Mary Poppins

Disclaimer- this post has Mary Poppins spoilers in it- so if you don't want to know anything about the play- I'd leave :)

   Last night I had an unexpected treat! My dear DIL Sophie took me to see the Broadway production of Mary Poppins at the Capital Theater in Salt Lake City. I am still in shock that I got to go :)  It was fabulous! (I heard that word thrown around a lot last night  :)  But it is oh so true)

    The story line is a bit different than the traditional Disney movie Mary Poppins, and I really loved this story more. Disney produces the play so it still has all the Disney magic (if not more) than the movie, but goes into greater depth on the characters, especially George and Winifred Banks. I came away loving those two, when in the movie, I really have no feeling at all for them. In this story, the whole point is to get the Banks family closer together and have the parents be the parents, not the nannies.
    The sets were amazing- moving all over the place and opening up to reveal rooms you'd never believe were there. And the costumes were spot on to what we've come to love about Mary Poppins.  Depending on the

  scene, they were muted, drab or they could be bold and bright. The music was phenomenal! Most of my favorites were there- I will never listen to "Feed The Birds" the same again- breathtaking. And the dancing- what other words are left to express "really good"? :) because I'd use it here.

The chimney sweeps dancing to "Step In Time" was my favorite. Think of chimney sweeps in tap shoes- and a dancing AROUND the front of the stage Bert and you'll understand. (Around as in around all 4 sides of the stage opening- up one side- upside down - and down the other side. CRAZY)

    I had a hard time sleeping when I got home. All night I had the song "Just a Spoon Full of Sugar" going through my brain! I think I had visual and audio overload :) I am so glad I got to go, my only regret is that I didn't buy Sophie one of these :(

  I could just kick myself. Sorry Sophie, but thank you so much for the opportunity to go!!!!! And by the way- did I tell you it was FABULOUS?!?!?!  xoxoxoxoxxo

Strawberry Days and Reunions (finally)

I don't want to hear about it-

how I'm so slow in getting

Strawberry Days stuff posted.

I realize I'm the last one to get this done,

but I've been busy- really :)

Every year our family sits in the same

place to watch the Strawberry Days

parade ~ the one SD event I never miss.

I'm not so good anymore with the carnival

or rodeo- can you imagine dragging

Gram around those places?

SD festivities for Eddie and Wendy

amount to getting up early (or going

at midnight) to set up chairs to 

mark our spot. We sit right in front of the 

antique store on Main. Next door is the

printing shop~ look! Sophie and Tommy's

announcement was on the front window!

 I set up 3 nasty old chairs and six nice

newer green chairs- when we arrived, two

nice chairs were missing! Amazingly enough,

on the corner were two chairs just like mine

but on the back in big black sharpie marker

was written "GRANDPA'S SO-IN-SO'S CHAIR"

and "GRANDMA'S......" on the other. 

What a coincidence! 

The people who had them were too

creepy to approach, and I really couldn't

prove they were mine or theirs, so

what the heck. I hope they enjoy them chairs :)

Gracie and Andy started the day

out right with the world's biggest donuts!

Gracie admitted to me later

that she had a tummy ache :)

Livvy enjoyed from her stroller

Grammy had a blast! 

Watch for her in some of the next pictures~

she waved to everyone in the parade and

clapped and cried some.

A successful parade for her :)

We sat by the Naugles' and extended family.

Lance and Amber and their cute kids.

Chantal, Andrew and Pep ~sorry I didn't get AnDee :(

and I'm sorry I didn't get pictures of Andrew

doing some awesome ninja moves

when the Karate school kids went by.

He demo'ed how good he was.

Made me laugh pretty darn hard :D

Sierra and Stevie looking all

paradey.

Brad, Ash and Mags sitting

in anticipation

watching for the horribly

noisy fire engines

(possibly my least favorite part :)

Tommy and Sophie ~

so cute 

(notice gram in the background :)

Lisa and Josh made it! 

possibly the best picture ever taken.

