More Sold-Out Performances

It is getting pretty risky to just wear my parent badge and hope to be able to get into a production and find an empty seat. Today's Oliver that I went to, I shared an over sized chair with another mother who had a boy in the play. And then at intermission, I found a seat that was vacant and made the switch to a chair of my own. The ushers were told not to let anyone with a badge in but because I was Oliver's mother I was able to squeak by. Thank goodness I have a connection to the star:)
Jace's primary class from our Logan ward came to see Oliver today and his teacher bought all six kids plus her mother a ticket. I know that wasn't cheap and she was so generous to do that for the kids. She said that some of them probably had never been to a play before and she was glad to do it for them. We made them little treat bags with goodies to eat during intermission. After the play, I took a picture of all of Jace's class from here with his teachers too. Sister Kandler said that they would really miss Jace because he participates so well in class and that he is just one of the most polite children she has ever met. She even bought Jace an Aggie ice cream to eat after the show was over. He felt very special to have his new summer friends show up to support him.

After the show, Sierra and I went on a date with the Conrad's, Melanie and Kazlie. We went to Olive Garden for dinner and then to the Don Giovanni play. It was in Italian with super titles in English above. The singing was wonderful. Rochelle Bard, the soprano has a glorious voice that is pleasant to listen to. She makes singing those high notes seem so effortless and she didn't seem to be straining at all. Jace and the girls had a water fight with some of the girls in the apartments and then got their fill of television while we were gone. It seemed as though everything went well while we were away.
Saturday morning came way too early for Jace and Sierra. They had been up late the night before and they were the guests for "Breakfast with the Stars" this morning. They had to be there at 8:30 to mingle and tell their stories about how they got to this point in their lives. I guess Sierra made everyone laugh by standing on a chair because no one could see her. Michael Ballam and Jessica Medoff were the other guests that came this morning to answer any questions people had for them. They both enjoyed this opportunity and the lemon poppy seed muffins that they got to eat.
We came home and cleaned the apartment for a bit and then Jace and Sierra had to leave to do a South Pacific matinee. We packed a lunch for them and then dropped them off and headed out for some fun. We loaded the bikes on the truck and went searching for a bike path along the river. We drove to Hyrum State Park but found that it was not what we expected and ended up at an elementary school in Hyrum instead. We had lunch there, played on the playground and then headed to the Willow Park Zoo and Park to ride around. A spinning toy kept Olivia busy for a good 1/2 hour, it was like a merry-go-round and Maci just played on the other stuff. She wanted to go on the spinning toy but it was moving too fast for her liking. We enjoyed riding bikes at this park because it was flat and had no bumps. When we ride bikes in the neighborhood, Maci is constantly stopping to get off her bike and pull it over the uneven squares of sidewalk. Because there are so many old trees in Logan, the sidewalks are quite bumpy from the roots pushing up the squares of cement and breaking some of them. Maci is nervous to ride over those, fearing that her training wheels will not keep her bike upright. She jumps off often so it takes us forever just to go around the block. At this new park, the cement was smooth and our ride was pleasant.
Tonight we went to the Call's for a BBQ and a visit. Lyle grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, I made potato salad and LeAnn cut up a watermelon. They are such good friends and the kids have sure enjoyed visiting with them. They all get along so well and we will all miss the friendships that have formed this summer. They will be the reason we come back up to visit Logan in the future. Only one more week and we will head home to a lonely dad, Chad and Hannah. We miss them and the kids are looking forward to playing with old friends before school starts. We will have to register for school when we get home and see what teachers the kids have been assigned. Something to look forward to.

Denzil Stewart Park and Foundation for a Better Life

On Wednesday, we went looking for a place to ride our bikes. We had been wanting to find a gorgeous trail to ride along and this was our big adventure for today. We followed a brochure map that we got from the Chamber of Commerce and found a little trail with kiosks all along the paved trail telling about what the area used to be like thousands of years ago. Apparently Cache Valley was under water at one time and that is why the soil here is so rich. No wonder everyone here has a vegetable garden. At the top of the mountain, we found tons of sea shells and the girls gathered up handfuls to bring home. We walked and Jace rode his bike along the trail until we came to an amphitheater  and then went on a short beautiful hike up the side of a mountain. The trail was covered in shredded bark, (I love that smell) and had hundreds of wildflowers along the path. The path was shaded and it was just heavenly to behold. Someone spends lots of time maintaining the trail because there were little ceramic frogs, butterflies and other garden ornaments all along the way. Near the top of the trail, there was an amazing view of the Cache Valley and the Logan temple. A house right there would have been magnificent. When we reached the top, we had traveled from the bottom of the nature park into a well-kept neighborhood with historic houses. We looked around on foot for awhile and then decided to drive the neighborhood when we got back to the truck. We played at a fun park that had a misting system for the kids to cool off under and then came home for some lunch.

