Les Miserables at Tuacahn!!!

Rick and I went to see Les Miserables at Tuacahn with Janika and Brandon. It was incredible!! The last time Tuacahn did Les Miserables at Tuacahn was back in 2008 when Rick and Janika were in it! You can read those posts HERE and HERE!! It was probably surreal for Janika actually watching the show insteads of being it! Jaiden and Jason ended up coming too because his work gave him some free tickets! All of Brandon's family came to see it as well. Audrey Williams babysat Everett and Callan and Jenna babysat Janika and Brandon's nieces and nephew at their condo. 

Newsies!!

I had gotten Janika and Brandon tickets to see Newsies at Tuacahn tonight since they were in town this weekend. Then I found out that Shane and Alicia's family would be coming on Saturday and Sunday as well and so we all went! The Westras had gone to see "the Importance of Being Earnest," at the Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City and stayed overnight there. They arrived in the afternoon and everyone went swimming (except for me, I took a little nap). 

Then we had a great dinner -- barbequed marinated chicken, potato salad (made by Jenna), and fruits and vegies. Yum! Jenna had already planned on taking Ethan out tonight and so she brought him to Benja's and then to the show at Tuacahn. She gets four complimentary tickets to each show because she works at Tuacahn and had been wanting to bring Ethan for a while now. I had been able to get tickets since I interpret at Tuacahn. 

We had AWESOME seats for the show! Just a few rows from the stage, in the middle. (This picture is taken from the top of the theater). It was a little hot, but still fun and the cast did a great job!  

Frozen!!

Jared and Hallie wanted to go see Frozen tonight at Tuacahn, and so I got tickets for them and for Janelle and Bryton also so that they could have a double date! Tammy from Tuacahn really came through for us -- she got us awesome seats! They were row H, right in the middle, which is just 8 rows from the front! Jenna was working too and was able to get them some snacks. So they had a fun, free date!! The only drawback was the heat. It seems like it has been ever hotter this year than usual, even well into August. They still enjoyed the show though!  

Tuacahn: Anastasia

 We went and saw Anastasia tonight! Did they such a great job! We really enjoyed it! 

Hunchback at Tuacahn

I had two tickets to go see The Hunchback of Notre Dame at Tuacahn and so I invited my friend Allison to come along. The weather was perfect and the talent was amazing! It definitely isn't one of my favorite shows (too depressing), but it was very well done and we enjoyed the night out! 

Black Friday and Rudolph

Months ago I ordered six tickets for Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer at Tuacahn for Thanksgiving weekend, thinking that the married kids would be in town and we could all go together as a family. I thought Jenna might be interested since she had been in the Jr. version of the show at Lava Ridge last year. But Janika and Brandon weren't able to come for Thanksgiving and Jase and Ellen weren't able to either. So it ended up just being me, Rick, Jaiden, and Jenna (Josh had other plans) and so I told Jaiden and Jenna that they could invite a friend. Jaiden brought her boyfriend, Maddox, and Jenna invited Bria (Maddox's little sister). The show was darling! We really enjoyed it! Afterwards Jenna and Bria went to a friend's house and Jaiden and Maddox came over to decorate gingerbread houses! 

Tuacahn: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Tonight Rick and I brought Josh and Jenna to see Joseph at Tuacahn. It was really good! Since Josh works in concessions he was able to get us some free treats, ha ha! I wish we could have seen it with David Archuletta as Joseph, but we just had comp tickets and they were not giving any out for the Archuletta nights! 

