Phantom

We watched Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall, last night.  The full stage version was filmed  Sept, 2011, in honor of it's 25th anniversary.
                                                                 It was Brilliant!
It was majestically done and at the end Sir Andrew Lloyd Weber speaks and  brings on original cast members,  Phantom - Michael Crawford and Christine- Sarah Brightman, and there is a big sing along.

It was most fun sharing this musical with Laila.   She has seen the movie version- and likes it, but it's just so much better on stage...even if it's a stage recording.  The music is just so spine tingling.  The staging was beautiful and the performances, particularly that of Christine and the Phantom were incredible.

LOVED IT!.... we rented it from a Redbox..... $1.

I remember when Phantom came out 25 years ago.  We were dying to go, but with new babies, and little money we knew making it to NYC was out of the question.  When Phantom started playing in LA we new it was our one, fun chance to see it.  We went with Marcie and Gary, Sandy and Clark and Tami ( no Rob) to California..... I think that's right.....maybe others played with us, but my memory is getting bad.
 We played in Disney Land during the day and then saw Phantom at night.  I remember the traffic being bad and we were racing to the theatre.  We ran up the steps and got to our seats just barely before the ushers closed the door  for the first scene.  My heart was racing.  The theatre was dark and eery....then the chandelier got lifted from the stage to it's position over the audience, and I was sucked into the story.

It's a different story than the beautiful one of redeeming love found in Les Miz...but I still love it.  I know the Phantom is a murderer... I know he is crazy.... but I cry every time Christine shows him just a little bit of kindness and it changes him and his plans forever.

Kindness matters....that's what I take away from Phantom.

Hyundai Elantra

This is the story of two crazy boys.......Wayne Welch  and Eric Belnap....and their new cars.

Wayne was getting tired of his Jaguar.  Even though this was the car of his boy hood dreams, the repairs were going up, and so was the price of gas.  He was on the look out for many months for the car that would get great gas mileage, still be sporty enough to wear the "undercover" license plate, and have no repair bills for 10+ years.
Wayne spoke to Eric about the changing of his car, and his thoughts about getting a Hyundai.
Eric thought Wayne's reasoning was sound, and 2 days before Wayne got his black Elantra, Eric arrived home in his gray Elantra.

MATCHING CARS!!!

Wayne has had matching cars one other time.  It was with Zac Poulter and their red and blue XAX trucks.

We loved working with Zac and Becky.  We shared XAXdesign for 6 years.   Our time with them was one of growth and happiness. Sad that it ended, but glad that Wayne and Zac transitioned into new work opportunities. 

TGIF

Another Favorite Photo for Too Good To Ignore Family Foto Friday.  This time it's Wayne as a little kid singing with his sister's Jane and Sandy.   This was taken in Wayne's home in North Logan.  Love that Wallpaper.
He and sister Sandy had their own language.  For a long time Sandy was the only one who could understand Wayne.  Wayne would speak to Sandy and then Sandy would tell Momma Wanee what he said.  Pretty funny.

Thoughts on this Tuesday.

"You can choose to live your life with the joy of the front row 
or solemness of the third row."

The choice is yours.

 What a HUGE contrast, plus I love that they are all in dresses and hats riding a roller coaster.  

__________________

Laila, at ten years old, is still saying the sweetest prayers.  I think she always will.  Her prayers have been astounding since she could speak.  I don't know why I'm surprised.  One of the best parts of my day is kneeling at Laila's bedside for her nightly prayer.  I wish I had a recorder.... but I do commit some to memory...she is just so sincere.

In one prayer she was "thankful for all of the missionaries who serve all over the world and give two years of their life to tell everyone about Jesus, but especially bless the two missionaries I am related to.

...And thank you for Justin Beiber's birthday.

....and thanks for all the love that fills our home."

"And thank you for fasting so I can remember how good it is to eat."

"And thanks for Grandma Sheri that she can beat the cancer."

It just goes on and on....

____________________

I am so sad for all of the Tornado stuff going on.  I have cried over and over watching the devastation.  The Story that has touched me so much is  of the mom that tied a comforter around her and her two children, then laid on her kids as the house fell down around them....the kids don't have a scratch....the momma lost both of her legs and is a hero.    

_____________________

I have two missionaries out for 2 more weeks. It has been a blessing to know they are working hard, gaining testimonies, and growing in the gospel. 

Monson has a new companion after only 6 weeks.  His trainer had to go on an emergency transfer to be a ZL in Kalamazoo.  ( I love the name of that city.)  So Monson is on comp #2.  His wrist is killing him.  I didn't think we would even hear about his wrist for 2 years, with no sports etc.., so I am surprised he is having this trial. 

Truman  hasn't told anyone in his area that his end is near.  I think that is funny. He is in denial, but happy we are coming to get him, and will get to travel around and see his people, and church history sites. 

_____________________

...............and what about my dad's leprechaun picture as my March header???  He is the cutest, and such a great sport.  I love his little drawn mustache too.   

My blue hair Momma

I knew something was wrong when we showed up for Sunday night talking time, and I saw a bald head over the top of the couch. 

 My mom always has a wig on...and her makeup.... but not today. 

 Today was a hard day. 

 My Momma only has one Chemo treatment left.  

This last one has been really hard. 

 She has gone through this 5 times now and knows just what to expect.  But it's still hard.  The three weeks in between treatments are really just to gear up mentally for the next one. 

Chemo is all about killing off cancer cells and trying not to kill the patient off in the process.  It's pretty mean.

Mom had about 4 hours today where Dad thought for sure she was checking out of this world.

Mom feels like a little person is stabbing her in the knees constantly.  She can't get warm...their house is like 90 degrees... and of course nothing tastes good.  It all tastes like "gray flannel" in her mouth.

Through all of this, she is a trooper.  

Laila went to rub mom's feet and that was such a blessing. 

 Laila is a good foot rubber.

Mom asked Laila to go and get her a wig. 

Laila came out with the blue funny one, that Mom's friend gave her as a gag.

Of course mom put it on and modeled and smiled and we all took funny pictures of her.

Such a shining example of optimism for all of her children and grand children. 

                                                           INSPIRING!

TITLE???

I'm taking a page out of my friend's book...or blog ( thanks Lesley) ....and doing a Friday Walk down memory Lane photograph....or FridayWDML for short.
or maybe....
TGIF
Photos that are Too Good to Ignore.... so I'm going to post them on a Friday.........
I'm getting carried away with  just figuring out a title for this series.....anyway....
I am going to post an old Family Favorite Foto on Friday......   (Maybe Friday x 4)
Here is the First ...

Dec 2006

Our 5 week old puppy...... Baby Girl....aka....Cupcake.  She was a little ball of fluff you could hold in one hand.  Now she is a big, wheezy, licky dog.  I actually really like having her around when it's just her and me.  It's hard when someone comes to visit.  She goes crazy.  We have tried different things to solve her out of control problem.  The best solution is to just pick her up.
Baby is more like a cat than a dog.  She uses an indoor litter box, she meows more than she barks, she sleeps on the tops of couches, and stretches and looks at you with disdain...just like a cat.
The boys all call her Kitty.
Wayne's favorite time with baby is when he gets her riled up and she runs in wild circles while he repeats over and over, "Crazy dog is in the house."
I do love having a dog in my house.....

Children