In Which We Visit A Rock Pile

Sacrament Meeting Art #40:  August 17, 24, & 31, 2014.

It's finally time for Sacrament Meeting Art again!  I finished it!  It only took me three Sundays.

This is based on a picture my brother took while on a hike in Oregon.  He lives there.  I love it when he puts pictures of his adventures on facebook.  I got to see him today, though, so I promptly gave this one to him.  I asked if it was formed in nature or if humans had done this.  He told me it was made by humans.  He said he watched them put it together and then topple it over before they left.  It looks bigger than it is.  He told me it was probably a foot and a half high.  But it makes for one really cool picture.

Here's the original picture I used to go off of:

Gorgeous!

I hope you have a great week!

In Which We Do Something We've Never Done Before (A Few Things Actually)

The kids started school today.  It's a really good thing because their nit-picking at each other was beginning to get to me.  It can cause me great anxiety.  Last night, a cold descended upon me like a mist slowly enveloping the woods in a Twilight movie.  So I was not surprised when I woke up this morning with a sore throat and runny nose.  After the kids left, I went back to bed.  Then at noon, I realized Riley and Kaleb have early out and I should probably get dressed.  I really wish I had just stayed in bed today.  Being sick is no fun, and I had a headache all day long.

A few weeks ago, Kurtis found a recipe for a chocolate souffle.  And tonight he wanted to make them for Family Home Evening.  So we did. I took some Advil and put my big girl panties on.  I told Kurtis I would preheat the oven and watch, but I ended up doing more than that.  Pain killers are pretty nice.

I've never made a souffle before and this recipe was actually pretty easy.  Maybe it was because all I really did was stir the chocolate and cream.  We worked together.  Well, Kurtis and I did as the kids kept leaving the room and Kurtis would yell at them that if they didn't stay in the kitchen they wouldn't get any souffle.  Hee hee.  What fun.

But guess what!  They turned out and they tasted pretty good.  Jones family for the win!

Aaaand now it's picture time!

 He's got the Jr. High thing down.  Well, he really didn't at the end of last year and paid for it this summer, so hopefully he's learned his lesson and will do something about it.

His last year of elementary.  Whaaaaaat?

 Soon he will be my lone child in the see of elementary school kids.  Le sigh.

 My babies are growing up, you guys!

 Here they are baking.  Almost ready to come out of the oven.

 Riley called me "Souffle Girl" (it's a Doctor Who reference).

 We almost forgot the powdered sugar!

Here's mine.  We dipped our cookies in them.  It was delicious!

I Instagrammed Riley's because his looked like Oogie Boogie from Nightmare Before Christmas.

Pretty epic.

In Which There Are SO Many Feels

I have a couple friends in a play that is going on right now.  You may have heard of it. It's called August: Osage County. Friday night, I dragged Kurtis to see it with me. And by dragged him, I mean I asked if he wanted to see a play about a dysfunctional family with me, and make a date of it. He thought that sounded awesome. So it wasn't like I put a gun to his head.
Anyway. This is not a happy play you guys. I know Julia Roberts starred in the movie recently, but I haven't seen it. I didn't know what I was getting myself into. I had a feeling, so I wasn't completely unprepared mentally, but I was not prepared.
At the beginning, you meet the father (his name is Beverly  of the family. He seems like a really nice guy, too.  But then, a few weeks after hiring a maid to take care of his wife who had mouth cancer and is addicted to pain pills, he disappears. After five days, Ivy (the middle child) calls Barbara (her older sister). Early the morning after the oldest daughter arrives, the sheriff arrives to tell them they found him. Drown in the lake. Soon the whole family arrives and begins to unravel.
The acting in this play is amazing. The script is so good. I really did like this play, but it is heavy. I felt as if a weight had been placed on my shoulders. As though this family said, "Here, carry this burden for me for a little while. I can't do it anymore." And then they all gave you their individual burdens. Sometimes when you bare a burden that isn't actually yours, it feels heavier than all the others in your backpack.
Lots of people will go see this play and it will not affect them like this.  Kurtis liked the play.  He didn't walk away from it feeling like melting into a puddle on the floor, but I did. I'm laying in bed emailing this to myself on my kindle to publish later, in tears. Kurtis told me he would be like the uncle in the play - trying to calm everybody down. I know. He totally would and that's why I love him. I told him I would be in the corner crying and rocking back and forth covering my ears during the fighting. Maybe humming a tune of some sort to down it out. We both agreed that even our families aren't that dysfunctional.
Now, I'm not saying plays like this shouldn't be written or done.  Not at all.  I'm just describing how it made me feel.  Also, I really like that there are finally theatre companies in Utah that will do the hard to watch things, or things that would make you uncomfortable.  Around here, the plays that are fluffy happy family-friendly ones tend to win out.  Those are great for when you want to take your kids out and do something as a family, but sometimes I don't want to take my kids out.  More often, I will take my kids to see a movie at the dollar theater than take them to a play that's $20 a seat.  It's ridiculous to think that a family could even afford something like that.  That would be $100 for a family of five, so no thank you. Also, they tend to do the same shows over and over because they are "safe".  I've still never seen Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor-ed Dream Coat, but I'm sure I won't have to wait long for the opportunity to come around again.  And I don't necessarily want to watch shows that are for children either.  Sometimes I do.  But not always.
So it's awesome that I could get to see such amazing actors doing an amazing piece of work.  The direction was phenomenal, the actors were just brilliant, and I am still thinking about the characters and the story two days later.  So if you have the chance, I would go see it.  Performances are selling out.  You can buy your tickets here.  There are only three shows left.  Oh, I also need to say that this play would be rated R if it were a movie because of language.  But I only say that because I know some people care about that.

