It's a Hard Knock Life....

for us!
Wow what a crazy and intense week. It's been full of 6 hour rehearsals and Performances of Annie.
The beginning of the week (M-W) Miranda and I spent at Summerlin Library. She would rehearse while I helped organize and prepare props & sets backstage.
Finally, Thursday Night it was SHOWTIME!
Miranda was extremely nervous because despite all the rehearsing they had never ran through the entire show, only the first half.
Thursday night was the true test of preparedness for the entire cast and crew.
But it went off (with just a few glitches)
Whew... one down 7 more to go....
Friday night was even better than Thursday and Saturday matinee and evening were even better than Friday (hummm, maybe practice really does make perfect)

Now for my little mother bragging moment....
Miranda was AMAZING! I knew she was talented (after seeing her in Seussical that confirmed my suspicion) however, playing the role of Miss Hannigan has truly brought out the "best" in her... in true Miss Hannigan Style.
We had many friends and family come see her the first week and they all couldn't believe it was really Miranda on the stage. It's like she transformed into someone else once the costume (and make-up.... ooooh the make-up) was on.

Even complete strangers couldn't believe that she was only 14 and could act and sing like she did.
I couldn't be more proud and I'm so glad,(even though It's exhausting) that it's not over yet.... 4 more shows to go!

I've taken quite a few photo's so decided to make a slide show of the first week.
Enjoy!

Hakuna Matata

For Christmas, Santa gave each of us tickets to see the Lion King at Mandalay Bay.
We were all so excited and counted down the days.

Finally... Last Night was the night!

We started with a fabulous meal at Maggiano's in the Fashion Show mall.
It was the kids first time eating there and they can't wait to go back.. Yummy! We headed to Mandalay Bay and made our way to the Theatre
So exciting! Our seats were fantastic right in the center! It's almost time to start! After the opening two scenes, the lights came on and everyone was wondering what was happening. Then an announcement said that due to a sudden illness, the show will have a brief delay. It only lasted maybe 5 minutes, then another announcement... "The part of Rafiki will be played by XYZ the understudy" (don't remember the name)... Gee, I wonder who got sick?

After that, the play went off without a hitch (and Rafiki did a fabulous job!)
The costumes were amazing!
It followed right along with the Disney movie with a few additional songs. It brought me back to when Miranda was 2 years old and wanted to watch Lion King over and over and over again. I can practically recite the entire script from memory (mom's you know what I mean)

The dinner was Fabulous... the Show was Fantastic and we had so much Fun together!
It was definitely a "Hakuna Matata" (no worries) kind of evening!

Toothless

Parker has been VERY slow with losing his baby teeth. He's in the line up for braces, but has to lose them before he's ready.
Well, after today he is well on his way to being a brace face....
He pulled out TWO teeth today

Finally! He's getting pretty good at twisting and pulling his teeth out.

Let's just hope the Tooth Fairy has enough money for both of them!

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

That's what you say when you're not sure what to say... and Miranda was just listening to the Marry Poppins Broadway music so it's stuck in my head!

It's already over a week into the new year.... CRAZY!

The kids are getting into their routines at school, but are already looking forward to the 4 day weekend. This week is Semester exams and only 1/2 days on Tues, Weds & Thurs so I don't know why they are complaining.

Been a little lazy with the photo taking. But, to be fair, the kids aren't always cooperative and we've not done anything too exciting lately. (I know you don't want to see the kids doing homework, me cooking dinner, or Ryan at the office... booor-ing)

However, I do have a little something I've wanted to share for a while...
I know I've said before what an amazing artist Miranda is. (yes, I taught her all I know, and gave her all my artistic talent to boot)

She likes to design birthday cards for friends and personalizes them to match their personality.
This first one she made a while back for her friend Shaun. They both love Harry Potter so that was the theme Miranda chose for her card... if you click on the photo to zoom in, you should be able to read the captions. This next card she just finished for her friend Hayley in Broadway class. They both share a love of Broadway and Cats the musical so Miranda chose that as her subject. Looks like she also put in some Alice in Wonderland characters from the new film coming up (note the Mad Hatter looks like the new Johnny Depp version) I can't wait until my birthday to see what kind of card I get.
Anyone want to place an order for their birthday?

We do have a couple exciting things planned this week so be sure to stay tuned!

Out with the Old...

...and IN with the NEW!
Happy 2010!

We had such a relaxing and wonderful New Year week.
Both kids had parties to attend so that left Ryan and I to fend for ourselves New Year's eve. However, as luck would have it (note the sarcasm there) we were able to chaperon the 5 stake youth dance that Miranda was attending.
Ok, it wasn't so bad, and we were even able to crash Parker's party (Deacons & Beehives) for a midnight Breakfast!
We were all relieved to take down the last of the Christmas Decorations - and hey... the tree was sooo easy to take down this year! I just love the fresh clean feeling the house has when Christmas decor is put away!

We have all enjoyed the past couple weeks so much. None of us wanted it to end!
But here we are.. back into the swing of things... School, Seminary, 5am alarm, Church callings, Saxophone and Dance lessons, Annie Rehearsals, just LIFE in general!
We have lots of things to look forward to this year and I hope to actually achieve a goal or two that I set this year.
Dare I write them down for all to see? I hear that if you do, you're more apt to keep them....
hummm, I'll have to think LONG and hard before I make them public...
Just want to get them right (wink wink)