May 2025 Part 1: Shows

There is never a dull moment in May when you have school aged children, and 2025 was no exception. Some of us may have even counted down to May, especially May 1 because that's the day Rachel finally got to go see the touring production of Broadway's Wicked! We gave the tickets to Rachel for Christmas, so she'd been waiting over 4 months to go! She was very excited. We headed to downtown Salt Lake City and parked near the Eccles, and then found a little restaurant for dinner. We picked a taco place because Rachel loves Mexican food so much. 

After dinner, we headed into the theater and found our seats. We were all very excited, and yes, Rachel and I coordinated our outfits, intentionally wearing pink. This was Brian and my 3rd time seeing Wicked; the first time was when it came to Salt Lake in 2012 when I was pregnant with Rachel. 

Rachel was SO excited! 

I loved watching the show, but I think I enjoyed watching Rachel enjoying the show even more. She just loved every minute. 

We sat in front of a group of ladies--moms with their teen daughters--and as the story was reaching it's climax and resolutions, we kept hearing shocked gasps from behind us, and finally, we heard one say, "What?! I just can't even anymore!" It was delightful! 

Brian and I decided we wanted to go see Thunderbolts, and we invited Dustin and Serene along. We really enjoyed it, and so we made sure to take a photo in front of the Wheaties box. This is our tough look. 

And then the classic smile photo. 

The nutrition facts here were amazingly funny. 

Naturally, our refill of popcorn was securely fastened in its seatbelt for the ride home. 

Our next show was Rachel's spring concert for Utah's COPA. She had an early call time, so I took her down to Provo early and got a photo of her in her costume. 

The boys met me later for the performance. They got there early enough for us to make a quick jaunt to the nearby store to grab some flowers for our performer. Gabe wanted to check out this park instead of going with us, and Michael went with him so he'd be safe. 

I loved watching Rachel. She does such a great job, and I'm always impressed with her vocals and confidence. 

The did a medley to the musical Thirteen. The companies with COPA did a fun Matilda show that almost made me consider having Rachel audition for one of their companies...but we really haven't been terribly impressed with the quality of their instruction. There's more, but we'll leave it at that. 

I will say that her confidence has really grown over this past year, and we love to see her perform. She just loves being up onstage. 

After the show, we had to wait for Rachel to change out of her costume, and there may or may not have been some rule-breaking in the meantime. 

Going to shows is not Michael's favorite thing (understatement of the year), but he is such a great support of Rachel. 

And Gabe is too. They both love making a big deal about her when she's all finished with a performance. 

Michael was in a fun mood afterwards, as evidenced by these pictures. 

In December, I decided to fire myself as the kids piano teacher, and in January, Rachel and Gabe started piano lessons with a new teacher. I'm pretty sure this is Rachel's first teacher who wasn't me! In May, they had a recital to show off what they've learned. This is when we found out that their piano teacher was heading to college and wouldn't be teaching anymore. Now, I need to find a new teacher!

They both did a great job. Gabe is a quick study and is flying through his book. 

Rachel has a beautiful touch and also picks up on things quickly. 

Here they are with Isabella, their teacher. 

In mid-May, we got to go watch Rachel do some in-class demos on both pointe and non-pointe. 

Here she is with her class and instructors. 

And with the pianist who often comes to accompany them during class. He's a great player and plays really fun music for them. 

Here's Rachel with her pointe instructor, Shani. 

 We were excited to learn that Rachel will be advancing to Level 5 in the fall. We also learned that levels are different at each school. 

We're very proud of our performers and all the work they've put into their talents this past year.