Peter Pan

I saw Peter Pan last night. The BYU Theater department is performing it right now, and since Kelsie works in the ticket office she get free tickets to all the shows. When I heard they were doing Peter Pan I called being her plus one right away.

And what can I say but that Peter Pan was AMAZING!!!

The flying was so cool, it made me want to be in plays! And believe me, I have never, in my whole entire life, wanted to be in a play before. My favorite part, besides the flying, was the Indians. Their costumes were awesome and they had the best choreography. Everything else was really good too - the pirates were funny, the actors did an awesome job, and the sets were fantastic. I'm so glad I got to see Peter Pan. I should have started going to the school plays a long time ago. I feel like I've wasted the previous 7 semesters of my education. Just kidding, I really don't, but I'm sure the other plays were good too.

While I was watching the play I found my self wishing I could fly away to Neverland and not grow up. How cool would it be to play with fairies, fly, fight with pirates, fly, be friends with Indians, fly, never change out of your pajamas, and FLY?

It would be freaking AWESOME! Pretty much best life ever status.

But after the play I got to thinking, while living in Neverland and never growing up would be cool, I don't think I would want that to be my life. Wendy ultimately didn't. Personally, I think that Wendy had already grown up too much to have a satisfying life in Neverland. She realized that there was more to life than being a child. Growing up can be fun. Sure, it can be hard and full of sadness and trials. But its from those hard times that you really learn to appreciate the good times, which in the end far outweigh the bad.

One scene in the play is Peter giving the lost boys "lessons" and the lesson is all about not growing up and becoming a man. Can you imagine being stuck in one place and never growing? Learning and growing is satisfying. You become a better version of yourself. And if not growing up means not improving who you are, then I think I'm fine with growing up.

Although it still would be awesome to fly!

Some of my absolute favorite people

These are some of my most absolute favorite people.

They just make me smile. And want to jump in my car and drive all the way to California so I can play with them, even for just a few hours.

Its amazing having little cousins who adore you. I've always thought that one of the best things in the world is when you walk through the door and they see you and come running and squealing. Just because they're excited to see you.

Probably one of the best feelings in the world.

Dostoevsky said, "The soul is healed by being with children." This couldn't be more true. They make you laugh and wish you could be young like them again. Plus they let you play with their Barbie's.

Yesterday was Peyten's birthday. She turned 5. It really does seem like yesterday that she was baby and I was a senior in high school. Now look where we are - she's about to start school and I'm about to finish it.

When I called to talk to Peyten yesterday she was at dance class, but Ryen and I had a delightful conversation (more on that in a bit). But when I called back, Peyten answered the phone and the first thing she told me was-

"I'm 5 now!"

And she was so excited. I asked her what she did on her birthday and she said "fun stuff". Now, unlike Ryen, Peyten isn't much of a phone talker. She'll talk to you for approximately 1.59 minutes and then decide she's done and hand the phone off. So after our brief exchange Peyten told me that she was playing a game with Ryen and that she would talk to me later.

And that was that.

You would never guess this when you talk to Peyten in person cause she will just chat with you and tell you funny stories. Peyten says the funniest things. We call them Peytenisms. They include these gems-

"Ryen, you just have to ask Aunt Nancy and she'll buy it for you!"

"Lucifer is not a very nice cat"

"Lasterday..."

"I'm gonna win you!"

"what do you do with your brother?"
"I pinch him."

"She can't marry the mole!"

"We can play Rapunzel!" (Peyten)

"OK, who is going to be Rapunzel?" (me)

"Somebody whose hair touches their shoulders...mine touches my shoulders!"

I can't believe my little Peyten is 5. That's a whole hand!

Ryen, on the other hand, is quite the little chatter on the phone. She'll just talk and talk until either you have to go or her mom tells her she needs to let someone else have a turn. Yesterday Ryen and I talked on the phone for almost my whole trip home, which is 20 minutes.

Some of the best parts were when she told me about how she was trying to make a basket at recess and couldn't. She just sounded so forlorn. And then the absolute best was this question-

"Do you know what your new last name is going to be yet?"

Out of the blue a few months ago Ryen started asking me what my new last name is. I don't think she's made the connection that I'll change my name when I get married, either that or she's just the most roundabout at asking me if I have a boyfriend. I just about die laughing every time she asks me this.

I asked her what her new last name was going to be and she picked Rose. And then she said she was going to name her kids Rapunzel and Sweet.

And Cam, I'm just glad that he warms up to me when I come home. I've been away at school for most of his life and one of the things that scares me the most is that he won't know who I am. But every time I see him, even if he doesn't remember me at first, he does by the end of my visit. This last visit for Christmas was so much fun. Cam would just come over and sit on my lap and play with my fingers for a while. And then he would look up to me and whisper "I wanna go to my room." And then we would go play cars in his room until I had to go home.

I love having younger cousins. They just make everything more enjoyable.

Microphone and headphone jacks are different

Last night Elsa, Jess, Brooke, and I decided to go to the temple early this morning, so last night we were all trying to go to bed early. I decided that while I was trying to fall asleep I would watch the last 12 minutes of Chuck I missed when I went to FHE, on my computer.

Brooke was in bed already trying to fall asleep, so I got into bed and plugged in my headphones.

But I couldn't hear anything! Well I could hear it a little. But the thing is, I have really good headphones and normally the volume doesn't have to be up that loud. Regardless, I just couldn't hear anything.

So I turned up the volume.

Eventually I had the volume on my computer turned all the way up, as well as the volume on the media player. I chalked it up to a bad soundtrack on the video and kept watching.

A few minutes later Elsa opened the door and started trying to talk to me. Now I have issues with lip reading in the light, but in the dark there is no way in the world. I took my headphones out and start to get out of bed so I could go into the hallway to talk to Elsa and we wouldn't wake up Brooke.

In the middle of getting up, I realized I could still hear Chuck!

At first I was confused. "Wait I can still hear it..."

(Elsa and Brooke burst out laughing)

"I didn't have my headphones plugged in! But I swear they were in! No wonder I couldn't hear it..."

My headphones were plugged into the spot where the microphone is suppose to be plugged in. Who in their right mind designs a computer with the two right next to each other?! Well most people probably do, but really?!

So there I was lying in bed, innocently (or so I thought) watching Chuck. But noooooo! I was laying in bed watching Chuck blasting the sound so loud that Elsa could hear it in her bathroom.

Luckily, Brooke wasn't asleep or almost asleep yet, so I didn't wake her up. If I had, I would have felt AWFUL. Instead when I said that I would put my headphones in for the rest of the episode Brooke told me not to because...

"I have to see how it ends!" We may have another Chuck fanatic in our midst yet...

So Brooke and I finished the episode of Chuck and then quietly went to bed.

The moral of the story is - microphone and headphone jacks are different. In case you didn't know.