can you tell we are theater people?

This is the bulk of the cast from A Midsummer Night's Dream. We did the play in 1996, my junior year in high school, I got to play Helena. Yes, that makes me old! The occasion for the picture is Morp (Prom backwards) which is a girl's choice, go as cheap as you can, casual dance. We had a dress rehearsal that night for the play and so ended up going to the dance as a cast. If you look close you can tell that some of the girl's who played fairies still have make-up on. Midsummer's was one of my most favorite shows that I have done. Mr. Eaton had it set in the 60s so the main set piece was a VW van and we were all dressed in bell bottoms. I even got to wear my Mom's wedding dress for the final scene. It was radical dude!

this week on blogger...

John and I spent the weekend cleaning (aka unpacking the rest of our boxes of stuff) and organizing the basement. In one of my bins of random papers I came across all of my old formal dance pictures from high school as well as some great family pics. So this weeks is going to be full of fun memories...

I have no idea why I took this picture but I am so glad I did!! This is a picture of two of my most favorite women ever: Grammy Bach (my mom's mom) and Sonnett S. (one of my dearest friends from high school). Grammy was a huge influence in my life. She forced me to take sewing lessons -for which I will be eternally grateful - and she always encouraged me to develop my talents and explore my interests. The summer I got engaged and was preparing to go to Russia for a semester she sat me down to express a concern. "Honey, you can not wear that ring to Russia. I am afraid someone will try to take it. Let's go look through my jewelery upstairs and see if we can find you a smaller diamond to take." After a couple hours of sorting through her jewelery and hearing stories about all of the individual pieces she realized, to her chagrin, that all of her rings had rocks the same size or bigger. She ended up giving me a plain gold band to wear. Another thing I love about Grammy is that she used to have a huge garden of roses in her back yard in St. George. We would spend many days in the summer cutting roses from her garden to take home or to friends. She loved to spread beauty.

Sonnett was a kindred spirit from the day we met. Which is actually a funny story. We met at young women's camp one summer when we were in middle school. She was not in our ward but had come with a friend, someone I didn't really hang out with. I ended up switching tents so that I could share with them and we could hang out. We spent every night singing and chatting and singing some more and being overly dramatic as only two theater obsessed jr high girls can be!

high school flashback

Thanks Becca! This is a fun tag. I just wish I had the pictures to back it up...

Did you date someone from your school? For the most part I did a ton of group dates and hung out with friends. I did have one official boyfriend from my school, Scott M. But that was before I was 16 and could only do group things anyway. Later I had a couple almost boyfriends but those kind of ended before they began. Which was a good thing.

What kind of car did you drive? A 1973 Plymouth Duster. It had a turquoise interior and peeling grey paint on the body. The thing was made of solid steel and my dad figured it was a safe car for me. I named it Daisy the Destroyer.

Were you a party animal? No. But I loved hanging out with my friends.

Were you considered a flirt? I am not really sure. I know I was in college. High school??? I think I was still too shy to flirt too much.

Were you a nerd? I was a self proclaimed choir and theater geek. Does that count?

Were you on any varsity teams? Nope, unless you count Trilogy (our elite choir) as a varsity team. =)

Did you ever get suspended or expelled? No. However, I did get pulled out of class once and yelled at by the police officer we had on campus to deal with truancy and bad behavior. I skipped seminary to go to lunch with some friends and previously mentioned boyfriend. My mom thought it would be a good lesson for me. Rude! ( I still love you though, mom!)

Who were your favorite teachers? I had oh, so many! I guess I was a nerd. I will always have a special place in my heart for Mr Lister (our choir teacher) and Mr Eaton (our drama teacher). They were more like surrogate fathers than anything. Mrs. Hazen was by far the coolest English teacher ever. I am so sad that she retired. Mr. Palmer who taught AP US Studies is another one of my favorites. His class was tough, but occasionally we would get him off topic and he would tell us stories of when he was in high school and college and would be doing stupid things like running from cops for pool hopping or something, while wearing flip flops. I think he is the principal or vice principal now.

Could you still sing the fight song? Absolutely! Since my mom taught at my school, I have known that song since I was little. I could even still sing the second and third verses with a little help. I could also do some of the cheers from the football games.

Where did you sit during lunch? It changed every year. One year it was the seminary building, another it was the choir room, another the hallway near the gym, and occasionally in my mom's office.

What was your school's full name? Pine View High School.

Did you go to Homecoming? Yes.

What do you remember most about graduation? Senior year I hung out with friends from a rival high school (gasp!) so I mostly remember them coming to my graduation and me going to theirs. I also remember the party after graduation. That was the first time I had ever seen a hypnotist in action. I have never laughed so hard!

