4th of July Colors

The kids had Friday off from school for Fall Break, so Arthur planned a fun hike for us at a canyon called 4th of July. When we got there, I realized that they must have named it because of the bright fall colors that look like fire. It was still really beautiful even though we missed the peak, and lots of the colors had already fallen to the ground. We loved hiking through the crunchy leaves and spotting the bright spots on the trees that hadn't fallen yet.

The kids had a fun Halloween party to go to in the morning, we headed out to the canyon after lunch for an afternoon hike. It took us about 90 minutes to get out there, but the drive was very scenic, and the little boys napped on the way. I didn't know how many different colors oak trees can turn. We saw oaks in shades of yellow, gold, bronze, copper, and brown. But we didn't see any red maples until we got to our destination.

Hiking is one of my favorite things to do with our family. The kids are getting really good not complaining, and just having a fun time. We hiked for 2.3 miles round trip. The kids collected leaves, and were delighted with the "fuzzy" backside of the red maples leaves. Daphne made up a song to sing as she collected leaves, the lyrics consisting entirely of the word, "FUZZY!"

By coincidence, we met some friends from our old ward on the trail. So we asked them to take a picture of all of us by one of the few maples still dressed in red.

Arthur planned our dinner and everything. We brought up the coleman stove, and heated up some beef and vegetable stew, and ate it with homemade wheat bread and honey.

And I think this is the point where the kids got the camera. They just pass it around and go crazy taking pictures. I have to say, I actually like a lot of their pictures. I guess it's in the genes--after all, their Grandpa Gariety was a photographer.

Please enjoy the photography of Dallin, Daphne & Sean.

Happy Autumn!

Roller Coaster

I've had an emotionally volatile weekend. I wrote pages and pages about it in my journal, and even though this is the fast version, it's still quite long. So unless you really care about me you might just want to skip to the end to see what happened.

Friday night:

Audition for Secret Garden produced by Musical Theatre Southwest, here in Albuquerque. Excited, nervous, anxious, can't wait to get it over so we can make some definite holiday plans. Receive a callback, but not for Lilly, or Martha, (the two parts I said I'd be willing to do.) I get called back for Alice. Never heard of Alice? Me neither, and I'm familiar with the show.

Come home. Brood about not getting a call-back for Lilly. (Not surprised about no call-back for Martha, because I sang a Lilly song to audition with and Lilly & Martha are totally different styles.) Talk to Arthur & my Dad about whether or not I can justify turning our lives upside down for a couple months for the part of Alice. Ultimately decide I can't.

Saturday Morning:

Cry (not gonna lie--I cried in the shower- a great place for a good cry,) because I realize what this means: I'll never get to participate in community musical theater since apparently, you can't skip the totem pole process of taking the smaller roles to get a bigger role. I don't have time for that. For me, it's go big or go home.

It's hard, but I decide, that essentially, I'm choosing to shelf that dream. I have found that when you choose to be a mother, some dreams get shelved. At the time it doesn't seem okay, but it always turns out worth it. As I'm in the shower, I remember this quote from the 2003 film Peter Pan.

Mrs. Darling: There are many different kinds of bravery. There's the bravery of thinking of others before one's self. Now, your father has never brandished a sword nor fired a pistol, thank heavens. But he has made many sacrifices for his family, and put away many dreams.

Michael: Where did he put them?
Mrs. Darling: He put them in a drawer. And sometimes, late at night, we take them out and admire them. And when it gets harder and harder to close the drawer... He does. And that is why he is brave.

I cry some more as I think about how brave I'm being. And also because I don't feel brave at all. Just selfish that I'm so disappointed about it and disappointed in myself for being selfish.

Saturday throughout the day:

Watch the semi-annual General Conference for our church where we hear modern day prophets and apostles speak and give counsel for our times. Very uplifting and inspiring. I have a testimony that those men are called of God. I feel validated in my choice, because I've chosen what's more important.

