ACTF

Many of you probably have no idea what ACTF even is but if you were an actor in College you would know that it is a big deal! ACTF stands for American College Theater Festival and that is what it is a theater festival filled with auditions, workshops, plays and competition. There is one competition for acting that is the BIG DEAL of the festival it's called the Irene Ryan competition. It is a scholarship competition. You have to be in a show in your school and you have to be nominated to even compete. So Jake and I were Nominated I was nominated for my part in Much Ado About Nothing and Jake was Nominated for his part in Chess. This was such a huge deal! Jake and I started preparing months in advance (I didn't have quite as much time cause I didn't even know I was nominated until Dec.) You have to prepare two scenes so you have a Scene partner. I chose my friend Carrie Joslin who is super great and did an amazing job. Jake ended up choosing Carrie too so we were all one big happy family. So you prepare two scenes and one monologue. Then we headed down to Dixie College where it was this year. There were schools there from California and Arizona and Nevada and Utah, it's the regionals. Tuesday we competed there were 300 people competing. We did our first scene and Jake was amazing! I felt good about my performance and had a lot of strangers complement me so that was good but I didn't move on HOWEVER JAKE IT Semifinals from 300 to 32 and Jake was one of them. He and Carrie then performed their first scene and then their second scene. HELLO they made it to finals. UVU has only had two students make it to finals before ever this year there were TWO in the finals and my MAN was one of them. So on Saturday the finals got started Jake and Carrie re performed their two scenes and then Jake did his monologue! I swear he was so amazing! I'm not biased! He was for sure in the top 5 but didn't win. So out if 300 actors in our region Jake is top 5 SO GREAT!! I am so proud of my husband he did amazing and even though I wish I had moved on and gotten to do my second scene I am so happy he was given the opportunity to show everyone else what I always knew THAT HE IS AN INCREDIBLE ACTOR! Also a really great MAN!
SAD NEWS, I had to leave my baby with my mom for a whole week. In the beginning I was feeling really good, free and breezy! I want to go to everything cause I could if I wanted to no baby to worry about! By the end of the week I was a wreck. You would have to ask my mom but I think I cried over the phone like 5 times HE CAN"T EVEN TALK! He would wave to me when I said goodbye and it just broke my heart! I am so happy to be home and be with Frank again! This is where I should be, this is who I should be! I LOVE YOU JAKE AND FRANK!

My baby isn't a baby anymore!

Franklin just turned 1!!! It's was so weird and fun to celebrate his birthday. We got him some new outfits and then went over to my mom's house for his birthday party. I made him a birthday cake with whip cream frosting and fresh strawberries on the top. He ate the strawberries on top first then dug right in. All the kids her chanting "eat it, eat it, eat it" and Franklin started dancing to their chant it was super cute!
I got a great idea from Suzy to post some things Frank loves right now.
He loves bath time (we normally give him showers so when he gets to take a bath he doesn't want to get out!)
he loves loves Yo Gabba Gabba
he loves WALKING everywhere
he loves to giggle
he loves to dance
he loves grapes
he loves to hug his mommy and daddy
he loves to talk on the phone
he loves to be a big boy

In fact I must share this story, sorry if it's too much information but that's me and if your reading this blog you should know that! I have finished nursing Frank which was a little bitter sweet. About a week after we stopped I thought I was going to DIE my boobs were killing me! TOO MUCH MILK. My sister Anna came over and I was like, "I just need him to nurse just a little bit, to take the pressure off." She gave me the thumbs up so which somehow made me feel like it was ok! So I get ready to nurse him and I lay him down and he looks right at my boob and back up at my face and you guys he laughed!!! Not just a laugh but a really awkward laugh that seemed to say, "Um mom this is weird, we don't do this anymore." "Awkward mom, I'm not suppose to see these anymore, what exactly are you expecting?" Ashley and I both started laugh and honestly it made me feel weird. I felt like I had done something wrong ha ha it was hilarious. Don't worry he ended up nursing just enough and it was all good!

