MY Fair Lady, part 3

Sunday morning we woke up to this yucky stuff.

Holly, Katie, Kerri, Sue and I went to church.  Holly got a little taste of celebrityism when multiple people approached her to ask if she was Eliza.  I just started introducing myself as "Eliza's mom."
Guess where we had lunch?  

After lunch we said goodbye to Kerri, Sue and Katie.  Thankfully the snow had stopped and was cleared off the roads (the Midwest knows how to handle that yucky stuff) so the roads were fine to the airport.  Holly and I hung out for a bit and then I took her car and headed to Sioux Falls.
I spent Sunday night until Thursday evening with my folks.  I had a wonderful time spending time with aunt, uncles, and cousins that I don't get to see enough.  For some reason the only time I got of my time there was this picture of me, Grandma and my mom having lunch at Bethany Meadows.  Mom and I spent a whole afternoon at Grandma's place looking at her scrapbooks and photo albums.

The plan was to wait for John's flight to get into Sioux Falls and then drive up with him to Sioux Center but I really, really didn't want to miss Holly's Thursday night performance so I caught a ride with my sister and her family who were going watch it and left the car at the airport for John.  I have such a good husband. :)

More pictures of the show.  These are when Eliza is learning to be a lady.

Holly singing "Just You Wait Henry Higgins," her favorite song in the show.

Holly and Chase after the show.

Holly and Alfred Doolittle.

Holly and Henry Higgins.

Holly and two of her roommates.  Jalyn was my most favorite member of the chorus, she is an amazing dancer and gymnast and when she was on stage I couldn't keep my eyes off her.  Karissa is pretty much the bet trumpet player in the world so it's pretty cool that she played in the pit.

I love these girls almost as much as Holly does.  They have been such a blessing to my girl.

I'm going to end with this.  I saw it on Facebook the other day and it fittingly describes my feelings regarding autumn.

MY Fair Lady, part 2

Saturday morning Holly and I went to the hotel where Grampa and Gramma were staying to pick up Katie.  She had some major ear issues going on Friday night and was pretty miserable but of course, she insisted on staying with them. While we were there, Holly got a phone call from one of her best friends from Lynden.  Jenah and her husband had driven through the night from Ohio to watch the show (it probably helped her brother goes to Dordt and her parents were there to see him too).  It was a great surprise and Holly was able to spend some time with them before she had to be at the theater. Since my poor Katie girl was sick on Saturday so we pretty much laid low all day.  Thankfully we have wonderful friends in Sioux Center that let us use their home as our own while we are there so Katie took a long nap and I just hung out until it was time to go to the show again.  Before G and G left, Katie took a picture of us on the porch.  Notice me and my mom's "My Fair Lady" t-shirts, we are almost like groupies!

Some show pictures I got from Dordt.  I'm pretty sure they were taken at the last dress rehearsal.  I have lot of them but the photographer captured so many of Holly's expressions.  It's just fun to relive the show through them!
Eliza and Henry Higgins.

Okay, this one wasn't from the show (at least I don't remember Eliza ever smoking a cigar) but I thought it was funny.

The next couple of pictures are from my favorite song, "Wouldn't it be Loverly."  The guy standing to Holly's left with the green scarf is from Lynden.  Holly and Zach were in all the musicals together at LC so that was super fun.

Holly and her dad, Alfred Doolittle.

Holly and Colonel Pickering (who is now her roommate's fiancé - CONGRATULATIONS GUYS!)

While I was waiting for the show to start with Kerri, Sue, and Katie, my sister-in-law Sue from Wisconsin showed up!  I had no idea she and her family were coming.  Holly was so excited to see her, Uncle Doug and Jessica.

They brought along Rachel (Holly's cousin who is also a senior at Dordt) and Pete (who graduated last year and is now working in Sioux Center).

Holly's special Auntie Denise from Lynden was there too.  We sure love this lady!  She has never missed one of Holly's shows!

Poor Katie was not feeling well at all but she was determined to be there.

