A pleasant surprise in my inbox.

Well, I should start off by saying that it started out a lovely day. I woke up early, worked on the photo book I am designing for the director of Beauty and the Beast (I'll post some pages of it sometime) and worked on the mountains of laundry I have piled up. I even cleaned the bathroom. This is a sign of me having a very good day.


Then I got the first e-mail. It made me sad. I don't understand why some people feel the need to say really mean and awful things sometimes. I think this person thought that they were trying to do good, but it made me feel horrible. REALLY horrible. Anyway, no more details, I'm dealing with it the best I can.


Then I got the second e-mail. It made me smile. We had a photoshoot for AIDA on Saturday and the kids were there running around. Of course they wanted their photos taken, too, but I didn't realize that any had actually been taken. That's when these showed up in my mail box.




These are so gorgeous to me! I love them because this is how I see my kids everyday. Not dressed up and coiffed, just in their play clothes and hair fresh from swimming. Thanks, Angela. You put sunlight back in my cloudy day.



I will post a picture of the actual photo shoot another day. I'm feeling too blue about the fact that I'm not in the photos to look at them today. I'll just enjoy my kids instead.



Speaking of whom, I just looked up, and there's Lola, climbing all over Ryder in his chair as he watches a "show." (Monsters, Inc.) I love that he calls movies shows.


Silly children!

A Blog about Baby Wraps (for Jessica)

So, I could not reply to your baby wrap/sling blog with a mere comment - I needed PICTURES!

First - I am a HUGE fan of the wrap! I built a whole Ariel costume with Ryder secured to my chest! I made it through trips to Disneyland with Ryder and then Lola - both 6 weeks old at the time, with warps. Here's one of Lola last September. She was 6 weeks old and this was a lighter weight pink wrap.

I also make my own warps. I buy 5 yards of $1 - $2 a yard fabric from walmart. Always a knit. Even if it has a bit of stretch, I tie it on tighter so the stretch isn't a problem. Then I cut it into about 15 inch strips. That's it! I get 2-3 out of one length of fabric, depending on the width of the fabric.

Actually, when Ryder was a baby, I forgot my wrap on the way to Disneyland. We stopped at the Walmart in Barstow and got more fabric and some scissors. The fabric was a little heavier than I wanted, but it ended up being fine because it was cold and even rained one of the days. I never had to worry about him being wet or cold, because he was snuggled close to my chest the whole time.

Wraps are great because they are very secure. I have done the front snuggle carry - where the baby is facing your chest - great for tiny babies. SOOOOO secure! You can bend over, do anything and you know they aren't going anywhere. Try that with a Bjorn! When they get a little older, I turn them around to face out so they can see. Lola loved that at on our Spring Break trip to Disneyland. I have also carried Ryder on my back. That was cool, too.

At Disneyland when Ryder was a baby

In the picture above, you should note that I didn't quite use it right. I should have wrapped the fabric around my waist one more time to hole him in on the sides. There are FABULOUS direction for every type of wrap imaginable at www.mamatoto.org

This picture is just CUTE! They wouldn't let me keep him in the wrap on Dumbo, but at wasn't too annoying - just a piece of fabric wrapped around my body! What a cute baby he was! I couldn't go anywhere that trip without everyone staring at him. He was so cute and tiny on my chest. And look how little Chloe looks. Geez.

Anyway, there are a few drawbacks. It can be a pain to wrap all the time. You need some space and the wrap drags on the floor as you are wrapping it on you. This can be bad, especially in parking lots. When we would go somewhere, I would usually wrap at home, then stick the baby in inside. Also, it's hot. Even last September, I tried to keep Lola in the stroller most of the time because it was really hot for her and me to have her on my chest, and I got the lightest weight fabric I could find. Not awesome in Las Vegas.

So, I also like Ring Slings, too. I haven't tried any others, but I have used my sisters Ring Sling that she got from a friend who makes them. Actually, I'm designing a website for her (www.bestlittlebabyshop.com) She's so nice! I just met her in person last week. Anyway, she's very reasonable. I felt very safe and comforatable with Lola in it when she was really tiny. They are also great for older babies in a hip cary. I find they are cooler and a bit easier for a quick trip (like there is such a thing with 4) into the store.

