another wicked weekend...

well, time marches on.

***amy says this post is way too long. you were forewarned. stop reading when you get bored. better yet, don't read and just look at the pictures. this post may not be fully enjoyed till i die and some distant relative reads and feels like they can relate to their great grandpa...***

while my family was here for two days (just under two to be exact), the memories already feel like it was much longer. we miss them and are grateful for the memories that you will see captured below.

to begin the post, i have to lament that fact that the night before we left for the whirlwind family weekend, i mentioned to amy that we needed to take a ton of photos. the next morning we both doltedly left the camera in the its place at home on the shelf. therefore, the pictures were taken on a camera far nicer than ours, with a memory card now far farther from us than ours. mom was kind to send us these few pictures. when we get the rest i may elaborate visually on the weekends events...

the weekend began the night i got off work an hour late to pick up lafe and dad who waited at the airport for 45 minutes. they were both good sports about it (except lafe who goodnaturedly reminded me how long he had waited at the airport throughout the ride home:). i enjoyed the hugs i received at the airport and the enjoyment didn't stop till we hugged them after the fireworks show on main street, usa.

banana pancakes (nod to jack johnson and amy frandsen) were the order of the next morning. dad helped me put on the racks and the box uptop so i could bring the stroller and some beach equipment (never sadly to be used). the ride down was pleasant between all parties and we arrived, despite california traffic, within minutes of hannah's performance.

it's hard to say if i was emotional from not having seen hannah for so long, from the spectre of not making it to the beach after having driven so close to it's shores, or from the eyeshadow worn by the men on stage, but i coudln't help but tearing up several times during the performance. these high school kids created something great up there. from the music, to the dancing, to the relevant message they created...it was quality.

**a caveat should be added here about men and eyeshadow. all my comments on the subject must be taken with a grain of salt, since i wore eyeshadow from middle school on**

highlights were hannah's lithe form creating an artful rendition of world hunger and world peace or gabe lee's (joe and amy's brother) high tenor notes above the mass unison below him. to be certain, this first performance was wonderful. i could have left the concert hall then uplifted and happy. my joy was less full nearly seven hours later when we were still at the same concert hall, one hour away from the pantages theater where wicked would be starting in 20 minutes...

not to be a killjoy. we had 47 hours with my parents (minus sleep) and i really enjoyed every minute. those seven specific hours were filled with talking to mom, dad, lafe, hannah, amy, bekah, michael, abby, random high-school kids and their parents. it was really nice to be with my family. no beach is worth time with them... other highlights from those seven precious hours? a target purchase of a memory card that didn't fit my mom's camera afterall, averting my girls eyes from the scantily clad midwest farmer's daughters, seeing mom kindly walk with a girl in each arm back to the theater and allowing us to go to wicked with michael dad and lafe, starting the 2nd in the twighlight series, getting dirty looks from the ushers regarding my girls' behavior, reminiscing about the time amy and i saw 'fame' in cincinatti with her parents (hannah's concert was a 'fame' event), having all-you-can eat at an 'authentic' chinese restaurant (the cooks were asian), talking with bekah, abby or michael individually during the breaks in a new environment. each of them drank in the newness in different ways. the girls are talking so much more now, and it was fun to hear what they had to say about it all. beautiful memories all crammed into seven glorious hours.

back to the issue at hand. the following pictures highlight hannah and gabe. i included gabe since his brother and sister-in-law grace our blog with their presence every now and then...and of course because he did so well.

there is video of the opening number on hannah's memory card in utah. if mom sends it to me i will add it here...

otherwise, a picture of the opening number will have to suffice:


hannah is shown here rhthmically swaying in the arms of the men in eyeshadow to the music coming from gabe's microphone.


when the first place skim board was handed out, gabe was there to accept it in all its glory.


congratulations to all the kids and to mr lunt. this was his first outright vitory at a 'fame' event (fame events showcase the best in showchoirs across the country--sort of like one big audition for byu ambassadors in several venues across the county)...

however, as with all triumphs in life, this skimboard came at a price. those members of the choir who volunteered to stay behind to accept the skimboard and then help clean-up missed the first half of wicked. i know, because gabe and several friend came busting through the curtain into the seats next to us on the balcony to see elphaba break out some really impressive and moving notes in the waining moments of defying gravity...and i thought i was dissapointed to miss my favorite song, 'loathing'(this copy made menzel's voice soft for some reason and it loses much of its punch.)

anyway, we were without a camera to capture michael's love of the theatre...and love it he did. he was enthralled much of the show, despite the fact that it started after his bedtime and that he had been watching other men in eyeshadow sing for seven hours prior to the show starting. i loved sitting next to him and enjoying the songs that truly drew me close when amy and i listened to them over and over while i sang at the top of my lungs during our drive to boise, idaho (then to amy's parents) as i tried to drown out the anxiety i felt for my medical licensing exam that had been postponed because of a power outage at the university of utah (how about that run-on sentence?)

after the show we realized we had a 1 mexapixel camera on our phone and we stood at the top the steps in the pantages theatre and snapped a quick one of the three of us reveling in what we had just seen and heard. michael's emotions are pretty evidence through the blur of the sweet camera phone lens.


we returned to the hotel to find mom had fallen asleep with the girls in her arms and then put them in their cribs later after awakening to a girl on each arm. mom was so good to us in getting the tickets and taking the kids. we appreciated every minute that she put in.

the next day found us at the happiest place on earth...and despite the colder weather, we were all certainly happy. the proof is found here:


we loved to watch our kids interact with my family. each member of the family got 'alone time' with a different kid. the kids loved it, and as far as i could tell my family didn't mind it.




a highlight for the girls was being with mom and another family member while dad jr, dad sr or mom, michael, lafe and myself went on the big kid rides. here is one shot of the girls freeloading off the paddling of those sitting in front of and behind them:


despite being barred from the big rides because of her burgeoning abdominal girth, amy found time to bond with and enjoy her kiddos, my family and the ambiance.


the night ended with a really cool, nostalgic fireworks display and we were off for the long haul home that didn't end till we got the last kid down with a little motrin for her fever at 1 am.

the weekend didn't end there, but i'll write about peter and emily's visit at a later date as this post is way too long, i haven't done the dishes and there is a pile of laundry waiting for us to watch american idol...