Monday, August 28, 2017

We need each other

Laila has started at Bountiful High and I am finally on my LAST high school student.  
This is cause for a LARGE celebration!! Bring on the balloons!

 As I walk back into BHS, I have memories of my own sophomore year.  Laila complains about her crappy drivers ed teacher and I commiserate because I had a crappy one too.  She is excited about the dances and cheering at the games.  I loved the dances too, and went to all of the football and basketball games.  She shakes her head over the kids in her classes who get kicked out the first day of class or who are disrespectful  to the teachers...I lived that too.  The part she loves the most is hanging with all her friends....and what I loved the most was the kids I attended Bountiful High with.  I spent two of those years with my sister Marcie. I met Wayne my sophomore year in my English class. I still see some of my high school friends around town and now with Facebook I have connected with many more.  

I loved my high school years and look back on them fondly and as I Facebook "stalk" my old friends what I’ve discovered is that life has treated us all pretty much the same. The cool kids, the jocks, the cheerleaders, the choir kids, the drama/debate bunch, the parking lot gang, the nerds and even the Homecoming Queen. We've gotten married, never married, gained weight, gone bald, been divorced, never had children, lost children, have children we love to the point of pain, suffered every ailment including cancer, been unemployed and employed in jobs we never thought we’d be doing in a million years.  None of us has lived the life we expected to live when we roamed the halls at Bountiful High.  Some of us are glad for that, others are frustrated, but we are all more humble.  More forgiving of ourselves and others.  More open to not knowing what the next moment holds and feeling grateful we're even here at all because a sad and surprising number of us have already died.  After 30 years, we recognize we're more alike than we are different and in no small part because we embarked on our adult lives at the same moment  -June 1980. 


In thinking back on these times and those people, I realize that we needed each other then and probably still need each other now.

Sunday, August 20, 2017

Cheer


Welch Reunion

 Mark, Dale, Tami, Holly, Wendi, Wanee, Jane, Sandy, Wayne, Terry.....

New Familiy group pictures taken on Tom's birthday.. Aug 13th.    I"m grateful to be counted as one of Wanee's children.  Such a blessed, supportive  group to be a part of. 

Welch Family reunion was yesterday at Terry and Cyrrena’s home…they are always so gracious to let us all bombard on their home.   Jane and Steve served up all the meals..which were delicious.  We spent the day together with breakfast, a family catch up , hiking the mountain,  lunch, games, a lot of talking and laughter.  Who loved it THE MOST was Andrew and Sophia…they love having family stuff.  They did the scavenger picture hunt with their new cousin friend – Porter Reynolds.  All of my kids except for Truman could be in attendance. 
 Savannah, Grandma Welch, Hailey, Andrew, Sophia and Alfie all waiting for the hikers to return.
 Laila and Tayla just messing around.  Tayla is doing a lot better getting around on her broken let.
 Melinda, Bre, Jane, Landon, Wanee, Alex, Addison and Sandy....
 A bunch of cousin friends, Tanisha, with baby Thomas, Kylie, Cade, Becca, Bridger, Hailey, Anna, Laila, Alex, Tiffany, Karissa, Savannah and Nash....

Some for the family hiked up to top of the rock and to the Falls....

Two days with Tru - NYC

I spent 3 full days with Truman in NYC…well two full days with Tru and one full day at the airport waiting to get on a non full air plane.  I got there at 9 in the morning and finally got on an airplane at 9 at night…arrived  around 1 in SLC….it was tiring…but so much fun.  


I got off the red eye flight on Wednesday morn and went directly to the theatre to wait in line for rush tix  "Come from away. "  Truman met me there by 10:00—I loved  spending the day with him walking uptown to Levain bakery to get cookies for Si ( and me) and Pier 1 cafe on the Hudson. Seeing "Come from Away" as Standing Room tix.  This is the 9/1 musial about 38 planes that couldn’t land in New York so they were re routed to Gander, Newfoundland where they were taken care of by the local people for 5 days.  7,000 pleaple on planes with the 9,000 Gander- ites.  We laughed, cried and danced our way through it. One of the top ten Broadway shows I've ever seen. Truman loved it too.  Then  we went downtown to Mr. Purple's roof top bar eating guac and chips and watch a beautiful skyline basically just resting our feet. We had over 24,000 steps.....on to Cha Cha Matchas then we subwayed up to 52nd street to see "Groundhogs day-the musical."    Andy Karl was amazing. All of this after a red eye flight and one hour of sleep...





