CVHS Talent Show + Youth Conference.

This past week was CRAZY.

I started in on a CV Prom post, but realized it's best to keep things chronological (for my own sake), so I need to do a quick post about the week prior.

(Elton John's I'm Still Standing going through my head right now)

Let's start with CV's Talent Show.

Mar had decided to try out for it with a friend due to the large cash prize awarded the winner.

$500.

She and Annie practiced minimally for the try out, and were happy to have made it into the show.

They didn't have much time to practice together, but Mar didn't seem to be too stressed about it.

The day of the show (Thursday, April 19) was also a full-day jazz choir trip to UNC in Greeley, which Mar was invited to attend. They were supposed to back from the festival around 5:30, but it was 6:30 before they pulled into the school. The talent show started at 7. Phew. That was close.

Here's her performance:

My phone doesn't have great audio recording, but they did an amazing job. There were a lot of singing acts (some including instruments... a total of 3 ukulele+singing acts), a few instrument acts (2 cello, 3 piano), a comedy act, and a tap dancing act.

(Yep, "Everyone's got an act." Haha... what's it from?)

The first place winner was the tap dancing young man performing to The Greatest Show,

Second place was a piano performance, and...

Mar and Annie took 3rd place. Yay!!

They won a trophy and gift cards. Not $500, but still nice. And it's quite an accomplishment to be the top singing act. Way to go, ladies!

Since there was no school the next day (Friday), our ward had decided to plan Youth Conference that weekend. They had a local activity Thursday evening that Mar missed due to the talent show, but she was able to meet up with the other girls at a home to sleep over that evening.

The following day they had planned to drive to Pike's Peak for lunch and a devotional, but our bipolar spring weather nixed that idea due to snow. They ended up playing games and having lunch and a devotional at the church before heading to Buena Vista for the remainder of the conference. I had been asked to be a driver (mainly so I could bring a couple of the girls back early Saturday to get ready for prom), which I was happy to do. I was glad for the opportunity to get to know some of the YW in the ward and participate in a ward function. Since I teach seminary (and not even to youth who attend church at the same building I do), I feel a tad detached from the ward sometimes. This was a perfect opportunity to hang out with the youth (including Mar) -- and youth leaders -- a bit.

The main activity that afternoon/evening was to go to the Mt. Princeton Hot Springs.

FYI - the outside temp was around 26 degrees.

I actually DID get in a swim suit, and only slipped on the rocks down by the river once... possibly resulting in minor injuries to my backside (thankfully not my tailbone) and lower leg. I'm pretty sure I was the OLDEST person in our group haha. Fortunately for me, I was NOT the oldest person (or the fattest, or the whitest, or the veiniest...) enjoying the hot springs that afternoon/evening. Not that I was comparing or judging AT ALL... just wanting to blend in a bit {wink}.

The next morning after breakfast, I loaded up with Mar and 2 other YW to make the 2.5 hour drive back to Castle Rock. While packing up, I may have struggled with the Thule key, and then have momentarily lost the car keys. It was freezing outside and was quite a frustrating experience, but with a little help from my friends, we resolved all problems and headed home. It was a brief YC experience for Mar, but I think she enjoyed what she was able to attend. The kids not going to prom got to zip line that day, which I heard was a blast.

Shilo had flown in from Utah early EARLY that morning (Bill picked her up at the airport), and would be waiting for us to arrive home to begin prom prep. It was so sweet of Lo to make the trip!

Next up: CV Prom

DC Prom 2018.

Just a quick post late at night (when I should be sleeping, but can't) to keep me current.

The promposal from Miles was on top of the Castle Rock.

Even though Mar figured it might be coming, she said she did NOT suspect it would happen when it did. Surprises are nice, don't you think?

It was fun helping her get ready on Prom Day. Nae had make-up tools, tips, and products to help out, and I assisted with her hair. I have to say I LOVE doing hair for Mauri. She is always so pleased and happy with the results, which eases my tension and anxiety over meeting expectations. We found a style she liked on youtube, and I did my darndest to duplicate it haha.

She was ready with time to spare. Phew! I did NOT want a repeat of last year ;-)

We hopped in the car to drive to the home where her group was meeting to take pictures. 

The funny thing was that the house they were meeting at was in Jake's neighborhood (literally right down the street) -- the guy she's going to CV's prom with. Funny.

We got the magnetic boutonniere this time (so ingenious), but Miles lost it at dinner... probably because Mar had put it on the button hole of his lapel. When we chatted about it the next day we realized that doesn't work very well, so Mar will have better placement skills on Saturday when she repeats this fun process with another... friend.

I realized after pictures were over that I never snapped a pic with just Mar and Bill. I'll be doing that on the next go-around. Those glasses of Bill's, tho. Not my fave.

It was a hard time of day for pictures. We were at Jack's house (tan blazer guy), and his dad was directing where to shoot, but there was either too many shadows or too much sun. My phone camera wasn't super happy with either haha.

 Mauri knew Jack and his girlfriend because she and Miles had double dated with them a few times, but the rest of the group were strangers. I love how Mar seems totally comfortable anyway. 

 (Showing each other the mud/dirt on their heals from traipsing around the yard.)

