Middle School Choir Talent Show

Amy had a little CD trouble during her song, so after 2 tries, she just ended up seeing a Capella! It turned out GREAT though!!! Click the play button to watch her performance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Middle School Talent Show!!

Amy and her Buddies!!

Amy and Megan!!

The Middle school Choir Talent show was tonight and it was so much fun!! Michael was darling as the M.C. and we were SO proud of him!! Amy stole the show singing "Good Morning Baltimore" from Hairspray!! She got a huge round of applause before she even started singing and then her C.D. with her music completely mixed up the sequence of the song a minute into Amy performing. It did it to Amy a couple of times and Amy handled it with such poise and such stage presence we were SO proud of her. She sang accapalla and everyone clapped along to her singing and she was just amazing!! I had so many parents come up to me afterward just amazed at Amy's confidence and stage presence!! We were very proud of her!! She had a fun night as she went for ice cream with a big group of friends and then over to Lauren's house for even more fun!! The end of the night a group of 4 of her friends performed as a band and they were SO good and the kids had so much fun as their "groopies!!" They loved being the screaming, adoring fans!! What a fun night!! Way to go Michael and Amy!!

Date with Jenn and a new Haircut!!

I took Jenn out of school at noon today and took her to lunch at Macaroni Grill (her personal favorite!!) Jenn got pizza and ate the whole loaf of breat herself!! She loves her Italian food!! Then we went over to Bubbles for a haircut that Jenn has wanted for a LONG time and I kept saying "WHEN Roadshow is finished!!" I think the girls got tired of hearing that!! Jenn had not had a haircute since school started and she looks like a new kid!! She was SO pleased!! What a cutie!! Our date ended with Jenn getting a Robeks smoothie!! Somehow I ended up with nothing, but that is how it should be!! I would do anything for Jenn!!

New Beginnings!!

Jennifer and Keary!!

Jenn, Shaunie and Sarah!! Sarah did such a great job planning New Beginnings for Young Women's for one of her last Value Projects and what a treat to get to spotlight such a darling upcoming Beehive as our sweet Jennifer!! Jenn had such a fun time being a part of Young Women's and was so thrilled to be there last night and it made her SO excited for when she turns 12 this summer!! Sarah has worked so hard planning this night and her Mom has helped her all week with decorations and refreshments. She got a true taste of leadership as both her speakers canceled and she ended up having to speak and prepare a talk the night before but everything just turned out lovely!! I was very proud of Sarah and thrilled for Jenn!! Amy was off at play practice and was very missed of course!! Way to go Sarah and Jenn!!

Abby and the Recorder!!

Abby has been VERY into practicing her recorder lately, and that is a big understatement. She claims her chorus teacher at school says they have to practice one hour a day!! She plays it contstantly!! I really am one who likes to encourage my kids in the arts, but I have had to limit her practice to in her room with the door closed due to many complaints from her siblings who are unable to concentrate on their studies (or due to bad headaches!!) She is putting on a concert tonight and made a big poster advertising it!! She is performing 5 (yes, that is right, five!!) songs and it is free of charge!! She has been practicing all day today!! I told her she needs to practice in her room with the door shut so we will be surprised tonight at the concert!! What a funny girl my Abby is!!!

We LOVE Roadshow!!!!

On Friday night after dividing into groups (the toughest part!!), everyone spent a couple of hours getting to know each other and start planning their roadshow!! We ended at 9:00 with yummy brownie sundaes!! There were hungry youth, not a morsel of brownie or icecream was left behind!!!

More Roadshow Pictures!!!

Great Times at Roadshow!!!

What a great weekend!!

Roadshow Weekend!!!!

This is Amy's group practicing in their room!! They had SO much fun! Amy and Sarah sang "Sisters" between acts and did a great job!! The Roadshows were SO much fun this weekend!! I had stressed and worried about it coming off but we all had SUCH a blast!! The kids all had so much fun and that is all that mattered. They were all so thrilled with their shows and the whole weekend was so much fun. Everyone made new friends and met new people and it was such a fun atmosphere. The show tonight was just fabulous and the youth did an amazing job!! My favorite time was last night way too late when Sarah and Amy were sitting on our bed so excited and telling me and Tom about their groups ideas for their roadshows and how excited they were for their group and what the next day would bring. It was amazing how 10 groups could have the same theme and come up with such different shows!! I was so proud of our youth and how they worked together and were so kind to each other!! It was a really wonderful weekend!! I enjoyed spending it with my whole family!!

