Spring Time Updates

Greetings earthlings ✌

Since we last chatted I mentioned we were getting ready to move, so let's just pick up right where we left off!

FEBRUARY

The last two weeks of January going into the beginning of February was a little crazy. Marie Kondo has nothing on me because I'm pretty sure I got rid of just about anything that wasn't a necessity. Downsizing from 2600 sq ft to 1140 sq ft is serious business! Nonetheless, we were successful and we managed to move in with very little issues. There were some things that made us nervous at first (some repairs needed to be done and the apartment reeked of cigarette smoke, which we learned was coming from the neighbor thru the open living room window). 4 months later and we're quite cozy in this little home we've got. I enjoy only taking no more than an hour to clean the entire apartment, as opposed to the 3 hours it took by myself in the old house. I wish I had a little bit more room to spread out, but it's not uncomfortable so I can't really complain. Our ward has been super friendly, and is quite literally the opposite from what we came from! Our old ward was comprised mainly of young families with lots of kids and babies, where this ward has a trailer park and senior community in the boundary so most of the ward consists of grandma and grandpas! We've also learned that they LOVE music, and there is one musical number every single week (except fast Sunday). I usually stay under the radar for as long as possible--took the old ward nearly 3 years to find out I sing--this time it only took 2 weeks, and I've already sung a musical number and have been asked to sing in the adult session of Stake Conference. Meh. (Honestly it's fine, I just don't like to draw attention to myself at my place of worship since that's not what it's about). We also went and played in the SNOW. The weather this winter was crazy, being much colder than it usually is and we've been getting a lot of rain as well so that means snow! It even snowed in Cave Creek, which isn't that far out of the Valley! We drove up maybe an hour out of Phoenix and pulled off the road to the perfect fresh powder and had a blast! Max and Bri tagged along too!

MARCH

Work has been consistently INSANE officially since it's the middle of tax season and this season has been weird and stressful. I've been making all sorts of silly mistakes that have snowballed and honestly it's taken a toll on my confidence. I've gotten better and I'm hoping it stays that way?
Anyway, March was a bit of a blur--working long hours, going to friends' recitals, getting food poisoning from Olive Garden, and *finally* taking our anniversary photos. It was crazy but pretty good. {if you want to see my favorites (which are many), they are at the very end!!}

APRIL

The home stretch of tax season! Plus Ian's birthday. :) We went to dinner with his family and some of his friends at Texas Roadhouse! He even rode the saddle and loved every second of it. 😆
We also saw Wicked while it was at Gammage--I don't care who you are, if you don't like Wicked there is something wrong with you, and you should really get that checked out. It's incredible to watch every time. I haven't seen it since I was 18 (neither has Ian!), and it was so fun to watch it again but this time with my husband. I'm glad I married someone who will watch musicals with me, though I'm slowly starting him on operas...hehe We saw Silent Night at Arizona Opera and it is now one of my favorites, and Ian actually liked it! Soooo good. Slowly but surely he's coming to the dark side....

This year's Easter was an extra fun one--my brother Nathan and his 4 kids came to visit for a whole week! We got to roast hot dogs and marshmallows outside, watch movies, go to the zoo, and eat yummy food on Easter Sunday together. It had been a couple years since I'd seen them and it was too much fun. I wish they could move closer to AZ!

Ian left for the last two weeks of the month for job training in Austin, and that was a bummer (him leaving me alone for so long!). The only thing exciting to happen during that time was that Avengers Endgame came out--and that was life changing. UGH I love Marvel so much. 😭 I grieved Tony Stark's death for like two days hahaha {SPOILER SORRY if you haven't seen it by now then it's really your fault at this point} But seriously, what an incredible film!

MAY---today!

