Saturday Evening

We had a nice Saturday afternoon after spending the morning and early afternoon cleaning the house. Brick had a soccer game which I went to watch and to help wrangle children. Guy has gone to Moab, so Mikayla is being a single parent but needed to be able to focus on coaching the soccer game and not on her children. Mom came to watch and wrangle too. Brick's team won, five to three.

I suggested everyone come to my house after the game for dinner and game playing, and at 9:00 we would burn the last of the Christmas trees that have been drying up by the side of the garage. It was time.  That all sounded good, so I sent Brandt for pizza while I walked home with the children. Mom came for pizza and games, but she left to go to Ava, Crew, and Griffin's promenade. The girls did coloring and cutting on the family room floor, Kal made me the most delightful paper hippo dragon with large mouth and teeth and wings. Mikayla, Mom, and I played a card game before she left, and then I played a couple of games with Freya and Thea. Freya always likes to play Snug as a Bug in a Rug and Count Your Chickens. 

Part of the craft wound up glued to the back doors.

As 9:00 approached, Kent came in and said we couldn't burn trees because there were too many cars in the cul-de-sac. There were many cars, and I surmised they were there for the Oylers. I went over and sure enough, Sam had the whole ultimate frisbee team at his house following a tournament. When told that a tree burning would happen if they would move their cars, and that they could all watch, cars were quickly relocated and the tree burning was back on.

Brandt, ever the entertainer, brought out a speaker, his mixing board, and computer, and began playing music, loudly, as Kent set up the trees. The frisbee team gathered, several neighbors came out, and Mikayla's children were excitedly dancing around. We had three full, pretty tall, incredibly dry trees to burn. Kent secured one in an umbrella stand, then rested the other two against that one. He brought out the fire extinguisher because he was worried they would fall over or the heat would be so tremendous something else would catch fire that we really did not want to burn.

Brandt is out of focus because he couldn't stop moving to the music.

With music blaring, Izzy and Kent lit the trees. They went up spectacularly! The flames were high and hot, and with three, it was quite a show. We heard the following from Mikayla's children and the frisbee team.

Cora: "Let's do another one!"

Kal: "I just to light things on fire!"

Brick: "I want to see something explode."

Kal, said in a monster voice: "I want them to burn!"

Frisbee player 1: "We never do this kind of thing in my neighborhood. I want to move here."

Frisbee player 2: "That's the most amazing thing I've ever seen in my life."

It was a terrific final tree burning and a fun Saturday evening all around.

Click here to see video of the tree burning.

The Morning Breaks

Maureen and I have begun biking outside again. I have not been very diligent about biking in the basement, so it feels hard. I also took my bike in for a tune up and some part changes, so I have been riding Kent's bike which also needs to go to the shop for a tune up. It's been a slog. But this morning, as I circled the culdesac for a cool down, the sky over Rock Canyon and Squaw Peak was magnificently beautiful. It was a great way to start the day.

Pickleball Sunset

What a sunset as we played pickleball this evening. It's been nice to be able to play outside again.

Chris and Corene, Brian and Briahna on the court

What a sunset!

Waiting our turn on court

An Opening Gig

Brandt came home yesterday and said he had been asked to be the opener DJ at an event in West Valley. There were going to be several DJs and a rapper, Pink Bird (who he works for) was providing lights and sound equipment, and would Brandt be interested in playing music while people were coming into the show. How exciting! Brandt said yes, told us all about it, showed us the electronic promotional flyer, and said he was a little nervous about being the opener for what seemed like a legit show. 

Kent and I were excited for him, and wanting to be supportive, purchased tickets. We certainly didn't want to stay at the show past Brandt's part, but we wanted to be there to hear and watch him do his thing. The party started at 9:00 and he was told he should be ready to play for about half an hour. I saw him in the afternoon when I came home from lunch and asked if he had been practicing at all. He seemed fairly unconcerned, but Izzy and I both said, "Dude, you should practice!" so he went down and made some loud music.

He left for West Valley and set up before I got home, but Kent and I left at 7:40 with plenty of time to get to the venue. And what a venue it was! Couple things to say about West Valley, which are observations, not criticisms. West Valley is a down-on-your-luck part of Salt Lake Valley, with many buildings that are closed and boarded up. We could tell we were not in Happy Valley anymore, and felt that we needed to be vigilant and hyper aware of what was going on around us. The venue looked like an old 7-11. We got there about 8:30 and texted Brandt. He said they weren't opening until 9:00, so we sat in the car in the parking lot and watched people coming to the event. We saw lots of young men, pants hanging low, looking like hoodlums. 

At 8:55 Brandt said he was going to start and we could come in. We showed our tickets and entered. Brandt came right up and leaned in to give me a hug, then said into my ear, "Don't drink the punch. It's alcoholic." It goes without saying that Kent and I were the oldest people there. There were only a few other young people when we arrived, but a young man introduced himself to Kent. We sat in a corner and tried unsuccessfully to be inconspicuous.

