Nuestro Padre

Father's day is always a great day. We love our dad. I made a very yummy breakfast in the morning, but I forgot to take pictures. But here is a happy clan with empty plates. We'll call that a success. I made these yummy things that we don't have a name for. They are croissants with cream cheese and strawberries inside. Then you dip them in egg batter and cook them just like French toast. The cream cheese and strawberries get all warm and melty. Then you dust them with powdered sugar. Delicious.

It is very hard to decide what to get a guy who buys whatever he wants for himself. (Within reason of course.) We decided to go sentimental this year. Now that all the girls are baptized, we got him framed pictures of him with each of the girls on the day they were baptized.

You can't see them very well, so this is all of them. Gotta show off my cute girls when they were each eight. 

The girls put together a spa for Tyler. He loves being pampered. They had him choose what he'd like to do first. (His back was actually not feeling the best so he skipped the massage altogether.)

The girls had everything planned. It was the ultimate pampering package. Nails being soaked, music being played....

Cucumbers on the eyes and a face mask to peel off later.

Here is one content dad. He has such good girls who love him so. He is a great father. Happy Father's Day!!

Girls Going to Battle

You now know what the first part of our summer consisted of. There was girls camp and then there was the play. I literally didn't feel like Summer started until June 26th. It was the strangest transition.

We were finally able to get back to regular business. One of the things I had a lot of fun with was Activity Days. I have since been released and given the calling of Relief Society Secretary. Daisy was super bummed. She was just about to join the older girls, that I was in charge of, and we missed each other by only a couple weeks. However, we did a few combined activities this summer and that almost makes up for it.

One of our activities that was very fun was a hike to Battlecreek Falls. We have been there before. It is a nice short hike with a great reward at the end. And it is perfect for activity day girls, most of which aren't used to walking a mile at a time. The girls were excited to go.

Even though it is a short hike, there are still places along the way to stop and admire nature, take a break, or have a photo op.

We saw quite a few butterflies on the trail. This picture looks so pretty with the bright yellow against the dusty gray trail.

We found a little cave off the path. I don't think it would be a great place to sleep, but if you needed to get out of the rain for a moment, it wouldn't be bad. It was about three girls deep.

We made it to the falls. Hallelujah. Some girls didn't think they were going to make it. But they were all troopers. We even saw another group of girls up at the falls. Great leader's minds think alike. We have some amazing girls. This isn't all of them, but it was a good showing.

Got a selfie with my Pearly P.

Robyn likes to get on my phone and edit and stylize my pictures. This one made me laugh. It seems very fitting.

Our leaders were awesome. I'm not sure how I missed getting Michelle. She came along to give rides and came on the hike with us. She is always great to chat with. Here are Pam and Abby. Pam is new. I think this was her first activity. She brought her baby and probably had the hardest hike lugging Maia around. But she is the sweetest. I didn't hear a peep out of her. Although I'm not sure I would have complained either if someone decided to carry me on the hike. It was a lovely day, and who doesn't want a free ride? Isn't she the cutest?

 It was a fantastic morning. Short, sweet, healthy. Excellente.

Behind the Scenes

Being in a play is a hoot. There are so many funny things that happen and time spent with the cast. You become one big family. It helped that I actually had four kids in the play, but as one of the only adults, I felt like they were all my kids.

Rehearsals were long and often boring. We all came to everything but we didn't always get to our parts. Sometimes we would come for a few hours and then go home without having spoken a line. I got a lot of reading done and watched a lot of laughter and clowning around along with a lot of hard work. People worked hard to learn their parts. The hardest part was probably that we almost never had the entire cast there. People were gone for different reasons, but I was incredulous to believe that after a month of NEVER having the entire cast there, we were going to go 11 straight days with everyone being there?? It would take a miracle.

I mentioned that many of us were gone at Girls camp. We came back on a Friday and opened the following Wednesday. Saturday we spent most of the day out at the storage unit. Pam has a large storage unit packed to the gills with theater stuff. It is crazy. You have to pull out half the stuff to get to what you need. And some of the larger set pieces were way in the back. I was good for about half an hour and then my allergies would go crazy.

