It's kind of funny how it feels that September this year can be divided into "Before Timp" and "After Timp." But climbing that mountain was a big deal so it has divided my month.
This post is about the week after I hiked 5 miles up Mt Timpanogos. So just know that I was doing everything with a very sore body. I think my muscles finally felt better around Thursday or Friday.
On Monday September 15th my friend Kori hosted her "We Survived Summer Break" Brunch. She did this in January and when school started this year I was like, "Hey, when are we doing that Brunch thing again?" She said that was the final push she needed to plan it for September. It was really fun. Jori, Olyvia, Shaylee, Megan, Chandler, and some other ladies were there. We had a fun time talking.
I'd gone to work for like 30 minutes before it started and then I went back to work when it was over. But it was such a fun way to start the week.
When I was back at work I got two very important calls/texts.
The first was a text saying that I was called in for Jury Duty on Tuesday morning. I'd been on call for Jury Duty all month, but hadn't had to go in. I'd even checked the website that weekend - but it was down for maintenance . So it was a bit of a surprise to have to go in with such short notice.
I texted Brandon and told him he'd need to take all the kids to school in the morning. And then I sent more texts letting various people know that my plans for the week might get all upended.
In the middle of all that I got a call from the Twin Falls County Clerk. It was the elections team asking me if I wanted to be the Chief Judge for the November Election. Being a Chief Judge is a dream of mine, but it also terrifies me because I have to be in charge of everything for two precincts. That's a lot of responsibility. I've kind of always planned on doing it when I'm in my 50s.
Shannon who was the Chief Judge last November can't make it work with her schedule this year. She recommended me. So that was flattering. And there are only two city council races on the ballot this year. It's probably going to be a very simple and calm election day - not like the craziness of a general election.
So I said yes.
EEEEEKKKKKKKK
So yeah, it was a very civil service themed afternoon.
Veronica had theatre after school. She always meets me at the car and lets out an excited yell because she had so much fun.
Brandon had rehearsal for Sweeny that night. He's not as excited about that. It's been a tougher play than the other ones he's been in. But he's still having a good time.
On Tuesday I got up a little earlier than usual and got ready. I drove downtown to a building next to the History Courthouse. I was kind of nervous about going through security and finding the place where I should be, but everyone in the building was really nice.
I joked with the guy who did the security check for my bag. I said, "I cleaned it out for you." Which was true, but also kind of hilarious because it was still really full. (I had a salad packed for lunch and a book in case things got boring.)
Then I checked in with the Bailiff who was really nice and had a genuine conversation with me about my last name.
I was directed to court room one and told that my number was 13. So I went in there and found my seat. There were about 50 other seats in the room. A lot were still empty. But some were full. And to my surprise my friend Lynn was basically sitting right behind me!
I know her from TFCC Bible Study. We caught up on things and she told me all about the plans for Bible Study this year. They are going to be studying Acts. They still meet Monday nights so I don't know if I can make that work all year, but it might work for me in November. It was so good to talk to her.
I told her that I was worried I'd get put on the Jury. It's just my luck for something like that to happen.
After a while the Bailiff came in along with the County employee who is over Juries. They welcomed us and then had us watch a video introduction to Jury Service.
Then we were told to wait a few minutes and we'd officially start with roll call once everyone else was situated.
A court recorder came in and sat down. Then a lawyer walked in and started getting his stuff ready on his table. Another lawyer came in and silently beckoned to the other lawyer. They both left the room quickly. I immediately perked up - I didn't know anything about what was going on, yet part of me was certain that some sort of last minute plea bargain was about to get worked out.
We kept waiting and waiting. I was starting to wonder if we were in some sort of experiment to see how long it takes 50 adults to remember they have free will. Everyone was sitting politely and quietly, but as time went on people were shifting in their seats a lot more.
I'd brought a book and at some point I eased that out of my bag and started reading. The book was called "Hey Hon" and it was about a lady talking about the Multi Level Marketing company that she joined, was really good at, and then left when she became disillusioned. It was really fascinating and definitely made that long wait less boring.
