Rachel and The Bard

On November 5-7 Rachel performed in her school's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. It is the first play of Shakespeare's that I read (waaay back in sixth grade) and it is still one of my favorites. She worked really hard and had a great time. She played the role of Moth, one of the fairies that attend to the fairy queen, Titania. Although she didn't have many speaking parts to memorize, it was really physically demanding in that the fairies had to hold many poses for long stretches at a time. Although all the fairies were great, I think she was the most beautiful and graceful. That's probably the proud mom in me speaking out (but I don't think so.) Brad, the kids and I attended opening night because Brad had surgery the next day. On Saturday night, the kids and I went again. Suffice it to say, we are all proud as can be. So without further ado, let us begin!

Rehearsals.

Getting made up to look more fairy-like.

Fairies in the woods.

Fairies at play.

The whole cast. The kids all did a really good job and the play was most enjoyable. One of them even broke his foot in three places Friday night and still performed wonderfully for Saturday's shows. Ah Rach, you rock!

My Boys

Last Tuesday my Caleb turned 9. Wow, how time flies! It seems like just last week when I held my little boy for the first time at the hospital and cried because of the love I felt for him. Now he's one year away from being in double digits.

The Saturday before that, my Bradley had a birthday. Things sure have changed from when he would come and take me on hikes to enjoy the fall scenery with not much more to worry about than studying and making sure we got good grades at BYU. It doesn't seem like that long ago when I decided that we would go through life together and have a family of our own.
We had some very low key birthday parties this year. Brad got a card and a few gifts but he really didn't feel like celebrating much. Why you ask? Because the day before his birthday, he had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee to repair some cartilage that as his surgeon put it, "...looks like someone took a cheese grater to it." Funny thing though, as he was coming out of the anesthesia, he proclaimed loudly to the nurse, "All I want for my birthday tomorrow is for BYU to win." They did beat Wyoming the next day 52-0. Happy birthday, my love.

Caleb looks really happy in his birthday picture, doesn't he? Truth is, he had been sick all week, the doctor says is was probably H1N1. The next night, my parents took him to Pirate Island and he had a good time in spite of feeling so badly. (I thought he just had a slight cold.) We came home and he had a fever. I took him to the doctor the next day and he was diagnosed with pneumonia. Happy birthday, bub.

They are both doing much better now and I'm so glad that they are in my life.