A Little More Detail... Just a Little

The Scera Shell's run of Mary Poppins ended on Saturday the 20th.

My love for all the people involved didn't.

On closing night I was out until 4am talking to remaining cast member (friends) after a gathering at Village Inn. That experience that night was so much fun and such a riot that it was hard to leave even at that hour because I knew this was the last time we would all be together under these circumstances.

I'm so grateful for the opportunity I had, not only to perform this poignant show, but to become friends with such genuine and talented people.

The following photos are courtesy SCERA, by Mark A. Philbrick

This is a shot from "Jolly Holiday" and it taught me to always keep a smile on my face and look UP.

This is a shot from "Precision and Order" and it taught me to look for good people and not just a good idea.

These next few photos are from "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" and it taught me to stand tall, stand proud, have fun, enjoy the sweet things of life, make up great words and to dance even if life gives you stilts... or lemonade, whichever ending you prefer.

I'm the one in the orange skirt and yellow shirt by the way.

This is a shot from "Playing the Game" and this taught me to treat everyone with tender care regardless of whether they seem to be hard faced, or not. (I'm in the purple dress, with the bonnet behind the big circus leader)

"Let's Go Fly a Kite" taught me to enjoy the small things in life and find joy in the journey.

This shot is from the bows and includes the songs "Supercalifragilistic" and "Reach for the Stars" and this taught me that you can reach higher than you even though possible, be creative, have fun and cry in front of hundred of people.

I shocked myself with how much I cried on the last night. 

I was blubbering really.

This show just had so much meaning that it all sank in pretty deep on the last night I knew I would be performing this inspiring show with all these wonderful people.

As a gift for my fellow cast members I like to take photos backstage to share with them. These are some of my favorites in no particular order:

A view of Paul from the wings while on fly for "Step In Time"

Annie (Emily) and Fannie (Me), so tall our hair brushed the ceiling.
We had to duck the lights when we walked through to get to the stage.

Mrs. Corry getting her make-up ready. Hayden did almost everyone's make-up for the show.

I LOVE this shot so much. It was a "crap hurry and take a picture of this" moment but it was captured so artistically and I just love having this moment of one of our cast cheers set in stone.

The chimney sweeps were some of the funnest to photograph but this one takes the cake!

We were all always helping each other backstage and sometimes it took an army...

The gingerbread stars... oh the meanings of those precious stars...

I saw this necklace at a yard sale yesterday and had to get it because it was a great memory of the show:

And this picture!! This is Hayden... happiest person on earth! Love him! I think we will be friends forever!

Selfie in costume

For Young Women's camp we are focusing on the journey through life and how it can be better if we embark in the service of our God and do well for others. I was up until one in the morning painting our camp banner. It's supposed to be the depiction of the Liahona, which, in the Book of Mormon, is described as a device used to guide the way. In essence, we want it to represent our journey through life as we choose to follow the Lord.

One of my biggest UPs this last week was actually something I wasn't even personally involved in.

It was Brother's backpack trip with his dad this weekend.

I LOVE that Marc takes Brother on these backpack trips! He is amazing to do so because it really isn't easy. It takes so much mental, emotional, physical and spiritual preparation beforehand to make sure that it is a successful experience for Brother. Although it is an amazing experience for Marc to backpack with his son, it also has a bit of stress and anxiety along with it.

Side note: I wasn't able to finish this post earlier today like I had planned... which really disappoints me because I have so much to say about this hike that Marc took our son on this weekend.

So I am going to steal from others who were with him on the hike and hopefully that will explain the experience. I just feel bad I can't explain it all from my heart...

Marc gave a quick description on Facebook:
The Wasatch Mountains make for quick and awesome backpack trips. Easy to do when they're right out your front door. My son and I met up with friends and family at Red Pine Lake Friday and then did a challenging day hike Saturday to the 10,000 foot ridge line, looking into Salt Lake and Utah Valleys.

The friends he is talking about is Naomi and Ryan. They have become quite treasured friends and this experience made them even better! 

Naomi said this in an email she sent along with pictures (and I hope she's OK I share part of it) : 

... Can I just say, [Brother] is one awesome kid! He really showed us that we are not nearly excited enough about the beauty of nature. I will never forget how thrilled he was to see that turquoise lake and the fish jumping for bugs in the evening. Thanks again for one of the best backpacking trips we've ever had.

And that is all I have time to share with a few more special pictures from the day.

Brother and Ryan

Brother at his Turquoise lake

beautiful lake (photo credit: Naomi)

Happy as can be even after a challenging hike

Brother also enjoyed taking pictures with Naomi's camera/phone

Brother really enjoys hanging out with Naomi and Marc said he stuck by her side quite a bit.

