The YEAR of the MUSICALS

Tonight we counted up how many musicals Hunter has seen (or been in) during the past year. TEN!! That's almost one a month!! Eleven if we stretch it to the last 18 months. It started for Hunter with trying out for Missoula Children's Theater in March 2013 for the play The Secret Garden (#1). Hunter played Goose #4. Fun stuff! He thought the costumes would be more majestic. They were a lot more generic than that, but I thought they were cleaver costumes made to fit a variety of children. He wanted to be an amazing white goose--more like a swan goose. But he was a grey, honking, doughnut loving Canada Goose.

That was a fun week of practices everyday and then a couple performances on Saturday. Gave us all a taste of some theater. Hunter was quite a natural on stage and really enjoyed the social part--especially with the older kids.

At the end of the summer, Hunter, Luke and I went to go see our neighbor girls perform in a Sleeping Beauty musical (#2) put on by DreamWeavers Musical Theatre. Hunter and I had kind of tricked Luke into coming. He was a bit miffed at us, but he secretly liked watching it and he got a huge kick out of the funny parts. We loved seeing Olivia and Julia all dressed up. Candice, their mom, was the music director and she kind of started putting it out there that Hunter should do it the next summer.

Candice, who has a degree in music theater, then ventured off to the Knock 'em Dead Dinner Theater for a run in Les Miserables (#3) as Cosette along with her girls playing young Cosette and Ephonine. So Hunter, Thayne and I went to go see that on October 10, 2013. I wish we could have taken Dallin along too, because he really would have liked it. But he was busy, busy, busy with football.

I couldn't believe how much Thayne and Hunter knew the story of Les Mis. We've had the music around our house their whole lives. Lance had been introduced to it in college and then was able to see the production live in Chicago while on his mission. He loves it. He played the soundtrack for me in the truck when we'd drive around together and he taught me the story. I bought us tickets to go see it finally (we'd tried when it can to Salt Lake when we were in college, but it was sold out) for the anniversary tour in 2012. It was so good. I had read half the book before going and I can't believe how much more depth there was to my understanding of the lyrics. Masterfully constructed lines which convey chapters of character development with just a few words. What art!

So taking my youngsters to the local theater company performance was such a treat. It was a bit more family friendly in certain scenes than the Broadway company's too, which was an added bonus.
We did the "student rush" for tickets. So we got lower priced tickets 10 minutes right before the show started and we ended up right on the front row. The girls told us it's known as "the spray zone" because sometimes you might get a little spit from some exuberant actor's lines! It was intimate sitting so close. Olivia was right up in front of us for one of her scenes and she looked up and caught our eyes and her eyes lit right up when she saw us. She worked really hard to suppress her smile, because it was the scene where young Cosette is being "abused" verbally by Theanardier.

An added bonus that night was that Lauren was there too to watch the musical. Lauren, Olivia, and Hunter are a little bit like the neighborhood Three Musketeers. 

the kids from the left: Lauren, Olivia, and Hunter with Julia in the front

Missoula Children's Theater was back again in November. This time for Blackbeard the Pirate (#4). Bruce, Luke and Hunter tried out this time. Bruce as a beach bum, Hunter was a sassy alligator, and Luke performed in the pre-show.  I liked this show. I'm amazed every time that Missoula Children's Theater puts a show on in a week with children of so many ages and huge ranges of acting experiences. I'm bummed I didn't get a picture of Luke. He was so cute for his Dr. Seuss number with a red and a green sock, blue shorts, white gloves and a fun hat.

This was Bruce's first play ever! He thought it was "really fun." So descriptive, I know. He was a goofy beach bum. I don't think he was to act too hard for that role though, because I think he'd really like to be one sometimes! Although, they did act a bit ditzy and Bruce is actually pretty smart.

Can I just say how fun it has been to have a friend that loves musicals! It's been such a blast to have Candice to take Hunter to so many events this year! Sometime during the winter he was taken to both The Secret Garden (#5) and The Little Princess (#6). 

In January, Hunter and I went with Candice and Olivia and Julia to see Mozart's operetta, The Magic Flute (#7) put on by the College of Idaho. It's fun! Papageno! What a fun character. And some seriously beautiful soprano arias. The storyline is a little silly, but that was Mozart's intent to create a light hearted opera.

