Class list

Courtney has been anxious to find out who her teacher will be next week.  She put her request in with her 4th grade teacher (who makes the class assignments for 5th grade) and I put my request in with the principal but you never know where they will put you.

On Monday they put the class lists in the window at the elementary school and so I went up to see who her teacher would be.  She was thrilled that she got Mr. Hansen.  He is in our Stake and his wife is the Stake RS President, so I know them well.  I was excited too.  He actually retired about 5 years ago from teaching after a long career but then his wife was called as Stake RS Pres and they had to put their mission dreams on hold for a while.  He prayed about it and felt like "some kids needs a grandpa" so he began teaching at Santa Clara Elementary.  Mr. Hansen is great at art and so Courtney is thrilled to be in his class this coming year.

Courtney's back bend

Courtney has wanted to do a back bend for a long time but just hasn't been able to.  After spending 3 days in dance camp she decided she could do one and this is what happened...

Can you tell she is really excited?!?!

Dance Camp

On July 30, 31st and August 1st, Courtney had Summer Slam Dance Camp at Snow Canyon High School.  She was pretty excited about it.  This year it was required for all Pizazz team members to attend so we had the biggest team by far.  They had three days of learning routines, learning technique, learning acrobatics/tumbling, and having fun with their friends.  Courtney had a great time.

Pizazz won the award for the "Hardest Working Team" at the camp.  Here is their team with their trophy.  Courtney is standing right behind the trophy so you really can't see her.

This is the entire dance camp group.  They had high school teams from the area along with other dance teams from the county.  It was great to see them all and their hard work.  Courtney is on second row, sitting on her knees, second from the right.

 On the last day they had a show for the parents.  So we went to Snow Canyon to watch her and see what she had learned in the last 3 days.  The school has specific parking spots and so we park in ours when we are there.

Haha!  It's really not for us.  We think there must be a teacher named "Pack" and that's his/her spot.  But Bryan thought it was fun to park in "our spot."

It was fun to watch Courtney dance.  Now remember, she learned these routines in only 3 days.

Beginning contemporary dance (Courtney is on the left):

Intermediate lyrical dance (they put her in the intermediate group with the older girls so she was really challenged):

Beginning hip hop dance (This doesn't have sound because youtube said the song is copyrighted so they took the sound off.  The song is "Hey Ma-ma-ma, Hey Ma-ma-ma."  I am trying to get it to upload from my computer but blogger said the file is too large.  So you can see her and it's a really cute dance.  Just pick your favorite song and hum it.)

School clothes

I was convinced that Courtney didn't need any more school clothes.  She had stuff that she hadn't even worn because she keeps wearing the same 3 outfits over and over again.  I had been reading a lot about developing "Closet Capsules" and decided to try it out on Courtney...in a smaller way.

A couple in our ward do a "Free Bay Day" each year when you donate your used clothes and they set them up in the Church and people are able to come and get what they or their kids need for school.  It's like eBay but it's free...get it?  Free Bay Day?

So I told Courtney we would have to go through her drawers and get rid of everything she wasn't absolutely "in love" with so someone else could use them.  Two hours and three garbage bags later, we were ready to put together her capsule.  Now, they tell you to have 9 bottoms and 15 tops but Courtney didn't have that many bottoms and I think that's okay.  She has 5 bottoms and 20 tops.

She put on each outfit and we took a picture of it.  We used this time to make sure she was "in love" with the outfit and would wear it.  We also talked about how she could trade out the jean shorts for pants when it got colder and she couldn't wear the shorts.  She hung up all her shirts in her closet, folded her pants neatly in her almost empty drawers and we had the photos developed.  When we got them back she put them on her board.

The idea is that when she wears an outfit, she will turn the photo over.  The bottoms can be worn 2 times so she can decide on Monday what outfits to wear that week so laundry can be done efficiently.  She was so excited and loves the idea.

