Camelot

Carlie's 11th major production was Camelot.  She was cast as a "Nymph" (a mythical creature who leads Merlin away with her beauty and singing) and she was also in the ensemble.  This was her longest show for sure--a FULL 3 hours.  But it was AMAZING!  I loved every minute of it.

So of course Carlie was amazing but the high school senior that was cast as Guenevere was also absolutely amazing and mesmerizing.  She did such a fantastic job along side everyone else.  Here are some fun back stage pics:

King Arthur was double-cast so here is Guenevere & her
2 King Arthurs--Jared, Kennedy, & Kale

Carlie as a human:)

Nymphs (& Kale because he likes to be in EVERY picture I take:)
Kale, Lydia, Rebekah, Sarah, Addison, & Carlie

Grace, Audrey, Lydia, Carlie, Sarah, & Rebekah

Soooo EERIE!!!

Carlie & Kayleah in their "traditional pose"

Kale, Carlie, Kayleah, & Lydia

Thommy (Merlin) & Carlie

The show ran for 2 weeks and just ended last night.  We are all thoroughly exhausted but it was an amazing experience overall.  Way to go Carlie!  What's next?!  We shall see:)

Tatum--Student of the Month:)

Tatum is an awesome student.  I always worry because I started her in school early--as her birthday is Sept. 29th--but she keeps up just fine.  Her teachers always tell me that they would have NEVER guessed that she is one of the younger ones in her class:)

So here's my super smart/good girl getting her "Student of the Month" award:

Mrs. Swanson the principal

Barret, Kennedy, & Tatum--BFFs!

My Good Girl!

Ethan and his TROMBONE!!!

Ethan will be attending Heritage Academy next year along with Carlie.  At Heritage, you are required to take either band or choir and since choir is strictly forbidden at our home (for MANY reasons but mostly because I was a die-hard band nerd:) he wisely chose band:)

I was encouraging Ethan to pick a low-brass instrument.  I was imagining baritone for him but Mr. Taylor, the band teacher, said he could really use trombones.  Chris was with Ethan at this new student orientation and so he calls me on the way home and says, "Ethan wants to play trombone and he has an audition for Mr. Taylor in 2 weeks."  "WHAT?!  An audition for BEGINNING band?"  I ask.  "Yep, everyone has to do it."

So telling me I have to buy a musical instrument is like telling a man he has to buy a new power tool--I was ALL over it!!!  WOO-HOO!!!  I hit my favorite music store the next day to "rent" a trombone-- which would have been $20 per month--but they had a used trombone for $100 so I decided to just buy one instead.  I had NO idea how affordable trombones were!!!  (Carlie's USED oboe that we bought 2 years ago was $3000!)  So I was quite thrilled with my bargain purchase!  I bought a book to go with it and VOILA!  Ethan is a trombone player!

I tried to helped him a lot in the beginning but then quickly realized to back off and let him do this on his own!  And by golly!  The boy is getting it!  He quickly taught himself an entire scale and has figured out the Veggie Tales tune:)

I'm still getting used to this sound in my home.  I am so used to piano, singing,  & oboe going on and every time Ethan starts practicing, it startles me just for a moment:)  But he REALLY seems to like this instrument and it' probably because no one else in this home is playing anything remotely close to it.  This is DEFINITELY his OWN thing!  SOOO proud of this boy:

Changes for Carlie

This spring has been our hands down BUSIEST spring ever--definitely NOT bragging just realizing that I need to prioritize and re-think our spring activities next year:)  We were over-scheduled for sure but we made it work.

HUGE happening in our home that I have not blogged about--Carlie switched schools at the semester.  This was  a decision that a lot of fasting and prayer went in to.  She was miserable at her jr high.  I can't tell if the jr high years are just miserable for most kids OR if our daughter was the only one.  She didn't talk to anyone, she got the "Ms. Serious" award in band, and she never did anything with anyone she went to school with.  She was getting straight "A"s but was just going through the motions of everyday life--definitely NOT the girl that I see on stage or with her theatre friends.

Enter Heritage:  There is a charter school in Mesa--Heritage Academy--that is right in the downtown area near the temple.  It's a grade 7-12 school that's been open since 1998 and is run by a very conservative principal (who is a constitution expert).  Average class size is 13 kids and graduating classes are about 75 kids.  So a MUCH smaller school with no room to expand (because of it's location) and so getting in is extremely difficult.  So we started working on the application process over a year ago and they had a spot open up for her on the last day of school in December 2013.  So that day was a BLUR as I rushed around getting all her paperwork done, uniforms bought, transcripts sent, AND all my son's info turned in for the NEXT year--siblings are grand-fathered in.

So she hit the ground running in January.  She was put in the "advanced 8th grade orchestra" but after 2 weeks the band director realized that she was WAY beyond the level of musicianship of the 8th graders and bumped her right up to the top high school "Chamber Orchestra."  She is the first oboe at the school in about 5 years and she is blowing them all away with her skills:)  SOOO proud of her in this accomplishment.

Carlie with Orchestra friends at Heritage's "Grammy Night"

She also joined the softball team at the school--something she would have NEVER done at Santan.  This school is definitely more focused on the fine arts BUT they have a pretty darn good sports program as well--they only play other charter schools in the area so they don't get crushed by the regular schools around.  Carlie always enjoyed playing softball through the city for 4 seasons and jumped onto the 8th grade girl's team and did extremely well.  I learned SOOO much about softball this year just watching her games.  Funny story:  At her first game, Carlie comes up to bat 4th in the line-up.  Chris says, "Yes!  She' bats 4th!"  Me: "What does that mean other than she's 4th in line?"  Chris:  "It means she's the best hitter--the "clean-up hitter!"  Who knew?!  Not me:)  So she was the best hitter on the team and was the first-base man.  The team ended up with 5 wins and 5 losses so they were pretty fair.  Next year, Carlie hopes to make the varsity team at the high school.  I am beyond thrilled that she is doing something athletic!

So have we solved ALL of our teenager's problems?  Who knows.  Only time will tell.  For now it seems to have been the right move--top orchestra/best hitter & first-baseman and oh yeah…she's been invited to 2 birthday parties!!!  So for now, all seems great:)