Slick Stuff: Pageant rehearsals, devotionals, and HAPPY times part 5

I was not one bit surprised at the friendships my children made at the Pageant and the bonds that were formed during these 2 weeks because the same thing happened to me when I was a teenager.

It was completely legal for Emmy to be buddies with the 24 Work Crew guys. They are all 16-18 years old and preparing for their missions. It is a hard working mission experience for them and they definitely aren't at Pageant to meet girls. They are there to work hard. As Emmy walked into the Study Shelter for devotionals she would take a minute and high-five the Work Crew. It was adorable how they all knew her name and made her feel special. They had no idea how much Emmy needed their kind attention.

Emmy's Cast Team made Pageant t-shirts and of course Emmy had to design hers in honor of the Work Crew.
"Work Crew's favorite girl."

This is a picture of Ady and her friend helping to put chairs out. I can't remember how many thousands of chairs were out but with the help of the whole cast they were set up in straight lines and cleaned and washed in about an hour. Impressive.

This is a view of some rehearsing. The whole "bowl" was used as well as the entire stage for different scenes.

This was taken on one of the dress rehearsals.
I'm Sariah there on the right.

Another rehearsal shot of us traveling to the edge of the Red Sea. I'm in the blue shirt under the hoopa.

Kaden and I sitting for rehearsal with the New World Children and Jesus.

Emmy and Kaden and I walking up for the processional. This was one of the few times that Emmy joined Kaden and I as we marched up to the stage. She liked to do it with her friends. I loved doing it with Kaden because he took it seriously waving to the audience and doing strong hand gestures once up on stage. When the lights went down I had to exit off one side of the stage and he went off the other. We had a plan that he would sit and watch me in my scene and wait for me to come and get him after I was changed into my other costume.

This is Emmy's Alma Convert scene rehearsing. She's up there somewhere on the top center.

The Primary got to come out and watch the full run through of the destruction scene. Kaden and his boys grabbed chairs and moved them to the very front of the stage so they wouldn't miss an explosion or burst of fire and water. They cheered and clapped when it was done.

The trumpeters rehearsing.

Now rehearsing in costume.

There's Ady with the red headband and ponytail. She actually was on stage longer than anyone else in the family. I think secretly she came to love her scene a lot!

There she is in the daylight rehearsing with her backpack on.

Another day of rehearsals.

A few pictures of the prosessional rehearsing on Press Day... we all have our matching t-shirts on.

Loved doing it with these amazing children!

Always the favorite scene, Nephi's Boat scene.

If you look close you can see Kaden's blue skirt sitting on the left side of the stair and me sitting a few steps below him in my mustard yellow tunic. A favorite of mine to see the children's reactions to "Jesus." He actually happened to be Chad Hawkins the LDS artist who is best known for his drawings of temples with hidden objects in them. He was a great man to play this part.

A few pictures of one of my favorite parts, Nephi after a battle with the Lamanites.

Emmy might be one of those children up there. This was the Alma Convert scene at the Water's of Mormon. I loved the water falls in this scene.

Me and Adzie after the show one night.

Emmy and I after a show one night before singing the "Song of Cumorah." Tired but SO HAPPY!

The pillow case I made.

It was fun to gather my kids, take them to sit in the car and Facetime my parents while they opened their mission call. That was a great memory of feeling the excitement of where we were and feeling the excitement of my parents of finally going on a mission.
England Birmingham LDS Family Services mission. Yippee!

One morning for breakfast we had scrambled eggs. We had to take a picture to prove that one had 2 yokes. Twins!

Taking a quick shot of us outside our trailer door.

We left our dirty towels with Kelly Lane to finish washing up. We forgot to keep a couple for when we would need to shower the next day so we had to dry off with our hand towels. It wasn't so fun.

This is to show just a few of the annoyances of living outside. Mosquito bites. Ady got a million of them.

Every night the sunsets were amazing!

Another sunset.

Ady and Heidi doing service after dinner.

Kaden loving all the activities in the Primary!

The Primary did their own mini-Pageant.

Kaden was Lehi and did a great job!

Sometimes it was hard to keep our trailer clean. We would do laundry then wouldn't have time to put it away until a few days later. Our life was busy and we had a squishy messy trailer to prove it.!

Kaden observing the annoying anti-Mormons who would yell on a big mega-phone every night before the show.
It was so disruptive.
Sometimes we heard audience members say that they knew this must be a good show to watch because of the haters out across the street. As soon as the Pageant was over they would blast away on their mega-phones again.
It provided lots of good teaching moments with the kids.

Ady helping to serve dinner.

It actually rained a lot during the 2 weeks. It was very cool and lovely weather. There were only 2 days where we experienced hot humidity and we were grateful that it didn't last longer. I was so happy to put my sweatshirt on during the days and loved my wig to wear at night that helped to keep me warm.