Footloose

Kara has been working really hard and attending many practices for Footloose that will happen later this month!

 

Baptism, Birthday, Movie and much more

I love Memorial weekend.  Matt unfortunately worked both Saturday and Monday, but he had fun nonetheless.   On Friday we went to and saw Kara's play, "The Awkward Life of an American Teenager."  It was amazing and Kara did an a superb job!

Saturday I ran all day, SERIOUSLY and cleaned and cleaned!  Then Matt and I went and saw the new Star Trek movie.  I loved it, but it seems movies just keep getting more and more violent. I feel like I cover my eyes way too much!

My niece Cumorah got baptized by her dad! I was asked to speak at her baptism.  Cumorah sang a duet at her baptism with her best friend and next door neighbor.  They did marvelous! During the interim we saw a short video called "The Pioneer Miracle" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0351557/  It was exactly what I needed to hear.I highly recommend it.

 Afterwards we gathered at Cumorah's home for yummy food and a great visit.  I love visiting with Miriah's family.  They are such fascinating people.

On Monday afternoon we went to my brother Matthew's home and had a barbecue and celebrated his birthday!   Both events had the most yummy food.  My sister in laws are such good cooks.

While we were there we worked on the family reunion.  I am so excited to get together with my family next month on the Oregon Coast.  I hope everything goes as planned as we have worked hard to plan everything.  I am excited to see my Aunt Jean, Grandma, and Aunt Traci as we travel through.  My Grandma fell on Sunday and I was so worried when my aunt sent me a text, but surprisingly, it turned out to be pretty minor.

I don't have any family graves in Utah to visit.  Here is my parents grave that Sheryl went and put flowers on.  She is so good about bringing flowers and I am so grateful that she does that. 

On Monday I also got to Skype with Coby.  It is so nice that with Skype I can actually see where he lives and meet his roommate and see him!!!   Talking to him this last time made me feel a lot better about his situation.  I sure do miss him, but I am happy for him!

Metaphasia a radically updated retelling of the 12 DANCING PRINCESSES

Last week Kara performed in her musical/play.  She did a wonderful job.  I really want to thank everyone that supported her and came to her play.  It was so sweet to have friends, piano students,  and a lot of the children in the neighborhood come to support her.  I only took some random pictures and some of them didn't turn out too well since I am a poor photographer, but here are a few.   Sorry, I didn't get any of my children or hubby that were there.

In case I didn't tell you, Kara was the villain in the play.  She was the evil one.  It was strange to watch her do so well at being so bad. 

Also, I have three links that show her performing in her play.  Again, I find it difficult to hold a camera and watch the play at the same time.   Sadly, Matt was out of town some of week so he didn't get to go with me to all of the performances.  But he left early Saturday morning so he could come in time for her last performance.   Kara and I are both glad that play is over.


http://youtu.be/Jj1E9-2wpLc


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ET4kebY-pw0


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2C1mWsDqJSA

 Kara and some of her cute cousins

 Julie brought Kara some pretty flowers.  These two are pretty good friends, being carpool dance buddies each week.

 Above is Kara opening the necklace that Ally (sp) made for her.  So sweet of her.

Some of the cast above.  

Pirates of Penanze (Kara's play!!

Kara has been working hard for the last two  months on her play.  I thought the  play was amazing, but I am a little bias.  The scenery and the costumes were all bright and cheerful.  What fun was had by all.  Kara did a fantastic job.  She was so expressive,  and animated.  My son Colton said it was fun just to watch her face  because it was so involved in the play.   Kara played the oldest sister of a Major General who had twenty daughters.  The pirates stop where they live and want to marry all the daughters.  The Major General lies and says he is an orphan which is supposed to mean the pirates can't marry his daughters.  But then they find out he lied and there is a lot of commotion.  That is just a very short version of the play.  Anyways, Kara sang a few solos and she did well.   We were so relieved because last Sunday she could barely talk.  She had a bad cough and couldn't sing her song.  We tried all of these home remedies and made sure she got plenty of sleep.  On Monday morning she had to do part of her play three different times for the student body and she could barely talk.  She had an understudy for her part, but when the understudy saw Kara she said she was terrified to do it.  So Kara did it with a cracking voice. I felt so bad for her.  But by Wednesday, when we saw the play for the first time She was about 90% better.  I was so relieve when she started to sing and she sounded beautiful.   I am trying to upload the video of her singing, but it just isn't showing up, what could I be doing wrong.  Hooray!!!!!!!  Here are just a few pictures of her performance.