Andy looking a little Nacho Libre to me.

Bank of AF handed out these

pansy masks to the kids ~

Andy managed to get everything

possible that was handed out.

Brad and Will

Mags had a fireman from the Firehouse Carwash

come all the way through the crowd to give him

this super cool fire chief hat!

and a tattoo

(which was still on his arm as

of Saturday when I watched him :)

he loved it.

It was a great day, even with the great chair

heist :) We, along with half of the city

ate at Taco Amigo and felt very

community involved :D

Last Saturday my aunt Faye had a party

to celebrate her 90th birthday.

It was pretty neat that all my mom's surviving

siblings and most of their spouses could be there.

We took tons of pictures of them 

and ate good food.

In this picture is-

back row- Uncle Lynn (NaDeans husband), mom,

Aunt NaDean, Uncle Eldon, Aunt Jeanne and Uncle Neil

Front row- Aunt Vera (who is also 90) and the 

birthday girl herself- Aunt Faye.

Happy summer you all! It feels like it's finally here!

Potpourri for 200 dollars, Alex :)

For you younger than 50ish- the title is a reference from Jeopardy 

So be prepared for a little bit of everything :D

I decided to post a few pictures that I have 

taken lately and a few that I've found on 

some dusty old slides from the early 70's.
You're in for a treat now :)

literally-

My niece Sarai has started decorating cakes-

When ever we have a get together

she volunteers to bring dessert, which is

okay by me :)

This is the Mother's Day cake she made.

Not only is it beautiful, with it's magnolia

on the top, but it was chocolate/cherry cake.

It was divine.

When Kira comes in July, we are having

a cake making play date- so book

early, it's gonna fill up fast :)

These next two pictures just make me smile.

The many faces of Mags.

I just liked them.

This past month was Prom-

So now a few of Sierra's prom pictures.

She bought this dress on line,

we just had to add the top underneath

so it was wearable. 

(Where are all the modest designers nowadays?

I realize Alyce's in the mall has some, but 

they charge over 400 bucks for them.

Someone could make a killing in this area

if they'd offer affordable, decent dresses!

I'm done now)

It took a second to get her into the thing

with all that lacing up the back!

She had to have me help her get it off 

when she came home that night. hehehe

Made me feel a bit safer sending her out in it :D

 She loved how poofy it was.

and her silvery "Tom" shoes.

Pam and Stephen took the dress to 

the tux place to get just the right color to 

match. makes me giggle- what a big

deal was made over it all :D

*sigh*

A BIG shout out to Shauna for getting this boy's

act together! thanks again! xoxoxo hugs to you. 

Get ready for some crazy

blast from the past pictures!

In March 1973- just a few months

after my brothers passed away, my

parents took me on a "let's be happy 

and function like a family again" trip to 

SoCal. It worked for me.

We went with my cousins- stayed in campgrounds

 and had a wonderful time. 

My mom was a trooper.

but her hair makes me laugh

real hard! When Sierra saw this picture

she said, "Grandma used to have eyebrows?!"

ha ha ha

You bet she did.

See me talking to my mom?

See my shirt? I LOVED that shirt. :)

I forgot I even had it until I saw these slides.

I had so much fun going through them!

In the red is my aunt Colleen Davis.

Look close at the food on the table-

who would travel with bottled goods now?

Me and my cousin Christine

in front of the St. George temple.

What a looker I was, hubba, hubba.

I was in 9th grade people. Don't forget this

when you start judging :)

 

 

  I also found pictures

 of my brother Randy from his mission

to Chihuahua Mexico.

This is him and his last comp on

a big old pile of cotton.

 Just a weird side note- these two were

killed when driving in a datsun pickup

by a cotton truck. It was a little freaky

to find pictures of them and cotton

and even a big cotton truck

in the slides. 

 

 This last slide he had labeled "Sunday 

Dude". What a corn ball! 

But I love this picture.

 

Now wasn't that fun?

It sure was for me.

Except now I have that dumb Jeopardy

song stuck in my head....

