Color Guard 2010

It is the close of another Color Guard season. I have a video, but for some reason I can't seem to get it from the camera to the computer. I'll have Morgan help me later. Then I'll post it for you.

They had a most awesome program this year....Koto. It's Japanese and means....again, I'll have to have Morgan find out.

They had a really great season this year. Taking first overall at ISU, and winning all captions, color guard, music, etc etc etc, except percution there. They took 2nd or 3rd at the other competitions, Weber, Davis, BYU, Mt Timpanogos, BBI (at USU) and color guard was consistently 2nd, percussion 1st, and all others placing well.

This past weekend (Thursday Nov 4th through Saturday November 6th) they were at Red Rocks and BOA (Bands of America) competitions in St George, UT. These have bands from California, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and I don't know where else come and compete. They are in division depending on school size. So these kids were competing against some pretty awesome bands, as well as the ones they compete against all season.

Red Rocks-----the band placed 6th overall (which made them 3rd in the state), and color guard placed 2nd just behind Clovis West, CA. (which made them 1st in the state!)

BOA-----They performed in the afternoon and were one of the top 5 bands!!! Which put them in the finals, performing at 9:00pm, the first of the top 5 bands. They said it was the best performance they had done all season. They were sooooo excited, to say the least. I didn't hear from Morgan after they performed. Of course they had to wait for the rest of the bands to perform and then go through placing, awards etc etc etc.

So after going through that, loading the trailer, saying goodbye to everyone, driving all night on the bus, Morgan walked in the house pretty close to 6:00am Sunday morning. The results?.....

Sky View Marching Band placed 5th overall....which places them 3rd in the state! Colorguard placed 2nd only behind Clovis West, CA. Which places them #1 in the state! Since Morgan and her bestie Mandy are on the Rifle Line, they (and we) are pretty excited. They worked hard and deserved every win they got. They put everything they had into this year.

I think it has really hit Morgan that she only has one more year. She is going to miss it. But, who knows, maybe she will get to go to a college that has a color guard? Only time will tell. :)

And Another Happy Happy Day!

As if yesterday wasn't happy enough....today is the last day of school for the year! Happy day! We have so many plans for the summer. So much to do, so much we want to accomplish.

We have the matinees at Cine-four every Monday at noon. Morgan's besties Mandy and Lexi are planning on going with us. We will invite others to use the tickets on the days the girls can't go.

We have the library movies every Tuesday at 2:00. They are free and G-rated. They are so fun to just go to together. I usually get some reading time in too. Yay!

We are going to go on hikes and walks. Go swimming and to the lake. Go to the dam and feed the ducks. Hopefully we'll be able to get some day trips in. We won't really get a vacation because we're remodeling the house this year. Yeah, that takes all the time and money.

And I plan on reading........A LOT!!! I haven't got to do that much for the last 2 years because of all the time Ameri-corps took. But I'm gonna make up for it!

And Tanner will be going to Greenville next year. He is in the Greenville bounderies since they switched to K-5 now. I have asked to transfer there with him. I probably won't find out until August if I have a job or where it's at.

So see you through the summer! School's out until August 26th! Three whole months of summer break. YAY!!!!!

Stick a Fork In Me, I'm Done!!!!!

Last year I started doing Ameri-Corps. I've talked about it on here a few times. The things that were required, the projects that had to be done, the time it took. I have been done with Reading Groups at the school for a few days now, but I had a few hours of service left to complete. I decided to volunteer at the local library. So I went in and talked to them to see what they needed.

The first day I sat at the desk and put the new dvd's into the secure covers. I put the fine paper on it, along with slipping the dvd picture in. Then I folded summer reading papers. If someone asked me a question I could answer, I did. If not, I directed them to someone who could. The next time I shelved dvd's and answered questions.

Since then I have been helping with the story time they have for toddlers and preschoolers. It was so much fun. I got to sing songs, dance and read them stories. Most of them silly (well, look at the ages). The kids love story time! I'm actually going to miss it, and today was my last day there. Which means..........

Even though I could do one more full-time year, or 2 more part-time years of Ameri-Corps, I have decided to not. I AM DONE!!! I could go back and finish these at any time if I so choose. We'll see. I am now off to other pursuits.....

As in, at this time we are filling out the paperwork and getting the house ready to have Foster Kids come into our home. More on that at a later time.

As for now.......I AM DONE!!!

First Sweethearts Dance

Sweethearts at the high school is a girls choice dance. I don't know if they do that because they figure that way all girls will have a chance to go to a formal dance that might not be asked to Homecoming or Prom, but I think it's an odd dance to have girls choice. With that said, it was Morgan's first Sweethearts Dance. Being the social butterfly that she is, she chose to go. And I must say she was beautimous, even if I do say so myself.