Pirates of Penzance---Kara got a part in her school play!

This week Kara tried out for the play of Pirates of Penzance.  She and over a 100 of her closest friends. There were only 5 main girl parts and as  you can image most of the people who tried out were girls. She made it back for callbacks yesterday so we were kind of hopeful.  I told her we would have a pity party or a celebration party!   Well, it turned out to be a celebration party.  She got the part as Edith!!!  I am really excited for her and so glad that her practices are close to our home!  We just finished with Cinderalla less than a week ago and it took me forever to drive her to practices so this is a welcome relief. Also, it is great that she gets to do the play with some of her friends from school!!!! Yay!!!!!   Here is the list of parts!!!!!! 

• Major-General Stanley (comic baritone)
• The Pirate King (bass-baritone)^[22]
• Samuel, his Lieutenant (baritone)
• Frederic, the Pirate Apprentice (tenor)
• Sergeant of Police (bass)^[22]

General Stanley's daughters:

Mabel (soprano)

Edith (mezzo-soprano)  Kara's part!!!!! 

Kate (mezzo-soprano)

Isabel (speaking role)

• Ruth, a Piratical Maid of all work (contralto)

• Chorus of Pirates, Police and General Stanley's Daughters

Cinderella's Glass Slipper, November 4, 10 and 12th are Kara's performances!!!!

Cinderella’s Glass Slipper

 from Pioneer Drama

Musical by Bill Francoeur and Vera Morris

Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays

November 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12

West Jordan Middle School Auditorium

curtain at 7:00, open seating begins at 6:30

All tickets $6, children 2 years and under are free

West Jordan Youth Theatre is once again busy producing the lively musical “Cinderella’s Glass Slipper” by Bill Francoeur and Vera Morris. Over 70 youth plus parents and other adult volunteers are singing, dancing, memorizing, sewing and building their way to present this upbeat version of the classic story in November. Director Jessie Ibrahim takes on the challenge of this large double cast in order to involve more families from the community. She wants to give young people opportunities to develop self esteem, learn about theatre, and be involved in the arts.

The magical story takes Cinderella (Chantel Jorgensen and Jessica Pearce) from a poor peasant girl to falling in love with her handsome prince (Samuel Ahanonu). You’ll meet playful new characters like Domo that directs activities in the kingdom, a third silly step sister, and an apprentice Fairy God Mother that will determine if Cinderella is worthy of the special gifts she has in store. Don’t miss this fun tale and entertaining tunes performed by the community’s up and coming stars.
 

Kara's play, "There is a Monster in My Closet"

Kara was in the play, There's a Monster in my Closet. She played the mom and she did awesome.  She sang several songs on stage  and had  A LOT of lines!!!  The play was put on by the West Jordan Youth Theater.  She had a ton of practices!!!!  Practices are not close to our home at all.  There were days towards the end that I felt like I was having an affair with the car.  I know that sounds crazy, but that is where it FELT, like I spend all of my time!!!!  Anyways, Kara did an AMAZING job!!!!  Earlier this winter she was in another play called, Thoroughly Modern Millie!  She literally was already starting one play while still not being finished with the other play.  Back to back play practices, lessons,  homework and other fun activities have kept this girl very busy!!!

My camera was on the wrong setting, I bet you couldn't have guess that, right?  But I didn't take a lot of pictures so  here is what I got. 

Fall 2010

Colton's first day of work at Seagull Book and tape.

 Kara with her cousin Brittany before the play Oliver.  It was really well done.

 Colton parking his car when the garbage cans were out.  Don't worry I quickly had him move it!

 Pumpkin bread bowls to go with homemade soup!

 Kara at a Mesa activity after school. 

 Kara's first day of school, at her new middle school, Elk Ridge.  It was a fun month or two when she started, but she had a great attitude about it!

 Colton's first day of school as a senior at Paridgm. He didn't have to change schools!!!

 Right after I moved in our ward I got put in as the volleyball coach.  I didn't have any idea what I was doing, but the girls were good sports about it and we had fun.  Unbelievable we to regionals!!

 Byu football game that we went to with Rob and Laura.  It was a fun one!

 Pictures of my office right after we moved.

Week of 4-11 to 4-17

On Sunday April 11th Coby performed with the German Choir from BYU for a German ward in downtown SLC. Matt and I raced to the sacrament meeting because it was right after our sacrament meeting. I have never been to sacrament meeting where the meeting was in an entire different language. It was a very unique experience and we both LOVED it! The majority of the performance was the choir's which was on Easter. The choir was beautiful and did an amazing performance. Our family went to their performance in December at the Provo Tabernacle and it was very well done, but this was even better. Coby has such a beautiful, rich tenor voice and I am grateful that he loves to sing.