The Bailiff told everyone there were some "technical difficulties" and we just needed to keep waiting. Someone asked if we could use the bathroom. Initially she said no, but a few minutes later she let us all get up for a 10 minute break.
Then we came back to our seats and waited some more. Eventually the Judge came in and told us all that the person who was going to be on trial that day had decided to plead guilty. We'd had to stay there until that was completed. And now we were free to go.
It really was the best case scenario. We were out of there by about 10:30.
I was all dressed up and really didn't have anywhere else to go so I went to work. When I'd left on Monday I'd told our receptionist, "I really hope I see you tomorrow." So it was good to see her.
Since I'd gone to work earlier than usual on Tuesdays I was off work earlier. I spent the afternoon laying on the patio and moving the sprinkler around the back yard to water the lawn.
Later I watered all the garden beds. Here's the one in the front yard with zinnias and comsmos. It's so pretty.
I also finally got around to doing something with my peaches. I'd had really bad timing with the peaches this year. I probably should have picked them the previous week and then canned them or done something with them over the weekend. But I just didn't quite have time for all of that. So by the time I could pay attention to the peaches a lot of them had fallen off the tree or been pecked at by birds. The chickens were given most of the peaches this year. (I'm so glad we have chickens because then I don't feel like these peaches completely went to waste) But there were four good ones.
I made peach salsa with jalapeno peppers and a red onion that I grew.
On Wednesday I had my scripture study group. Then I TOOK A NAP. This was the first Wednesday since school started that I hadn't had to catch up on something. So I was catching up on sleep.
That night the kids had a combined youth activity at Candy Cane Park. They were playing capture the flag. Some of my kids weren't too interested in going. I told them I'd go and hang around in my car. If they wanted to come sit in the car they totally could.
So we all went. Lydia drove the van. When we pulled up at the park a lot of the leaders were standing on the sidewalk and watched her drive up. Some of them came over later and were like, "I can't believe the twins are driving!"
I cleaned out the car while the kids played. It was a huge mess. I'd emptied one of the totes the usually holds blankets so that I could use it to take spa stuff to the hotel in Utah. I hadn't put it back together. Also there just seemed to be stuff everywhere in the back. So I pulled everything out and got it put back nicely
I also went through the backpack of "backup clothes" that I always keep in the car. It's been a while since I went through that. I realized that every single hoodie was too small. So I texted a picture to Jori to see if she wanted them for her girls. She did.
Then I went through the other clothes and realized they were all too small too! So I ended up just giving it all to Jori. I was like, "Here's your backup bag starter kit." All her kids ended up loving the clothes. We were hanging out on Monday and I think each of her kids was wearing at least one thing from that bag.
Really there should be a more direct pipeline of clothes from my kids to her kids. Veronica is only two years older than Jori's oldest. But since Veronica is so tall she is like 6 sizes ahead of Jori's kids. The only clothes that make it over to Jori are the ones that Charlotte and Lydia find in the back of their closet and realize they haven't worn since elementary school.
Thursday was a pretty typical day. After school I spent a lot of time sitting on the couch with Derrick. He's so obsessed with dinosaurs. He wanted me to look at a database of all the dinosaurs in the Jurassic Park Evolution game. He would open up the info about the dinosaur and we'd read the description together and he'd read me the statistics.
Here's the one for Gallimimus.
This is such good practice for him. It's good reading practice, good talking practice, and even good imagining practice. He's always asking things like, "What if there was a triceratops outside our house." Here we are together.
I had a diagram of the different geologic epochs on my phone. So we'd look up where the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods were in time. Some of the dinosaurs are the hybrid dinosaurs made up by Jurassic Park scientists. They are listed as from the Holocene Epoch. I showed Derrick that is the epoch we live in. I also learned that Magaladons are way younger than dinosaurs. They are from the Miocene Epoch.
That night I started working on Veronica's cake. She and I had decided to make a cake that looked like the inside of the Orpheum. Earlier in the week I'd taken her and Charlotte and Lydia shopping at Walmart to pick everything out for the cake. She was excited that I was starting it. I made a rice crispy base and also put rice crispies in a bread pan. I made a cake in a cookie sheet and another in a cake pan.
