Cinderella

Today we took the girls to the ballet to see Cinderella. Chloe McWilliam was one of the fairies in the show. The girls were so excited to see her. We sat with several friends. After the show we went down to see Chloe and meet some of the cast. We had a fun time.

New Beginnings

Tonight we had our New Beginnings program for the Young Women. I have been working on putting it all together for a few months. Betsy Baugh got the theme idea for the night from her cousin who did it out in Utah. I took the idea and changed it all up. We called it NBA, New Beginnings Association. The night had a basketball theme. We treated it as if we were holding an NBA Draft. I sent out invitations that were basketballs and inside it said you are invited to the NBA Draft "New Beginnings Association". Each girl also got a program of the events of the night and at the back of the book it had a picture of each girl with their stats listed. A week before, Kristina and Nicole sprayed numbers on the back of white shirts and then we let the girls decorate their shirts and they all signed each others. The girls all wore them except for the new Beehives.

We have eight leaders, so Rachael spray painted a megaphone on white shirts for each of us. We each had a megaphone on our shirt with the value colors on. We were the cheerleaders for the night. I made a set of pom poms out of trash bags for each of us. The room was set up with 5 round tables on the outer edge and the girls were in chairs in the middle of the room and we as the cheerleaders were up in the front of the room. I made basketball centerpieces for each table. When it was time to start we turned the lights out and had two spots on. The girls were all in the hall and we as cheerleaders lined up at the front door. I had the jock jams cd that played as each girl was announced by the commissioner (Andy) who read off their stats as they ran out through the leaders into the room.

After the introductions the girls all sat up in front and each new beehive was drafted into the NBA and was given her shirt and a contract that she signed as well as the YW president and Bishop. We also gave them a large candy bar shaped like a dollar bill.

I had Bill Brown come to act as the paparazzi and take photos all night. Between the drafts we had a some speakers. The laurels each read a scripture that goes with each one of the values and the stake YW President, Nancy Goodyear spoke on what it means to be a member of the NBA or YW association. Our bishop spoke as well, and Kristina did a presentation on personal progress.

We had a half time show in which us as leaders performed a few cheers with the crowd. It was pretty silly to say the least. After all the new beehives were drafted we retired the jersey’s of the YW who received their medallion that year. We had them take the shirts off that they had made and we hoisted them up on the basketball rim and raised the rim up to the ceiling as music played and we cheered. For dessert we served popcorn in little bags, as if you got it from a concession stand at an NBA game.

I think the night turned out to be a success. I hope that the girls had a great time and that they felt appreciated. We as leaders had a fun time putting this on for the girls. We decided to do a pyramid after it was all over. The pictures all turned out so cute.

Big Snow Storm! 2/12/10-2/13/10

We finally got enough snow to play in. The girls were so excited that they could actually play in it. The funny thing is the last few years when we have had a snow storm my sister, Jennifer, has been out of town and her kids have been down here staying with me and my mom. It has been great to have it happen that way because the cousins get to enjoy the snow together. This time we got several inches of snow and it was the perfect kind of snow.





The kids and adults were having a great time sledding down the hill.



I was also babysitting Jackson and Drake while Justin and Kristina were on a date so it was really fun to have them over to play in the snow. They were both so excited. The neighbors all started coming out and a huge snowball fight broke out. Andy was having a great time fighting with all the guys. After that Andy decided he wanted to make a toilet out of the snow. Only Andy and his brothers would think of making a TOILET instead of a snowman.



The next morning Grandma and Grandpa and the kids came back over to play. We had a fun time sledding down the side of the house. I had to take some funny pictures of Andy with his toilet.



Grandma decided that this year we needed to make a real snowman, "Idaho style". This snow man was over 6ft. tall. It turned out really cute. It took several guys to lift the snowballs up. It was really heavy.

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The kids, Grandma and I built two snow forts so that we could have a snowball fight. IT was pretty fun. Ethan looks forward to the huge hill that is behind the neighbors house that we have been sliding down the last few years. Him and Casey went down several times. We had a really fun time playing with friends and family. We love the snow.

Daddy Daughter Dance!

What a night! Tonight I was fortunate to take my beautiful girls to the annual "Daddy Daughter Dance" at their school. This is always an exciting time for all. I truly love the opportunity that I have to be called Daddy. This is something that I treasure and it is experiences like tonight that remind me why I love it so much. To see the smiles on the girls faces as they not only danced with me but also danced with each other and some of their friends was priceless. This is truly what life is all about. I love being a daddy. My girls are my everything!

Megan's 2nd swim meet at South Dekalb!

Today Megan has her second swim meet. We had to go to the YMCA in South Dekalb. We had to be early for warms up. After warm ups finished the meet was supposed to start. We ended up waiting about 2 hours because they couldn't get the heat sheets to print. It was so so hot in there and everyone was getting impatient. Grandpa took a nap, Lexi went to the snack stand and I ended up having to take Megan out to the lobby because her stomach was getting up set and she was overheating. Once the meet finally started Megan did really well. She swam the 200 Free relay, which I don't have the time for. Then she swam the Back stroke in the 200 Medley Relay and the team time was 3:37. Then she swam the 50 Free and her time was 1:02. She also did the 50 yard back stroke and her time was 1:05. She was exhausted by the time she was done. We are so proud of how well she is doing. No ribbons were handed out for this meet for some reason. This YMCA was not on top of their game, so we are not sure of her overall places. As soon as the meet was over Meg, Lex and daddy headed to the daddy daughter dance at school.