Also, on Sunday night I performed in The Messiah by Handel. It was a very rewarding experience. It is amazing to me that during the summer of 1741, Handel, depressed and in debt, began setting Charles Jennens Biblical libretto to music in just 24 days at a breakneck speed. When you are singing the music you feel such peace, love, and joy for our Savior, Jesus Christ and feel such gratitude for all that he has done for us. I am grateful I had the opportunity to participate in this. The practices were long and took a lot of time, but it was soooo worth it.

Kara became the sickest she ever has been. It started on April 8th and lasted for a whole week. She still has a lingering cough from it now on 4-27. Kara was pretty miserable and sad about missing school, especially since she hadn't missed a full day of school this year. She had an extremely high temperature and it was still at 102 with Tylenol. She was pretty upset because she had planned to try-out for the School Districts National Anthem and also get prepared for the School Talent show, but she couldn't because she had no voice so she didn't even try out for either. The doctor treated it like swine flu! Poor girl!

Colton had a stake court of honor and got all the merit badges he hadn't received in a long, long time and he got a total of 9! We are so grateful for Scout leaders. He is beginning to work on his eagle project right now, which is very exciting! Please ask him about it.

Also, I had book club Thursday night and I was in charge of picking our groups book club and I picked the book, "Same Kind of Different as Me." I had a friend just randomly recommend it on Facebook and I decided why not. I got it earlier and loved it so much that I chose it. I highly recommend it as a wonderful Christian true story of two men's journey of hope and love to find friendship and hope. It is inspiring! On Saturday, April 17th, Matt and Colton went on a 20 mile hike for Boy Scouts. It was the one thing that Colton still needed to accomplish in order to finish his hiking merit badge. They left at 7:30 am and were gone all day long. They did not make it home until 5:30 pm because they went quite a distance to make it there and were with a large group. They were both very dirty, sun burnt and tired when they made it home. During that day Kara had a cast party from her play she did "The 12 Dancing Princesses" and she had a lot of fun. She also had a soccer game. This year her soccer games are much longer and they do not have any extras on her team, which means she plays the whole game.

12 Dancing Princess Pictures and other favorites!

Kara was in the play the "12 Dancing Princesses". Her middle school does one musical once a year and this year they did the 12 dancing princesses. Over 300 hundred students tried out. The director had a tough job picking parts so Kara knew that being a 7th grader meant that the 8th and 9th grader would get most of the parts. She still was very optimistic and held hope. There was 12 main roles for the princesses and all of the princesses went to 8 and 9th grade girls except for 1 princess which was her friend and then the next main roles were the 12 ladies in waiting and most of them went to 8 grade girls except for 3 seventh grade girls and one of them happened to be Kara. She was thrilled and she did an amazing job!

There was 198 students involved in the play and they did such a great job. It was fun to also be involved in the play behind the scenes because the youth were so excited to be a part of it. There costumes were so colorful and they had worked so hard!

Matt's office wall; don't the ladies do a great job of decorating for goals?
One of my sons wearing pink~~~~~Spencer ----I LOVE it!
Kara after her play with her brother Coby who came to see her play!!!!

A scene during the play!
Back stage with another fellow lady in waiting

My decorations for our R.S. Birthday dinner centerpiece, at home. On the birthday presents I put cupcakes on them on the cupcake wrapping paper.
Matt holding my newest nephew Jett who is 4 months. Isn't he a cutie?!
Ms. Kimball our wonderful Director as patient as can be!!! She deserves a very big 1st place gold medal for all of her hard work!

Kara with more of her friends!!!!
I had lunch with two of my girls friends from high school and one of their daughters. Heidi and I were in the same ward since we were in 1st grade and we grew up right up the street from one another. Melanie and I were in the same class together starting in 2nd grade and shared the same teachers a lot. She joined our ward, the Federal 1st ward when Heidi and I were moved to the Federal Way Stake from the Renton Stake and Melanie was moved into our ward. It was pretty remarkable how they formed our ward then. But when they did we had around 10 to 12 active girls in our age group. We had so much fun growing up together as young women and we were all very close. One of those young women became my sister in law, Annette Anderson,now Mackey. I hung out a lot with her too so that was pretty sweet to have her in the family now!