Family of 4

Family of 4

Wednesday, January 19, 2011


One of my new favorite pictures. 
Not that it was taken recently... it was when we went up to Washington 
for our darling niece Abigail's baby blessing in the fall of 2009. 
It was just recently that it became one of my favorite pics of us. :) 
That's all.

Monday, January 17, 2011

The Sound of Music

I decided I'm going to pretend that the stake musical I was in just ended 
so that I don't feel SO incredibly late about it... which is true.

We started rehearsals in September and the last performance was mid-November.
We moved into the Wilford Stake back in August, and had no idea that this stake is WAY into musicals that they put on every other year. The timing for this was just perfect for me. While at church for one of the very first weeks we were there, we saw a poster that advertised the musical auditions. Bryndon was in The Sound of Music production that his high school put on, and was the part of Captain Von Trapp! He, unfortunately, wasn't able to be in the musical because of his rotations at the hospital. But I thought it sounded like a lot of fun, especially because I LOVE the movie version with Julie Andrews, and with his encouragement I decided to go for it and audition.
I was very nervous when I got to the audition, and didn't do nearly as well with my song as I had done in practice. But luckily I was invited to come back for a second audition. I was planning on auditioning for a small-ish part since I knew I might have to miss some rehearsals and go late to others because of my work schedule. But I thought it would definitely be fun to have some sort of speaking part or small solo if possible. To spare you all the boring details, I felt pretty good about the second audition and was offered the part of Sister Margaretta, who is Mistress of the Postulants at the Abbey, and who is kind of an assistant to the Mother Abbess/Reverend Mother. 
She's the nice one, for those of you who are familiar with the show or movie, who is friendly to and sticks up for Maria.
Yes, the picture is pretty silly. And it's even sillier because of all the cast photos, mine was the ONLY one where people aren't being serious or at least just acting their part for the picture. Ha.
Anyway, it was such a fun thing to be a part of! I was so glad to get that part, because I really enjoyed it, and it was a perfect combination of 
not too much to memorize/sing, but enough to be a good experience 
and stretch me a little. I especially loved the rehearsals with Mother Abbess, 
Sister Sophia and Sister Berthe. 
We were the biggest GOOFS and messed around so much. We were almost never serious, which made for really fun rehearsals, and when it came time to get ready for the performances, we had a hard time keeping a straight face sometimes. For example, we made up some extra lines/dances with "How do you Solve a Problem Like Maria" (a-flibbety-jibbety... as we "dosey-doed"). 
I just have to say that the gal who played Mother Abbess is hilarious, and you'd never guess what a joker she is without getting to know her. She also has a great voice and did an amazing job playing her part. 
Here's a picture of the two of us looking mischievous, especially for nuns. :)
Sister Berthe was great at playing her part of the hard, 
tough/mean Mistress of the Novices. 
In the musical she and I were always arguing about Maria and it was fun to 
drive her character crazy with how sicky-sweet my character was.
Sister Sophia was the other nun with me and Sister Berthe 
(on the left) who had speaking/solo parts.
Besides the excellent Maria and Captain, the kids who played 
the Von Trapp children were so cute and fun. 
It was also fun to be part of the big group of nuns (a large portion of the cast). 
They were all adorable and it was great to get to know many of them.

So that's it! Thanks to all those who worked so hard to put it together, because it was such an awesome experience! 
I loved being a part of it and am so glad I had the opportunity!