For the past year and a half I have been the Primary Pianist. It has been one of the most fun callings I've ever had! I love hearing the kids learn songs, and I love hearing them pass off their songs, and sing so sweetly. Nothing brings the Spirit quite so strongly as when you hear a choir of children singing I Am A Child of God, or I Love to See the Temple, or my personal favourite: Families Can Be Together Forever.
I was released from my calling today.
There is good and bad to it. I have developed Carpal Tunnel in this pregnancy and so it's good in that regard because now my wrists won't be in so much pain after church, but I'm also very sad, because now I don't have any callings and I don't know what to do with myself. I am so sad that I won't be with the kids every week, but I am relieved that I will be able to have somewhat of a break before the new baby arrives and after. It'll make nursing at church a lot easier than if I had to be in the Primary to play. I'm sad, but I'm also very at peace with the events of today. I knew as soon as Brother Teeples called last night to have me come in today before church that I was going to be released.
This past week has been so incredibly fun! I met with Alyn and Kallee last week to set up our schedule for the rehearsal calendar for the Musical Theatre class so that we can start working on Aladdin with the kids! I am so excited to work with Kallee again, she is so incredibly talented and she is so much fun to be around. And then, of course, to work with Alyn. I say this after every show, but I seriously learn so much from her! She is an amazing teacher and I feel like I am always learning new things whenever I'm with her.
We also had the opportunity to go to Theatre conference with a group of kids on Friday! I had to be at the junior high at 7:30 am on Friday morning. I don't know about most people, but I haven't been awake and ready that early in a very long time! Since Jon would be at school and work for most of the day, once again childcare was left to my fantastic mother (I honestly don't know what I would do without her!). We decided that it would be much easier for Liam and I to just sleep over at my parents house, that way I didn't have to get up so early to get Liam and I ready, drop him off and go to the school. So Thursday night, whilst Jon was still working on homework, Liam and I got ready, packed an overnight bag and gave Jon lots of hugs and kisses and went on our way to my parents house. It was pretty relaxing actually! We got there about 7 pm, and so we had a good hour to play with Liam until his bedtime and then we brushed teeth, said prayers and then he went down for bed. After he was in bed, I decided that I would take a bath in my parents big bathtub! It was so nice to be able to just soak there, we have a tub at our house, but it's itty bitty, and not at all relaxing! So after that, I got out and got ready for bed. Then, I went downstairs into my old room, laid down and watched a movie, then finally went to sleep. I woke up so early, because I was so afraid of not waking up on time to get to the school! I showered, did my hair, and got dressed and ready to go!
I got to the school at 7:30 and we got on the bus and we went to the Egyptian Theatre in Ogden where the workshops would be held. Alyn went and got us all registered and brought back our name tags and shirts and packets that had all of the info about workshops. I felt pretty important because my name tag had my name and then "faculty" written on it, letting people know that I was a teacher. I felt pretty awesome.
The first workshop that I went to, I went with a cute girl who was quite shy who didn't have anyone else who wanted to go to that workshop. It was really interesting! It was called the Mastercraft of Colour and it was for technical design working with textiles and costuming. It was really intriguing and I loved the info that was given. The second workshop we went to was The Tangible Objective, this one was really fun because the instructor had several games that the kids played. One of them- the objective was to walk across the room with your eyes closed and pick up a shoe. He got several kids up and they all went for their shoes; then he had this one kid get up and he had him stand in a neutral position and breathe, I was sitting behind the kid and so I never saw his face, but the instructor kept telling him that he needed to stop making faces and just be neutral and breathe. This kid had the hardest time, and I could tell that he is constantly being the clown or the goofball, and that he probably didn't know how to just be neutral. This one girl who was sitting down said, "oh that's just him" and the instructor was very poignant as he said, "you are doing a disservice to him by saying 'oh that's just him'. Because this is not a person that I would ever cast in a show and for you to give him that crutch is enabling him." the room was dead silent after he told that girl off. Finally, this young man was able to not make a face and was able to just breathe and then they went on with the exercise. But it was interesting to see the difference in him between when he was "performing" and when he was just being real.
After, we got lunch and then went to the keynote address, and then we got dinner and then went to see Oklahoma at Bonneville high School. Holy cow! They have some amazing male performers!! They were doing some really hard, intense ballet dances and their male actors had phenomenal vocals! I was surprised because the girls were not nearly as strong as the boys! It was a fantastic performance and I was very happy that I got to see it, and spend time with some of my junior high kids. I didn't get home until 11pm, and I was exhausted, but it was so much fun!
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