On Monday, we were able to finally take the set out to our location at the Castle Amphitheater. The Castle has been out there for a long time. When I was in college, I remember people talking about it and saying that it cost money to take pictures out there because it had become so popular. Now, I have no idea what the rules are. When you arrive, there is a one lane road that goes up to the castle and there are a dozen signs that basically say, STAY OUT. I thought I was in the wrong place, but I guess it is okay to go up. And from the amount of traffic around there, apparently it is open to the public. Although there is security that constantly patrols.

There is some fun wildlife up there. We saw a couple snakes. One was slithering against a wall.

And the other I ran over. Literally. I saw something in the road so I centered my car over it so my wheels wouldn't hit it. Then I stopped the car to go back and see what it was. It was a fairly large. It's tail was strange. I'm pretty sure it wasn't a rattler. But I did prod it a bit until it left the road. I didn't want someone else running over it.

One evening I swear I saw an owl, but I couldn't get a picture of it. It was cool to watch the set go up. We had practiced in a church gym for months, so it was good to see where we would be going on and off set. During the day it was very hot, but in the evenings, the sun slowly left the stage and seating area. However, in the back, it was usually hot and sunny for a good half hour of the show.

The set originally had this screen in the middle. This was for the dragon. It was supposed to be put up on the screen. However, it just wasn't dark enough. Even though the dragon was towards the end of the play, it didn't work. So the screen came down, and they filled it in with more tree painted sets.

All this was happening Wednesday. We finally got costumes on Wednesday. We hadn't done a dress rehearsal and we still hadn't practiced the entire play with the set. And we were supposed to open that night. And there was no dragon. Yikes. So Pam canceled the show for that evening. The next day, they made that weird dragon we had. It was workable. We still had never had a dress rehearsal. We all got our costumes on, held hands, said a prayer and went for it. It was remarkably good for an opening night, considering it was our first run through in costume. Pearl and Tyler came to watch the first night.

Backstage was fun. We played around and laughed a lot. We helped each other change costumes and remember cues. I think we only forgot a few entrances the entire time. There were also some lost props and forgotten lines, but nothing too bad. Here we are hanging out.

The girl in pink is Torrey. She played Angel the first week. However she was gone after that, so Hannah took over and played both Angel and the evil fairy, Wednesday. She had some crazy quick changes. I think it might have been a little confusing for the audience, but they probably figured it out.

The second week June was in Driver's Ed. School ended around 4, so were weren't worried about it, but then we found out that she had to do range driving from 5-7 each evening. The play started at 7:30, so she would go to range in stage makeup and leotard and Tyler would drive her over quickly after and she would arrive right before it started. She did a great job and always came with a great attitude. In fact, remember that she hated rehearsals? Well, she loved performances. She wished the play could keep going.

Back stage we only have a skinny space to move around. There was a wall with a steep drop behind it. Everyone sat on the wall and plenty of people climbed over which drove this mom crazy. But everyone was careful and the only casualty was Cedros' awesome waterbottle/mister. (That was a sad moment.)

You can see here the drop down. There was a secret path from down below to the dressing rooms. We used it to run back and grab things, and also people would exit this way if they had to enter from higher in the amphitheater during the play.

I had some funny moments during the play. My skirt was VERY long. I had already pinned it up so it would fit my height, but it was still rather flowing. On top of that, it was a little small in the waste. I could get the velcro to fasten, but if I breathed at all, it would come undone. So I pinned it leaving myself a little breathing room. Well, one evening during the football scene, Mathew and I ran into each other. He always moved the footstool out of the way, and I caught the shoe too quickly and ran right into him. He proceeded to step on my skirt and all the pins popped and my skirt instantly fell off. Luckily, I caught it, but I had to hold it with one hand for the rest of the scene. I felt ridiculous, but I figured that was better than letting my skirt drop. The evening right after that, Becca stepped on my skirt as they were pulling me off the stage during the faint scene. The pins popped again and this time I lost the skirt down to my knees before I caught it. It wasn't so bad since I was wearing black tights, but some girls in my neighborhood saw and laughed a lot. It was very funny. I brought some bigger pins from home and didn't have any problems after that.

