Dance Festival

Seven months of practicing equals three great performances! Check out this article in the Tacoma News Tribune. The picture in the article is of kids in the Charleston dance, which is one Nathan did.

//www.thenewstribune.com/front/topphoto/story/424942.html

Here's a clip, sorry the taping isn't that great. Ben was pulling on my arm and it was hard to find my kids in the crowd! This clip is from the "Beach Boys Medley" where each stake danced to a different Beach Boys song. Nate is in the back row, 5th from the right at the beginning of the clip and Kylie is the front row, 3rd from the right in the middle of the clip. Kind of hard to tell, I know!

Isn't Kylie adorable in her cheerleader outfit? It's probably the only time she'll ever wear one. This picture is from their first dress rehearsal back in June, but it's the only picture I have. It was too hard to take pictures at the performance.

We went to the Saturday afternoon performance and it was wonderful! I was so impressed with the hard work the kids did and how well it turned out. The energy was contagious. During the closing number the "Stakes of Zion" video was played, the one where it starts at the formation of the church and pinpoints each Stake formed until there is an explosion of lights at the end, with the hymn "The Spirit of God" playing. The lights were dimmed and each kid had a glow stick hidden. They held up their glow stick along with the video as each Stake lit up the screen until at the end everyone was tossing up their glow sticks along with the Hosanna chorus. What an amazing feeling!

After the performance my mom and dad took us out to dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory to celebrate my grandpa's 77th birthday.

Ben was really hungry for icecream!

First Harvest

Our garden is finally producing! It was a long, cold spring, so things are a bit behind. Usually we have green beans by now, but they are still flowering. I'm enjoying the fresh raspberries tremendously! Zuchinni is just starting and I have two cherry tomatoes that have made it past flowering stage. A few more weeks and we'll be able to make a delicious vegetable soup!

Seriously, so Funny!

I ran across this blog clicking on other people's links. I'm way glad I never lived in Utah, no offense!

http://seriouslysoblessed.blogspot.com

Another Tag

Thanks, Corey! This one really got me thinking. I have such a bad memory (one of the effects of not having a brain anymore) that it's hard for me to remember what I did yesterday, let alone twenty years ago! But here goes....

20 years ago I...
1. was 16 years old.
2. was in love with Theodore Selden, who I thought I was going to marry.
3. went to Garfield Highschool in Seattle's Central District.
4. was too afraid to try out for the tennis team because I didn't want to have to stay after school in the Central District (too much gang activity!)

10 years ago I...
1. was not married to Theodore, but had been happily married to Brad for five years and we had two kids.
2. lived in Palatine, IL.
3. went on one of my favorite vacations ever, a driving/camping trip around Lake Michigan.
4. bought property on Bainbridge Island.

5 years ago I...
1. celebrated my fourth child, Ben's first birthday.
2. rented an RV and went on a camping trip around Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Rainier.
3. had Brad's brother, Patrick's wedding in my front yard.
4. was a Cubscout Den-mother.

1 year ago I...
1. went to my youngest sister, Tifanie's wedding.
2. went to Brad's sister, Ashley's wedding.
3. went to Brad's grandma's 90th birthday party and his cousin's wedding in Denver.

So far this year I...
1. celebrated my 15th wedding anniversary.
2. took Kylie to Utah for General Conference, both of our first time going.
3. said goodbye to one of my best friends who moved to California.
4. made it to chapter 10 of a novel I am writing (very rough draft!)

Yesterday I...
1. drove Nathan to the church at 5:30 am to meet the carpool to Tacoma for the Dance Festival.
2. then came home and went back to bed!
3. picked up Ben's friend to come over to play.
4. took Kylie and Jillian to piano lessons, then took Ben's friend home, then drove around picking up craft donations for Girl's Camp.
5. Used ALOT of gas!

Today I...
1. drove Kylie to the church at 5:15 am to meet above carpool.
2. went to Silverdale to buy the rest of the supplies I'll need at Girl's Camp next week (I'm going to be the craft lady).
3. went to an outdoor pool in Poulsbo with my friend Marcy and her two kids.

