des Beaux arts

Outside of Evelyn's naptime disasters, this has been a week for the fine arts. As many of you know, every summer the local community hosts a Shakespearean festival. This week, my mom came down for a few days, so we took advantage of locals-only discounts (and a group discount courtesy of my mother-in-law) and went to two plays: Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps (actually quite funny--the actors did some great physical comedy and the story itself involves just about every cliche you can imagine for the spy/thriller genre), and Pride and Prejudice (not much to say about that--it is what it is! I realized, though, that I have read the book/seen the movie way too many times--I found myself mentally reciting many of the lines with the actors and there were *no* surprises.) We thoroughly enjoyed both shows--although I'd have to say that 39 Steps was probably the better of the two.

As part of the festival, each evening, festival staff hosts a green show on the lawns of the university. I'm told that they rotate through three different shows: an Irish, English, and Scottish night--but we went on three different occasions (the last time deliberately aiming for one we hadn't yet seen) and only saw two, the Irish and the Scottish show. As you know from our last post, the kids have loved it--we went two more nights this week. This time, however, we learned to come early and sit along the sidewalk, so the kids could dance in front of us without (I hope!) disturbing our neighbors too much and, more importantly, without trampling on anyone (Andrew, this means you). I have to confess that I was a little embarrassed each time when Andrew started to dance--he's just so crazy (see the video below and you'll see what I mean) and he doesn't ever look where he's going.

Evelyn, on the other hand, is much more graceful. Like her brother, though, she's a little social butterfly, drawn to the company of other people. At Andrew's soccer game earlier this week, she befriended another girl (probably 6 or 7 years old) and they spent the entire game time together. Each night we attended the green show, Evelyn found a different little kid to be her potential "dance partner." (Some were more willing than others--I watched her follow around one big girl for a few minutes, but the girl shook her off every time Evelyn tried to take her hands.) I'm not sure where the kids got their lack of shyness and out-going personalities from, but it definitely wasn't from their parents.

I was inspired by Sarah to try and give Evelyn a fancier "do"--here's today's attempt, with pictures so that Sarah can appreciate my efforts. Andrew, of course, wanted his turn at the a photograph. (I love the funny little half-smile on his face as he surveys himself).

In our final bit of news, our car is *still* not back from the shop. (We're grateful for my mom, who chauffeured us around for a few days, and for Bubby and Poppy, who have graciously loaned us vehicles on occasion so we wouldn't be trapped at home for ten days.) Rumor has it that it will be back tomorrow, but personally, I'm not holding my breath. Yesterday, courtesy of Bubby and Poppy, we made it down south for a trip to the temple (they even watched our kids so we could go together, a rare treat). The temple was nice and the company was good, but it was *hot* and I was grateful to get back to our cooler mountain climes.