All winter long our house hold was focused in on ONE musical though--Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance! (#8)  When the lead, Fredric, lives in your house you get to learn a lot of songs right along with him. Six months later I still catch Luke humming or singing, "A paradox, a paradox, a most ingeninus paradox. ha ha ha ha..." and sometimes we still hear "OFF TO THE PIRATES LAIR!" from Dallin. (I loved that he did that all winter!) I must give this musical its very own post though. I got to watch it three times and that wasn't enough.We all loved it so much! Dallin was really good. Truly, really good!

Pirate King, Fredric, Major General (photo bombed by )

 As soon as Pirates was done, Dallin took me and Hunter to go watch Columbia High School's production of Footloose (#9). Based off the movie and family friendly (the movie isn't) it was fun to see. Helped us realize what an amazing job Kuna High does at producing a musical though--especially the tech guys! We really liked the dancing the second half of Footloose. It was put together very well.

On July 30th, Dallin, Hunter and I headed up to Garden Valley, Idaho with Andrea, Rhonda, and Abby Johnson to watch Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (#10) by the Starlight Mountain Theater. What a fun acting in this musical! We took no pictures though.  

This summer Hunter has spent every Monday and Thursday afternoons rehearsing for The Mad Adventures of Mr. Toad (#11). He was cast a Mole--one of the supporting leads. He was fabulous! He too gets his own section about this experience! 

Mole, Rat, and Badger

I'm kind of liking this new little hobby we are starting of going to see musicals. I only wish I could have made it an even dozen for Hunter this past year. Lance and I went to see Wicked in May. WOW! Just WOW! Probably my most favorite musical ever. Dallin was able to go with Andrea also. I was so excited to be able to talk to him about it afterwards. The Johnsons gave him tickets for his graduation gift. So next time that musical comes through Boise I'm just spending the big bucks and taking everyone!

Us--Together and Growing Up

For Family Home Evening on July 29th we got family pictures. I love them more and more everyday. (I have to get used to seeing myself in the pictures before I can like them--it's so hard to not be really critical of myself. I'm a work in progress).

These are our last pictures
before life with all the children at home changes into life with a missionary, then a college student and more missionaries and on and on ...

Makes me emotional to think about life changing. I spent half of my life just wanting to grow up and be a mom. Then the next part being a mom and having these beautiful babies and helping them grow. It just a bit much to be sending one out of the "nest" in just over a week. But I wouldn't have it any other way. He's been stretching his wings and I think he's really ready too go. Just love them all so much. I get kind of attached to something that I've been caring for for 18 years. But then again, I still have several of my childhood stuff animals too. I guess I'll let him go, because keeping him in a box in my upstairs closet is kind of weird! 

For now this was us this year in 2014. It has been a fabulous year so far!

Every Graduate Deserves a Celebration

After thinking a lot about what traditions I want to do for my kids at the end of school and going on missions, I decided I want to celebrate high school graduation with a big party! It's a big thing to celebrate finishing up 19 years of going to school. Party worthy! I'm pretty happy with deciding on this one. It was fun!

We picked Saturday after graduation, which was a Friday, to have a party and open house. The weather was fabulous! We had a full kitchen with salads, chips, hamburgers, hot dogs and toppings, peanut butter bars and sugar cookie bars and caramel and tutti fruity Black Canyon Popcorn. We had some really fun guests show up to see Dallin!

Our old bishop from Nampa 20th Ward (and dentist) Kelly and Sheryl Mansfield
Kirk and Jennifer Johnson
Roger, Karen, Elijah and Jonah Minnick
Michael and Sandy Aubin (parents of Josiah, who's in Atlanta on a mission for his church)
Sawyers
Fishers
Coach and Mrs. Tookey
All the Lines cousins and Uncle Alvin and Aunt Arlene
Reals
Johnsons
Hellewells
Whitings
Hoffmans
Ben Christensen
Jake Wing
Grandma and Grandpa Farnsworth
Jordan Crane

A few snapshots of the fun! I need to be better at getting the camera out for these events. Thankfully Grandma Farnsworth grabbed my camera a took several shots for a few minutes.