Tomorrow I...
1. will drive to Tacoma to watch the much anticipated Dance Festival that Kylie, Nathan and over 2,500 other youth in the Western Washington area are performing.
2. will go out to dinner after the Dance Festival with my grandpa, mom and dad to celebrate grandpa's birthday (78th?).


If any of you can remember what you've been up to the last 20 years, TAG, you're it!

Relay for Life

49,000: the number of dollars raised at this year's Relay for Life on Bainbridge Island.

1,050: the number of dollars raised by Kylie's team, "It's Time for a Cure."

37: the number of people who walked for Kylie's team




(a few of the team who were there at the beginning of the event)

20: the number of teams participating in RfL.

18: the number of hours in the RfL event.



14: the number of miles Kylie and her friend Aubrey walked.

6: the number of hours Kylie and Aubrey walked.

3: the number of hours Kylie and Aubrey slept.

2: the number of Kylie's extremely proud parents.

Happy Birthday, Jillian!

What's more crazy, I mean fun, than a barrel of monkeys? 11 nine-year-old girls (and one five-year-old brother) at a birthday party! Fortunately the weather was beautiful and Jillian's plans for a fun, outdoor, water play party were a success!



We started off painting canvas bag...the idea was to paint fingerprint pictures on them, you know the cute little bugs, animals and flowers you can make using your fingerprints? Some of the girls got into it, some used their whole hands, and others resorted to the brush. Very cute creations, none the less (of course I forgot to take a picture of all the finished products)!



Then we played some water games: water balloon volleyball (teams of two hold a towel and toss a water balloon over the net while the other teams try to catch it) and launch the ping pong ball out of the cup with a squirt gun, very fun and lots of giggling and screaming. Brad came home for lunch and surprised the girls by throwing water balloon at them from our bathroom window. I'm pretty sure that was the highlight of the party!



Here's everyone singing "Happy Birthday" to Jillian!

After icecream cake and presents, the girls played in the sprinkler and bounced on the trampoline until their moms came to pick them up. Hurray for summer birthdays!

Water Fun in Seattle

When the weather heats up, like it's finally doing here, there's nothing like playing in the water! We headed over to Seattle and spent the day with my sister, Corey, and her family at Green Lake and the Seattle Center.

First we went to Green Lake, my childhood neighborhood, and rented paddle boats. I had forgotten what a workout it is to paddle those things! Kylie, Ben and Hyrum all jumped off the boats and swam in the lake. I remember doing the same thing as a kid! Green Lake itself looks pretty much the same, but there sure is a lot of construction going on around the lake.

After boating, we drove by the house I grew up in. The neighborhood has changed a bit; some of the older houses have been torn down and bigger ones have been built. It's amazing how close together everything is.

We headed down to the ferry, but the back up was so long that I decided to stay in the city and we went back to Corey's apartment. We walked up to the Seattle Center, they live about six blocks away, to play in the big fountain. Hyrum adores Jillian and wanted to hold her hand everywhere we went!

The kids played at the international fountain for a while, then we went over to another fountain for a while...there's nothing like playing in public art! I wish we had something like it on Bainbridge.

Instant Replay

Here's what I just did in the last five minutes...confirms that I've lost my brain! I was vacuuming my room and thought "Oh, the dryer must be done" so I went downstairs to check. On the way I got sidetracked by Kylie who was counting up her Relay for Life donations ($150!). Went back upstairs to my room and thought "I know I went down to do something, but I can't remember what." Went towards the bathroom and saw the clothes hamper and remembered, "Oh yeah! I was going to check the dryer!" On the way back downstairs, walked by the computer and saw that Brad had just sent me an email. Checked the email, a picture of him 3 years ago when he started at AMB. Turned around, saw my bed still wasn't made (it's 3:15 in the afternoon), so I made my bed. While making the bed, saw some little things on the ground that need to be picked up before I finish vacuuming. Picked them up and threw them away. Started vacuuming again and thought "Oh, the dryer must be done." AAAHHHHH!!!!