It was still dark outside when I woke up the three smallest children to drive them all to Salt Lake City for Jace to do a commercial for Foundation for a Better Life. He had to be there by 7:15 a.m. and it takes an hour and a half to drive there so we left at 5:30 and made it two minutes before call time. I had the kids stay in their pajamas and sleep while I drove but no one really slept because Maci kept talking. They changed clothes in the car while I was driving and we took a couple of minutes once we got there to brush teeth and comb hair. With two minutes to spare, we arrived in the Avenues in Salt Lake (another place I would love living. The old trees and homes are so inviting to me AND the beautiful yards.)

Jace in the red ball cap with his crew from the commercial. Danna Wilson was also chosen to be in the commercial and it was fun to see her and her dad. Lynn played with the girls while the filming was going on.

I left Jace in the care of the crew, who dirtied him up and fed him well, and took Maci and Olivia with me to try and find a dollar store. We stopped by temple square and looked at all of the beautiful flower gardens and the girls stuck their hands in the water features there. We took some pretty pictures then continued our search for the dollar store.

We finally found one and went in a bought coloring books and crayons, a backpack for Maci to take to kindergarten and polly pocket rapunzel dolls. I needed some things to keep the girls busy during the day because I knew it would be a long one and Maci isn't one to just sit for very long. We headed back to the shoot location and didn't stay very long because it was time for lunch and the actors were the only ones being served lunch and the little girls were hungry. We went to Wendy's and grabbed some fast food which the girls ate quickly because the next thing on our agenda was the splash pad at the Gateway Mall. We came prepared with swimsuits and towels this time and the girls played for a couple of hours with no complaints at all.

The kids all got their own guest library card so they could play on the computers.

After we dried off and got dressed, we headed to the Salt Lake library on 400 South. What a treat!!! The children's section is one whole floor of the library with furniture just their size and lots of cubbies to sit and read in. Bean bag chairs and comfy, quiet  places to peruse through books were everywhere. It was excellent! Plus the had about 20 computers for the kids to play on, either on the internet, or they had a ton of educational games on the desktops of the computers for the littler kiddos. Soon after we got there we got a call, picked up Jace and returned to the library. The kids rode in the glass elevator where you can see all the mechanics of the elevator and look out at everyone as you travel up and down to each floor. I think that was the highlight for the kids at the library. We grabbed a bite to eat at McDonald's, all because it had a playplace and then began the long journey home. What a day! Glad it's over and now I'm going to shower and head to bed. It has been a long, but fun,  day. I forgot to mention that Sierra had tickets to a show called, Little Shop of Horrors, and chose to stay home and go to that. She really enjoyed the quietness and going to the show with Jeanette Blakeney, her new opera friend. They made pasta roni and ate caramel corn while watching a movie after the play. Sierra also forgot to water her plants and they looked dead when I got home. We will see if they survived her neglect:)

