T.S.F.Y. (Theatre School For Youth)

This is my favorite picture of all time of me. I remember this day like it was yesterday. I'm not sure of the date, however, I could probably find out, I know it was toward the end of July. Theatre School was performing at Bryant Middle School and I was in a production called "Rocks." It was an experimental theatre piece that we did. If I do say so myself, probably the best scene/piece of the year. 1989.

Theatre School was a HUGE part of my life, most of my fondest memories of growing up are of Theatre School and the people associated with it. Theatre School is a major part of who I am today.

This particular night was a good one, I performed in "Rocks" and in my Musical Theatre number, "City Lights" from the musical "The Act." (Sorry, this is the only good link I could find) I had a solo that went VERY well.

"Oh look at the rooster, listen to the crickets, smell the hay I told her. And see the pretty little egg that the hen just laid."

I remember everyone wearing black and white with a little splash of color. I had on a white short-sleeved mock neck T- shirt, a black flared mini skirt and multi-colored polka- dot, knee high socks. And...black patten leather shoes.

"Rocks" was a very liberating performance experience. I even remember feeling liberated during rehearsals, I was only 14! I remember thinking that this piece was unlike anything Theatre School had ever seen or done, and I loved being a part of it. I remember crying a lot while rehearsing, laughing to the point of pain while rehearsing, sitting there absolutely speechless for minutes (which seemed like hours) at a time while rehearsing all the while being so excited to perform such a profound piece to such a diverse audience. Finally the performance nights came and there was a lot of hype about "Rocks," but it didn't matter because we knew we could live up to it, we knew we had something great. I have never felt so confident on the stage in my entire life. When this picture was taken the scene was just ending, I had just told the audience, "I love you!" My fellow castmates followed by saying the same thing until all 7 of us were sitting on the front of the stage. The End. We got a standing ovation. The only one. I wish I could convey the feelings of that performance, I believe that experience is a big reason why I still love the theatre so much, even now when I do a show I think back to that night and the feelings of confidence I had, I'm not sure I have been that confident on stage since.

I have to explain something else about "Rocks." Our costumes and our "orbs." For our costume, we were suppose to wear some of our favorite things. I wore my brother Kent's old football jersey that I use to sleep in, with bright purple sweats and a pair of white socks, I was definitely the brightest dressed person, but probably the most comfortable, but at that time in my life, this attire was pretty much "Me." Everybody else wore blacks and greys. One day instead of rehearsing, we were all playing with some tennis balls, that is when the decision to incorporate them into the piece was made. Ken (our director) told us to take the tennis balls home and to decorate them how we saw fit. When we came to the rehearsal the next day, I remember feeling a little strange about how I had decorated my tennis ball, everyone else had painted them black or grey or white or a strange combo of the three, there was very little color (none really) on anybody elses. Ken ask me why I was feeling weird about it, and I told him that everyone elses were so "cool" and he told me yes and that mine was too. Then we got into a big discussion about these tennis balls and why we painted them like we did. Ken ask to see mine and then he started talking about how my tennis ball totally portrayed my personality, a smiley face and a perfect yellow bow. The he ask me why I had put a peace sign on the bottom, and I told him that there was an empty space and it just seemed to fit. Again a "Karlyn" thing to do. We decided to call our tennis balls "Orbs." I still have my orb and I see it everyday. I don't let the kidlets touch it.


1989 was a particularly good year for me at Theatre School, it was the first year that one of my brothers wasn't attending with me. Jordan was on his mission and Matthew didn't go. It was the year that Ken Harper introduced me to Experimental Theatre, my niche I think. It was the first and only year the we performed on a big stage instead of in the Babcock Theatre, I think because there was so many students that year. It was the year that I met Sean Siska, Leah Steele, Kim Anderson and....Jorge. I am still in touch with them with the exception of Jorge.

My dear friend Jorge. I have been reading my journals a lot lately (I was an avid journal writer from age 11 - 20) I mention Jorge often. I talk about how Jorge was my best friend. In fact in one entry I wrote that Jorge taught me what friendship really was, he really did. Jorge and I use to talk on the phone every Sunday night, we would take turns calling each other. Jorge took me on my very first date, we went to Market Street and shared a piece of chocolate cake. I could go on for a long time of my memories of Jorge, there are a lot of them. Memories that I am very blessed to have. I am very blessed to have known Jorge. My friend passed away in April of 2006.