I love me little sweet boy! He has been such a joy in my life. It has been hard but so worth it. I love that when he gets hurt or sad he wants to hug his mom and that he loves to laugh. He loves being silly and making noises that make Dad and I laugh. He is so delightful, we have people tell us all the time that he is just the easiest baby! He is handsome and well mannered. He is just My Franklin and I love him from the top to the bottom!! Thank you Heavenly Father for blessing me with what you knew I could handle THE PERFECT CHILD! Thank you Franklin for being the perfect CHILD!

Much Ado about A LOT!

Well I just finished my Senior Project. I played Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing. It was such a great experience! It ran from Dec. 3rd thru the 12th at UVU Norda Theatre. This part was so incredible! She is like me in Shakespearean time. I feel like this might be the last show I will do for awhile unless someone just hands me a perfect part and begs me to play it! Then maybe I would consider. It's hard to leave Franklin so much to do a show and now Jake will be in school and working so I'm going to need to be home. I am graduating from College in April, months mere months and I will have what I have worked for, for over 4 1/2 years. I'm so looking forward to being a mom. However, I do feel like I need some advice, I'm just not sure what to do with my days once I've cleaned and made dinner or avoided both of those things succefully I find myself completely bored. I want to help my kids learn and to do things with them but I just wan't seem to think of things to do. Help ME!

Some First!

A little late but I was finally able to get all my pictures uploaded! So I wanted to post some firsts for Franklin.

His first time eating baby cereal!

First Baby Food Carrots!

First time wearing a hat. He was a little mad about it

Baseball game

First time Swinging


I love experiencing all the amazing things he gets to do for the first time. Of course we have pictures and video of his first time crawling and rolling over but I thought these were some fun firsts to share!

I wonder, if you are wondering, what the best improv troop in Utah is? Well if you are still wondering stop! Maybe you should have been at the ultimate improv battle last month! THAT'S RIGHT!!! Thrillionaires won the trophy. For those of you that don't know Jake is a founder of the improv group The Thrillionaires. There was a big competition in Salt Lake last month against 6 or 7 other troops and you guessed it JAKE'S troop won. I am so proud! I love that Jake can do something he loves to do and also that people love him becasue of what he does! Way to go Honey, I love you! Also thanks Anna and Ashley or coming and helping to support our troop!

There were no monkeys BUT I did fall off the bed!

That's right! Apparently I flipped my body around to adjust and toppled to the ground. The sad part about this story is that I really hurt myself! I don't remember falling or even hurting myself I just remember Jake helping me back into bed. Then this morning in class my neck was really hurting and one spot in particular felt like a bruise. Checked myself in he rear view mirror and, YUP a hickey like bruise on my neck. I have tried to piece together the events. I must have tried to roll over, rolled a little too much and smacked my neck on my night stand/table thingy. Jake was startled by me falling and woke up and rushed to my side. I also just now remembered that he did ask me if I was OK and I said, "What are you doing? What happened, OW that really hurt!" So there you have a silly story and an explanation for the hickey on my neck. P.S. It really is a bruise and I really did fall off the bed."

School Starts and Life Gets Complicated

Finally school has started. For some reason I enjoy the structure of someone else telling me where I have to be. If I didn't have them, I fear I would do nothing but watch Project Runway! I also love using my brain and talking with people about all the problems that exists in our current school systems. It's interesting and makes me feel like I'm going to make a difference as a teacher. On the flip side of my life, my little baby is crawling and pulling himself up on furniture. I swear we are mere moments away from walking. I remember holding him and just wishing he would grow up and sleep through the night, now I hold him and cry for my baby. I don't think I fully comprehended that this was the only time I would experience my first baby. First time I would cuddle my own baby and nurse him and hold him as a newborn. I am so excited about the future but I am just longing to re capture some of those moments. So my baby is well on his way towards being a toddler and I am well on my way to being a teacher. How life changes!