Family Night Barbecue and Caine Lyric Opera

On Monday we went school clothes shopping in shifts. Sierra and Maci got their turns last week, and Jace and Olivia got their turns today. We started out looking for pants for Jace since he seems to only have 2 pairs of shorts that he wears constantly here. People are going to think he only owns 2 outfits because he wears the same thing all of the time. We found 3 pairs of nice jeans and 2 pairs of shorts at D.I. for 2 and 3 dollars each. I had already purchased some shirts for him the last time I was in Elk Ridge so he is pretty set for school. We bought a couple of things at Walmart and he was done. Boys are so much easier than girls. He just wanted basic t-shirts. The one thing that he was a little picky about was a pair of skinny jeans. He was looking for black and we didn't find any so he is waiting for just the right pair before he buys those. He bought his own tennis shoes because he wanted to spend a fortune on them and was willing to use his own money to get what he wanted instead of what I wanted. They are pretty flashy skate shoes.
Next up was Olivia. She wanted to go to JCPenney because she saw the cute clothes that Sierra got there for school. She wanted to copy Sierra's shirt choices but I only let her copy one. Copying is the nicest form of flattery, but Sierra was not flattered. It was more like annoyed. Olivia likes sparkly and it was hard to let her buy glittery stuff but I did allow one shirt with many sequins and glitter. She was happy. I found all of the girls some cute shirts in the morning and then when I took her shopping, she found a few that were things she liked and feels good about her choices for school. She came home and showed everyone her new clothes. All of the kids are getting excited for school to start and to see their friends again.
For family night we were invited to the Conrad's for a Barbecue. The made sloppy joes and dutch oven Chicken Italiano that was delicious. We took taquitos and cilantro dressing and chips and salsa. A few of the actors and actresses from our apartments were also invited and we played just dance on the wii. After the actors and actresses left, we watched the new Karate Kid down in the Conrad's theater. It was really late when we got home and into bed. Maci was a nightmare at their house, not happy about much that was going on. She didn't want to eat anything but junk for dinner but wanted dessert so I had to insist that she eat dinner or no treats. She threw a temper tantrum during the movie so I made her sit in the truck and cry so we could hear the movie. I distracted her from crying by asking her if she wanted to come with me to walk Coco the dog around the block. She jumped at the chance because she loves Coco and ran practically the whole way around the block until we came to a huge St. Bernard that came running after us. I had to pick up Coco, yell at the St. Bernard to go home, and calm Maci all at the same time. Maci is a lot of work in case you haven't gathered that. I get advice from well-meaning friends and family all of the time on how to raise Maci but I've tried most of the suggestions I'm given and have decided that she is just her own person. I try to be patient with her, but sometimes she gets the best of me. I love the little dear and hope that in the end she will feel that she is loved and that I won't squash her spirit too much.
Today we took it easy in the morning, slept in and had breakfast at 11:00. I guess everyone was tired from all the activities on Monday. We did a little laundry, made quiche for dinner with some Ciabatta bread we bought at Crumb Brother's Bakery, Jace went to a play at the Lyric Theater to watch, "See How They Run" with Owen and the kids had their last art class with Janet and Owen Rouse (her 14 year old son) and learned how to do origami.

Janet does the artwork on the chalkboards at Crumb Brothers and she did the big front board in honor of Jace because she recently went and saw Oliver. She drew a boy holding out his hands and asking, "Please sir, I want some more". She also advertised on the board for UFOMT so that was a good plug for the company. Olivia also went to activity day at the church and got some hand-me-down clothes from Hayley Morrill, which she liked. We played several games of Egyptian Rat Killer but I never won. I'm just learning but slowly I'm getting better.
I forgot to mention that LeAnn came by today and hung out for 40 minutes. She has been having trouble with a tooth in her mouth since the beginning of summer and today the dentist tried to remove it but had a very difficult time. She was in the dentist chair for 2 hours. She had to go back a little later and didn't want to drive all the way home so she came over for a visit. While she was here, MaciLeAnn who was sitting on the couch. The biggest glob landed right in LeAnn's hair and she was such a good sport about it that she had all of us laughing our heads off.

Camping and Stalking Michael Ballam:)

