Third Week of Cinderella - Birthday Week!

I turned 40 this week. I think I would have liked my 40th birthday no matter what. But there is a special pleasure in turning 40 while getting ready to perform in Cinderella. It's like it symbolizes that my life isn't over at 40. There are many more adventures waiting for me. I don't have to just sit and dream about how great the past was, I can go out and continue experiencing new things. 

Here's the poster for Cinderella. Isn't that so pretty?

So here's the run down of the week leading up to my birthday and the actual birthday.

On Monday at rehearsal we were able to be on the stage. Most rehearsals are up in the classroom on the 3rd floor. We'll move down to the stage for real for the last two weeks before the first performance. The reason we can't be on the stage all the time is because there are other performances using the stage for their final rehearsals. 

The stage had been in use for the last three weeks for Descendants rehearsals. And it would soon be in use for the rehearsals for A Year with Frog and Toad (that's being done by Jump Co - another kids theatre group in town because Twin Falls is cool like that.) But for one week the stage was actually free and we had a chance to practice there. 

The first thing we did was run though "The Prince is Giving A Ball."  Lauren is the choreographer. She was like, "Okay, let's just run thought it and see what happens."

What happened was we had no real idea on our spacing and ended up in tight little masses. It was a good first attempt - but obviously needed work. 

So then Lauren went over the actual spacing on the actual stage. I'm on the front row in one part of the middle and then at the end. She pulled me and the rest of the front line ALL the way to the front of the stage - we'd been trying to do our part in the section between the wings so it was very different to be that close to the edge. 

We ran through it again and things went so much better. 

Then we moved onto blocking for the Wedding scene at the end. There was a lot of standing around as Jared got us all in the exact places he wanted us. Then we practiced walking onto our spots from the wings while singing that part. 

After we had that down we practiced our bows and what order those will happen. 

And then it was time to go home. 

I'm sure there were important things happening besides the theatre on Tuesday, but I don't remember them. So we'll just skip to the afternoon when I took Veronica to her theatre class. She had such a good time. They are working on Willy Wonka Jr which is a kids version of the Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory movie. Veronica plays Charlies dad at first, but then is an oompa loompa after Charlie goes to the chocolate factory. She is a VERY tall oompa loompa. She's naturally very tall and she's also one of the oldest kids in the cast. So yeah, she towers over the rest. My friend Sara is doing the choreography. She has to keep modifying the moves for Veronica. 

But Veronica doesn't mind. She loves that class so much. She came out of there happily singing the Oompa Loompa song from the Mike TeeVee part. 

Brandon had been contacted by Jared about doing the stairs for Cinderella. So at 7:00 he went out to the prop property and talked with Jared about that. Many people were happy when they found out Brandon was building the stairs.  

Charlotte, Lydia, and I went back to the theatre for our rehearsal. I'd talked to Chris, our stage manager, about celebrating my birthday that night. Us ensemble members weren't needed the rest of the week so this was the best time to celebrate. I brought ice cream sandwiches for everyone. 

We had them at the beginning because I wasn't sure how long they'd stay frozen. I'd brough them in a cooler, but I was only confident in that for about 2 hours. There was also kind of a lull at the beginning because we were waiting for Ian - our other chorographer to finish with the Ovation auditions for Wizard of Oz. (They were done with Descendants and Wizard of Oz is the next play for the teenage group.)

Anyway,  so while we were waiting for Ian to be done, Chris had everyone sing Happy Birthday to me. I have been looking forward to this for a while. There is NOTHING more wonderful than hearing a bunch of musical theatre enthusiasts sing happy birthday. It's so lovely. Everyone was sitting in the audience chairs and I stood in front of the stage while everyone sang. I had the biggest smile on my face. 

Then Chris and I handed out the ice cream sandwiches. 

Ian was finally done and he lead us in some warm ups on the stage. The warm up had a bunch of jumping jacks. I was like, "Um, my foot has like 4 jumps in it per night. I am not wasting those on a warm up."  So I didn't do that part. 