Where did you go senior skip day? My friend Jen and I went dress shopping in Las Vegas.

Were you in any clubs? Drama club of course. I was also in the National Honors Society.

Have you gained some weight since then? Yes and then lost significantly more and then gained some back again after I had kids. I am probably about what I weighed in high school right now, maybe a little less.

Do you plan on going to your 10 year reunion? See, this question just shows how old I am! I already WENT to my 10 year reunion. It was actually surprisingly fun and of course, I always enjoy a reason to go home and see Mom and Dwane.

frightening

I was watching the first part of 60 Minutes last night (it was on after the Eagles game) which was an interview of John McCain and Barak Obama. I am not a fan of either candidate and am currently trying to decide which is the lesser of two evils. However, I heard something last night that may actually make me vote Obama. John McCain is apparently an advocate of making a preemptive strike against threats to this country. He said he would never attack another country unless there was absolute proof of their intentions to harm us. I am all for keeping the people of this country safe. However, what John McCain sees as absolute proof and what the rest of the world sees as absolute proof could very well be two different things. Didn't George W. say he had absolute proof that Iraq had wepons of mass destruction? Isn't that why we started this god forsaken war there in the first place?!
In my mind what we need now is a leader who is honest, intelligent, with lots of experience in the financial sector, not swayed by special interests, having no personal vendettas, and with the ability to work with both parties to get the country back on a good course...or at least a course better than we are now. That shouldn't be too hard, should it? Unfortunately, that description doesn't match either of the candidates. I am disappointed that a primary race which was so exciting, with so many possibilities, has been whittled down to this hopeless affair.

Congrats Tyler and Rebecca

Tyler and Rebecca welcomed their sweet baby boy into the world this morning. They named him Theodore Edward Consentino Hains.
Welcome to the family baby Theo!! We can't wait to meet you.

poll this!!

I am sick and tired of the ridiculous polls that are being done about the presidential election.
Case and point:

"Poll: People prefer Obama over McCain as teacher
By ALAN FRAM, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — If this election were about which candidate people wanted as their child's schoolteacher, Barack Obama would be moving to the head of the class. They'd also rather watch a football game with him, but only by inches."

My question... who freaking cares! They are not in a contest for most likable teacher of football buddy, they are in an election to become the president of the United States. Someone should fire this pollster (and the AP guy who is stupid enough to write about it) and hire someone that will ask some real questions! Maybe a poll on ideas to reverse the nosedive our economy is in right now.
Sheesh!!

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL???!!!

Ok, so one of my favorite things about the fall, beside the amazing colors of the leaves when they change, is that it marks the beginning of football season. I LOVE football!! I know that may seem crazy to a lot of people but I grew up with a very athletic older brother and a football fanatic for a mother so watching football was part of my family rituals. When I married John, he converted me to an Eagles fan and I have not looked back since.

Part of the fun of watching the Eagles play is that we actually have a personal connection to the team. Andy and Tami Reid were in our ward when we first got married and we had the opportunity to get to know them and babysit their kids. We also had a chance to meet Donovan McNabb. I entered John in a drawing and we actually won. So we got to go to the NovaCare Complex (the Eagles training grounds) for a tour and a dinner with Donovan. He was charming and personable and we left feeling like our team was in very capable hands. I'll have to scan in the picture of us with Donovan sometime... Watching the Eagles is especially fun to watch because of the people of Philadelphia. Fans here live and die by the Eagles. On game day everyone is in Eagles jerseys and talking excitedly about the game. People on the streets will chat amiably with anyone in a jersey, stranger or no. The day after game day there is a noticeable feeling of joy and kindness if the birds won. If they lost, there is a day of mourning for the entire city.

Anyway, John and I stayed up last night to watch the Eagles vs Cowboys game. The first half was amazing and really inspired a lot of hope for the season. Although, admittedly, DeSean Jackson is an idiot. Look up the story to find out why. The second half was not quite as impressive and disappointing, but for the most part the birds did a pretty good job. Maybe the season will not be as awful as 610 WIP (the sports talk radio station in Philly) has been predicitng. Only time will tell.

We will thrash those Cowboy coakroaches next time!!

