Sunday, November 15, 2015
Sunday, November 1, 2015
Halloween
Avatar: The Last Airbender has been a family favorite tv series for a few years. This year, we recreated 6 of its characters for our costumes.
Susanna: Toph Beifong is an earthbending master, one of the most powerful of her time, and the discoverer of metalbending. Blind since birth, Toph was constantly treated condescendingly because of her disability, particularly by her overprotective parents, Lao and Poppy Beifong. Upon discoveringbadgermoles, earthbending animals who were also blind, she learned how to use earthbending as an extension of her senses. This gave her the ability to "see" every vibration that passes through the ground.[8]
Amirrah: The Kyoshi Warriors are an order of female warriors named after AvatarKyoshi, who founded them to protect her homeland, Kyoshi Island.[2] With their unique and individual fighting style, these elite fighters ensured the safety and isolationism of their homeland during the Hundred Year War.
Tim: Zuko is a firebending master, born as a prince in the Fire Nation Royal Family, who held the title of Fire Lord from 100 AG to 167 AG. Initially Team Avatar's primary enemy, Zuko's early life revolved around trying to capture the long-lost Avatar to end his banishment and regain his honor as Crown Prince of the Fire Nation. He is recognizable by the distinctive scar on the left side of his face, which was given to him by his father, Fire Lord Ozai, shortly before his banishment as a result of an incident in which he unintentionally disrespected his father by speaking out of turn and refusing to duel him.[9]
Maggie: Yue was born with an unknown illness; as an infant, she was still and quiet, as though asleep, and her parents feared she would die. As her condition was critical and the tribe's healers – including Yugoda – could not cure her, Arnook prayed to the Moon Spirit in desperation and placed her in the tribe's Spirit Oasis. The Moon Spirit gifted her with part of its own life force, saving her life and turning her hair white as a side effect. Thus, her parents named her Yue, for the moon.[1] Sometime prior to Team Avatar's arrival at the Northern Water Tribe, it was arranged that Yue would marry a young, egotistical warrior named Hahn who carved a betrothal necklace for her to mark their engagement.[2] However, Yue did not really love him, and consented to the marriage only to stay in line with her people's customs.[3]
Melissa: Yangchen was the Air Nomad Avatar succeeding the unnamed fire Avatarand preceding Avatar Kuruk. In her youth, after mastering all the elements, she was eager to make a difference in the world, despite her inexperience. She traveled with her sky bison and her two winged lemurs, Pik and Pak.[3]A respected figure, she was hailed for her wisdom, determination, and power. Although the Air Nomads were perceived to be pacifistic people, Yangchen was feared for her fierce willingness in doing whatever was required to perform her duties as the Avatar and maintain balance and peace throughout the world.[4] Due to her devotion, no threats of war occurred for an entire generation after her death.[2]
David: Iroh was a retired Fire Nation General, a former Crown Prince of the nation, a Grand Lotus of the Order of the White Lotus,[1] a firebending master, and a wise mentor to his nephew Zuko.[3] He was the elder son of Fire Lord Azulonand Ilah, and the older brother of Ozai.[4] Iroh's well-known ability to breathe fire, and his claims of "slaying" the last dragon, earned him the honorary title "The Dragon of the West".[5][6]
Susanna: Toph Beifong is an earthbending master, one of the most powerful of her time, and the discoverer of metalbending. Blind since birth, Toph was constantly treated condescendingly because of her disability, particularly by her overprotective parents, Lao and Poppy Beifong. Upon discoveringbadgermoles, earthbending animals who were also blind, she learned how to use earthbending as an extension of her senses. This gave her the ability to "see" every vibration that passes through the ground.[8]
Amirrah: The Kyoshi Warriors are an order of female warriors named after AvatarKyoshi, who founded them to protect her homeland, Kyoshi Island.[2] With their unique and individual fighting style, these elite fighters ensured the safety and isolationism of their homeland during the Hundred Year War.
