Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Top 'O the Morning to ya!

Brady has his GREEN on .... only it was a day early. Yes, he went to school on Friday dressed in green.

Brady was the GREEN MAN because he was giving his St. Patrick's Day Seminary Devotional.

I made green tinted sugar cookies, with green frosting and green sprinkles. Yummy!

I also put together a goodies bag for each of the kids in Brady's Seminary class.

The goodies bag contained: A Shamrock representing the "God Head" and a Pot 'O Gold with 10 pieces of chocolate gold in each. I also came up with this bag topper. This year I didn't have time to add the pipe cleaner pin to the goodies bag - oh well... It was still fun!

A quick look at our St. Patrick's Day decorations.

My favorite find was this cute leprechaun. I don't have a bunch of St. Patrick's Day decorations, but I do have a few. You can see more decorations on this previous St. Patrick's Day decoration blog here.

I am starting to LOVE subway tile art. I printed this one off of Eighteen25 blog here. I love free printables!

The coffee table decorations and my build a bear St. Patrick's Day costume.

AND the decorations on top of the cabinet that holds the piano music. I had a bunch of chocolate gold left over from putting together the goodies bags and put them here and there around the house. If only it was real!

AS soon as Brady wakes up, I will be making our traditional green shamrock pancakes for breakfast.

YUM!

May you have a fabulous St. Patrick's Day!

Who Came to the Musical?

Thursday, March 2nd our Young Men quorum came to see and support Brady in the play. They loved it!

 Brother Newby came with the Young Men because he is the Y/M's President.

Then on Saturday March 10th he came again and brought his wife Glenna.

 Glenna was Brady's piano teacher and Brother Newby has been our home teacher for years and years. Plus Glenna and I are visiting teaching partners.

We sure love them and call them family!

 Sorry the picture has Connie with closed eyes - shoot! I debated on posting it - but needed to.

Maurice, Brady's dad and his new wife, Connie came from Salt Lake City to see and support Brady's lead performance in the play. It was nice to meet his new wife Connie. I thought she was really nice.

(I was nice too - LOL).

 Maurice brought Brady's step brothers with him - Kyle and Porter.

Maurice and Connie stayed in a hotel but Kyle and Porter stayed with us.

I made chicken pot pie for all of them (even Maurice and his new wife) so they wouldn't have to purchase dinner when they arrived in Boise and before the show. It gave me a little time to get to know Connie. I approve of her and it's much better to get a long then not ... I chose the higher road.

Grandma Zoey came from Pocatello.

Others who came that I didn't get a picture of:

Aunt Chris

Taylor (cousin - my brother Lyle's daughter)

(Patrick and Gary on a trip to Canada - taken by Becky. I just had to add it to the post. Wonderful young men! I'm glad they came to the musical!)

My friend Becky came and she brought her college age son Gary and his friend Patrick along.

We didn't know if Gary and Patrick would like it.

BUT they LOVED it!!

Patrick said after the show, "I can't get this perma grin off my face".  I feel happy, just like I left a Disney show.

They were surprised at all the information the cast has to learn and memorize - the lines, song lyrics and dance steps. They were very impressed at the talent the High School kids had.

It was AWESOME! You definitely came away from the show feeling happy and just plain joyful!

I was very sad that Jason and Sharon couldn't make a performance. They had to work and couldn't get off .... they missed out. 

Meridian High School's Spring Musical

This is a LONG post - sorry.

I enjoyed the musical and Brady did a great job! I am a very proud momma!

I attended every performance except Friday March 9th. Both casts did a wonderful job!

There were a few accidents through the performances:

1st night - one of the waiters who did acrobatics did a flip and fell right on another waiter. Everyone was OK.

2nd night: Dolly (Sylvia - Cast B) was coming down some stairs on stage and landed wrong or missed a step and fell to the floor. Her knee went out and hobbled off the stage. The audience knew it was serious. Cast A Dolly (Danielle) filled in for the rest of the first half of the show. Sylvia was able to finish the 2nd half, but we knew she was gritting her way through the performance and her leg was still hurting. Bravo for Sylvia for going on with the performance! She was awesome and Danielle was amazing to step right in and fill in! Apparently Sylvia's knee goes out quite often and her family knew the drill and rushed back stage to help her put it back in. But, it didn't slip back in like usual and it was quite the ordeal. I'm glad she was OK and able to continue on with the 2nd half and the rest of the performance nights.