Brandt played his music. It was loud. The bass felt like it was rearranging my heartbeat. A group of four girls had come in and they seemed to be into the music. They were sort of dancing together and singing along. He was going an ABBA set with the addition of an underlying heavy bass track. Did I mention my heartbeat? There was a decided division between young men and young women, and if the small of pot hadn't hung heavy in the air, I might have thought we were at a stake dance. While we could certainly avoid drinking the punch, I asked Kent how we were going to avoid getting high in the hot boxing. 

Brandt only played for about fifteen minutes before the main DJ was ready to go. Sort of. He was having problems getting his board to work. It was new and he wasn't entirely comfortable with the controls. Brandt's co-worker said it seemed likely he didn't know how to work it because he stole it. That's not nice, but wouldn't be surprising. Brandt came over and said he was done and that he wasn't going to linger. He would load up his gear and we could go. I suggested we go get some dinner as he hadn't eaten, and he agreed. We made our way outside, most likely followed by a huge sigh of relief from the organizer of the event. He did say to Brandt that he thought it was "dope" that his parents would show up. It didn't seem like this particular crowd had had a lot of parental support through their lives, but that might just be me making assumptions based on physical appearance.

We drove south, away from West Valley, before we stopped for food. Brandt said he did not want to stay at all and was glad other people were in charge of strike. It was not quite what any of us had thought it was going to be, but it was good experience nevertheless. Brandt said he is going to be a bit pickier about who he agrees to DJ for. The guy who had organized everything told Brandt he did a great job, and they would love to have him come back for another show. Brandt was non-committal. I think Kent and I will be a bit pickier about which shows we attend too.

Click on this link to see video.

Maybe. 

If it works.

Izzy + Kazuha = Tru Love

Izzy's favorite computer game, the way she most deals with stress in her life, her escape when all of life feels overwhelming, Genshin Impact, suddenly stopped working on her computer. Apparently, the game's needs overwhelmed her operating system, and she couldn't access it anymore. 

This was bad. Not only could she not escape, a banner dropped for a character she has desperately wanted right when it stopped working. You have to complete challenges and accrue pity points and primogems (or something) in order to be eligible for a draw, and you only have a 50/50 chance of actually getting the character, even if you do all the things. She was desperate to get Kazuha, a five-star anemo (wind), sword-wielding character that was so awesome she was going to die without him. You have about twenty days to possibly get the banner before it goes away and your chance is lost for years to come. 

To say Izzy was desperate was an inadequate representation of how she really felt. She talked to us about it ALL.THE.TIME. We heard all about Kazuha, his traits, his talents, his charming good looks. And every day we heard her pleas to somehow fix the computer. "Can Guy come over?" "Can Blake help?" "Why isn't Brandt helping?" "AAAAUUUGHHHHH! I'M GOING TO DIE IF I DON'T GET KAZUHA!" Things were getting desperate. Brandt tried to build a computer and for four days we had computer parts all over the kitchen table, but still no luck. 

With only four more days of the banner being available, Kent bought Izzy a computer he found on KSL. They went to pick it up and asked all the questions about compatibility and whether or not it was going to work for her. The guy they bought it from knew all the things and assured her it would be just the ticket. They brought it home and immediately set it all up, with Izzy very actively engaged in seeing it was all connected. Brandt was able to transfer over her hard drive so things weren't lost, and Izzy began downloading Genshin. 

Miraculously, it worked! Hoorah! And even more miraculously, the day the banner was set to close, Izzy drew Kazuha. Double Hoorah! Hoorah! All was right with the world once more.

As I downloaded this picture, 

Izzy shrieked in delight and said,

"It's my baby boy! I love him so much!"

5th Grade State Fair

Mikayla and Guy were involved in Guy's parents' 50th anniversary celebration this evening, so with my mom and all the Johnsen kids, I went to the fifth grade State Fair to support Brick. Brick learned all about Kentucky and had a funny set up with a few things including a bucket of KFC. The other kids really liked looking at all the other states, especially Freya who was touching everything. 

Freya at California

After wandering through the gym and seeing all the states, and while waiting for Brick to be finished, we all went outside to play on the playground. The children showed us all their tricks, climbing and sliding and swinging. Mom and I were impressed by their strength.

Brace-Face No More

It was a big day for Brandt today. He got his braces off! He was pleased to be done with the braces, but not thrilled with the retainer. He says it hurts. He looks really good.

Unacceptable

A couple of weeks ago, I helped Brandt really clean his room. We went through drawers and his bookshelf, we dusted and vacuumed, and we dealt with lots and lots and lots of clothes. I told Brandt I expected him to do a better job at keeping his space more orderly and he agreed he would try.

He hasn't been trying very hard. 

I went into his room to deliver a basket of clean clothes and I found this mess. This is completely unacceptable. Brandt has dirty clothes piled all around his dirty clothes basket which is completely empty. Empty! What?! Why?!

I sent him a text message with this picture and said, "Do you what this is?"

He replied, "A garbage dump."