Hopefully now we won't have to run around trying to find clothes in the mornings before orchestra!

24th of July Parade

Ivins City usually had a 24th of July parade.  This has never been my favorite because the wards are asked to do an entry each week by the Stake President.  Usually the Primary will ride their bikes and all goes well.  The kids love it and it's pretty easy.  Last year the Bishop decided we needed to rotate it so the Relief Society was in charge.  It was a crazy July and it was really stressful but I pulled it off!

But this year Washington City was really promoting their parade and it was sponsored by the official Days of 47 group.  Ivins City wanted to support Washington City so they cancelled the parade in Ivins on the 24th and encouraged everyone to drive to Washington for their "wonderful" parade.  So the kids and I loaded up in the van and drove over to fight the crowds to watch the Washington City Days of '47 Pioneer Day Parade.

And it was a disappointment.  The entries weren't that great, the parade route is a 2 lane road so it's really crowded with everyone watching and the floats going down the street, and it feels like one huge advertisement.  And...to top it all off...Courtney only got 4 pieces of candy and some dental floss.

Ethan had fun because he got to pick up ants and freak his sister out with them.  Courtney actually did have fun because her friend Lia and her family sat by us, so they had someone to talk to.

Date night

The kids know a couple of things when Bryan and I go on a date.

1: They will get pizza.  That's our bribe to have Ethan watch Courtney and to have Courtney obey Ethan.

2:  They will get popcorn and soda when we get home.

We buy the large soda and popcorn and then we get it refilled on our way out so we can take it home full for the kids.  This particular night we had to stop by the grocery store for something before we went home.  Bryan's remote to the van is out of juice so it doesn't work.  He has to manually lock the doors so it's a pain and sometimes he forgets.  On this night, he specifically went back to the van to lock it up so no one could get our popcorn.  Haha!  I had to tease him.

Swim lessons

While Ethan was at scout camp, Courtney had been taking the life saver and advance swimmer classes from her swim teacher.  I signed Ethan up to take them with her just to give him something to do.  The teacher only charged me for the second week for Ethan and he had passed the class when he was 8 years old, so she was fine with him dropping in part way through.

They had so much fun, although Ethan grumbled about having to go because it was way too easy for him.  But it was motivating to Courtney.  She passed the advanced levels and the teacher told me on the last day that "there's nothing more I can teach your kids about swimming."  So we are finished with lessons.  Now they just have to improve their strokes with swim team next summer.

Here are some photos and videos:

Ethan's dive:

Courtney's dive:

Crazy boy on a slide:

More slide time:

It was fun to have something to do that week!

Goin' home

Saturday morning Courtney and I packed up our tent, loaded the van and went down to pick up boys.  We had thought we were going to bring home a load of boys but it ended up just being Ethan and Bryan.  We debated going to Seven Peaks for the day but Ethan was ready to go home.

On the ride home he told us all about scout camp.  They shot arrow, threw knives, swamped kayaks, swam in a pond and did general boy things.  He had a great time.

It was a fun couple of weeks but we had a lot of laundry to do!

Payson Temple, UVU, Seven Peaks, BYU, Minions, Trafalga and Family Night

When Courtney and I woke up and had breakfast we were planning on going to Seven Peaks.  The boys had been there while we were at SOF rehearsals so we thought it was only fair that we would go while they were at scout camp.  We have the Pass of All Passes (cue the angelic music) so we could get in at 10 a.m. but it was still early.

So we went down and walked around the Payson Temple grounds.  It is a beautiful temple..as they all are.  It was great to walk around and feel the calm that was on the grounds.  It was especially nice after the loud noise of the storm the night before.

After walking around for a while we still had time to kill.  So we drove to UVU, paid for parking and walked around.  It looks SO different from when I was there.  I can still find my office but the department isn't in those offices anymore.  I can find a few other places but they have remodeled and built new buildings so much that I get easily lost.