Oh hey, and if you were wondering why there was no Sacrament Meeting Art today and last week, it's simply because the piece I am working on isn't finished yet.  I think it will be next week though, so stay tuned!

In Which I Find Myself One Year Older

So I guess I have been busy actually living my life and not blogging about it, but I am behind again.  It happens.
After FantasyCon, came my birthday.  I turned 35.  The Sunday before, they sang to me in Primary.  The chorister told them I was 29 again.  But I corrected her and said, "Um.  Well, more like 18 again."  Because let's face it, I'm not really going to feel older than that.  Well.  Maybe when I can't move any more.  Then perhaps I will feel old.
My birthday fell on one of my workshop days, so we decided we would celebrate it on the 11th.
But in honor of my birthday, I decided we would make a birthday card for my workshop.  I like the way it turned out. One of the people who comes to club requested we also do a wedding card.  She said most of the people she knows are getting married or having  babies.  Makes sense.  She's in her twenties.  So I did one.  Here's a picture of them.

Super cute, eh?

So Friday, we celebrated my birthday by going to Costa Vida.  It's my favorite.  The kids were not excited because last time we went they ordered off the kids' menu.  They weren't impressed with their cheese quesadillas.  No surprise there.  But this time, we let them order what they wanted.  Zach got the shrimp tacos and now he always wants to go back.  Kaleb got a sweet pork burrito, but couldn't finish it.  That thing is huge and I knew he wouldn't, but it made him happy.  Kurtis got his usual chicken enchiladas and I my usual raspberry chipotle chicken salad.  Riley got a steak enchilada.  Mmmmmm. Great. Now I want to eat there.  Never blog hungry!

After dinner, we came back home and I opened my present.  Kurtis and the boys got me Friends, the complete series.  I'm already on season six!  I'm a binge watcher.

Then Kurtis and I went to see the movie The Edge of Tomorrow.  I LOVED it!  I knew I would even though Tom Cruise is in it.  It was really a great story.  I thought the ending was weird though.  It's based on a Japanese short story and they don't always have the typical happy ending.  So to me, it felt like they had Americanized the ending.  But I still liked it.  I just thought it could have ended about five minutes sooner.  Notice how I didn't spoil the ending there.  If you've seen it, you will know what I mean - you might disagree - but I didn't give anything away either.  Go see it.  It's worth it.

 My present!  I love it!

Then, a few days later, my brother Ben came by with another present! :)

It's a t-shirt he made for me with the symbol of one of the factions on a computer game I like to play.  You may have heard of it.  It's called World of Warcraft.  Or WoW for short.  So I took a picture of me in it for him to see that it does fit.  We were worried. ;)

FOR THE HORDE!

In Which There Is Electricity

Sacrament Meeting Art #39:  August 10, 2014.

The Lightning Strike.  The last few days as I've been driving home from rehearsals at night, there have been quite a few lightning storms.  I wish I could have stopped and watched them, but you know.  I have to go home at some point.  Sleep.  Kids.  Husband.  House.  Things to do.

Anyway.  This is the night sky as the lightning bolt lit it up.

