What's On My Happy List?

THE ROADSHOW! Not sure why our Stake loves roadshows so much, but they do! 

This will be our THIRD in recent years. The ones I directed in the past were mini ones compared to this...this was a full blown out roadshow!..like the ones reminiscent of the 80's. 

A 13 min production with music, dance and script. 

This baby took over my thought process for a good four months. I and my girls were heavily involved from beginning to end...coming up with the final story line, developing the script, casting, costumes, choosing the music, choreography and directing. 

It was so much work!...{and pretty torturous at times actually}... Can I dig a hole and hide? 

It was way more time, effort and mental energy than I had bargained for, but gosh darn it, 

the end result was priceless. 

Our theme was "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." It was a modern spoof of The Little Mermaid story with a missionary twist. {Ariel joins the church!} It was clever, light hearted, cute, fun and entertaining. It wasn't Broadway, but I even admit it turned out pretty darn good....

for a church roadshow!

This picture below has literally become my fav of Emma and Hannah. It makes me want to pee my pants from laughter, and or cry tears of joy because no one knows {but a few} what it took behind the scenes and in the trenches to pull this production off. 

Many times I thought why. why. why. did I volunteer to do this?...
But then it came together in the 11th hour,
{I'm here to tell you that the Lord cares about corny church roadshows}.
And when it was all said and done...THREE of my girls said they would MISS doing it.
The ultimate payback to hear them say that. 

Knowing I've helped provide this kind of opportunity {which is rare these days}, for the youth, makes it all worth it.  And then of course the memories it creates.
That's why I do these dang roadshows. I'd put myself thru it again. just. for. THAT.
...for the memories...

just give me a few years to recoup.. 

Kyleigh played the part of Ariel.

King Triton

Ariel's sisters and brother...

Even Dori from Nemo made a guest appearance...

                                         
Scuttle and Flounder

                               
The jelly fish!

The clown fish!

Ursula the Sea Witch

 two sister missionaries....

Ariel with Prince Eric

Under the Sea fishes...

Kyleigh turned into an actress for a night. She'd convince anyone with her face expressions. hilarious! 

Ursula seriously rocked it!

The infamous Kiss the Girl scene...Mormon style!

Missionaries in the city of Atlantica to teach the mer people! Who would have thunk? ;)

My partners in crime...Joan and the sound tec guy!

I gave Joan a "Little Mermaid" inspired thank you gift so she can always remember our one of a kind experience together.  An Ariel music box, filled with seashells, that plays "Under The Sea".  

 

I'm thinking for our ward.... Under the Sea is where it's at!

What's On Our Happy List?

A trip back to the 80's .....

For several weeks now the girls and I have been eating,

sleeping and breathing the "Footloose" soundtrack and

music video. Our Stake just held a "Music through the

Decades" evening last Friday night where each ward had

to perform a musical number from their chosen decade.

The 8th ward had the 80's and we picked the theme song

from "Footloose". I had the privilege of being in charge of last

years roadshow and got roped into doing it again this year.

The current Activities Committee Chairman is my good friend

Phillip. Although he's a very capable man, he's nearing elderly

status and felt quite out of his element trying to pull off

something of this nature. (Just the thought of that makes me

giggle) When he said he wasn't sleeping at nights because he was

up worrying about the roadshow I told him not to worry and that

we would take care of it. We had so much fun last year doing

"You Can't Stop the Beat" from Hairspray here that I didn't half mind

having the pressure of pulling something together again this year.

Although Kyleigh, Emma and I started several weeks in advance

scheming about choreography and who from the ward we were

going to get to play or dance certain parts, we really only have

one week and two practices to put it all together. C-R-A-Z-Y!

(Usually about mid week I'm begging for a strong drink or for

someone to shoot me) LOL Can you blame me though? I, who

cannot sing, act and sure as heck cannot dance, am the roadshow

director. I barely know what I'm doing and I find that quite

unnerving and humorous at the same time. Thank goodness that I

have daughters who have talent in this area. They helped

tremendously. With almost double the people on stage than last

year and so many more parts to fill with the choreography, it was

a lot harder song to put together than "Hairspray". It may not

have looked as polished as last years but the thing we did

manage to do was have the whole ward, young and old,

represented this time. Can I tell ya how much I love my ward?