Then it was finally time to go to Seven Peaks.  I don't know what Courtney was expecting.  I kept telling her that there were a ton of water slides and a big wave pool, but when she saw it her eyes lit up and she was speechless...a huge thing for a girl who talks all the time!  We parked and then got into line to get in the park.  We showed our passes, had our bag checked, changed our clothes, got our tubes and were off to have fun.

There were quite a few people there but not too many that we couldn't do the rides a lot of times.  And we had 2 hours before it was open to the general public so it was awesome.  At about 12:05 we were in line to go on the Vortex again (I had to force Courtney to go the first time and she had fun so we were going again) when they saw lightening and shut down the rides.  They told us that they would reopen in 30 minutes unless they saw more lightening.  Courtney and I decided that 2 hours was plenty of time to have fun and it was starting to get crowded now that the park was open to everyone.  So we went to turn in our tubes.  While we were turning them in (5 minutes after they closed the park) we were told that "just kidding" they weren't closing the park so we could keep our tubes.  We turned them in anyway but I asked the worker why they would open it again so fast.  He told me that they don't close if they only see lightening.  They close the park if they hear thunder along with the lightening because that means it's close enough to hurt people.

Courtney was really nervous so we decided to just get our stuff and leave.  But then she had a change of heart and wanted to go in the wave pool for a bit.  We got about 5 feet into the wave pool when they shut the park down again...this time definitely.

This was the view (and keep in mind that Maple Dell is right under this huge cloud):

We changed our clothes and then decided to drive to BYU to walk around.  We went to the bookstore where Courtney found this guy:

We had to play with him for a while before we left.

The rain was coming down really hard so we decided we needed something "indoors" to do.  We drove to Provo Towne Center mall and went to the movie.  We saw "Minions."  I have to come clean on this one...I slept through a lot of it.  I have mastered the art of laughing at the right times when I am really asleep.  I can't fool Bryan anymore but I pulled the wool over on Courtney.  She loved the movie but I probably only saw half of it. ;)

When we left the theater there were blue skies so we decided to go back and see if Seven Peaks was open again...it wasn't.  It was a ghost town.  There were only 2 cars in the parking lot and everything was locked up tight.  Crazy weather in Provo.

We still had time to play before going back to camp so we decided to go to Trafalga again.  Courtney rode the froggy drop about 10 times, we rode the rickety roller coaster once (which is plenty for me, thank you very much) and then we went to eat dinner.

Friday nights at Maple Dell are "Family Nights" where the families of the scouts are invited to come to camp for their campfire programs and their patriotic program.  It was a unique experience.  I thought girls camp was weird but scout camp is a beast unto itself.  Someone would say "Let's sing a song" and suddenly everyone would yell "A song, a song, it's time to sing a song!"  Crazy stuff.  But it was fun to be there with all the parents and the boys.  And the patriotic program was amazing.

This is our troop in front of the giant American flag (it has a story behind the flag but I can't remember it).

Then Courtney and I went back to our campsite for the night.  It didn't rain so we slept ok.

Scout camp and camping trip

Monday, July 6th at 6 a.m. Ethan was ready to go to scout camp.  He was packed and Bryan took him to the Church to meet with the rest of the deacons.  Our entire Stake was going to Maple Dell Scout Camp above Payson on the Nebo Loop.  They were pretty excited because they were going to shoot guns, bows and arrows, swim, kayak and generally have a lot of fun.

On Thursday morning, we headed up so Bryan could be an adult leader for the second half of the week and we could bring a load of boys home on Saturday.  After a stop on the way so Bryan could meet with a client, we made it to Maple Dell in the late afternoon.  We dropped Bryan off and Courtney and I took off to find ourselves a camp site so we could camp too.

I had printed off a bunch of information on the Nebo Loop but right near Maple Dell there was a sign with a map of all the camp areas.  We decided to try to camp at Maple Ridge.  This was right above where the boys were camping so it didn't take too long to get there.  We found a great camp site and set up Courtney's tent.  It looked like rain so we made sure to get the rain fly staked down good and tight.