Have a great week!

In Which I Joined the Adventure

Well, guys.  FantasyCon was a month ago (July 3-5), but I never shared my pictures from it with you.  It was pretty epic and if you like going to cons, but missed this one, you really missed out.  They really raised the bar for cons in my opinion.  There was so much to see and do!  There were celebrity panels, educational panels, autographs, meet and greets, celebrity photo-ops, cosplayers, and merch - typical con stuff.  But there was also a fire show, blacksmiths, glass blowers, LARPing, an archery range, dragon training, performers doing scenes from Shakespeare (that's what I did) and other various scenes, ballet, cirque de solie type stuff, a puppeteer.  Goodness!  I was so tired when it was over, I just wanted to sleep for days.
I took over 200 pictures, so here's 67 of them.  I think that narrows it down a bit, right?

 First day of FantasyCon, the whole family went.  Zach and Kaleb wanted to dress up, but they didn't tell me that, so they decided to go as Pokemon masters.

 Stilt walkers dressed like wood fairies!

 I was supposed to perform in Gargoyle Alley, but Thursday our scene got cancelled.  Someone forgot to get us a cauldron for our witch scene. So unfortunately, my family didn't get to see my little show.

 Kaleb, the Pokemaster.

 The blacksmiths were my kids favorite.  They kept coming back and wanting to watch them work.

 This dragon is very hot.

 The archery range was in Drifter Woods.  Along with Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother.

 This volunteer is explaining how to shoot to us.

 Zach, the Pokemaster.

 This guy explained all the safety rules of archery.

 Riley and I got the small targets, and I almost hit one, but nope.  I didn't hit any.  Neither did he.

 Then we found this lady with a real live dragon!

 He's pretty cool.

 This is the FantasyCon dragon.  I forget his name though.

 And they had a castle.

 And you could pretend to storm the castle.

 The dwarf mine.

 Kaleb wanted his picture with the Ewoks, but not Jabba the Hut (whose tale you see just on the right.

 The battle grounds were totally awesome!

 This water statue was totally awesome!

 Mermaids!

 Oh, they're so beautiful.

 A closer shot of the water statue.

 This is Rocky.  He was animatronic.  He growled and moved.

 This guy looked cool.

 Here comes the Dragon Team!

 Totally awesome.

 The blacksmith again.

 Kaleb and dad with the dragon.

Riley with the dragon.

 He also went to the stocks.

 Kaleb, too.  I have some really bad kids. ;)

 Then Kaleb sat on his throne.  He is King of the Pokemasters!

 We watched the drum performers.

 They were pretty sweet.

 Fire show!

 These are the Sentinels that greeted you as you entered the con.

 On the fourth of July, we had a parade.

 Guenevere getting her hair done by a fairy.

 Me, in my witch costume, with one of my witches!  Oh my goodness, it was hot.

 And this is also one of my witches.  She's a space girl for the parade though.  She didn't have time to pick up her costume the night before.

 One of the cosplayers.

Me and my witches before we went out to do our scene.  We did Macbeth.

I'm First Witch, Devon was Second Witch, and Arianne was Third Witch.

"Double, double toil and trouble!

Fire burn and cauldron bubble!"

 On the afternoon of July 4th, we were in the middle of our scene when I noticed someone sit down to watch us.  Our scene went wonderfully and everything went off without a hitch.  We took our bows and I looked up to thank the person who had sat down for watching us.  Low and behold, it was non other than Billy Boyd (Pippin from Lord of the Rings)!  I was not expecting THAT!  How amazing to have been watched by a man of great talent.  He said, "That was good! You guys were great!" And then he recited the next part of the play to us.  He told us he had done Macbeth last year.  Then he bid us farewell and was on his way.

This picture was taken of "Second Witch" not long after our encounter.

Third Witch freaked out a little.  It was awesome because I think we were both really freaked out by the whole experience.

 Then because it was the fourth of July, after I got home, we lit fireworks.

 Neji doesn't like fireworks.

 Saturday I forgot my camera and so I had to settle with using my phone.

This is Simon Pegg.  He's an actor and Arianne really wanted to see him, so all the witches got in line and checked out his panel together.

 He was funny.

 After our time for scenes was over, I hung out with Arianne for a bit and we watched these guys.

It was such a good experience.  I was really nervous about being a volunteer performer because I wasn't really sure what to expect, but I'm really glad I did it.