THE LAST MAY DAY

I will have to confess my joy at watching my youngest go through the Ephraim 5th grader rite of passage- dancing the May Pole. It really was fun to watch her. She did great and had a good time.

Princess P in the chevron dress and smirky smile.

May Pole dancing- a lost art.

Her cousin, Miss B, and C Man wanted to come watch May Day instead of going to school, so they sat with me.

Miss B (one year older) and Princess P in front of the May Pole.

Cousins!

FOOTLOOSE MAY DAY

Princess P was cuttin' loose at May Day this year. Her class did a dance to the 80's song 'Footloose' and she was awesome! It was a fun dance and she enjoyed it. It really is quite a snappy song.

Kick off your Sunday shoes!

Here she is with a few of her crazy girl friends from her class. They have had such a great year together. I am so glad she has such good buddies.

A, S, Princess P and C

This is the best buddy, though. She and her cousin, Miss B, are happy they are so glad to still be together. We thought their family might have been moved by now, but they are still here and Princess P and I are sure glad!

Cousins! P and B!

BACK TO BALLET

Princess P has returned to ballet. I am so glad. She really is gifted at it. She has a very natural grace and has danced all over the kitchen for months now, practicing and improvising. She's never done that before and I am very impressed by the program she is now in.

Her cute class on stage.

Her final performance was held last night in the Snow College Theater and she was a little nervous, but very excited! She danced beautifully and so did the whole class.

Princess P doing a leap.

My photos aren't great (taken in a dark theater with my weak zoom), but they're all I've got.

Princess P and Miss E- ballerina buddies.

SADIE HAWKINS

Awesome A got asked to Sadie's this week. It was kind of a last minute thing, but he was more than willing to get work off and go.

The Asking.

The girl that asked him is a good friend and he was excited to go. We decided to answer with a way that D had been answered to Junior Prom a few years ago. When pigs fly! (When you open the box, the 'pigs fly' up).

The Answer.

The theme to the dance was The Awesome 80's! (Okay, I added the 'awesome' part). I pegged A's pants just like all the cute guys used to do in the 80's! B had some styling socks/leg-warmers and the neck cut out of her sweatshirt. The only critique I have is that no self respecting 80's girl would ever have had that flat, straight hair. hahaha!

A and B in their 80's clothes.

BALLERINA

Princess P has taken up ballet again and I am so glad. She dances around the house every chance she gets, she might as well be learning how to do it even better. She is really enjoy it and I love to see her putting her talents to use.

My ballerina

KID UPDATE

Lots of little happenings are going on at our house, so I thought I'd share a few tidbits. 

Big C has been doing some work for a friend who happens to be a photographer. Our friend posted this photo of him cutting cement on Facebook with the caption, 'Muy Macho!' I just couldn't resist stealing it. It is truly a cool photo!

Husband at work!

 My sister's son just got baptized yesterday and we went up to be there with him. I love to see my kids together with their cousins. I loved my cousins growing up and want the same fun friendships for them!

Cousins are the best!

 Little C is not really into scouting, but he does it because he is supposed to. His leader is amazing and has really helped him get going and caught up to where he needs to be. He just got 9 merit badges and his First and Second Classes.

Christian getting his stack of merit badge cards.

Princess P has to do book reports this year in school and it is actually something she is excited about. For the first month she chose World's Greatest Fairy Tales (a book I used to read when I was growing up). She made a diorama all by herself and I was SO impressed! I loved it!

Snow White in her glass coffin with Prince Charming, elf, and assorted woodland creatures.

 A just asked a girl to Homecoming the other day and got an answer tonight. It came in the form of a huge ball of plastic wrap with candy in it and the answer in the core. She said 'YES!'

It's not even Halloween yet- look at all that candy!

JUNIOR PROM- THIRD TIME'S A CHARM

In our small, rural community our high schools do a prom fundraiser where they invite the parents and community to come watch the Juniors be presented and call it Promenade. They charge for people to come in, so it works well. That is how I end up at all of my kids' proms. I have to admit that it is fun to see them.

A with his promenade partner.

It was A's turn this year. He is Junior Class Vice President, so he helped quite a bit with getting things together. I think, quite a bit more than he wanted to. The theme was 'A Night In Venice.'

A and his date, N.

I really like his date. She is in our ward and in my Laurels class and is such a nice, fun girl. I think they had a great time. They do an all-day date here, so A and his friend K took their dates up to Salt Lake to a museum and then to dinner at The Cheesecake Factory.

N, A, B and K.

These are the kids that all went together. The mural in the background is the one A helped me paint for the prom. It was large and took about 10 hours. I was glad when it was done.

A and I dancing at prom.

My boys think dancing with their mom is awkward, but I loved dancing with my dad. It was fun to dance with A last night too. He looks very handsome in a tux!

