PICS

On the last Saturday rehearsal it is tradition to let the cast come onto the stage early to take some photos. Not everyone does, but we do! Here's some pics of our family....

Here's some pictures of my Dad's costume. They really went all out for this one!

They had a guy come from Salt Lake to help with the wigs this year that has worked in Hollywood & has even won some Emmy's for his work. He won an Emmy for "Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman" & worked on "Santa Clause 3",, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", and "Pirates of the Carribean". His name is Karl Wesson & he did a great job making my dad look like Santa Clause. That's what my girls think anyway with the white hair & the jingle bells on the bottom of his costume. (They're actually small cow bells.) My dad actually did some research about his character & the costume & found that it's VERY accurate. Maybe we can get him to post that info. wink, wink Anyway, enjoy...

WIND

Last night was REALLY windy. As I'm sure most of you that live here in AZ know. It made for a miserable rehearsal for me. Contacts & dusty wind DO NOT mix. Luckily, Nancy was kind to us & let us go home a little early. Last night was the first night I was EXTREMELY grateful for my headpiece/veil. It kept my hair from blowing in my face all night. Plus, I basically hid my face behind it all night to keep the wind from blowing in my face. It was YUCKY!!

On a happier note - we got Kylie to make-up early enough that I got to go into the room & snap a few pics of her. She loves going in & chatting with the ladies that do her make-up. (I know, big surprise!) The timing was so that she got to stay in their a little longer while the make-up crew had their nightly devotional & prayer. Pretty cool for a little kid!

Here's just a fun shot of the fam in their costumes...

Erik was lucky enough to get the same costume as last year. Oh - and here's what happens when your 5 year old wants to take a picture of her Papa & his fake beard....



(Don't kill me Dad!)





Silly kid. We'll get some better ones. One cool thing did happen last night. Well, cool for Kylie. At the end of the rehearsal Nancy had the cast clap for Kylie (& the little "cripple boy" in her scene) saying how WONDERFUL they are. She does a great job with her part & we're so proud to be the parents of such a great "DEAD GIRL"!

ANGELS

At tonights practice we were talking about the angels. I was telling the girls about how I was an angel once. A LONG, LONG time ago. I was also telling them about how the angel stage slants downward & is a little scary when your turning & the wind is blowing. After this little conversation we proceeded to line up for our scene. We were still watching the angels up top & I asked Kylie if she would like to be an angel someday. To which she replied, "yes". Next was Jadyn. I asked her if she would like to be an angel someday as well. She told me, "Yes. And I want to be a foolish dancer like you were, too mom".** Erik & I were dying. Maybe it's one of those 'you had to be their moments', but we thought it was funny. Was that suppose to be a compliment?

When we got home & were getting ready for bed we asked Jadyn what she wanted if she got straight A's at the end of the year. We bribe Kylie all the time to try harder & raise her grades. Jadyn consistently gets straight A's, so she gets sad that she doesn't get anything. We promised her that if she got straight A's at the end of the year we'd do something big for her. We asked her what she wanted & this is what she told us...
"I want my room changed, a new computer, an ipod, and a cell phone." WHAT?!?! To which Erik replied, "How old are you?" She's 5 going on 16. YIKES!!

SATURDAY

We had another full day of rehearsals this past Saturday in the heat. (Erik & I have some red faces to prove it.) Here's just a few pics of my Dad on stage practicing his parts. He ended up getting a pretty large part this year. He said it's a little more than he bargained for. He jokes around that he's getting too old for this stuff. Just remember how old Brother Chapman was Dad. You're nothing!! This is the boy Jesus scene where he's teaching the priests....

This is the betrayal scene where Judas tells the soldiers he will kiss the Savior so they will know who he is.....

I couldn't get any pictures of us because I'm always on stage when my family is. So, Padre gets to take center stage in this post. Here's a picture in our canopy again since the one from last week didn't have my Dad in it.


When we're not needed on stage this is where we hang out. The girls color, read, and eat their little hearts out all day. This second Saturday is pretty cool. We have little meetings with missionaries who teach us how to talk to people in the audience. My favorite part is at the end of our time with them they all gather on stage & sing to us. SO COOL!!

And to top the spiritual day off right you know we drove by Target on the way home to buy TWILIGHT! I think I purposefully put the date in the back of my head so that I wouldn't get myself all worked up & too excited for it to come. That makes for a LONG waiting time. But, Erik reminded me all of the time. And he was all worried about getting it before they were sold out. He informed me about midnight parties, but I wasn't that crazy! We even watched it as soon as we got home. I was going to wait to watch it that night, but Erik wanted to watch it right then. Secretly, I think he really likes it. He doesn't say he doesn't like it, but I think he likes it more than he lets on!

PAGEANT TIME

What did you do this past weekend?



As for us, we started Easter Pageant rehearsals - WAHOO!!! We love Easter Pageant time & can hardly believe it's been a year already. It's marks the time for orange blossoms to fragrant the air & beards to make an appearance on the men. The first rehearsal is always on a Saturday & usually a day event. We had a meeting at 10:30am & then headed over to the grounds & practiced until 4:00pm.