Have moments where the kids are crying and whining and hanging on my legs, and complaining and fighting, and making messes. Think about how unglamorous it all is. Feel sorry for myself.

Make sugar cookies with the kids, watch them play together, listen to their laughter, look at how beautiful they are. Think about how blessed I am to be a mother and how I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Go to bed resolved to attend the call-backs, explain why if I don't get a more substantial part, I won't be able to participate, & ask for another shot at Lilly--with no hope for success. It's just for me to know that I didn't roll over and give up.

Sunday:

Watch conference again, of course, have lunch with friends, watch more conference, and then head down to the call-backs. I dress in jeans and t-shirt because I don't care anymore.

Execute my aforementioned plan. To my surprise, the director says, "Sure, I understand. You can try for Lilly again."

I can?

I thought he'd tell me "Well then go home, you Diva. Don't waste any more of our time." (Or something like that.) Now I wish I'd worn a skirt, like the other Lillys, (who were both tall, graceful, beautiful, ethereal, AND both had done the role before.) So I sing & read for Lilly & Alice too, (just so I can get more exposure). Vocally, I am competitive with the other Lillys but they win in the stage presence department. It's hard to be short and ethereal.

Then another surprise.

The director consults with the music director and after a minute, pulls me aside and asks if I'd be willing to stay after and read & sing for Martha. (She's a fun and quirky major supporting role who is actually my favorite character in the play.) I say I'd love to. Fast forward to that part: They ask me, "How is your belt voice?" I laugh (because I've had no belt training at all) and say "I'll give it a shot." They seem satisfied with my imitation belt voice. I nail the reading and go home feeling pleased that auditions went better than I'd anticipated.

An hour later I get a phone call saying they'd like me to be Martha!

I calmly and happily accept, hang up the phone, and then hop around squealing and giggling like a little girl while Arthur laughs with/at me, and hugs me.

Monday 5:00 a.m.

Wake up early because I am so excited, I can't sleep. Start laundry and blog. Figure out how to best organize my time to make sure I really pull my weight around here since Arthur is being so supportive in taking responsibility with the kids while I'll be at lots of rehearsals.

I'm not feeling sorry for myself today. Slightly guilty though. Because now I wonder if maybe it's kind of selfish of me to do this? But mostly just excited, grateful for my heroic husband, and glad that I had decided I was willing to give it up if it came down to it.

For those of you in the area, mark your calendars for a really great family show. The story and music are beautiful! The performances are December 11-13, 18-20, and 26 & 27. It's a busy time of year, but you won't want to miss it. Info for purchasing tickets can be found at www.musicaltheatresw.com.

let the craziness begin.

Cheese Balls

I was at the store yesterday with Dallin when we walked by this pallet of Cheese Balls. Does anybody else remember eating cheese balls as a kid? I haven't seen them in a really long time--for years, it seems, and when I saw them, I couldn't resist. In fact, I had to restrained myself to limit my purchase to only one tub.

Here are Sean & Hayden having a little pre-breakfast snack of these tasty cheese balls. (Normally I wouldn't encourage a pre-breakfast snack by taking a picture of it, but you don't really get full from eating these--I think they might just be cheese-flavored air--and besides, who knows when I will buy a tub of cheese balls again?)

I remember when I was a kid, I would take two cheeseballs and twist them against each other until they had one flat side, and then I would eat them. Random, I know, but I just thought I'd share.

Dixon's Apple Farm

Today I took the kids to visit Dixon's Apple Farm, home of New Mexico's best mountain grown apples. We bought a 1/2 bushel of their famous Champagne apples, 1/2 bushel of the Sparkling Burgandy apples, and 1 gallon of apple cider. We also tasted some yummy apple fritters, and Sean and Daphne took a whole bunch of pictures--I included a few starting with the pumpkin and ending with Sean. They are very artistic.

tasting those delicious apples

pumpkin

Hayden's shoe

apples

"Don't sit under the apple tree with anyone else but me."

