Summer Vacation 2025 - Week 5 - Tech/Performance Week

You'd think that after all the plays our family has been involved in, we'd be used to tech week by now. But it still surprises me. 

Veronica had three days of tech rehearsal followed by three days of performances. In some ways it was an "easy" tech week for our family because it was just for Veronica. But it was still disruptive. The problem this time was dinner. 

We've been eating dinner around 6:30 most of the summer. Veronica had to be at the theatre at 5:30. So I was trying to get her to eat around 5:00 every day. That was just too early to make a full meal for everyone. And after Veronica was gone it just didn't seem worth it to make a meal for only part of the family. Consequently, we didn't have a family dinner the whole week. The closest we got was a pizza buffet on Friday night. Most of the time it everyone was on their own to fend for themselves. 

The Matilda play pretty much dominated our lives, but there were other things going on and I want to make sure I talk about those things. So let's go through the recap. 

On Saturday I'd been oddly tired. I was feeling better on Sunday, but I didn't try to push myself too hard either. I slept for a long time after church and in the evening we started watching the Veronica Mars series. 

I had high hopes that I'd feel amazing on Monday and physically I did. But mentally I was not great. I felt terribly depressed. The worst part was I didn't even have a reason. I was just in a rut. I went to work, but spent the morning working with my office door shut. I was trying to minimize stimulation. 

I got through work and then came home and took a nap and basically spent the afternoon in my room. The kids were understanding and left me alone. 

Charlotte and Lydia spent a long time in their room listening to an audio book. Charlotte showed me the house of cards she made. The secret was a glue stick. 

I was feeling better by about 4:00. But I wasn't doing much. At 4:45 I helped Veronica put on makeup and pack her little back stage bag with deodorant, a water bottle, and a game. Brandon took her to the theatre and then went out to the theatre storage place to assess things for building the set for Much Ad. 

I stayed home and watered my plants. The fountain in the pot was working really well. 

Veronica really liked the tech rehearsal, but it was long. She was there from 5:30 to 9:00. 

Here are some random pictures that I pulled off the Ovation Facebook page. This one is from a brochure for the Ovation Program. This was Veronica's Willy Wonka class. But they are on the ad for the Born to Perform Camp which just lasts one week and is for kids who aren't quite sure about theatre yet. 

And here's a picture of the cast rehearsing on the stage. You can see Veronica sitting on the floor doing kind of a Buddha pose. She did that in the play and it was funny. 

Tuesday was a much much much better day. Actually the rest of the week was great. It was like my body and brain just needed a hard reset on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday and then everything was functioning better again. 

The day started at 8:30 with another orthodontist appointment for Derrick. This was a regularly scheduled appt, not one for a broken bracket. 

Then at 10:00 I took the twins over to my friend Rachel's mother in laws house. The girls were already scheduled to water for Rachel while she's out of town for a family reunion. Her mother in law is going to the same reunion and needed someone to water her yard. So Rachel suggested the twins. I brought them over so they could learn how to water her yard. 

In the afternoon I went to work and got so much done. I felt really on top of things. That's always a good feeling. 

At 4:45 I got Veronica ready again and Brandon took her to the theatre. The rest of us stayed home and had a really productive night. I wanted to use our left over bricks from knocking down the wall to make a little patio in front of the outdoor sink. I dug up all the dead grass. But first I took a before picture. 

Charlotte and Brandon went to Lowes to buy a bearing for her ferris wheel. They didn't find what they needed so they bought pipe to make one. Charlotte thought it was funny that it was called a Charlotte Pipe. It also had the name Brandon on there. 

Here's the Ferris Wheel they have been building together. 

Lydia worked on her mural. 

The big purple things are gems. 

This is the beginning of a waterfall. 

And here is the train. She is so talented. 

When it was getting dark I went in the front yard and found a humming bird. I followed it around and got close enough to take a picture. 

On Wednesday I took Charlotte and Lydia to work at the berry farm. I didn't have to take their friend Addy because she was at FSY. I dropped them off and then went to Walmart to get some more mascara for me - I'd realized I was almost out when I was doing Veronica's make up. So it was kind of for her too. It wouldn't be tech week without at least one trip to get something at the store. 

Then I went to Castle Therapy and worked for almost 2 hours. I got some much done. There was good news in two different places so that was great. 

When I picked up the girls they had been picking Sascatoons. These are also called June Berries or Service Berries. They are the closest thing to Blue Berries you can grow around here. (Seriously, don't try to grow Blue Berries here, they need like a soil PH of 4.)  The kids were told to give some berries to their drivers. So I got a small handful. 

I took the girls home and then told everyone that in about an hour we were going on a little adventure. First we went to the mall to see Lydia's painting that has been on display for most of June. 

Then we went over to Moss Greenhouse on the Jerome side of the canyon. Its about a 20 minute drive. I always like when I have all four kids in the car and we go for a little drive. It reminds me of all the errands we drove in Texas and Alabama when it took about 20 minutes to just get off base. 