I have also heard wonderful things about Mei Tai wraps. I always wanted to try sewing one like that for myself, I just have never had the patience to try. There are some sites with GORGEOUS Mei Tai's. I just couldn't think of spending that much money on them!

All I know is that while I honestly don't go a lot of places with all 4 kids by myself and really never did when Lola was smaller, but several times, having the baby securely wrapped on my chest made it possible for me to function. I'm not a baby wearer - some women always have their kids strapped to them. But I have loved them! Ryder actually spent more time in them because I did a lot more stuff when he was a baby.

Let me know if you have any questions!

DUH! Here's the photo!

I alway do that!
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Blogging on the road!

Today we had to take care of the Beauty and the Beast set. We couldn't resist taking this photo of Ryder's truck. He kept calling it "my truck!" and was extremely upset when daddy got in to go and he had to get back in the van! "I wanna go with daddy!" was the soundtrack of our journey.
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I love my Ryder, oh yes I do!

Don't get me wrong, I adore all of my children. Ryder is just at that stage of life where he is really starting to talk and the things coming out of his mouth are SO funny! His big thing right now is "No hit me!" but it sounds like "no heeeet meeeeee!" or yesterday, he said "Mommmmmm, cah eye hab sum eye keeemmmmmmmmm?" (mom, can I have some Ice Cream?) It's just so cute! Everything is about hitting (or hurting, it's pretty much the same word). He'll be looking all sad and he'll say "Bay bee heeeet me wid uh b -eye- t." (Baby hit (or hurt) me with a bite) I'll say "Where's Ryder?" and he'll hit his chest and say "That's Meeee!"


I remember how cute Chloe and Piper were at that age. Chloe would say "Doog!" instead of Good. Loved it! Piper was kind of a slow talker, she still has some speech issues. Sometimes I wonder if it's because Chloe would do all the talking for her! Anyone who knows Chloe won't find that too surprising.


I found him yesterday trying to put the baby's shoes on her! He has a thing about shoes, he's always worried about them, which is kinda funny because it took me a long time to get him to wear shoes after he started walking. Anyway, whatta swell kid!


They make me smile.

Some Catch Up!

1. I needed a picture of Piper for her birthday party announcement - and of course, all the kids got in on the fun! Here's Piper, hair by Aunt McKayla.

Piper is such a princess!

Chloe - Mid Air (blue eyshadow and all!)

Ryder - Cheese! He can't resist!

Lola loves to point!

Yes, I do not dress my younger children in the summer. It's summer and it's hot and they are messy.

2. Remember how I told you that Ryder came to the show last Friday and was a VERY good boy! Here he is after the show with daddy!

Daddy and Ryder - two peas in a pod!

And here's me with GLEN! That's my favorite thing about theatre - making new friends! I made quite a few during Beauty and the Beast!

3. Closing Night - just a couple of shots:

Before the show every night, we have a meeting and pep talk. I took this photo just as it was starting. The one to the right in the blue hawaiin shirt next to Maurice (gray wig) is Phil, the director. Steve is there, too - just to the lower right of Maurice in his black costume shirt. At the end of every meeting is "Oogies" - a chant that is tradition.

Oogie time!

One last photo of Steveas Lumiere. He moves so fast that it was hard to get him in the traditional candlestick pose.

I really did have a great time working on Beauty and the Beast. I met great people, watched a great show night after night and I'm pretty proud of my work on the show. And the cast and crew were really fabulous with my kids. I went to 11 out of 13 performances and Lola accompanied me to every single one. By the end of the run, she was dancing and singing the whole time!

4. Dentist - I went back in to the dentist today and was accepted to the program. I already have my first procedure scheduled in just over a month. I'm actually excited about it because it's going to be a tooth that cracked nearly 2 years ago and you can see it. I am going to have a pretty smile again and won't have to think about which side the camera is on!

Ok, that's really all for now!

Trying to be interesting....

but I'm too tired. I didn't want to go too long without blogging, though you'd think with all the posts I've had lately, Jessica would stay really busy. Well, that and the brand new baby who happens to be one of the cutest kids I've ever seen!