Class of 2014

Welcome Kuna High School Class of 2014 and family and friends to the Idaho Center in Nampa, Idaho. For a graduating class of just under 300 students there sure were a lot of family and friends in attendance to celebrate this milestone in life for all of these wonderful students. And rightly so too! So many, many teachers and administrators commented on the days leading up to graduation that this is the BEST class Kuna High has ever graduated! They have the highest GPA (grade point average) of any graduating class ever. They have more students headed to college--71%, which is huge for Idaho schools and that number did not include the 10% going on missions or in to military service, who are also planning to attend college at a later date. This was a class of leaders and good citizens. Overall, they were friends with each other and they are nice, kind people. I had the privilege of going to Lagoon with them to celebrate being done with school. They are awesome people. They collected themselves when it was time to go. They were respectful. And best of all--they are great people to be around!!! Lance and I have been so grateful Dallin could be part of such a great group of people. We love that we moved to Kuna! It's been so good for Dallin to become part of the Kavemen!

from left, Bruce, Thayne, Hunter, Grandpa Farnsworth, Luke, Melissa, Lance (pictures by Grandma Farnsworth)

The accapella choir sang, "Up Where We Belong." Andrea and Kyle Johnson are at the microphones for their solo.

Mrs. Corrina Steinbach, in the yellow sweater, is one of Dallin's favorite teachers. This was her last KHS performance. She is moving back to teach middle school in Vallivue so she has more time to be a mom. I admire her choice of putting being a mom first. She is an amazing person!

What a great group of people!

Dallin Parley Warnick

Steve Fisher, a high school counselor and Dallin's Young Men's president, announce Dallin's name. To the right of Dallin is Carl Ericson, the school board chairman and father of Reed Ericson and member of our ward.

Shaking hands with Mrs. Karla Reynolds, KHS principal (and his Ross Elementary principal too). She was a fabulous principal. It was her last graduation too. She resigned because of health reasons. We'll miss her!

This picture kind of makes me tear up with pride. My cute little baby boy has grown into such a good looking, kind, hardworking man. I'm so proud of him.

One of my very favorite KHS graduation traditions is that the teachers and staff make a tunnel behind the rows of graduates and congratulate the graduates as they head back to their seats. I love watching the teachers grab special people and give them a hug and also watching the graduates search out a teacher that means a lot to them and give them a hand shake or hug too! Dallin's fifth grade teacher, Tamara Fadgen came and grabbed him for a hug as he went by. He also got some special congratulations from Mrs. Jessica Tookey, his advisory teacher for the past four years; Mrs. Steinbach: his ag teachers, Mr. Edwards, Mr. Blackstock, and Mr. Dygert; football coaches, Coach Ian Smart and Coach BJ Sorensen; and track coaches, Coaches Chuck Tookey and Steve Kilgore; and Mr. King, the drama teacher that directed Pirates of Penzance.  Just before Dallin hit the tunnel, Luke jumped down onto the arena floor to be the first to give him a handshake. It was a little bit funny and surprising to Dallin.

Justina Freilich and Dallin

Dallin and his best friend, Andrea Johnson

After pictures, which were a bit crazy, we headed to a restaurant of Dallin's choicing--Wingers. It was a great choice. Not too busy and great service for a party of 9. We heard later that a few other restaurants in Nampa had an hour plus wait after graduation got done. After we got home, Dallin, Lance and I went over to Brogan Moore, Andi Real, and Dustin Zabel's graduation parties and then Dallin headed over to the high school for the Senior All Night Party. He lasted until 3:30 a.m. before he decided he just wanted to come home and sleep. He was relieved they really didn't lock them in and make them stay until 5:30. I woke up at 5:30 and went to the high school to do clean up after the party at 6:00. There I found locked doors and could see a totally clean Commons with one janitor doing a few finishing touches. Best volunteering I've ever had to do!! I guess most of the seniors weren't very messy and were totally done by 5:30. Dallin slept in pretty well from 3:30 until almost afternoon.

Introducing Indy!!

This is Indy! "Which is short for Independence, but actually stands for Indiana Jones," says Luke the proud owner of his new betta fish. It is a winner of a name for a red, white and blue fish!!!!

Luke and Indy outside of Petco

Indy is a male Crowntail Betta. Luke specifically was looking for a red, white and blue fish because he picked the name out a few weeks before he got him. He and I were just tossing fish names around for fun and we thought of doing something patriotic because we'd be able to go get a new fish around Independence Day. We tried names of presidents and other 4th of July sounding names when we happened to say Indy. Luke immediately associated it with Indiana Jones too. (and why not? Luke after all thinks he's named after Luke Skywalker. Bruce agrees. I named him after Saint Luke in the Bible.)  Dallin and Luke spent time on the computer looking at different kinds of betta fish. This coloring is a rare variety in nature. So when Luke saw the fish at Petco it was pretty exciting to actually find a red, white and blue fish. Indy is a happy, little fish in his new home! We sure like him!