Oh what do you do in the Summertime?

Life keeps rolling along here at the Madigan household.  There is always bumps in the road but we just keep going.  Summer is now drawing to a close and we haven't really done anything BIG.  Just lots of little things here and there to keep life interesting.  The biggest things we have participated in have been the kids musical theater workshops at the Lehi Arts Council.  We have been kind of living and breathing musical theater the last little while and that is just how Hannah likes it.  If she could be doing musical theater 24/7 365 days a year she would be a very happy little girl. This summer she and Asher were in The Aristocats.  Hannah had the lead role of Edgar (yep she had to cross dress!) and Asher was one of the dogs.  I know I am biased but after having a lot of people come up to us after the play and make a point to tell her how amazing she was I think I have a right to be proud of her.  It is her "thing". She has a natural ability to act, do accents and sing really well.  She looks like she is so comfortable on the stage.  She was able to make the audience laugh with her characters crazy antics.  It may seem strange but a lot of people really liked the fact that they could hear her say her lines - so many of the other kids kind of mumbled their lines or said them to the floor. Asher did great in the play too - I was just really happy he didn't have stage fright and refuse to go on.  He didn't sing much but he had the dances down and seemed to have a lot of fun.  One of the girls in the cast was puking right before she had to go on the final performance.  We were all impressed that she went on and did her part and didn't puke on the front row of people! It meant so much to me and the kids to have people come out to support the kids in the play.  Some friends from the ward came to see the kids in the play and on the final performance night Mary, Dan and Becca, Jake and Carolyn, came to see the play.  It made the moment that much sweeter for all of us. This week is JJ's Little Mermaid performances so we are in the midst of dress rehearsals.  This is our first experience with the older kids production but it has been a good experience so far.  The directors seem to have a great sense of humor and really try to make the experience fun for the kids.  Hannah is hoping to go into the older group a little early this fall because the younger group is doing Winnie the Pooh and she doesn't want to do that show.

In other news we enjoyed spending time for the Fourth of July with Charlie and Mary Ellen, Mary, Michelle and Brad, Jace and Chloe at the Thanksgiving Point fireworks.  It was a perfect night - not too hot or too cold or to windy, just comfortable and great company.  We also went up AF Canyon with the Madigan side of the family to celebrate a belated Father's Day and Jayden's birthday.  The water in the nearby river was pretty cold but the kids had fun walking around in it anyway and hiking up the mountain side to see all the secret shady spots and lichen covered boulders.  It rained on us but I thought that just made the burgers we were grilling taste better.  Wish we would have brought our fishing gear though.  We celebrated Pioneer Day up at a park in Alpine with Jake and Carolyn, Charlie and Mary Ellen, Mary, Emmy and Cam, Ruth and Lucy (Ruth was up here helping Holly and Ryan with their brand new baby Emmy!), Michelle and Brad, Chloe and her friend and Jace.  They kids had fun at the splash pad and riding the green machine, easy rider, scooters and big wheels that we brought along.  Dinner was delish too. We celebrated Asher's birthday a little early since we were all together.  He is such a sweet boy. As he opened his presents he said thank you to each person and gave them a big hug. He has been asking for a pet fish for several weeks now - even trying to do Jedi mind tricks on Lance to make sure we got him a fish. We decided that we would pull out an old fish tank we had gotten when JJ was little and let Asher have that for his birthday. Lance wrapped up the box from the fish tank for him to unwrap that day. Our plan is to take him on his birthday this week to pick out the fish.  He has been talking about it non-stop ever since, making plans for what fish to choose and where to put the tank etc.  He LOVES all living creatures so much!