The Show is On!!

Thouroughly Modern Millie!

random day we all wore purple shirts

Forget about the boy!
Sexy stenographers- can you tell which ones not a wig?


My attempt at fiinger curls- they are harder than they look.

After several months of rehearsals and alot of blisters (due primarily to the four inch high silver heels the choreographer felt were necessary to handicap my superb dancing skills), Thoroughly Modern Millie opened last week and is going great! Many things have been ungraciously shoved to the backburner to the dismay of Adam's back and Jack's well-intended "helpfulness" other things that have suffered are makeup and hair for work, well actually showing up on time for work, my breastfeeding schedule, my clean house, and worst of all, I have not been able to exercise much. I am so grateful for Adam picking up a lot of slack and making me delicious dinners at night. Here are some fun pictures of the show.

Shameless plug:
Rodgers Memorial Theatre
Start Time:
Friday, February 20, 2009 at 7:30pm
End Time:
Saturday, March 21, 2009 at 9:30pm

Rodgers Memorial Theatre
292 E. Pages Lane

Centerville, UT
Phone:
8012981302
Description
Millie Dillmount, a fearless young lady fresh from Salina, Kansas, determined to experience life, sets out to see the world in the rip-roaring Twenties. With high spirits and wearing one of those new high hemlines, she arrives in New York to test the "modern" ideas she had been reading about back in Kansas: "I've taken the girl out of Kansas. Now I have to take Kansas out of the girl!"

Tickets: Tues, Thurs, Sat Tell them you're my friend and you get $2 off

Adults $16 $13Seniors/Students* $14 $12Children (up to 11) $9 $9

Standing Outside The Fire and "The Westley Syndrome"

When Adam and I were dating, we fell in love with Garth Brooks' song, "Standing Outside the Fire" (Live Edition so that you hear the audience getting all pumped up). We took it to mean that you need to take risks. Do things that make you stretch or that you might not feel fully prepared for. Get outside your comfort zone. (And occasionally I would see in my minds eye that cute little boy with down syndrome running towards the finish line only to fall and get back up until he finished (from my days as a Special Olympics coach- that song was in our training video).

Well, we have recently been pushed way outside our comfort zones. Although Adam was told he lost his job almost 6 weeks ago, they still let him come to work; every week he has been granted one more week of work, which is quite stressful as you may imagine. I want to share a little of Adam's Wednesday letter this week,

"Becks, I think you summed it up perfectly when quoting The Princess Bride: "Good night Westley, rest well, I'm most like to kill you in the morning..." Today, I was again allotted one more week of work at the Tracon. This time I got the official letter of termination. I have high hopes that I can continue on at Salt Lake Center, but I realize that I now must face some choices about my/our future(s). I am grateful for the time we have been given to get our house in order over the last month of -one more weeks-. I know it is odd but even with all the kaos of: job loss, back injuries, sick children, play practice, parents in the hospital, financial crunch, and up all night Charlie I feel calm. I feel so focused on our family. Our Health, our finances, our family bond. I don't know why, but I am grateful for the PUSH this job lay off/wash out has forced us to confront. We are tyring ( the hardest we ever have) to live within a budget, to organise our debt and cook at home (emeals). I know it is hard, I understand how tired you feel, and your frustration.. I am frustrated too, but these times will pass and we will look back at them with a wise eye. Proud of how we grew and rose to the occasion, to meet our challenges, and be better people, parents, and friends. I love you! I love you! I love you! Adam"

I am so grateful that I have Adam. He is my rock and is calm when I am not. I'm glad that even though we may be just inches away from that fire that would be my breaking point, we're standing there together and together, we can make it through.

Chlorine is my Windex!

(Moments before the mentioned ice-skating incident in which Jack and I were knocked to the ground by a hot shot skating backwards. Did I just call someone a "hot shot"???? Uhhh I think I'm getting old...)

(Charlie and Daddy)

One of my favorite movie oddities is in My Big Fat Greek Wedding and how Gus Portokolus can cure any type of ailment, including baldness, psoriasis, and everything from pimples to poison ivy could be cured with Windex. He came up with this conclusion when one day his toe swelled up "as big as (his) head" and then he sprayed it with Windex, the next morning, its size was back to normal again! At the end of the show, the ultimate compliment is made when the new non-Greek son-in-law embraces Gus' love for Windex.

For me though, the number one fix all is chlorine.

If your hair is getting oily because you haven't showered in 3 days? Chlorine can fix that.

