would break out into tears anytime someone laughed because she was sure they were laughing at her. She is my soft spoken little girl (unless she is at home and surrounded by people she knows and then she cannot be considered soft spoken) and getting her to talk to people she doesn't know is always a challenge.

She has also always been very talented and we would try to encourage her to share her talents with others and her response has always been a resounding NO, so imagine my surprise when on Friday after school I asked her if she wanted to try out and she said YES. The only thing was that the auditions were Saturday morning. She practiced yesterday with her friends and seemed sure that she wanted to do it. I kept waiting for her to say never mind, but that never came. As I was laying in bed last night I was thinking maybe I wouldn't traumatize her with an audition with so little time to prepare and by the time I had fallen asleep I was sure that I would wake up this morning and back out for her and let her try out when she had more than a few hours to prepare. What can I say I am a chicken!

Well this morning I woke up to the sound of Jacey singing...what a cute little voice she has...I laid in bed and listened to her run through her audition song 3 times. I was amazed at her determination to try out today Saturday mornings she is usually the first one up and on the computer playing games, but this morning she practiced instead.

So despite my nerves Jacey auditioned and as her mother I am SO PROUD of her. She did it. We will not know if she made it for a couple of weeks, but honestly I think the biggest/best step occurred today. She did it-she stood up on a strange stage in front of people she has only ever seen in their professions and sang and answered their questions. A HUGE thank you to Quincey and Gracie for being there with her.

After she auditioned I really wanted to get her singing so you could all see so before we went to get her treat she agreed to letting us record her...by the second verse she was done, but agreed to finish with me singing with her so I apologize in advance that you have to hear and see that part, but just focus on her.

(Not sure why the videos always do this.)