She was also determined to sleep in Holly's apartment that night which leads to a funny story...the day before when Holly was giving Sue and Kerri a tour of Dordt she brought us into the chapel and told Katie that they would do something rebellious Saturday night after the show (apparently there is some catwalk or something in there that the kids sneak up to).  Well, Saturday night after the show we had our unexpected family over to the house I was staying at for an after-show cocktail.  By the time everyone left and Holly and Katie made it back to her apartment, it was well after 1:00 a.m.  Holly said they were getting ready for bed and Katie said, "Holly, let's do something rebellious now".  Holly told Katie the chapel was all locked up and it was way too late but Katie said, "No, I wasn't talking about that.  Let's not brush our teeth".   Such rebellion.

MY Fair Lady, part 1

This past May Holly found out she was chosen for the role of Eliza Doolittle in Dordt's production of "My Fair Lady."  God's timing is really pretty awesome because this year (Holly's senior year) was the only year she could try out for a show since her nursing schedule didn't allow much flexibility for extracurriculars.  It was also a "musical year" (Dordt theater department does not do musicals every year) and Holly LOVES musicals.
The summer was filled with watching Audrey Hepburn, listening to the sound track, practicing a cockney accent, reading through lines, and worrying that she would have to dye her hair.
We brought her back to Dordt a week early so she could dive into all day rehearsals.  Once school started, she had to balance rehearsals with classes, a nursing clinical, choir practice, orchestra practice, working in the game room, studying, and sleep.
There was six shows over two weekends in October, the second weekend was also Dordt's parent's weekend.  My wonderful husband graciously offered to hold down the fort back home so I could be there for both weekends.  I left on a Thursday so I missed opening night but otherwise I was there for all the shows.  John came for parent's weekend so he got to see two shows.
Waiting for my flight in Vancouver.

I had a fairly long layover in Denver so a mocha shake was in order there.

My girl send me this picture right before she went on opening night.  Yep, they decided to allow Eliza to be a blond!

I got into Sioux Falls fairly late on Thursday so I spend the night at my folks and they drove me to Dordt the following morning.  We got there just as she was walking out of her only class and she had taken the day off of work so we just bummed around until she had to be at the theater.
I took pictures of her apartment.  In August when we moved her in, I thought the apartment somewhat resembled a prison with the cement walls and floor but her and her roommates (mostly her roommates I think) made it all cozy.
That's Gramma in the kitchen.

They have five girls in a three-bedroom apartment so they have two in one room and three in another so they can have a "study room."  I'm thinking not a lot of studying gets done in there.

Holly's room.  She sleeps on the top bunk.  Yes, those are her drawers open.

Holly took us to the grill for lunch.  She even paid (meaning she had lots of Defender bucks on her card that she needs to use up before Christmas).
While we were eating, her little sister walked in and surprised her!  Our good friends Sue and Kerri had come from Lynden to watch Holly's show and they brought Katie with them (she couldn't come with me because I flew out of Canada and Katie doesn't have a passport).

It was pretty sweet!

For some reason, I have no picture of Holly with Kerri and Sue but they were pretty sweet too for coming all that way to see my girl.
After lunch, we got a little Dordt tour from our favorite student.  She especially wanted to show us the pottery studio where she has spent lots of time this semester.  I kind of laughed at her when she told me she was taking ceramics but she loves it!  I think it's been a fun break from all her technically, sciency (why is spellcheck telling me this isn't a word?) classes.  An added bonus is that it is actually going to save her money because I'm fairly sure we are all getting a pot, bowl or mug for Christmas!
Hey look!  I did get a picture of Sue!

The artist at work!

After supper at Culvers and a swim in the hotel pool for Katie, it was show time!
And what can I say?  She was brilliant...speaking as a totally unbiased source of course.  The show was amazing - super talented cast, wonderful orchestra, great costumes, great singing, fun choreography.  I've seen Holly perform in a lot of shows and she's been so good in all of them but this one was super special, she was just so self confident and into her character.  It was so much fun to watch and I'm fairly sure there was never a prouder mom sitting in an audience.
We were forbidden to take pictures during the performance (don't worry, I got lots from the school photographer) but my mom snuck this one in during curtain call.

After the show, greeting the audience.

Grampa and Gramma are her second biggest fans.

Uncle Glen and Aunt Sue came Friday night to see the show too!

Come back tomorrow for lots more pictures of MY Fair lady.