Feeling Wicked

The long awaited night came and went, and once again left me wanting more of the same!

BWD and I went went to see Wicked with our good friends the Andersons and the Poelmans. Both couples had not seen it before, so it was fun to see their reactions. They loved it.
I remember being blown away seeing it the first time, it is just so spectacular in every way and so much to take in.
But, in saying that I was surprised at how much I had forgotten or missed. Also how different actresses play the parts so uniquely.
Elfaba sold me more on her love for Fiyaro this time. Galinda was even more comical.
And the songs...THE SONGS!!! I always am so moved by the incredible talents of others.
My favorite song is probably a tie between Defying Gravity and No Good Deed. But I do love For Good, Popular and As Long as your Mine. There's really not a song I don't like, and THAT, coupled with the brilliant mind who created the script and story is why it is so popular.

This morning I checked online to see what the 2010 tour looked like so I could make plans to see it again! (Next time with Coby and Katrina).

I do believe I have been changed for the better. :)

Double Digits

My favorite blonde -haired blue eyed little girl just turned 10!
Katrina had us wrapped around her finger the second we found out we were having her.
There are many wonderful and unique things about her:

• Anyone would be completely entertained just watching her play with her stuffed animals every day. These stuffed little creatures have had talent shows, played school, gone to the hospital, had fights over who got to sleep with Katrina each night, dealt with the pains of adoption, had birthday parties, gone on vacations...I could go on and on!
  
• She's a professional bed maker.
• Always always always says "love you mom" each night as I tuck her in, even if she's mad.
• Opened her own business doing nails and facials, which has sadly closed due to the economy.
• She's quite the athlete but doesn't like to play on teams necessarily.
  
• Loves to make up her own songs on the piano. She's getting better and better.
• Can clean a room like nobody's business! When she wants to that is.
  
• She would love her very own dog for her birthday. She's not getting one.
  
• She's the sneakiest kid in the house. She sneaks out of her room and can be feet away from us watching TV or listening to our conversation without us detecting a SOUND.
  

For her birthday this year we had a Halloween Birthday party. We played games, made these super cute trick or treat bags (that turned out to be the most frustrating thing ever). BWD told a scary story called "Beware of White Eyes". And for her actual birthday, mother nature decided to dump a bunch of snow on us causing all the schools to close. Pretty nice to not have to go to school on your birthday! She ended the snow day going night sledding with her dad and brothers at the high school. She came in and said "this has definitely been the funnest but coldest birthday I've had!"

Dear Tall Friends,

Being short has had it's advantages in the past. I never had to worry about towering over a guy while dancing. I was always at the top of the cheer leading pyramid instead of having a heavy shoe dug into my back while squatting. Maybe there's more advantages than that, but that's about all that comes to mind right now.
Today I'd like to invite all tall(er) people to do me a favor:
Next time you see a short girl in your aerobics class trying to reach up to grab THE only stability ball that is left on the very top row, please, I beg you PLEASE help her.
Or else that petite girl may jump up to try to knock it down and not even come close to moving it off the edge (embarrassing). Or worse; she may out of sheer desperation, get a weighted bar to push it up from the bottom and you may find yourself dodging a 3 foot diameter stability ball as it bounces it's way across the aerobics floor leaving havoc in it's path (utter humiliation).
Yes, please help her next time.
Signed,
Never arriving late to aerobics class again!

Breaking Fall

After asking the fam what they wanted to do over fall break, here are some ideas they came up with:

• Stay the night in Glenwood Springs and hike Hanging Lake the next day.
• Go to a haunted house (Coby has no idea what he's getting into here).
• Do a corn maze at Anderson Farms.
  
• Eat a caramel apple at Rocky Mtn Chocolate Factory (my favorite is apple pie apple).
  
• Make many many Halloween Crafts (the girls are adding to the list constantly).
• Have a family sleepover upstairs in the library in sleeping bags (Katrina's idea).
• Sleep in every day (Ace's contribution).
• NOT do boring stuff (Sydie's comment).
  

We'll see how many we end up doing. The sleeping in suggestion is looking better and better the more I go over the list of activities. I wish we could go to Hawaii or California or anywhere actually but having a husband without vacation days is a real bummer.
2010 will be our go away on vacation year!

