Popcorn Boy

Ethan needed community service hours for his Citizenship in the Community Merit Badge and I needed someone to pop a TON of popcorn for the fun run.  So it was a win-win situation, I think.  A local orthodontist donated the use of his popcorn machine along with all the supplies for our run.  At our meeting we decided it would be easiest if we had all the popcorn popped before the run so we wouldn't have to worry about popping it when people were finishing the race.  So I took the machine home so Ethan could pop the popcorn.  FOUR HOURS later he and Bryan had popped all we needed, put it into bags and put the bags in boxes so we could take it to the school the next day.  I'm sure Bryan and Ethan ate their fair share of the popcorn.  I am sure our neighbors were wondering what was going on at our house because it smelled so good!

Ethan wasn't a very happy camper when we finished, it was a lot of work, but he racked up some hours for his merit badge.

The secret is in the salt!

Banks Rose

A few years ago Bryan gave me a Banks Rose for Mother's Day.  I love it because it is a climbing rose and is so beautiful.  The only problem is that it doesn't bloom for very long.  But when it does I like to get a photo of it.  This is the photo from this year.

Rank Advancement

We had a Stake Court of Honor and Ethan was able to advance to a Star Scout.  He received a bunch of merit badges also.  What a great kid!!  Doesn't he look great in his uniform?

Orchestra Concert

Courtney had an orchestra concert.  She takes early morning orchestra which is Monday through Friday from 7 to 7:40 a.m.  She loves it and has done a great job learning the violin.  Our schools are all part of the "Snow Cone Site" which means that all our elementary, intermediate and middle schools feed into Snow Canyon High School.  So each year they have a series of "Cone Site" concerts where the teachers can show how they have worked with the students.  I was amazed at how well the early morning orchestra performed.  These are kids from the 4th and 5th grades at local elementary schools and they do a great job!

Here are the videos of their songs for you to enjoy:

Sword Dance:

Burst:

Bossa Nova Triste:

Stake RS Conference

Our Stake put on a Relief Society conference and it was amazing.  They invited a speaker from the Salt Lake area to come down and talk about dresses through the ages.  It was fascinating and really neat to see all the original dresses she has accumulated through the years.  She had original civil war dresses and dresses through the 1960s.  She talked about how women got dressed and it was fascinating.  I had to take Courtney because the boys were doing Scouting for Food and she learned a lot.

Here are some photos of the displays.

Dance Competition

Saturday was a dance competition for Courtney.  I hadn't seen their new lyrical dance so I was pretty excited.  It is to the song called "Oh, Sweet Lorraine."  I didn't know much about the song until Courtney explained it to me.  There was a songwriting contest and a 96 year old man entered a poem he had written for his recently deceased wife of 75 years.  It was amazing and was put to words and has sold millions of copies.  He won the contest.  If you want to know more about it you can watch this video from YouTube: "Oh Sweet Lorraine"

The girls do a wonderful job when they do this dance and I cried.  Courtney is on the right hand side in the front but she moves around.  She is the one they lift.  Sorry the video isn't the best but I will take a better one at another competition or at her end of the year review.

Here are the Jr. All Starrz waiting for the results of their jazz dance.  Courtney is the second from the right.

Eschell Review

Courtney had a busy dance week.  On Friday night they were asked to dance at the Eschell Review at Snow Canyon High School.  They did their usual jazz routine so here it is....