New Camera

On Halloween I dropped my camera and it broke. The good news is that I bought a new camera. I called Suzie to see what camera she had because I remember how much Nathan loved it and Suzie raves about the warranty! So I got it and started messing around with it and took this picture of our Christmas tree. How'd I do Nathan?

Plumbing supplies

I'm very proud of my building skills that I have aquired through teaching theatre, but one project that I'm especially proud of (mind you, not really my idea completely) the candlestick phones we had to use in the play. I was so worried about the fact that we needed 10 of these phones and so I bought one for an example and model and then we headed to Ace Hardware and created what you see below!
It's not perfect, but considering we made it out of plumbing supplies, I was pretty impressed. The bottom is a plunger, the crook of the phone is neck of PVC pipe, head is a sink drain/plug thing, the receiver is a dowel with a door stopper on it. It looked awesome from the stage and I'm very glad to have them in my prop storage now. Who new?

Thanks for the support!

Thank you for so many who were able to come to the show. Even if I didn't get a picture with you, thank you sooooo much! It truly means a lot to me. This is my home teacher, roommates Camille and Lindsey.
Old roommates: Emily, Ashley, Christina, me, Haley and her husband Ty!

Family! Brandon, Dan and Marian Sellers and mom and dad!

Dave and Sarah made it too!

Ever since I started doing shows my parents have a tradition of giving me a gift after the show. Something that usually represents the show. This year I got a barbie that looked like a flapper for the 20s theme and they chopped her hair because Millie had bobbed hair. Clever...so clever!

Kamarie Lindahl was able to come too!

I can't do it by myself!

Without these amazing people, I couldn't have pulled this show off! It was a huge under-taking and they were so amazing! The top picture is of Kathy Credille who built a large portion of my costumes for not only this show but every musical since I've been here. Second is Amy Hixson (left) and Sonja Brooksby. Amy and her husband did the photography and just helped with my mental health and Sonja designed the set, brought set pieces, helped me run errands all after her daughter dropped out of the show!

My Musical!

Okay, here are pictures from the musical! It was such a fun experience and my favorite show thus far. It took SO much, but totally worth it. I wish you could all live closer so you can see it. The pictures here are just a tiny portion of the pictures we have. The photographer took over 500!! This just shows most of the sets. This first is the final pose after the first number! This is our lobby and it was probably my least favorite set. Our theme for the set was white, black and red...you'll understand!

The elevator is behind these cute girls. You can't see it, but there are opening and closing sliding doors. Sincere Trust: The colors were fun for this scene! It was hard finding typewriters and desks, but working in a school, there are bound to be a few desks lying around! These girls are wearing tap shoes for a way cool number! Check out the candlestick phones. I'll have to get a close up on how we made them using plumbing supplies!
Speak easy!! "Nutty cracker Suite" was my favorite dance. So extremely fun!But in the 20s with prohibition they weren't supposed to be drinking and they get caught by the cop. Our cop is the art teacher at the school! It was fun using him...he changed his line every night and one night he came out with toilet paper stuck on his shoe!One of the big successes for me is these doors. I had 5 doors and we figured out how to attach them to the fly system (beams that can be raised and lowered by a pully system backstage). I loved this kiss! After the kiss Jimmy turned and had this ridiculously goofy smile that I loved!!! Window ledge for "I Turned the Corner".

The chinese men. LOVED them! One is actually a foreign exchange student from China!
Muzzy and her boys. I didn't like her songs before the show, but Keilani (the actress) is amazing and I get her songs stuck in my head more than the others. One of my tech's fell in love with her because of her voice. And the surprise ending....the script calls for the chinese mother to come out for them after the bows. The students nominated me to make the cameo! So...there I am. It was a fun surprise!

My Roots

So, in June I had to change my license plates from CO to UT. It was a very depressing day. For those of you who have had to change you will probably understand the pain of having to switch from your home state. Here's my dramatic pictures of changing the plates.

Halloween

I love this time of year when everyone is posting Halloween pictures. I had a student ask me if I went Trick-or-Treating and he truly thought I would. Wow, do you think they think I'm a little immature or what?! I DID go trick or treating with Dave's kids and for those of you who check his blog, you'll probably see pictures of his kids on my blog more often than his! It was so fun with the kids. Sammy was really cute and excited. Solena eventually did, but she was pretty tired by the time we went out. She was very cuddly with me which I'll never complain about.
Notice Dave's costume. He is this every year. Fletch with the fro wig. So many people walked by him and said, "you can't wear that costume EVERY year!". It was pretty funny!