Miss Saigon

I love musicals. Miss Saigon has been on my list for years as one that I would like to see. I've been listening to the music for years. So last Friday I finally went to see it with the Hunters. It was playing at the Arvada Center and I wasn't sure how good the quality of the performers would be.
Most of the performers had been on Broadway or had done the Broadway tour thing. I couldn't tell the difference in the performers there with what I have seen on Broadway or at the Buelle Theater. They were AMAZING!
Not knowing a whole lot about the show, I didn't know what to expect. Someone should have given me a heads up on the first scene though.
The first scene has to do with the soldiers in Vietnam and how they'd find prostitute bars in their leisure hours to pass time while they were there. I wasn't sure whether to laugh out loud, cover my eyes, vomit or cry during the whole first 15 minute scene! It made dirty dancing look like the electric slide. Soldiers had their hands ALL over these women, who had their hands all over the soldiers and it was truly like an orgy with clothes on set to music. Overkill. Here's an example: At one point one of the soldiers had his hand on the prostitutes boob, moved it away, and the woman took his hand and placed it back all the while doing a lap dance. Seriously. And to make matters worse, the women were kind of nasty looking. They sang beautifully but ewwwwwww. The kind of ewwwww like when you see two nasty old people making out.
Luckily the musical picked itself up out of the gutter and carried forward to some better scenes.
Overall, I really liked it (other than the first scene), loved the music and will go to the Arvada Center ANYTIME to see almost ANYTHING, knowing the quality of the performers.
Early next month will be WICKED (at the Buelle Theater)! I am majorly excited about this. I have been waiting to see it again since the minute I left NYC over 2 years ago.
And Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is playing in December which we may take the family to go see.

August Rush

I've been horrible about blogging. Hor. Ri. Ble.
So here's my new goal: Update every other week.
That's pretty reasonable, right?
Here's a few things I wouldn't want to forget about August (other than it FLEW by):

• School Started! Yay! We took the traditional individual photo of our kids holding up their "first day of _____" signs. Cute as they are, I was way excited about the whole going back to school thing. Why? Because I'm a better Mom when I don't have to deal with the same problems from sun up to sun down. And the "I'm Bored" phrase was getting used all too often.
  
• BWD and I had an anniversary. Seventeen years of holy matrimony!!! I can honestly say that we're very happy too. We stole away for a night and went up to Boulder area to relax and have fun. We even brought our bikes and went for a little spin. We try to do that twice a year for at least one night and I so look forward to it each and every time. The timing of our anniversary couldn't be more perfect too. Right after the kids are back in school there's nothing like a little get-away.
  
• The kids changed rooms. Again. Now Coby is back in the basement and Katrina has his old room. They are all pretty happy now actually and so far Coby hasn't abused the privilege of having a fridge/freezer/microwave at his disposal. As far as we know that is.
  
• At the tail end of July, the boys (including BWD) went to High Adventure/Scout Camp. They hiked a 14-er and got to test out the kayaks they had built. They had a GREAT time and it was a perfect thing to end the summer.
• And last but certainly not least, our garden produced exactly 8 beans. I planted corn, watermelon, pumpkins, peas and the aforementioned beans. I am not going to lie to you and tell you that it was properly weeded. But the weeds are unbeLIEEEEEvable. Every plant was taken and treated as a POW. It's no wonder all the watering and such didn't matter. I can't do another garden unless it's indoor or hanging topsy-turvy-like.
  

And that raps up August!

Gotta Love Them Reunions!

These 3 day reunions seem to work with us. The Ashton side had one 2 years ago. Now the Fowlers got together last weekend to hang out and have some fun. There was even a little Reiki involved one day, which unfortunately I have no pictures of.
Here's some hard evidence of the fun we had:

• 

Three of my cute nieces on our way to catch us some fish at Arlington. Notice the girls all have our Fowler Love pink T's on.


Building a fire to roast some Hot-dogs/Some Mores.
I can remember 4 years ago, it was this very spot that Austin tried to create a fire without our supervision using lighter fluid. Flames rising 15 to 20 feet in the air. Major major trouble that kid.


Look at these precious Grandkiddos. One day they'll be bringing their own little families to the 3 day Fowler Fest. This is where it all started...




And... I saved the best for last. Granddad and Grandmother with all The Originals. Some more original than others I might add. Take note of the boy in the center doing the splits. Ouch. That's what years of being a Master Yoga Instructor will get you. Photos like this. I wanted them to do something crazy. Make a silly face. Maybe show some funny expression.
Who followed through here? Is this as crazy as it gets folks?

I'm glad I could hook up with this fine family...I love them all.