Proud Papa

This is the next day at the top of the 10,000 foot ridge line Marc mentioned. 

He loves his new hiking sticks Marc got for him too

Naomi got a video of him making ripples in the water

Another beautiful shot by Naomi

Brother is exhausted by the end. Bless his heart, he pushed himself so hard and he loved it. He was so excited to tell me about it when he got home, but he also made sure to tell me how hard it was.

This is one of my favorite pictures Marc took. I want to frame it.
Brother loves waterfalls and rushing water and could watch them all day,
it's just one of his zen moments.

I need to get to bed so I can be up in 4 hours to get ready to leave for camp, but I don't want to forget, either, to tell you about my friend, Tanya. (I mentioned in my last post that I would tell you more...) I wish I had more time to go into more detail, but, in a nutshell, she is a warrior and her light shines so bright that you can't help but be drawn to her!

Sorry my details got so short and un-detailed...

I'll post again on Friday if I have survived girls camp! (wink)

                                                                                                        Days 170 - 179 of 365 Days of Up (part 2 of 2)

Just the Surface

So, maybe you've noticed I have not blogged for 10 days...

I hate falling behind. So, it's hard to talk about my UPs because I kinda feel like a failure.

I'm one of those people that lets things weigh on me pretty heavily. Which is weird about blogging because, really, I just blog for myself, but it's just knowing that I am falling behind on my goal of blogging my UPs everyday. I can feel a difference too when I don't share my UPs with others.

So, that being said; I also don't like catching up...

So this post is just going to be the surface UPs which basically means pictures and captions.

I don't even think there are enough pictures to give an excuse as to why I have been so overwhelmed with life and responsibilities. So, just fill in the blanks and I'll write some deeper stuff in my next post (which will also be posted today).

I thought after Mary Poppins was done I would have more free time but it has been replaced with taking care of Young Women Camp stuff which not only included camp things but getting my family set up for me to be gone for 5 days.

The Young Women thought it would be fun to make pinatas for Girls Camp. My Beehives took an activity night to put some more layers on our globe pinatas.

It was sticky, messy, and memorable.

My sister, Kirsten came over for a bit and I was getting such a kick out of watching little Zac play with Ranger. Ranger really is such a good therapy-type dog. Zac was having a great time getting some sensory input with tug-o-war.

Amanda and her kids have done so well involving Brother in various activities this summer and he has loved it!

One of the preparations for Young Women's Camp was going on a 5-mile hike. It didn't turn out quite as planned... we were supposed to have an easy hike to the hotpots in Diamond Fork Canyon, but we didn't really get to the right trail head so we did a lot of bushwhacking and a lot of rough terrain to get to a small stream that had to suffice as our turning point. It was wet and cool but it was no pool.

As rough as it was on some of the girls it actually became a memorable experience that we can all laugh about now.

The wonderful stream... Hey, at least we were able to listen to the water trickle as we ate lunch.

And the wildflowers were beautiful. It was the first time for some to see our State flower, the Sego Lily, in real life.

Yep, bushwhacking.

But we still had a positive attitude! I also love this picture because I'm with someone I admire and love.
(More on her in the next post)

This was the last group of girls to make it to the top of the hill before our final descent. It was a happy moment.


The girls at summer school are having such a great time! I am so thankful that Jeremy sends me pictures once in a while of their fun activities.

This was their Bridal Veil Falls trip:

Sister loves creating her own artwork and, apparently, tying yarn pieces on Jeremy's shoes is included in that creation.

Jeremy said that Baby was laying on the floor just staring at the ceiling for a long time, so he decided to join her. Yes, it looks like that is in the bathroom. I try not to think about that part and just the part where Jeremy is trying to be part of Baby's world...

I am a photographer and sometimes my kids show off that they are photographed all the time. That doesn't necessarily mean that they are good at posing, it just means that they are good at making different faces for the camera. Baby was getting her photo taken for reference purposes and she was hamming it up.

Poor Brother has to come with me to the grocery store a lot now-a-days, but he tries to make the best of it. Like when he gets a rush out of running the big Costco carts over the speed bumps.

Lynne and Gary came by for a surprise visit and all the kids (plus the dog) just had to squeeze in with Grandpa. He's a trooper.

Marc and Brighton went on a hike from Friday to Saturday with Dr. H and his wife and some family members. I want to write more about that in the next post, so you just get to see a few pictures of the experience for now.

So, it was 10 days full of UPs that I feel bad about not posting each day... I'll try not to let that bring me down.

Days 170 - 179 of 365 Days of Up (part 1 of 2)