Anyway, I do have stuff to post about, but I can hardly keep my eyes....

Lumiere!

Here he is, dear blog readers! My amazing husband! This is just a snippet of his performance on closing night of Beauty and the Beast. Sure, I'll admit I'm biased - but listening to the audience reactions around me, and the endless praise he's showered with nightly - I know I'm not wrong. He is truly a gifted man and I count myself lucky to be his wife. It is my fondest dream and continuous wish that someday soon he can get out of the "Stucco" trade and make a living with his incredible talents. Enjoy!

Success...and the End! (or is it? WHAT?)

Last night I took Ryder to the show again. I know I swore I wouldn't, but a babysitter was non existant and I needed to get out of the house. So, I bit the bullet.

But - GUESS WHAT! He sat through the whole show! He was SO good and we had so much fun! He was restless from time to time, but we found fun things to look at or for when the action slowed down a little bit! We had several friends there as well, but he mostly hung out with me. It was a very enjoyable night at the theatre.

And then tonight was CLOSING NIGHT! Always a great show. I'm going to attempt to post a video of Steve doing "Be Our Guest" but its pretty long and may take way to long to upload.

BUT - it may return. I'm not disclosing details, but it's a possibility. That makes me happy and sad. Happy because it's a great show and it would bump out a show that is way less exciting. But, sad because it means I way more than likely won't get my turn onstage this fall and we wouldn't be mounting it again anytime soon so I won't have another chance to audition (for any role - not just Belle - I'm afraid that ship may have sailed). So possibly another personal dissappointment in what is turning out to be a very long line of them. Again, nothings set in stone, there are a lot of things to work out, but we'll see. I am NOT getting my hopes up. UGH! Will someone please just let me do a role for heaven's sake!!!

For Glenn - A journey!

In the theatre, things are recyled - sets, props, actors - even WIGS! In Beauty and the Beast, I have recycled several wigs from past productions, but the one of greatest importance to me is Andrea (pronounced Ahh -n-drae-uh). And my new friend, Glenn, aka "the understudy" who tirelessly filled in for actors who could not be at rehearsals. And he was fabulous, by the way! Someone give this man a SHOW! Anyway, here is Andrea's original purpose. It was my wig in Once on This Island where I played the role of - you guessed it, Andrea. The next time Andrea made it onstage was on my husband, Steve, as The Mysterious Man in Into the Woods. Now, granted, it was in disguised. It was loaded with white/gray dreadlocks and hair pieces, and covered with a really cool hat, but it was there, nonetheless, I promise.
A few years later, Andrea was found on Steve once again. This time as Levi in Joseph and the Amazing Techicolor Dreamcoat.
When it appeared onstage again, it was on pirate Starky in Peter Pan - played by another Steve - Steve McMillan. My Steve, however, directed the show and it was fantastic. Well, it seems the Andrea wig has the touch to make whatever show it is in truly great!
Finally, here she is on Glen - the Baker/Cheesegrater/Man chased by Chip/understudy. I don't quite know how she ended up only on Men since I cast her off, but they have all worn her well. I think Andrea needs to continue on in every show from now on - somewhere. She's good luck, afterall!
Thanks for sharing our journey through the past!

One Night Only....

Ok, I've been sitting on some information for a while and it's good news!

I will be understudying the role of Amneris (the part I wanted to play) in AIDA and I will have one performance in the role! I will let everyone know which show it will be - more than likely it will be either August 20 or 21st. Of course it will be contigent on both the director and myself feeling comfortable in performing this highly demanding role with limited rehearsal, but I don't have any doubt that I can pull it off and do it FANTASTIC! I've got ONE NIGHT to live my dream and dang it, I'm going to make it count!

Ok. In other news, my kids never cease to amaze me! I am uploading this video of Ryder (I promise I'll take video of the other kids sometime soon!) You have to listen closely, but you can hear him singing parts of "Belle" from Beauty and the Beast.

"Every day, like the one before

Little town, full of little people

waking up to say:

Bonjour! Bonjour! Bonjour! Bonjour!

