Camelot!

I took a few Camelot photos  last Saturday; I snapped pictures as long as the light was good (no flash-photography!). They might just be a little Bruce-centric, but here they are:

part of the lovely set

The carriage has stopped!

Someone's getting out!

A lady!

Here's a calamity!

Merlyn

Arthur and Guinevere

Guinevere, Arthur, and ladies-in-waiting

C'est moi! C'est moi!
Lancelot

maypole

Tra-la! It's May!

The lusty month of May!
(this is just a funny picture)

King Pellinore

This is where I stopped trying to take pictures during the show, and just pay attention. But I did get this swell photo of Merlyn and Dinadan after the show:

Outlaw Trail Theater did a terrific job putting this musical together...  the acting, the set, the costumes—it's all great!

You should go see Camelot—it's running for two weeks! :-)

Bruce's Makeover...

...or

From Shaggy Man to Sir Dinadan

Bruce, as I may have told you (or did I? Hm.) has a part in Camelot, produced by Outlaw Trail Theatre. He is Sir Dinadan. He has been rehearsing, and growing his hair for six or seven weeks, and growing his beard for three weeks.

He was becoming a right-old greybeard.

He talked to the hair and costume-stylist last Tuesday (June 14) and got the go-ahead to trim a little of his beard—just the neck and a little bit off the cheeks.

Bruce makes the first cut.

On Wednesday night she told him to trim it into a goatee, and add a little color-rinse to his beard and hair. But we couldn't resist taking this picture first:

School teachers can always use some supplemental income...

On Thursday morning we bought some dye, and then the fun began...

Bruce asked me to be his beautician—and I wanted to anyway.
But I have to say that trimming his whiskers was like trying
to cut a wire brush with an electric shaver.

After I got him all trimmed up, it was time to apply the hair-color. We used Revlon's cheapest "medium ash brown."

I started with the beard. First, vaseline all around the hairlines so we wouldn't dye his face (I need to remember this when I color my hair. And isn't the pink hairband so pretty? Then I applied the color with an old toothbrush. Very manly. And purplish.

While Bruce's beard was cooking I started on his hair:

At about this point Samuel and Patrick came up to see what was going on. 

shock and awe...
or at least bemusement

And Bruce finally gets to see what has the entire household
so fascinated.

Rinse the beard, rinse the hair, (clean up my shaving job with a real razor), and voila! A new man:

When the stylist saw him that evening she squealed with joy and excitement. Then he went to do his makeup—for the first time ever—so, naturally, I had to take pictures:

He looks like he's been doing this all his life...

...but really this nice girl helped him a lot.
Maybe by the end of the show he'll be able
to do his makeup all by himself.

I waited around to get a picture of him in his costume too. Here he is holding up his brand-new, 40-pound chain-mail shirt:

The picture is super-blurry, I know. But it's the only one I have of his fancy metal tunic.

Sir Dinadan, looking down his nose at Lindsey and me.
(That's King Arthur behind him.)

Our whole family got to go see the final full-dress-and-makeup rehearsal last Saturday. It was a lot of fun, and my knight was definitely the most manly, good-looking knight on the stage. And I'm not biased either.

Sir Dinadan

I took a few pics during the first part of the show (they're performing in an amphitheater, so I took photos as long as I had good light). But those pictures are for another time.

Dinadan the family man.

Camelot is running for two weeks, June 20 (tonight) through July 2. You should go see it!

Growth Spurt

On April 26 Bruce got a big bee in his bonnet. This bee told him to go and audition for Outlaw Trail's (Vernal's community theater) production of Camelot.

So he did. And he got the part of Sir Dinadan—he's even gets to sing a solo! (Dinadan is kind of Guinevere's body guard, and kind of a by-the-rules, grumpy guy. His solo is all about burning Guinevere at the stake.) Bruce has been rehearsing every Monday through Friday from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. ever since
May 1. And he is having a marvelous time.

