Wicked

A few weeks ago I got a phone call. It was Jesse- one of my friends from the Dental Hygiene program back in the days at ISU. She had 2 extra tickets to Wicked, which she'd bought in advance MONTHS ago.....she was going with her husband and another couple. But the other couple couldn't go anymore and so she wanted to know if I'd want to buy them. 65.00 a piece. HECK YES! Those tickets were going for almost 200 dollars a seat at that point.
Now I have to say....I can't BELIEVE that I've lived my life without seeing this play, or even hearing the music. I actually consider myself a musical buff- bu it turns out I've REALLY been missing out on this one.

I asked Parker if he wanted to go. Now please note: in 3 weeks we have tickets to see Les Miserables in Salt Lake City. We also got these tickets WAY in advance.....like 7 months ago. And Parker (who was raised listening to the music, just like I was) has never seen it. The poor soul. ;) Anyway he's super excited to go. And wouldn't you know....it also happened to fall on the weekend of our anniversary. Nice. So anyway. When I told him about the Wicked tickets, he replied that he didn't want to go, because he wanted his first broadway musical to be Les Mis. Hmm...... Really? I guess I get that. He's only wanted to see it for his entire life. But. This was too good of a deal to pass up. I told him if he's not going then I'm going with my mom.

I informed Parker before I left that I would be buying the soundtrack while I was there (fully knowing that I'd love it and want to listen to it every day). I packed the binoculars (a MUST-HAVE at all broadway plays) and mom and I went to a nice dinner beforehand:
Only having been there one other time (also with my mom). I have to say....to do dinner AND dessert, be prepared to be stuffed. But so good. Rediculously expensive, but it also takes like an hour and a half to eat. It's more of an experience than just a meal. But talk about DELICIOUS! I really do want to go there with Parker one of these days.

This picture is JUST dessert. Whoo! Very good. We had all 4 courses. Which included a cheese-dip appetizer, salad, entree (which had chicken, steak, and lobster), and THEN un-do your pants for dessert. :)

Ok. So Wicked. We found our seats. About 1/3 the way up the balcony on the right side. As we're sitting down, I feel a SLAP on my arm. "Ouch!" I was about to say. Then when I turned around to see who would do such a thing, we saw the Kjar family! (members in my mom and dad's ward). Sitting RIGHT behind us. How fun! I let them use our extra set of binoculars, since I brought 2 and mom had one as well.

I was SOOO impressed. The voices were flawless! The music was amazing. And the storyline was quite intrguing as well. I just loved it. At intermission, I was gonna go buy the soundtrack, but sister Kjar suggested I download it on itunes. Oh yeah! The CD was selling for 25 dollars that evening. I decided to wait. I wanted a program too....but I resisted. Besides, I actually spent the entire time at intermission standing in line to go to the bathroom. Then once into the door (maybe 15 people in front of me) I heard the chime that the play would be starting in a few minutes. No way was I getting locked out when it started again. I left the line and made it back to my seat. Turns out I COULD hold it. :) The play ended late. 11:00 PM. Mom and I couldn't stop yawning. But it was totally worth it. I loved, loved, loved it! When I got home I downloaded the soundtrack. 11.99 for the album. Less than HALF the price. I'll take it. It downloaded in less than 2 minutes. Sync to the ipod took like 10 seconds. And I was listening. Oh yeah! Listening to the soundtrack is almost like re-living the experience! I LOVE LOVE LOVE this music! It's all I've been listening to. I really can't even pick a favorite song. There are SO many that I like. Please. Take a second and watch this video. You'll want to see it to!

Thank you Jesse SO MUCH for calling me!

I was right....

Well.....I was right. It turns out she COULDN'T have eaten her green beans that fast.

And for your personal enjoyment. Here's ANOTHER snapshot of Angie at mealtime....

And then, the resulting BATHTIME

She's so much fun!

The greatest Mothers Day gift ever!