--> On Thursday we  wandered around new parts of Brooklyn and Williamsburg. So many quaint and cute ships and restaurants. Very few chains to be found which is refreshing. All of the food has been delicious beginning with Westville in the DUMBO area where a commercial was being filmed in the street with a girl on a unicorn!!  Whoopie pies  at One girl cookies.  Down to the waterfront to wander West Elm and up to Manhattan Bridge with little artist boutique shops.  Salted caramel push pops from By Chloe. And then to the William Vale boutique hotel to the roof top view. It was stunning to look back into Manhattan.  We walked and walked over 25,000 steps again.  We got to go to Tru's roommate Amanda's art job. She works for the famous artist: Boaz   and sells and curates his stacked statues that run from 40,000 to 147,000 dollars!!!   Subway back to Manhattan for window shopping and  dinner at Sweet Greens. We saw "A Bronx Tale"  about a mafia neighborhood in 1969—kind of a Jersey Boys meets West Side Story… then topped off with New York Cheesecake.  

Sunday, August 13, 2017

The 5 second Rule



I've been reading- listening to - this amazing book my Mel Robbins...  "The 5 Second Rule"

I'm using it as an impetus to get me off my butt and get moving on my dreams.  I'm using it to get out of bed, to exercise, to do all of the things I know I should be doing...but don't do because I don't "feel" like  it.    It helps me with my procrastination problem.  I count down 5,4,3,2,1, and then move... or get rid of the negative... the 5,4,3,2,1 interrupts the thoughts in my brain.

I'm fascinated by this and the science behind it.   I'm hoping I can share some with Laila and help her ignite her mornings a bit better by getting out of bed when the alarm goes off even if she doesn't feel like it.


9 to 5 pics


Having a riot performing in " 9 to 5 the Musical"   with some of my favorite people...or soon to be favorite people.  Jana Plowman plays Judy and Aly Sweeney plays Doralee to my Violet and we have a blast every night.


We have strung up the boss with the garage door opener so we can take over the office.

I think I have killed the boss with rat poison so we go in disguise to the hospital to check it out.

I'm singing " this old gal is one of the Boys"  A day dream about being the first female CEO

A snow white nightmare about mixing up a potion to feed to my boss

The moment I realize I actually did poison my boss with rat poison....

It's a crazy show and i just love it.  There are few lead parts as one gets older and I'm feeling this...so I want to enjoy this ride while I can.  I love theatre and I love performing.















Summer Welnapley trip


We had a riot in St. George with the Belnaps and Farleys.   We love our friends and are always so grateful to spend time with them.  We did our usual…biking 15 miles one morning and 22 another.  The boys went mountain biking 30 miles on the Jem trail another morning.…we played a lot of games, saw a  WWII movie – "Dunkirk" -  and ate some  “most delicious” meals.   Tuacahn was fun.  We went and saw “Mama Mia” and sang our guts out during the end remix medley.  



 We added some new things……we tried two  new restaurants and we hiked Kannaraville Falls.    The Falls were a lot of fun.  A lot of walking in the river bed to get up to some beautiful scenery.  We scaled some rocks and climbed up tree ladders as we worked our way up the falls.    Wayne and I did not have our river walking shoes with us..so Wayne used his Nike slip ons and I used my croc like slip ons and did our best.  It was tough walking at times, and Wayne got his sandal caught in the river rocks and went down.  But all in all we are glad we did it.  It was picturesque and beautiful.    The funny part was this 13 person group of polygamists walking up the river in dresses and   leather boots....looking like they should be going to church and not climbing mountains.  















Saturday, August 5, 2017

9 to 5 opens

9 to 5 opens today and it's the first show I have ever done where I didn't think about my weight.  I didn't step on the scale...and I'm determined not to for the rest of my life....and I didn't obsess about what size my costumes were.   In every show I've ever done I get cast and I put myself on a diet and have to lose 10 - 20 pounds to be ok with myself on stage.  I know no one really cared about this but me...but I would make myself lose the weight, get in deprive mode then as soon as the show was over I would eat with abandon... the regular yo-yo cycle that I have done for decades.

....this show and summer is different.  I am working on body love and not shaming the parts of my body that I don't  fit society's-media standards of good enough.  It has been a different journey, that's for sure.  I am working on "heart eyes" as I look at myself on stage and realize I am good enough just how I am.

Sometimes I'm good at intuitive eating and positive self care...some days I'm back to stuffing my face with food because I'm bored, or anxious or  bored.   But I'm learning and trying to change 55 years of ingrained habit.

I'm excited to be on stage tonight...and I know I'm enough.

We have all sorts of 70's stuff happening onstage and back stage with music and most popular candy and foods in that day.  We even have Wonder woman as our mascot... and a sign "Who runs the world? GIRLS!"

It was so fun having Landon's family and some friends come and see opening night....they were on the front row!!  Sophia and Andrew gave me yellow roses after,