Thank you Jorge for being such a great friend.

How cute is this?

Piper got this tea set for her birthday (March 18) from my mom. It is one that you paint yourself. We kind of forgot about it until we were cleaning her room and found it again under her dresser (she put it there so it wouldn't get lost). She decided that she wanted to call Aunt Val, who is an incredible artist, to help her paint it. Finally after a couple of weeks, we got the scheduling worked out. She went up to Val's house on Tuesday afternoon and stayed for about an hour and painted her tea set.

She was so excited when she got home, she sat and showed which cup went with which saucer and ask me bake it right away. So I did.

Now she has an adorable little tea set that she painted with the help of Aunt Val, that she is SO proud of. I hope she uses it often.

Roomies

The other night I met up with some of my SUU roomies. Of the 12 of us, 3 (maybe 4) of us are still in Utah. Camille is in southern California, Wendy is in Northern California (I think, we haven't talked to her for awhile), Jaime is in Nevada, Ali and T are in Arizona, Adrian is in Florida, Kristy is in Idaho, Becky is in Montana, Demaree, Helen and I are in Utah and I think Sally may still be here, but none of us have talked to her for years, I've tried to locate her, actually did, but never heard back from her.

Anyway, Demaree, Adrian, Ali and I met up on Thursday night and went to dinner and a movie. We went to PF Changs for dinner and then out to Jordan Commons to see Harry Potter.

It is so fun to reminisce about the good old days! We were not talking about who is dating who and which club we are going to this friday night. Or who is getting what grade from what professor, or what is going on on campus. We weren't impersonating our SBO's "Let's rock the house!" Nor were we trying to figure out how we were going to get to the grocery store that day. Instead, we were talking about our cute husbands and our incredible kids, our hectic schedules and our broken cars. We were talking about our finances and how we make it paycheck to paycheck. Of the four of us, two of us have husbands in school (me and Ali) One of us is in school (Demaree) and all of us are pretty much in the same place in our life. Adrian is the Relief Society President (not a surprise), Demaree is a counselor in the primary presidency. Ali drives a suburban! (That is a surprise - to me anyway) Between the four of us we have TEN kids! Between the 12 (all the roomies) we have 17 kids (that I know of).

WOW how times have changed! But you know, it doesn't seem like it has been that long, in a lot of ways it feels like just yesterday I lived in Cedar City. I do have to say, I don't know where I would be or who I would be if it weren't for these girls! (yes, girls, I can't bring myself to call us ladies or women, because I still feel like we are 18) Cedar City was one of the best times of my life, and I am so blessed that I have such wonderful friends and that we stay in contact. And you know what? I know that we will always be close.
In the picture, from left to right: Me, Adrian, Ali, Demaree.

Pioneer Days

The Pioneer Days celebration was not today (the actual day) it was on Friday and Saturday.The parade and Fireworks were on Friday night and the carnival at the Bountiful Park was on Friday night and all day Saturday. So, we went to the parade and sat in front of Deseret First Credit Union. Strange thing, this was the shortest Bountiful Parade that I had ever been to! It is usually SO long and drawn out you leave thinking you will never go to another parade again, however, it was only an hour long! Nice and short, sort of like the Centerville 4th parade. The kids didn't get very much candy, but that is okay, not much was thrown. They both got a frisbee and Piper got a stuffed penguin that she is sharing with Teague (in fact it is in the hall in between their rooms right now).





After the parade, Aaron and Teague went up to Bountiful Blvd to save a place for the fireworks while Annie, Piper and I went and got sandwiches from Blimpie to eat while we waited for the fireworks. The fireworks were a little strange this year too! Usually they are very good, but....the person or persons that were shooting them off must have had narcolepsy or something!! There were huge pauses between the fireworks, even during the Grand Finale there was a huge a pause.

The sunset was spectacular. I got so many pictures of it, it is hard to choose one.