Monsiuer, Gaston, oh He's so cute!

He's such a tall dark strong and handsome brute"

I also made a fun trip to the Dentists today! Ok, not really fun, but I had another tooth that has been bothering me and threatening to swell up like the other one. Well, at the AIDA auditions there was a lovely couple auditioning for the show. Actually, the guy - Joe, was cast as Radames, but he had to bow out because he is in Dental school and they changed the dates of some of his boards and it just wouldn't work out. He was truly disappointed - and so was Steve for that matter. He is a dynamic and talented performer. So is his wife! And they are two of the most attractive people I have ever met as well. ANYWAY - he mentioned at auditions that he has to find patients and I need dental work done! He had an opening at 1 O'Clock today, so I went in to have this pesky tooth taken care of. I can honestly say it was the best experience I've ever had at the dentists. He was very careful with the local anesthesia because the epinephrine makes me all shakey and he took his time working the tooth (which was half missing) out without feeling like he was going to break my jaw. Yay!!

And finally, just to demonstrate how much I love Photoshop - here's an invitation I made for Piper's birthday party. I don't know if that will actually be the date and time, but mostly it's for my book of announcements! Even Steve approves.

Good night!

It's 3am...

MUST Blog!

But I'm really tired from working on the AIDA rehearsal schedule for the last 3 hours.

I do have some fun stuff to post - tomorrow!

YAWN!

Beauty and the Beast - Hair & Makeup Shots

As promised, here are some photos of Beauty and the Beast that really show off my hair and makeup designs.

If you click on the photos, they pop up HUGE so you can really see the details!

This is Gerry Born as Maurice and Kari Curletto as Belle. He's way too young to be Belle's dad in real life, so we had to age him! I accomplished this with some pretty broad old age makeup and a recycled wig. His hair was from Into the Woods, worn by the witch. But it was the perfect complement to his charming portrayal of the heartwarming inventor. Belle's "day" wig was the biggest pain in my butt - ever! It's just a really hard style to secure and have enough volume and look natural. I re-style this thing everynight! But it looks great! It's fun to have a red-headed Belle.
This is a great shot of what the makeup looks like close up. I know it's quite stark, but it's necessary to be seen by the audience that stretches back for hundreds of feet. I wish I knew how far it was!

This is Erik Ball as Gaston. His makeup is my favorite! It works on 2 levels - it sets Gaston apart from the rest of the men by making him really chiseled and angular. Then in the second act, when his evil side comes out, it really gives him an evil and menacing look. Erik does a fantastic job of applying his own makeup! And his wig is a hoot! I love how tall it is and the perfect curl cascading onto his forhead.
Here we have Erik with Evan Litt as LeFou. He was my BIGGEST challenge in the show. Evan is a VERY good looking guy - and one of my favorite people! We've gone to Disneyland with Evan and his adorable son, Evan Jr, he played Pharaoh in our production of Joseph - I was his wife, if you remember, and he also choreographed Peter Pan. Evan is a great guy. Here is a reference photo of just how good looking the guy is and why it was SO difficult to make him look like a befuddling idiot.

(Please note - Evan is in the middle - sorryabout the glasses and cap, but I think you get the idea, Evan Jr, or Little E, is on his lap dressed as Peter Pan. To the left of the Evan's is Sevyn - who plays the Beast. The girl waving in the background is the amazingly talented Cammie Youngberg. She does props, painting and special effects. She also learned the Beast Makeup from his designer and applies it for him every night. This was a photo from our trip to Disneyland last may. It was a total blast!!)

He did most of the work himself with his incredible physical presence, great characterization and strong vocal choices.

But, to take the edge off his handsomeness - is that a word? - I had him round his eyebrows, pull his chin line and cheekbone line down with shadowing as well as widening his nose. A healthy dose of brighter than bright blush and black out a few teeth along with a round shaped wig and I think we pulled it off pretty well! I don't think you would recognize him out of makeup on the street if you had only seen him in the show.