On Mother's day my children slept in. AND I DIDN'T EVEN ASK THEM TO!! The down-side to this: church is at 9. So sleeping in means we're late for church. Oh well. Parker made me breakfast and we didn't even miss the sacrament. During sacrament meeting, I got to watch Caleb go up to the front and sing "I often go Walking." This was the first time I've gotten to see him up there singing (last year we were out of town). He KNEW the words and he sang his little heart out. He even gave me that cheesy "Hey mom" wave when he first got up there. I bawled. I was so proud of him that he knew all the words! And that he actually sang, and didn't just stand up there and pick his nose or something. I was SOOO proud. Then (and for some reason, this was the best part) there was primary. I was asked to substitute for the piano player in primary on Sunday. And I got to watch my son in primary for the first time. He is such a good little boy! He volunteers for EVERYTHING! And he wants to say every prayer. When they asked one of the boys if he had his talk prepared Caleb said, 'I'll do it! I'll do it" even though he had no talk prepared. And the best part: he SANG AND SANG AND SANG! He learned all the new songs and sang so loud! I just sat there and smiled from ear-to-ear as I plucked out the melody of the song they were learning. It totally made my day. I am so lucky to be the mother of this AMAZING child!! To be the mother of BOTH my children. I just couldn't be more proud. I love my kids!

Spiritual Gift

My son has a love for the scriptures, and he can't even read. At daycare, Tresa lets him watch "The Jesus movies" (living scripture cartoons on DVD) every day after lunch....and he LOVES them. But aside from the movies, you can tell him a scripture story (for example last week I told him the Easter story) and he'll re-tell it to you PERFECTLY. He's ALWAYS telling me scripture stories. About how the people were wicked. Or how Jesus has power. Every night he asks to read scriptures even though he can't really understand them. He LOVES to say prayers, and sometimes will get upset when Mommy or Daddy want to say it instead of him.

He's just SUCH A SPONGE!! He's learning so much from Primary too! Yesterday he learned about when Jesus calmed the sea. It's one of his favorite stories now. He ties the gospel into EVERYTHING.

"Mom....does Heavenly Father like us to speak Spanish?"
"Uh.....yeah I think he does."

He carries his Book of Mormon all around the house whenever he's home. Two days ago he got out of bed, pulled Angie out of her crib and turned on the TV while I caught a few extra minutes in bed. When I DID get out of bed a few minutes later.....his Book of Mormon was open sitting next to him on the couch. I just can't believe how much faith this little boy has. He truly has been given a spiritual gift of Faith. And I know it will never leave him. I'm so grateful for the example this child is to me. Everything is simple. Everything is about the gospel. He knows it's that way. And he's only four.

Some things just aren't worth it.....

Miss INDEPENDENT. My constant trial of patience. The walking tornado. Angie.

The latest development. She won't eat from a spoon. AT ALL. I can't feed her ANYTHING. All food must be placed on her tray and she must feed herself. Regardless of what we're having. For the past 2 weeks I have been going through some major stress and frustration about this girl. She won't eat anything I offer her. And a lot of the things that I DO put on her tray, she throws on the floor. I can't force her to eat ANYTHING. And if I do. She'll stick her tongue out and rub it with her hands until it's all out. I can't help but think she drinks WAY too much milk. I try to not give her too much, but I feel like she NEVER ate enough. It's the fall-back top-off for each meal. She wants do do EVERYTHING herself. Then two days ago, I decided I'm not gonna stress anymore. It's just not worth it, because I CAN'T make her do anything she doesn't want to. So reguardless of the mess, stickyness or slipperyness of the food. It goes onto her tray and I walk away. I've also resorted to taking off her shirt for each meal in hopes to avoid yet ANOTHER bath (which usually happens anyway because she likes to rub it in her hair.)

She is also climbing onto the couch by herself. Which is ok most of the time....but no matter how hard I try to keep them clean, her little hands are ALWAYS messy. She still puts EVERYTHING in her mouth. Including the food she threw onto the floor from her last meal. And I let her eat it. At least it's food right? Most of the time, the things in her mouth are NOT food......so I pretend I didn't see.

This picture was SUPPOSED to show off her cute denim minni-skirt. But I couldn't ever back up enough and get a good shot. She kept coming up to me and trying to grab the camera.