After Dave's I went home to put on a costume. I never know what to do, so I scrounged around my costume closet at the school and found this costume from "Secret Garden" last year. It fit and it matched and I said okay. There was a multi-ward party in a large equestrian arena in Payson and we went to it. It was pretty funny seeing all these singles ages 23-30+ in these crazy costumes. On the left is our really good friend Bryan then Camille and Lindsey (my roommates). They went to Hot Topic to get their costumes. They looked crazy!

Millie Choreography

Here's a ditty of the choreography for the musical. I can't believe it opens 2 weeks from Friday!! AHH! This was one of our first rehearsals, but at least it's a ditty! I have an awesome choreographer, Tyne, who has done some amazing stuff with these kids.

Make a Wish and Scarecrow Fest

It's been a fun couple of weeks with unique events. Our school does a "Make A Wish" event every year to sponsor a child with a terminal illness. It's very cool. One of the events is a carnival and my club (Drama Guild) does a dress up thing. We get polaroid cameras and bring up costumes from our archive and put set pieces on my stage and take pictures of people dressed up. It's fun and easy! Dave and Sarah have brought their family to it the past two years and the kids are really enjoying it. They both were really excited about arm wrestling the big boys!

Who wouldn't want to get your picture taken with Disney princesses? These cut outs are actually from our Sadie Hawkins dance (theme was Hollywood) from a few nights before. Our club also sponsors that dance so that's another evening I get to spend in the company of teenagers.
I told my cousin Cheryl Lynn about it and she came and brought her family! Thanks Cheryl Lynn!
Scarecrow Fest!! Dave and Sarah called me to let me know about this activity at Thanksgiving Point and so I joined them and we had a blast! It's also sponsored by the school that Nathan worked for while he was still in school.

Nephews and Nieces

Can I tell you how much I love being an aunt! It's awesome!!! Granted "Lindsey" is quite hard to say. Most of Dave's kids have it now although it comes out sounding like "Winsy", but one of my favorite experiences was after one of our family trips to CA when Bryce was just little and we were walking through the airport and I keep hearing him saying "Wee wee!" and finally when I looked over at him he was smiling at me! I was wee-wee for awhile!

Here is Solena with their new kitty, Nike (fitting!)

Dave with Samantha and Kye. Sammy's only 3 weeks older, but she's about half a head taller!

I made the boys take this picture with me to show how tall they are both getting. Kobe is only 6 and Bryce turns 5 in a little over a month! I have high school students who are only a head taller than Kobe!



A good portion of my postings will in some way involve these kids since I enjoy spending much of my spare time with them!

The Dog and Cat

I must admit, when I moved in with my new roommates (Camille and Lindsey--yup, I live with another Lindsey) I was very hesitant for a couple reasons. One, I had never moved in with people I didn't know and two, they had a Great Dane (Potter) and a cat (Lucy). However, living with the animals has been quite fun. There are also times when Potter comes in handy. He's big enough to be intimidating if solicitors come to the door, but he's really just a baby. If he could he would totally be a lap dog. Lucy is fun too and cuddly when she wants to be. My favorite is that after she bites (which is mostly just putting her mouth around your arm or hand to play) she'll lick you just to remind you that she's only playing. It's pretty cute. Here are some pictures! By the way, Potter really enjoyed sleeping on my "bed" when we first moved to our new place. I didn't have one and so I slept on the floor for about a month and half. There were mornings when I woke up to Potter standing over me trying to see if I was awake and then would lay down next to me.





Suzie and Kye came to visit a couple weeks ago and Kye enjoyed meeting the dog too!

Thoroughly Modern Millie

Here's the poster for our upcoming musical! It's a very nicely and professionally done picture done by one of the parents of a cast member. I couldn't do everything without the parents and I have so much support this year! Come if you can!

My world

Okay, I have been hounded enough by cousins to get a blog since I get to take advantage of learning about their life through blogs and they don't have any way to see mine. This is for my family members to keep up on my life and a great way to share pictures!

So.... this is my world:

These are of my classroom where I spend the majority of my life (except for June-August). It's huge! They are currently working on choreography for the upcoming musical!
I have a catwalk, full lighting system, dressing rooms (linked by a spiral staircase) and a computer editing lab all in my classroom. It's a pretty intense room, but I love it!

Taking the phrase from Suzie, I have "rock star parking" at my school now. They've always told me that when you start teaching there are certain people you need to become friends with namely the janitors and security (I'll add finance office and copy center). Well, the head of security and I became friends at the end of the year last year and he noticed that my parking spot (they are all assigned) was very far from my classroom and considering all the stuff I carry into the school (paint, set pieces, etc.) and how late I stay when shows are close he thought it silly for me to be so far away. He said he'd try and see if he could work his magic over the summer and get me a closer spot. Well, I show up to the school about a week before school started and noticed my name on the spot right next to the administrators! Rock star parking!! Now it's just a few steps into the building and then a few steps over to my classroom! Awesome!