Ellsworth Debut

Eighty -two kids in this production!
Can you even begin to imagine putting this together
in a month? Without medication?
And no, I don't expect you to pick mine out.
But,
if you enjoy headaches, Sudoku, and such;
you could find them in the southeast corner (somewhat),
of the top left quadrant,
sitting diagonally from each other.

Sadly I have no candid shots. My camera was in Texas with Bert.
But take my word for it, they were both darling.
Stars of the show.
Or at least I think they were, as I didn't see anything
other than them in the entire five, hour and a half long, performances.

I take that back, occasionally my eyes would steal over to
the audience to watch the mother of 'Aladdin'.
Watching her, watch her child in his moment of glory,
was almost as priceless.
But other than that, I really can't say how the other 80 did.
We'll assume they did well also.

Then we have 'Glee'.
Now, in my defense, had I ever actually watched the t.v. show beforehand
(or for that matter been 'hip' enough to even know that it was one),
this may not have happened. But, since I was mercifully clueless
that my daughter was portraying a dishonest, pregnant teen,
all's well that end's well, right?!
Fortunately the lady that wrote the stage version
cleaned it up very nicely;
thus enabling me to watch in perfect bliss and unawareness.
(We won't get into the messy business of whether or not
my three lovely children were more informed.
That would not be public blog worthy.)

But, water under the bridge, and regardless;
They. were. awesome.
I only wish I had video.
The closest you can see of 'their moves' is further below.
Jesse's hair is whipping,
Cache's chest is popping, and Calder is center stage.
...And, should anybody have been watching me watch my children,
I'm quite certain they found me just as enthralled as Aladdin's mother.
I'm still humming "if you like it then you should have put a ring on it!
Oh - oh -oh- Oh- oh. Oh -oh -oh -oh."
Quite catchy.

Wish you could have been there.

Sunday Afternoon

I've always worried I wouldn't be needed once my children got older. Today Justin gave me reason to hope there will still be purpose for me later in life. He, Cache and the others often babysit Hydn for me when I go visit Bert on his working weekends. (They're very good and have only lost him once more than I have myself.) Yesterday was one such day, and as he and I were driving home from church together he must have been reminiscing over yesterday's babysitting experience.
Listening to the radio and looking out the window he said, "Hey Mom, when I have kids and you're a Grandma, would you mind being extra mean to them for me?"
"Uh.... well, I don't know. Why?"
"Because I think they'll probably need it."
I laughed and silently agreed. He's a real marshmallow.
A while later he said, "And if you were the super nice- as in extra, extra spoiling nice- Grandma to Cache's kids... well, that would probably be good too. "

It's always good to know yourselves, and my future role seems secure.

Speaking of Justin, he was recently called - give or take a month- to be our ward Sunday School President. He's thought all along he was ready to 'grow up', but recently I've caught him looking longingly back to the past. It's a good thing he gets to ring the bell.

And speaking of Cache, he is now a seminary graduate. And a darned impressive one too. He received all the awards he could have. Good to him and many thanks to dedicated teachers. Although he'll have to get up at the same time as always this fall, to take Jesse and Calder to seminary, he still insists he's 'free'.
"Think of all the possibilities I'll have! I can jog, I can read any book I want, I can sleep in the car while I wait....., anything!"
I hate to burst his bubble. Five years ago that's exactly what I thought; and I happen to be in the exact same physical condition, not much smarter, and still tired by noon. 'Happy freedom to him' anyway.

Cache and fellow grad Mike, with early morning seminary
teacher Sister Mason

Switching gears...
Here is Maddie and Bert on Father's Day. He deserves Maddie's masterpiece, as he made some darn good kids!

Calder was hot and bored the other day, and tried to see how fast he could make the Tower of Babel. Afterward I gave him one of my favorite books, "Life of Pi." I don't think he's bored anymore, his light was on this morning at two. However, sometime in the next couple of hours when he finishes I'm expecting a very angry tirade. I'll just pull out the blocks again, or maybe a fishing pole. 13 year olds are great, aren't they?

And finally we have Jesse at girl's camp. It rained a hot rain on them all week long. It was the same week the floods in Arkansas took out a campground, and all of those sad stories of the campers. Girl's camp was about two hours from there. The river in the background rose one afternoon while they were stuck in their cabins. Jesse said it was a little surreal to see the water rushing under the doors and steadily climbing up their legs as they sat on the chairs. I was grateful all was well.



That's about it. Happy Sunday.

Land that I Love!

You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism. ~Erma Bombeck

I believe that a Fourth of July that falls on a Sunday is even more perfect, if possible.

1. You have to have everything ready the day before, so the whole day
is truly a holiday for everybody.
2. It's the ONLY Sunday where everybody sings with gusto,
because we get to stand,
we all know the words,
and you weren't the one that had to suggest the singing in the first place
3. You combine the patriotism feeling with the sacred feeling and it's
the ultimate combo.

After church, a nap, and a patriotic movie, we had
a few families over to celebrate.
While we waited for stragglers we used some firecrackers.

Pal got a camera from his scout leader to take pictures
of celebrating the Fourth. He was
a dutiful little soldier.

Taking pictures of other dutiful little soldiers,
and firecrackers.

Then we moved to the front lawn and began the Battle for Independence
(Dare Base)
I think this is a picture of the captured Americans,
but it could possibly be the Redcoats-

they looked very similar.
These were the
...Torries?

and the remnants left to fight

After several failed American attempts and
heat exhaustion set in, we decided to try a different game.
One where the colonists could finally get the upper hand.
Americans-

Britts-

Get ready-

Go!

Nope.
Not a single Minuteman among them.

We moved on to stealing cannon from Fort Ticonderoga.

And despite most cannons being in good shape,

a few needed a heavy dose of oil...

Even Hy was faster.

And although I thought I had
stacked the deck-
Americans lost again.

We decided to leave our history and freedom
to those better prepared-
You were in our thoughts Abe!

You too, Ty!
We love you both.

Left in better hands,
we decided to move on for the night.
The Trosts and I were thinking we were 'big' stuff
with our measly contributions.

Uh...
Not even close.

With that much ammo, we decided to start small and early

Anybody could try their hand at being a pyro,

and there were only slight casualties.

At dark, we took our chairs to the pond for the real show.
In our generosity we even set off a few Roman
Candles for the fish below.

Then the 'real' stuff-

What an awesome night.
Thanks friends
-Trosts
-Masons
-Harmons
-Kucheras
-Stoehrs
-Beachs
-Wilcoxs

We enjoyed every last bit,
and reliving it after you left-

until we began to drop...

In concluding, I said: “I love this nation. It is my firm belief that the God of Heaven raised up the founding fathers and inspired them to establish the Constitution of this land. This is part of my religious faith.” To me this is not just another nation. It is a great and glorious nation with a divine mission to perform for liberty-loving people everywhere. - Ezra Taft Benson