Dinner/Pizza Time!!

Practicing our Grand Finale!!

Amy's group practicing!! She is the top of the pyrmamid!!

The Stake Young Women's Presidency doing Mama Mia!!

Fun at District Choir!!

Sarah, Amy, Matthew and Michael all did such a fabulous job today performing in their concert for District Choir. What an honor to audition and then be chosen to represent their middle school and high school!! We had performers in all three choirs that performed today!! They started practicing Thursday night and then all day Friday (missed school, score!!) and then all day today until the concert at 2:00!! It was amazing!! I was so proud of all the kids!! We stopped at McDonald's afterwards for McFlurry's for a special treat!! It was a great way to spend Valentine's day, listening to such talented performers!! Way to go Sarah, Amy, Matthew and Micheal!!! You guys were amazing!!

Primary Party!!

Jenn and Abby had alot of fun at the Primary Valentine's party last night that Julie was in charge of. Julie did a great job and can throw a great party!! Abby brought her BFF Camille from school and they had a wonderful time together. I think their favorite parts were making valentine's and decorating and eating valentine cookies!! What is not to love!! While we were there Tom took Amy and Sarah out and let Sarah drive all over the place! Way to go Sarah!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

The girls are SO excited for Valentine's day!! Amy worked for hours making her Valentine's for her friends. They are the cute I-Pod made out of candy hearts and she made each friend an individual playlist of songs from their friendship etc. We got the idea from Family Fun and Amy just took it and ran with it!! She is so creative, she never ceases to amaze me!! Jenn is very excited today for her class party. The 6th grade did ALL the planning themselves (Jenn was kind enough to sign me up for my famous M &M cookies filled with frosting!!) Jenn was on the music committe and was able to get her share of Jonas brothers songs to play!! I know they will have a blast!! Abby's big stress this Valentine's day is how to show her love for her many boyfriends without making it embarrassing!! She went back and forth on whether she should send will a candygram and she wanted help writing a love poem for Spencer. In the end, she decided she did not want to put herself out there with sending the candygram and she make Spencer a very nice "good friend" Valentine!! Such the drama!!

Amy's I-Pod Valentine!! Very cute!!

Singing at Barnes and Noble!!

The Middle School Choir sang tonight at Barnes and Noble for a fundraiser and they were so darling and had SO much fun!! Amy had so much fun being with her friends and of course doing her favorite thing singing and performing!! We went to Robeks afterwards for smoothies!! Yummy!! It was alot of fun to be around all that positive middle school energy!!

Amy and Michael are too cute!!

Megan, Aisling and Amy, friends since Kindergarden

Beach Party Mutual!!!!!

Abby and Jenn had a Valentine's Day theme, and Michael, Matthew, Sarah, and I had a Beach Party in Febuary!! We had relay races, sand castle building, musical towels, limbo, and ice cream!!! SO fun!!!

Halloween Fun 2008

I am playing such catch up on all my pictures but these pictures were too cute for words!! I love Jenn and her friends. They came up with these costumes all on their own. Three of them are different kinds of cereal (Jenn, Alexis and Maggie) and Elena is the Cereal Killer!! Get it!! Very creative and creepy at the same time. They were very excited with their invention. I love our neighborhood at Halloween. They close off the whole street by Julie's house and the entire neighborhood meets down at one end of the street all dressed in costume and marches to the cul de sac and has hot dogs, chips and soda and heads off trick or treating from there. It is a great feeling of community and SO much fun!! We always look forward to this event!!

A Sad GoodBye!!!

It was VERY hard to say goodbye to our VERY loved and adored parent and grandparents last night as they headed off to the MTC today for two weeks and then Bogota Columbia for 2 years. They are SO amazing and such a part of our every day life. They are setting such an amazing example for all of us though and we are so excited to share this adventure with them!! Goodbyes really stink!!! But we arel SOOOO proud of them and their desire to serve and their great love of the Spanish people!! We love you Mom and Dad!!!!!