We then drove to Payson to meet up with my cousin, Connie, and her girls.  Courtney is the same age as her daughter, Hayley, so they played in a water park while we sat and talked.  It was cloudy and really windy so the girls were pretty cold, but it was fun to see them and spend some time with their family.

Then Courtney and I went to dinner in Provo before heading back to our campsite.  We were tired so we got in the tent and read books/listened to a book on tape and just chatted until Courtney fell asleep.  Then all...you know what...broke loose.

At about 10 p.m. it started to rain...hard.  And then the wind began to blow and it was blowing so hard I was really afraid our tent would blow over.  It was really noisy too.  The tent would almost blow in half and it would fold over right on Courtney's face. I would push it back up and then try to brace it with my legs to keep it off of her. It's a new tent so it is still stiff and noisy.  I couldn't believe how loud the rain and the wind was until about 2 a.m. in the morning.  And Courtney slept through the WHOLE THING!  I was amazed.  I finally put ear plugs in around 2 a.m. which muffled it quite a bit so I could finally fall asleep.

The next morning I was afraid to go outside and see what damage had been done but everything was fine.  My flip flops were still outside the tent door like nothing had happened.  It was crazy!

Clara's blessing

Sunday morning after Sacrament Meeting we went to Andrew and Jessica's house for Clara's blessing.  She is a beautiful baby and it was great to be there with everyone.

Courtney was able to get her baby fix.  She got to hold Lucy.

Then we drove back home so Ethan could finish packing and leave the next morning at 6 a.m. for scout camp!

Stadium of Fire - Day 3

The Fourth of July!!!

Courtney had more rehearsals to "clean things up" before the big show that night.  We went back to the rental, took naps, ate dinner and then had to get her ready.  We aren't really great at that part because I'm not a makeup-primpy type person.  But we finally figured out the hair and the fake eye lashes and were off.

She looked cute.

This is the group of Junior Dancers from her dance team who participated.  Part of the costume included pearl earrings.  Courtney's ears aren't pierced so we had to try and find some clip on earrings.  We found some convertible things that would supposedly convert stemmed earrings into clip ons.  They didn't quite work right and so I ended up taking the stem off the earring and gluing the pearl to the clip on things.  It worked but her little ears were so sore afterward.

This is the entire Pizazz team that dance at the SOF.

Here is their formation.  Courtney is on the 5th row, 2nd from the bottom.

Here is their opening dance that night:

They asked everyone to take a selfie and send it to Montel Williams.  Bryan and I took the selfie, but we didn't send it. ;)

They had these two guys who made a Bellagio-type fountain show out of soda pop.  At the end, they gave all the girls a bottle of pop with some mentos and let them spray each other.  Courtney said they didn't get too wet.

After the Journey concert they did another dance with some bracelets that were computer programmed so they would show patterns, etc.  It was really cool and they had a lot of fun the night before playing with them.

Here is another song they did during the fireworks:

It was great and Courtney was happy she was able to participate.  She had both sets of grandparents watching along with Aunt Leigh Ann so it was great.  But she was pretty exhausted afterward.  She only made it a few blocks before she was asleep.  Poor girl!  She worked hard.

Stadium of Fire - Day 2

Friday was a LONG day because Courtney had a morning practice at 8:30 a.m., an afternoon practice at 1:30 p.m. and a dress rehearsal from 6:30-11:45 p.m.  She was exhausted when it was all done!

The boys got to play while we were at rehearsals.  They went to Seven Peaks to use the Pass of All Passes we had purchased.  They said it was really crowded so there wasn't a ton they could do, but they still had fun.

Between everything we ate dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Pack, David, Jenny and Lucy.

We also go to meet cute Clara.  I was really sweaty and gross so I didn't hold her but Courtney was in baby heaven.