If she wants you to do something.....like take her outside, or get something for her.....she'll flip over your hands and start pulling you towards what she wants. And lets not forget: if you DO open the door you'd better be taking her outside. Otherwise it's THE END OF THE WORLD. Screaming and crying that does not stop unless presented with MAJOR distraction.

She wrecks ALL laundry. Especially if it's folded nicely on the couch. But she'll rip it out of the drawers too if you leave them open.

The "eat" sign is now an escape tactic. Every night before bed she does it. It's possible she's actually hungry since I usually feed her dinner around six. But there's NO way we're going through another messy meal before bedtime.

Caleb does a lot of jumping. And she's trying to mimic him. Her jumps consist of bending her knees and then straightening them with such force that it then knocks her onto her butt. Her feet never actually leave the floor. And she does it OVER and OVER and OVER again. She thinks it's funny. It is.

She says "bye bye" and "GO! Go!" and "Daddy!" and "Baby" and "Ma ma ma ma MAAAA!" when she's cranky (funny how that works.....I get the cranky word).

She can go down stairs. And she really likes to.

Angie is a SERIOUS danger to herself. She is the height of every table, desk, and barstool (which she also knows how to climb) She is the "queen of konk" She ALWAYS has bumps on her head. On Sunday she was running from a puppy at grandma Lyons's house and she was looking behind her at the dog while running. She tripped and hit her head on the corner of the concrete steps.

She really is a sweetheart. But SUCH a handful right now. Church is a pain. She's 3 months too young for nursery. I ONLY go to Relief Society on the week when I'm teaching. The rest of them I'm in the halls. Sometimes I just go home. She won't be young forever. And we cherish naptime (and there's only one a day now.....not two).

Also Caleb has been getting her out of her crib in the morning. It surprised me Easter morning when they were both rummaging through their easter baskets and I wasn't even out of bed. It's kinda nice though, cuz I don't have to stop what I'm doing to go get her. At the same time.....I haven't woken up with the both of them staring me in the face either....which is sure to happen now that they get up together. :)

A Day of REST

Well. If Sunday is to TRULY be a day of rest. It seems that things will result as follows: This is Angie on her 4th meal today. Please notice the plethera of chicken nuggets un her tray that she's NOT eating. And also the MESS on the floor surrounding her chair. The mess is mostly attempts at mealtime entertainment (for the purpose of distraction in hopes that she'll ACTUALLY take a bite....) coupled with the food that was ONCE on her tray. This particular picture, there's only a few green beans and a corner of a piece of bread. Usually it's much worse. This is the Table to the left of Angie's high chair. It's filled with the rejected attempts at feeding her. Cottage cheese. bread. beans. juice. and a plate and knife where the chicken nuggets once were.

And Caleb with his plate full of food as well. After a nice walk to the park- upon arriving home the whining begins. I'm hungry. I'm cold. My leg hurts. My head hurts. I can't eat. I'm thirsty. In his defense....he DID eat. After I spooned the mouthfuls INTO his mouth myself.

Here is what happens to the HOUSE when I decide to have a day of "rest." Church is at 9:00 so the living room is full of towels from early morning baths before church. And the jammies that were thrown carelessly onto the floor as we hurried to get ready before missing sacrament. Also a blanket, because I decided that AFTER church I was taking a nap while Angie slept instead of picking up the morning mess. Also the toys used for entertainment while I snoozed. Jackets and shoes from the walk AFTER the nap because you just can't pass up a semi-nice-weather day.

And the baskets full of CLEAN laundry that STILL aren't folded because that was what I was supposed to do LAST NIGHT until I realized I was teaching the lesson the following morning. At least they're clean right?

The camping gear from Friday night because Dad and Caleb decided to have a camp-out in the living room. (which was fun for them by the way).

And the kitchen. A day of rest means I shouldn't have to cook. And I didn't. But the sink is full of short-order meals like chicken nuggets and ranch dressing. The counter actually looks pretty good. The papers on the counter are from the last-minute tithing calculation as we run out the door.

