The first weekend in August, we had the opportunity to host a "German Family" reunion at our house. SO many of our dear friends from our time in Germany just so happened to be in Utah that weekend, so we had all of them over for dinner, games, & chatting. It was SO MUCH FUN to see them all. I've missed them so much.
I especially loved seeing all the teenage boys back together again. Oh how I've missed these sweet boys. Most of them were my piano students in Germany & almost all of them were my seminary students. It was great seeing them all together.
August was Lorien's turn to move into a new apartment. Luckily, she was in the same apartment complex, same building, just one floor above her previous apartment. Trek, Craiger, & I drove down to help her move everything from one apartment to the other.
This time there are only 5 girls in her apartment which is awesome because it gives them more space in the kitchen for their things. Lorien's 2 friends from Germany are 2 of her new roomates & she LOVES her room-roomate who was a girl in her previous apartment that she got along well with. There is one other girl in the apartment, & all 5 of them mesh really well together. I'm happy for her.
It was fun organizing all of her things & helping her find a new home for it all.
Have a great 2nd year of school Lorien. We love you.
In August, we had 2 more Disney Family Fun Movie Nights.
Craiger decided to watch the classic: Peter Pan. We all love Peter Pan.
He made Tinkerbell Shoes (grapes), Tick Tock Crock Punch, Navajo Tacos, & Pirate's Gold Cookies.
Trek had arrived home earlier that afternoon, & he made a mess on his first meal home. We all had a really good laugh at that.
Craiger worked really hard on the cookies. They were interesting. . . they used flour & cornmeal, formed into a loaf (?), & then he cut them into cookie slices & baked them. They were actually really good. I wasn't sure cookies would be good with cornmeal in them, but they were.
The following week, Bladen chose Big Hero 6 to watch together as a family. Together we learned how to make "Aunt Cass's Melt Your Face Off Wings" (I've never made chicken wings before), Baymax marshmallows, "Hiro" Hamata sandwhiches, & "Honey Lemon"-ade.
All of it was fabulous.
My kids are not too fond of anything that has a bone in it. I made them eat it & they admitted it was good, but they say anything on a bone is gross.
Canyon has been working 15 hours a week all summer long on the play:
Broadway Kidz - Heroes & Legends.
Broadway Kidz is a local non-profit organization here in UT that does a play every summer for kids ages 5-18. . . & it's absolutely AMAZING. Kevin McClellan is the director & I can't say enough about how incredible he is. He writes all the plays done by the organization & he really knows how to pull these kids out of their shells & give them the spotlight. Every single kid in the play gets to have "their moment" to shine. I am so grateful Canyon got to be part of this amazing group.
This years' play was titled "Heroes & Legends"
& followed heroes & legends of America, both real & fictional.
(George Washington, Betsy Ross, The Wright Brothers, Paul Bunyon, Darth Vader, Superman, etc.)
Canyon was cast in 11 of the scenes/songs playing different characters, & he loved every single second of it. And though he freaked out a little bit when he realized he'd have to sing a solo on stage in front of a ton of people, by the end, he was LOVING it. We are SO PROUD of him.
Here is a smorgasbord of pictures taken from all 4 performances, plus some of the videos I took of Canyon's songs. ENJOY. He did SUCH a GREAT JOB!
The very first scene in the whole play was "Kids in America."
Canyon was one of those kids & has lines introducing the entire play.
The next scene is was in was
"We're Not Gonna Take It"
& he was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He sang the solo & said the lines in this number.
In the number, "Revolution" Canyon dances with the girls creating the US Flag.
Next was the "Electric Slide" with Benjamin Franklin. Canyon dances in this one too.
The "Pioneer Section" of the play was where Canyon really got to shine. The first part is a square dance to the song "Rodeo" where he had to work hard to learn some difficult dance moves.
The 2nd section is the pioneers traveling west which required quite a bit of acting. In this scene, as these pioneer families cross the plains to the west, we see Canyon's family struggle to the point that his sister dies along the trek west.
Then the 3rd & final section, Canyon has a chance to be the pioneer soloist singing the song
"Strong Enough"
with his pioneer "mom." It's a very touching song & I'm SO glad that got to be his "spotlight" number. We are so proud of him.
Next. he was in the number dedicated to Martin Luther King Jr. & got to sing in the choir to the song:
"More to Me."
He enjoyed learning how to sing parts for this song.
He also got to be in the choir for the song
"For the Glory."
He had a lot of fun being a "funky dancer" in
"Livin in America."
In this one, he got to learn hard choreography with the teens. He was pretty proud of that.
And in the finale, Canyon got to sing "God Bless the USA" with the entire cast.
It was such an amazing, memorable, experience for Canyon. He can't wait until next summer so he can come do it again.