Memorial Day and Jaiden's Birthday

This beautiful girl was born on Memorial Day 17 years ago! Jaiden is intelligent, hard working, talented, kind, involved, gorgeous, spunky, and has the most amazing smile ever! She is now a Senior in high school and this coming year she will be involved in Exec Council, Madrigals, Theatrical Productions, Academics, dancing at Southwest Dance, teaching swimming lessons, and working at Tuacahn. She will also be preparing for the State Distinguished Young Women competition! Despite her busy schedule she still allows ample time for the gospel, family, and of course friends! WE LOVE YOU, Jaiden Jensen!! Happy 17th Birthday today!! Click HERE for my facebook post with pictures through the years!! This is one of those rare years that Jaiden's birthday fell on Memorial Day (just like on the day she was born). It is also one of the few years that her birthday didn't fall on the same day as her Southwest Dance Concert (the concert will be this weekend). So Jaiden was able to go out with her good friends -- Lizzie Bryner and Emily Williams. They brought her out to lunch and took her to a flower shop where they took lots of pictures of flowers and plants. They spoiled her with all sorts of cool presents -- yoga mat, yoga blocks, crumbl cookies.... (I can't remember what else -- I will have to ask Jaiden!) In a couple of the pictures above you can also see Jaiden's cook shoes that she painted herself!

Here is a picture of the same three girls on Jaiden's birthday 8 years ago (back in 2013, when Jaiden was turning 9 years old!)

I asked Jaiden what she wanted for her birthday dinner (on Sunday) and she said Cafe Rio style sweet pork. So I headed to the store at 11:00 Saturday night to buy all of the ingredients and started it cooking in the crock pot overnight. It was the first time I had made it and it turned out SO good! I made the lime rice and creamy cilantro dressing also. The power went off about fifteen minutes before we were planning to eat dinner and so the rice wasn't able to finish cookies and I had to finish it on the gas stove, but thankfully everything else was finished before the power outage and everything was delicious! Jase and Ellen and Jared came over for dinner and then we played a few rounds of Balderdash and had brownies for dessert. The power came on about thirty minutes later.

Monday night (on Jaiden's birthday) our family went to Tuacahn to see Annie! We had great seats and loved the show! I forgot to get a picture! That is NOT like me, ha ha!

Back to School!! (August 12-18)

Janika is a Senior (I know, hard to believe isn't it?!) and started back to school today on Monday, August 12 at Tuacahn.  She only had to go in the afternoon because she is enrolled in concurrent enrollment at Dixie University and that doesn't start until next Monday.  I went with Jase to the High School and Jared to the Middle School for registration.  They got their locker combinations and we went to every classroom to make sure they would know where to find each of them when school started on Wednesday.  I think Jared was a little worried when he found out that he has to walk from the Middle School to the High School in order to go to his Chinese class.  He will have a difficult time making the trip in ten minutes! 

My Mom and Dad arrived Monday night in order to spend the week with us and go see the shows at Tuacahn.  They brought a ton of food to share including lots of different kinds of fun cereal for the kids.  Monday night we had a nice dinner of crock-pot chicken and then Rick gave all of the kids Father's Blessings for FHE, which is a Back to School Tradition. The blessings were beautiful.  I am so grateful to be married to a worthy priesthood holder who can bless our family through the Priesthood of God!

Tuesday, Aug. 13, my mom and dad and I brought the five youngest kids to go see "Puss in Boots" at the movie theater with the punch pass our neighbor had given us.  I had a work appointment in the afternoon and Jase had his first Cross Country Meet.  My mom and dad brought Rick and I out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse and we all enjoyed that.   Then  mom and dad went to see "Thoroughly Modern Millie" at Tuacahn. 

Wednesday, August 14th was the first day of school for the rest of the kids.  As mentioned before, Janika is a Senior at Tuacahn.  Jase is a Sophomore at Snow Canyon High School, Jared is in 8th grade at Snow Canyon Middle School, Janelle is in the 5th grade at Arrowhead Elementary (which is the final year of elementary school here) with Mrs. Patton, Jaiden is in fourth grade with Mrs. Fuchs, and Josh is in second grade with Mrs. Goodman for the English portion of his day and Mrs. Lin for the Chinese portion of his day.  Jenna starts pre-school in September at the Washington County Pre-School.

Jase and Jared ride to school together since their schools are right by each other and they have a ride with our neighbor who drives to school.  Janika drives herself to school, and I bring the three elementary school kids to school along with our neighbor kids.  This morning Jenna stayed home with my mom and dad.  It took a while to find Josh's class since he is out in the portables for Chinese.