Moss Greenhouse was beautiful as always. We were there to buy the Firefly Petunia that they created. It's a petunia with blossoms that glow in the dark. Brandon's parents were coming to see the play and we wanted to get the flower for Brandon's mom as a late mother's day present. Brandon was like, "If she has that flower she will show it to EVERYONE."  So we bought one for me and one for her. 

I planted mine in one of my planters. It's the white flowers in the front. And yes, the little new blossoms that haven't opened yet do glow in the dark. 

That night Veronica had her dress rehearsal. She was so tired before hand. But we got her ready and out the door. 

Charlotte and Lydia went to the Young Women Activity. They wen't kayaking and paddle boarding at Dierkies Lake. I dropped them off at the church at 6:00 and they didn't get home until 9:00. 

Derrick went hiking with the Young Men and Dierkies lake. When they were done with the hike all the boys jumped in the lake in their regular clothes. Derrick thought that was so fun. They also came home around 9:00. 

Brandon and I spent the evening puttering around the yard. I was laying down brick under the sink. I also had to take breaks from that to knock mortar off of bricks with a hammer and chisel. Brandon was working on random projects to clean up the garage. He found one of my windchimes that had broken. He got it all strung up again and hung it up. 

On Thursday I got up early to water. I took a little break at 7:30 to go to Castle Therapy and do some billing stuff. Then I went back home and watered some more. At 10:00 I met with Cassy at Gaining Perspective and went over billing stuff with her. 

Here are pictures I took of the flowers while I was watering. 

The daisies are blooming and they are so pretty. 

I love how they are on either side of this path. 

Here are a bunch of flowers in the front. 

I was so happy to see a ripe tomato. 

Here's lettuce. It's been growing for over a month. I eat a salad nearly every day and haven't had to buy lettuce during June. 

I love how this path is lined with sunflowers that are blooming. 

Look! The flowers in my pots haven't died yet. This is a big deal. 

Here's another sun flower lined pathway. 

This is a texas sage and it's blooming. 

Here's Chartotte using the scroll saw to cut out something for her ferris wheel. 

Veronica had her first performance on Thursday night. She wanted us to come on Saturday so we didn't go to this, but Jori's family did. Later all these pictures were posted on the Facebook Page. For some reason Veronica is just barely out of the picture for nearly ever one. It's almost funny how much she's cut out. But I'll show them to you anyway. 

Here's the scene where Bruce eats the chocolate cake. Veronica is the cook in this scene. You can see her in the back with her bakers hat on. 

This is from the beginning of the play when the kids sing "Miracle." Veronica was one of the dads in this scene. You can actually see all of her in this picture. I love it so much. She had great expressions through the whole play and this shows her really getting into the song. 

Here's the School Song Scene when the Big Kids sing to the little kids about how awful school is. Veronica loved this song. I think it was very cathartic in a way to sing about hating school. Some of the lyrics are:

And so you think you're able
To survive this mess by being a prince or a princess
You will soon see
There's no escaping tragedy

And even
If you put in heaps of effort
You're just wasting energy
'Cause your life as you know it is ancient history

I have suffered in this jail
I've been trapped inside this cage for ages
This living hell!
But if I try, I can remember
Back before my life had ended
Before my happy days were over
Before I first heard the peeling of the bell

Like you, I was curious
So innocent, I asked a thousand questions
But unless you want to suffer
Listen up and I will teach you
A thing or two

She says she's probably just off camera in this picture, but she really loved this part. The big kids surround the little kids and walk around in a circle and scare them. 

Here is another picture where you can almost see her. She's standing right behind the second girl on the left. She was in the same outfit with the skirt, shirt, and tie. This was the first skirt she's worn in a long time. She was like, "I HATE it, but I understand it's my costume."

This is the Physical Education scene. Veronica is in the back on the right side. That girl in the front is Matilda. She was fabulous. 

I'm not sure which part this is. If Veronica is in the picture she's in the very back. I put the picture here because I really loved the jumpers the little kids wore. They were just perfect. 

Oh and we have to talk about the Trunchbull. In the musical version of the play the Trunchbull is often played by a man. They cast our friend Finn N as the Trunchbull and he was so so so funny. He did such a good job. 

And one more picture, this is of one of the promo pictures where they had headshots for each of the kids along with what part they would play. 

I picked Veronica up after the play. She was so happy. She told me all about the silly things that happened like the curtain not shutting and someone tripping over a set piece. 

On Friday there was work in the morning. When I got home the kids and I cleaned the house because Brandon's parents would be there later that day. We were all working together in the living room. Someone was dusting, someone was sweeping, someone was folding blankets, someone was getting the pet hair off the rug, and someone was putting away shoes. We were listening to our playlist and the song, "Dirty Paws" came on. There's a chorus part with lots of very dramatic La La La's. Everyone sang along to that. 

I was like, "guys we are literally all cleaning the house while singing la la la together."  It was almost sickeningly sweet. 

In the afternoon I took Derrick and Veronica to an Escape Room at the library. Charlotte and Lydia stayed home to work on Driver's Ed stuff. 

