Goin' GREEN!

During the final evening performance, I snuck backstage to see just exactly how my daughter gets transformed into a green wicked witch. Take a look...

When Alyssa finishes playing the mean, rich neighbor, that wants to take Toto away, she quickly rushes to the "makeup and dressing room" and patiently sits while she is sprayed green. Does that come in a nice summer tan color?
She is such a good sport, it gets EVERYWHERE!
(and is a pain to take off!!)

Fitted for a wig

Looks like she needed a little more conditioner this morning!
Isn't she LOVELY???

The Good Witch of the North and of course...you know who!

The end of a wonderful experience!

Thanks to all of our fantastic family and friends that came to support Diva Alyssa!

Opening Night!!!

You don't mind if I BRAG a little do you?? Ok, so my amazing, talented 14 yr. old just wowed us with a fantastic performance as the Wicked Witch of the West in their school production of The Wizard of Oz! She was unbelievable!! Actually... she was very believable, we were SCARED!... The cast has been working on this since December, putting in countless hours, and sacrificing much of their afterschool free time. It's been such a thrill to see her throw herself into something she truly loves, is really good at and feel successful.

Bravo Alyssa!!

It's just sick and wrong!

Mother nature is on my black list. This morning we woke up to a couple inches of snow!? HELLOOOO!!? It's MARCH 23RD! We've tilled our garden, planted our peas, washed up our spring/summer clothes, and my friends and I are trying to get back on the "running in the morning" bandwagon. UHG!

Is there no rest for the winter weary?

Addendum to this post...March 30th.

It's now been a whole week of cold, winter-like weather. This morning we woke up to 1/2 ft. of snow with a cold wind to boot! My friends just say "welcome to Spring in Utah!" SPRING?? Yeah right. Then I'm ready for summer!

Have you ever seen anything so pitiful??

Poor little things...

Girls Just Wanna Have FUN!

Ashlyn, (my party girl) came to me last week and said, "Mom, I think we need a GIRL PARTY!" Party? Of Course! I love a good girl party! So we invited all the girls in her kindergarten class (and Megan across the street of course), and planned a shindig.

We had fun food, made bead bracelets, decorated candy bags, then hid them in the yard for fun, but mostly the girls just soaked up all the beautiful sunshine and played outside.

Playing outside after a long, cold winter.

Does it get any better than this??

Decorating our bags :)

"Mom, you're the 'maker', and I'll be the 'bringer'."

While planning the party, Taylor asked "Am I invited?"

Ashlyn turned to him matter of factly and said,

"You can be our servant."

He thought and thought, then asked "are any other boys coming?"

"No just YOU!" (Hmmm, just me huh? I must be pretty lucky!

Ok, I'm in!)

He agreed with a smile.

The morning of the party, Ashlyn was sitting at the table, wrapped in her soft, cozy blanket, and with complete seriousness in her voice said to Taylor, "Tay, I think you better practice serving, by bringing me a bowl and some juice." I gave "the look" to that little stinker, and said, "no Taylor, you'll do just fine. You don't have to serve Ashlyn."

He said, "Oh, no mom, I think I'd better practice," and he served her breakfast.
Oh brother!!

I Love That Song!

Ashlyn has been practicing the song, "I Lived in Heaven" for the past little while and asked me if I would video her playing it. So here it is...

our little Mozart in the making...

Ashlyn came up to me the other day and said,

"Mom, do you want to see my DUCK?"

Then gave me a huge smile...

Can YOU see it??

Life in Slow Motion

Do you ever look at a space of time (like 2 weeks) and think, "I've lived a month in that 2 weeks!" Life has flown, yet each event seemed to go in slow motion. We started out having our "cousins" come to visit us from St. George. My wonderful friend Carrie and her family graced us with their presence for about 24 hours, but we sure had fun visiting and playing. My kids (well, Ashlyn and Taylor) think they really are our cousins...I'll certainly claim them!!

On Monday we received some very sad news. Karl's best friend from 9th grade through H.S. was dying from cancer. We knew he was undergoing treatment, however didn't know he had taken a dramatic turn, and only had days, if not hours left on this earth. We made a quick decision to go to Lake Havasu, AZ to see him and offer support to his family. They are not members of the church, and we hoped to bring some peace that only the Gospel of Jesus Christ can offer. I don't know how successful we were, but we went and were grateful to have a few last moments with him and his sweet family.

Also included in these past 2 weeks, was a bridal shower (I had the opportunity to host..) for one of my former Young Women...the house got really clean all at the same time...yeah!

I attended a birthday luncheon for my good friend Stephanie, (happy 21st!!), watched Alyssa amaze us as she sang with her Jr. High Choir, (and even participated in a beautiful trio), helped Parker prepare for a BYU Scouting Pow Wow by helping him collect 10 insects/spiders, identify 12 birds in the field, arrange for him to attend a community meeting...and a hundred other "homework" assignments pre-requisite to the Pow Wow.

AND...
I've been quite sick with a bad cold and cough through it all....poor me I know, but it really is getting annoying. The bad news is that I haven't read my scriptures for at least a week...nope not one page. I'll repent tomorrow...