Here are a couple backstage selfies. Stage makeup is fun but gets a little old after a week. We would all stand in front of the mirrors and put makeup on for twenty minutes. Oh, here is a funny story. With my hair up, you can really see the white on the sides. Robyn was always trying to pull out my white hairs. One day, I was talking to Alice and she didn't realize all the white hair was real. She thought I put makeup in my hair every night. She said, "Well, in the last play, Amy put gray in her hair to make herself look older." I said, "Yeah, Amy is 14, I am 40. I don't need any makeup to make my hair look older."

People were often very bored backstage. There were a lot of devices. Sometimes everyone was staring down at a phone. I was always finding Daisy watching Miraculous on someone's phone, often during the performance. This picture was taken during intermission though.

We played a lot of 'What are the odds' It is a dare game. We ended up doing lots of stupid things, like pouring water down Kaleb's back, and I had to eat an apple off a tree out there. It was tart, but not as bad as I thought it was going to be.

The kids also played this stupid game called Scorpion where you dig your nails into someone's hand until they give in. Ember and Mathew played this in the car and although I was driving that night and only heard the results, I saw the battle scars the next day. I guess they are both pretty stubborn. Even after they both drew blood, they didn't let go.

Here is Missy in her white wig. We spent a lot of time pinning it on her head. She didn't wear it for the ball, but after we would start sticking dozens of pins in. She needed it nice and attached because in the second act, she was tackled and didn't want it falling off while she hit the ground. I'm happy to say that it never came off. But she often had more than 20 bobby pins in her wig.

The second act was pretty chill for me. I had nothing to do until the very end when I came out and bowed. Thus, I became in charge of the dragon, by my own volunteering. Most people were on the stage, so I took over. The dragon was super temperamental. Pam had a fog machine, which I would hook up during intermission. Then I had to wheel the dragon onstage and then hold the machine up behind his head. His wings were too wide to fit around the edge of the stage, so it was tricky to get him out there. Then, the fog machine didn't always work. I turned it on right away as he came out and then I would smoke him again when he helped defeat Donovand. But there were times when I would push the switch and nothing would happen. It was very anticlimactic. Mathew taught me that the red light needed to be on for the smoke to work. That made sense. But after using it, it would take a minute to warm up again. I was often sitting praying that the red light would come back on and it would, seconds before I had to flip the switch again. I must say that the dragon kept it interesting. Without him, I might have gotten some reading done during that second act.

Tyler took some awesome panoramas.

Our audiences weren't too large. Our best night was closing night. We had quite a few people come then. My mother also came from WA which was very cool. Here is Pearl hanging out before the show.

Closing night is also Strike Night. It is a beast because after the show everyone has to clean up everything and take down the entire set. Here we are finished with the last show, but there is still so much to do. Oh, and amazingly, everyone was there...every night. We did lose Torrey, but no one got sick and we ran the show for ten days straight (not counting Sunday). It was outdoor and there was no bad weather. It was a miracle after all.

We were up very late. Here you can see a lot of the set has been taken down. We loaded up a large U-haul and a trailer and truck.

Some of the kids were very helpful and others sat around waiting for other people to finish. It is kind of that way in life as well. In fact, the next day was even worse. Most of the people left for trek or scout camp or vacation. That left Ember, June, Mathew, and Kaleb to put everything back in the storage unit. And they did it. I'm so impressed with them. Then, as if that wasn't enough, they went back to the castle to repaint the stage black. Hannah and Jonathan finished that job. It looks pretty good I think. Like we were never there. But what you can't see on that stage is a whole lot of memories. I think this was an amazing experience for our family. It isn't one we are likely to do again soon, but it was worth it.