Fourth of July Parade

This year instead of watching the 4th of July parade, Ben, Jillian and I were in it! Ben's preschool decided to have a float. My dad let us use his truck and trailer (thanks, Dad!), which we decorated to reflect the parade's 50's theme. Ben and a few of his friends were a rock band, and the rest of the siblings and parents were the groupies. I drove the truck! We were right behind the "Basset Brigade" (Basset Hounds walking with their owners). The dogs kept stopping to sniff people and I was constantly afraid I was going to run over one of them! But all in all, it was a smooth ride and the kids had fun. It was such a different perspective being in the parade rather than watching it. I had no idea so many people came out to watch!

Jillian passed out candy, which she ran out of after the first few blocks! The parade is a mile long, and I'll bet the people at the end don't even know that candy is ever given out. Everyone always runs out by the half way point at least!

The fabulous Teacher Ellen and the Preschool Rock Band!

Hayden Lake, Idaho

The top 10 things we loved about Hayden Lake, in no particular order:

1. Warm, no HOT, sunny days and clear blue skies.
Every day was gorgeous! OK, the one day it got to 104 was a little hot, but we had the lake to cool down in. We did have one thunder storm, but unlike home, the next morning was clear and sunny again.

2. Swimming in the lake (or floating on the lake).



Nate and Kylie did a polar dip two of the mornings. By the afternoon, the water felt great!



Even Ben loved paddling around. It was so cute to see him and Matzo swimming the same way!

Jillian swam, too...I guess I didn't get any pictures of her actually in the water.

3. No TV, internet or cell phone coverage

Need I say more?

4. Kayaking
This was my first time kayaking and I loved it! We tied the two kayaks and one innertube together and pulled the kids around. What a peaceful way to travel!




5. Relaxing on the dock.
We were surprised at how few people were at the lake. I don't know if the end of June is normally quiet, but we loved that we had so much privacy. There were several houses around the one we stayed in, but all were empty until the last day when one neighbor arrived.


6. Watching Matzo try to get his tennis ball out of the lake.
The first few times we threw the ball for him, this is what he did! After he got used to it, he loved jumping in.



7. Silverwood and Boulder Beach
It's really hard to take pictures at an amusement park, but here are a few! Kylie and Ben are our most ambitious thrill seekers. Kylie rode every roller coaster twice and would have gone more if we had the time. Ben loved the big water slides and even drove his own bumper boat. Jillian went on the roller coaster "Tremors" and decided that she hates roller coasters. I'm with her!



8. Hanging out with the Perrins.

Brad met Clayne in the MTC and they've been friends ever since. Clayne, Kelly and their four kids live on Mt. Spokane where he's a Park Ranger. They spent the day with us at the lake on Saturday, and then we met up at Silverwood on Tuesday. We had a blast and wish they lived closer so we could spend more time together.

9. The rustic cabin.

It was small inside, but had a great porch where we spent a lot of time. We ate almost every meal outside. When it was hot on the porch, it was cooler inside, and when it got too hot inside, then it had cooled down outside.

10. Fishing with Dad.

Whenever we ask Ben what he likes to do with Brad, he always says "Fishing!" They got their chance, didn't catch anything, but I don't think that's really the point.

Five things that weren't so great:

1. Dead catfish

For some reason there were lots of dead catfish floating around in the lake. The neighbor we met who lives there full time said he didn't know why there were so many this year.

2. The metal shower stall with duct taped knobs.

Like I said, the cabin was rustic. At least it didn't still have an outhouse like some of the cabins up the road!

3. The long and winding road.

The road from town up to the Lake was six miles of hair-pin turns. Kylie got carsick on one of the trips into town. She yelled at me to pull over, but not in time! Ugh. I didn't have anything to clean up with except Ben's jacket. Double UGH!

4. Watching Wall-E in soaking wet clothes.

I know some people in my family would say that watching Wall-E even in dry clothes was an unpleasant experience, but I thought the movie was kind of cute. We had gone to a family fun center before the movie and I got soaked, litterally "dripping wet to the bone" soaked on the bumper boats. It was on the 104 degree day, so it felt really good...until we went into the theater and I had my own personal air-conditioning system!

5. Funny, I couldn't think of anything for #5!

We had a marvelous vacation. It's a little hard to get back into reality, so I guess #5 would be having to leave!