Tim: Zuko is a firebending master, born as a prince in the Fire Nation Royal Family, who held the title of Fire Lord from 100 AG to 167 AG. Initially Team Avatar's primary enemy, Zuko's early life revolved around trying to capture the long-lost Avatar to end his banishment and regain his honor as Crown Prince of the Fire Nation. He is recognizable by the distinctive scar on the left side of his face, which was given to him by his father, Fire Lord Ozai, shortly before his banishment as a result of an incident in which he unintentionally disrespected his father by speaking out of turn and refusing to duel him.[9]
Maggie: Yue was born with an unknown illness; as an infant, she was still and quiet, as though asleep, and her parents feared she would die. As her condition was critical and the tribe's healers – including Yugoda – could not cure her, Arnook prayed to the Moon Spirit in desperation and placed her in the tribe's Spirit Oasis. The Moon Spirit gifted her with part of its own life force, saving her life and turning her hair white as a side effect. Thus, her parents named her Yue, for the moon.[1] Sometime prior to Team Avatar's arrival at the Northern Water Tribe, it was arranged that Yue would marry a young, egotistical warrior named Hahn who carved a betrothal necklace for her to mark their engagement.[2] However, Yue did not really love him, and consented to the marriage only to stay in line with her people's customs.[3]
Melissa: Yangchen was the Air Nomad Avatar succeeding the unnamed fire Avatarand preceding Avatar Kuruk. In her youth, after mastering all the elements, she was eager to make a difference in the world, despite her inexperience. She traveled with her sky bison and her two winged lemurs, Pik and Pak.[3]A respected figure, she was hailed for her wisdom, determination, and power. Although the Air Nomads were perceived to be pacifistic people, Yangchen was feared for her fierce willingness in doing whatever was required to perform her duties as the Avatar and maintain balance and peace throughout the world.[4] Due to her devotion, no threats of war occurred for an entire generation after her death.[2]
David: Iroh was a retired Fire Nation General, a former Crown Prince of the nation, a Grand Lotus of the Order of the White Lotus,[1] a firebending master, and a wise mentor to his nephew Zuko.[3] He was the elder son of Fire Lord Azulonand Ilah, and the older brother of Ozai.[4] Iroh's well-known ability to breathe fire, and his claims of "slaying" the last dragon, earned him the honorary title "The Dragon of the West".[5][6]
Unlike many other individuals from the Fire Nation, particularly those within his own family, Iroh was a wise, easy-going, and spiritual man. He appreciated and admired the balance of the four elements, and even incorporated aspects of the other elements into his own firebending techniques.[7
Ward party just moments before the fire alarm.
Smoke machines for spook alleys aren't good in churches.
Where there is smoke, there is not necessarily fire.
Cool shot of the Salt Lake Temple before the
Utah Symphony performance.
Utah Symphony Wizarding Halloween.
Thursday, October 29, 2015
Babysitting adventures
Verbatim 3x5 card found after our night out:
:-) Report of the 5 year old :-)
Tonight Susanna cut her finger and I got
her Bacatracined and Bandaided. She later
said, pointing to the wound
I thought I was
going to die from this!!
Another one for the journal
See back
She then said that 5 year olds know the
least of anyone. Tim than said that
one second olds. Susanna thought
that was hilarious.
Love you,
Maggie
:-) Report of the 5 year old :-)
Tonight Susanna cut her finger and I got
her Bacatracined and Bandaided. She later
said, pointing to the wound
I thought I was
going to die from this!!
Another one for the journal
See back
She then said that 5 year olds know the
least of anyone. Tim than said that
one second olds. Susanna thought
that was hilarious.
Love you,
Maggie
Monday, September 7, 2015
Owlz baseball
For Labor Day we went to the Orem Owlz baseball game (the farm team for the Aniheim Angels).
Tickets were free! So we got a snack of snow cones. Then...
Amirrah getting chilly.
Susanna wouldn't share a blanket so I gave Amirrah some slushy but no more to Susanna because she wasn't sharing.
She quickly declared she was sharing and spread the queen size blanket out to Amirrah's seat. I told her she still didn't get more because she was only sharing to get a treat, instead of to be nice.
Amirrah retorted, "that's like in the scriptures. The lamanites were only nice to the Nephites because they wanted the beautiful women!"
Tickets were free! So we got a snack of snow cones. Then...
Amirrah getting chilly.
Susanna wouldn't share a blanket so I gave Amirrah some slushy but no more to Susanna because she wasn't sharing.
She quickly declared she was sharing and spread the queen size blanket out to Amirrah's seat. I told her she still didn't get more because she was only sharing to get a treat, instead of to be nice.
Amirrah retorted, "that's like in the scriptures. The lamanites were only nice to the Nephites because they wanted the beautiful women!"
Sunday, July 5, 2015
Southern Utah Vacation Part 3: The Highlights
We went to clean up at Aunt Mary Lou and Uncle Tom's place, spent some wonderful time with them, ate dinner, and made a trip to the Tuacahn Theater for their performance of Beauty and the Beast.
Bum photo bomb. C'mon dad!