Saturday I had an audition that lasted nearly the whole day because they did the initial audition and the call backs. My audition time was 11:35 when I was done, they ask me to go to call backs at 1:00, I didn't get home until 4:00! So, since I was all sweaty from dancing I took a quick shower and we made it to the last hour of the carnival. The kids were able to go fish at the fish pond, Piper got a bracelet and Teague got marbles. We all got a hot dog and of course drinks and cotton candy. We mostly went because we had to.....Tradition. It was a pretty good couple of days.




























Saturday night we went to Grammie Annie's and ate cinnamon rolls, drank milk and watched T.V.. We try to see how much crap we can eat in two days: Hot dogs, Cotton candy, cinnamon rolls, soda, parade candy etc..

Blue Plate Diner

So, there is this really interesting little restaurant in SLC, it is called "The Blue Plate Diner." When my niece, Vanessa, graduated, we went there to eat. Aaron and I have wanted to go back when it was just us, or just our little family, so we went last week. We were not disappointed. It has a funky atmosphere that I appreciate, sort of a "ma & pa" type place, but not quite, it is actually hard to explain, you need to see it to understand it I guess I could kind of compare it to the old "Bill and Nada's." But then again there is really nothing like "Bill & Nada's." Or even "Ruth's Diner" up emigration.

Anyway they have three sorts of french fries that you can choose from: shoestring, steak or Cajun. The shoestring fries are just like regular fries, the steak fries are just like steak fries (imagine that) and the Cajun fries are HUGE, a potato cut into fourths, fried and salted with a Cajun salt, Aaron seemed to like them. The kids and I got the shoestring fries. The kids got Chicken Nuggets (of course), I got a Caprese type sandwich that was huge and wonderful, I loved it, I ate the whole thing. Aaron got a Reuben Sandwich.

The food was good, the menu is very interesting, a large variety of stuff. Apparently they are famous for their breakfasts. And you can't really ask for better service. I would suggest checking this place out if only for the interesting atmosphere.





Here are some links to the above mentioned restaurants:

Blue Plate Diner - doesn't have a website, but here are a bunch of links that have reviews and such:

Blue Plate Diner
Blue Plate Diner
Blue Plate Diner
Blue Plate Diner

Bill & Nada's doesn't have a website, no longer exists, but here are some links that talk about it:

Bill & Nada's
Bill & Nada's


Ruth's Diner

Kidlets

I actually have a lot of pictures that I could blog about today. I guess if I ever need a subject, I can just go through all the pictures that I took yesterday to find something! We had a fun day. But here are some pictures that I thought turned out quite cute of the kidlets.

Her cute little Flintstone toes

Piper and I went and had our toes done yesterday, here are Piper's results!

Cute!!

Nothing quite like a Utah Sunset

On Saturday night I went out with some of my roommates. We were driving down the street in North Salt Lake and there was the most beautiful sunset! I snapped this picture. Unfortunately the lighting in the car was weird, and the windshield was a little dirty (who's isn't?). But hopefully you can get a little taste of a Utah Sunset. I will definitely try to snap another sunset soon.

Swimming with the cousins

Saturday was Zac's birthday, the big 6, so we met at the Rec Center (again) for a fun filled day of swimming. It was fun because all six cousins were there. This is Aaron's side of the family.

The first picture is of them smiling. The second is of them pulling a face.

Back row left to right: Josh, Morgan, Piper, Seth. Front row left to right: Zac & Teague.

Skool Lunch

When I was a loan officer at the Z.C.M.I. branch of Deseret First Credit Union, I discovered Skool Lunch I had actually had their sandwiches before, only catered, so I didn't get the opportunity to order a sandwich to my liking, however, the sandwiches that I had had were excellent. I had also had some of their breakfast items but that was when I was a lot younger. My oldest brother, Drew, worked there and would bring home left over muffins and such. But I always thought that it was a catering only type deal.

A friend of mine, that I actually worked with at the Credit Union, and I try to go every couple of months, for old time sake! We went on Friday and it was delicious (as usual). Actually, Lacey is the only person that I keep in touch with from the Credit Union and she is one of my very best friends.

If you are in the area, I highly recommend this great little deli type place.