Here's my family under our canopy. This is where we hang out when we're not needed on stage.

It's quite funny actually to see all of the canopies out on the grounds on these Saturday rehearsals. But, with the fact that we live in Arizona & out in the sun all day they are needed. (How do you like Jay's pose in this picture EmmaLee?)

The meetings, however, are UNBELIEVABLE to say the least! They have a special musical number come to every meeting/devotional & they take great care on choosing outstanding people & numbers! Plus, just the sheer spirit in the room always brings a tear to my eye. And the congregational hymns are something that would impress anyone. In most wards people sing just barely loud enough that the person next to you can't hear you sing. At least, that's what I do since I can't carry a tune. I try to sing just loud enough that I can't even hear myself sing. But, here, with this group of people I can sing out loud & it doesn't matter. It always takes my breathe away to hear this congregation sing because it's just amazing! (Mom - it would even take your breathe away - trust me!)



We even talked my Dad into being in it again this year with us. It's been a few years since he's been in it. (Mimi was going to do it as well, but had some other commitments come up that she couldn't do it after all. :( ) My Dad has sounded a little worried about the time & the fact that he lives in Maricopa now & will have quite the drive late at night. But, I could tell, that once he was their - he realized how much he's missed it & was extremely happy to be their. Am I right Dad? I even spotted a tear or two come to his eyes during the meeting.



Pageant's been such a big part of our lives & I'm so grateful for the experience it is every year. Now, I'm lucky enough to share that with my girls. They get into it more than I do now - which is great! Kylie will tell everyone our life history of the Pageant upon first introduction. I think she's quite proud of her "Pageant heritage" if I'm not mistaken. It just makes Easter more meaningful than just dealing with the Easter Bunny. In fact, the Easter Bunny barely makes an appearance at our house. Easter is focused on the true meaning with us. That's the way it was for me as a kid & it's something I want for my girls as well.



Last year I posted a bunch of Pageant stories. If you want, click HERE to read those & scroll down a little bit to the month of March. It's our little family tradition to head to Bahama Buck's after these Saturday rehearsals to cool off a little & our girls get a little silly! They love to watch there mouths turn colors from the shaved ice. (Soon Ruby - soon you'll be eating here with me!!!)

SAUSAGE TACOS

The other night I made tacos for dinner. We sat down to eat away! My girls love tacos & were content. Erik started eating a little after us because he had to take his pill, etc. Erik starts eating when the girls & I are almost done with our first taco. He stops & looks at his taco & asks, "Is this sausage?" WHAT??!! Apparently the ground meat I pulled out of the freezer to use was sausage & I didn't even notice! Yeah - again - I'm the world's greatest mom/wife!!

FLASH BACKS

I have done some major catch up. I just posted a ton of stuff. As always, read what you want. There's lots! Just trying to catch up the month. I'm also attempting to add some videos for the first time. We have...

1. The Summer Girls.

2. Jadyn riding her bike with no training wheels!!

3. Kylie saying the pledge at her school.

MISC.

In an effort to get things all caught up here's a post about a lot things....


Poor Kylie had a field trip on Feb. 26th to the Goldfield Ghost Town. I was scheduled to be a chaperone & was quite excited for it. It sounded like a fun place. Kylie was sick the day before & stayed home from school with a fever of 101. She ended up missing the field trip because she had a fever of 102 that morning. I felt so bad for her. She was so sad to miss the one field trip for the whole year. The next day, Friday, was field day at school. She missed this as well due to being sick. As well as it being the last week with her teacher due to the fact that she was leaving to have a baby. It was just a bad week for her. She was sick all weekend & went back to school finally the next Monday. POOR KID!!


Jadyn participated in field day though & had quite the fun time. She even won some awards for some of the events...
3rd Place for the Javelin
1st Place for the Sack Race
1st Place for the Softball Throw


That night while eating pizza Jadyn lost her second tooth...


The next day we went out as a family. We went to my favorite restaurant - CHEESECAKE FACTORY!! Love that place! Look at this salad - YUM....

FIELD TRIP

Jadyn had her first field trip on Feb. 23rd to Superstition Farm. She had so much fun & was so excited for days! Partly because she got to ride the bus for the first time.
I signed up to be a chaperone & here's my group I had...
Jadyn's been to this farm a couple of times before this with preschool, but she LOVES this place. They learn about the cows & even get to take a hayride to see all of them. The farm has 1,000 cows. By the middle of our time their they had 1,002 cows. One of the cows had twins while we were their & we got to watch them take their first steps. (We did not watch them be born!) Jay thought that was pretty cool! She also loves the feeding & petting the animals part....
Not to mention the opportunity to hold a rooster. Um, does this look like a rooster to you?
I am a city person & know nothing about farm animals. I asked the lady if that was a chicken or what that Jay was holding & she just laughed & told me it was a rooster. Maybe I shouldn't be writing this & telling the world, but who would have known that was a rooster? Even her teacher Miss Ritter thought the same. She didn't want to hold it, but all the parents wanted a picture. After a couple of shots she handed it right back. I would have done the same!

