18 inches and counting

A cold wintry storm blew through today, it has been snowing non-stop for the past 24 hours with more still to come. We have had a great time of playing with Huck, wrapping presents, cleaning up house, and playing in the snow. It is joys like this that make all the time we work worth it. My family and me enjoying our SNOW DAY!

This shows my Matrix buried at 12" and again at 16"...as of this post it is under 18"

Huckleberry helps wrap christmas presents!

OOOOooooo. Snow.

It's cold, it pats down, and its white...

So much FUN!

Look at me the snow is up to my arm pits!

Aren't I just the cutest?

We love you all MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Portfolio Review: A Semester in Retrospect

Four months later...

It has been a while since I have contributed to the Blog. I would apologize but I don't feel too sorry about it. It has been a crazy, busy, taxing, and rewarding few months. Many highs and only a few lows, but overall a very exciting time. I had the opportunity to take many classes this semester, I was in the Computer Assisted Design class where we experimented with using Photoshop and Vectorworks (nothing really new) and then also got to try out Maya for creating animations for scenic renderings (that was a fun little break). I was involved with the Teaching for Theatre class where we sat around discussing the theories of teaching in general and how to prepare for our turn to teach, which was exciting since that is one of my main goals in life. I wish it consisted of fewer papers though. I am an artist I never claimed to be an Academic writer. I had a figure drawing class (cover your eyes everyone this is where we draw naked people). It was great to get to stretch my art legs again in that fashion, like riding a bicycle. It was great that in the teachers eyes I went from troublemaker, to interesting, to a cheat, then a freak, then an artist...she was fun, a bit crazy, but fun.

The big class this semester was Advanced Studio in Scene Design. In this class we design theoretical productions of preselected shows. This semester we did Othello and Sweeney Todd. It is a history in the department that the professors prefer dark and moody projects. It was exciting to get to do a show though that I loved so much, Sweeney Todd is a pinnacle of American musical theatre and although it is a beast to design with all of its quirky needs, it was a great challenge to start my time off here.

This is my informal portfolio display of the work from this past semester

Photos of my model under light with photoshoped scale people in it.

This was an exercise in storyboarding a show.


Giving main "looks" to a director so they have a clearer understanding of how the set works.

I actually had motorized the elevator in the model, which was a big hit.

What follows are the Sweeney Todd models for my fellow classmates. This isn't to compare each other but to show you the other styles in our design MFAs and also show how interesting it is that so many different ideas can come from the same show.

Collin Ranney

1st year MFA Scenic Design

Ariel Benjamin

2nd year MFA Lighting

John Dillard

2nd year MFA Lighting

Carissa Huizenga

4th year MFA Scenic/Costumes

Daniel Pinah

3rd year MFA Scenic Design

At the end of the semester they pul all the designers in one at a time into a meeting with you and the entire department faculty to discuss your work, your attitude, and your future with in the program. My meeting was great, they expressed amazment at the quality and quantity of my work. The admitted to being doubtful that I would hack it given the fact that I have a wife and a young child at home, but that they were proven wrong and are so happy that I am in the program. The only criticism I faced was that they felt my artistic horizons need to be broadened. I need to be more aware of current trends in the art or design, and incorporate new ideas into my approach. They said I could keep doing what I am doing for the next three years and just refine it and be successful, or I can use this time to really push myself to try new things and new ideas. They want me to explore the post modern aspects of design. I was also told that before I leave I might need to explore and experience all three areas, which could mean extra time in the program.

This next semester I will be taking the Master Class, and starting my first production at the Univeristy of Maryland, and assisting Dan on his big project for this next year. I had a succesful assiting gig with him at the Kennedy Center and he is looking forward to a continued run, I guess. I am not sure what my show will be yet, we only know one of the scripts Enchanted April.

But he is not sure if that is the right fit for me, so we wait and we shall see...

Quick, call IX I I

Some of you know, others may not, but our house is still up for sale back in Utah. I know, right? Well, last Friday we got a text from our realtor, "CALL ASAP, water leak in home."
Oh super.
We call.
Our swamp cooler line snapped.
Water. Everywhere.

We called Pa Dave and he was able to turn off the water. Well, how do you fix a house that is 2000 miles away? You call the Insurance Company. Because the house was for sale and we haven't lived in it since June, we really weren't even sure if we had an open policy. Turns out we did.
Thank goodness.

And this was just the top floor.

Lagging behind

This is one reason I LOVE Maryland. The trees are beautiful! This is a view at our apartment complex by the playground. At another park we were at, there were leaves on the ground that were as big as my head. No joke. I love the fall!

Remember the post with the picture of Huck crying?? Well this time the photo shoot for 1st year turned out a lot better. I'm so lucky to have married a talented guy that can take our own photos. Here are a few of our favorites of our Huckster.

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This is older stuff but I wanted to post it for my memory :)

Huck's First Birthday!! We had some friends and family over to celebrate Huck turning one. Thanks so much to everyone that was there, and also there in spirit (aka:web cam) We had a great time and were so glad you could be a part of it.

Party central: We had cheese soup, pork loin, mashed potatoes and gravy. Very yummy.

Josh and I made his cake. It really was a team effort, and we had a good time. For very inexperienced cake decorators, we thought we did pretty well. All that matters is that it tasted good. So this is what our cake looked like:

This is who it was modeled after (minus the gay apron thing)

And Huck did great with the cake. He loved it, and knew just what to do when the time came. He dug right in and made a big mess!

Huck's 2nd Halloween: Chrissy was nice enough to send us the Cookie Monster costume she'd made for Jake a few years back. For Halloween, we just went to our ward Chili Cook-Off and costume party. It was a good time, and we always love to eat Dave's chili. YUM. Huck was a great cookie monster.

(I don't know if you can see it, but the head part was the only thing too big for Huck. We secured it with my hair clippy. We love Jacob; he is our orange on a toothpick.)

The end! Hope you enjoyed it. Life is great; Love you all!

Some FIRSTS

The other day, Huck discovered bubbles! My mom sent Huck a cute little Halloween care package and it in were some bubbles! Thanks, Mom! We got them out and blew them at Huck, and he loved it. At first he just watched them float and dissapear into the air, then he'd reach his hands up and try to catch them. It was so fun to see his eyes light up.

On Sunday we gave Huck his first HAIR CUT! Long hair must run in the family, cause man-oh-man it was LONG!

This was our process: We had him in his chair eating a cookie to distract him at first from the noise. He wanted to see what was going on.

Look at the long hair!

Huck did really well for about 5 minutes, then he was ready to get out of his chair and didn't want his head touched any more! Too cute. Love this boy!

Getting shorter!!

Seriously - SO MUCH HAIR!

This was after his bath so we could get all the itchy hair off. He looks so grown up!

P.S. I am a blogger slacker and need to update about this little boy's first birthday, and the awesome halloween costume. Posts to come. :)

A tired baby photo shoot?

What do you get when you have a tired baby who wants a nap and a mom who wants a one year old photo shoot:



Sorry sweetie, I am sure we will try again later. But it was so cute I had to post it anyways...

a birthday approaches...

Huck is certainly no monster, but we thought a Monster Theme party would be a fun idea for a birthday party. Since we're far away from home, and our UT friends and family can't come, we just thought we'd at least share in the joy and excitement of our man, Huckster and his First Birthday!
We saw these and thought they were so funny. Huck likes to cuddle with them too, so we found a theme!

We'll have some food, a piñata, maybe some games, and of course cake and ice cream.

We are excited for Huck to have his first birthday... He's growing up! Now, THAT is scary.