My mom had a hair appointment and then she and dad brought Jenna to the library so that I could get a little quiet time.  But it didn't last long since five minutes later Jase came in with three friends -- two girls and Ky.  He said that they were just here for lunch and he started pulling out the fixings for Nachos.  I thought, "I hope this is not going to be an everyday occurrence!"  My mom and dad went swimming with Jenna.

After school I brought Jaiden to dance.  The new dance schedule started this month and Jaiden decided to take Jazz/Hip Hop.  She wasn't too sure she liked it the first week but seems to like it now and wants to continue.  My mom and dad went to see "Mary Poppins" at Tuacahn.

Thursday morning (August 15) I got all of the kids off to school and then Jenna had playgroup.  I was busy working on my ASL curriculum.  I met my friend and she taught me how to use Dixie's Online System, Canvas.  After two hours with her I hurriedly ate dinner and then left for my faculty meeting at Dixie.  I went straight to a class after that and then picked up Jared from Parkour at 9:00 p.m.  Meanwhile back at home Rick fixed dinner for everyone and the kids went swimming with Grandma and Grandpa and Rick went to Back to School Night for the elementary school.  

Friday morning (August 16) mom and dad went to play tennis for a bit like they did on a couple of the other days they were here.  My mom and I went out for a quick lunch while dad tended Jenna.  Jenna had fun swimming with her Grandpa several times throughout the week!  I had scouts this afternoon.  My mom and dad came with Rick and I to our Stake High Priest's Social tonight.  It was a delicious meal and they even had yummy gluten free brownies!

Saturday morning (Aug. 17) my mom and dad headed back home and Rick and I went to an interpreter workshop called "Managing the Middle."  It was fun and we really enjoyed it!   Jase had another Cross Country meet this morning and beat his time and so he was happy.  Rick brought him out to lunch at the new Pirate Cove pizza place to celebrate while I brought Jenna to an assessment for the Upstart Program.  Jenna and I did a little school shopping afterwards.  In the evening Rick and I had an interpreting job together.  It was a busy but fun week!  Thanks, Mom and Dad, for coming and spending this week with us!

Sunday (Aug. 18) we watched Jase get set apart as Teacher's Quorum President at the end of the church and then had to wait for Janika to talk with the Bishop to submit the names of her counselors since she was just called at the Laurel President.   So we were 40 minutes late coming home and the kids were getting very restless and whiney!

Janika has been going to a missionary prep class at the Stake Center every Sunday evening and last Sunday parents were invited and so I went and Rick stayed home with the other kids and then the three oldest went to a back to school fireside.  Rick taught Janelle to do indexing and she has been doing that a little on Sundays.   So that is our week!

 

Multi-Choir Concert at Tuacahn

Tonight Janelle performed in the big concert at Tuacahn where all of the choirs from all of the elementary schools gather together for a night of song.  They do one song together and then each choir performs one song separately and then they come back together for a few songs.  As you can see, it is A LOT of kids!  The entire amphitheater was packed too -- around 2000 people!  Rick stayed home which was good since he ended up with unexpected appointments at the church.  Janika had a babysitting job, Jase was stuck home cleaning the kitchen and then he took off with friends, and the five youngest came with me.  Jenna was bopping around to the first song but she soon became bored and kept asking for water or food or to go for a walk.  I hope the videos I took are not too bumpy with her wiggling on my lap!

 Janelle is the sixth one over from left on the very back row.

Here is Janelle's Arrowhead Elementary Choir.  They did a great job! (Janelle is the 4th from the left on the front row)

 

 

Janika as "Little Eponine"

Janike has been in Les Miserables at Tuacahn as part of the ensemble since July, and a couple of weeks ago she started playing the part of  "Little Eponine," taking over for the girl who was previously playing that part. Here she is in her wig and costume. She has become good friends with Ellie Smith (playing "Little Cosette") and Caroline Labrum (playing the understudy). They are also little beggar children. (They look all ready for "Annie" next year, don't they?) "Les Miserables" runs for another five weeks and so if you haven't gotten a chance to see it then put it on your calendar!














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