The Three Princes

Let's give you some back story on this. We have some people in our ward who are theater people. We have been to some of their productions and heard about others. They were doing some auditions in May, but I hadn't heard much about it. Apparently, they needed some more faeries, so they asked if ALL our girls wanted to participate. Plays can be very fun and a good experience, so I thought we would go for it. I signed them all up. However I repented when the read-through night came. Pearl gets a bit cranky when she hasn't gotten enough sleep. Long rehearsals and a week of late night performances didn't seem like a good choice for her, so I took her out. But that same day, Ember was over visiting and Ivory invited Ember in Pearl's place. At the read-through, I was a bit taken in. I have always enjoyed plays and suddenly I really wanted to be involved, especially if most of my kids were going to be doing it. I told the director that if they needed any help, I would be happy to step in.

A day or so later, she emailed me because a part had fallen through. They had shifted people around and they offered me the part of the Stepmother. I knew it would take a lot of time, but I said yes.

Oh...I didn't realize exactly how much time it would take. The play became our lives. Lots of parts moved around. My girls who were all faeries shifted rolls multiple times, until they settled out like this:
MOM: Stepmother
JUNE: Faerie
ROBYN: Faerie and Page
IVORY: Page
DAISY: Monkey Boy

We had rehearsals almost every night leading into the month of June. Sometimes we couldn't go because there were school events. We missed because of concerts and graduations, but the rest of the time, we were at rehearsal. June (the person) was done before we even started. She wanted out. But I told her that following through on a commitment was important and she might love the experience at the end. She was doubtful but she stuck with it. Ember was also not thrilled with all the rehearsals. I felt bad because she was sucked in unwittingly, but we still kept her.

Then, early June, we went to girls camp. Half the cast went with us. I hear that was a crazy week. When we came back, we jumped right back in. Literally, we returned from camp and went to rehearsals that evening. And the play started less than a week later.

Today, I'll just show you pictures from the play and give some anecdotes. The next post will be behind the scenes.

WARNING: I'm going to talk about the plot and ending of the play. There will be SPOILERS. So if you don't want to know how it ends, please stop reading.

So let's talk about The Three Princes. This play was really fun. Pam Lockwood wrote and directed it. There is some great humor in it and the fantasy aspect is perfect for the imagination. The opening of the play introduces you to a poor orphan boy who becomes a dark lord when his love is spurned by the princess. (To be fair, she didn't know he existed.) This princess becomes the Queen and she has three sons...the three princes. They are ready to have their own adventure but the dark lord is still around, plotting his revenge.

(Tyler came two nights and I took pictures from both evenings, so if they don't exactly match up, that is why.) Here are our heros. The three princes (in age order) Egan, Garrett, and Chance. Little do they know that during the course of the play, they are going to run into Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Rapunzel.

The king and queen put on a ball to bring eligible maidens from around the country. Looks like my girls are very eligible. They got to dance in the ballroom scene. During the grapevine foot work, Ivory and I would always dance backstage.

After the beautiful maidens have their introductions, it is time for my big entrance. My beautiful daughters follow me out. Although I can see no flaws as their 'mother,' Migraine and Dispepsia are lacking in basic social skills and were not blessed with their mother's good looks. :) Naomi and Becca did a fabulous job being super awkward. They were over the top and it was so fun. Good fortune came our way. Dispepsia landed on the prince. She got to actually TOUCH the prince!! Do I hear wedding bells?

Meanwhile, the Dark Lord Donovand is working on his dire plans, and he has sent a dark faerie, Wednesday, to carry out his evil works. Little does he know that she is going to fall hopelessly in love with the youngest prince...

Daisy played one of the Monkey boys who were the henchmen of the Dark Lord. The henchmen were sent on errands to keep an eye on the princes.

Cinderella is quite the cry baby. She is so distraught over her chores and the fact that the prince doesn't seem to like her. Abby played a great fairy godmother who was ready to teach Cinderella a thing or two about life. She had no time for tantrums.

Prince Egan has sent his pages far and wide with the slipper, determined to find his princess. Ivory and Robyn were great comic relief. They argued and complained and in one show, they even dropped the slipper...right in front of the prince. He almost broke character.

Some of the best scenes were the the three of them trudging along to find the slipper. The search is exhausting. The pages can barely stand, but Egan is determined.