all packed up, looking like the Beverly Hillbillies

Braxton, Hudson, and Allie Call

Sierra is not a big fan of these stinky bathrooms

playing games in the mosquito free tent

poor Olivia is allergic to mosquitos

At the beginning of this week, we went camping with the Call's to Sunrise Campground by Bear Lake. It was a beautiful campground filled with pine trees, aspens, wildflowers and about a billion mosquitos who were not deterred by the fact that we had insect repellent sprayed on thickly. Olivia and Maci were getting eaten alive and had a hard time sleeping that night. Olivia got some on her forehead that made her swell up and she looked like she had a third eye protruding from her forehead. I didn't have our magical black ointment with us to help the swelling go down, so she was quite itchy. We took our bikes and had fun riding them around the paved campground. We went on a little hike to see the lookout over Bear Lake and it was beautiful, the water is turquoise. We played games and made s'mores with the Call's. The kids played capture the flag, Olivia and Maci found the "golden bridge" with Allie, and the boys just hiked around the site. The boys started out sleeping in the one man tent but Hudson ended up going to the trailer with his parents sometime during the night. We slept in the amazing tent that I got last year for my birthday from my mom that sets up in 2 minutes. It is a joy to take camping because it is so easy. I listened to the girls scratching and moaning all night and decided that one night of camping was good for me. I'm such a light sleeper. Jace had a practice on Tuesday in the afternoon so we had to get home. LeAnn invited Sierra and Olivia to stay the night again and then I was going to bring Jace back after practice, but when I got home and read my emails, Jace had been invited to sing for the Zion's Bank regional area managers meeting and so he couldn't go back. He was very disappointed and cried about his bad luck. Thankfully, he was able to spend the night with Cameron Conrad to soften the blow of no camping with the Call's. Maci and I had a girls date since everyone was gone. I let her pick her favorite place for dinner so guess where we ate....McDonald's (they have a play place:) and then we went school clothes shopping for kindergarten. Maci picked out some pretty styling clothes and did a fashion show for each child when they got home from their various adventures. We went the next morning and got doughnuts for breakfast and even watched a redbox movie together called "Alpha and Omega" about some wolves that became friends.   

Amanda's 20th birthday

     Our visitors this week were Grandma Doris, Doug and Sherrie, plus Amanda and Dad. They came on Amanda's birthday which we celebrated the day after with a strawberry cake and 20 candles. She is headed back to  New York on Friday for her new nanny job and is so excited to see Wadi again. Visitors from our ward included Laura Deichman and Carylee Barnett (my visiting teachers), Mike and Cindy Turner (our home teacher), her mother and sister. I made a big lunch for everyone and Sierra and I made some cute treat bags to give everyone for intermission. We had exactly enough food, thanks to my brother's help in dishing things up:) It was good to see my family and spend some time with them. When we got to the matinee, Grandma told everyone she ran into or stood by that Jace was her grandson. I got a lot more comments with her there because people would ask me tons of questions after she would point out who Jace's parents were. It was fun and neat to see her so proud. The show was a sell out (the second one) and we had a hard time finding a seat. As it happened, Doug and Sherrie and my mom had two empty seats by them and we were able to be right next to them for the whole show. D.J. came at the last minute and LeAnn and Lyle let Maci came over to stay at their house while we all went to the play. She is having a harder time sitting through the plays as time goes on so I didn't mind giving her ticket to D.J. who sat by Amanda and Olivia up in the balcony. It makes me so happy to see the kids perform and I get great pleasure in seeing them get better with each performance. In between shows, Uncle Doug treated us to dinner at Sizzler. It was very yummy and the kids were in heaven getting to choose whatever they wanted off the salad bar. After dinner, we dropped off Jace and Sierra for South Pacific, came home for a short rest, and then went to see the 4th performance of South Pacific. It is a fun musical with cheerful music but too much swearing for Grandma Doris. Uncle Doug had a hard time following the French accent so they both preferred Oliver over South Pacific but enjoyed both of the children being in the shows. I think they just liked all the attention they were getting from everyone because once again, Grandma had to mention that she was related to the darling children in the play. Sherrie was very emotional and cried a lot during the play. I guess she was so proud of the kids that she just couldn't hold back the tears:)
     We've been driving around town looking at the different neighborhoods and houses. There are some really pretty places here and we love every inch of Logan. Someone told us that Michael Ballam's house is on the cliffside and that it is pink so we went searching last Sunday as we were driving around. Didn't find it but enjoyed looking at the "castle" houses (that's what the kids call them) in that section of town. The yards here are so beautiful with all of the different colors of flowers in bloom and it seems as if everyone has a vegetable garden producing food. There are a lot of old homes with such Victorian style that I love, a lot of stone, brick and fish scale siding. We attended "Musica Magnifica" on Saturday night and the kids told Michael Ballam that we had been searching for his house. Talk about embarrassing! He came over to me and gave me his address and told me to bring the kids by to play in the large sandbox he has in his backyard. I could have crawled under a rock! Why don't kids understand what's socially proper?:) Anyway, he was really nice about the whole creepy stalking thing. After the program we went with the Conrad's to Angie's and ordered two kitchen sinks full of ice cream. There is enough ice cream in the sinks for a huge crowd and we didn't even come close to finishing either one but they were sure good.

