The Drowsy Chaperon and a new blog name for one

A couple of months ago, Game Boy landed his dream role in Cottonwood High School's musical The Drowsy Chaperon. No, he's not the title character. He's much better than that. He's Man in Chair. If you know the show, then you know that means he's the narrator and main character. Mr. Perfect and One Happy Girl saw the show last night, and it was amazing. Everyone was perfectly cast, but Game Boy is the reason to see this show. He is amazing. For the last six weeks, we've basically been living with Man in Chair. As a tribute to his awesomeness, Game Boy will now be known to one and all (at least on this blog) as Man in Plays.

*and the crowd goes wild in the Palace*

Here's the set:

The really cool set

Here is Man in Plays in his extremely appropriate and comfy looking costume (with Mr. Perfect, the proud papa):

And here he is with Drama Queen (the proud sista):

And a couple more random shots of him and another friend from the show in character:

Robert Martin

As Man in Chair

It's birthday time for Mr. Perfect

Mr. Perfect's birthday has come and gone again for another year. We celebrated for three days (Friday through Sunday), and he got to eat a lot of really good food, open really fun presents, see a really good movie, and be serenaded by the Cottonwood High School Madrigals (nice job, guys!) at the Ward Christmas Party.

On Friday, Game Boy had a date (oh. my. goodness!), so we decided to have our own date night and try out a new restaurant. We went to BRIO Tuscan Grill, and now we have a new favorite Italian restaurant. Our server was amazing; she had the best ideas of what we should eat. We had prosciutto bruschetta, lobster bisque, and a grilled trout that melted in your mouth. May I just say that my tummy was very happy but rather uncomfortably full.

On Saturday (the actual birthday), Mr. Perfect picked homemade waffles for breakfast and got to open his first present, which turned out to be new backpack sleeping mats. They go inside your sleeping bags and are incredibly more comfortable than the old ones we've been using.

He had to go into the office for a few hours (boo! it was Saturday AND his birthday after all), so Game Boy and Most Happy Girl did a little more birthday and Christmas shopping. When everyone was home, Mr. Perfect opened this stunning sweater:

and we headed off to see Life of Pi (highly recommended movie). Next, it was the Ward Christmas Party for dinner and entertainment by the aforementioned Cottonwood High School Madrigals. Most Happy Girl had to stay and help clean up, but Mr. Perfect and Game Boy were ready to leave, so they walked home. It snowed most of the day, so I was very happy to find them snug and safe inside the house when I got there.

Sunday, we made beef stroganoff (with grilled steak) for dinner and homemade sea-salt ice cream (Game Boy has been wanted to make this for a long time) for dessert. Mr. Perfect also opened the last of his presents. Well, really he just got them out of the trunk of the car. New 0° F backpacking sleeping bags (if we can figure out how to make them small enough to go in the sleeping bag area of the backpacks).

I think Mr. Perfect enjoyed himself very much.

Missing Peter Pan photo

I don't know how I did this, but I missed posting our favorite picture of Game Boy from Peter Pan. So here it is:

I love the blur of action behind him, too.

Thanksgiving has come and gone...

...and I've been a slacker (at least as far as blogging goes) and didn't write anything on Thanksgiving about how grateful I am for everyone and everything. blah blah blah. Okay, so that's sounds just too snarky. I really am grateful for everyone in my life (or at least trying to be grateful for them) and I am truly grateful for everything Heavenly Father has given me. More than anyone else knows, I know that He blesses me every day, and I'm not sure why. Here are just a few of the things that show me Heavenly Father knows and loves me:

• Mr. Perfect
• Better relationships with the kids
• The rental dishwasher getting fixed without parts and not needing to be replaced
• Leading me to my keys/wallet/Bluetooth/phone/whatever-I've-misplaced-this-time (anyone who has watched me freak out over this stuff knows exactly what I'm talking about here)
• Great extended family on both sides. Huge kudos to the Merrill family, who love me and treat me amazingly. Bigger kudos to the Parker family, who didn't have a choice about me being in their family, but have elected to not kill me anyway.
• The ability to trip and not fall or die. Seriously, I am the world's clumsiest person.
• Near misses almost every time I get on the freeway (you'd think that my car was an invisible color instead of silver)
• Did I mention Mr. Perfect? Oh, I did, didn't I. Sorry, but he's so great that he gets two mentions.

I was also finally able to make Little Big Sis happy and get my turkey out of her freezer. We had Thanksgiving dinner with Mom & Dad M, and we supplied the bird. Crazy Old Bird stuffed and cooked it (delicious!).

Before filling our bellies, we called Lawyer-in-the-Works who wasn't able to come home for Thanksgiving (ah, the joys of being a first-year law student -- grrrr!). It was wonderful to talk to her, and she'll be home for three weeks for Christmas. Yay!!!

Game Boy was also on hand for dinner. Poor thing. He had two full Thanksgiving meals, but was a real trooper and ate with us like he hadn't just finished one with his mom's family.

