Missing them

This is what I'm missing right now. They're in Utah with Grandma for another week while I'm teching the show. Can't wait till they get here.

Minksy's Tech Rehearsals

We're in LA at the Ahmanson Theatre havin' a grand old time putting together this crazy, fantastic show--Minsky's. It's really cool to be part of an original production. I feel really lucky and really blessed, especially when the show is so good. I mean, how can you ask for better writers, Bob Martin, Charles Strouse, Susan Birkenhead, and then you throw in Casey Nicholaw to direct and choreograph, and then add great producers, designers, and of course cast?!?!?

Thought I'd share a couple pics I grabbed the other day during one of our LONG tech rehearsals. I wish I could show you all the costumes--I think Greg Barnes, our designer, is gunning for a Tony. 

Just had to quickly share a couple pics of our happy worker bee (who can't leave Mom alone long enough to even wash the dishes) and our Gene Wilder look-a-like. She woke up from her nap with the best hair EVER and a smile to match.

MACY'S CHRISTMAS!

We love Macy's. They're doing their best to sell as much as they can, but they're also doing a pretty good job of preserving great traditions. Their Santa Land is AWESOME! We went a week or so back and had a great time. Sydney didn't even cry. We didn't have to wait long in line, and Santa was fantastic--the Elves were a bit too efficient--but Santa was lovely. We chatted with him for a second or two and he made sure we all had a chance to tell him what we want. We didn't seem to get a picture that had all of us looking in the same direction at the same time, but oh, well. And we couldn't afford to buy the one the Elves took.
After visiting Santa, we spent some time playing with toys, looking at the Christmas tree display, and eating, of course.

This Holiday Season seems to be smashing down upon us so quickly--not enough time to really enjoy it. But we hope you are able to take a minute or two and enjoy the festivities and also contemplate our Savior's Birth. We promise to.

Merry Christmas to ALL! We hope visions of sugar-plums are dancing in your heads!!

HAPPY HAT!

So, Sydney is 18 months old and CRAZY! Crazy like a wolf. She obviously inherited this from her mother who encourages it at every turn. I was not there for this particular event (so Suzie is behind the camera) but having heard about it I thought I couldn't keep this from the world.

It goes something like this... Sydney is 18 months old. Sydney loves to be naked. Occasionally, we'll let her fulfill that inner need. Apparently, she also likes to dress up. The other night as Syd was prancing about in all her glory Suzie found this really odd hat and stuck it on Syd to see what it looked like. Syd immediately took to the hat and began prancing around and showing it off. Suzie began laughing. This encouraged my daughter to demonstrate more and pretty soon we have an uninterrupted Laugh Fest with Sydney screaming and laughing followed by Suzie laughing and taking pictures followed by another hearty response from my daughter. This went on for quite some time, or at least that's what I've been told. 

Wish I'd been there for that one!

We had a great Thanksgiving. We invited as many people as we could fit into our condo and still have enough room for the food. 
Everyone brought something fantastic and very tasty. I tell ya, it was definitely one of the best dinners we've ever had with desert appropriate sweet potatoes, cornbread and sausage stuffing, Indian food, and our perfectly brined turkey and first-time successful gravy AND I haven't even touched on the veggies, appetizers, or deserts. Wish we could have had everyone over.
Just want to quickly add that we are thankful for all our family and friends--if you're reading this, you're most likely one of them. So, thanks for you. Have a great holiday season!

We recently made a trip up to Boston with our friends, the Livingstons. Lindsay had a conference to attend and our job was to drive them and keep Patrick entertained, which we accomplished.
Part of the trip included a detour to Salem for our own Witch Hunt. We found this great piece of architecture from 1642, a cool second hand store, a cheesy Witch Museum, and not much else. The Witch House made up for everything else lacking.
In Boston, we spent some time feeding wild animals in the Public Gardens. 
We also felt very cool walking the hip streets of Beacon Hill where we were lucky enough to stay--minutes from the Boston Commons and downtown action.
It was a memorable trip we should have taken long before now. So, at this time of year when we make special acknowledgement of all that we are grateful for WE are thankful for our good friends for getting us out of the house and making us get to Boston. And we are thankful for you for checking in with us and seeing how we're doing. Leave us a comment and tell us what you're thankful for. 

HALLOWEEN

You may question what the back of this messy minivan has to do with Halloween, and well... I would consider that a valid question. But indeed it does have something to do with Halloween. You see, Suzie got a job performing in a Halloween show, Thriller, the one she's performed in two years prior. This year she was on the road with the show in Logan, Provo, and St. George, UT, and after finishing my gig in Mexico, I met the girls in St. George while Suzie finished up her week of performances. I got to take care of Syd while Sue did her shows at night. (A little daddy-daughter time.) Anyway, back to the minivan--while staying in St. George we had our family pictures taken. Our photographer asked us to bring a few options of clothes so that we could style the shoots appropriate to the location, etc. Well, we took him at his word and as is our style we went a little overboard and basically brought our entire wardrobe. you see, as actors you get used to changing clothes quickly and in various circumstances--this was right up our alley. By the time the shooting was finished, the back of Suzie's sister's minivan that we were borrowing looked like a tornado hit it--as you can see in the picture. BUT the pictures, actually turned out pretty nice. If you'd like to see a sample of them... go to our photographer's blog at:

mattclaytonphotography.blogspot.com

(you might have to scroll down a bit, but they're there, at least for the month of November)

Matt's a great guy and a great photographer. You'll see--his stuff is terrific.

Suzie's last performance with Thriller was on Halloween night. We felt compelled as parents and artists to "dress up" and participate. Heck, it was fun taking our little on Trick or Treating. Crazy that we have a kid old enough to do it, but we do so we'll just move on! Grandma Balser came down for the Holiday and we spent the evening carving poor, defenseless pumpkins, dressing up in ridiculous outerwear, and begging for sugar in my sister's neighborhood. We had a great time. We then went over and watched Sue perform in Thriller. She was terrific and the show was great. You can't beat a Halloween show in an outdoor theatre--you just can't. Syd hated the fact that her mom was on stage and separated from her. That made for watching the show a bit tricky and uncomfortable at times but we dealt with it. And other than, the beak portion of Syd's parrot costume coming down over her eyes when her hoody was pulled into place, she loved being a parrot to her Dad's pirate. 

If you'd like to see more photo documentation of our time in St. George, follow the link to our website and eat some sugar while viewing (you know, in honor of All Hallow's Eve.....)

These are the Balsers

Hi! We're the Balsers and this is our first blog here at Blogspot. Come check us out at our regular blog on our home website--  web.mac.com/nbalser . There you will find more info about us and a lot of photos of us (mostly of our lovely daughter).