In Other News

Other random happenings from the month of March, in no particular order....

Here is a very proud Emma. She is very proud because there she is, holding her violin, which she just finished practicing for the 50th day in a row. Way back at the end of January, she decided to surprise her violin teacher with a weekly practice chart filled up perfectly on all seven days. She got such a kick out of it that she decided to do it for a second week in a row, and then a third. Pretty soon she had set a goal of practicing for 100 days in a row. Here she is, half way, and still going strong. It's actually been totally amazing. This kid does not complain about practicing. It's so incredible. And her violin playing has really improved as she has worked on this. I'm super proud of her and am thinking up what to do to celebrate when she hits day 100. (And then figure out how to motivate her to keep up the 7-day-a-week practices.) 

I'm not sure when this happened - probably the first day or two of spring break. I told the kids I'd take them to Twin Suns, the Star Wars-themed cafe owned by a friend, the step-dad of a gal Romney went through all of elementary school with. I went there last year for my birthday. What a great place. The kids loved their food and were thoroughly entertained by the decor. Go check it out, it's awesome. By the way, we totally shocked the waitress with how much food we are capable of consuming.

On a very sad note, we lost a beloved pet, Aragog the spider. We are not sure what happened. I think we had him for 2 1/2 years! I can't believe that. It was hard to know if he was eating or not, healthy or not, since he hunted for his prey at night and he didn't eat (or move) very often. We think he lost a leg during his last molt, and perhaps that was what made him sick. Poor Chase. He's had his share of pet burials in the past year. And the animals he adores tend to be slightly more delicate and hard to care for than the pets most people choose. We will consider another spider, but will aim for a desert dweller and not a tropical variety. I'm actually quite sad. Even though I could never bring myself to touch it, I sure got a kick out of telling people that we had a pet spider, and Aragog was super fascinating to watch.

One afternoon, the first Friday of spring break I think, I took Emma and a friend to the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers museum up on capitol hill. I had never been to this museum and really really wanted to go. I have many ancestors who were Mormon Pioneers, and I felt sure I'd feel a great connection to my heritage there, and see displays bearing the names of my ancestors. Well, it was a pretty dang amazing place, but it was also just kind of weird. Man is there a LOT OF STUFF in there. Though I did not see many names that I'm connected to, I did see a lot of strange things like art made out of hair and weird dolls and all sorts of stuff. It's actually quite an impressive place, but not what I thought it would be like at all. Still, I'm glad I went. Well, I was glad, that is, until I came across the creepiest mannequin ever!

Yes, we all screamed when we saw it.

Also of note is the fact that my sister has finally pulled up the last of her SLC roots. She sold her home this month and it was a lot of work for her, her daughters and some for me as well. It sold immediately which was awesome for her. Helping her go through it and get it ready was really hard and I know it especially was on her daughters. I think MG especially had a very long hard cry over the separation from that house. It was time, it was a good thing, but some times good things can sting quite a bit.

Also, in our on-going quest to see musical theater, the girls and I made a trek to Bountiful to once again see the majestic Paige sing the role of Fiona in her school's production of Shrek. It was really fun! I know jr. highs are not exactly Broadway, but really, this group did a great job and we so enjoyed seeing the show. Paige has a magnificent voice and I look forward to seeing her in many future productions.

Also, Romney survived her 8th grade spirit week. We had a lot of fun putting together costumes to go along with the daily themes such as Hawaiian day and Classy Day. Troy very generously drove her around for about 2 hours trying to find John Lennon style sunglasses for Retro Day and it turns out they were impossible to find, but we already had these aviators. Sorry about those two hours, but I know Romney had a great time with her dad and has proof of how much he loves her, because he drove her to every sunglasses-selling establishment in a ten mile radius. 

In another theater adventure, the girls and I went to see The Fantasticks. It was put on in a very small black box theater way out in South Jordan, right by my sister-in-law Kathleen. She and her daughter Lucy joined us. Lucy loves being in plays and I know they enjoy the theater. They had not heard of The Fantasticks. Emma hadn't seen it either, though Romney and I had, about 2 years ago I think. This was a wonderful production. It's such a small show, only 8 characters or so, and just a lady and a piano playing all the music. I have said before that I think this is my mom's official favorite musical. I love it so much too, and these young actors were just wonderful. We sad on the front row and the cast interacted with us a bit. It was absolutely delightful.

There you go! There's a whole bunch of fun great stuff that got us through March.

THE Beard and its Subsequent Birthday Demise

I know that once again I have not been a super-blogger. However, you may have noticed over the past few months of scanty posts that my husband has been working very diligently on growing a beard. He started it back in the fall, around November maybe. By December and January it had gotten quite full. By March...well, it was a creature unto itself. Troy is a master beard-grower. We were all very impressed and I had fun trying to locate his lips in there when trying to give him a kiss.

Finally on March 3rd, Troy's birthday, he decided it was time to let it go. Since it was his birthday, we were having a couple of friends over for dinner and cake. One of the friends coming, Bob, happens to be a master of facial hair himself and is always sporting some type of mustache or lamb chops or some such thing. Troy decided it would be awesome to remove his beard one little section at a time in order to provide additional entertainment for the night.

We were all very entertained.

Phase One:

This is Bob. He approved of Phase One.

Phase Two:

And...Phase Three: 

And look! It's my husband! He was under there after all!

Beard or no beard, I sure do love this man. I was so happy to celebrate the launch of his 50th year on this earth. Sunday birthdays are hard, but I think we did well. We spent the afternoon watching one of Troy's favorite movies, October Skies. This is a truly great film. He's always wanted the kids to see it and I knew they would love it if we could get them to commit to sitting down and actually watching it, free from other screens or distractions. The incentive that this was all dad wanted for his birthday was enough to get all three of them to cheerfully agree and before they knew it, they were totally into the movie. I haven't watched it for years. It holds up. What a great movie that is. 

Also let it be known that it was on this date that we discovered a truly delicious recipe for chocolate cake. Emma has been following a baker on YouTube for years - she has a channel called Nerdy Nummies and bakes a lot of pop-culture themed food. We enjoy watching her put together her creations, and even purchased a couple of her cookbooks, but to be honest, I've never followed any of her recipes. Well, we tried her chocolate cake. And guess what. It is absolutely delicious. Great birthday cake. I can't figure out why I don't have a photo of the cake! It wasn't anything special, just baked in a 9x13 pan with no special decorations but it sure was good. 

We love Bob and his wife Tawnee and their cute little wild 18 month old kiddo. I wish everyone could have neighbors as wonderful to them as this family is to us. 

So yes, we had a really fun and memorable celebration for Troy. Troy, we adore you. Thank you for being the daddy of this house and home. You bless our lives.

Surviving Winter/Take Me BACK to St. George

I had only been back from my lovely girls trip to St. George when I found myself headed right back there. And I wasn't sorry about it. It wasn't quite as warm and sunny as we were hoping, but it was a lovely weekend.

We chose to zip down south the weekend we did because A: it was NOT President's Day Weekend, a date we will probably avoid forever due to the hoards and hoards of people who go there the same time. And, B: our niece Siena was in a production of The King and I. This is another of the musicals that I grew up on, thanks to my dear theater-loving mother. I'm sure anyone who knows me has wondered just how many musicals my mother raised me on, just how many times will I say, "Oh this is one of my favorites!" Well, the number is too high to count. I think my mom was actually IN a production of The King and I in high school and so she has a special place for it in her heart. I remember listening to the music a lot, but you know what's funny? I really haven't seen it in years and years and watching this sweet little production of it made me realize just how much of the story went over my head as a kid. It was so much fun to watch it and understand all the messages and the tensions and stuff. Run, Eliza! That song used to freak me out and I had no idea what it meant. Now that I'm in my 40s, I get it.

That was Saturday night - but Saturday during the day we took a wonderful morning jaunt to Zion National Park. This was partly because Troy and I have just felt like when we go to St. George we need to spend more time in Zion. It's such an amazing place and we want our kids to experience and love it like we do, especially Troy. Also, my brother Peter was running a half marathon that morning that ended just outside the park entrance. Man was it chilly! As we were driving along, keeping an eye on the thermometer reading in the car, we couldn't help but feel really bad for all the runners. It was absolutely frigid!! I mean like in the teens or something. So cold.

Once the race was over and we collected a tired and sweaty Peter we caught a tram and headed up the canyon to just do a little walking. Truth be told we weren't too excited that it was snowy there. I mean, isn't snow what we are trying to escape in February? But the crisp white snow resting on all the red rock was quite an amazing sight. What a glorious place! I don't even remember the name of the trail that we walked but I do remember being surprised at how cheerful everyone was to spend time in the park despite the snow. We loved walking and gazing up at the rocky heights. We definitely need to get back there again soon.

After hiking came a lovely lovely lunch at a café. It was just warm enough for us to sit outside in the sunshine. Of course there were heaters near by so we cheated a little but the sun, oh the glorious sun.

Then we went home to rest and play before Siena's production. This theater that Peter works for and Siena sometimes performs is very small - it's an old opera hall or something - and the floor where the seats used to be has been transformed into the stage, set up in-the-round, and the old stage, the actual elevated stage at one end, has been transformed into the space for all the technical workings like the sound and lights and things. It's very personal - there are only about 5 rows of seats so no matter where you sit you are up close and personal. The King and Anna were both just wonderful actors and singers and we all enjoyed it a lot. That means that Chase tolerated it with little complaining which is a big deal when it comes to musicals. There were a few moments when this "up close and personal" staging meant that we were all plugging our ears a bit - those Thai gong things are LOUD especially when they are being hammered right next to you. But the production was so well done and such a treat. Yay Siena for getting involved. We are proud of you! I wonder what show she'll take part in next.

If Emma looks teary in the shot above, it's because she takes after her mother and is a social crier. We attended the show on its last night and many of the cast members were shedding tears. Social criers see those tear and immediately spout tears of our own. Can't help it.