It was well done, but not their most impressive performance, largely due to the dearth of dance numbers (only two and a half??? though the cup-tavern dance was seriously impressive) and lack of the usual humor improvisation. The singing throughout the show was still spot on and beautiful, but the kids were losing interest, likely because it mirrored the movie so closely. Oh, and the orchestra did extremely well.
Had David take some selfies... any guesses about how he feels about being photographed, especially by himself?
As par Utah tradition, the audience was uneducated and dull as to etiquette, enthusiasm, and how to support a cast. No wonder there was no meet and greet. The audience did not deserve it! Oh, California, how we miss thee...
C'mon people!
?So we took pictures with the pictures of the cast members. Amirrah was really sad she did not get to meet Belle, and you can see her fake smile in the last photo here.
We saw the kids' favorite actor (David LaMarr) in the cast in a supporting role, still giving it his all and rocking it. (How cool is it that their Dad takes them to enough shows and cultural opportunities for them to recognize favorites in regional performances!) That was really cool, so we social media messaged him our thanks for his continued professionalism and congratulations. He responded! (How cool and classy is that?)
The next morning, David and Maggie went to the St. George temple while I took the others to the children's museum.
When we got back together, Mr. LaMarr messaged and convinced and persuaded David that the other show, "When You Wish" was amazing and worth going, he helped us get sweet seats and so we went into VACATION BONUS ROUND (David says that should be read with a "Mortal Combat" voice, but I am sure neither he nor I know what that is... hehe).
Best. Decision. Of the entire vacation. The show entertained from start to finish. A girl gets a storybook, and goes to sleep and dreams her way through the best Disney music of 70 years, with great augmentations, adjustments, and harmonies coupled with solid dance numbers, paramount quality singing, and energy. We had to sit the kids down multiple times from jumping out of their seats and dancing (fortunately only one nearby patron was bumped in the enthusiam). They sang along, and clapped when the cast started us clapping even though there were only about 50 of us that recognized the hint and joined in...
Anyway, enough about lackluster audiences. We decided we would make up for it. We hooted, hollered, and two of us lost our voices. The kids did not even get sleepy and the show ended at 11:18! We left energized and optimistic. Holy cow, David is trying to convince himself not to force the family to eat rice for a couple weeks so we can go back. That's how much we loved it. And there was a meet and greet! Check out how happy Amirrah is! (The line was long and the wait was full of giddiness. When we were up next, the "mother" in the production (far right) complimented the children on how patient they were as the previous 2 families were slowly moving along and what a good attribute that is to have. The wait was worth it!)
Maybe I should have taken photo in college...
Yea, this was a selfie... but when was the last time all of us were smiling in the same photo?
It was the best family entertainment we've seen in a decade and we've been to over 200 in that time period, with only a handful of shows even in the ballpark. (The Little Mermaid {Tuacahn}, Mulan {Tuacahn}, Video Games Live {Comic Con with Utah Symphony}, The Flying Dutchman {Utah Opera}, Mary Poppins {HTC}...).
If you are in Utah. Get yer butt down to St. George for this show with your children. Even if this is not your kind of entertainment, go. You won't be disappointed. It is worth far more than the ticket price.
We visited with some of the cast, jumped in the car, and David drove through most of the night (I took an hour shift when he started seeing things...) to get us home. Totally worth it.
Southern Utah Vacation Part 2: Camping In Snow Canyon
Day 1: Arrive.
We are the only individuals in the park other than 1 ranger and the camp host. It feels like a ghost town. Kinda eerie.
Temperature: 112, 107 in the Shade, but fortunately the tent cooled down to 94 degrees at night.
Yea for showers! Yea for an empty park, so that if some member of your family steals your son's clothes and he has to streak back to the campsite, it is all in good fun, not good felony.
Set up camp. Pioneer Names hike. Drove the park and watched an amazing moonrise over the cliffs. Played games.
Day 2: Sweat.
About 18 other people joined us in the park throughout the day.
Temperature: 113
Butterfly trails hike, Lava Flow hike, explored a lava tube, bouldering in Jenny's canyon, waterfight, fly kites, bouldering in the Whiterock Amphitheater, monsoon storm.
Day 3: Ants!
Harvester ants are evil. They should be eradicated or burned in bacon grease for slow, painful, fiery deaths. Hopefully they can feel pain.
Recover from the storm. Go searching for Gila Monsters and Tortoises. Pack up. Lunch at... Yogurtland? Really? That's where everyone wants to go?
