My Starlets

I have always loved the musical, Annie, so when my girls' performing group picked it for their summer show, I was very excited! We pulled the movie off the shelf and had lots of fun singing, "You're never fully dressed without a smile" and "The sun will come out tomorrow." The boys were completely sick of the singing by the time the performances started in July, but Maren and Emma had a great time.

Maren played the role of Annette, the maid, and Emma was Tessie, the orphan.

Maren liked the fun raincoats they wore in the song "NYC". Emma's favorite scene was the one where she got to sing "You're never fully dressed..." on top of the dresser.
The cast did a wonderful job and the singing was amazing! It was a very professional performance considering how young most of the cast is. It was fun watching the littlest kids play policeman and President Roosevelt. They were great!
The girls also had fun walking in the 24th of July parade to advertise for their performing group. Sarah and Priscilla Hibbert are on the ends. Daddy Warbucks in the back was played by my friend Erin McIntosh Hillier's oldest son. He had to shave his shoulder length hair for the show, and all of the girls assured me that he looks much better bald!

Overall, it was a fabulous opportunity for my little orphans!

Strange Morning

I was sleeping quite soundly at about 6:20 am a few days ago when all of a sudden my dog, Olive, started barking wildly outside our window. I yelled at her to stop, but she kept barking frantically. Del looked out the window and said, "We've got a policeman in our back yard." My first thought was, "Crap! I haven't weeded my flowerbeds in the backyard! How embarrassing!" My second, more coherent thought was, "Oh no! We've had a creepy Peeping Tom or burglar and the police are after him!" Fortunately, I was wrong, but the truth was slightly more bizarre.

I wasn't about to go outside with messy hair, no makeup, morning breath, AND weedy flowerbeds, so I sent Del to investigate! When he came back inside after talking to the policeman, he said that there was a moose spotted running down the freeway. My yard backs up to the freeway, and apparently the moose hopped over the fence and into a backyard a few houses away and then ran through all of the yards along my street! It crashed through the bushes that separate mine and a neighbor's yards and then ran down several other streets! I wish I had seen it! Apparently, Olive did, and she didn't like it one bit! The only pictures we got of our strange visitor are these, which show a footprint next to the pear tree we just planted and a bare spot in the bushes. Darn!

Fortunately for us, our high-tech security system got a picture of the miscreant as it trotted by!What a strange way to start a day! We're thinking of posting a sign in our backyard to warn Peeping Toms and burglars of the potential hazards of sneaking around our yard. Moose can be quite dangerous, you know.

A Really High Adventure!

 

 This summer for High Adventure, Devin and Chris were lucky enough to go to the Sawtooth Mountains on a three day backpacking trip.  They hiked 7 miles to Alice Lake, and from all accounts it was a grueling but amazing hike.

Jon, Brandon, Clark, Brodie, Kash, Chris, and Devin

 There were three leaders, Adam Heder, Jon Byington, and Dave VanOrden and nine boys, Devin, Chris, Brandon and Patrick Riley, Dean and Kash Clinton, Collin Jorgenson, Brodie, and Clark Wilkinson.

Clark, Dean, Collin

They hiked to the campsite the first day and then further up the mountain the next day.  Chris, Devin, and Jon Byington were the only ones who made it clear up to the top of Snowy Peak because it got kind of treacherous.  Jon told me later that when he saw Chris scampering up to the top like a goat, his stomach jumped into his throat.  He said he and Devin were carefully choosing their steps on the way up, but Chris just went straight up the steep part of the mountain.  I was not happy to hear about this, but I'm proud that they made it to the top!  Hurray for my two mountain goats!

They had a great time, and Devin took some beautiful pictures of a some really breathtaking views.

Girls Night

When Del decided to take the boys on a father and son campout two rainy, cold weekends ago, we decided to have a fun Girls Night! No boys allowed! We invited Susan and Layla over for a late night party and had a great time! We watched Mamma Mia (edited) and a collection of original ABBA music videos and sang along as loudly and off-key as we wanted to without any complaints from brothers! While we watched, we did facials...

and pedicures...I think we're going to do it again soon and do hair! My girls are really good at styling hair. Here's a style they created a few months ago involving an empty water bottle:

Aren't we cute? We could also do a Girls Night Fashion Show! Sunday, Grandma Nielson made my kids watch our old slides and the girls had lots of fun laughing at my 80's clothes! They decided they want to be Sally and Becky for Halloween. Great. Their clothes are good, but we'll have to work on 80's hair. They need some side ponytails or big bangs or something.

Our next night should be lots of fun! Call me if you want in on it!

Proud Parents!

Devin did it! Our amazingly talented, smart-alecky son did it! He graduated AND attended his Senior Prom! Who would have guessed? Well, graduating didn't surprise me, of course, because he's a bright kid, but the Prom date did!

Devin had a great time at his Prom with Justina Schmidt, a girl from his art class. From his awkward pose, I think he would have preferred it if her dress had sleeves! We decided to buy him a suit for his mission instead of renting a tux, and I think he looks very handsome.I love the group of friends Devin went with! They are fun and practical, so they decided to have dinner at Andrew Bringhurst's house (the boy in blue), which saved us all lots of money! Good kids! Andrew was an exchange student in Italy for a year, and he makes great Italian food.Several of these friends are theatre students, as you can tell from the way they posed in the last picture. They decided to look crazy, but there's no change in Devin. He told me he's crazy in spirit!

I Met Donny Osmond!

I really did! It was pretty cool to meet someone famous! He posed with my friend, Farhana Hibbert, but then other people saw him and his bodyguard came to get him, and I never got a posed picture....Dang it! I just got a picture of me standing and waiting for a picture.....

staring over his shoulder.....

and then walking away disappointed. Del says I need to be more assertive. I just stand there, nicely waiting my turn while other people push past me. Oh, well. That's what good manners will get you.

The Osmonds came to Malad, ID to dedicate the cabin their mother grew up in. It's a pretty tiny two room cabin, and it's now a museum to celebrate their mother's life. Sunday night we took our girls to the family history fireside they spoke at, and then Monday we attended the dedication. It was really fun!

The second generation Osmond brothers, Nathan, Scott and another guy, sang a medley of Osmond songs. Then each of the Osmond brothers spoke about their mother and then they sang an old song their mother had loved.

From left to right are Allen, Jay, Donny, Merrell and Jimmy. Virl and Tom (the two brothers who are deaf) spoke but didn't sing. We got all of the brothers' autographs except one who was sick (and I don't even know his name, so how famous can he be :)

Here I am with Marie. It's not a very good picture of either of us, but it will have to do. She didn't come because of the recent tragedy in her family (her son died). She donated this piano, which was her mother's, to the museum.

This old sewing machine was also their mother's, and the boys all carved their names in it when they were little. Rotten little boys, but I wonder how much more valuable that old Singer is because of its autographs!

I wouldn't say this tiny little museum is worth a trip, but if you're already going past Malad, it's kind of fun. Of course, Donny won't be there, though.

Emma's 1st Decade Party!

Ten little 10 year old girls, 100 little ten year old toes (If my math seems off, one little girl got sick, so her toes aren't in the picture). Girls can be lots of fun, not to mention noisy and full of energy! You can just imagine the giggles! Emma had a terrific time making flowery flip-flops and flowery hair clips with her friends. They made homemade pizza and had lots of fun!