Scrooge--A Christmas Carol

This is probably the easiest way for me to let everyone know the girls' schedule for their play. They are in it every night, but only have speaking parts in the Ivy cast. Abby plays Fanny, who is Young Ebenezer's sister, and Phoebe plays Sarah Cratchitt, sister to Tiny Tim. All shows begin at 7:30 and run for about 2 hours. You can find more information by clicking here.

IVY CAST: Thurs. Dec. 10; Sat. Dec. 12; Tues. Dec. 15; Fri. Dec. 18; Mon. Dec. 21 and Wed. Dec. 23. (Closing)

HOLLY CAST: Fri. Dec. 11; Mon. Dec. 14; Wed. Dec. 16; Thurs. Dec. 17; Sat Dec. 19 and Tues. Dec. 22.

'tis the season...

Don't you just love the Christmas season? We kicked it off on Saturday by shopping for Christmas dresses, going to the Nutcracker ( a long-standing Christmas tradition with my mom and sisters) and then watching Abby and Phoebe on their opening night in Scrooge--a Christmas Carol. It was quite the marathon day.

On Sunday we sat down as a family to talk about the fun things we wanted to do this month. We had lots of ideas, and we can't wait to do it ALL...we also drew names within our family. After much excitement, and explaining, and discussion, (Will: I'm going to use my own money. I have 317 dollars. Lucy: Will, I want stuff for my rose petal cottage. etc...etc...) Phoebe wrote the names down, Lucy cut them apart and Will got a box to draw out of. Abby drew first, and then promptly said "can I trade? I want to pick again..." (Phoebe let her know that was RUDE) Lucy was next...you should have seen her scowl after she saw who she drew. THEN we had to have a vote to decide whether we should keep it a secret or not. We will be keeping it a secret from each other. 4 to 2. Abby was one of the 4, but after I announced the results, she said "Wait, what was the vote?" She wanted to change hers. Will then said "Abby, what do you want for Christmas?" Lucy said (with that scowl still on her face) "I want to pick again. Dad is NOT fun to get anything for. There is nothing fun for grownups..."

Ahhh....the fun has just begun...

Happy Halloween?

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grand teton national park

We recently took a camping trip to our favorite spot in the world...Grand Teton National Park.  I thought I'd share a few highlights, and pictures.  I have been made aware that it is no longer possible to enlarge photos that I upload by clicking on them for some reason. I apologize, it must be my new computer. I'll upload them in Large format this time, hopefully that will be a little better.We left for our trip on Thursday.  We wanted to leave at 10.  We finally left at 12.  We crossed the Idaho border, and shortly thereafter blew a tire on our tent trailer.  Luckily we were about a mile from a rest stop. (At this point I need to share a bit of traveling advice: rest stops are nice to stop at.  Don't think of the rest stops of 15 years ago, today's rest stops are the best places to stop while traveling.)  SO, Brandon dropped me, the kids and our lunch off at the rest stop while he took care of the tire.  In about an hour he returned for us, and we were back on the road.  I didn't take any pictures that day, but took plenty on the other days.  I am posting so many that I decided to let the pictures do most of the talking.  Here's what we did for the rest of the trip:skipped stones in String Lake.

Odie held his shorts up so they wouldn't get wet.

Brandon lost the lens to his favorite sunglasses.

I think String Lake was Lucy's favorite part of the trip.

Odie got a dirty face.

Brandon made the old standby, dutch oven Lasagna.  He is a dutch oven master.

enjoyed the view from atop Signal Mountain.

Saw TONS of wild flowers.  This silver Lupine was everywhere. It was my favorite.

We had never been to Mormon Row before.  Angie b, I was wishing you were here, SO many beautiful old barns, fences, houses, etc.  You HAVE to go there.  

saw buffalo.  I get nervous about being this close to the wildlife.

saw stink pots.  Odie got out of the van at one and said "Mom, I 'tinky"...he thought he had a poopy diaper!

waited for Old Faithful.

saw some beautiful pools.

ate dutch oven Mississippi Mud Cake for my birthday.  (I told you Brandon was a master)

made "kick-the-can" ice cream (also for my b-day)

Phoebe made Coconutty Curry Chicken with couscous and veggies foil dinners. Yum!

A view of Mt. Owen from Jenny Lake.

 

took a boat ride across Jenny Lake.

 One night in the trailer I had this conversation with Odie (who didn't want to go to sleep):

Odie:  Mom, where are we?