 

Easter and Birthdays

Let me start off with saying-

Church was a wonderful way to start the day.

Sacrament meeting was spiritual,

RS and Sunday School were both extraordinarily good.

I am truly thankful for my Savior and the sacrifice He made

for me.

Unfortunately Sunday is the only day we can get

together on my side of the family.

so..... 

 Easter Sunday was a hoot.

We celebrated not only Easter (in the heathenistic way-

eggs hunts, food, and games) we also celebrated

Mallory's 4th birthday and Mag's 3rd birthday.

(It's a good thing we had Eddie say the prayer-

he did a great job and got us thinking

of the true reason for the season.)

We played the "bean game" while we

waited for everyone to arrive.

If you've never played the bean game-

you are missing out! (it's real name is Bohnanza-

even Eddie will play. ) It's so fun.

I don't know why my boys can't look

like normal boys!

Sarai and Livvy

Brian, Jenny and Dave

Will showing his findings

 Birthday girl Mal excited to find some eggs :)

Birthday boy Mags picking out the jelly beans

(I found these later right there on the floor.

Smart boy- only going for the chocolate :)

Gracie- sporting new bangs-

showing off her haul :)

Grace and Andy looking for eggs-

Tommy, Sophie and Sierra did 

a great job hiding them all.

The kids had a blast finding them.

This is the birthday cake that Sarai made for the kids.

It was so darn cute! She even put a little skunk

hiding in the bullrushes on the back in honor of

Grandma Pugh.

Sophie reads Mal her new birthday book.

Over all it was a wonderful day, lots

of good food, good candy (Easter candy is the best!)

and good company. 

We are still finding eggs and candy hidden

in the strangest places- Eddie found one in each

of his dirty socks he left on the floor in the basement

family room :)

I have a video of the "older kids" hunting eggs

 and as soon as I can figure out how

to load it, I will :) 

xoxoxox

Word Verification

I want to know whose job it is to

make up those almost real words

 you have to type in to verify yourself

at the end of someones postings.

The words are soooo close to being

a word and yet just off a bit :)

squiffel = part squirrel / part wiffel ball?

naturear = natures hearing device?

mincesco = abbreviation for minced escargo?

crazy :) 

let's start finding a way to use

these words in our everyday vocabulary!

"My irch is tired, I'll think I'll hang out

here and take an irchrest for a bit"

Well, maybe I'll work on this some more :)

Feel free to use any of my words you'd like-

they are all 100% official 

Word Verification words :)

It's Never Too Late To Tell On Your Kids!

I think it is so much fun to read what everybody writes

about what their kids are saying! Just because my kids are old

and grown up doesn't mean I can't tell you what they did say 

when they were little! 

I know they will love that I am telling all this stuff, but some

day your kids will be mad at you too for spilling the beans!

One day when Lisa was about 7 or 8, she came downstairs 

from her bedroom quite upset because she couldn't find her

"diarrhea book". Of course she meant diary, but we had

a great laugh and she got mad at us for laughing. But come on, 

who wouldn't laugh at that? It was so cute.

Kira wanted to take a bath when she was about 6. It was

during the summer and she didn't want the water to be too hot-

she asked me if I would make the water "Jacob cool"

instead of "Luke warm". heehee.

That's cute too :)

Sierra went through a weird duck stage

where she would dress up in some dress up clothes

I made for the Strawberry Days Parade. They 

were "Aladdin" harem girl type clothes.

She would sneak around the house, crawling

in them and announce, "I'm a shy gypsy!"

what a goofy kid, but it sure made us laugh.

Kids do the darnedest things!

Good thing us adults are more mature

and in control of our vocabulary!

