Seussical

I had the privilege of performing as a "who" character in Seussical the Musical at Riverland Community College. I got to perform with some friends from the cast of Into the Woods and I got to make friends with a whole new bunch of performers. The cast was 40 people strong and included lots of kids. Rehearsals began in March, which wasn't too heavy at first because my role in the show was minimal. But in April, as we had tech week and neared opening night, things got extremely busy between working, church stuff, co-running the SpamKids Fest and doing this show. Before auditions, I knew it was going to be intense for about a month, and I hesitated with making the commitment. I made it a matter of prayer and felt good about auditioning for the show. I realized that it isn't very often that a full broadway show comes along in our town that is appropriate for my preschool age sons to watch, and it isn't very often that my boys will get to see their mommy perform in that show. So I braced myself and jumped in with the cast!! 

I made the show experience as much about my boys as I possibly could. I played the soundtrack in the car everyday, and my kids helped me learn all the songs. They kept asking about the plot and characters. Together, we read up on lots of Dr. Suess books that are featured in the show. I sent the boys these pictures of me getting ready during dress rehearsals. By the time they came to see the performance, they were really excited about it!

All the whos wore yellow--my favorite color! My costume was simple, so I did my make-up really flashy. Thanks to Emily for helping me out with my eyes!

Before opening night, these pictures were featured in the local newspaper. 

This one is the opening number right after the curtain opens, and I am in the very back, not visible from this angle.

This is also the opening number, can you find me? 

As to be expected, Jeremy had a lot of nights alone with the boys. I could not have done this without his support. I love how he encourages me and he didn't complain one bit about having me gone so much. (It took a lot of teamwork, especially since we are now a one-car family! We proved that even in the busiest of times, it is possible for a family of four to have just one car). 

The show ran for two separate weekends; we had seven performances. One night while I was gone, the kids were begging Jeremy for SPAM, so he made them delicious spam and eggs on our cast iron skillet! It also turned out that Jeremy took up family history work again while I was at rehearsals. He found out tons of information about great grandpa Zavoral from old newspapers that weren't on the internet until recently. It's pretty exciting, and through some of the obituaries he was able to find living relatives that we didn't know about! Jeremy also managed to do a big scouting fundraiser with the scouts at church during show week. It was a very labor intensive fundraiser.

Jeremy brought the boys to one of the matinees so that they could see the show without it being past their bedtime. Here's a picture of me greeting the boys after the show! I was pretty proud of them watching the whole thing, especially Dallin who was just 3.75 years old. They were able to spot me on stage every scene that I was in! Their favorite part was when Jojo yelled his famous "Yopp," which that particular performance was an incredible showstopper. The kid held out his yell for a very, very, very long time, and my boys were cracking up while he did it. I'm so glad they were able to come and enjoy the show!

The week in-between performance weekends, our maple trees started growing leaves. I was able to confirm my theory: The leaves start out in spring the same color that they end up in the fall. See how the leaves on this maple tree start brown? Then the leaves turn to light orange and then fade to green as they grow more, which is the exact opposite from what they do in the fall!  

And this maple tree has wierd blossom things in the spring that are the same color as the trees in the fall. Maybe everyone else knew this, but it's been a fun discovery for me.

Random picture of Tanner helping get the garbage.

Tanner was pooped one day after preschool because they took a field trip. He actually took a nap!

The boys love our sensory trays. It helped keep them busy while I rested in between working and getting ready for my call time.

The second week of performing was even more fun than the first!

 

Claire and I were "who" buddies in the green room every night. She was also my buddy during the Christmas scene.

I managed to make these little gifts for all the adult ladies in the show. I wrote a little Seuss poem and made some Seuss clovers (or truffula trees, whichever you like best). The poem sums up my experience working with this cast:

Oh the thinks we did think as we dance and rehearsed!

Oh the songs we did sing! Why, those tunes should be cursed.

From the Jungle of Nool to the planet of Who,

It's been an honour performing with you!

Easter 2017

We had a wonderful Easter time this year, remembering our Savior's love and the miracle of new birth and new life that He gives us!

On the Sunday before Easter (aka Palm Sunday), we had a special Last Supper dinner and rice krispie sculpting contest. We normally do the last supper dinner on Thursday before Easter, but I had to work. We had the Ekins family and the missionaries over to enjoy the meal with us! We ate on low tables and sat on pillows like in ancient Jerusalem. I served lamb with meditarranian spices and beans, cooked in the slow cooker. I also did a pot of beef with the same seasonings. We ate bitter herb, haroset, and unleavened bread and re-read all the symbolism behind the foods. The kids really liked eating on the low tables and pretty much all of the kids liked the food, especially the meat! I actually didn't have any meat left over!

The rice krispy sculpting was super fun. There isn't any symbolism to this activity, per say. It's just a fun Easter thing that we started back in OC with our friends Lucy and Chris. Everyone gets some warm rice krispy stuff right out of the pot, and we each sculpt our best Easter scultpure. 

All the kids finished their sculptures pretty quickly, except for the oldest kid in our family and the oldest kid in the Ekins family. They both spent a lot of time on their sculptures.

And then Tanner was the last one still working maticulously at his creation.

Random pictures of the boys in church.

 

One day, we got out the eggs to decorate. (I had to make several batches of hard boiled eggs before we could do this- because all of them would get eaten before we had a chance to decorate them!) 

