Closing Night

The beginning of this year until now has been a whirlwind of crazy busyness and I am just now getting a chance to get caught up on blogging.

January was spent completely immersed in BYU's The Phantom of the Opera. We ran for three weeks, and I have to say it was the best experience I have ever had working on a theater production. The production was fantastic, the performances amazing, the cast incomparable, and the work a delight. I had been working on this show for over a year, and it was quite a difficult one to get over. I put my heart and soul into the work on this show and I could feel that the designers, directors, technicians, cast, and orchestra did too. It had been a while since I had worked on something that I felt so many people were so committed to (probably not since being in the Pride of Arizona Drumline). I worked hard, felt challenged, and felt immensely successful at my job. That is a wonderful feeling.

On February 2nd, the show closed, and I would no longer end the day with 1,200 people giving a standing ovation. I don't have another project in the works until Stadium of Fire, so it was back to my other job of being household manager and child nurturer. It felt so good to get caught up on those responsibilities that were neglected for a month, but I will say it was an adjustment. I do believe that the most rewarding and important work I can do in this life is at home with my husband and children. I will also say that mothers do not get the same instant gratification and feedback that working on a popular and successful show will get you. I cried for about a week. It was weird. And hard.

I am now feeling much better. I got over it and am once again focused on all the other amazing things I get to do every day. We have so much we have been learning and doing and preparing for. I will update as I can.

Here are some pictures from the wonderful production. The production photos are copyright Handleycraft Photography.

Caroline Morris as Carlotta in Hannibal.

DeLaney Westfall singing "Think of Me"

Janell Turley, Adam Purcell, and DeLaney Westfall did amazing makeup, hair, and mask designs for "Il Muto."

Carlotta and Christine in "Il Muto"

Sam Bostwick and Brad Robins as the opera managers, Firmin and Andre.

Music of the Night

Music of the Night

Descending into the lair. Preston Yates and DeLaney Westfall were so amazing every single night.

Harlem Shaking

Well, the Harlem Shake video craze is almost over as quickly as it started, but here is ours for your viewing pleasure:

If you're confused, you can read about it here.

how we spent the weekend

A couple of weeks ago, we imagined that there was to be a Star Wars-themed restaurant and we were hired as creative consultants to come up with its menu. Yes, we are geeks. And yes, we were very entertained. I do think our dishes would be better than this though:

These are real. Read about them here. My question is- what are those white chunks on the Jedi Burger?

Our restaurant would be much classier. My plan is to go on 24-hour Restaurant Battle and pitch it. Here is the sample menu for your perusal.Thanks to Carson and Steven for helping us come up with the list!
 
Appetizers
Wedge Antilles Salad (with Croutaun Tauns)
Roasted Sebulbutternut Squash
Naboochos
Mon Calimari
Spinach and Arti-force-choke Dip
Star Destroysters
Buffalo X-wings
Dengarlic Bread

Soups
Rancorn Chowder
Wattomato Basil
Zuppa Tuskana Raider
Twi'Leek Soup
Chicken Brothans
Shmiso Soup
Kit Fistew
 
Entrees (Each entree comes with your choice of Fry'leks or I Thought They Smelled Bad on the Out-side Salad)
Boba Fettucini
Obi-wan Kenobean Chili
Ewok-charred Salmon
Yavindaloo
Baby Dewback Ribs
Chicken Walker Cacciatore
Pad Thai Fighters
Chile Millenium Fal-con Carne
Queen Amidalasagne
Wompratatouille 
Han Solo Mein
Droidekasserole
Wampanini
Roast Porkins Tenderloin

Children's Menu
Sy's Noodles
Tattoiners
Mon Mothmunch
Admiral Ackbars
C-3PO's
Hoth Dog

Breakfast
Princess Leia Organic Granola
Salacious Crumb Donuts
Yodagurt
Grand Moffins

Desserts
Wookiee Lime Pie
Mos Eiscream
Creme Bruleia
Dagobahnanas Foster
Qui-gon Gingerbread
That's No Moon Pie
Count Dookookies

Drinks
Zam Wassail
Uncle Owen and Aunt Brew
Darth Mault
Apple Palpatini

We had a few more, but boiled the menu down to this. Any other good ones you can think of?

