Other Weekend Highlights

Additional highlights:

Imagine a GPS with attitude. Friday evening when we were looking for our hotel and got lost and the GPS kept saying, "Impossible! Make a legal U-turn! Return to the road!" (We were on the road at the time.)

Hearing Greg (my teacher) whoop from off stage after our pro dance. He keeps telling us how good we are and we haven't believed him...until now:)

Holding our trophy for the picture on stage
KaNeil dancing in the gas station parking lot and kicking off her shoe into the car window.

Laughing until we cry over things that shouldn't have been nearly that funny...Kristen, apparently your friend's comments (with the spelling errors) were hysterical...at least they are when it's really last and you've had a Tylenol PM (headache).

Robyn finding the treasure chest (like Davy Jones) at 12:30 am way up on the kitchen shelves and climbing up in her pj's to discover what was inside.

Sneaking away to the hotel with the two trophies which should have gone back with our teacher. They sat in a prominent position on the table and we all joked about what should be done to celebrate, ex. dancing around them in a tribal manner (we decided it was a bit golden calf-ish, so never fear).

My math teacher friend, Barbara, gave me the following math problem and I solved it my very own way:
She has 5 hooks in her bathroom on which she hangs 3 towels, a hand towel, a hooded towel and her towel. She hangs each towel on a specific hook. The question is, how many ways can her husband hang them wrong? If you want the answer you'll have to let me know!!

It was fun to be together and make friends with girls that I have danced with for months but don't know well.

Good times!

Fabulous Weekend!!

It is Saturday night. We just got back to our hotel after spending the day at our clogging competition and we're on a bit of a high.
Let me explain...
First: clogging these days is different than it used to be - they actually also call it powertap. It's a combination of traditional clogging, irish, canadian, and (I think) a bit of jazz and cheer. In other words - I'm not a hick!! Plus, it's incredibly fun and great exercise!
Second: clogging isn't really an adult sport, so rarely have we had anyone to compete against and on the bizarre occasion when we do, we haven't really won. (We still hold a bit of a grudge against some little old ladies who beat us purely by getting their formations, stomps and claps all together (irritating!).
Third: I haven't done this all my life, therefore, while most of my clogging buddies grew up earning trophies and traveling the world with their groups, this is it for me!

We compete in the championship level (right next to professional) and today there were 27 other champ teams of various ages. Okay, so here it is...drumroll please.... We made the top 4!!!!! We won our very own trophy and helped to win two other studio trophies with our scores!!!!

It was absolutely delightful. We basked in the joy of that moment and it carried us through to an even better performance in the pro category (same dance). We didn't make overall teams in that, but there was no expectation of that. (Pro teams are really incredible!)

It's been a marvelous day, I have great friends, a great teacher (thanks Greg!), and a wonderful husband who made it possible for me to be gone. I feel very fortunate to be able to dance.

PS - last night I had no nightmares! we'll cross our fingers about tonight as well.

Nighttime Adventures

If you know me well you probably know that I have regular nocturnal visitors via the smoke detector in my room. Don't ask my why but my sleepy brain has nightly adventures with what I like to call my "conspiracy dreams". They usually involve somebody watching from the smoke detector and setting random traps in my room. It's actually kind of tiring to try to think like James Bond in my sleep. The reality is that I totally miss the spy mark and usually end up whispering to said visitors, "Go away, I just want to sleep!" or some version of "Heavenly Father doesn't want you here, so just leave me alone!" You might think this is odd if you don't have regular conspiracy dreams, but even in my half-coherant state I usually know I can talk myself back to sleep. Only on occasion do I wake Scott in a panic - thankfully.

Last night the conspirators remodeled my room to hide a secret entrance behind my bed. So irritating!

The additional complication of the aforementioned dreams is that when I am out of my normal element, I'm more likely to believe what I'm seeing and wake whoever is nearby (usually Scott, of course) but this weekend I'm going to St. George with my clogging friends and we're staying together in a hotel. It could be a real adventure. I can't decide if I should warn them first. Never a dull moment.

Primary Songs 2

I forgot one funny moment of the nighttime singing. It went something like this: I sang, "It shouldn't be hard to sit very still, to think about Jesus, his cross on the hill. And all that he suffered and did for me, it shouldn't be hard to sit quietly..." Ryan, "Yes it is!!"
He really does try, but it really is hard for him. Cute boy.