Lumiere was my favorite actor to work on ;). Well, most of the time! His makeup is very linear to suggest his face is becoming part of the candleabra as well as his hands and head. It is also touched with gold and works very well with his costume. His eyebrows are literally rectangles so they will stand out from his candle hat. I think he's very debonair and handsome!
And here we have Steve with Jennifer de la Torre as Babette. I wish you could see her face a little better - it's truly stunning. But I just love this photo so much, I had to share it. She dusts her shoulders and chest with gold - she acts with her shoulder so much it really adds a great dynamic.

Belle in her gold gown. Because the dress was SO traditional, I decided to go a little less traditional on the wig. It took a while to get the porportions just right, but it's crazy to me how she almost looks like a different person because of the different shape of the hair.
And a side view.

This is Al "Sevyn" Mindoro as the Beast. Again, I did not design or build his makeup or "wig", but I did add onto the wig. I dyed it and sewed in yards of more hair to give it more texture. I think it's pretty cool!

And finally, for today, Monsieur D'Arque, played by Chris Hermening. He was another challenge - how to make an attractive young man look older, dark and menacing. I think we pulled it off! For Chris, it's all about the eyebrows, bags under the eyes and chiseling the face - all with a dark violet color off set with stark white highlights. His number, "Maison de Lune" is one of my favorite.

Next time - more of the enchanted objects! And maybe some backstage photos, too.

Photos are property of PS Productions and shot by Ron Koch

An Acting Lesson

Tonight we went to our friends Brandon & Kelly's house to watch the Tony awards. It was fun! Lots of our favorite theatre peeps were there. I was happy for Patti Lupone - her performance on the show was amazing! She sounded so fantastic. I wasn't expecting to root for her, but her performance of "Everything's Coming Up Roses" was fierce. I was happy for Laura Benanti, too. I've seen YouTube videos of her as Louise and she is sheer perfection. In The Heights looks great. I hope to get to see it when we go to NY for our 10th anniversary. Well, that's our dream, anyway.

On the way home, Chloe and Piper were in the back seat trying to cry. So, Dad decided to give them an acting lesson. First he just told them to cry, which was totally fake. I was disappointed because they fake cry all the time to me about silly stuff. Anywhoo, he stopped them and told them to think of something that makes them sad enough to cry. Chloe started chanting "dead puppies, dead puppies, dead puppies." Then, after a moment, Piper - in her most cheerful voice, said "I'm trying, I really am. Say something really mean to me." To which Chloe readily replied "You don't play well with others!" Oh my! Eventually, Chloe was working up some real emotion, but then she started to laugh. Ahh, the happenings of a theatre family.

Saturday Fun

Today was a great Saturday. I went with Steve to do a bid and left the older three with grandma. So, we had some "alone" time. Well, with Lola.

Then we gathered the kids up, dropped Ryder off at Lee & Sheree's (sister-in-law and her husband) and headed out to the ranch.

Shortly after we dropped Ryder off, we received this photo.

Buddy boy got to go swimming! How cute is this little ensemble! Thanks to Lee and Sheree, for sure.

Then we drove the rest of the million miles to the Ranch. It really stinks that it is SOOO dang far out there. Anyway, I wasn't sure if I wanted to go tonight, but I was so glad that I did! There were bunches of my friends out there! I got to see Josh and Ginger and their brood - they have 2 similar in age to Ryder. Juliet and Willow - they are both 2 months younger than Ryder and Lola respectively. Rosemary and Bill - another theatre couple. They are actually both in a lot of local commercials and they crack me up. Rosemary always brings stuff for the girls - but tonight they turned down oatmeal raisin cookies because they don't like raisins. Oy! Anjolene was there - she is this gorgeous girl who played a guy pirate for Steve in Peter Pan. She's really sweet! And we met my friend Shannon's family. I could tell she was so excited to have them there. And bunches of others! Have I worn out the exclamation point in this paragraph? Oh well - I enjoyed myself if you couldn't tell.

So, tomorrow I'll post some great pictures of my makeup designs. I didn't take the photos this time, but there are some really cool ones I'm excited to share.

I'll leave you with this video of Ryder singing "Be Our Guest" with a little help from Daddy. Though he's unhappy about something at the end of the video, but perhaps that's the cutest part!