For the 'day date', they went to one of the girls houses for breakfast, so it only cost 3 packages of sausage. There were 10 couples in the group. After breakfast they went up behind her house to go sledding. Had a blast.

Then it was time to come home and start getting ready for the dance.

The perfect dress.....and modest too!

Borrowed my jewelry

Sister Drew's expertise on the hair.

Side view of the hair

(what are we going to do when Drew is half way around the world working on the cruise ship!!!)

Borrowed my coat

Such a princess

I had to alter the shoulders

they stuck up away from her body.

Don't know where she gets hamming up the camera from.

Very old Hollywood

Borrowed my shoes

(what would they do without my closet?)

Then head for pictures and dinner. One of the mom's did the pictures for them so they only cost $10/per couple instead of the $25-$30 for the schools photos. Yeah! For dinner, one of the dad's is co-owner of The Elements, so the girls paid $20/couple, could order whatever they wanted, and her dad paid the rest. Another YEAH! Then they headed back to our house so we could get pictures of them together........

Morgan and friend Christopher

Christopher and Morgan

This is what happens when you ask them a question during photos

There's the smile we spent so much money on!

Then off to the dance where they had a blast! After the dance they headed home to change and then off to go bowling. So glad that she has such good friends that have so much good fun together.

Sweethearts #1 down......how many more to go?

I know, I know!

OK. So I promised FOREVER ago that I was going to go back and update my blog. Clear back to October when we took our trip to Vegas. Apparently it hasn't been done. I have varying excuses and reasons, some legit, some just to make me feel better for not doing it.

So this week I have been altering the dress I bought Morgan Saturday for the Sweethearts dance this Saturday. It fit like a glove, except the shoulders. I have been working on it since Monday. I only had 2nd grade today, so I planned on taking the day off to make sure the dress was done before the last second. So yesterday I informed my 2nd graders that they would have Miss Drew for a sub today. They were really excited about that. They love her. So when I actually finished it last night, I decided I couldn't disappoint the kiddos and actually show up to work, so I still took the day off.

Now the decision was, what of the meriad of things I have on my to do list should I do today? I actually even contemplated doing none of it and just spend the day reading a book, which I haven't done FOREVER! But no, I saw my camera sitting there and decided to download all the pictures to the computer. Done. Since I'm on the computer I may as well start the updates to the blog.....but I checked Facebook first. Where my mom caught me!

So now I have updated the background and written my blog for today. I have every intention of getting the missionary poster and birthday blogs caught up today. Then we'll see what time it is and how close it is to the kids getting home from school. And every intention of keeping up-to-date with this again while catching up at the same time. Gotta eat that elephant one bite at a time, right?

And we all know what road is paved with good intentions!

AmeriCorps---Round #2

Last year I wrote about my year in AmeriCorps. It is a volunteer program in many areas. I volunteer in Literacy. There are many requirements for the year, I am part time......

• 900 hours

Out of those hours, there are certain areas that have to met.....

• 25 hours of community service that can be done in an area that I am comfortable
• 25 hours of community service that have to be done in an area where I am NOT comfortable, for a Non-profit organization, that I work directly with the people the organization benefits.....(cannot be the same thing I did last year)
• 1 Literacy night project
• 1 Homeland Security project
• 1 Martin Luther King project (January)
• 1 AmeriCorps week project (May)
• Training sessions....school, district & AmeriCorps
• Study groups, about once a month, of which I am study group leader this year.......the organization is reading and discussing 'Bridges Out of Poverty' this year
• only 180 of my hours can come from training and community service
• Reading groups....I work with the most at risk in Kindergarten and 2nd grade
• Any other things that the Principal and Literacy Facilitator have us do within the parameters of AmeriCorps
• CERT.....since I completed this last year, I don't have to do it again this year. They didn't give anything to replace these 20 hours, so I need to get them on my own

Now we just need to make sure we get our hours in and projects done. And help the kids learn to read. Not always the easiest of all the tasks for the year.

Celebrate Good Times...Come On!!!

Today was Drew's graduation day....for the 3rd time in her life. In June 2006 she graduated from High School. One year later, May 2007, she graduated from Beauty School (which she started while still in high school mind you). So she has been a cosmetologist/stylist for over 2 years. Today she graduated with her Master Esthitician! YEAH DREW!!! She worked hard and it only took her 4 months because of already having her cosmetology license. So Wynn took the day off and he and I drove to Salt Lake to be there for her at this momentous time of her life.

Tomorrow she will take her state exam and get her Esthitician license....because we know that she will pass. Then she will be moving back home for now because her next goal is to work for a cruise line in their spa on a Cruise Ship. She already has an interview lined up...but it isn't until October. So she will live with us and work until then. WAY TO GO DREW!!! We are sooooooo proud of you!

Drew getting her turn in the 'spotlight'

Drew and her friend-ly graduates

Wynn, Drew and myself