PROM CAKE

My son has asked a girl to Junior Prom already- it's in March. It seems crazy, but lots already have dates, so  it is good he's on the ball. He asked her last night after a fireside. They were just standing there eating donuts and she said yes. The girl he asked is a very cute girl from our ward and I am glad he's going with such a good girl.

'I'm going to build her a cake or something.'- Pedro

He felt a little bad since he didn't do anything spectacular for the asking part, so he spent all of today making her a cake (like in Napoleon Dynamite). I wrote on it, but he did everything else. She loved it, so I guess the date is going forward...

HOMECOMING 2012

Last night was A's first Homecoming date (actually, I think it was his first date, period). They played pool and ping pong at a friend's home then went bowling. After that they came to our house where Big C and I made dinner for them.

Cheers! The Group.

They boys bought nice, big steaks and Big C grilled them to perfection and there was also a yummy salad made by one of the moms with baked potatoes, fruit salad and homemade rolls. A was in heaven! Aside from the attack of the flies, all went well and they ate lots.

'69 Camero and the guys.

Some of the girls needed a LONG time to get ready, so the guys took the girls home and went to the Malt Shop and had 'The Hog Trough' (a huge banana split). I can't believe they were still hungry after dinner, but A says they ate the whole thing.

The dressed up group. (A is in the white tie).

When they were all ready, they came back here for photos. They all looked so nice. And then they went and danced the night away!!

Goofy group!

And that was Homecoming 2012!

HOMECOMING IS COMING

It's that time of year again! The nights are getting cooler, the mornings are actually chilly, and Homecoming dances are on the horizon. 

A with his clever way of asking.

 A asked a girl to one of those homecoming dances in a Utah-esque way. No one around here ever just says, 'Will you go to homecoming with me?' They have to create some kind of quirky note with treats attached to do the job. He knows his soon-to-be date well and she likes Swedish Fish, so he had me write a note that said, 'Of all the fish in the sea, I want you to go to Homecoming with me.'

The cute answer.

His date answered back that very night with the above note attached to a bunch of Dr. Peppers. A was thrilled and now gets to go on his first date dance in his high school career. Ah, life's milestones...

THE BIG C REUNION

I didn't document our Christensen reunion this year very well. I only got a few photos, but we had a great time! Some of the aunts and uncles that are normally in charge of it were on missions, so the cousins took over this year and we really did a great job!

The Maple Canyon Hike was my assignment.

One of the newer things we did was go on a hike. We did the box canyon in Maple Canyon. It is beautiful with just enough climbing and ducking to keep everybody on their toes. We had quite a group (around 45-50 people went) and everyone had a good time.

Me, Little C, S and Princess P after the hike.

That was my responsibility this year (besides renting out all the venues since I'm the local girl). We also spent an afternoon at the AC (swimming, raquetball, soccer, tennis, etc...), ate some yummy dinners, listened to my aunt and uncle report on their second mission to the Ukraine, visited and caught up with relatives, played kickball, spent time at the farm and the temple, slack lined, played 'Fugitive' and more.

The Dance Party

I think a new tradition has been started with the dance the last night. We have some amazing dancers in our family (definitely not me)! I never knew...

MAY DAY, AGAIN

 Today was our elementary school's traditional May Day. It is a program put on by the students on the second to last day of school. They have been doing it since my mom went to school there (60 years ago) and who knows how long before that. The dances are fun to watch and I love to see my kids having a good time, so I go, year after year after year and fight the crowds...

Princess P in purple with some of the girls in her 2nd grade class.
Both my kids classes did very cute dances and I loved watching them!

Princess P in purple during her flag dance.

Little C is a fifth grader this year, so he danced the May Pole.

There weren't enough girls to go around, so he had to sit out part of the dance.

Here are the May Poles in action.

A PLAY STARING PRINCESS P

Princess P is the elephant in the green- yellow shirt.

Tonight we attended a 2nd Grade play. Princess P's class sang, danced and said their parts so well! We all had a good time and were instructed on being positive, making good choices, helping others make good choices, being safe, and keeping our bodies healthy. It was very cute!

Princess P in the center during the western-style song.

This was my favorite part. The boys and girls danced together and did such a great job!

The 'island' style song.

Saying her part.

The cool song with the cool glasses!

BALLET & A BIRTHDAY

We had a busy but fun day yesterday. Princess P had her Spring recital and it was A's birthday.

Our little ballerina princess did such a great job. She is such a beautiful, graceful little dancer.

Here she is during the performance (in the middle). She is such a pretty performer and has so much fun dancing.

This is the traditional girl-cousin-dance-recital photo. Aren't they the cutest? Princess P has so much fun with them. We feel so blessed to have so much family around.

After the recital we went home and had all that family over for brownies and ice cream to celebrate A's birthday. He never complained once about having to share his birthday night with his little sister. He must be growing up.

Here he is with the cash he received for his birthday. He's saving up for a new amplifier for his electric guitar so he can play even LOUDER. He's almost there.