Stadium of FIRE!

Whew! Well, I am back in Redmond now after a short trip back to Provo to do Stadium of Fire. What a week! My family came up to Provo to watch Calvin while I worked 12-16 hour days for the show. Calvin seemed to have the best week of his young life. Hanging out with the troop of girls now known as his "Aunt Farm," getting more attention than he could ever dream, eating treats, going on fun Freedom Festival outings to jumping castles, parks, balloon festivals, and all kinds of other exciting things. When Sunday rolled around, he took a 3-hour nap! I know that the week was just awesome-exhausting for him.

Hot Air Balloons at Provo High Field

This is the face Calvin made each time the fire would go to fill the balloons. He loved it!

The week was pretty awesome-exhausting week for me, too. I missed Tyler and Calvin and hanging out with the family that was in town, but didn't have much time to be lonely. I spent my week with 760 dancers, 260 Eagle Scouts and their moms, 500 boy scouts, 350 choir members, 90 military personnel, Carrie Underwood, Lou Diamond Philips, a half a dozen other music acts, hundreds of crew members, and 50,000 spectators. That is the beast that is Stadium of Fire. The show went really well, especially with all the groups us stage managers were herding around and cuing. I was very happy that the effect I had helped coordinate (a flaming arrow being shot to light the freedom torch) ran smoothly and was timed perfectly.

Some Assistant Stage Managers resting after a long day with rehearsals in the sun.

The only hiccup in the show was in the last round of fireworks, when one of the pyro trees located on the field malfunctioned and sent a couple of shells into the VIP seats. I was closeby when it happened and it looked pretty scary. Luckily no one was badly injured; there were 3 people who suffered burns, and the EMTs were able to provide medical attention immediately. I did see, however, quite a few people with burn holes in their clothing, where embers had landed. Pretty crazy. My mom had asked me before the show, "So like, is this show dangerous- will I get hit by a firework and get burned?" I assured her, "Phht, Mom, no way, that has never happened." I guess never say never. I know that the pyro team is investigating what happened, though, to ensure that that does not happen again.

On Sunday, we flew back to Washington. Whew! We have lots of fun things planned for this week!

This is a pyro canister that flew off a malfunctioning tree and hit a woman in the head. Yikes!