After the warm up he had the knights and the ladies stay on the stage while the rest of us went to the audience to wait for our part. Charlotte, Lydia, and I and about 7 other people aren't part of the ball scenes. We've started calling ourselves the "Normies."

I went and sat by my friend Marianne and had fun talking with her. I beckoned Marissa, Makeesa, and Carol over too. The five of us had a great time talking and getting to know each other better. At one point the assistant director Mathieu came over and apologized for it taking so long to get to our part. I was like, "It's okay, I'm here for the friends anyway." 

At like 8:30 we were finally brough up to the front of the audience and Ian went over our parts. There are about three different dance numbers during the ball scenes. We will be dancing in the audience during one of those songs. But we don't really have choreography. Basically Ian just went over where to stand and when we are supposed to enter and exit. 

Honestly, it could have been something we went over at the very beginning or even a different. We probably didn't need to be there for almost 2 hours. But whatever, it was fine. We were able to leave around 9:00 and everyone else had to stay another hour. 

Wednesday was my day off - but not really this week. I was planning to take Friday off for my birthday so I went into work in the afternoon. 

In the morning I had my scripture study group. We were on the third chapter of the book Restoration by Patrick Mason. It's such a good book and the ladies in the group are loving it. I'm loving it even though I've read every chapter more than 4 times. 

That night I didn't have rehearsal. I went grocery shopping. Brandon came too. We've discovered that we shop COMPLETELY different from each other and we kind of drive each other nuts. So we divided and conquered. I was shopping for all the regular food things. He was shopping for all the fun food for my birthday party.  

Thursday was a day full of work so I could slack off on Friday. I was at Castle Therapy trying to figure something out with the new Tricare system. It was kind of confusing and I was panicking that somehow payments were going to the parents of patients instead of us - but that seems to be not true - I hope. Then I went to work at Aspen and did many important things that I have completely forgot about now. 

Brandon was at CSI that evening so he went straight out to Burley after work and we didn't see him. I didn't have rehearsal so I was home with the kids all night. That was good because the basement needed a lot of work to get ready for my party. 

Charlotte has been crafting another dragon. This is Peacock. Peacock looks great, but her creation made quite the mess. So Charlotte needed to clean up that.  

Lydia had been working on yet another dress. This also created a lot of a mess. So she cleaned up her supples. 

And Veronica had been working on various projects and needed to clean her stuff up. Also there was just a general layer of dishes, trash, and random things that needed to be cleaned. 

When the floor was all clean Derrick helped me move the futon from his bedroom out to the family room. We set it up so there would be a big U of seating. Charlotte put the dragon on the futon.

We got the room all clean and it looked so good. 

On Friday morning I woke up for a little bit around 1:00. Brandon was awake too and he told me Happy Birthday. Then we fell asleep again. 

When we woke up for real we got the kids up and ready for school. Our mornings start with waking Derrick up. He's the first to leave. His bus comes around 7:30 these days. Brandon also leaves for work around 7:30. He works about 20 minutes away, but goes through several school zones on his way to work and traffic can be really bad so he gives himself a buffer. 

Veronica needs to be at school at 8:00. I've been driving her because it's cold and dark, but lately it hasn't been very cold or dark and traffic is ridiculous in front of the school. So we are going to start walking again. 

Then I come home and take Charlotte and Lydia to school at 8:20. After I dropped them off I drove over to Walmart. I was having a Pajama Party for my birthday, and I wanted new pajamas. So I found some cute ones and bought those. 

Then I drove to DI and spent about 90 minutes picking out and trying on clothes. I've done this for a lot of my birthdays the last few years. I like to load up my cart and take it all into the dressing room - in direct opposition to the "limit 6 items" signs that are posted. 

I bought a new dress, a blazer, two shorts, a pair of dress pants, two jeans, a pair of super soft joggers, four shirts, and THREE gray shirts. I'm on an unofficial mission to have the greatest collection of grey shirts ever. This time I got a long grey shirt, a fancy knit grey shirt, and an athletic style grey shirt. I love grey shirts because they are very versatile. They work as under shirts, but also on their own for any activity from hanging out to yard work. And I can pair them with anything. I love my grey shirts. 