The bedroom. Unmade bed piled with the church clothes that never made it back into the closet. And pajamas from this morning. And also notice the diaper on the floor. They're everywhere. :) REality folks.

My dresser. Now THIS I promise does not always look like this. my dresser is full of makeup, and golf hats jewelry, and clothes that need to be taken to the DI.

And the utensil drawer. It doesn't have child locks. And Angie loves them. There are ALWAYS utensils on the floor. And hot pads (which is what she's getting into in this picture). In this photo there are only 3 utensils on the floor. That's good by the way. And do you have to even wonder? Of course I don't wash them before putting them back. I do enough dishes allready. I wouldn't trust a SINGLE utensil in those drawers to be clean. But we use them. :) And we're not dead yet.

A day of rest means I've left it all alone. I got a nap. And a walk to the park. I gave a good lesson in church. The kids are fed. And I didn't cook. I want you to know....it WAS a day of rest. And it WAS a nice day. And I've decided that sometimes I just need to let it go. I'll pick it up after they go to bed. Which hopefully will be soon since I let them wear themselves out at the park. To top it off: I put Angie in her crib for the sole purpose of having a few minutes of peace on the computer while I blog and write about the mess instead of actually cleaning it up. She's crying now and I guess I'll go. A day of rest? Yes. A day of rest and order? Not exactly. But they won't be small forever.

Spring Fever and the Cha Cha Slide :)

I'm afraid my blogging skills are lost. I don't seem to ever have anything to write about except how funny or cute my kids are. But maybe I can mix this up a little bit. How about I just tell you some things that have been going through my mind.... Everybody's yard is green but ours. We have so much winter-kill it just looks brown. I'm so anxious for spring, and every time I drive to or from work I just look at everybody else's yard that has flowers and green grass and I'm totally jealous. I know. It's only April. I wish I had daffodils in my yard. I've got lots of tulips, and they've started to come out of the ground, but no blossoms yet. All my neighbors have daffodils with blossoms allready. We haven't done our taxes yet. We always say that we'll get them done early this year. But we ALWAYS never get them filed till the week OF, or before. A girl in my office got a tummy-tuck and a boob job last month. Personally it's never sounded like something I would EVER do. But after she came back to work,and I see how GOOD she looks.... I actually started thinking to myself that I might actually WANT that someday.... hah. As if I'd EVER be able to afford it though. On the OTHER hand, it ALSO motivates me to work out, since I THINK I can look as good as her with a bit of hard work. Sigh. I really do enjoy dancing. There's this song called the "Cha Cha slide" and I like to dance to it with the kids in the living room. Even Angie recognizes the song. I've put a video here of Caleb doing his version. Don't you LOVE his "cha cha"?
I HATE feeding Angie. It's a pain. She signs "eat" to me all the time. I get her in her high-chair, and she throws her food on the floor. She HATES being spoon-fed because she likes to do everything herself. You have to distract her with some pretty entertaining toys to get her to eat from a spoon. And she will ONLY eat a banana if the peel's still on. She used to eat little broken pieces of banana off her tray. Now she just mushes them. You must hand her the banana partially peeled and let her bite into it herself. When she gets to the peel....that's the end. She won't eat the rest if you take the peel off. She's just SOOO picky compared to Caleb. And because I can never get much into her in one sitting. She has to be fed SEVERAL times a day. Like, four or five sometimes. And after EVERY meal, the floor is COVERED with mess. And it takes sweeping AND mopping to keep things from being sticky. Angie likes to pick up the rocks from the flower beds in the front yard and put them in her mouth. EVERY time she's outside.

I FINALLY got a raise at work! Not much, but it was something. And I've already noticed a significant difference on my paycheck! I asked for a raise a year ago. But the economy sucks, and in times like these sometimes you just have to be grateful to have a job. So I never asked again. But yesterday my boss approached me and thanked me for all my hard work. It feels good. And it gives me a reason to stick around.

I'm so excited to plant grass in our back yard! I hope I'll be able to send the kids outside to play this summer. I really can't wait.