Busy Days

The past couple of days have been pretty busy:

Tuesday: We went to the park for about an hour. Tuesday is actually neighborhood park day, but only one other family showed up, but it was still fun. My kids were a little unhappy because I wouldn't let them got to the other side of the park to swing. Mostly because of my laziness, but I was also really enjoying sitting on the blanket talking with Amber. Since we were only there for an hour it worked out.

Then, we went to Cherry Hill! Can you believe it? I had an appointment to get my nails done at 4:00, so we only stayed for about an hour and a half, but it was still really fun.

My nails are yellow, yes, yellow. I promised Piper that if Jennifer had "sparkly yellow" I would get it, and she had it. So, I have yellow tips. It's actually not that bad. Oh, the things we do for our kids.

Wednesday: Aaron came home from work at 9:20 (he gets to work at 6:00a.m.) and watched the kids while I went with my relief society to "This is the Place" Heritage Park I am so glad I went, we had so much fun! Again, small numbers, there was suppose to be 12 of us, but only five ended up going, but really it was so much fun. I loved the Brigham Young Farm House. If we ever end up building, this is the floor plan that I want. Seriously. I loved reading about all of the cabins and learning about the pioneers that crossed the planes. I learned about how they made lambs wool into yarn, did you know that they used different leaves and flowers from their gardens to die the yarn? There was one cabin that was one room, it housed a husband, two wives and thirteen children. I really do take a lot for granted. I really am blessed.

Here is a picture of the wool being spun:









Here is a picture of the one room cabin:









Here is a picture of the relief society hall. (the women had their very own building to meet in!:))
Here is a picture of the Brigham Young farm house:


And...the famous monument:
At the top of the park there is a picture perfect view of the Salt Lake Valley, but unfortunately, the fires here in Utah prevented me from getting a great picture, but here is an okay one.

While we were in the Brigham Young farm house I notice a picture of Truman O. Angell on one of the wall along with some pictures of some of the buildings that he was the Architect for, since he is my Great Great Great Grandfather, I thought I would take a picture.

While we were eating lunch(which by the way was delicious), Aaron called and said that Grammie (his mom) wanted us to go swimming with her at the new Rec Center. I told Aaron to gather my suit and stuff and I would meet them there. I did. We actually went to the Rec Center on Saturday too, so the kids were very excited to go again so soon. We stayed for about three hours. Both kids were swimming in the deep end with the help of Aaron and me. Teague is a little fish with absolutely no fear. Piper was very excited, because she saw her best friend from school, Samantha, so they swam together for awhile before we finally left.












Then.....We went out to dinner at Applebee's not my favorite place, but cheap and okay tasting, better than cooking myself.

Today: I promised the kids on Tuesday that if they cleaned the playroom I would take them to Cherry Hill and we would stay for a long time. So since we went swimming on Tuesday and Wednesday I did a load of laundry with all the towels and suits. Then I hear that it was suppose to be stormy, so I called time/temp, and they told me thunderstorms. So we had to come up with a different plan - RATATOUILLE - The kids were very excited, and they loved the movie, and so did I. I would definitely recommend it, especially for the little ones. It sort of weirds me out that I got so excited for a RAT! Oh, that cute little Remy!

So, guess what? If there is no storming tomorrow.....Cherry Hill.

"Mom....I want my haircut!"

I LOVED my little boys long hair, and I wanted to keep it long until school started and I would have to cut it, but no such luck! He has told me a couple of times that he wanted it cut, but he definitely meant it this morning.













I have to admit, he does look like a "big boy" now with his short hair.

I don't know why this was such a big deal to me, it's not like he has had long hair his whole life. He got his first cut at 19 months, that is when we cut off the curls (people kept mistaking him for a girl). Then a couple of weeks later, we got the crew cut, and we did that every four weeks until about February of this year, then I decided to start growing it out. He has had two trims since then, but not a CUT. I kept the hair! I am such a nerd, it's not like I haven't done that before.

O'well, here is my handsome little "big" boy!

Teague & Momma time

So Aaron and Piper had "Piper & Daddy time" today, they went and saw "Nancy Drew." So, Teague and I had "Teague & Momma time."