Chance has stumbled across his lady love in an unlikely tower. Good thing the witch is not around at present. Missy had wig issues. She wore this weird thing in the tower and then had no wig when she came down later.

Pam changed her mind and Missy ended up with this white wig that she wore the whole time. It didn't match the hair that she threw out the window, but sometimes you just had to have a good imagination.

As the prince Egan searches, Donovand comes to my house to convince me to lock Cinderella up. I had no idea the prince was interested in her. How could he be after meeting my lovely daughters?? But although he was a strange character, it didn't take much convincing for me to lock her up. After all, she is not my favorite.

I loved the scene where I lock her up. At the end, I put the key inside my dress and laugh evilly as I exit the stage. I didn't really know that I had an evil laugh, but it isn't too shabby. Many people commented on it, and my kids said it was too easy for me.

Lots of stuff is going on at once. You have to be clever to keep up. Garrett meets Sleeping Beauty (Angel) and they are getting along well. The king and queen are distraught that Egan cannot find his maiden. They call for the great warrior Morgan. Morgan turns out to be a tiny, fat dude, which surprises everyone, but he is very sure of himself and knows where to find Cinderella.

Wednesday, the faerie, seems to think if she mentions that Rapunzel has a prince visitor that the witch will break up that relationship, but she doesn't plan on the witch taking violent measures. Our witch and king were played by the same guy. It was funny when he went into witch mode and used his scratchy voice.

Thanks to Morgan, the prince knows where to find Cinderella. He shows up with his shoe and I'm so glad to see him. I know that he will love my daughters.

I'm sure the shoe is going to fit, but when it falls off Dispepsia's foot, there is a bit of a scramble for it. The shoe football frenzy was my favorite. You never knew where the shoe would go, but it always got to Egan in the end.

I assured him that no one else was around to try on the slipper, but after the other princes mentioned how mad Egan could get, I gave in and told him she was locked in the cellar. Aidan had the hardest time keeping a straight face during this scene. He was always smiling while holding the shoe in my face. He finally started staring at my earrings instead of my face to keep from laughing.

I went to release Cinderella, but she had escaped somehow (probably that darn fairy godmother). When I thought I might have to face the prince's wrath, I fainted dead away.

Egan thinks he has problems because he still can't find his princess, but the other princes can't stay with him because they need to meet up with their own girls. They bid farewell. Egan tells them to be careful and Chance says, "What could possibly happen?"

He may have spoke too soon. Angel is missing (she didn't stay put), and when Chance goes to get Rapunzel, the witch blasts him from the tower. It is not looking good for the princes. Wednesday is devastated that she got Chance injured, so her plan is to get him to Rapunzel so true loves kiss will revive him.

Garrett is having his own problems because the Dark Lord does not want him to find his lady love. The faeries are determined to stop him.

Garrett finally finds someone, but it wasn't the princess he was looking for. But once he realizes who she is, they team up to help Chance.

It is time for the Dark Lord to pull out all the stops. He send a hoard of minions to fight the princes. June got to do the fight scene. She threw on a cloak and battled it out with Kaleb up on the steps.

There is only one hope left. Donovand seems to be winning, but Wednesday turns herself into a dragon and joins with the fairy godmother to defeat the Dark Lord. At the same time, Garrett finds and kisses Angel, breaking the spell. I won't lie, this part was always super confusing for the audience. No one knew what the dragon was for or that it was a dragon in some cases. Most of the cast didn't even realize that the 'kiss' broke Donovand's spell. We were just along for the ride.

It would have been helpful if there had been dialogue to explain that the dead faerie on the stage used to be the dragon. The only clue was that she has a knife wound to the neck and supposedly Chance had hit the dragon in the neck. Seriously confusing.

The story has a happy ending. The three princes find their ladies and everything is just as it should be. Even the pages who were lost underground for a while found their way back to the wedding party. Hurrah!

But wait, the story is not over. I managed to get my hands on Donovand's special necklace. Being evil, you know I plan to use it for nefarious purposes. But that is a tale for another day.

There is the basic story. I obviously didn't cover everything. You'll just have to go see it sometime if she puts it on again. It was a great cast and a great experience.