Me:  in the trailer

Odie:  No, we're on our trip.  It's a hiking one.

me:  ok

Odie:  Mom, where are we?

me: on our trip

Odie: oh we are?

me: yep

Odie:  Mom, where are we?

me:  at the grand tetons

Odie: Oh, the grand tetons?  I knowed that word!

me:  yep

Odie:  Dad, did you get in the "hower"?

Brandon: (he was half asleep)  mmmhmmm.

Odie:  Oh, did you 'wallow a bug like mom did?

Brandon:  nope

Odie: Mom, did you have a bug in you froat?

me:  ya.

Odie: ooooo,  yucky, huh mom.  Mom, where are we?

me: Go to sleep, Odie.  

He was so cute.  It was crazy to think that Lucy was his age when we went there last time, and that he will be so much bigger when we go again.  

I promise I didn't upload every single picture I took on the trip.  I was cracking myself up as I kept adding more and more to the post.  I thought about breaking it up into a few different posts, but I knew I probably wouldn't ever get to doing more than just one.  So enjoy...

ragnar

My running obsessed husband did a crazy run last weekend.  The Wasatch Back Ragnar is a relay that runs from Logan to Park City.  There are 12 members to a team, someone is running at all times.  Brandon's van of  6 team members started at 11 a.m. Friday morning, then rested for a couple of hours, and his next run was at about 3 a.m. then again at about 1 on saturday afternoon. Needless to say, he had a blast.  The only pictures I got were a couple from the "team party" the night before.  Cody and Josh had this amazing spray paint stencil tattoo thing all worked up, and before the night was over they had made very good use of it.  We felt a little white-trashy spray painting fake tattoos on our sons, but it was all in good fun. 

 Luckily I was able to get some other pictures from one of Brandon's team mates.  See him way up there running along?

 Brandon loved it and can't wait to do it again, but he said it was harder than the marathon he did last month.  I think he's crazy!

Happy 13th birthday, Abby girl!

If I don't post now about Ab's birthday, I may never get to it.  I cannot believe she is a teenager! (neither can she...)  and her 7th grade year is practically over, on to eighth.  Wow.  This time of year is so busy that we didn't really do anything extremely exciting, she had school and dance that day, but we managed to squeeze in dinner at Noodles & Co.  and had a birthday cake around bedtime.  

With help from my mom, I made her a t-shirt quilt this year with all of the shirts from her "childhood"...she was surprised, and loved it.  

   I'm so thankful for Abby, and the joy that she is. 

 She is a fun girl, and I love that she is so comfortable to just be herself.  I had big plans for a birthday post for her, but this will have to do for now...

ballet bun

I've had a few people ask me how to do ballet buns.  I decided a blog post would be the easiest starting point to show you. First of all, I'm afraid this is going to be a little wordy.  I'll try to keep it simple.  And Jeni, you know how Jason and you are about your yard and vehicles? I'm that way about my girl's hair...so hopefully you can just take what you need.  Also, please excuse Phoebe's puffy eyes, I took these on Sunday, after a long day Saturday and early church sunday morning.

In the hair world, please remember that there are many different types of hair, head shapes, hair lines, etc, so what works for me and my girls may not work for you.  I'll try to give a few different options so you can use what you like.  And I have had absolutely no professional hair training.  Unless you count barbies when I was 10, and my 3 daughters, who have been my guinea pigs since birth.

Now on with the lesson.

The first thing to decide is how you want to pull the hair back.  Phoebe has a low hairline, and her hair looks better parted to the side rather than pulled straight back.  Plus I like the sleek look for ballet, so I do "barbie bangs" on her.  If you've ever noticed how most barbies come, they have this little trick done on their hair.  It also works better because I like ballet buns to be a bit higher than regular ponies or buns that I do.

so first:  Barbie Bangs

Part the hair on the side, I like to go even further to the side than usual.  

Next, section off a "bang width" portion of hair, and smooth it over to the side.  I am not a product guru,  but use what you like to keep it sleek.  I work with a squirt bottle instead of fresh from the bath soaking wet hair, but I do keep it fairly wet.  Anyway, comb that piece over and do the same on the other side.  

Then you are going to pull those sections back and secure them at the nape of the neck with a baby elastic under the rest of the hair.  