OH! By the way, did you notice my header changed? Basically the same design, but much cooler effect. I'm having a blast with Photoshop and I can't wait to post more stuff I'm doing!

Old:

New:

2 year olds and outdoor theatre. I'm Exhausted!

Tonight I needed to go to the show to fix up wigs and stuff. I decided to bring the whole family. Sure, it was the most frustrating night of my life last time, but somehow the pain had worn off and I thought maybe Ryder would have fun watching the show. Right.

Well, my lovely makeup assistant Alda was bringing her teenage daughter - the adorable Analee (I don't know if that's how you spell it, but hopefully it's at least close) and she's really wonderful with the kids. We pulled in together so we set a blanket at the front but to the side where I could easily take Ryder or Lola to the back of the meadow. Analee entertained Ryder before the show started and Lola kept the girls dressing room entertained while I did my thing.

I finished up and went out to sit just as the show was starting. I made a trip to the snack bar just after the prologue because there's no line then and, well, I've seen the show before. Then we sat to watch the show. Didn't last very long. After 2 "walks" to the back of the meadow and a moment of stillness from Ryder during "Be Our Guest" (Daddy's big number) it was over. Lola was getting fussy, so I ended up taking her backstage to Alda because I knew I was going to have to unleash Ryder.

I think I walked, jogged and ran about 10 miles tonight! For over 1 1/2 hours, I chased Ryder EVERYWHERE while trying to avoid interrupting the show for the rest of the audience! He didn't want to sit for a moment, not even when Steve was onstage. I'm seriously exhausted. Thank heavens for my friends, or I honestly don't know what I would have done. Well, I wouldn't have brought him unless I knew I had backup. Again, it never ceases to amaze me how hard it is to have two kids so close in age. How do people with twins ever survive!

Ok, more than a Wii, I want a nanny. :)

I guess I'm just a boring person!

Well, my friend Jessica keeps chastising me (this time indirectly) for not blogging enough. But I really can't think of a lot to blog about all the time! But I'll try! So, here's what happened since my last blog.

Saturday - Went out to the Ranch (where Beauty and the Beast is performed.) My sister in law Cynthia watched Ryder and Chloe and Piper and Lola came with me. It was kind of a long night because I had to fix wigs before the show and then after, because they had a Sunday show and I was not going because of my brother in laws graduation. I usually spend 45 minutes to an hour working on wigs for every show. And we sat too far back from the stage to get good photos. But it was an enjoyable evening all the same.

Sunday - I wasn't feeling well and Lola was struggling with teething issues, so I had to duck out of church for a while. That night, Steve had a show so he went with our fantastic carpool friend, Shannon, while I took the kids to Daniel's seminary graduation. He was only 9 when I met him, so it's really weird that he's graduating from high school and all that. Makes me feel old. But I didn't get to see much of the meeting because it's nearly impossible to contain both Ryder and Lola singlehandedly. We lasted about 5 minutes before I took them both out. I came back in just in time to hear Daniels name called. We didn't even spend much time at the dessert tables. I just wanted to get out of there! It had been a really rough night. It never ceases to amaze me how tough it is to do just about anything with the two babies. 19 months apart is not enough! I can't imagine how people do it who have kids closer in age. I just don't have enough hands for both of them. I really can't do anything with all 4 kids by myself. When Steve is there, it's fine. One baby each.



Later that night, my parents called to see about having the girls (Chloe & Piper) come to visit a few weeks this summer. They are really excited to go! They also told me that they'd like to invest in my business to get things going again! I have one costume about 75% done - thanks to Valinda, and I am going to work really hard to get a few more done asap. I need to be a princess again!!!