The escape room was fun. There were about 15 other kids there. They ended up solving it in 12 minutes. The person in charge had given them 45 minutes to solve it. 

At home Steve and Jacque showed up. I made pizza. At 4:45 we got Veronica ready again and Brandon and Steve took her over. At 7:00 Steve and Jacque went to see Veronica's show. They really liked it. 

The rest of us stayed home and kept working on projects. Lydia continued the mural. She added mountain tops with trees. 

She also put detail around the train. 

I think it looks like it's from a story book. 

I kept working on my little patio and got it mostly done. I'm really happy with how this turned out. 

Steve and Jacque brought Veronica home after the play. They'd loved it. I'd made cheesecake and we had that. The kids had never had cheese cake before. I was like, "You'll love it, one of the three ingredients is cool whip. They all did end up liking it - which is good because I've been craving it forever and it was super easy to make. I ended up making another one on Sunday. 

Steve and Jacque had a lot to do on Saturday so they didn't stay the night. They went home and we all stayed outside for a long time. 

On Saturday Veronica slept in for a long time. She was so tired. Since we'd already cleaned the house on Friday we didn't have to clean on Saturday. That was nice. 

Brandon and Derrick got up at 8:00 to help a ward member load a cut down tree onto a trailer. The family paid Derrick $20 for helping. It was for his camp fees. Our ward is expecting each camp participant to pay $100. Instead of doing one big fundraiser they just encourage other ward members to hire the teenagers for various things. My kids mostly do pet sitting and watering. Derrick also helped check our neighbors mail and bring it in her house while she was out of town. 

At 11:00 I took the twins over to D&B to meet up with their Driver's Ed instructor. He took them out for another 3 hours of driving. 

At home there was a lot of yard puttering going on. Brandon wanted Derrick to be outside instead of watching a movie inside. Derrick's choice of an outdoor activity was to see if he could light something on fire with his magnifying glass.

This took a lot of work. He built a little platform to hold the glass and then he build a wind break.  

But his success didn't happen until he got a match and lit that with the magnifying glass. I told Brandon, "this is why Derrick is on screens so much, because when he's not on screens he chooses straight up arson as an activity." 

I was filling in the gaps in the bricks by smashing up the mortar and bushing it into the gaps. It was a fun project that made me feel like a kid. 

Derrick moved onto trying to light other things on fire. 

He got close with this weed. 

At 4:45 I helped Veronica with her make up for the last time. Brandon took her to the theatre. At 6:30 we all went there to watch the show. 

It was super cute. I loved seeing Veronica on stage. Maybe I'm biased, but I think she's such a good actor. She didn't have any lines, but she was so expressive. And she sang every song with gusto. 

I was impressed by the entire cast. They had auditioned, been cast, and given scripts at the beginning of May. So the kids with bigger parts had time to rehearse on their own. But they didn't start putting it all together until rehearsals started on June 9th. And here we were on June 28th and they were doing their last performance. 

They all sang and danced their hearts out. It was so great to watch. This play is the Jr version of the Broadway Musical there's also a version of it on Netflix. I still prefer the Mara Wilson version of Matilda from the 90's, but the Musical has some really good parts. 

My favorite is the song Revolting Children. I like the play on words with the different meanings of revolting. 

Never again will we live behind bars
Never again now that we know that we are
Revolting children
Living in revolting times
We sing revolting songs
Using revolting rhymes
We'll be revolting children
Til our revolting's done
And we'll have the Trunchbull bolting
We're revolting!

Veronica plays a Russian at the end of the play so when they did bows and met us in the lobby she was wearing her outfit for that. She really liked her sunglasses. 

Here she is with them on.

And here we are together. 

She stayed after for a cast party. She'd loved being in this cast. She had a lot of friends from other plays and new friends she made during this play. She's definitely dealing with the post play blues again. 

In the fall she'll be in the teenage group doing High School Musical. She's only seen the movie once - but has no memory of it. So she's not exactly excited about the source material. But she's excited to know what her next play is. They will perform in January. 

Veronica wanted to watch Veronica Mars after her cast party so we stayed up watching two episodes of that. And then went to bed. 

On Sunday I woke up early and worked on getting guest posts scheduled on the Exponent. I was still tired so at 9:30 I went back to bed for what I thought would be 30 minutes. I woke up at 11:00. 

We all got ready for church and were there on time at 12:00. I thought about going to Sunday School because my friend Jeff was just called as a teacher. But I was like, "I love Jeff, I don't love the Doctrine and Covenants."  So I stayed in the foyer and talked with Brandon for what felt like the first time in DAYS. We'd been together a lot that week, but we hadn't had a chance to just sit and talk. So that was nice. 

A few days earlier Brandon had quoted something from Robin Hood Men in Tights and he was like, "Oh we should watch that."  So I'd ordered it from the library along with Prince of Thieves." So we spent most of the day watching those two movies. Derrick laughed so much at Men in Tights. So did I. I watched that movie with Brandon early in our marriage, but I couldn't remember anything about it. So it was like I was watching it for the first time. 

Anyway, that gets us caught up.  

Thanks for reading