At last it was finally May, and as of May 1st, that means it's officially part 1 of slow season. There's quite literally nothing to do at work! Which is fine, considering how stressful and long tax season was/is. I've read two books in the last two weeks and I'm going to start another one today. The weather has also been surprisingly heavenly. It's gotten into the triple digits only a couple time so far this month and May is practically over. I don't mind the uncharacteristically good temperatures, and I will soak them up until the oven inevitably preheats come June for sure. In other news, I leave for Chicago in roughly 48 hours for 5 whole days! This will be my first solo trip to a destination where I will not be staying with family or be near family at all. I've traveled by myself lots of times, but I've always stayed with family so this will be a new and exhilarating experience! I'm going mainly for a vocal competition in which I advanced to the second round in my division in, but it's also going to be so fun! I've got a whole itinerary planned out (surprise surprise) and I can't believe it's finally here! I've known that I advance for nearly 3 months and waiting around for this has been driving me bonkers. I will definitely have a blog post dedicated for the trip, the details, and the pictures. 😉

Now the moment you've all been waiting for...these beautiful anniversary photos my friend Erin Watson took of us! Literally it's been like a month since I got them and I'm still swooning. I had an idea of what I was wanting and Erin majorly delivered. {Her photography page is Pretty Pixel Photography if you want to see more of her work} Here are my favs, which are basically all of them. Enjoy. 💕

Thanks for reading!

It's the Final Countdown!

Heyoooooo

So last time I checked in, March had just begun! Ian started his new job, spring break was finally here, and I was frantically preppin for my senior recital. Let's go from there!

Senior Recital 

So wow! That happened, and it was insane. And super fun. You know you've grown a lot when you get to your senior recital and you don't have a single meltdown over the music (unlike my junior recital where I was literally forgetting entire songs from anxiety HA). Instead, I had a little freak out over my makeup, which I was not happy with at all but eventually put my vanity aside and kicked butt. I went out there, had fun singing some beautiful music, and then celebrated with my friends and family! I had an AMAZING turn out, I think the organ hall was almost full! So probably a solid 50 people showed up. Even my grandparents came out from Boise for the weekend, AND my dad came in from Utah. I felt pretty darn loved. Plus, the reception was beautiful thanks to my mom and mother in law. I had been planning every detail for months and it was even better than I had anticipated. A huge weight came off my shoulders that night and I could not be prouder of myself! Sure, there were some mistakes (I'm just going to forget that I even sang Willow Song for the sake of self-esteem and forgetting that crash and burn hahahaha) but overall it was about 90% where I wanted it to be, and I'll take that win. Anyway enjoy some peeectuureess.

The rest of the weekend was filled with general conference, Easter, and family. It was one of the best weekends ever!!


End of Semester

The rest of the semester was simply filled with me scrambling to learn my part in opera scenes that I had unwisely been putting off with my recital. Looking back, I should have and could have been more prepared, and I have learned from it. We had a super fun scene that was hilarious and chaotic, which made up for the fact that our scene didn't come together musically 100%, ever. haha and I mean that in the best way possible! I was told we were really funny, and that makes up for it. Oh well. It was a good experience regardless of a seamless performance, and everyone else in the show that night was phenomenal! I'm so lucky to know so many talented people.

I was also working with Anne on picking out the "fun" stuff, aka AUDITION ARIAS! FINALLY! I love concert and recital music, but let's be real, this is the music I've been waiting to dive into! And boy, have we!

Other than that, the rest of my semester was pretty laid back. Kind of anti-climactic leading into graduation, with hardly seeing anyone until the day of! Speaking of which...

GRADUATION Festivities!!