Primary Songs

Ryan has had a pretty nasty stomach ache off and on for the last couple of days. He hasn't really been throwing up and I've felt like there has been little I could do for him. Last night he woke numerous times crying and rolling around the bed. Each time he only calmed down as I cradled him and sang primary songs to him. He fell asleep laying in my lap as I sang about how he is loved by his family and the Savior. I'm not quite sure about him, but rarely have I felt so peaceful as I've taken care of a sick child at 2 am. One time as I held him I reflected on the RS spotlight that I filled out a couple of weeks ago that asked about a goal or dream of mine. I wrote that I would love to sing in a band, a choir or something like that. I filled out the questionnaire the same day that I sang in church with the choir and had someone comment about my hidden talent. So...after thinking about how I can use my talents and not knowing exactly what I should be doing, last night was a very sweet reminder that there are many different ways in which I can use my talents and just because I haven't tried out for the Mo-Tab doesn't mean I don't appreciate or use what I have been given. Tender mercies.

Not for the Faint Hearted

I just found a set of pictures from last summer and as I flipped through them I was reminded about how thankful I am for my son...and that I should never forget to make the kids wear their bike helmets!

Princess Wishes

Last week Isabelle and I went to Disney on Ice with my sister Cassie and her daughter Amy. It was a magical evening! The girls were entranced and I'll admit, I was right behind them! It's so easy for me to get excited about things when I think my children will enjoy them
I tried to add a video of Isabelle, but it didn't work. Oh well!

Remodel?

Roses are red.
Violets are blue.
I have a cleaning fairy,
you should get one too!

If you've never ventured into Isabelle's bedroom, be thankful. She has a small room that we packed an unreasonable amount of stuff in...poor girl. She's always complaining that Ryan has a bigger room.

So this past week my cleaning fairy Kellie came and helped me clean out all the boxes I had stuffed in her closet (storing her old clothes),


take down the crib, rearrange furniture and finally vacuumed!


Isabelle's closet now.


Isabelle's beautifully clean room!

Izzy said, "(sigh), this is much better."

When Ryan came home from school we all hung out in her peaceful place and then Ryan looked at his room and complained that now his room is smaller. Funny kid.

So, thank goodness for my cleaning fairy, I think you all should get one too!

Pride & Prejudice Music

I added the song from Pride and Prejudice that I posted about last to my playlist. It's the first song but I couldn't figure out how to take the shuffle off, so you have to skip around to find it. It's called "Top of the World". Enjoy.

Romantic Movie Moments

I've seen a lot of romantic movies from the classics like Casablanca (magical) to the nowhere near classic like the remake of Christmas in Conneticut (not so magical). In all of the accumulated romantic moments, I think I've decided the most romantic is in the Pride and Prejudice with Keira Knightley (don't panic if you are a fan of the A&E version, so am I. I much prefer Colin Firth).

The moment is when Darcy walks through the misty morning to her at the end and the music is so incredible, Wow. I think it's a combination of the music and the artistry and then his sweet speech to her. I stayed up later than I should have last night to catch that moment on TV and (sigh) it was wonderful!

Jazz Game

Scott was given tickets for the Monday night jazz game, so we enjoyed FHE lesson in the car and headed to Salt Lake. We had a marvelous time! It was an exciting time, the children enjoyed their treats, and we all enjoyed being together. Go Jazz!

Sunday tricks

I may have found the secret to helping Ryan cope with church! This Sunday I forgot something at home so Scott was going to run home to get it. We decided to send Ryan along to allow him a minute to burn some energy before sitting again in Primary. When he got back he had a few more wiggley moments, but he did so well!!!
I decided to take the same tack for our home teaching visit. Right before our home teachers arrived I had both Ryan and Izzy run up and down the stairs 10 times. After which they both decided to do a few jumping jacks. When our home teacher arrived they sat down next to him and listened to the story he had to tell them out of the Friend. He gave a nice short lesson and they did great! This may not seem all that relevant, but after last month's visit both children ended up in timeout - it wasn't pleasant.
I'm not sure what I'll work out for next Sunday, Scott thinks it would be inappropriate for me to send Ryan running around the building before he enters the primary room, so we'll see.