...best on the planet. Not only did we have men in their sixties

shaking their groove (my poor father in law one of them) but we

had young women and young men that we never thought would

participate, up on the stage. And they had fun doing it! That in

itself was quite momentous and the most rewarding part for me.

We've laughed our heads off watching the video over and over...

the improvisation in the moves, (the hearts on the butts), the

uncoordination and the two near mishaps were hilarious.

Hopefully I can get the video posted soon... when we figure out

the downloading difficulties. In the meantime here is the actual

"Footloose"video that we got our inspiration from. Fun stuff I tell

ya!

My 80's girls..gotta love the leg warmers!

What's On My Happy List?

I believe I just had one of the funnest experiences of my life. I had the opportunity to be in charge of our Ward's Roadshow in our Stake's Production of "Broadway Our Way". Each ward was given the task to perform a Broadway show tune. The challenging part was that you only had ONE WEEK to put it all together and allowed (2) two hour practices. Can you say Crazy!!!! This opportunity provided so many humorous moments for me yet at the same time I don't know how many times I sweared under my breath this week and wanted to just forget this whole darn thing!!!! However, we persevered and I'm so glad we did. I wouldn't have traded this experience for anything. Our ward's show tune was "You Can't Stop the Beat" from the Musical "HAIRSPRAY". My Kyleigh played the part of Tracy Turnblad, minus a few pounds, and did a lot of the choreography. I would have been absolutely clueless with out her help. So thank you Kyleigh! And thanks to Grandma C. and Emma for converting the dining room to a dress making shop and whipping out all those cute poodle skirts in no time. Everyone just did SO WELL in the short amount of time that we had to prepare. This downloaded video just brings a smile to my face every time I watch it and I know I will never look at a can of hairspray the same again! EVER!



The "Dive Into Reading" Book Fair I so love books! Especially children's books. I was in charge of the book fair at the school the week before last and then went straight into preparing for the roadshow this past week. Two huge projects back to back without a reprieve was a little much. Can we spread out the fun here?

Surprise Parties

My sister Karen's 50th SURPRISE birthday party at the
Olive Garden, (which I failed to post last month.) All I can
say is I can't wait to turn fifty if I have the two days of
pampering like she did. Whoohoo!



Bubbly and Cupcakes for our Anniversary!
So looking forward to our get-away to celebrate
our 15th!

American Idol

I went to the party at the High School to watch American

Idol on the big screen with fellow David A. fans. I got me

my "I VOTED FOR DAVID ARCHULETA" t-shirt and

couldn't have been happier than a pig in mud. I'd rather

be caught dead than in a t-shirt (such a weird pet peeve

of mine) but I proudly wore that t-shirt to work the next

day. We are so in for the time of our lives with these last six

weeks of competition. So stoked about it that I can't

even begin to explain.

The NCAA Championship Party For F.H.E.

a couple of weeks ago we gathered at the neighbors

for dinner and to watch the Championship game

between Kansas and Memphis. Our hostess gave out

fun, creative prizes to whose team during the tournament

"Cracked Under Pressure", was the "Cinderella" team,

who played like "Pansies", etc. etc. We loved the two and a

half weeks of healthy competition between the neighbors

during Hoops Hysteria. We're definitely making this a

neighborhood tradition for sure!

Kyleigh and Emma's Ballet Recital

They performed this month in M.C.'s production of the

Russian Ballet, "Firebird".

Girls Night Out It's a tradition for Grandma C.

to take all us girls out on General Conference Weekend

while the guys are at the Priesthood Session. We

enjoyed dinner together and then went for the first time

to the new gelato shop right down the street from us. SO

YUMMY! Afterwards we watched Alvin and the Chipmunks

and then the girls and I had a sleepover camped out on blow up

mattresses in the living room. FUN NIGHT!