Also, have you seen the mind-boggling perversion that is Kinect Star Wars? A great article here.

Halloween 2012: A World of Pure Imagination

I love making Halloween costumes. I really do. Something about it gets me so excited. I know when I have more kids I may not be able to handcraft everybody's costumes like I've done so far, but in the meantime, I am enjoying every minute of Halloween-costume craftiness. Previous years here, here and here. 

***For previous Halloween Posts, see:
Halloween 2009: Where the Wild Things Are
Halloween 2010: UP
Halloween 2011: Deep in the Hundred Acre Wood
Halloween 2013: I've Got No Strings
Halloween 2015: The Force Awoke

I also know at some point Calvin will realize that children generally choose their own costume for Halloween. So far, he thinks that Halloween is where Mommy chooses something and makes a neat costume for you to wear. We are going with that as long as he'll let me.

This year, we are Willy Wonka and an Oompa Loompa. Thanks for Amberlyn for taking the pictures! Here is an inspiration picture:

Calvin as Mr. Willy Wonka:

Willy Wonka Costume - $14 total

Tuxedo Jacket- $4 (DI Thrift Store)

Fabric Spray Paint in Lavender - $3 (Hobby Lobby)

Vest- $0 (had on hand)

Purple embellishment for vest - $1.49 (Joann Fabrics)

White shirt - $0 (had on hand)

Dress pants - $0 (had on hand)

Shoes - $0 (had on hand)

Cardboard for hat - $0 (had on hand)

Fabric for hat - $2 (Joann Fabrics)

Fabric for bow tie - $1 (Joan Fabrics)

Ribbon for hat and bow tie - $0 (had on hand)

Dowel for cane - $1 (Hobby Lobby)

Drawer knob for cane - $1.49 (Hobby Lobby)

I painted the Jacket and added decoration on the vest with a hot glue gun. The bow tie is made from a long strip of fabric and tied pretty. Besides that, all I had to make was the hat and the cane. The cane is just a painted dowel with a fancy drawer pull on top of it. The hat is the only thing I made from scratch. Here's how it went: 

I started with a priority mail box and formed it into a circle, cutting strips at the top and the bottom. The top strips got folded in to form the top of the hat, the bottom strips were folded out to form the brim.

I hot glued a circle of cardboard on the top to make it solid. and the edge of a paper plate around the brim to do the same. Then I bent the cardboard to shape the brim.

I began covering the hat with the fabric using Mod Podge, beginning with a circle on the top.

I just painted the hat with Mod Podge and kept covering and pressing down the fabric as I rotated the hat. Calvin took this picture!

Lastly, I put a ribbon around the bottom edge, covering up the ugly seam I had. That's it!

Next is our little Oompa Loompa!

Oompa Loompa Costume - $15 total

Brown turtleneck - $3.88 (Wal-mart)

White bias tape for stripes - $1 (Wal-mart)

Heat N Bond Transfer Paper - $0 (had on hand)

Fabric for pants - $2 (Joann Fabrics)

Velcro for suspenders - $1 (Hobby Lobby)

Tights - $2.88 (Wal-mart)

Brown fabric marker for tights - $1 (Hobby Lobby)

Big Buttons - $1 (Hobby Lobby)

Pom pom balls - $1 (Hobby Lobby)

Felt for booties - $0 (had on hand)

White cream makeup for eye brows - $1 (Wal-mart)

Kool-aid for hair dye - $.25 

To make my Oompa Loompa, I added stripes to a turtleneck shirt using white bias tape using Heat N Bond transfer paper. You could also sew or hot glue these on as well. I drew stripes on the tights with a brown fabric marker. I tried to find some white pants to begin with, but couldn't find any so I decided to just make them.

I used a pair of shorts that I knew fit him well and turned them inside out to make a pattern from them. Then I added the triangle sides to my pattern, cut everything out and sewed it all together!  

Here's the shorts before I added the suspenders. I just hot glued the buttons on the front and back of the pants after I sewed the suspenders on.

To make the shoes, I covered existing booties with brown felt.

 I love these brothers.

