Homecoming

A few weeks ago Chelsea came home, sat down and said, in a frustrated voice, "I got nominated for Homecoming Queen." I asked her what was wrong with that and she said she didn't want to do it. After some discussion I told her she could go to the administration and tell them she wasn't interested or she could think about all the girls in the school who would kill to be in her place. She finally decided to go ahead and participate.

The first thing on the agenda was to find a dress. Normally Homecoming is less formal than Prom and most girls wear a knee length dress, but the candidates need to have a long dress. We went to Chelsea's favorite dress shop, Just For Girls. The manager there was very helpful especially when she found out Chelsea was, in her words, "royalty". It was so funny because several people asked why Chelsea was trying on floor length dresses and the lady kept saying "Well, she's royalty and royalty has to have a long dress." She was so serious about it too, so Chelsea and I had a few laughs about it.   The first dress she tried was this one:
We thought it was fun, less formal than normal and fit Chelsea's personality. But of course she had to try on 5 or 6 more dresses. Then we found this one:

After consulting with her cousin and a friend we decided this was the dress. You can't really tell in this picture but the material has a shimmer to it. Not sure if that is the best way to describe it but there it is.

The first activity was the Homecoming Assembly. It was so fun to see all the kids and how excited they were. Chelsea and Mike looked great.

My dad said that Chelsea looks so good in this picture she even made Mike look good! :) I think they both look wonderful! Here are a few more

assembly pictures.




When they called each girls
name the crowd cheered, but when they called Chelsea's name the crowd went wild. Mike said afterward "If they picked the winner by the audience reaction Chelsea would have won, hands down."
These are all of the candidates after the assembly. They are all so pretty!






Next was the Homecoming Parade. Jake marched with the band:
Chelsea rode in a car with some of the other candidates:
Of course, part of the excitement was when Isaac asked Chelsea to the dance. In Utah you can't just ask a girl to the dance, you have to come up with some creative way to do it. Isaac came over while Chelsea was gone and put a bunch of Coke cans on her bed and a sign said "You would have to be on Coke to say no to going to the homecoming game with me."
And then came the game. This is Chelsea heading down to the field before half time.

Here she is with Mike when they announced the candidates:
The crowd went wild when they announced Chelsea as the winner. I must say that I was excited too.
Here she is greeting the crowd:
Here is Chelsea with her proud parents:
Here is the Queen!

Labor Day Weekend

Mike had mentioned going hiking yesterday so this morning I got up, showered, got dressed and woke him up to go. He didn't want to go so early (7:30) even though we had gone to bed at 9:30 last night. I think someone is getting old! :) Anyway I decided to go on my own. I got chastised by my brother and sister for this but I went hiking to Waterfall Canyon which is a very popular hike so I was never really alone for very long. In the end I was sort of glad that I went alone because I am in pretty good shape and could go as fast as I wanted. Mike's idea of exercise is walking behind a self-propelled lawn mower so I don't think he'd have wanted to keep up with the pace I set for myself. Here's a photo of the waterfall:

After the hike I met up with the kids. They were long-boarding at Weber State University. Chelsea got one a few weeks ago and then Jake got one. Now several of their friends have them. Here is Chelsea:
Here is Jake:
Here are a couple of photos of the long-boarding crew:

A short post

As you know school has started, for me and the kids. So it has been crazy around here. I started my internship at Weber Human Services and I am really enjoying it. The agency works with mostly Seriously and Persistently Mentally Ill. All are on Medicaid. After working in a private practice last year it has been quite a change. I am also in graduate school but am relieve to find that it appears to be easier than undergraduate school. That's good because on top of my internship I am taking 18 credit hours.

Mike went to Indonesia and Malaysia for 3 weeks. I'm not a big fan of him being gone that long. He will be going to Las Vegas in October and I think that is all for the rest of this year. After the first of the year he will be traveling again. I'm not sure where but he loves to travel so I know he'll have a good time. Wish I could go with him!

Jake has settled in nicely here and is doing well. He had an accident with his long board but is healing. He is excited about his physics class and likes his beginning guitar class. He is preparing to try out for the Blue Knights, which is a professional drum corp.