So back in February, I was notified that I had been nominated and selected to sing the National Anthem and alma mater at undergraduate commencement! Kind of a pretty big deal, considering this was for the entire undergraduate graduating class of 2018! It was held at Chase Field, where Ian said roughly 12,000 were in attendance?? INSANE. I have never performed for an audience that large, let alone in a venue this large either, LET ALONE BY MYSELF! It was a crazy day. I went to work, met Ian at a public park, drove to Chase Field and practically missed sound check because I hadn't received any email on what I was supposed to do that day (turns out the lady who was supposed to send it to me, forgot hahahahah /cries). I'm already a stress ball, so this kinda added to it. Fortunately the gal who was like "my person"/escort/buddy was super calm and really nice (her name was Melissa) I made it to sound check where I learned that singing in that large of a space with that many speakers can make even the most competent and confident musician feel like a total GOOB. Fortunately the sound guys were also SUPER nice and gave me inner ear monitors/pack, and I felt like a total pro. After sound check, we went up to the Audi Diamond Level and were fed dinner and I felt SO COOL. You don't understand. I was on Cloud Nine! I was referred to as "The Soloist" all night and I didn't mind one bit. +50 to ego, right there. Anywho, Melissa and I make our way to the field, and I got to hang out in the dugout with Sparky for a hot sec, and then go below the field as we wait to start the procession. I got to be on the stage on field for the whole ceremony! Anyway, I'm pretty sure I'm prepared, though I was a little nervous and it's time for the National Anthem and I had to nudge Michael Crow to let me through and I'm freaking out because maybe I was accidentally super rude to the president of ASU and I couldn't hear anything because of my earbuds and I get to my spot just to realize when the brass choir started that my ear buds WERE NOT EVEN ON and had to sing the National Anthem with no monitor but fortunately the ear buds themselves blocked out the reverb and I was with the timing and wasn't off and it was fine but I still was internally freaking out.

PHEW. Sorry for the run-on but it had to be done.

I then remembered to turn my pack on for the Alma Mater, which was better but I made up the words because that's just how it goes. By that point, everyone was screaming so nobody even noticed. But me.

I noticed.

heh.

I'll still considered it a success cuz they paid me $150.

Anywhere here's some more peeeectuuurresss.

 I almost forgot I did a pre-show interview so I'm now just waiting for Ellen to call me

It was definitely a 10/10 experience.

Then actual convocation came around 2 days later, but just for Herberger! It didn't feel real, but it felt very real at the same time. It's an odd experience! Part of me couldn't believe it was happening since I've been in school so long, I never thought I'd be finished! But the other part of me was like HECK YEAH I AM DONE AND I SO DESERVE THIS! Anyway, that ceremony wasn't nearly as exciting but I got to walk to it was worth it. My parents took me to lunch afterwards and we just hung out the rest of the day! Pretty good day.

HERE ARE MORE PHOTOS OF MY FACE

betcha didn't know I could float with no legs

So many wonderful experiences and opportunities, and even better people and relationships. /sigh They tell you it flies by, but you don't believe it till it does. 💗

Anyway.

Long story short, I did it.🌟

End of Semester Catch Up

Hey guys! It's finally May, it's finally summer. That is so strange to me! The semester felt really long, yet it flew by. Basically up until spring break, time seemed to mosy on and take a relatively slow pace, but after spring break came and went, it's like I blinked and it was suddenly over! The latter half of the semester was filled to the brim with seemingly endless deadlines and performances, so naturally it whizzed by faster than its preceding half.

Surprise Party Shenanigans!
One of the first eventful things to happen post-break, was my incredibly successful secret scheme of throwing Ian a surprise birthday party! Ian isn't one to make a big deal of himself, let alone his birthday, and I felt that he should be made special on his special day. Considering how terrible I am at keeping something like this a secret, and Ian can read me so fast, it was a huge success! We had a good 20ish people show up, including friends from out of town. I lured him out by getting a birthday dinner at Serrano's (one of our favorite restaurants) and stopping at Walmart to get Moana to watch when we got home. My mom had picked up the groceries I had ordered for party refreshments and with the help of party goers, decorated our living room in time for when we arrived back at the house. Ian had no idea! I actually surprised him! And I think he felt very loved. #bestsneakywifeaward

School Shenanigans!
With Ian's party done, it became a mad dash of finishing assignments, memorizing music, and learning staging. My aesthetics (read: philosophy) was probably the hardest class I have ever taken in my education career and I somehow managed my time beautifully during the chaos of the last few weeks of the semester {which NEVER happens} and I think I did a bangup good job too. [I got an A, so I will definitely take it]. It was a split undergrad/grad class, and based on what my friend Tyler told me, if I was able to be successful in that class then I can definitely do grad school. *phew*

The rest of my classes were a breeze compared to that beastly aesthetics class, and I know I was able to keep up with everything. Music History was fine enough, though the TAs were tougher than the actual professor {my bet is that it's an ego thing but maybe that's just me /shrug}. My Jazz in America class was awesome, considering it's geared towards non-music majors, so I had zero problem acing that class. I did get to go to a really great jazz performance for my final report, and I actually came out of it really glad I took the class. I love it when that happens!

