new shows & new friends

The reason why it's been a while since the last post is because the last two weeks have been a little crazy! The first week of the two I was getting ready for the next seven months to begin. While this week was week one of the next 28 weeks of my life... Tuacahn rehearsals started on Monday and it has been full speed ahead since. The shows, Hairspray and Aladdin, are going to be A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!! Sneak peak: lots of flying, water, fire, stunts, gorgeous costumes, special effects, 3-D movies and more! Tickets are already selling fast so be sure to get your tickets asap! It is going to be a stage production like nothing that's ever been done before!!!

Even though it has been an incredible and exciting week it has felt like the longest week of my life for some reason. I can't believe that it was only last Monday that I met my fifty new friends who I feel like I've known for years already! Everyone is SO nice and SO talented! I truly feel so blessed to be surrounded by such fantastic people everyday.

Yesterday we were let out of rehearsal a little early to go watch Lea Salonga- my childhood idol and vocal icon perform on the Tuacahn stage. Here's some of us from the cast before the show began.

I knew that it was going to be phenomenal, but it was even better than I expected it to be--and I had very high expectations! For those of you who may not know her name, she is the singing voice of Jasmine in Disney's Aladdin and the voice of Fa Mulan in Disney's Mulan and Mulan II. She has also performed in many Broadway shows and has earned Tony and Olivier Awards. She became famous at the age of 17 when she came to America from the Philippines and was cast as Kim in the original cast of Miss Saigon. Her voice in one word is perfection. Literally. I had chills or tears running down my face the entire time I was in her presence. Here's the best pic I could get. That's her right in the middle :)

It almost a spiritual experience when that God-given talent was coupled with the surrounding, majestic red rock mountains. You could hear an audible gasp in the audience as that flawless voice echoed off the canyon formations. I was stunned by every song she sang. I don't know how it's possible for someone's voice to be so seamless, rich, and musical all at once, but hers is just that and more because there are no words to adequately describe it. At one part of the show she asked our Aladdin, whose name is Dan, to come up on stage and sing A Whole New World with her. I'll admit that I was a little nervous for him because that's such a huge thing to do, but he's also a Broadway vet and I would've thought that they'd rehearsed ahead of time if I didn't know any better. If anyone ever has the chance to see Lea perform live, go! It will be one of the best moments of your life! It was for me.

A few more happenings......A couple of days ago a few of us were asked to film on a green screen for part of a scene that will be in Genie's song "Friend Like Me." Here's us in our "Deal or No Deal" attire. It is going to be a riot! We are actually in the 3-D movie that you will see if you come to the show! As you can see my shoes are undone because by the end of that six hour shoot I was pretty sure that my feet were going to break off! (The boy in the middle is Sam, our Aladdin understudy).

Epic Fail...Last Sunday my family was traveling through on their way back from San Diego. It happened to be Riley's birthday that day so my dad asked if I could have a cake ready for her when they got here so she wouldn't have to have a b-day without a cake. Especially because it was her BIG 13-teenager status! Because it was Sunday I had to mooch off of some of our neighbors for ingredients and figure out how to make a cake from scratch with GF flour-which was all we had. Let me also add that I have NEVER made a cake from scratch in my life, with GF flour nonetheless, it turned out to be a lot more difficult than I had anticipated. To make a long story short, this is how it turned out...

The most embarrassing part about it... It tasted even worse than it looked! Luckily, one of my neighbors had a brownie mix that I hurried and whipped out. We all got a good laugh from it though! I'm going to have to redeem myself one of these days and figure out how to make a good GF cake from scratch to prove to myself (and my husband) that I can do it!

Last thing, so I don't completely humiliate myself or scare off anyone who may be looking for some good ideas on here. We made some dude crafts when Easton's brother Dawson came into town to visit us over his spring break. We searched all day for Clorox bleach pens and luckily Smith's saved the day. All you need is a bleach pen, contact paper, a shirt, and a blade cutter with something to cut it out on. Easton and Dawson found graphics online, then we printed it, cut it out of the contact paper, stuck it on the shirt and went to work with the bleach pen. After about fifteen minutes of letting the shirt sit and process, you can either do more bleach or give it more time until it's to the color you like, or if you like the color you peel off the paper and rinse it out with water. Throw it in the washer and voila! I think they turned out pretty rad!

Easton did the Houston Texans logo and Dawsie chose the ASU spear to look like his Springville Devils mascot! Good job team! It's been a good time these last couple of weeks!