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Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Clara's blessing

My newest niece, Clara Jean, was blessed by her father on October 10th. Clara, whose pictures is above, is a charming girl who entered the world on July 21st at 4:59am MT. (The picture was taken by her “Poppy” on another day.) Her brothers seem to like her, especially Isaac. Her blessing was lovely. I drove up north and found their church about 20 minutes before their Sacrament meeting started. Jen and her family drove up soon after I did and so Lauren and I walked around and talked. Alison handed me Clara while the prelude was being played by Jordan. (Aaron had a bloody nose and needed to be taken out.) Clara slept through the opening hymn and prayer and all of the announcements and woke up a little just in time for her father to come and fetch her. For those who are unaware, a baby blessing is a wonderful event that welcomes a new baby into the church with a name and a blessing (see here for more information.) Jordan did a wonderful job and Clara didn’t make a peep (at least not one that the congregation could hear.) My dad mentioned that Clara grabbed his thumb and held on during the blessing. Afterwards this sweet girl was deposited back into my arms as Alison had Aaron on her lap. I was able to hold this sweet baby during Sacrament meeting and even took her out to change a diaper, returning just in time to hear her father bear his testimony.

After wards the family adjourned to her parent’s home for an excellent lunch spread. I gave her parents the bowl that I had made for her (as one of my goals is to make a gift for each of my nieces and nephews.) It turned out well I think. I ate outside with the kids and then watched over them as they ran around and played on the patio. It was a lot of fun to see all the kids interact together. I managed to make it home before 7:30pm.

As a side note, the birth of Clara evens up the grandchildren with 5 girls and 5 boys. :)

Saturday, October 02, 2010

The Lion King

Top 10 things I loved about seeing
The Lion King
at The Capitol Theatre in September

  1. The opening number. It is easy to see why this musical won 6 Tony Awards the year it opened. I actually misted up at the music and costumes. Each animal/dancer moved exactly the way I expected it to move. The zebras pranced, the birds soared, the rhino lumbered, etc.
  2. The “One by One” song in the beginning of the second act. Dancers came out into the audience with these interesting birds on poles and strings. The music sounded like an African Tribal chant and was beautiful.
  3. The smooth way the lionesses moved and danced. It seemed like each dancer had studied a lion for days in order to get it just right. The cheetah was amazing as well.
  4. The fact that I was able to attend with family and have a great meal beforehand. Despite the tire change by Mom and Dad, we all had a good time. Plus, a good friend, Angie, joined the group.
  5. The occasional humor of Zazu, the bird. He provided needed humor and transitions between scenes. Oddly enough, they cut out his "Morning Report" song that can be heard on the Broadway cd.
  6. The heart-wrenching “Endless Night” sung by Simba. Even grown-ups need their parents to guide them.
  7. Getting so into the music that I actually had to physically stop myself from bursting out into song. The performers did a great job and I was impressed how they matched the young Simba and Nala to the adult versions. They had some similar mannerisms that were cute to see.
  8. Even though I have seen the cartoon version several times and listened to the Broadway soundtrack more than 20 times, I was still holding my breath at the final battle scene. Would Simba win? Luckily, he did. (I hope I didn't ruin it for any of the readers of this blog.)
  9. That there was dancing grass. The scene and costume designers were geniuses. Once again, the Tonys were well deserved.
  10. That the minute it was over I wanted to run to the box office and buy another $120 ticket to see it again.