I kept working on the cake on Friday. Before Veronica came home from school I made chocolate clay out of white chocolate chips and Karo syrup.
When she came home we mixed black food coloring into frosting and frosted the cake with that. That would be the floor for the theatre.
Then I made stiff icing like what I use for Gingerbread houses. It's made with egg whites, creme of tarter, and powdered sugar. I added cocoa powder to turn it brown. We used that to start making the seats. They were made with a Nutty Bar and mini oreos. Here we are working on those together.
I made walls by sticking Pirouette cookies together with the frosting. Veronica made a sound booth with chocolate covered cookies and nerds.
We were so excited when we put things on the cake and they started looking so cute.
These chairs were especially fun. I'd been wondering how we were going to do the chairs and this was such an easy way.
Here we are adding more chairs.
We had to take a break so that Brandon and I could go on a date. We went to see Godspell at The Orpheum. This was the first play of 2025 that we didn't have ANYTHING to do with. We didn't even babysit Payton at all because her parent's weren't in this one.
But we did know many of the people in the play. Our friend Crayson was Jesus. Jared was John the Baptist and Judas. And we knew almost everyone else in the 10 person cast.
Luxie Graham was one of the cast members. I told Brandon, "I don't think she'll die in this one." (We'd previously seen her die as Epinine in Les Mis, Beth in Little Women, and Eurydice in Hadestown.) But I was wrong. The cast members act out various parables of Jesus and Luxie played the rich man who dies in the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man. She made the death over dramatic and funny, but it was still the FOURTH time I've watched that girl die on stage.
The play was really well done. Crayson was such a good Jesus. He showed so much love and compassion for each member of the cast. I don't know if this is an official stage direction or a thing they did for this show, but he had a different fun handshake for each person. It was a cool way of showing that he knew them individually.
This play is kind of like "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." It tells the story of Jesus with a lot of beautiful songs. But it's not exactly linear. Most of it is just the cast interacting with Jesus and then acting out his parables.
It was very modern feeling. Everyone wore modern clothes. The set was made to look like an ally in a city. There was a chain link fence. They had two big wooden spools that are used for wire. Here's a picture if you still need help knowing what I'm talking about.
These were used as tables and the cast members would also sit on them.
At intermission they invited everyone on stage for a drink of "wine." (It was koolaid.) I was like, "Well you don't have to ask us twice to get on this stage." So Brandon and I were some of the first ones up there.
Jared was welcoming everyone on stage. Brandon joked, "Wow, I think I'd like to be in a play here." Jared said, "Oh I think you'd LOVE it."
When we sat back down someone asked how the koolaid was. I said something like, "Oh we drank the Koolaid at the Orpheum a
long time ago."
My favorite song from the show was "By My Side." Our friend Lauren sang it with so much heart.
I was so curious how they would handle the crucifixion part - if they would even show it at all. It was actually done really interestingly. Judas tied Jesus to the fence and then flipped a big switch because it was an electric fence. It was a really dramatic moment - partially because it was so jarring. I'm not exactly jaded to the crucifixion, but seeing Jesus killed in a different way made me think about it more.
The rest of the cast takes Jesus down from the fence and lays him on the ground. They flipped those spool tables on their side and rolled them in front of him. When Jesus was resurrected at the end of a song the two spools were rolled apart. It was a really cool moment and great use of the set pieces.
We went out to the lobby at the end of the play. Crayson's mom and dad were there. They are in our ward. His mom was hugging him and would not let go. Later she went and gave Jared a hug. Someone said it was like seeing Mary hug Judas.
We talked to people for a while and then went home.
On Saturday the cake was the biggest priority. Veronica and I got up at 8:00 to work on it. We discovered we were out of gel food coloring. So we went to Walmart and bought that as well as some wrapping paper.
When we came home we put the walls and the big screen up on the cake. I'd made the screen out of three graham crackers that I'd put together with frosting-glue and then covered with nerds.
I was so excited by how much this suddenly looked like a stage.
Then we went to work on the set. We got out the chocolate clay and warmed it up in the microwave for like 10 seconds. Then Veronica rolled it into balls and started adding gel food coloring to the clay. I cut rice crispy treats into small squares and then we put the clay on each square.