Chelsea also wants to try out for the Blue Knights. I hope they both make it. Chelsea is enjoying school also. She has quite a few music related classes so that makes her happy. She was nominated for Homecoming Queen and had her picture taken today for that. So, here she is:
Gorgeous, isn't she! The game is on September 18th. She isn't too happy that she won't be able to play in the marching band at half time but she'll have other opportunities for that. Not many girls can say they were nominated to be the Queen!

Roy Days

It was a long day today at Roy Days. We started out at the parade. I think one of
the best things about the parade is to watch the little kids pick up the candy. We were next to two little girls who were so cute.

Here is Eline with her friend Rachael enjoying the parade.


But of course the highlight of the parade was the Roy High Marching Band, AKA "The Pride of Roy".


















Here is Chelsea:









Here is Jake:


















Here they both are together. Good thing they are both on the drumline.









And this is what band kids do after a long, hot day!

Our family is growing!

Of course you know that Mike and I each have one daughter, Harli (on the right), Chelsea (in the middle) and we have Eline (on the left) who is our Dutch daughter (she was our foreign exchange student for the 2007/08 school year).










Now we have a new addition to our family. Please welcome Jacob to the clan. Jake is 17 and a senior at Roy High. He is an "A" student who loves math and physics. He's been on his own for about a year. He is going to live with us for his senior year. He's a good kid who has had some tough times. Mike and I have decided that we have been very blessed and now we'll be blessed again by having Jake join our family. I know it won't all be a spring picnic, but we do know how it is to have a new teenager in the house, since we went through that with Eline. And it worked out so well that she is back visiting us for 5 weeks.




This is Eline and Jake playing "Chicken" in the pool the other day.



Chelsea, Eline, Jake and I are heading down to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon on Sunday. We will spend very little time there however because we are going to Bryce Canyon and Arches National Park as well.



We all really wish this amazing man could join us. But sadly he is out of the country, visiting Malaysia and Indonesia with his new job dealing with Foreign Military Sales. We'll miss him but he and I will certainly visit the Grand Canyon on our own sometime and get to spend more time, and hopefully get to go down into the canyon.

Garden

Mike was in Europe when we really needed to rototill for a garden so we never got it done. That didn't stop us though. We bought some planters and started planting. So far we have jalapeno peppers, sweet green peppers, red peppers, yellow tomatoes and eggplants. We also have rosemary, basil and parsley. Here are some photos:

















They look yummy don't they. They'll be so good once they ripen completely and we pick them.

Yes, we are still alive

Sorry it's been so long since an update but here goes:

Chelsea and I went to Utah State University last month. We are both happy with the campus, the music programs, and the cost. The best part is that it's 50 miles away so Chelsea will get to have a traditional college experience, but it's close enough so she can come home on weekends if she wants. Looks like she'll be an Aggie next year.






We took Iain and Elias to the zoo and had a great time. They are my Godson's but I consider them my grandsons, since I (hopefully) won't have grandchildren of my own for many years. Elias love the map of the zoo and carried it everywhere.






Here I am with the two cutest little boys in the world.














Mike and I went to the Pat Benetar concert in Wendover last week. It was a good concert and brought back some great memories.














We celebrated our first anniversary on June 28th. We tasted the top of our wedding (cheese)cake but it was terrible! At least our marriage is good! :)

I've been home a couple of times because my dad has lung cancer. He needs to have surgery to remove the lesion and hopefully that will be all. Looks like he won't need chemo or radiation. He meets with the surgeon the first week in August. I was home this past weekend because my brother, Bruce, and my sister-in-law, Tammy celebrated their 25th Anniversary. It was a really nice party and I got to catch up with people I haven't seen in a long time.

I started graduate school last week. I took two "bridge" courses which make up for not having to take the first year of the master's program at University of Utah. I will start fall classes the end of August.

Mike heads off to Malaysia and Indonesia next week. He is looking forward to seeing new countries.

Eline came on Monday. I can't believe it's been a year since she went back home to the Netherlands. She isn't here with the exchange student program so now gets to go jet skiing, 4 wheeling and other things she wasn't allowed to do last year. She's here for 6 weeks and it feels almost like she never left. We love her so much. Having an exchange student was a great decision!