I replied, "Very close. This is unacceptable. You were wondering what to do today? Your plan to clean is a good one. I would like this space to look the opposite of what it looks like now by the time I get home from work."

How did it go, you ask? It was not entirely up to snuff, but Brandt did make significant improvement by the time I got home. 

Daddy Long Legs

My friend and fellow young women leader, Ashley Jensen, invited me and Izzy to join her and her daughter Lizzie in seeing Daddy Long Legs at the Covey Center. It is a play neither Izzy nor I had seen, but it sounded cute and Izzy was game, so we accepted the invitation. 

We had a great time. The play is about a young women, Jerusha Abbott, who is an orphan but is sponsored at college by an anonymous benefactor who asks only that she write him one a month to tell him of how her education is going. She dubs him "Daddy Long Legs" after seeing only his shadow. She writes more frequently, he never responds, and she creates a fanciful picture in her mind of who he is. She thinks of him as old, with white or no hair, and asks lots of questions about him, but he continues to leave her in the dark about himself. In reality, he is a young man, Jervis Pendleton, who falls in love with her through her letters. He is the uncle to one of her classmates, so he contrives to meet her by visiting his niece. Jerusha quite likes Jervis but doesn't learn until the end of the play that he is her benefactor. It was a fun show, with good music, lots of humor, and a fun storyline. The letters she writes were very engaging, and because it is only a two person show and was in a tiny theater, we were right on top of the action.

Izzy spent much of the show looking at all the tech stuff. She talked about the lighting, the set, the props. She said, "It's hard to concentrate on what's going on on stage when I'm so focused on the tech aspect of the show." She also said the character names seemed liked those created by someone with a really bad Scrabble hand. 

Pictures from a Sunday

 

Brandt after church, reading his scriptures, 

enjoying the sun, having a slight swing.

Izzy begging me to purchase the fourth book in her favorite series.

She calls it the "murder Mafia stickball book." 

Should I be buying something like that?

"Yes," whispers Izzy in my ear. "Yes, you should."

Izzy swinging on the lame-o swing because 

she can't swing on her regular swing set.

After months of the swing set coming out of the ground every time Izzy did swinging, Kent cemented the thing into the ground. 

She couldn't be on it while the concrete dried.

We got Moo Moo a new bed because the original one we got had holes

and we beginning to leak stuffing. 

I got a new and bigger one from Costco.

It took Moo Moo a minute to warm up to it, 

and Izzy was helping her feel comfortable.

A girl and her loaf.

The Stakeout

All of us, in the company of my mom, went to see The Stakeout tonight. The show is part of BYU's Bravo! Series and sounded like it would be really funny. The description said, "The Stakeout is a comedy drama about two men on a stake out of two men who may be on a stakeout of them. It's a head trip about fathers, sons, and one's sense of self." 

It is a two-man show. For one of the characters, it is his first day on the job and for the other, it is his last day. They spend most of the show sitting on two chairs in the middle of the stage talking. Their conversation turns to fathers leaving families (the younger man's father left and other older man is a father who left), working through those hard emotions, and connecting. Several lines were very funny, and I wrote them down because I wanted to remember. 

"Exile your heart to the dungeon in your foot."

"Lesson #1: No emotion. They bumped it up to the top."

"What matters is the plunging to your doom."

        "Seen any good vistas?"

        "Do you know cry?" "Yes, I am aware of cry."

While it was funny, it was also very touching and made me cry at the end. I think we all liked it. We also saw Gary and Gail Johnsen who were sitting right next to us in the same row. They took our picture and we took theirs.

BYU Young Company's The Tempest

It has been my practice too take our children to BYU's Young Company productions. The kids have gotten older, however, and aged out of target audience. So what to do? Take Mikayla's children!

Today I took them all to see The Tempest. Mikayla and my mom were both supposed to come too, but Mikayla had to attend a Johnsen Family bridal shower and my mom had to take Mila and Vika to a soccer game. Brandt wanted to come to the play, so he came to help me wrangle children.

The play was really well done. Young Company productions travel to schools all over Utah, so they are geared to people all the Johnsens ages and always include lots of audience participation. Brick was asked to come help. He was costumed in a purple shawl, given a crown, and made to sit on stage through most of the show. He cried, was magically frozen, and laughed evilly. We were asked not to take pictures, but I did anyway.

All of the children liked the play. At the end, the dramaturg came on for a Q&A and asked what was everyone's favorite part. Freya, who had sat on the floor to be closer to the action, said that Calaban, the monster, was her favorite part, especially when he said, "This was my island. You took it from me." She said it in a a deep snarly voice, just like the monster.

It really was a treat for me to be with Brandt and all the Johnsens.

Brick is laughing wickedly.

The other "king" said, "I'm hungry!" 

Brick fake cried.

Off of these people were magicked into statues and couldn't move.

That's a great frozen expression on Brick's face.

The king finds his son who he thought had drowned.

With the whole cast, all four of them.

The guy in black was a techie.

Climbing trees after the show.

Production Pictures

Prospero and Miranda

Calaban the monster

Ariel