At The Nash in Phoenix 

Opera Scenes was downright the best class I had this semester. My scene consisted of all-star castmates and we had the most fun scene! We did the opening bit of Bernstein's Candide, and yours truly got to sing Cunegonde. Dream come true! Everyone was hysterical in their roles and as a whole sounded pretty darn good. Robert even said he really liked it, so you know we did a good job. Upon listening to someone's recording, I wish I had worked on my part with Anne in hindsight, just because I heard myself fall back into some bad habits that I had worked so hard to try and press out of my system and I think she could have cleaned up my high notes better than I did on my own. I wanted to surprise her, and though I did well, I am a little frustrated that I know I could have done better. C'est la vie! Now I know for the future. :) I wish I had taken some photos of us in costume because we all looked fabulous! The rest of the scenes were also so impressive, and there wasn't one weak scene in the whole program. It's seriously so incredible how many talented people are here, and we're not lying when we say we have the hottest MT program in the US. ;) I managed to end the semester with good grades, all As and one B. The B was in music history, and as mentioned before, the TAs were really hard so I will consider that a success.

Summer Shenanigans!
I have some good plans for this summer, which include not working. BLESS. As fun as the kids are most of the time at VIK, working for VIK is not for the faint of heart and I was tired of being treated poorly and then blamed for circumstances out of my control, as well as a lack of organization and respect from people above me. One of my bosses straight up through me under the bus on multiple occasions because of mistakes she made and that was the last straw for me. I got the email about working summer camp, and I just ignored it. I don't know if I'm brave enough to just email them and tell them to take me off payroll (there are people who "stay" on payroll so they don't have to reapply every summer) but I haven't gotten there yet. Maybe she'll just assume I'm done because I won't ever come back? Is that bad?

We also held a very successful Bollywood night (and ironically on Cinco de Mayo ha) with my dear friends Taryn and John, and their significant others Jared and Kylie. We made curry and naan, watched "Om Shanti Om" and had a jolly time. It's been decided we shall do this more often because too much fun was had. Also those people are some of my favorite people so that's always a plus. 

I had been asked/hired to sing the "Pie Jesu" in Faure's Requiem (If you've never heard it, please go take a listen. It's truly some really beautiful music! Nothing fancy, but very pretty nonetheless) with a full choir and orchestra in Chandler/Sun Lakes. I was super excited for it because it was my first paid gig, and it was going to be really good. I had gone to a rehearsal on a Friday (5/5) and it went really well and was looking forward to the performance the following Friday. WELL that weekend is when things went towards a different...direction. Sunday was fast Sunday, so naturally I didn't have anything to eat all day by the time I got to my in-law's house for dinner. They had saved me some food (we get out of church later than they do) and I went to town. My stomach kinda started to hurt when I finished eating and my tummy felt a little tight. It was a little uncomfortable, but I just thought maybe I had eaten too fast or something. I felt it for the rest of the evening but it wasn't bad enough to warrant leaving early. We get home and go to bed and I complained to Ian that my tummy really was feeling really weird, but I was hopeful I would sleep it off. I was very wrong. I got a very poor night's rest, tossing and turning! I would lay still because moving made my stomach hurt, but then I needed to change position again and it would make me super nauseous and it was just a never ending cycle of discomfort. We woke up the next morning, around 7 and my stomach was feeling super weird and not good! I was getting a little nervous because it was something I had never experienced before. It was like I had done a really intense ab workout and my stomach was super sore from it. There was the tiniest pinch on my lower right side, which made me think appendicitis, but upon texting my sisters I initially didn't "pass" the criteria like hopping on one foot, or hurting after releasing pressure, etc. I thought maybe my digestive system was backed up so I went downstairs and started sipping on some apple juice to get things flowing. To my surprise that kick started my colon I guess, and I did my business. But it made it worse! I was starting to really not feel good. I hollered up to Ian to call our primary doctor to schedule an appointment (we had just taken Ian to the ER for his gallbladder and I didn't want to make that expense if my problem ended up being digestive). The earliest we could get in was 3pm that afternoon. I made my way upstairs and my pain started to really increase. I was in tears by the time we were off the phone making the appointment and within 5 minutes of that phone call, we decided to just go to the ER. We waited in the ER waiting room for about 45 minutes {read: 2 million hours} before I was seen, and by the time they got to me, my pain was at a solid 8/10. I felt absolutely dreadful, extremely nauseous, and straight up miserable. My ER nurse gave me some morphine and something for the nausea and the staff were pretty quick on all the registration/housekeeping. My time gets foggy at this point, but I think within the hour they had a urine sample, blood samples, all that good stuff and I was taken to get a CT*

