Homecoming

Sydney went to the Murray High Homecoming with Diego. 

Sterling and I were both going to be gone at the time that Sydney was picked up so we asked Sal and Edna to fill in for us. They were happy to oblige and Sydney was thrilled with it too!

Rachel and Camille both took pictures so we wouldn't miss a thing.

My mom and I got back early from the Revival Recital and caught the happy couple before they left. 

Quick story: We got a kick out of Sydney and Diego telling the story about how she and I shopped and shopped for a dress and found a cute one. Then Friday, the night before the dance, she stopped by Ross's dress for less and bought a whole new dress. Then she called Diego and told him he needed to get a new tie, pronto. It was very funny to see them joke and laugh about it. Syd had also told Diego he needed to get both the corsage and boutonniere so they would match. And then she forgot so she bought another boutonniere. haha. funny girl.

Sweetheart's Dance

Sydney had a volleyball tournament on the same day as her school's sweetheart dance. Ben had a basketball game the night of his school's sweetheart dance. 

What's a couple to do? 

They still got dressed up and went to a nice dinner with friends and made a fun night of it.

Those smiles though. They are such good friends!

I thought it was cute how Sydney kept hooking her ankles. Ben tried to mimic her.

I just can't believe this girl is growing up. Its hard for me. Harder for me than her. And I probably make it harder on her than I need to. 

She is growing into such a beautiful, mature, capable young woman. I love her love her love her. 

Random December

Helping put up Christmas lights.

The kids have been working really hard to get me to buy them a dog. They covered my room with notes about puppies.

They changed my lockscreen and wallpaper on my phone and ipad to puppies. And they are cute. The puppies and the children, but I'm not getting a puppy.

Sydney went to a Christmas Formal dance with her good friend, Ben! They make a cute couple. (This was actually girl's choice at his charter school, but he defied the social norm asked her anyway.)

Here's one more picture of my beautiful red cake.

This Pickles comic made me laugh because when Sterling was gone in Washington D.C., I completely forgot to put out our garbage can on garbage day and it was already FULL. 

Sydney went to the Westlake Christmas dance with her friend, Gavin. (Boy's choice)

Um, yes. This is so true.

Sterling and I were given tickets to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert. We've never been before and it was AWESOME! We went for dinner first, at the Nauvoo Cafe, one of my favorites. And we happened to run into to Sydney and Gavin on their Christmas dance date. (See the photo above)

Sterling's Birthday! He turned 44!!! Woot Woot. 

He requested Build Your Own for dinner. And Pumpkin Squares for dessert. Well, that's a warm dessert. But I wasn't thinking about that when I put the candles in and lit them up. 

Talk about burning a candle from both ends. 

And then I had to scoop out the wax before we could eat it. Duh!

And then his favorite Christmas movie, "The Polar Express" for dinner. 

Neighbor, Heather, brought over a fun Christmas game for the kids. She wrapped a lot of toys with rolls upon rolls of plastic wrap. One child unwraps the plastic wrap, collecting toys as they fall out. The next child rolls the two dice until they get a double. Then it all moves to the left and the next child rolls the die while the previous roller unwraps. 

Its a super fun game. Heather had two left over balls from her classroom Christmas party and invited the cul-de-sac kids to my house (while her baby slept at her house) to play the game. I love our cul-de-sac so much.

Sterling and I weren't the only ones who got to see the temple square lights this year. Sydney went with Ben. (She's been seeing a lot of him lately.)

A few other things have been keeping us busy the last little while. Camille started learning to ride the unicycle this fall. She's pretty good now. You can see in the video, from the beginning and then after a little practicing, she's riding all over the place.

Parker and Ethan spent a lot of time bouncing ping pong balls. Its better than playing computer games or staring at a screen. 

Another day, friend Jackson came over and they did a little more.

Cottonwood Half and Westlake Homecoming

Sometime in June or July, Sarah approached Sydney and I and asked if we would like to run the Cottonwood Half Marathon with her. 

Now, running is not my very favorite thing to do, but Sydney and Sarah are two of my favorite people, so if they were both in, so was I!

We woke up bright and early and bused up the canyon. 

And then the race was on. Sarah and I stuck together the whole way but Sydney left us in her dust at the starting line.

The canyon was so beautiful. I really enjoyed every minute of the run in the canyon.

The last five or so miles in the city were less enjoyable but we made it and crossed the finish line. I think we ran a 2hr. 12min. race.

At the finish line, Sarah lifted Cooper over the barrier and he finished with us. Sarah was also there with her Homecoming date, Evan, who was nice enough to get up early and meet her there. 

My first and maybe only Half Marathon and it was awesome. 

So is my sister.

Stats:
Sydney - 1st/ 28 in 15-18 age category
Time: 1:48:10.49 at 8:15/mile pace

Karin - 138/273 in 40-44 age category
Time: 2:10:41.29 at 9:58/mile pace

Sarah - 154/294 in 30-34 age category
Time: 2:10:42.42 at 9:58/mile pace

Later in the day, Sydney and Evan went to the Homecoming dance.

I've included this video to demonstrate how awesome my kids are.

They set up streamers for Sydney to walk through and Rachel played the trumpet. And everyone said I Love You as she left in a big old beat up truck. 

That's a pretty good window into the personality of my family!

Last Day of School

The last day of school is always marked by the dance festival.

I was too far away from Hash to get a good picture of him. He finished 1st grade. 

Here is Ray, who finished 3rd grade. 

And here is Camille, who finished 6th grade.

And finished ALL of elementary school! Whoa! When did that happen?

Here is video of their dances.

After school, we went with Sydney to work at Thanksgiving Point Gardens and played for a while. 

Look at these beautiful origami cranes!

My favorite part is the "Light of the World" exhibit. I happened upon Camille looking at the first vision and snapped this picture before she knew I was there. With her standing there by Joseph, looking up at the Father and the Son, I couldn't help but think how personal spiritual experiences are. Joseph was called by name by his Heavenly Father and his brother, Jesus Christ. And Camille (and all of us) can have deeply personal experiences with our Heavenly Father and brother, Jesus Christ. They know our names. And when we pray, they hear us and answer.

Prom

Prom Day!!!

Sydney got a phone call from her date, Evan, the night before wherein he informed her that he had jumped over a car and rolled his ankle. But he was still going to Prom with her. 

Sydney was so funny because she didn't believe him and gave him a real hard time and then found out Evan had her on speaker phone with his family. :)

So Saturday morning, after our neighborhood easter egg hunt, Evan came to pick Sydney up for the day date to the zoo. Lucky for them, the whole neighborhood was still out talking and witnessed the pick up!

When Sydney got dropped off, we jumped into beauty prep mode. She did her hair and make-up herself and did a beautiful job!!!

When she was finished, Sterling took it upon himself to give her a quick dance lesson. 

I love this picture because Sydney is so excited and Sterling looks like he's in a bit of shock!

Evan was a little late arriving and Sydney got a little tired of waiting so she went outside and tossed the football with Sterling and Parker, which was ADORABLE!

The corsage.

The boutonniere. (Totally had to look that word up.)

Evan looks a little nervous about those sharp straight pins heading toward his chest, yes?

And... Syd poked her finger. We should have looked up how to pin a boutonniere on youtube. We all needed help.

And after a few more pictures.....

....they were off to dance the night away!

The cutest part was when Sydney came home she said, "I just want to live this day all over again!"