I'm sure my kids will have a few stories to tell

on their vocab-challenged mom!

xoxoxo

  I had a crazy dream - not last night but the night before :) But the aftermath of the dream has just stayed with me like a weird aftertaste. It's a long story and if you don't stay with me until the end, I'll understand. I'm pretty much writing this for myself and so hopefully I can move on :)
   I used to have a reoccurring dream when I was a kid - about the ages 11 through 15 I'd say. It was the creepiest dream ever, and I totally forgot about this dream until two nights ago when for some reason, I had it again. Boy did it drag up some old memories I hoped were gone forever. I don't know if you remember the house I spent most of my growing up years in (say 11 to 15) - We tore that sucker down to build the house I live in now. It could be the creepiest house ever- they say the original owner- the Mill owner - hung himself in that house. I don't know if that's true or not, but when I was that age, I believed it. It was the oldest house in Fort Pleasant Grove- we had to get permission from the historical society to tear it down, which after lots of picture taking and noticing it was not made of soft volcanic rock, we got permission to do. Anywho- creepy house, hard life experiences there and some things that nobody should ever endure happened there to me (some most of you know, some I've never spoken about, ever, to anybody and I don't know that I shall) add all those things up and it equals bad dreams. 
   So two nights ago- in a bad Stephen King way- I find myself reliving a dream I totally forgot about. (but like childbirth - as soon as I realize what was happening- all those feelings and memories came flying back)
   As Tevye would say- "this was my dream"- In my mom's old house was a creepy little hall that led to the "toilet room". At one end was a solitary toilet and the other end was a furnace closet. In my dream if you went into the furnace closet there was a hidden concrete staircase that led to a unknown basement. It was dark and smelly. The walls had this nasty wallpaper that was grey with a circus theme print- clowns and elephants that were balancing balls on their upturned trunks while standing on a little stripped balancing platform. In my dream, I would be drawn to walk down those stairs while shaking the whole time. At the bottom of the stairs I found a fabric doll of mine that was soiled looking, it was crumpled up like it had been thrown away. I also found bones of I don't know what, that had been gnawed on. I remember it smelled awful and I just wanted to get out of there. I don't know if I ever saw what lived down there, but I remember knowing it was someone I knew who had turned into part human/ part animal.  I don't think I ever figured out "who" it was, just that I had some attachment to them and they wanted to hurt me. Sometimes I would dream that my mom wanted me to clean the stairs and down there, but luckily I never made it past that doll. I had this dream a lot. It sure made walking down that hallway a bugger.
   So two nights ago- I am the old house walking towards the furnace room, reliving my worst nightmare. It was awful. Even though I was asleep, I knew this was a dream I didn't want to have. But something was a bit different this time. I had my kids with me in this dream and Eddie. They went down the stairs with me past the hideous wallpaper and the sad, dirty doll was still there, and the bones, but you could tell, they hadn't been touched for a while. We walk past them into a huge room that reminded me of Harry Potter's "leave it and lose it" room ( I know it has a name- I don't remember it:) Inside this big room are old matchbox cars, rollerskates, books galore, huge pieces of furniture- some that I remember, some totally new to me. One big old 70's style couch was in there- it was blue and my cousin was sitting on it. This was interesting to me- through out the room were the cousins of my youth who I hung out with so much - they were hanging out down there with my "stuff" . I have no fear of my relatives :) These were the kids who helped me get through so much crap I had as a kid. I love them. So with my cousins, my kids and Eddie we looked through the stuff which was stored in this room. Things from my past. Good things and not so good stuff. It was all covered in dust, but looked in pristine condition. BUT I was not afraid anymore.I felt safe with them by me. It hit me when I woke up- that house is gone. We tore that house down and there wasn't a basement there. I think that deep down all those years I really thought there was one under it. There is no more scary guy with sharp teeth waiting to devour me. It is over. I have so many emotions running through me. I can finally move on. I can forgive. I can cry tears of sadness for a sad little girl who thought she was alone in the world.
    Thank you to my family and Eddie for being my strength. I feel reborn in a way and sad in a way. 
Sorry you all got to read this, but it has been bouncing around in me for 2 days now. I had to purge. Please don't speak of this with my mom. She has her own problems. Just know that I am a survivor of sorts and glad this dream had a happy ending. xoxoxox