March Madness

My title for this post is only partially a reference to college basketball. It is mostly a reference to how crazy our lives were in March. Mostly this was due to Annie being in a musical. Never underestimate the power of a musical to take over your life. But math was also to blame! We signed Annie up for a challenging geometry class through the Art of Problem Solving, and it was taking a lot of time to complete the homework. We're figuring that out, but for March the combination of math and a musical created a bit of madness.

The musical was great, though! Tuck Everlasting. I'd never seen it or heard of it (other than the book). But I ended up really enjoying the music. I ran one of the spotlights, so I got to hear the music many, many times. Never underestimate the power of a song from a musical to get stuck in your head. Annie played the granny, and she was pretty nervous about it. We watched the Grannies episode of Bluey to get into the mood. It probably helped a lot because Annie was an awesome granny! She delivered her lines well, and everybody laughed. She was also great in the chorus. And the spotlight work was not too shabby either, if I do say so myself.

Lots of people came to support Annie, young women's leaders, homeschool friends, the Brimleys. It made us feel so loved.

"You're an evil banana!"

Annie is behind the umbrella second from the left!

In Bluey they decide what type of granny they are, Kind Granny, Hard-of-Hearing Granny, Grumpy Granny, etc. We decided Annie was Crusty/Crazy Granny. I think this face shows her crusty side.

She was also Crooked Glasses Granny

I was surprised how much fun I had running the spotlight. There was another mom on the other spotlight, and she was awesome and gave me a bunch of homeschool college application wisdom. So I enjoyed getting to know her. And it was fun to have a job and be part of the process. And I enjoyed the challenge of trying to get the spotlight in the right position before I turned it on. You probably learn that stuff in spotlight school, but I guess I missed that class when I was getting a minor in Theater Education at BYU... 

Also we got this awesome picture with the Brimleys. Newsflash! They're moving...And taking joy with them. But Madeline's roly-poly did make it into this picture.

The Wednesday after the show ended, we left for a huge old trip to Utah, Nevada, and Idaho to see people. But not all the people. There are a lot of people to see, and we're sorry for anyone we missed! We wish we had more time!

We saw the airplanes John has been helping to fix at Hill Air Force Base. Very cool. 

We saw Charlie's brother Benny, and his mom Lila. They are so cute and reminded us so much of Charlie. One day we will have to reunite them.

We had a family dinner with Aaron's family and had a nice time just hanging out. We also saw Rylan in her school talent show. She had a little case of stage fright, but she over came and did a great job singing her solo. It was sweet. And good thing we came when we did and saw Angela pregnant because later in the week she had a baby! He was about 6 weeks early, but they are both healthy! And we got to meet him on our way home. Also, Scotty wants to remember that Grandpa Dennis took him and Annie driving in the stake center parking lot. Best day of his life, he says. In Bountiful we also watched the BYU game against VCU. 

We found once again the page on Family Search that says Aaron is a direct descendant of Massasoit! We dug a little deeper and sadly...we don't think it's accurate. But for a minute there, it was really cool. I guess don't always trust the famous relative finder.

We showed the kids Temple Square! They have been before of course, but they don't remember. It was weird that they were essentially newbies there. We showed them the ropes. Lots of changes since Aaron and I were last there, though!

We were really excited to hear someone practicing the organ while we were there!

We drove to Las Vegas and stopped to see the Brian Kershishnik exhibit at the MOA on the way. It was amazing! I loved it so, so much. Made my day. And it was a delight to have Alan and Christina come and say hi to us. Emma, too! What a great girl! The creamery gave us way more food than we ordered, so Emma graciously took some home to her family. Again, we were sad to not have time to say hi to everyone we know in the Provo/Orem area. But we had to hurry to Las Vegas so we would have time to watch the BYU against Wisconsin with William and Heather. We made it for the second half.

In Las Vegas, we had lots of nature-y adventures. We didn't go to the strip, even though Annie was apparently telling everyone that she would. It was so fun to see the cousins playing together and laughing together in their rooms at night. And I fell in love with William and Heather's turf grass. #Jealous.

We went up into the mountains for a picnic. Max enjoyed it a lot in spite of being on the verge of death the whole time! So much mobility, so little judgment. Constant vigilance required by the adults in his life.

See the turf grass? It's so nice. No bugs, rocks, weeds. No watering. Because it's not grass. It's like a carpet that you put outside!

These pictures aren't really in order...

After Vegas, we went to Idaho where we watched another BYU game. So much fun to see Alabama get a new record for most threes in one game... But we started out the game with great hopes. Love my dad's school spirit.

We had all sorts of adventures in Idaho. Scotty played basketball to his heart's content. The boys made trick shot videos. We also went to the temple and saw the first two episodes of season 5 of The Chosen. We also went to a trampoline park where Annie learned to do a back flip. Scotty had just learned to do a front flip with the Vegas cousins, so he's still working on the back flip. Annie made homemade ravioli with Grandma's noodle maker. And we also visited our friends from Texas and saw the BYU-I campus. We were busy, but we had so much fun!

Love these lemon plates with the lemon table cloth:)

Annie wrangled the cousins into making music videos with her. It was fun to see. Oh, and Klara showed us her Jr. Miss talent and routines. Good times!

We also took a little side adventure on our way from Vegas to Idaho exploring some lava tubes.

It was quite the trip we had! It's getting harder and harder to take trips mid school year. We homeschool, but it turns out we have quite a few commitments. And the kids had to work hard on their math classes during our drives and flights. But it all worked out, and we are glad for the chance to see people and make good memories.