The Gardner Family: Week of Musicals

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Week of Musicals

This summer we knew we were going to have 2 full weeks without our daddy! Right after my week at girls' camp Matt went to scout camp so at the last minute we decided that was also the perfect week to see Uncle Dale in 3 different shows up in Garden Valley (near Boise) at the Starlight Mountain Theatre!

Before we left for that though, we went up on Monday to see the girls' amazing Aunt Kathryn perform in The Sound of Music in Midway. The picture below is a little blurry, but she is the nun on the left. Unfortunately though all of our musicals this week were at outdoor amphitheaters. We weren't starting out very well as our first one got rained out conveniently during the rainstorm scene!

So Monday started us out 0 for 1, but luckily we were able to go back the next Monday (with Daddy this time) to see it again...in it's entirety....and on closing night! Kathryn has a beautiful voice and it was so fun to watch her play an awesome, kinda sassy, little nun! We were excited to get to see her show off her talent! She is amazing!

So here we were on Take 1 of Sound of Music

And here we were on Take 2. Cousin Jordan was part of the stage crew so it was fun to see her too!

The good news about the 1st show getting rained out was we were able to get back home at a decent hour to leave the next morning for Boise, Idaho.

The girls were soooo great during the drive. It took us 5 hours and we didn't stop once. Ha ha...much faster than the drive home where I am pretty sure Emily and I had gotten sick from some chicken we let sit for too long the night before. I'll spare the reader any details, but we did stop at EVERY rest-stop on the way home! Ughhh...it was miserable, but I just wanted to get home to a husband I hadn't seen for 2 weeks. Lucky for me, the next day in church (still not feeling the greatest) the cute family sitting in front of us, visiting our friends, said, "Hey...would we have seen you in a rest stop between here and Boise?!" OH NO!!! "Yes," I said..."which rest stop?!" Ughh...of course! There is always someone out there that will see you in your very worst of times, no matter how far away from home you are. They seemed to not notice how cranky and sick I was...they even called us cute. I was not feeling cute that day! :)

Okay...sorry...on to our vacation!

We drove into Boise, got a bite to eat and then drove the last hour up the mountain to see Dale's first show! Singing in the Rain! This is one of Dale's VERY favorite musicals. He played Cosmo and was outstanding! The whole cast was incredible! We fell in love with them right away, and they already knew us and all our names. The kids were star struck! (I guess I didn't take many pictures this night...Kaylee did help out on stage a little, plus I got this great one of Dale and Thomas and then the group shot that I'm using for the end of this post!)

After the show, Dale took us on the grand tour of Crouch and Garden Valley. A minute later we were done! :) It really is a cute little place and Dale has enjoyed it soooo much!

Each night we drove the hour back into Boise. The kids were always asleep the second we got in the van!

We thought about staying in Garden Valley, but I have a cousin in Boise that invited us into his home. He had come and stayed with us quite a bit during a project he had going on here. The kids knew cousin Kelly pretty well, but they had never met his wife or his kids! This was the perfect chance! We had a blast! I had originally been dreading that drive back and forth, but to stay with Kelly and Jodi and get to know their family was VERY worth it! They were the perfect hosts! We had a ton of fun!
Thanks K, J, L, A and D! Hopefully we can see you again soon!

Our first morning with them we went and relaxed at a splash park where we had lunch and just played!

They were all a little bit crazy! :)

Then we left and that night saw The Wizard of Oz! Oh wow! We laughed hard!
Dale was the best munchkin, tree and twister EVER!!
Again, the whole cast blew us away!! :) Ha ha!

By this night my parents were now there with us. They stayed in Garden Valley so it was nice to have their cabin to relax in before the shows. Let me definitely do my disclaimer here, thus you think I am the perfect mother with the most perfect kids! Yes, I suppose my blog does show all the happiness and not much of the crankiness. We did have a blast...don't get me wrong! The kids really did do pretty good! But I was very VERY thankful to have my parents there for the Thursday and Friday night shows, because I would've probably marched us right out of there instead of trying to stick it out. 3 musicals with a (leaving out mean adjectives here so she won't hate me when she reads this years from now) 3 year old is really exhausting! The other kids were really so good and so helpful, although I forgot that Emily was upset about something this night (as seen in one of the pictures)...who knows. Either way, we really did have the best time! Sometimes we were just more tired than other times. :)

I LOVE these pictures!
We couldn't get enough!

And...repeat...we drove back into Boise that night and woke up the next morning with another fun adventure! The Hoopes' have a fun little garden spot at a friend's home where they also have this fun zip line! The kids had a great time! Even Kierra, who was so scared at first, ended up trying it and LOVING it! Again...what great hosts! Kelly and Jodi's kids are something special! They were so great with my kids! So kind and helpful! We love them and miss them!

We were excited that they got to come with us on Friday night to see Dale play Ryan in High School Musical. They even won the raffle to go see "How To Succeed In Business Without Even Trying". They already went and said it was awesome so....yes! I'm hoping to make one more trip to Boise so I can see that one! (without the 3 year old! Love you Kierra!)

Star struck again! We were sad it was our last night!
We really do LOVE this cast! They became great friends!
We were sad to have to say good-bye!