Where's The Fork

All of my daughters have struggled with their speech, and two in particular have struggled with the letter R.  Yesterday my youngest yelled out, "Where's the fork?" J, Captain E, and I immediately turned toward her.  "What did she just say..." I mouthed to J and then we just start laughing hysterically as it dawns on all of us she was asking for a fork but what all of us over 14 heard was "What the F@#$." "You need to watch The Good Place," I squeak out between peels of laughter to J.  We really need to get those R's in there quick :)

Silhouette Studio

One of the cool things they had at the Orem Colonial Fair was a Silhouette Studio.  I'm a sucker for this type of memorabilia.  The artist had each of my kids sit on the chair and then cut a silhouette for them.  We did two pictures.  One of the girls, one of the boys.  It was fun to watch him do this.  Apparently he also does this as Disneyland on Main Street every Saturday.  So if you are looking for a cool collectible, look no further.  I got a picture of him doing everyone but my youngest.  I had to hold him and he did not want to cooperate.  After he cut them he glued them down and framed them for us.  I love them so much.  Aunt Nik also got one.

4th of July

I love 4th of July.  The last couple years J has tried to be off because he knows how much I enjoy it.  There are parades and picnics to attend, fireworks and this year we went to a colonial fair.  I think it is a perfect time to reflect on what this country should stand for.  This year I actually started my day reading "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro," by Frederick Douglass.  Sometimes you need a gut punch.  The truth is that when this country was founded it wasn't founded for the majority of the people living in it.  But you know what we learned, and slowly, oh so slowly we started to apply the principles on which the country was founded to all the citizens who live here.  It hasn't be perfect and the truth is I've come to realize that it isn't something you can assume as a guarantee but it is definitely something worth striving for.  So I remember this day with reverence, the reverence for those who sacrificed for Independence and the reverence for our my in staying true to the ideas of hope this country was founded on.  

We like to go home to celebrate.  It is fun to be around family and also truth be told the fireworks are just better in Utah.  

 We started our day sorting out our entertainment for the night.  Uncle Rob went to the parade but he had to be there at 5am and most of us just had zero interest in waking up that early.  Instead we went to the colonial fair with Grandma and Grandpa.  Here Cheetah and Grandpa are meeting Ben.  A kid asked him what his real name is.  "Benjamin Franklin." he said.  I'm going to be honest I wouldn't be surprised one bit if he has legal changed it.  Also I couldn't look at him without thinking about that saucy Ben Franklin in The Office. 

They had lots of activities.  There was a museum of clothing from the time period, food to buy, rope makers, candle makers, story tellers, brass sellers, a blacksmith, stores to buy antiques, just lots of really fun stuff.  They also had a mission the kids could do where they could be spies for the

 In the afternoon we went back to Grandpas and the kids looked for fossils in some fossil gravel we brought back from Montana. 

 Then it was time for the show.  There were three families putting on fireworks shows on the street.  It gave us plenty to watch and my kids all enjoyed lighting stuff off this year.  We for the most part were safe.  The family to the left of us were a little idiotic and more than once they had a firework tip over and shoot into their crowd.  Luckily no one was hurt. 

A Couple Phrases

My sugar baby just keeps adding to his vocabulary.  A couple days ago he was trying to get himself some cereal.  I tried to help him by grabbing the box and he yelled at me "Let go."

I got a pedicure recently and my toe nails are bright orange.  When he saw them he said, "oh tiny toes."

The 3rd of July we were hanging out in my inlaws back yard and someone set off fireworks.  He ran toward the fence, reached his little arms up and yelled, "look at that."

2018 Dance Photos

This year Peach did ballet, jazz, and tumbling.  Tumbling was her favorite.  She's been working on hear cartwheels, her back handstands, and her back flips.  Cheetah did ballet.  Next year is the first year her teacher will allow her to pick up another dance.  I'm hoping jazz is on the right day.  The show this year was Bambi.  Peach was snowflakes and hunting dogs.  Cheetah was a skunk.  Just kidding.  She was obviously a flower!  

Mr Squish Words

I'm notoriously bad about keeping track of this stuff but these are the words Sugar Babt, aka Mr Squish, aka the original buddy uses.