We were going to go swimming at the new "outside pool" at the South Davis Recreation Center, but Teague decided that he wanted to go swimming with Daddy and Grammie Annie, so we had a change of plans. I ask him what he wanted to do instead and he said........."Have a bubble bath all by myself and go get a rainbow snow!" I thought it was hysterical since "Teague & Momma time" was going to be Teague doing something all by himself. So I filled the tub with luke warm water and tons of bubbles and he stayed in the tub for about 45 minutes having the time of his life.












When his bath was over, we got him dressed and we were off to get a Rainbow Snow (this is the only good link I could find). As I was driving over to our regular Rainbow Snow that we always go to (which I think is the one pictured - pretty sure), Teague said that he wanted to go to the one that is in the Albertson's parking lot by our house. WHAT A MISTAKE! How can they taste so bad? And they were a quarter more! It tasted as though they hadn't used the flavoring for a few years, then just decided to use it. YUCK! It was so bad that Teague dumped his out on the ground then said to me, "Let's go to the other one!"











Let me tell you, the one that we usually go to is delicious! The ice is marvelous, and they always put in extra juice I have never had a better snow cone. I always get sour apple. We will definitely have to get one later today to make up for the bad experience.

Piper & Momma time

Aaron and Teague had "Daddy & Teague time" today, so Piper and I had "Piper & Momma time." The boys went and saw "Transformers," Piper and I went Miniature golfing at Cherry Hill.

On the very first hole, I decided not to keep score since it took Piper about 16 hits to get the ball in the hole, but then an amazing thing happened! I helped Piper with her stance (which, by the way, I know nothing about any type of golf, or how you should stand), told her to hold her club the right direction, stand on the side of the ball with her feet together and swing, and every time she did it "correctly" she nailed it! She beat me! Even though we didn't keep score, I was sort of keeping score in my head. There were only two holes that I did better than Piper. I am totally serious! I have to admit, I was a little surprised at how crappy I did. I am so proud of Piper...my little golfer.

On the way home, Piper took this really cute picture of herself. I promised her that I would post it here on the blog.

Maybe Aaron will do a post about "Daddy & Teague time."

Happy 4th!

We had sort of a crazy 3rd & 4th. The fireworks here in Centerville were at 9:45 p.m. on the 3rd. We decided to ride our bikes. We left our house at about 9:00 and made it there right on time. We sat right underneath them, so close in fact firework shrapnel fell on me. AWESOME. For being a small city, Centerville really has great fireworks. We left right after the fireworks were over, it was dark, the kids were a little nervous to ride their bikes home in the dark, but they did so good and only one fall, Piper fell while trying to turn a corner. We made it home safely.
The parade started at 9:00 a.m. on the 4th, again, we rode our bikes, we left our house at 8:30, and made it early. We had set chairs up the night before in front of the fire station under a tree. The parade was perfect, short, sweet and to the point, not to many advertising entries.


It ended at about 10:00. Then we went to the carnival at Founders Park, ate hot dogs and let the kids "go fish" Piper got a recorder and Teague got a pirate sword and patch.






They went down the big blow up slide a few times (which was free) and then we rode our bikes home. We got home at about 12:45 and crashed for a couple of hours.




We actually ended up riding our bikes about eight miles in the two days. I am so proud of the kidlets. They didn't complain the whole time. However Teague told Aaron "I don't think I like riding bikes anymore." We were a couple of blocks from home at this point. Teague wanted to go on a bike ride today (July 5th).

The evening of the 4th was really fun. This is the first year (in like 10 years) that we didn't go out to Sugarhouse park for their fireworks, but we decided that it is just too much effort, so we broke a long standing tradition, but started a new one that will hopefully last at least 10 years. Grandpa John, Grammie Annie, Grandma Wilma and Grandpa Paul came over at about 7:30, Grandpa John brought over some Brauts and some Kielbasas and we had some hot dogs. We started bar-b-q-ing at about 8:00. Maamaa and Grandpa Larry joined us at about 9:00 and we did sparklers and fireworks in the street. The kids had so much fun, and Piper told us that she had more fun this year than she did last year (at Sugarhouse park).


Here's to a successful fourth!!!