BIRTHDAY

Here's the pictures from my previous post about how my birthday began. (Click

HERE if you don't know the story.) This is what my car looked like when Stephanie got ahold of it.

I have to say how sweet she was. Most people won't get this, but on one of the windows she wrote "I Love You Mail-Butt-Knee". Mail-Butt-Knee was the silly way my dear friend Sarah used to write my name when we were in high school. She passed away a year after High School and my family all knows how hard that was for me. We still make little comments about her & remember little jokes & it was so sweet of Steph to put that on the window! (And Mimi even gave me "prizes" that day! *Another Sarah saying that Mimi always tells me.) Anyway, It took some serious work to clean my car & my nails were blue & red for days! But, it was fun!


While we were locked out of the house we took some silly pictures. What else can you do? Here's my girls being mad at the door..



Kylie was too busy laughing. Here's some more silly pics & Jadyn's just sums up how we felt about the whole morning!


We were suppose to make it to a birthday party for "Grandpa Hallows" that afternoon, but I was too beside myself with stress. (Of course, totally my own making.) Plus, Erik was gone most of the day with his dad. (Turns out he had fractured his hip. He's in rehab right now. He had to have surgery. He's hoping to get out of rehab this weekend. We're also hoping for a speedy recovery! Unfortunately, he HAS to get back to work!) Erik got home in time, thanks to his brother Ron, that we were able to go to the temple with my fanily later in the afternoon. We started a tradition a few months ago to attend every 2nd Saturday. This month it got switched to the 3rd Saturday - because of Valentine's. Mimi got sick, so Mimi & Papa couldn't come. That was YUCKY! But, it was still fun. I love being able to do sealings with our little group. SO NEAT!! After the temple we headed to Cafe Rio for dinner. A HUGE THANK YOU goes to my sister Stephanie for making that all possible. She watched our girls & the Hallow's kids at my house so that we could go. She ROCKS!! The day ended on a high note. Thanks again EVERYONE!!

VALENTINE'S

We had a very fun VALENTINE'S DAY this year. We did the unusual & spent the day with my S-I-L Rennie & my nieces & nephews. (Unfortunately Luke had to work & we didn't see him until later that night.) We drove down to Sahuarita - it's a little south of Tucson - to spend the day & night with the AWESOME Hallow's family. It was so fun. We went to Madera Canyon to go do some hiking & exploring during the day. The kids were troopers while hiking a little trail. A trail that was skinny with some steep drops on the other side at times. Which, of course, gave me a heart attack thinking kids were going to go falling down the mountain. But, everyone made it safe & sound. There was snow on the ground at some spots which spawned some small snowball fights. Then, at the bottom of the trail we did some exploring around & just had a BLAST!!!

We were even lucky enough to have a visit from DOPEY!

And a leaping 2 year old! I can't even teach my 9 year old how to leap like that in dance!

And don't forget crossing the stream over a log. I was actually impressed our girls did it since they're so scared of EVERYTHING. But, upon looking at the pictures it looks like Erik was more scared than they were! Check out that balancing!

After all that fun the girls earned a well deserved tub full of bubbles.

Luke got home later that night & we spent the night just chatting it up. We woke up Sunday morning to some more hanging out time before we headed back home while the Hallows headed to church. We are so blessed to have such WONDERFUL family! Luke & Rennie are always so inviting & make us feel so welcomed. We love hanging out with them. THANKS again guys!!

AWESOME PARENTS

Just a quick note to clarify some things. Upon talking to my mom the other week I did my usual remarks at some point in the conversation of, "thanks for that trait mom." She just said, "I know, I know." Then, I just re-read my previous post & realize I actually say that to my Dad a lot as well. I would like to publicly apologize to my wonderful parents! I only say this in my joking, loving way, but want to clarify that I in no way truly mean it. Sure, we get traits from our parents, but that's no excuse for the dumb things I do myself. I am an adult & need to act as such. (Yeah - still working on that one.) If you're not lucky enough to know my parents then, I feel bad for a you a little. They are AWESOME!!

I'm even lucky enough to have 2 mom's & 2 dad's. In fact, the other day Jadyn told me she can't wait until she can have 2 mom's & 2 dad's. At first my reaction was - "Uh, No way!!" But, as I thought about it that was a wonderful compliment that she didn't know she was giving. She just knows how wonderful my parents are & how close we are & sees it as fun. And even though she should not hold her breathe out for her wish - in a way it was sweet.

So, again, I LOVE my parents - they rock!! And they are my rocks. It's not a secret that I'm a Daddy's girl in every way. Now I am the mother of 2 Daddy's girls & I can see how that would hurt my Mom. I think of how close my girls are to Erik & think they don't love me as much. I can see my Mom feeling that way & it makes my heart ache. It's not true - just a different love. (Now, if I can only tell myself that about my girls & truly believe it.)

Just had to share & hopefully this weekend I'll have a chance to catch up on what's been happening this past month with pictures even. Oh - if I could only have a minute to breathe....