E-A-G-L-E-S. Eagles!!!!!

playing grown-up

Today we went to the adults only session of Stake Conference. Due to my new calling I had the "opportunity" to conduct the music - so I ended up sitting on the stand. There is nothing like sitting next to the entire stake presidency, the mission president and a former bishop/mission president to make you feel insignificant. Maybe that isn't quite the right word, maybe... inexperienced is better. I felt like a little kid playing dress-up in her mommy's clothes. I had no clue what I was doing up there. It was fun though. Of course, I had drunk like 3 water bottles before earlier so I had to -not so gracefully- sneak off the stand in the middle of the meeting to go to the bathroom.
The one highlight of the meeting, beside the really great special musical number by a new sister in the Chester Branch, took place during the closing hymn. While I was busy waving my arms around I saw one of our wonderful West African brothers from the 1st ward, Quilly, standing in the back holding my friend Christina's new baby boy. Quilly is one of the most big hearted people I know and you could tell by his expression that he was loving his time with little Issac. I wished I had had my camera with me. I would have stopped conducting just to take a picture of them together. It was a priceless moment. I miss seeing Quilly's big smile every Sunday. Heck, I miss my Philly 1st ward!!!

favorite soundtracks

I was listening to my iPod today and was inspired to make a list of my all time favorite movie soundtracks. So here they are. They are in no particular order since choosing my favorite depends on my mood.

1. Last of the Mohicans
2. Braveheart
3. Moulin Rouge (even if you hate the movie, you gotta admit the music was awesome! Who knew Ewen McGregor could sing?)
4. Avalon
5. The Mission
6. Star Wars
7. Somewhere in Time
8. Schindler's List
9. The Lord of the Rings
10. The Godfather

Don't agree? Let me see your list.

the big green

Samuel played his first game of soccer this weekend. John somehow got suckered into being the head coach for his team. They are both loving it! Here are a few candids of my boys having way too much fun.

Samuel and Samuel - who knew the name was so popular?

Halftime team meeting. Are they really listening?

With the games being only 4 on 4, Sam actually had a chance to kick the ball.

the work of faith

In church lately we have been talking about how best to be a member missionary. This is honestly not my strongest point. I truly believe in the gospel and I lead my life by its teachings, but when it comes to sharing I am more concerned about keeping my friends than spreading the word. Which, if you think about it is incredibly short-sighted because if I truly love my friends then I want them to be with me in heaven (provided I make it which, lets face it, is a long shot most days!).
Anyway, regardless it is something I would like to improve about myself. As I was reading a friend's blog today I was thoroughly impressed by his ability to unabashedly bear his testimony to his friends and blog readers. It was so amazing that I thought my friends should read it too! http://www.whiteeyebrows.com/why-i-choose-to-be-religious/ I just hope he doesn't shoot me for sharing.
So as you read through his account, just pretend you can hear me talking. He managed to say exactly how I feel about the gospel but in a way far more eloquent than I would ever manage.

Sam's first day of Kindergarten

Today was Sam's first official day of kindergarten. At 12:04 the bus picked him up right in front of our house. I was mildly anxious for him. He was nervous too but we said a quick prayer before he left and that helped him feel better.

In the three hours that Sam was gone I missed him more every passing moment- but not why you think. I had no idea how much he kept James occupied! While Sam was at school James had me play a race car game on the x-box with him, watch an Elmo video, play Candyland, play Pangoloo, play Hungry Hungry Hippos, and set up 4 different train tracks and move the trains around the tracks making choo choo noises all the while. It was exhausting!! I really need to find something for James to do during the day and soon.

At 3:10 the bus dropped him off at home again.

I was not the only one glad to see him come home!

bugger!!!!!

Some obnoxious, horrible person put the partial manuscript for Midnight Sun (Twilight from Edward's perspective) on the internet. Stephenie Meyer is so devistated by this abuse of her trust, not to mention copyright laws, that she will no longer work on it and possibly never finish it. Who is up for a lynch mob with me? This person should be skinned alive and boiled in hot oil!!
Stephenie posted the illegal version on her website (what more damage could she do?) so you should definitely check it out. It may be the only chance you get to read it. The killer of it is... the draft stops just before the scene in the clearing. Bugger!!!

complications

For bookclub last month we read the book "Complications: A Surgeons Notes on an Imperfect Science" by Atul Gawande. I read mostly fictional literature so it took me a while to actually get excited to read it (I finally picked it up this week) but once I started, I couldn't put it down. Gawande writes about his experiences as a surgical intern - it is almost like reading episodes of ER minus all the lovey dovey stuff. He also points out all of the guesswork and intuition that doctors use in medical diagnostics. How fallible all doctors can be regardless of the ability, training and experience they have.

It was especially enjoyable to read because I am married to a doctor. It was fun comparing what I know from John about medicine and what was presented in this book. I can't even tell you how often John will come home and tell me stories that are very similar to the stories in this book - just related to family medicine not surgery of course. Anyway, this is a must read. Not only does it have a cool story about flesh-eating bacteria, but it talks about the dynamics of patient - doctor relationships and how medicine can improve and destroy lives depending on how it is applied.