Someone had a birthday last month ... Joy

For Joy's birthday we spent a lot of time together. Normally that means playing board games while the children are asleep, but I've been too tired with seminary for much of that.

We were very blessed with friends who wanted to babysit the children for us. So we went to see Macbeth. Or, we went and saw half of Macbeth at Tarleton. That whole "too tired to stay up late for seminary" showed up again, and Macbeth IS after all one of the more bloody of Shakespeare's tragedies ... so we called it a night a bit early (much to Joy's relief; she asked me the next night to never show her Macbeth again).

In review, Lady Macbeth did a great job. She spoke most clearly and was readily understandable. Most of the cast had no real feeling for the language, and much was lost in trying to sound Shakespearen and like Brooklyn gangsters at the same time. Macbeth's Marlon Brando impression fell flat and the lighting on every single one of his soliloquies was horrid. They were trying for a half-light/half-shadow effect, but it ended with the half facing away from the crowd lit and the whole face facing us shadowed, or the "window" outline covering his eyes and the top half of his face, leaving his mouth visible. The witches also blew their lines all to bits -- so excited about racing around the stage and cackling that if I hadn't known the prophecy by heart I never would have known they said he would be king. So, yeah, we weren't missing out too much in the second half, we're guessing. Most of the cast was also in Alice in Wonderland that we saw just before that, a 30-min production. The kids loved it to pieces. The actors did better in Alice than in Macbeth.

We also had a glorious drive to the Dallas Temple. Some friends in the ward drove up at 5am (from nearly an hour away!) so that we could leave before dawn. As we drove through the early morning mist and watched the sun rise, we had just the happiest, most peaceful time and drew closer as a couple. A very, very happy morning.

We enjoyed a morning at the local corn maze (pictures must be somewhere) and we went to the Chinese place for their ice cream - only hard-serve place in town.

Joy has always loved ice cream cakes, but this year she had me remake the ice cream too - we bought some dark chocolate, to which I added cookie pieces, and then arranged slabs of ice cream, more cookies, and chocolate/whipped cream layers. Add some Nutella to that and you've got a really good cake!

We also took several walks along the local trails as a family. 

Here are some more pictures of Joy and the happy children opening her presents. "I got books from my favorite author, Sarah Eden."

Hoo's there?