If you're starting to get a pimple? Chlorine can fix that.

If you've just done a super hard workout and you know that you're going to be sore tomorrow? Go for a slow relaxing swim- chlorine will fix that too.

If you get sore anyway because you did not follow the above advice, go for a swim- that'll fix those sore muscles.

If you get all congested- chlorine can fix that.

If you get run into on the ice rink and someone slices your finger open with their skate and you don't know if you need stitches or not? Go for a swim, if you start bleeding more you'll know you do need stitches and if not, chlorine is much better than ointment for disinfecting your wound.

If you have tendon issues, muscle issues, if you are too fat, old or pregnant to run or aerobicize, swim- it's easy on the joints and increases flexibility and endurance.

If your skin is too oily- chlorine can fix that.

If your Chiropractor wants to charge you way to much to fix your back? Go for a swim. Chlorine can fix that to.

I am such a believer in the therapeutic value of swimming. I have been several times this week because it was the only place I could walk or move around normally with my sore back. I've swam through so many injuries and I love that swimming is so low-impact. You can swim slowly, stretch, speed it up slow it down, try different strokes, etc. and it feels great! We went to Crystal Hot Springs yesterday and participated in their Natural Therapeutic Mineral Baths which one of my Physical Therapy friends swears is his personal fountain of youth and the solution to all sinus-related issues. (side-note: It was a fun spontaneous adventure and after Jack got over the yucky taste, he swam around and visited with all the people there. He's so social, he just walks up to random people and says, "Hi Girls. Whatcha doin?")

So that's it- I guess I have a Love Affair with Chlorine. Well maybe it's a Love-hate relationship. For all the things I love about it- I Hate when they put too much in (like when the pour it directly into the childrens shallow area after an "incident.") and when it turns my hair green (which happens when I buy cheap Suave products instead of Paul Mitchell). Anyone else have love-hate relationships with inanimate objects? or has anyone actually put Windex on a pimple?

Parable of the Blackberries

Just for fun, Adam and I took a Life Stress Test yesterday. This is where you check boxes of anything that has happened in the past year or two. Forget about year for now, these were some of the boxes we checked for things that happened this month:

*Change in sleeping habits (Charlie is teething and only sleeps 4-5 hours at night)

*Major change in health of a family member (Adams Dad and step-mom were both hospitalized this month)

*Change in diet (we attempted to cut out carbs in the South Beach Diet until we read that cutting carbs results in short term memory loss and moodiness)

*Problems with boss -Adams boss said he was a great worker but just not meant to be an Air Traffic controller which resulted in...

*Losing a job

*Changing to a different line of work (still in process, we may need to go back to school, we don't know yet)

*Picking up new hours/ responsibilities at work (I'm trying to work more days and at new places)

* Our identity was stolen as someone broke into our paypal account and charged over $2000

* Personal illness or injury (We both were evaluated by the chiropractor who told us that both our backs are messed up)

Basically any score over 300 is Very High susceptibility to stress-related illness: Our score was 621.

I am reading this months Ensign and there is an article about a Mom whose little boy wanders into the neighbors yard and gets stuck in a blackberry bush. She said once she found him it was hard for her to see her son in pain, getting scratched by the thorns and all, but that she realized that the bush had saved her son from getting further and possibly falling into a pond and drowning.

When we first found out about Adam's job, I was distraught. We had put so much into air traffic control, we have been working towards this for almost three years, we traveled across the country and are paying debt on schooling taken out for ATC. Now just because of one man, we have to start over- it just didn't seem fair. But, the more Adam began to talk to controllers at his work the more he began to think that maybe it's for the best. Other controllers told him about how much they were away from their families, how they missed things like Christmas, soccer games, etc. and how stressful and anti-Mormon the work environment is. A few even said that if they had it to do over again, even though they make good money, they wouldn't be controllers. So maybe God let us stumble into this thorny place in order to protect us from a more harmful situation. The article said, "When we turn to Him in our trials, He carefully pulls out the thorns and comforts our hearts."

A great quote from Elder Cannon says, "The Saints should always remember that God sees not as man sees; that he does not willingly afflict his children, and that if he requires them to endure present privation and trial, it is that they may escape greater tribulations which would overtake them. If he deprives them of any present blessing, it is that he may bestow upon them greater and more glorious ones by-and-by."

My prayer is that our trials will bring us closer together in unity, that we will let God direct our lives a little more, and my hope is that these trials are preparing us for a great blessing.