HUGE amounts of ice cream and toppings!

We love the Conrad family and all of the fun we get to 

have with them.

Jace and Sierra In the Herald Journal

Oliver!
For those who hate to read the Victorian Era soap operas written by Charles Dickens but love musical comedy, the Utah Festival Opera & Musical Theatre's flawless production of "Oliver!" is the perfect summer treat.
Because the quality of productions of this Lionel Bart musical depend so heavily on the performances of youngsters, it takes inspired casting and direction to stage this show in an entertaining fashion. Luckily, director Jack Shouse has pulled off that miracle here in Logan.
Eleven-year-old Jace Salcido takes the role of the orphan Oliver Twist and makes it his own from the first moment that he opens his mouth to sing. He not only has an amazingly strong voice for his diminutive size, but also one that is so sweet that it sends chills through the audience. Moreover, despite being a newcomer to the stage, Salcido has nothing to apologize for as a novice actor.
Cameron Conrad is equally well-cast as Oliver's sidekick, the Artful Dodger, and 16 other boys sing and act with remarkable aplomb for their ages as members of the show's orphan/street urchin choruses.
With the youthful actors carrying their own weight, the adults in "Oliver!" are free to perform at the top of their game and they do just that. The cast is led by Jessica Medoff in the role of Nancy, a woman of the street who is torn between her love for outlaw Bill Sykes and her protective instincts toward Oliver. Aided by a booming lyric soprano voice, Medoff dominates the stage with breathtaking acting and dancing skills.
The contributions of the adult ensemble to the success of this production cannot be ignored. Those talented singers open Act II with a rollicking performance of the tavern song "Oom Pah Pah" that had the audience cheering during the premier of "Oliver!" on July 7. Minutes later, the same audience was thrilled by the sheer beauty of their rendition of the haunting "Who Will Buy?"
The highlight of this show is naturally the appearance of Logan impresario Michael Ballam in its cast. In recent years, the founding general director of UFOMT has resisted the temptation to hog the spotlight by limiting himself to age-appropriate minor roles in the festival's productions. In the pivotal role of Fagan, however, Ballam returns to center stage where he belongs. The veteran trouper makes even a nuanced characterization like that of Fagan look easy because - for him - it is easy. Ballam's standout performances of the songs "You've Got to Pick a Pocket or Two," "Be Back Soon" and "Reviewing the Situation" are simply unforgettable.
The orchestra for "Oliver!" is brilliantly directed by Karen Keltner, the resident conductor of the San Diego Opera. The set designs by Dennis Hassan are appropriately moody and atmospheric.
Repertory performances of Oliver! will continue at the Ellen Eccles Theatre through Aug. 6.
The paper had a photo of Sierra and Jace eating soup at the end of the South Pacific show with Emile and Nellie but when I went to import it, for some reason the internet version does not have that photo but a different one. I had to take a photo of the photo with my camera phone so it isn't as clear as the one in the paper but Sierra was happy to be featured in the newspaper too.

South Pacific
The Utah Festival Opera & Musical Theatre's ongoing production of "South Pacific" successfully breathes life into familiar dramatic material that is more than half-a-century old.
"South Pacific," a tale of clashing cultures and people cut adrift from their roots by World War II, was penned by Broadway giants Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II only four years after the conclusion of that conflict. While that made the musical unusually topical in 1949, sophisticated modern audiences tend to view "South Pacific" as hopelessly romantic and chock full of wartime clichés. Moreover, the racial prejudice subplot that emerges in the second act of the musical is so dated that it feels contrived.
A common solution to those problems nowadays might be to play for self-conscious laughs by turning "South Pacific" into a campy nostalgia fest. But here in Logan, director Maggie L. Harrer has chosen a riskier approach by playing the musical straight and trusting in the talents of her performers to make the original material seem still relevant.
Harrer's gamble pays off richly in the person of Molly Mustonen, a Minnesota native making her UFOMT debut as U.S. Navy Ensign Nellie Forbush. Mustonen plays that role with such wide-eyed innocence that she not only makes the improbable reactions of the self-proclaimed "hick from Little Rock" to her first romance believable, but also infects her fellow cast members and the audience with her enthusiasm. From its opening curtain, this UFOMT production is Mustonen's show; it is her spirited singing and dancing that makes some of the musical's well-known production numbers work.
Mustonen is supported by an outstanding cast. Branch Fields provides her love interest as French planter Emile de Becque and his powerful bass voice makes the musical's trademark songs "Some Enchanted Evening" and "This Nearly Was Mine" memorable. Jeanette Blakeney is delightfully exuberant as the Tonkinese businesswoman Bloody Mary. UFOMT veteran Mark Womack turns in a solid performance as Marine Lieutenant Joe Cable as does crowd pleaser Stephanous Tsirakoglou as the seagoing con man Luther Billis.
After a nearly letter-perfect debut performance, some gaffs that would be considered wardrobe errors in the movie business emerged toward the end of "South Pacific." While an enlisted combat engineer who has "gone native" like Billis could easily get away with missing a few shaves, a full beard and shaggy haircut would never have been tolerated on a naval officer flying a PBY seaplane. It's even more jarring when Billis converses with a couple of what he calls "Marines" who are conspicuously dressed as sailors. UFOMT's audiences include too many military veterans for errors of that kind to escape notice.
Repertory performances of "South Pacific" will continue at the Ellen Eccles Theatre through Aug. 5.

