The Opera!

I don't think I mentioned that I re-auditioned for the opera in April ( I may have mentioned that) and I got my contract and I am "Macbeth" in October and "Carmen" in January!  I am so excited to be back in that again.  It is so fun for me to do and I am feeling more and more like myself.  Not being in a show for a year made me wonder if I could do it, but obviously Susanne thinks so.  I am looking forward to learning the music.  It will be fun.  Dana and I went to "Don Pascuale" this past Wednesday and it was so funny.  The tenor was awesome and the soprano was perfect.  It was so fun to see my friends on stage again.  It is an Italian comedy opera and Utah Opera set it in the American West, during the cowboy days.  They all wore hats and boots with spurs.  It was only strange to have them singing in Italian for about 5 min. and then I just got into it and it was perfect.   TTFN

Some photos of Cloud

It was Beauty Parlor Day at Cloud's today.  I spent a couple of hours trimming and washing her for the summer.  We have this each spring.  In the past I have totally hosed her down and soaped her up, but today, I just did the hair trimming on her legs and hooves and her ears.  I think she turned out very pretty.  She was a little concerned when I brought out the hose, but I only used it to rinse out her mane.  

Another try

I don't know why it wouldn't download both videos, so here is the award ceremony video.  

My weak attempts to video Mike's race

Okay, here is the pathetic video of the finish and then the award ceremony.  The award ceremony was pretty casual.  On that video, they have already announced Mike's name and  the applause you hear at the very beginning of the tape is for Mike.  Yay!!!  In the finish line video, Mike is in the blue and white suit with a little red.  He came in third, but I think he is 4th when he actually goes by the camera.  Sorry for the shaky hand.  I am going to get some sort of tripod to help with that.    

The Race

Mike came in  third!!!  It was a great finish, with 8 guys struggling to be the first one over the line.  The guy who came in first is a really good sprinter, the second guy is a Pro and then Mike was third.  He even beat Dave Harward!  Dave usually beats Mike, so that was good, too.  I now have a sunburned nose and face, even though I sat in the car a lot, or in the shade and put spf 30 on my nose and face.  I also met Melanee.   She is cute and seems very nice.  

The weather was perfect for a bike race at Bear Lake.  Not too warm and not too cold.  No  wind to mention and sunny.  I love sitting by the road, listening to the meadowlarks.  And Bear Lake is the prettiest color of turquoise.  

Tomorrow Mike is riding in the race around Bear Lake (twice). He won that race last year, but we didn't get to see it because we didn't know he was racing. Dana can't come and neither can Tori, but I am going up to Logan after work tonight and staying in a hotel and then driving over to Bear Lake for the 8:00 am start. Two weeks ago, he was racing with Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer and Floyd Landis in the Tour of the Gila in New Mexico. It was a good experience for him to see how incredibly strong that caliber of racer is. It gives him something to work towards. I hope he wins tomorrow. It's fun to be the mom of the winner or at least someone in the top 10.
I haven't done anything much yet towards selling Cloud, but I will get on it next week when I have some time to clean her up so that I can take some good pictures of her. I may even have time to do that tomorrow, after Mike's race. I hope I can find a good home for her, with someone who understands Anglo/Arabs.
I also am going to sell my scooters, which I also haven't done anything about. I need to take photos of the white one and the yellow one needs to be inspected and probably new tires before I can sell it. I just don't have the interest in riding the scooters anymore. I am really wanting to get back into gardening. And maybe camping. I will miss Cloud terribly though.
My head feels pretty normal now, no aching when I bend over to pick up my shoes. I still forget a few things and can't always find the right word. But I think that is getting better, too. My typing is getting better.
We just realized that the Senior recognition night in our ward is the same night as the Academic letters and awards night at the high school. Tori wants to do the senior night in the ward, but I think the academic award night is more important. I can't believe that the YM/YW didn't check to see if there was any big conflicts before they scheduled the senior night. What a mess.

The last day off before I have to go back to work.

The rash is going away and the itchiness is better, but not gone completely.  I didn't take any benadryl today.  And it is spelled BENADRYL, not benedryl.  I think I was on drugs yesterday when I posted, misspelling the word benadryl and also using all of the seven dwarfs names in one paragraph.  It was scary to read my last post. 

 Tomorrow I am back at work, but just doing testing at LDS.  It won't be too hard and it will be good to get out of the house.  I planted some flowers today, but have a ton of yard work to do in the backyard, but couldn't do it while my head is recovering.  It still hurts inside my skull when I cough, sneeze or bend over, so hard work is out for now. 

 Kristen and Dave are here tonight, studying for finals.  I am watching the Bubs so that they can  study.  Tori has 4 boys over, "studying" for AP English.  From the sounds of the laughter, I am not sure how much studying is happening.  I taught Bubs how to go down the step into the living room backwards, took him for a little stroller walk, fed him, bathed him  and laid down with him until he fell asleep.  It's fun being a grandma.  TTFN

Plans changed and we didn't get to babysit the Bubs.  It is probably good, because I started with a reaction to the meds I was taking to prevent seizures and am covered head to toe with an itchy, red, bumpy rash.  The Dr. said it would last about 48 hrs. and to take benedryl. So, now, it is more than 48 hrs and I still have the rash, but it is getting less intense. I haven't slept very good the past 2 nights because of itching and I am drunk-feeling from the benedryl.  But I can tell that the Dilantin is wearing off.  I even felt good enough to drive yesterday.  So, I am sleepy, but not dopey.  Because of the hayfever, I am sneezy and I was grumpy on Thursday.  I talked to Doc. on Saturday morning. I am also happy to be getting better, but feel a little bashful about telling people about what a stupid thing I did, trying to get on Cloud standing on a bucket on top of a step stool.

So,did you get it?  I used all of the seven dwarfs' names in my last paragraph.  Maybe the benedryl and dilantin are making me weird.  I hope someone will comment on my strange blog, so that I know people are reading it.  Because, if no one is reading it, then I might start writing really personal stuff, like in a diary.  Woo Hoo!!.