Other Halloween Years:
Halloween 2009: Where the Wild Things Are
Halloween 2010: UP
Halloween 2011: Deep in the Hundred Acre Wood
Halloween 2013: I've Got No Strings
Halloween 2015: The Force Awoke

a Northwest Jaunt

Many of you know how much I love the Oregon Coast. Well, I pine for it more and more these days ever since a dear friend of mine moved to the Portland area. I saved all my pennies over the past year and skipped town for a weekend to visit! I had already cancelled this trip once due to an unfortunate back injury... but I was not going to be stopped this time!

Linus got to come with me since he still flies free, and it was such a nice break from the norm. Taking care of one baby is enormously simpler than taking care of a baby and a 3 1/2 year old who thinks he's 20. Calvin and Tyler stayed and had some nice daddy-son bonding time.

Linus LOVED the plane ride. I don't think I have ever seen him so excited. He just kept looking out the window and giggling. He was SO tired, but wouldn't close his eyes for a minute. He just grinned like this the whole way.

Kate hadn't been to the coast yet, so we made our way there. First stop- Tillamook, of course.

As we arrived, we posed the babies for a picture. It didn't seem strange at the time, but now it looks as if they were going to tour the factory alone. We want to do a separate blog about the adventures of two one-year-olds travelling the world together.

my Baby Loaf

Cannon Beach. Joe with his pail and shovel. And Linus with a handful of sand about to enter his mouth.

Linus is ever observant

A rare sighting of the tracks of Babyis Mobilis

Hmm...where can I find more sand to eat?

Windy, wonderful Cannon Beach

And no trip to Cannon Beach would be complete without clam chowder from Ecola Seafood. I love that place.

We visited the Lahsenes as well. They are always such wonderful hosts! (Here is Adrian, Susie, and Jake. Marcel is not pictured)

My wonderful cousin Susie

Jake and Linus always seem to really hit it off

And of course, a DOUBLE RAINBOW to signify the end of the trip!

I had such a wonderful, relaxing time eating delicious food and playing with amazing friends. The four days went by so fast- I wish I could've stayed longer. But I did miss my Tyler and Calvin. It was good to come back home. Maybe we just need to all move up there.....

Linus had a birthday!

I cannot believe it. Linus is one year old. This year has gone so fast! It's crazy!

Here are some stats:
Height: 28 1/4 (5-10%tile)
Weight: 19 lbs 8 oz (5-10%tile)
Head: 45.4 cm (25%tile)

People think since he's chunky that he's really big. He's not really. He's chunky all right, but he's still pretty small for his age. He's just a shrunken chunken. I love it.

The cake.

We made a six layer cake from an idea we saw on Pinterest. It was so fun and colorful and I was so happy with how it turned out!

This is his favorite toy "Socks" given to him last Christmas by his Aunt Kayla. He LOVES this little guy. He gave me the idea to make a colors cake.

Party Time with good friends!

And now, here's a bunch of pictures of the birthday boy eating his cake! (that's all you want to see on a 1st birthday post, right?)

He was pooping colors for days.

I love this boy so much. It is so strange to me, but he is so different than Calvin. By Calvin's 1st birthday, he had so many tricks primed to impressed any onlookers who would give him attention.  (He's still this way)

Linus, on the other hand, does not seem to have any urge to perform or impress. He's happy and content (unless he needs to voice his opinion, in which case he screams loudly). He thinks and observes and does things so subtly and gently that you will miss them if you turn your head for a moment. He is so cuddly and loving and would be content just snuggling with me for hours. His favorite thing to do besides snuggling with mommy is watching and playing with Calvin. Calvin can make him laugh more than anyone else in the world. They are the cutest brothers.

He also likes:
playing in the toilet (if you see him headed into the bathroom and he notices you approaching him, he'll bump his crawl into overdrive frantically trying to get to the toilet before you can stop him, giggling all the while)
putting things into the toilet
flushing the toilet
unrolling toilet paper
putting things into shoes (he's like Sinterklaas, filling the shoes of good little Dutch boys and girls with goodies)
eating bread and bananas (he'll eat anything, but if either of these things is visible, he won't stop shouting until it is in his mouth)
sucking his thumb (we may pay for this later, but right now it's so cute how he calms himself down)