When I got home I cleaned the downstairs bathroom. Then I went on a walk and then took a nap. 

After the kids were home I got a package from my sister Lindsey. I figured she'd sent me home made soap so I opened it up without much fan fare. I should have known better. It was an incredible present. 

She'd sent me a bag for garden tools. It had a lot of pockets on the outside and each pocket had a fun present. There was candy, there was make up, and there was soap of course. It was so much fun to open that present and look in all the pockets. Lindsey is the best. 

I had the kids do their bathroom jobs in the upstairs bathroom. They also helped straighten up the basement (again.)

Brandon came home from work and started putting together the 7 layer dip. I chopped veggies.  

We started setting up things downstairs. Here's the table with some of the food. I never did get a picture of it when it had cupcakes on it. 

Here's the mocktail table before Brandon put all of his tools and ingredients on it. He was our bar tender for the night and had so much fun making drinks for everyone. 

Here's a view of the whole room. 

And here I am in my super comfy pajamas. They had stars on them. 

Throughout the afternoon I'd been getting messages from friends who really wanted to come, but had to cancel for one reason or another. I was kind of thinking, "Is anyone actually going to show up?"

I knew Jori would be there. And Kerri had said she was coming. There were a few others I was pretty certain were coming so I was thinking that at the very least there would be 4 people there. 

Well at 7:00 about 4 people all showed up together and then more came in. I was so happy that people were able to make it. We ended up with 10 people. Here's a picture we took toward the middle of the evening. From left to right we have Marianne, Kerri, and Rachel who I know from the theatre - though Kerri is also the attendance secretary at the middle school and Rachel is married to the kids' first school counselor at our elementary school. Then we have Justine, who had the distinction of being the person I knew the longest at this party. She and I were in the same married student ward in Logan. We've been Facebook friends forever and then reconnected in real life when she started working as a para in Derrick's classroom this year. 

In this picture we have Cristianeide who I call Cris because I am too white to pronounce her beautiful Brazilian name. Olyvia and her baby Adelman (I think that's how you spell it), and Jori. I know those three from church. Then it's Beth who I know from Bunco. And then Shellien who was the facilitator for the Self Employment class I took in 2020 and has been a friend ever since. 

Carol had been at the party, but left before we took the picture. 

I'd had a plan to watch a move if there was ever a lull in the conversation. But there never was a lull. I loved hearing everyone talk around me. I mostly sat on the ottoman and rotated between conversations. It was really fun. 

Brandon was such a good bar tender and made sure everyone had the drinks they wanted. Lot's of people commented on how fun it was to have the mocktails. Kerri's birthday was the next week. I asked her what she was doing and she said, "Hiring Brandon to serve Mocktails."

Several people went home around 11:00. Jori had brought her Henna kits and Kerri wanted some henna done so she stayed and that meant Rachel had to stay since she was her ride. Marianne hung around for a while too. 

Those three left around 12:30. All my girls wanted Henna done so Jori stayed until like 2:00 or maybe 2:30 doing that. Brandon was having so much fun. He even started telling some of his famous "Grandpa Stories."

After Jori went home I went right to bed. I think I fell asleep with the biggest smile on my face. It had been such a fun birthday. 

On Saturday I was in various stages of recouping. Everyone slept in until about 10:00. I got up and had some breakfast and then got back in bed. 

I'd told Brandon there was a baby shower for two women in our ward that morning. I wasn't really planning to go. But Brandon kept asking questions like, "Who is it for?"  "When is it?" and  "Where is it?" until I was like, "Okay, just say it, you think I should go."

So I pulled myself together and ran to the store to buy diapers and then hurried to meet everyone for lunch at Pizza Pie cafe. I thought the shower started at 11:00 and so I thought I was late when I got there at 11:10. But turns out it started at 11:30 so I was 20 minutes early. Go me!