Courtney didn't want pictures taken by this point.  The girls were all tired and sweaty.

I thought this crooked line was funny so I had to take a picture of it.  They brought in artificial turf to put over the football field and it didn't quite match up perfectly.  It just made me laugh.

The dress rehearsal was fun because I was close and able to video tape it...as long as I didn't post it to any social media sites before the actual performance.  The theme was WWII and the older dancers were Rosie the Riveter and the younger girls were pilots.  Courtney loved the costume.

Courtney is in the middle, second from the bottom.

Pizazz dancers:

The rehearsal was LONG and they had to restart once because the timing was off.  But it was fun to watch and at least it wasn't all during the hot of the day.

Here is the video I took of the dress rehearsal of the opening number:

Stadium of Fire - Day 1

Courtney's dance group is always invited to dance in the Stadium of Fire at BYU each 4th of July.  I usually throw the flier away when I get it but this year they needed more dancers so they extended the deadline.  Courtney's dance coach sent an email to everyone asking people to sign up.  Courtney really wanted to do it so we signed her up.

We had her earn the money so she could participate.  She sold cakes for Mother's Day and was able to make the money she needed.  THANK YOU to everyone who bought a cake.  They turned out cute and she did a lot of work.

Every Tuesday and Thursday in June for 2 hours she had practice at the college with her dance group.  There were only 6 "Junior Dancers."  Courtney was loving it.

On July 2nd, we went to Provo for her to begin practices with the entire group.  They needed "helper moms" to "water the girls" and make sure they didn't get heat exhaustion.  Courtney asked if I would volunteer so I was able to stay with her the entire time.  We took a shade tent, umbrellas, tons of Gaterade, sunscreen, and a weed sprayer (new) to fill with water so I could spray the girls.

The morning of the first day they had practice at 10:30 a.m. at the practice field just West of the Stadium.  The grass was dying so the heat radiating off it was awful.  I walked around "watering the girls" and making sure they were drinking enough water.

Here is Courtney before the practice began:

Here's Courtney with one of her dance coaches during the practice:

When practice was over at 12:30, Courtney was exhaused, sweaty and tired.

While we at the practice, the boys played around and checked us into the rental where we were staying.

This is Courtney after the practice:

The director had told the dancers to rest in a quiet, dark place and drink a lot of water before the afternoon rehearsals.  We had wanted to go up to Seven Peaks but Courtney was nervous they would find out that she had been doing things and she would get into trouble.  So we drove up to Trafalga and she did the rock climbing wall, drove the bumper cars and we played laser tag.  That's relaxing, right?!

Then it was time for the afternoon practice.  This one was at the Stadium so it wasn't as hot and there was a nice breeze.  But she wasn't in too good of a mood.

Can you tell she was annoyed with me by this point?!

That night we went back to the rental and had a really good night's sleep!

Ethan's reading position

This is Ethan's favorite reading position...

He drapes himself over everything he can when he is reading.  I will come into the living room and he will be sideways, upside down, and backward.  It's hilarious.  And he is getting so long that he takes up more and more space to contort his body to read.

Cribbage

The look on Courtney's face in this photo says it all....

Bryan taught her to play cribbage and she is pretty good at it.  She has beat him a few times. I told him that he created a monster.  Each Sunday she wants to play with him and he loves it.

On a side note: this photo is proof that Ethan does dishes.  He is washing pans in the background. ;)

Curly hair

Courtney wanted curly hair so she started putting curlers in before bed on her own.  It was fun to see how it turned out in the morning.  One day she asked me if I would put them in for her.  I had made these soft curlers a few years ago from some left over fabric (BYU) so I put them in her hair.  They are really soft so it wouldn't bother her to sleep in them all night.

 Before bed:

 While she was sleeping:

I didn't think she would be able to sleep all night in them but she did!  I didn't take an after picture but her hair takes curls from curlers really well.  Her hair looked really short because the curls were so tight!