Ladies' Choice Dance

 

Caleb and his friend, Elizabeth

This was also the same weekend that Caleb found out he was accepted to BYU! A full-tuition scholarship was the icing on the cake. He worked so hard in high school to keep his grades up despite the demands on his time and maintained a 4.0 (unweighted) GPA.

 

Night Out on the Town

We splurge on one broadway show per year because Matt knows it is something I love.  (He enjoys some shows better than others, but in general he's there only because of my love of Broadway music.)  This year we saw Jekyll and Hyde, and it was one last nice date night before our lives are taken over by a newborn in less than 2 weeks.

*everything below is my opinion on the performance, which will hold no interest if you know nothing about the play :o)

I've seen this play once before, and I preferred the first performance.  Jekyll/Hyde was played by Constantine Maroulis, who apparently was a runner-up in an American Idol season that I didn't watch.  He has a wonderful voice, but there is also a certain rock quality to his voice which I guess the director really wanted to bring out and which I didn't care for.  A Broadway first for me was seeing an electric guitar in the orchestra pit, and it was utilized in several of Hyde's songs and even a few that Jekyll sang.  Because of the electric guitar addition, "This is the Moment" was not all I hoped for, although there were several parts he sang beautifully.  Constantine also did a lot of ad libbing in his songs, which disappointed me as well.

The two songs that let me down the most were "Murder, Murder," which was changed completely from the original (it was a slow song instead of a quick song), and "Confrontation."  The first time I saw this play, this latter song won me over because it showed just how talented Jekyll was as a singer and actor.  This song is a duet between Jekyll and Hyde sung with incredible passion.  The guy who played Jekyll/Hyde the first time I saw it performed pulled half of his hair up (Jekyll) and left half of it down (Hyde) and sang the song switching back and forth between characters so quickly and masterfully, turning his head between characters, that I was left in awe.  He had some serious talent to be able to pull that off!  So I went into this one with the same expectations, and the director completely changed up the performance of this song as well.  Totally bummed.

I really enjoyed all of Emma's songs and thought she sang superbly.  Lucy had a beautiful voice, but did some ad libbing in songs that I didn't care for.  "In His Eyes" was performed beautifully, which is one of my favorite songs!

It was an enjoyable evening, and we are so grateful to Matt's mom for babysitting the boys for us so that we could enjoy this fancy date night!

My Sweet Hubby

Thanks to some gift cards from Matt's co-worker, Matt and I were able to have a ritzy night out at the Taste of Texas. This restaurant is usually too rich for our blood as the steaks average around $40 a plate. It was a very fun experience as you get to select the actual steak that you will be eating that night (pre-cooked obviously) then head off to the salad bar. The salad bar was AMAZING with lots of different options for dressings and toppings and some yummy homemade bread. The steaks were probably the best I've ever had...so tender. The whole evening was fabulous...any date that involves delicious food wins my vote as a favorite! The only downfall was that there was an hour plus wait at the restaurant, but that was understandable as soon as we knew how good the food was! They also gave away free popcorn, chips 'n salsa, and soft drinks while you waited, so that was a nice bonus.

Matt also stayed busy this weekend working on the brakes of our van. Our brakes starting squealing a few months ago, so I took it into a car shop just to see what was wrong and see the cost etc. We needed new back brake pads and rotors, which they were going to charge around $500 for parts and labor. With my nagging, Matt finally got to fixing it this weekend (weekends tend to get busy so quickly and Matt needed to set aside a good 4 hours to do it). He did it much quicker than that and the brakes work fabulously, and he saved us a ton of money! I love being married to a handy-man! No one likes to quit in the middle of a project, but an hour into the job, he got a call to come help someone move. Matt says it was the worst move he's ever done because there was so much...so 4 1/2 hour later, he comes home sweaty and tired and drained and still finished the van. (I think he was worried about his wife's wrath if he didn't finish!) He had such a long day yesterday, and I just want him to know how much I appreciate his willingness to serve and how he takes care of our family. I love him so much!