 Bill and I got a chuckle out of this pic as we were reviewing it when we got home because of Mar's lovely scabs on her arm haha.

Despite this beautiful view and what appears to be a lovely day, the girls were freezing their behinds off, so we wrapped up the photo sesh and sent them on their way.

Mar said the date was "super fun." Hooray!

Shi is flying in for hair and make-up for this week's prom date, and I worked all day yesterday modifying Mar's chosen dress#2 so it would be a bit more modest. We have youth conference this Thursday through Saturday (weird... I know), and Mar is in the school talent show on Thursday, so will not be able to participate in YC that evening, and because of prom on Saturday, will be leaving early that morning and missing that day's activities as well. I've been asked to be an extra driver (so I can bring prom kids back early Saturday) and to provide breakfast for the girls Saturday morning. On top of that, I'm teaching seminary tomorrow and Thursday, so it's going to be a pretty busy next few days. Thus the late night post that may or may not make any sense haha.

I keep reminding myself that this is the fun stuff.

Enjoy it. Stop only thinking of the next task to be done and appreciate the moment.

It's so against my nature, but I'm working on it.

Easter + Mar's guitar recital catch up.

An interesting stat:

This is my 814th post on this blog.

That is RIDICULOUS.

That is also a whole lot o' history that I'd really like to have in a physical form of some type, which would also require a lot o' editing, and most likely a lot o' money unless I do the printing myself. I think I'm going to look into what I can do to preserve this FANTASTIC personal history... soon haha.

Here's a run-down of our Easter celebration.

On Saturday, Nae took Evie to visit Gran and Grampa Fisher, and since Mar is such a busy girl, we realized 10 minutes before she had to head to work that THAT was the only time we had to color eggs... unless Bill and I wanted to do them ourselves, and what kind of fun would that be??

I had purchased an egg-dying kit earlier in the week (I haven't done that for ages), and had seen one that had glitter in it. I figured that since I already have a BOATLOAD of glitter, I would save the 49 extra cents and just add my own. It didn't work quite as well as I had hoped - I thought maybe the dye would be tacky enough for the glitter to stick a bit, but it wasn't (going in the "things I've learned" file), so Mar found some glue to help bedazzle our eggs.

Bright and early Sunday morning, Evie and Mar hunted for their baskets. Evie needed a few direct hints (like, "come look in the pantry!"), and Mar found hers pretty quickly, too. Bill was in charge of hiding, and I have to say he did not inherit the Goldsberry Easter basket hiding skills that I did. It was just a bit of a crazy year (I have the same excuse for everything, don't I?), and I was focused on preparing a yummy breakfast for General Conference, and a celebratory dinner-with-invited-guests for Easter. 

Just today I realized that I had forgotten to get everything out for Bill that I had purchased for Mar's basket, so I've been debating whether to stash the forgotten items away for a future occasion or just give them to her. I'll admit, I'm flailing a bit lately.

This is what I was working on that morning:

YUM. 

It was a little funny that my visiting teacher had dropped off a loaf of Kneaders cinnamon bread on Saturday (the last day of the month), especially in light of the changes announced Sunday morning ("Well, relax, because there isn't any report - at least not the 31st-of-the-month, 'I made it through the door by the skin of my teeth' report.") Haha. Seriously, I have great visiting teachers.

I LOVED CONFERENCE, and loved the changes that were announced and all of the inspired talks. I am excited to study and review them frequently.

In between sessions of conference, we had a little backyard egg hunt for Evie.

She didn't really care for it haha. There's always next year.

We were feeding the missionaries that evening, so I figured I might as well invite a few others over, too.

We invited our friends, the Gouberts, who have a college friend of their daughter's living with them, and we were delighted that she and both of their daughters were available to join us.

I have to apologize for these EXTREMELY lackluster pics... I just randomly snapped a couple during our after-dinner chatting. Very candid. I don't think we were all as bored as it looks hahaha. And I didn't even get a couple faces. *Note to self: take better pics. I used to care so much about taking thousands of pictures, and these days I hardly take any. 

(I think the problem is saturation, don't you? I think that may be why I don't write - and read - blog posts very often anymore. And facebook and pinterest are getting less and less appealing every day due to the saturation of algorithms that show you what they THINK you want instead of what you actually DO.)

After dinner, the missionaries had a message for us, which turned into some great questions from the Goubert's non-member friend, which turned into an invitaion to read the Book of Mormon, which was accepted. Wow. That turned out awesome.

This is the extent of our Easter decorations...

I'm flailing in that department, too haha.

Here are a couple of clips of Mar's guitar recital (also her final for that class) at a local coffee shop.
She performed on March 12th... I was in UT, so missed it, but Billy-my-hero was there to record. The boy performing with Mar in the last clip is the guy from CV that just asked her to prom YESTERDAY. Phew. Hopefully she will share some of her pics with me so I can pass them along {wink}. He rewrote the lyrics to the song they performed {Better Together}and sang them to her for his promposal. So cute.

The early hours of seminary are killing me, and I am really looking forward to the summer break. Lucky for us, our last day of seminary is May 11th... so close! I can do it!

Promposals, choir tryout results, and possibly even Prom pics in my next post.

I need another prom dress miracle. Say a little prayer for me.

Happy April!