Now, you don't have to do those, just pull the hair back to a pony however you choose.  If you did the barbie bangs, join that little pony up with the rest in a big, kind of high pony.  Not on top of the head, just at the top of the back of the head.  That's where I like it, anyways.

From here there are a few different options, too.  You can braid, which is probably the easiest, or I like to corkscrew.  I've found that braided or corkscrewed buns stay better for Phoebe's long hair, and look sleeker for ballet, too.

Corkscrew is my favorite, I like the way it looks.

To do a basic corkscrew braid, you use 2 sections of hair.  Get them fairly wet to prevent flyaways.  

Now you are going to twist the 2 sections clockwise while you twist them together in the opposite direction. 

 Keep it as tight and smooth as you can, and go as far down as you can.  secure it with a clear baby elastic. 

 Phoebe's usually loosen up just a bit after I let go of them, that's ok.  

then wrap it around the pony, and bobby pin like crazy.

 

 I also hairspray it like crazy...after all, it has to survive through 4 costume changes! 

Braided buns are the same, but with a braid instead.  It works just as well, but looks a little different.

Isn't this a beautiful costume? I love the pink and red.

I hope this made sense!  Let me know if it didn't, I'll try to improve it.

recently overheard...

Will: (to Lucy as she slathers her waffle with butter)  Lucy, a little bit of butter soaks in a lot, and butter is not that good for you.

Lucy:  ask mom.

Will: Lucy, ask my teacher.  She knows more than mom.

Lucy: (with horribly sassy look on her face) Oh, you mean miss Goede?

Will: Lucy, you have huge gaps between your teeth.

Now imagine the above with Will having a sleepy but superior tone to his voice, and Lucy with some major eye rolling going on...

See what I mean? Naughty.

queenie!!!

I don't have anything warm and fuzzy to blog about lately.  My kids are naughty, I'm a slave to my calendar, my bangs are driving me crazy, and I'm tired of eating at least 5 servings of fruits and veggies a day.  Why can't it be at least five of chocolate...or I'd even be ok with 5 of white flour...

SO--where do I turn when I've nothing to post? Why youtube, of course!  I know this is a really low quality clip, the girl just aimed her video camera at the tv set, but it's the best I could find of this particular part of the movie Crooklyn.  One of my FAVES!  This is mostly for my mom and shaury. We have been quoting this part for 15 years, now...

p.s. does anyone remember the name of the 1980's aerobics show that had 3 ladies that demonstrated high, low and medium impact, and then rotated every 10 minutes or so? One of the ladies had really long hair? I set out looking for that on youtube, but wound up with Crooklyn instead...

all good things must end...

We had so much fun going to the Music Man every weekend for the past 3 months. With opening night in February, and the Finale in April, it was a really long run. Phoebe was double cast as Amaryllis, so she was in every other show. It ran on Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays. SUCH a talented cast! Marian was beautiful and had a flawless voice, Harold's voice was also amazing, and all the other main characters were very talented as well. My personal favorite was Zaneeta. She was adorable! And cute little Bryce who played Winthrop, he was too cute. In fact, he ended up having a little crush on Phoebe. He left love notes for her, and candy hearts in her coat pocket, and was always telling everyone that he liked her. The best part is, he takes dance from the same teacher as Phoebe does, so we haven't seen the last of him. His sister is in Phoebe's dance class, and he comes to watch sometimes. Of course, Phoebe couldn't be more embarrassed by it all, but that just makes it funnier...(Winthrop and Amaryllis)

I am so proud of my little Phoebe. This is the girl who would not go ANYWHERE without me for 8 years! She would cling to me like no other. Never going to nursery, struggling with preschool, making me stay at dance with her, and very nervous about soccer and softball without mommy nearby. My friend Michele, who is in a lot of productions herself, wanted Phoebe to audition with her son for Joseph and the amazing technicolor dreamcoat the summer before 1st grade. With me by her side for the audition, she got a role in the children's chorus. She has been hooked ever since. Last Christmas she was Little Miss Muffet in Babes in Toyland (Also with Michele and Zach) But those were both at the theater in Brigham. This was her first time at the terrace playhouse, and without Michele. She was wonderful, and made some really fun friends. All of my other kids love to go see her, and each of them have their favorite songs, parts and characters in whatever show she is in.


"Amaryllith, Amaryllith, how sweet..."

Wells Fargo Wagon

It has been such a great experience for Phoebe and our family. We can't wait to see what she will do next!

the week in pictures part I

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY