Summer Starts Up

Here are some of the events that got our summer rolling:

Just because school ended didn't mean it suddenly got all warm and toasty outside. We had several days that were very cool and rainy. And on just such a night Emma and I were lucky enough to get a pair of tickets from a friend to go see a concert at Red Butte Gardens. It was right up our alley - the cast of this summer's production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City came to sing through the entire show. No costumes or sets, just mikes up front for the actors to come sing. We love that musical so much.

It was a soggy evening to say the least! We really bundled up and brought some rain gear and had an absolutely delightful time listening to the music and doing our best to not burst out in singing along with the performers. It was Emma who had the really sharp eyes - she kept looking at the actor playing Joseph and finally pieced together that we had seen him before - he played Prince Topher last summer in the Tuacahn production of Cinderella. We loved him! That was such a great show - we loved it so much that Emma even named her Christmas Tortoise after Topher. Topher the tortoise! 

After the show we noticed that the actors were congregating on the side of the stage and we were able to go meet the guy (did I get his name? no) and talk with him. He was very generous and we chatted for a good 5-10 minutes. He asked Emma about her favorite songs from Cinderella and we talked about the upcoming production at Hale Center Theater. What a nice person, and what a treat to get to hear him sing again!

It was just in the second week of summer that Romney got the chance to run away to Stake Girls' Camp. What a great year! Again, it was a very chilly week, especially in the hills above Heber. I was quite nervous that she would be frozen and miserable for the whole camp but the sun came out and they had a wonderful time. I think this was the first year that Romney wasn't plagued with homesickness. She came home totally filthy, very very stinky and absolutely glowing. Her church youth group has really become her very happy place. What wonderful leaders and girls. They totally fill her cup.

I had heard for a long time about the Manti Pageant - Manti is a town in the middle of our state that has a beautiful temple for our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I have no idea how long it's been going on, but for a VERY long time the church members in that town have produced a pageant that is played on the hillside below the temple. It tells the story of early church leaders and events from The Book of Mormon. I myself had never seen it, and of course neither had the kids. Troy saw it back in college I think. It's a big deal, and every summer that town draws in thousands of tourists to see it. Well, we found out that this summer would be the last summer of the Manti Pageant. Troy and I decided that we really wanted to take our kids and go. We picked a night that worked for us - turned out to be a Thursday. Was it cold and rainy? Of course. Was it a very long drive that we drove both ways that same night? Yup. Did we have to arrive about four hours before it started? Indeed! Was everybody happy to be there? Not initially. But we made them all come anyway and guess what - we had a great time. These whole-family events seem fleeting and more and more precious and I love them. The long drives, the games we play to keep each other entertained while waiting (name at least one Marvel character for every letter of the alphabet!), the walks around the neighborhood to kill time. I love it all. The pageant was...interesting? Quite impressive with lots of special effects and dramatic lighting and things. Also I felt like I was peeking in at a church of a different era. I'm super glad I went and can say that I saw the pageant before it closed. Very much worth the effort and exhaustion the next day.

Another piece of June included more rooster returns. You may recall that last summer we had to take three of our five surviving chickens back to IFA due to their rooster-ness. We crossed our fingers for better odds this year, and we can't deny that the odds were indeed better. It was only two out of four. We suspected these two pretty early on - and were bummed because the breed we wanted this year were the frizzled bantams and the two roosters were the only two really frizzled ones. The orange one was Liz the Frizz otherwise known as Curly Fry. The darker one was Burnt Toast. It was a super bummer to have to return them but not quite as bad as last year. Neither of these were Emma's snuggly babies and we are all rather more fond of Sweetie and Momo than these two. They were nice enough, but just too darn crow-y in the mornings. You'll notice that no one has tears dripping off of their noses in these photos.

Just wanted to include a few pictures of my teenagers. I love them. I love that they are spending more time together and are happy hanging out and being buddies. Good job kids. That makes your parents very happy.