After dinner, we went for a walk before dessert. And how cute is Little Artist in her borrowed coat? I know, right?

For dessert, I made an apple pie with Swiss cheese in the crust. It tasted great, but browned a little too much. Next time, must adjust baking time.

And we love this picture of Dad M in his chair. He's proof that rest is for the righteous.

Once the festivities were done, Game Boy, Mr. Perfect, and Most Happy Girl took in Wreck-It Ralph. Great flick. You can tell that Disney and Pixar are really starting to blend their studios. Even though it was released under the Disney label without the Pixar bouncing lamp, half of the production team is from Pixar, and it shows.

It was a very good day.

Never Never Land is never far away

Game Boy just wrapped up a wonderful performance as Smee in Cottonwood High's production of Peter Pan. The whole cast did an amazing job. Mr. Perfect and Most Happy Girl happily came out twice to see it (opening and closing shows). Kudos to everyone involved!

Here are some pictures from the closing night performance.

Drama Queen came up from Cedar City to see the show (and to stay for Thanksgiving). It's always so fun to see them together.

Wordless Wednesday (on Friday)

Game Boy and the Cottonwood Theatre Society Officers

The Cottonwood High School Theatre Society Officers are apparently a fun bunch to be around:

On top of a really cool looking sweater:

there are additional perks to being an officer

• Free entrance to all theatre products (though the chances of him not being involved in all of the theatre productions are pretty slim) 
• Free tickets to shows when the theatre classes go to PTC
• The ability to mug it up wherever you are and claim that you're rehearsing for your next show/audition/radio appearance

He is also in charge of the theatre society's blog, which he started this year and will be able to pass on to the next communications officer next year.

It's good to be an officer.

Hats off to Game Boy

I really wish he had decided he wanted this one.

Game Boy goes to Homecoming

Game Boy went to the Cottonwood High School Homecoming Dance last weekend. He was with us, so we got to see him in all of his finery. He borrowed the suit from Mr. Perfect and matched the vest, tie, and pocket hankie with his date's color scheme. We thought he looked very dashing. Her dad took some pictures, so we hope to get copies of the files so we can post them soon, too.

Game Boy's officer jacket

Game Boy has been elected as a Cottonwood High School Theatre Society officer. He's the communications officer, and he's doing a bang up job. (No, we're not biased as all.) He's created a a really cool blog.

Here he is in his highly stylish officer jacket:

Drama Queen and the drama of getting to Cedar City

On Monday, we caravanned with Drama Queen to get her and the furniture she wanted in her apartment to Cedar City.

Drama Queen and Game Boy with their mom and Hans-n-Franz

After getting her car packed, and with Mr. Perfect behind her wheel to make it through the construction in Utah County (ick), we headed south...and made it to the Bangerter Highway exit. Drama Queen's car was overheating. We'd put a half a gallon of anti-freeze/coolant in it before leaving, but it wasn't working. Mr. Perfect was concerned that it was the thermostat, and knew that if it was, we wouldn't make it the 250 miles to Cedar City. Once we were off the freeway, we made our way to the closest Grease Monkey.

And were amazed to find one of our nephews (The Jeradite King) behind the counter. We knew that he worked at a Grease Monkey, but we didn't remember which one. Now we know. Seventy-five minutes later, we were back on the road with a brand-spanking-new thermostat in the car, but Drama Queen and Game Boy had some fun sibling time in the lobby.

The rest of the drive down was uneventful. Drama Queen and Mr. Perfect switched places behind the wheel in Nephi (and Mr. Perfect and Game Boy switched places in cars [more fun sibling time for them and quiet couple time for us]). Mr. Perfect was able to catch some much needed sleep while I drove. Once in Cedar City, we ate (oh-so-yummy pizza at Centro Woodfired Pizzeria) and then found Drama Queen's home for the next nine months.

The bare room

What cute bedding!

Best pals

We made it home just after 10:00 pm, which isn't bad considering we left Salt Lake valley four hours after when we had planned on leaving.

Have a great time at SUU, Drama Queen! We miss you already, but know you will have great experiences!

Back to the Utah Shakespeare Festival!!!

Last week, Mr. Perfect, Game Boy, and Most Happy Girl made the annual trek down south to Cedar City and the Utah Shakespeare Festival. It was Game Boy's first time, but he has confirmed that it won't be his last. All of the shows were wonderful, and we even scored some amazing third-row seats for Les Mis the day before the performance. A very big "Thank You!" to whomever returned those tickets! My favorite was To Kill a Mockingbird. It made me cry. (For those of you who have known me for most of my life, you know what that means.) I even enjoyed Titus Andronicus, which I didn't expect to happen.

Go, go, go! Les Mis is sold out through the end of August, but it's playing through their fall season. And as evidenced by our good fortune, sometimes you can still get good seats if you're willing to chance it the day before or the day of the show.

We also did some fun extra things like the R.E.A.C.H. Cabaret and the Bardway, Baby! fund raiser concert.

At Les Mis!