Dancing cousins

When Markee and Tamsyn were itty bittys, about 3 years old, they danced. I would post pictures, but my scanner is not working - after I went through the albums and found the pictures, geez. They danced for a few years doing tap and ballet and jazz until both Jeff's family and our family moved way out west to Lehi and Eagle Mountain and the girls lost some interest.
When Markee started junior high she took dance classes again and loved them, but most especially the hip hop sections. So for her 14th birthday we gave her a year of hip hop lessons at a local studio. She was in heaven! This is the type of dance that she loves and does well. One year turned into two which will soon turn into three and, of course, she dragged her cousin into it with her. I don't think she had to "drag" very hard to get Tamsyn there. Their instructor, Lee Hadlock is fantastic and the girls love her. So, this year the recital was with both the cousins together again. Let's hear it for cousins!

From left to right, Maria, Dana Harrell (Markee and Tamsyn's good friend), Nicole Hadlock (Lee's daughter), Marie, LeAndrena Hadlock the great, Markee and Tamsyn

We left the girls in the car after the recital to run in and get rootbeer float ingredients. Never leave girls in the car alone with a camera . . .

After the recital, we went back to our house for rootbeer floats and the girls still had the dancing fever. They made up their own dance and performed it for us.

Summer fun

It has been an uneventful summer so far this year. With no car we just hang out at home most days. It has been a cool and rainy summer so far, but looks like the heat is finally here. Here is a little of what we have done, a little swimming, a little thunderstorm dancing and a lot of friends over. I feel like we are running our own day camp some times.

We did make it to the Lehi pool one day. It was just Erik, Marin, Nicolas, Jared and Parker Smith and I and we had a great afternoon.

Peter and Erik doing a thunderstorm dance. It was WAY funny to watch and the thunder and lightning were fantastic! We had a very rainy and cold spring/early summer but this was a rare warmer day, hence the shirtless look.

Memorial Day

Just a regular Memorial day. Gardening, food-making, food-eating and game-playing. Ahh. I love my family!
Mark manned the barbeque at Peter's graduation party at our house (Jared was making salsa) so it was Jeff's turn for Memorial Day at his house.

We just sat around and ate and ate and ate til we almost exploded and then played board and card games to "work it off." :-)

Jeff and Alison had the badminton net set up so the kids spent a lot of time outside.

Peter's graduation

What a perfect day. I can't imagine a better graduation day. The weather was nice, everyone was in a good mood, all the preparations for the post graduation party got done and the graduation went smoothly. It was absolutely perfect. I am so proud of Peter accomplishing this - we weren't sure if we were going to see this day. He worked his hardest and got the credit that he needed with less than a week to go before graduation.

To be part of Westlake High School's very first graduating class made the ceremony even more special. I am glad that Peter decided to go to Westlake instead of staying at Lehi High School for his senior year - it was a good year for him, having a great experience in cross country and in his Thundervision classes.

I am grateful for all those that came to support him in his achievement - Mom and Dad (Grandma and Grandpa Randall), Daina (Grandma Jones), Alison and her girls and Maddie and Cameron Cook. I know it meant a lot to Peter to have everyone there, even though he would never express that to them. The ceremony was perfect - not too long and consisting of short, entertaining talks - and Peter looked great in his cap and gown. As I said - perfect.

We all headed back to our house to finish out the perfect day.

Jared and I surprised Peter with his graduation gift - the updated version of a "typewriter" - the gift I received at graduation more than 20 years ago - a laptop. He was thrilled, as you can tell by the look of excitement on his face. No, really he was. I think Maddie showed more enthusiasm. . .

Food, family, fun and fresh salsa were had by all.

So here is Peter demonstrating his post-graduation plan. He is going to sit at a local store with a tin can in front of him playing "Over the Rainbow" on a ukelele to earn money to get to Japan - his life's goal. That's my boy with his great ambition. :-)

Rainforest

"Could you help with the trees?" she asks. All year I have helped out in Nicolas' class. Every Thursday I go in and help with math or little art projects or math games in the afternoon. It's the end of the year and testing is done and most moms are done with volunteering in the classroom. But Mrs. Stamper (Miss Johnson until recently) had one more project planned. I almost didn't go in, not thinking that I was really needed, but she sent a note home with Nicolas saying that I could come in "any time" that day. Hmm.

I went in asking where she was planning this rainforest project, picturing in my head a small dividing wall in the classroom. Not so. "Out there," she says, pointing to the entire hallway wall from the classroom door to the corner of the hallway. WHAT!! Apparently I am an expert at making rainforest trees since I did one on Mr. Gallegos' door for teacher appreciation last year. So, I went on to spend 2 hours making about 6 trees to create a rainforest. The kids in the class made the rainforest animals and undergrowth. Here are pictures of the finished project. No longer will I assume I know what a teacher wants when they ask for "help" with an art project.

"Whether you like it or not" haircut

I have nothing against boys with long hair. In fact I really like long hair on lots of boys and men. I cried when Peter cut his hair. But I had had it with Nicolas'. He looked like a ragamuffin more often than not because he doesn't have the curly hair yet and he just wouldn't comb it. I have been telling him for months now that we are going to cut his hair, but he would have a huge sulking fit. All the talking about it paid off, though, because he finally agreed on Sunday. None too happy about it, but finally willing to succumb. He saw a boy at church with a little "faux hawk" and said if he could have that he would let me cut his hair. Here are the pictures.

End of an era

Yes, I have to admit, I cried. After the semi-final game against Timpanogos, I shed some tears. Not because we lost, although that was sad too, but because I saw the end. The end of Peter's lacrosse career, the end of that camaraderie that has grown among these boys and their parents. I have enjoyed almost every minute of Peter's lacrosse career, probably more than he did! (I have to admit some of those games in subfreezing temperatures with wind, rain and snow weren't my favorite.) I loved the relationships that I developed with the other parents and that I developed with the boys as I sat at the table by them. I will truly miss this.

I know that I still have Erik playing and that I will continue to actively be involved in the lacrosse community with him, but it will be with different people and probably different coaches. I'm sure I will enjoy every minute (well, most of them), but this is still an ending of this era.

Fortunately it ended on a very high note. First of all, Lehi has never had great record in lacrosse. We are a fairly new program and have been working so hard on improving. This year, we not only made it past the playoffs, but made it all the way to the semi-finals - only losing to the team that ended up being the champion. Fantastic! And then, Coach Freeman chose Peter as one of the all-stars and last Friday night was the All-Star game - North v South. Coach Freeman was chosen as the coach for the South team and they had, by far, a much "funner" time than the North team. It was a game for fun and they did all kinds of silly things. I am attaching a video of Peter playing - he didn't do anything exciting, but this is for those of you that may have never seen lacrosse played or haven't had the opportunity to see him play. He wore the penny with #24 because one of the other boys had already taken his #3. The North team was taking the game seriously, but just couldn't get past us, so instead of having the game turn ugly, Coach just made it fun. The North team finally put their entire team on the field and still couldn't get past the South so some extra "cheating" had to go on since they were the hosts and "had" to win. It was all just fun to watch and to play, so Peter says.

Thank you, Peter for finding this exciting sport and letting Dad and I be a part of it. It was a great time!