Monday - So, Monday evening, we had a party for Daniel's graduation and the whole family came over, which is ALWAYS fun! I am really lucky to have such great in-laws. Steve and I had to leave early, though, to go to the AIDA cast meeting. My in-laws were generous enough to let Chloe, Piper and Ryder stay. Lola came with us, though she didn't have too much fun. I have to admit, it was a little hard to be there and not be part of the cast. I will always be disappointed that I didn't get cast, but no matter how much I wish I could have done it, I get the feeling it just wasn't meant to be. But, I do have a great opportunity that I'll tell you about later. It was a great meeting, though. The cast all seem to have great attitudes and there was an amazing energy there. I am grateful to be a part of the show in any way! (I'm Steve's assistant and designing Hair/Makeup)

I also finished a logo for a business I'm doing a website for. Most of the credit goes to my friend Erik Ball - he played Capt. Hook in Steve's production of Peter Pan and he is also currently playing Gaston) but I'm really happy with how it turned out. Erik did the actual artwork, based on an image I found for him. He's also working on a new logo for me for my princess business! It is going to be SO freaking amazing! And, because of Erik, I'm figuring out how to use Adobe Illustrator! I've had it for a while and I'm loving it now! Some really cool things I can do.

See how cute! http://www.bestlittlebabyshop.com/ (coming soon)

Oh, and I finally published my temporary website for Artistic Expressions. It will do, for now. http://www.artistic-expressionsonline.com/ Let me know if you need any invitations, announcements or business type stuff designed!

Tuesday - Valinda is leaving next week for Idaho and then her girls go back to school, so we went over to hang out. And she had to introduce me to Wii. I officially want one - with a Wii fit, so if anyone out there is feeling generous, please don't hesitate to pour your generosity on me. We also chatted, the kids played, Ryder got locked in the garage. Good times! (I don't know how long he was in there, but it was a while. He quickly recovered with a little Wii therapy, though. Chloe was not so lucky, racked with incredible guilt because she promised he was outside playing. A lesson was learned by all.)

Today (Wednesday)

Well, let's see. Today I set up a website for Steve for the AIDA cast. And, in the middle of it, I remembered that I have 4 wigs to majorly re-style for the show (Beauty and the Beast) tonight. So, I frantically styled them and then finished up the website. No, you can't see it, it's an informational kinda site with a log in and stuff. But, it's cool! I was supposed to go to Daniel's Commencement Ceremony tonight, but Steve got home late and I was out of formula for Lola and it just wasn't going to happen to get to the store and then the Orleans arena by myself in time for anything. But I'm proud of him! He's such a good kid, well, adult. I'm excited for him to go on a mission. No one in my immediate family has done that and I've just always wanted to be a supportive sister! I know how much Steve's mission meant for him.



OH YEAH! I forgot to share my Desert Tortoise story! Two saturdays ago, I was heading out the the Ranch with Chloe and Piper for Steve's all day rehearsal. As I was driving there, I saw something and just as I passed over it, I realized it was a little desert tortoise in the middle of the road! It was destined for certain doom, so I made a U turn and went back to save it, helping it across the road to a safety. So, here's a photo of the cute little guy. The girls had a blast showing everyone in the cast the picture of the cute littly guy (or gal) on my phone. They were such hero's for the day.

Well whadduya know! I guess I'm not so terribly boring afterall.

So, this was Ryder tonight when daddy got home. See what he does when he sees the camera? Too cute!

More Beauty and the Beast Photos

Well, I sat further away and while I took more photos, less of them came out. The settings are tricky and it would have been better had I been just a little closer. Still there are some good ones!

Brooke Voigt as Mrs. Potts narrates the prologue.

The beggar woman and the Prince

Kate Harris as "Lady with a Cane" and Glenn Riggs as The Baker (with his tray like always)

Alison Habaerle and Chris Hermening

Theresa Fairweather and The Cow (played by Milky White)

Jason Bailly as The Book Seller and Kari Curletto as Belle

Belle & the Ensemble

"Belle"

Evan Litt as Le Fou, Erik Ball as Gaston and Belle

Belle and Gerry Born as Maurice (and the invention!)

The Enchanted Silverware

Glenn Riggs (aka The Understuday) as the Cheesegrater

Steve Huntsman as Lumiere and Belle - Catchin' some air

The Enchanted Objects in Be Our Guest (and bubbles!)

More "Be Our Guest"

Sevyn Mindoro as the Beast, Brett Bushell as Chip and Belle enjoying some soup.

" The Mob Song"

Fight at the Castle

Shannon Winkle as The Wardrobe - ready to fight!

Shannon Winkle as Mme. de la Grande Bouche - human again!

The Finale