Mom, dad, Ezra, Grace, Sadie, Aylin, help, up, hey, hi, bye, Jason, buddy, dog, ball, my (in place of mine), no, yes, uh, uh, uh (with finger wagging), uh oh, goat, eyes, nose, ruff ruff, jesus, go, yeah. He also loves to do sound effects of cars going, guns shelling, and the hose squirting.  Go figure.

The Room Where it Happens - Hamilton Tour

Is it obvious I love all things Hamilton?  Well I do.  Recently, thanks to my mother in law, I had the opportunity to see the show in Utah.  She and her bestie have season tickets to Eccles theater.  When Hamilton announced it would be coming to the Eccles they found out they'd be allowed to get one extra ticket per season ticket before they were released to the public.  Luckily my father and law and I were the beneficiaries of those tickets.  I can't do anything halfway so I picked out a Hamilton inspired outfit for the show.   

via GIPHY

We ate dinner at Brio.  My mother in law was chatting up a double date in the elevator on the way out of the parking garage.  She talks up everyone.  They told us they were going to Hamilton.  "Oh we are going to Hamilton," my mother in law told them.  "We are going to dinner first," they said.  "So are we," she said, "We are going to Brio."  "Oh," the lady says, "Do you have reservations because we called them and they are booked out?"  "Yes, we do," my mother in law said.  And that pretty much ended the conversation because that lady had some serious jealousy going on.   

They made us go through scrutiny to get in at the Eccles.  This is apparently new, maybe for this show only.  They wanded us and went through every person's bag.  That was no problem for me because all I had was my tickets, my license, and my debit card but a lot of people were taking a lot more time.  Right after my father in law got through two ladies cut me in line.  They had huge purses with them and security started going through them rigorously.  "That can't go through, that can't go through, that can't go through."  The lady basically had a small corner store in there in soda and snacks.  She started tossing things out in the trash.  "Oh great," I thought, the other ladies bag was just as big.  Then all the sudden my father in law turns around and realizing I had't made it through booms, "Why aren't you over here, did those ladies cut the line?"  Oh my goodness, the lady with security got out of there fast and the second lady disappeared back into the line and in 30 seconds I was through.

Linda got us great seats but her and Dawn were in their normal seats over on the right a bit and Bob and I were pretty much center.

At intermission Bob and I came out and took a picture in-front of this lovely sign.  We also bought programs and I got a shirt for everyone but my youngest.  He was too big for the baby onsies but way too small for the shirts.  I figured it was the least I could do considering I dragged them on a 12 hour car trip so I could see this show.

The show was amazing!  The first ten minutes I struggled for a bit.  I've listened to this show so often that I know every pause, every inflection.  While the cast was extremely talented this was not the original cast and I'm not kidding when I say that I've pretty much memorized Lin Manuel.  That first ten minutes every time Joseph Morales didn't match exactly I would cringe just a little and then about ten minutes in I just let it go, it was when the woman came out.  After I relaxed it was pure bliss.  Guys, this show is genius.  The set and the costumes are so simple but what they do with them is just amazing.  The chorus is so talented.  The cast was amazing.  Special shout out to Shoba Narayan and TaRea Campbell.  They were incredible.  Also Nik Walker and Marcus Choi, wow!  Really everyone was amazing.  By intermission I was enthralled and the second half I pretty much cried the entire time.  This is such a great show and with a few tweaks (I'm thinking of you f-bombs) I could see this show being put on by any high school in America in ten years and it still being great.  It really is a true gem!  I'm so thankful for the opportunity I had to see it and only a small bit of regret that I didn't get to see the original cast.

Two weeks later we returned to Utah because on the day of ticket release, the second they released I tried for tickets, and  I got three.  I was hoping for four but what can you do.  So we returned again, this time so that Dr. J could take our two oldest girls.  They loved it.  The first thing J told me when he walked out was that Shoba Narayan has the voice of an angel.  He is not exaggerating.  We left for home right after the show and the girls spent a good hour telling me about their favorite parts.  And oh yeah, I made them dresses to go to the show.  I would have loved to see it again and I would have loved to see people's reactions to the dresses, J said people loved them, but I'm so glad three more people in my family got to see it.   Also because their tickets were so high I made sure to send them with some opera glasses.  They still had a great view but they loved having the glasses.  It just made them feel even more in character.  Thanks Lin Manuel for this masterpiece.   

And just for fun this is one of the t-shirts I snagged!