These made the blocks of the Matilda set. We also made some bigger ones as the risers. Veronica added Mike and Ikes to the stage as the stage lights. I put an Orpheum sign on the screen.
I also made a carpet for the house out of more chocolate clay that I rolled out really thin with a rolling pin.
Then it was time to put the Teddy Grahams on the cake. This is what we'd been waiting for the whole time.
We started with the audience. We glued two Teddy Grahms together to make them a little thicker and easier to stand up.
Then Veronica started making the characters. She put one Teddy in a chefs hat to represent her as the cook in Matilda. Another got a black wig to be Trunchbull.
Here's the whole cast. Bruce Bogtrotter is standing on top of his giant chocolate cake. (Matilda fell over on accident in this picture.)
Here's the cake from the front.
And the back.
And look how cute these Teddy Grahams are up close.
We even had a guy in the tech booth.
I especially liked this Teddy that was out of it's seat to go to the bathroom.
And here's another angle because it's all so stinking cute.
And here is Veronica with the cake. We sent this picture to Jared before we put it up on Facebook for anyone else to see. He said, "Oh my goodness gracious. That is so cool."
I put the pictures up on Facebook and got a lot of responses. This was my most ambitious cake yet and thankfully it turned out great.
But I need to mention that I was having a low grade panic attack the ENTIRE time I was working on it. I'm not sure what triggered it exactly, but wow I was KEYED UP. Veronica was so patient with me and kept saying, "Mom, it's doesn't have to be perfect." I was like, "I know, but my body does not know that. It is freaking out."
So yeah, that happened.
We spent about an hour getting the house cleaned up and then at 1:00 we went to the Orpheum for a little dance lesson to learn the audition dance for Anastasia. Kaden and Lauren aren't on the creative team for Anastasia, but several people had asked them for help so they were having a lesson for anyone who was interested. I'm so glad they did that. The dance isn't that hard, but it's not easy either. They went over a lot of the little pieces and I felt a lot better.
They said, "This audition is mostly to see how you move." I joked, "It feels like they are trying to weed out those of us with bad knees." There were jumps, there were parts where we swung our legs around, there was a big jump. After 1 hour of practice my knee hurt worse than it did after all day on Timp. But I learned the dance a lot better.
At two we went home and kept getting the house ready for Veronica's birthday party that night. I helped decorate the family room with streamers.
I brought the cake down and had to take more pictures.
It was just so cute.
I think this is my favorite cake ever.
I was really happy with how it turned out.
At 5:00 Brandon left to pick up the pizza. At 5:30 Veronica's guests started showing up. Her friends Sophia, Kyra, Hadley, Nora, and Amelia came.
They had fun talking for a while. Then we lit the candles and sang Happy Birthday.
And then we had to eat the cake. So sad!
Veronica started opening presents. For the second year in a row we'd asked people to bring a cool rock or crystal.
Here are all the kids from a different angle.
After they were done with cake and presents Amelia's mom came and got her. Then the rest of the girls watched Pacific Rim. Veronica had wanted to pick a movie that no one else had seen. And that was definitely a good one to pick.
Our friend Cort came to pick up Nora a little before the movie was over. Cort reminds me a lot of my uncle Johnny and so I always like talking to him. He had some crazy stories about the place he is working. Then the movie ended and it seemed like all the kids left around the same time.
I was like "WHEW!" It had been a good party, but it was nice to get it crossed off the to do list.
On Sunday we had a relaxing morning and then went to church. After church the girls and I went over to Jori's for a little bit. I needed her help for my outfit for Godspell's 4th Wall night. I was planning to just wear a black dress, but they changed the dress code for this one. They wanted it to have a more hippie vibe in honor of the show. They wanted color.
And Jori is the most colorful person I know.
So we went through her closet and ended up finding a dress that she got from Amy Toft. And it was PERFECT for the 4th wall night. (4th wall night is on Saturday it hasn't happened yet. I'll write about it when I write about this week.)
Back at home we watched the first episode of the second season of Wednesday.
And that's pretty much the end of the week. Thanks for reading.
