Liv Gets to Play Elle Woods

The only summer show Liv could fit in this year with FSY and Girls' Camp and family trips was Legally Blonde with Fields & Co.  She was dying to play Elle Woods.  I was having a hard time picturing this girl as a ditsy blonde- Vivian seems a more natural character to me.  But she got called back for Elle, worked her little tail off on so probably one of the most intense amounts of callback material she had ever received and the directors said she came in the that callback and she was just Elle. 

 She was double cast along side her good friend Avery.  

As soon as she was cast, pink became her new favorite color and she started buying all sorts of pink stuff. 

 It was so so fun to watch her work so hard at perfecting her acting choices and nailing these intense vocal songs.  She sang the whole show and it was just so fun to watch. I was literally blown away by her acting and singing.  She really did make herself a believable Elle and they only had floor mics but you could hear her belting her songs and lines all the way to the back of the theater no problem. 

 She had so many people come out to support her and see her in the show.  

And this is a pic with all 3 Elle's"  Liv and Avery and one the Elle's from the older cast

Annual Marshall/Thorsted/Watkins/Whitmer Campout in Cedar City

This year for the annual campout I really wanted to get permits and do Kanarra Falls, so we picked a weekend we could all go and got permits.  The Whitmers decided to join us this year which was fun!.  Last minute, Joel had to attend a funeral of a good friend- so he stayed home with Callie and just Paula and Bodie came down.  We camped in Cedar Canyon which was beautiful.  Mom and George met us there for dinner- the Thorsteds brought pulled pork.  They took Kota home with them for the weekend.  That night we sat around the campfire and sang songs and chatted. 

 In the morning, we decided to hike Kanarra Falls.  It rained during the night and the forecast was rain all day.  Also our car was a little bit low on gas and we weren't sure we were gonna make it all the way down the canyon to a gas station before running out.  But, said a group prayer at the campsite before we left that we would make it to the gas station, that the weather would cooperate and that we would be able to make a safe decision about hiking.  We drove to the hike in the rain, discussed flash flood risks with the check in booth, and then the clouds parted just long enough for us to hike.  The hike was so fun and incredible, the kids loved hiking in the water.  

Afterwards, we went back to the campsite and Derek made breakfast burritos for everyone. 

 All the rain meant lots of trailer time.

  Then, we headed up to Cedar Breaks National Monument to check that out. 

 On the way back it started to rain again, so we went into Cedar City- had dinner and went bowling. 

 Then, the rain let up so we headed back to our campsite for more campfire time and of course Ander told his annual scary story associated with our campground- the kids look forward to this every year.  Unfortunately, the next morning when we plugged the trailer in to take off it blew some fuses in our car and it wouldn't start.  It took forever to trouble shoot and the kids started a game of truth or dare.  It ended with the ultimate dare of Ander and Camden switching clothes.  

We all got a good chuckle out of that.  We ended up having to have it towed into town, but they couldn't fix it until Monday. 

 Babi and Papou kept the dog for a little longer.  Carter, Liv and I squished into Annie and Tyler's car because they had to get back for a Rise Up Event.  Camden and Derek stayed the night in Cedar City. 

 They had dinner, worked out at the hotel gym, and got the car fixed the next day and drove home.