3rd night, Cast A Dolly - Danielle's dress kept coming apart and falling off her. Luckily they have shorts and t-shirts under the costumes for quick changes off stage. She was professional and kept acting and singing as if nothing was wrong.

The second weekend was major accident free, but they did have a few issues with the soundtrack playing in the background for the songs - but the casts didn't miss a beat.

 Cast B: Barnaby Tucker played by Mark, Minnie Fay by Ashlee, Irene Malloy by Kaitlyn, and Cornelius Hackl by Brady.

Brady and Mark were awesome - such a great team! I loved every minute of their performances.

Mark or Barnaby was such a fun character: My favorite lines were "Holy Cabooses" and "I want to see the Whale". He totally cracked me up.

Brady completely stole the show - he was fascinating to watch. Very talented!

Of course I loved Ashlee and Kaitlyn too. Great team!

Lyrics to Put On Your Sunday Clothes:
Cornelius (Brady) singing

Out there
There's a world outside of Yonkers
Way out there beyond this hick town, Barnaby
There's a slick town, Barnaby
Out there
Full of shine and full of sparkle

Close your eyes and see it glisten, Barnaby
Listen, Barnaby...

Put on your Sunday clothes, there's lots of world out there
Get out the brillantine and dime cigars
We're gonna find adventure in the evening air

Girls in white
In a perfumed night
Where the lights are bright as the stars!

Put on your Sunday clothes, we're gonna ride through town
In one of those new horsedrawn open cars

We'll see the shows
At Delmonico's
And we'll close the town in a whirl

And we won't come home until we've kissed a girl!

Yes, there was kissing involved.

Here is a cute story Brady posted on his Tumbler about kissing the girls:

Oh how leaving out a few details can make some moments sound very... interesting...

Without any detail of how the end of my day went.

I was dressing and undressing Kara a few times, and then we kissed… a few times. Not was it long after that I found myself kissing Kaitlyn.

With detail:

The girls for the play today were working with just about all their costumes today. They were required to do a quick change into their, “wedding dresses” for the last scene, and would need assistance getting into them properly and in a timely manner. Kara was on stand down for the first few runs, and then they switched cast, so instead of rehearsing with Kaitlyn like I should have been, I was rehearsing with Kara. Now don’t get fussy, they have clothing on underneath, shorts and a shirt. I probably helped Kara put on her dress two or three times. Then for the finale, we have to kiss, so I rehearsed with Kara twice, so that was 2 kisses for her and then rehearsed with Kaitlyn once.

Sorry, I just had to blog about it because when I realized how that part of my day was going, it was just to brilliant not to share with you guys.                             

Dolly by Sylvia and Vandergelder by Mason.

Mason was in both casts and he was gruff and perfect for the part. I loved him as Vandergelder.

Sylvia was loud enough to hear everything she said which I loved. She did such a great job too!

Hello Dolly! Well, Hello Dolly!
It's so nice to have you back where you belong
You're looking swell, Dolly,
We can tell, Dolly,
You're still glowin', you're still crowin'
You're still goin' strong.
We feel the room swayin'
For the band's playin'
One of your old fav'rite songs from 'way back when

I had to get a picture of Mark / Barnaby with his whale!

Cast A Cornelius Hackl was Connor. (Somehow I didn't get a picture of Brady in the extra outfit / rust shirt. I didn't particularly love Brady in that outfit - it made his hair look florescent rust/orange)

Dolly Levi by Danielle

Cast B Cornelius Hackl by Brady

Vandergelder by Mason

Cast A Cornelius Hackl by Connor and Irene Molloy by Kara

Lyrics to It Only Takes A Moment:
(sung by Cornelius)
It only takes a moment

Your heart knows in a moment
You will never be alone again
I held her for an instant
But my arms felt sure and strong
It only takes a moment
To be loved a whole life long...

Brady's best friends:

Kara and Danielle (Cast A Irene and Dolly)

Lyrics to Ribbons Down My Back:
sung by Irene Molly

I'll be wearing ribbons down my back this summer
Blue & Green and streaming in the yellow sky
So if someone special comes my way this summer
He might notice me passing by

 

And so I'll try to make it easier to find me
In the silliness of July
Because a breeze might stir a rainbow up behind me
That might happen to catch the gentleman's eye
And he might smile and take me by the hand

This summer
Making me recall how lovely love can be
And so I will proudly wear
Ribbons down my back
Shining in my hair
That he might notice me!

