So here it is!

Here's my first attempt at a family blog! I'm not the best blogger, so we'll see how it goes. It's hard to know what to write on your very first entry - it seems like it should be really meaningful or something, but I can't think of anything meaningful to write. I'm sure it doesn't help that I'm watching "Pirates of the Caribbean" while I write this cuz I'm incredibly distracted. Well, the most exciting thing that's happened in our family recently is that I was "Anna" in "The King and I." The kids came and watched it on "family performance night" (which was really a glorified dress rehearsal) and loved it! I was really surprised. They were sitting with Grant on the second row originally, but apparently they were complaining about not being able to see, so a couple sitting in front of them said they could sit on their laps. So, when I peeked out into the audience later during the show I saw them both sitting on people's laps I'd never seen before! I kept taking a second and a third look to make sure it was them - my kids are not the type to hang out with people they don't know. But, there they were, staring at the stage like it was the best thing they'd ever seen. In fact, Grant said that Claire sat mesmorized the whole time, and it was 3 hours long! Apparently, Cole was a little checked out by the end, but I'm amazed he stayed interested as long as he did. His favorite part was the dancers who were dogs during the ballet act. It was so cute, though, because I guess he got incredibly worried that during the "whipping scene" (when the king almost whips Tuptim, for anyone familiar with the play or movie) the king was going to whip me. He kept telling Grant "The king is going to hit mommy! He is, I know he is!" So Grant told him that if the king hit me he would go up on stage and hit the king. Well, Cole really liked the sound of that! He kept prompting Grant to jump up there and fulfill his word, but of course the king never hit me, much to Cole's dismay (although, not to Grant's!). Another funny story was that one night of the performances (we had four) the king lost his pants in the middle of "Shall We Dance"!!!! It was absolutely hilarious! His pants didn't fall completely off, just the back part (you had to see what the pants looked like) so we kept going. It was absolutely the best acting I've ever done, because right after that we had to go into the whipping scene, which is the dramatic climax of the whole show - it was all I could do not to absolutely bust up laughing the whole time! I about died! The audience was laughing the entire time - they thought it was great! Anyway, it was so fun for me to do, I feel very blessed to still have opportunities to do what I love - and a husband who'll support me! I already posted pictures in my photography blog (http://www.capturesbycassidy.blogspot.com/) but I'll post some here too, cuz I'm not sure my readers of each blog are one and the same. I'll post some additional ones, too.

Me and Erica (helped me w/ costume changes)

Me, Rachel Bauer (the director) and Bryon Bowers (the king)