Decorating eggs started out great. The boys liked stirring the die droplets into the cups. But things took a downhill turn quickly. Tanner thought his egg was going to be blue, but the die was actually purple. Dallin thought his egg was going to be red, but it of course turned out pink. So they were pretty bummed and mad. Tanner cried and punched the couch. He yelled about Easter being too girly because it has pink and purple! It was pretty hilarious for me, but also disappointing. So much for trying to do something fun with my kids! 

On Good Friday, we drove to the local bakery called Super Fresh to get our special Hot Cross Buns. The boys were really excited about the frosting in the shape of the cross. We couldn't wait until getting home to eat them, so we sat in the car, sang the song "Hot Cross Buns," and then we all bit into the buns at the same time. Yum! While we ate, we talked about Jesus being crucified and how his disciples were so sad, thinking they would never see Jesus again.

On Saturday, I took the boys to a community egg hunt. I didn't really know what to expect, so I was not able to prepare the boys very well. It was the kind of hunt that consists of eggs all over a big lawn, not hidden anywhere. A man welcomed us and said to please be careful of others and not to be greedy. Then he yelled GO! and all the kids started scrambling (pun intended) around the eggs.

Tanner was very overwhelmed and clung to me and whined. Dallin started to grab eggs and have fun, but he saw Tanner's reaction and hesitated a bit. So I walked on the grass with them even though most of the adults stayed back and watched their kids. Dallin picked up a few more eggs and was excited for a few minutes. Tanner got the courage to grab a few, but couldn't stop stressing about everyone else getting eggs before him, and he kept asking why didn't they hide the eggs?

The entire "hunt" was over in about 3.5 minutes.

Dallin got about 10 eggs, but was sad it was over.

Tanner got 4 eggs and could barely hold back the tears until we got to the car. He could have gotten more if he wasn't so busy trying to process the whole experience. In the car, he let out all his frustration and disappointment. 

"There were too many kids! Everyone was going too fast! They didn't even hide the eggs! Why would they do that!? It was over too fast!" Oh the struggles of SPD! Although I was bummed that he didn't have fun and couldn't just figure out how to enjoy the moment, I was able to commiserate. I shared in his frustration. Why do people bother to have egg hunts where they just lay the eggs in the grass?! Our family decided that this kind of egg hunt is pretty lame!

We went home to see what treats we got in the eggs. Dallin opened up his eggs after I told him its okay (he wanted Tanner to be happy) and he was excited. Tanner waited a long time to see inside his eggs. Dallin tried to encourage him and share his own eggs with Tanner. Finally he opened them and was glad about the things inside. I appreciated that some of the eggs had little toys instead of candy.

We hung out in the library until Daddy came home.

Then we went out to dinner on Easter Eve at Perkins (and used a gift card)!

Dallin is hanging in there, but you can see in this picture he is getting sick.

EASTER MORNING!!

On Easter morning Dallin had a fever, so he couldn't come to church. Jeremy stayed home with him. We sure were bummed that they couldn't join us, but we still had a great time at church. Tanner wore this new suit from GramZ.

The primary children sang two beautiful songs during sacrament meeting (I had the privilege of teaching and leading them in the music). They sang All Thing Bright and Beautiful and Jesus Has Risen. Tanner was hesitant to get up there and sing, but he got enough courage to go. He smiled and sang!

During primary time, the other leaders and I made things special for the children. (Did I ever mention that I'm now the primary president? I was asked to volunteer as the president of our children's ministry at the end of January. It's a big job, but also super fun and rewarding). Karem taught the kids a lesson using the Resurrection Eggs and scriptures. Then we all made a cute craft of the tomb and the angel telling that Jesus is risen. Then Carol made some stellar easter treats for the kids. Each child got a half dozen egg holder, and inside were carrots, strawberries, mini muffin, pretzels, etc sitting inside the open plastic eggs. The kids loved it.  

When we came home, everyone had to look through the house to find their Easter eggs that Jeremy and I hid (the kids know that the Easter bunny is pretend). The boys had bubbles, chalk, and other goodies from the dollar store in their baskets. Jeremy and I had some dark chocolate. I succesfully kept candy to a minimum this Easter, and that was nice (especially because the only good Easter candy is Starburst jelly beans, pastel M&M's and dark chocolate. All the other stuff is just gross to me.) Then the boys opened up some Easter presents from their grandparents. 

Our day was so peaceful and relaxing--just how I wanted it to be! We ate Salmon with honey for dinner to remember how Christ ate fish and honeycomb. Jeremy wanted to compare the difference between frozen salmon and salmon from the special meat counter. The salmon from the meat counter won in both appearance and flavor. The boys loved the salmon and begged for more!

This Easter season, I thought a lot about the Resurrection, especially because this was a time of sickness for our family. Sickness sucks. Fevers of 103 that last for days upon days sucks! Not having energy and having your back give out while trying to do lots of good things simply sucks. But I'm glad that I have the opportunity to experience pain and suffering because now I will appreciate the gift of being resurrected much more than if I didn't have any physical ailments. The promises of being resurrected give me hope and help keep me going. And how awesome it is to know that not only will we obtain a body again after we die, we will gain a perfect, immortal body, even one that can be celestial in glory! It's going to be so exciting when we will all rise again and be able to kneel at Christ's feet in the flesh!! This is why I love Easter! (Job 19:26. Alma 42:23. 1 Cor 15:40-42. 1 Cor 15:54)