              *Tangent: Getting a CT was kind of a cool experience actually! Uneventful, but the fluid they put in to see all your junk made it feel like you whizzed your pants. haha

Came back from CT, and hung out for a little while longer and my drugs were starting to wear off. They were really quick with the results and I was informed I had acute appendicitis and would have to have emergency surgery! By that point I didn't really care how they got it out, nor was I nervous about having surgery (I've never have had one before this), it just needed to come out so I could stop feeling miserable so they brought me up to the OR floor, (upon arrival, I vomited because without the morphine and nausea drugs my pain/nausea was def a 9-9.5/10 so it's good to know I wasn't exaggerating any digestive pain I guess). They put one of those little caps on me, I met my surgeon and anesthesiologist (who was like the nicest person) and then he put something in my IV, and I was out. I vaguely remember opening my eyes and seeing the OR light and them putting on the gas mask and then the next thing I know, I'm in my hospital room! I stayed overnight, and was home around 2pm Tuesday. It was crazy and kind of a whirlwind, and I kind of have a hard time believing it actually happened. haha It was an adventure, that's for sure. I was in the ER by 9, seen by about 10, and in surgery by about 1. It kinda went 0-100 real quick haha

I was still pretty drugged up at this point haha 

Recovery has been interesting because I don't know what to expect from something like this, but it's been fairly straightforward. They did the procedure laparoscopically, so fortunately I haven't had to deal with any nasty draining/stitches/etc. Just some small incisions down my lower belly. If anything, it's been more annoying not to be able to use my core muscles! You forget how much you use them by just...existing. haha Oh and for laparoscopic surgeries they pump you full of carbon dioxide so the surgeon can see clearly, so I was bloated AND couldn't use my abs for like 5 days, so I now I have a pretty good idea of what I'll look like when I am like 5 months pregnant, whenever that will be. xD I started to feel like myself on Saturday, and I've been feeling much better every day. Ready for the steri-strips to come off, but I'm not allowed to touch them till they fall out on their own. Boo. And even though I feel almost perfectly fine now, I can't lift anything above 15 pounds for another 6 weeks, and I don't know how long till I can workout. I was planning on totally getting in shape this summer, but now I'm set back 6 weeks! rawr.

In other news, I was cast in this fall's LOT production of "The Bartered Bride"! I have a few featured chorus roles, like a waitress and a bride, and my personal favorite, Heidi the Yodeling girl!

I have no idea what that entails, if I get to yodel or not, or whatever but that is my character's name and basically means I get to have a lot of fun with it. Or I'll make it fun. Or both. Either way, it's a win. There shall be lots of stage time, and lots of folk dancing! Normally I'm nervous about choreo, but with my background in swing and country dance, I think I can actually offer something really nice this time around! Huzzah!

In the mean time, I have an opera workshop with Jeff Stevens and Jen Nagy to fill up my time, as well as some lessons with Anne to get a headstart on my recital. Because OHYEAH I'm delaying graduation till May just to make my life a little bit easier, and to have more fun.

I also have girls camp to do, but that is being planned by my camp directors for the most part, so not much for me to do there....so yeah. That's been my life in a nutshell since March.

Till next time, my lovelies!