(ever heard that old Andrew's Sister's song?)

On our way back to the car.

"Our State Fair. . .

is a great State Fair.

Don't miss it, don't even be late!

It's dollars to donuts that our state fair

is the best state fair in our state."

In preparation for our State Fair excursion, we watched Rogers & Hammerstein's "State Fair." (Those lyrics I just quoted come from that show, in case you are not well versed in old musicals.) I grew up watching that movie, but my kids and husband hadn't seen it, so I thought it would be perfect to watch it before we go to the fair. I must say, the oldest member of our family watched it rather reluctantly. I think his comment when I chose it was, "Well, I guess marriage is about compromise." (He chose Napoleon Dynamite the week before, so I felt like we needed to diversify. After all, it's important to have a well-rounded repertoire of movie viewing, right?)

But for all his skepticism, even Arthur chuckled at the part where that cute little old judge kept tasting the mince-meat laced with extra brandy. So after we watched that, the kids went around all week singing "Our state fair is a great state fair" and were so excited to miss school on Friday for our family field trip to the State Fair. Here are some pictures of the fun.

Fair food: One of the best and worst parts of the fair, in my opinion. It all smells so enticing, and it is hard to choose! Do you get the funnel cake, or the pie, the kettle corn or cotton candy, the turkey leg or the corn dog or the roasted corn . . . ?

It would be nice to taste it all, but it's just so darned expensive . . . We ended up getting some curly fries that were slightly disappointing, (but we ate them anyway because they cost $6,) a turkey leg, some weak lemonade, (that was free with our coupon,) and some great cotton candy. We smelled sweet and sticky for the rest of the day.

This tiger show was really cool. There are four color schemes that tigers come in, and this show exhibited all four colors. The standard orange with black stripes, the tabby, which is orange with reddish stripes, the white with black stripes, and the snow white tiger, or white with light grey stripes. They are such beautiful animals! And I just cannot believe how BIG they get! That guy in there has some nerve!

Here's a funny tidbit. They had signs all over the area that said no umbrellas. Odd, huh? Well apparently two of the tigers have serious issues with umbrellas--they think all umbrellas are evil and must be destroyed. Good thing we left ours at home.

The kids loved looking at the 4-H animals. They always display lots of baby animals. Sean was trying to pet those fuzzy ducklings above, and we spent a good deal of time watching these piglets fighting for their lunch. I can't believe that mama pig just lies there and sleeps through it, because the piglets are NOT very gentle while they are eating.

The pictures below are from the McDonald's Farm area. It's a cute place for kids to learn about things that come from a farm.

Below, we are modeling the stylish hats we got at the end of the McDonald's farm.

They are promoting green chile and say, "Keep New Mexico Green" with pictures of green chiles on them. Did you know that eating chile can help you lose weight because the spiciness speeds up your metabolism? I learned that this weekend.

Here's a little sheep shearing. We also watched some ladies spin the wool into thread, and others dyeing the thread and others weaving it. It's so interesting to see that whole process.

We had to get a picture of this because it was a momentous occasion in Arthur's life. This is the first time he'd ever tasted cotton candy. He said it was weird but tasty. I think that about sums it up. Oh, and sticky.

The kids got to choose one ride to go on

(because it is just too expensive to go on more.)

They chose this pink train roller coaster and had a blast. Daphne did admit to me in a very grown-up manner afterwards, that she found it "a little disappointing" that they only got to ride one ride. But she understood.

Until next year, New Mexico Expo.

(Maybe we'd better start saving up now so we can afford to go again next year. :)

Aprons

We got a package from my Mom the other day. She had made aprons for me and each of the kids so they can help me in the kitchen and not get flour all over their clothes. :)

They are darling, and the kids just LOVE wearing them! Thanks Mom!

Here's a better shot of Hayden's apron.

I just think he looks so cute in it.

Daphne and Hayden saying "Cheese!"

Coincidentally, Hayden has a mouth full of cheese that we captured at just the right moment.