But here's the thing: When he auditioned he was needing a hair cut, but they told him he couldn't cut his hair until after the play. So he's got an extra six or seven weeks' growth added to his already long-ish hair. I think his hair is longer now than it was in highschool in the 80's! He's starting to look pretty darn shaggy. And, just to make things even better, on June 1 he decided to try and grow a beard too.

So here's Bruce with short hair and no whiskers:

August 2015

And here he is with three days' growth:

June 4, 2016
me: Go brush your teeth.
Bruce: I was, but I got distracted by my beautiful face.

And here he is at five days:

His beard has inspired him to start taking selfies.

And this picture was taken today (the beard is ten days old, but really I took this picture because we were walking out in a strong wind and it was doing great things with his hair.):

epic manliness

So here's a question for women with husbands who have beards: How can you stand kissing the guy when he's growing his beard out?  It is sooooo prickly! Owie!

Anyway, the hair and make-up lady will trim all of the hair on his head (well, maybe not his eyelashes) —and maybe dye it too—to make him perfect for the play. I will definitely be there taking before and after pictures!

And, by the way, the play opens on Monday, June 20 and will run through Saturday, July 2. You should come see it! :-)

Twelve, Going On . . . Thirteen

Jessica wants to grow her bangs out. She asked me to cut her hair so her bangs would blend in better with the rest. Now, I cut Bruce's hair and the boys' hair pretty often, but I've never done a girl's haircut. I thought Jessica's slightly curly hair would look really cute in a layered hair cut, but I was a little worried that I might wreck her hair if I tried to do it myself.

I am lame at taking "before" pictures.
This one is from Easter 2016.

But I kept thinking about it, and I figured since it's the beginning of summer I could try to cut her hair. If it was not fantastic at least she would have the summer to grow it out and then she could go to a real salon and get it fixed before school started.

So I looked up some youtube videos on "how to do a layered haircut for girls" and watched five or six of them. Then I called Jessica in and cut her hair. I think it turned out pretty cute.

 

When Bruce got home later he was amazed—and a little bummed out. He said Jessica didn't look like his little girl any more; she looks like a teenager! And then he had to eat some nutella—with a spoon.

Anyway, I think Jessica is pretty cute—but then she always has been!

Lindsey's Birthday

Lindsey's birthday really isn't until June 21. But she will be working at Camp Steiner on her birthday again, so we decided to celebrate last night.

Awww! Isn't she cute?

We did our traditional birthday thing, which was to have Lindsey choose her own birthday dinner and dessert. She chose a brand-new recipe (which is always fun for me): Linguine with Avocado Sauce—and it was delicious! So here's the recipe we used. You're welcome. (We topped ours with parmesan cheese and crushed red pepper and it was tasty. But I think it would also be good with fresh basil leaves blended in and topped with summer-fresh diced tomatoes.  Yummo!) We added diced watermelon and some fresh sourdough bread on the side—mmmm!

Lindsey invited her friend Veronica over for the evening.

Veronica read storybooks to the family while I finished making dinner.

Jason helped her read stories.

Then Jason regaled us all with some Grimm's fairy tales.

Hopefully this is not what they think of the dinner menu...

After dinner (which, did I tell you? was yummy) we played card games: Spoons, and Scum. We were about to start a game of Mormon Bridge when Veronica realized she should be headed home. So I said we'd better hurry and sing "Happy Birthday" and have dessert before she left.

Lindsey had asked for peach cobbler with ice cream for dessert. Yum!

Bruce scoops the ice cream and Lindsey serves the cobbler.

 Veronica got Lindsey a present:

making a fascinator out of the wrapping paper

a pair of Tardis earrings
(Veronica also got her a Dr. Who mad-libs book—
they are both big Dr. Who fans.)

We got her a present too, but it wasn't as cool as Dr. Who.

We got Lindsey some Welches Fruit Snacks—her favorite gummies.
Also the promise of a new skirt and top made by me.
(I made the promise, and I'll make the clothes.)

It was a delightful evening celebrating a delightful girl
.

Happy Birthday Lindsey!