The Art of Capturing Ladybugs

Dad came on Friday and stayed until this morning. He didn't have a Sunday white shirt so he headed home so that he could attend his own ward. Our church membership records have been moved up here so we stayed for our own ward. I love Logan and so do the kids. We're still trying to convince dad that this would be a good move:) We went driving around the city today looking for and taking information on homes that were for sale. There is a really nice area called Cliffside but I think that I like the area over by the college the best. I would love to buy an old house and restore it. There are some great ones that have the Logan river running right through their backyards and it would be so soothing to have the "stream" sound to lull us to sleep at night. It would kind of be like living near the beach.

painting class with Janet Rouse has inspired the kids to create all of this beautiful artwork that we had to hang on our bare walls in the apartment. It brings such color to these white walls.

We have decided to hang all of our art class artwork on the bare white walls of our apartment to bring some color to these dull walls. The kids have really enjoyed the watercoloring classes they have been taking from a new friend in the ward, Janet Rouse. She encourages them all with such positive words and has supplied them each with a sketch pad and set of watercolors for creating their masterpieces.

Tonight we went for a walk to the park and captured some ladybugs to put in our garden. We have something that is eating the leaves on a couple of our plants and a family of earwigs have taken up residency in our basil herb. We hope that the ladybugs will be harsh apartment managers and kick the earwigs out:)

Oliver #3 with the Salcido Side of the Family

Lots of company came on the 15th from the Salcido side of the family. What great supporters they are and what fun we had visiting with them. We had the traditional taquitos, salsa and chips, rice and beans waiting for all of our guests when they arrived. They might think it is the only meal I know how to cook:) Chelsea and Eric, Uncle Jerry, Spencer and Shenelle (came all the way from Palo Alto, California) and Dave and Amanda made the 3 hour trek from Elk Ridge to see show #3. It was an "almost" sell-out with just a few seats left available for last minute ticket buyers. I actually got to sit on the front row and watch Jace from that great seat. Michael Ballam has about 8 seats right there that are reserved for him and his family and his son Benjamin, told us that no one was coming and that we were welcome to sit there. However, right before the show began, some nieces and nephews showed up with their parents and Dave went to find somewhere else to sit. Sierra and I stayed because there was enough room for us. At intermission, I changed seats with Amanda, who was up in the nosebleed section, so I could take care of the two little girls and give her a break. It was so much fun to have family there. Everyone loved Jace and his head is exploding with all of the compliments. We're talking about finding a show every summer so we can vacation in a different spot each year. Next year we decided to look at the San Diego opera because we love Oceanside and that would be a great place to be for the whole summer:)
Today we traveled to Bear Lake again, this time to an official beach with sand. The water was pretty cold but the kids didn't seem to mind too much. They all got in, except Sierra, who was working on her tan and trying to finish her book, The Last Olympian. Dave and I just sat and enjoyed the wind and sun and mostly the shade. Monday and Tuesday we will be going camping with the Call Family near Bear Lake. Looking forward those days. We're also looking forward to next week when friends and my side of the family will be attending the shows to see Sierra and Jace.