The shower was for my friend Olyvia who had been at my party and my friend Nicole. This was Olyvia's 5th baby and Nicole's 3rd. So it was just a "sprinkle."

About 10 women from the ward were there - including Jori. I had fun talking to more people. My favorite part was when my friend Jamie told me the story of the TOXIC ward that she lived in before moving into our ward. I kept saying, "I love the 7th ward, I love the 7th ward."

After the shower was over I drove home and was home for about 30 minutes before it was time to leave yet again!

Charlotte and Lydia and I had to go get our costumes. My friend Britt who does the Living Nativity is doing the costumes for Cinderella. So we were going to her costume barn. I was excited to go there for something besides Living Nativity Costumes. The downside was that she was busy so we wouldn't actually get to see her. 

They had the cast divided into groups. The Principals came from 11:00 to 12:30. The knights and ladies went from 12:30 to 2:00. And then the townspeople (AKA Normies) went from 2:00 to whenever. So by the time we showed up a lot of people had already been through a lot of the costumes and knew the lay of the land so to speak. 

Someone had already found two matching outfits for Charlotte and Lydia to try on. Those fit perfectly so that was simple. 

Mine was a little harder. At first I was in a room with a bunch of dresses, but I felt a little directionless. Then Makeesa told me to come in the room she was in. She said, "I already went through that whole room. There is nothing that will fit woman like us."  She also said that Marianne had figured out that this room with skirts and separate blouses was a much better option. And then she handed me a pretty yellow skirt and said, "This will probably fit you. And if it doesn't here's one exactly like it in a bigger size."  The first one didn't fit, but the second one did. Makeesa even helped me get all hooked in. She was so helpful!  She said that she loves to help people figure out what to wear. 

So then all I had to do was find a blouse that fit. I picked out a white one that had a high collar and long sleeves and lots of lace embellishments. The skirt has a really high waste and goes down to my feet. It's going to be so fun to dance in. It's also a really pretty yellow. Normally I don't wear yellow because it doesn't go with my skin tone, but since it's a skirt I can wear it. 

Thanks to Makeesa I was in and out of there in like 10 minutes. I really thought I'd be in there a lot longer. 

Lydia was inspired by the costumes to come home and model some of the dresses she made recently. This is the one she'd been working on this week. 

And here's the one from last week. 

I came home and took a super long nap. That evening we watched The Secret Life of Walter Mitty because that had been one of my possible movies for my party. 

I loved watching the movie, but I was super grumpy when it was over. I realized that I was probably just super tired from staying up late. So I went to bed. 

On Sunday I felt much better. Church was good. My friend Kori has missed the last two weeks so when she saw Derrick passing the sacrament she was so excited. Lots of people have commented on how well he does. To me it reminds me of when he was learning to walk. He would just stand and stand and stand and then sit down. When he finally did walk he took like 6 very perfect steps and then sat down. He doesn't like to do things until he KNOWS he is ready. 

(And I always have to add the story of how Veronica learned to walk which was the complete opposite. She just pulled herself up and tried to walk and fell a lot and then eventually figured it out.)

In the afternoon we went on a walk in the Auger Falls area. 

Here I am.

Derrick and Veronica climbing on some rocks. 

The view of the bridge in the distance. 

This was a cool ice puddle in a rock. 

Here it is up close. 

Then we came home and had a roast that had been cooking in the crock pot. At some point I looked up and said, "Oh yeah, it's the super bowl today." And then we all went back to what we were doing. We are so not a sports family. 

(Though on Monday I got sucked into watching and reading commentaries on Kendrick Lamar's half time show. I'd been vaguely aware of his beef with Drake and all the diss tracks that came out last summer. But if you'd played Not Like Us for me I wouldn't have had a clue what it was. And now I can't get a beet out of my head and I'm LOVING all the commentary about the layers symbolism. The memes are pretty great too.  I'm especially a fan of Serena Williams' part of the show.)

And that gets us all caught up. 

Thanks for reading!