Category Archives: Family

Home Life, Michelene

Deck Project

Why pay someone else, if you can do it yourself?  That’s what I was thinking when I decided to power wash and stain our deck.  I watched someone do ours a few years ago — it didn’t look that hard, and I’ve watched a few youtube videos — I’m set right?

Now that I’ve done it, I can tell you that it was not as easy as it looked, and I’m sure it didn’t turn out as well as it might have if I had paid to have it done.  Of course having said that, I have paid plenty of people to do a not so very good job, so I guess I got my “not so very good job” for free right?  Actually, I think it turned out okay — it was just a tiring job for someone who thinks she is younger than she really is!

Family, Holidays

Memorial Day

It was cold and rainy, but we still had fun visiting four different cemeteries meeting up with Grandma and Grandpa at a couple of them.  We have a few family history “traditions” and I’m glad the kids have always been willing to visit the ancestors!

We wandered around the Murray Cemetery for quite awhile looking for a specific ancestor only to discover that while he was indeed buried there, there has never been a headstone!

Alan, Clark, Events, Michelene

Stake Musical

After many many rehearsals, our stake put on three performances of Broadway Our Way; a collection of various numbers from several well known Broadway musicals (see playbill). The people in charge did an excellent job and definitely had a lot of vision!  I’m still impressed with how well they pulled the whole thing off.  They built a revolving stage and an additional stage out on the gym floor with surround seating.

In Fiddler on the Roof, Alan, Clark and I were townspeople (a papa, a mama, and a son). Clark was front and center linking arms with another guy as they took turns tossing each other into the air.

In The Music Man, Alan and I were in the opening scene when Harold Hill first arrives in River City on the train. (We both had speaking parts!) Then we were all townspeople and then Alan turned into a quartet member and I turned into a Pick-a-Little lady where I got to do a lot of fast singing and dancing (not easy for an old lady like me!)

Clark was also in the Freedom number from Shenandoah, where he got to dance barefoot and swing a cute girl around, eventually landing her on his hip!

It was very fun and we are glad we did it, but it was also very time consuming with 3 rehearsals a week.  The best part was meeting and making new friends throughout the stake.  Thanks to all the family and friends who came to see us!

Alan, Birthdays, Madeleine

April Birthdays

Madeleine is no longer a teenager!  She hit the big 20 this year!  You know your kids are grown up when they ask for things like a voice recorder and the Chicago Manual of Style for their birthday and actually get super excited when they get them!

As we often do, we celebrated Madeleine’s and Alan’s birthdays together — this time on Madeleine’s actual birthday.  But I did make Alan halusky (his favorite dinner) closer to his birthday — which by the way started out with four inches of snow on the ground!

Events, Phillip

BYU Graduation

We have another BYU graduate in the family!  Phillip graduated April 22nd with a BA in Graphic Design and a minor in English.  It was fun to go down to Provo for the festivities.  Thursday was the big commencement ceremony in the Marriott Center.  By coincidence we ended up sitting fairly close to Phillip and were able to find him and wave to him.  Elder Richard G. Scott was the main speaker and gave an excellent talk.

Friday we attended the College of Fine Arts convocation in the DeJong Concert Hall, which had probably only 75 graduates on the stage, and yet we were never able to find where Phillip was sitting!  We took some pictures afterwards and then headed home for a celebratory dinner.

Elliot, Events

Prom Night

The Waterford Prom and the Hillcrest Prom were on the same night so Elliot and Kelsey had to choose and decided to go with some of Kelsey’s friends to the Hillcrest dance.  Kelsey’s sister took the professional looking photos and I took the standard unprofessional “stand by the stairs” photos!  Kelsey’s dress was awesome and Elliot looked pretty good too!

Clark, Events

Percussion Recital

As part of preparing to perform in the annual Day of Percussion that is held every spring, Clark was able to perform his piece Nocturnal Opus 70 by Benjamin Britten in a Waterford percussion recital.  It was a long piece originally composed for the guitar, that took many months to prepare and was very challenging to perform.  He did a great job! He also received good marks on his performance at the Day of Percussion Festival.

Birthdays, Elliot, Holidays

Elliot’s 17th Birthday

This year Elliot turned 17 years old.  He has now graduated in my book to a “fairly experienced driver” and he did get through his first winter of driving in the snow unscathed, so I am able to quit worrying about him (for the most part 🙂 )

Gifts for Elliot always seem to have a BYU theme and this birthday was no exception!  He is still the biggest fan in the family and he hasn’t even gone to school there yet!

Clark, Events

Clark’s Eagle Scout Project

Over the past several months, Clark has been working on his Eagle project.  He decided to collect used and new books as well as money to purchase books; all to be donated through the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization to three different elementary schools.  Our ward was super generous and he was able to collect several boxes of books and several hundred dollars to purchase books.

He had fun shopping for and buying the books.  If you can’t afford to buy for yourself, the next best thing is being able to buy for someone else!  During our spring break from school we were able deliver all the books to the elementary schools throughout the Salt Lake valley.  The schools and the kids were so appreciative – he even got some thank you cards from some of the children!

Loading up all the books!

Loren & Anne, Madeleine, Phillip, Tess

BYU Kids

All the Provo students are doing well.  They are studying hard and working hard to earn and save money.  Our married kids, Loren and Anne, are doing well and often have their siblings over for meals and movies.  It’s crazy having half of our family down there – but so fun for them to all be there at the same time.