Brady and Sylvia

Also notice the profiles on the wall of each cast member. Brady's is the 8th one on the top in blue.

Normal Cast picture.

Crazy cast picture.

It was wonderful!

Motivational Monday: "Why To Garden and Preserve."

As President Kimball has said, “Preparedness, when properly pursued, is a way of life, not a sudden, spectacular program.”

Article from the August 1977 Ensign "The Most Frequesntly Asked Questions Home Production and Storage" To read the full article click here.

Why is there so much emphasis on home gardening and production? These things are so time-consuming and troublesome. Hasn’t mass production proved to be cheaper and much more efficient?

There are several reasons. First, from the time that the early Saints moved West right down to the present, home production has been encouraged in the spirit of our knowing how to be self-reliant. The issue is not purely economics or preparation for emergencies, either; it reaches deeper into life than that. There are a great many satisfactions in self-reliance and provident living.

Second, although it may cost more in terms of time, effort, and sometimes even money to produce certain necessities, it is cheaper in the long run because it is the beginning of self-reliance and independence. It will enable us to help ourselves and our neighbors during times of trouble.

Third, these activities keep alive the skills necessary for our survival in times of emergency. By and large we are no longer an agrarian society that could turn back to the soil and begin right away to make a living for ourselves. Many, many beginners in home gardening, for example, can testify to that! Learning these skills once again is very reassuring, as well as satisfying.

Finally, President Kimball recently said, “I remember when the sisters used to say, ‘Well, but we could buy it at the store a lot cheaper than we can put it up.’ But that isn’t quite the answer, is it? … Because there will come a time when there isn’t any store.” (April 1974 Welfare Session.)

Brady's College Acceptances

 Brady has been accepted to each college he has applied for. Yippee!

He has been accepted to attend BYU!

 He has been accepted to attend Utah State University! He has also received a scholarship for $400 towards housing for 2 semesters.

 The wild card of the group is an acceptance to Neumont University. They awarded Brady $19,800 in scholarships to attend their University. It would be awarded $1680 per semester. This private college is based on computer technology. The students attend school 8am to 5pm every day and attend school year round including summers. With this intense schedule a student can receive their bachelors degree in 2 years.

This has been a hard decision for Brady. He really wants to attend Neumont and the $19,800 scholarship will be hard to walk away from. The problem is that Brady can only attend 1 year and then he leaves for his mission. Then 2 years without technology - where he will fall behind from what he would learn the first year.  

 Brady has been accepted to Boise State!

 Brady has been accepted to attend University of Utah!

Can you guess where he will be attending?

If you guessed BYU Utah, you are correct! It is very exciting.

Now we are waiting for scholarships to come in. I hope he gets some free money to pay for his education!

Brady turns 19 in August 2013. He will be a young graduate from High School - graduating at age 17. It's great that he will be able to attend a whole year of college before he leaves on a 2 year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

It's nice to have this part of preparing for college behind us, all the applications, essays and application fees. It's nice to know which college he will be attending and now we can go forward with preparations.

Now we need to figure out the money. I am planning to cash flow this first year of college. It's going to be tight! I really, really hope that Brady will be awarded some scholarships he has applied for. He does qualify for a government FAFSA grant - Yea! That definitely helps, but doesn't cover all the expenses.

Welcome Samantha Kay!

Welcome to the world, Samantha Kay!

 Born on Leap Day, February 29, 2012

How fun!

 6 lbs 5 oz
20 Inches Long
Born at 6:31pm

Proud parents:

My niece Laura and her husband Jason.

 Jason and Laura wedding picture.

Laura and Jason's Wedding at the Logan Temple, Logan Utah.  

My sister Cindy (in lavender dress) and her husband (behind her) Kelly's growing family. This was several years ago. Cindy and Kelly have 5 more grandchildren then are pictured in this photo.

Congratulations on your beautiful miracle!

New picture 3/5/2012, 5 days old:

Laura is the same age as son Jason.

When Laura was in high school she had a brain tumor.

Through experimental surgery at Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah, the surgeon was able to cut the blood supply to her tumor, because they couldn't remove it.

It's a miracle that Laura survived and is here with us today.

It is also a miracle that Laura has given birth to a daughter of her own.

Laura's sister, Zoey Michelle posted this picture on her blog. I stole it to add to  my post.

Samantha and Laura

Laura looks like a happy mom! Darling!