The Spring Formal of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (fka MoPro).

We haven't really formally done MoPro in our house prior to this year.

(MoPro is short for "Mormon Prom," which is technically advertised as the "Priest/Laurel Spring Formal," and has been for years -- even before the recent admonition from President Nelson to use the correct name of the Church whenever possible.)

I think {possibly} that Britt attended one year in a group of friends from the ward, but typically the youth in our Parker ward were not that hip on this activity. This is a 10-stake formal dance provided to give youth a prom experience in a more wholesome environment than the classic modern (oxymoron) high school prom.

  

It was held where it has always been held: The Wildlife Experience {which is now called something else}, which happens to be the exact same location that Mar's high school prom was held this year (which I loved, btw, because it's quite close, rather than deep in the heart of the city as it has been in the past, AND it was less expensive - $30 per couple vs. $100 per couple. BRAVO to the CV Prom planning committee this year).

Back to MoPro. The Spring Formal. Whatever.

Mar thought she had a choir performance that night, but found out that it was a no-go, so she and Jake decided they needed more formal time together, so they mutually agreed to attend {wink}.

Mar pulled out a prom dress from last year, and Jake wore his only suit.

They didn't match, but they didn't care.

(Wuv... twuuuuu wuv)

 Little Billy did his usual photo bomb.

We snapped these pics at a neighbor's house because their tree is prettier than ours.

It was a good choice... and so close haha.

These two are pretty funny together.

 This is one of my favorite pictures...

...and finally, a good, proper pose.

That tree, though. Perfect, amiright?

This is their "cheesy" shot... 

 ...which I really think is an excuse to get close with Mom and Dad around.

My {amazing} friend Vernet hosted a breakfast-for-dinner at her home for the group before the dance.
Vernet has 10 children. She amazes me.

There were a few last minute no-shows, so a couple of empty seats separated the sophomores (at the far end) and the mature students (4 seniors, 1 junior).

I snapped a quick picture of Mar's hair... we missed having Shilo around to work her magic.
Shi had shown us this technique during our girl's trip, so I attempted it on my own. It turned out okay. When you have a beautiful subject, it's hard to mess it up too much haha.

They had a good time.

Except for the caricature drawing saga.
Mar and Jake have had one done at each prom they have attended together.
The first one (from last year) was cute, and Mar let Jake keep it.

This year at the school prom, they waited in line for an hour and a half, and then got an ultra-exaggerated unattractive portrayal of themselves.

There were seven artists at the Spring Formal, and Mar watched them carefully to conclude that five of them were drawing pictures she liked. Again, they waited in line. She had one done with her friend Alaina, and one done with Jake...  aaannnnnd she got the two artists she didn't want.

Mar & Alaina

Mar and Jake

Sooooooo... one cute caricature drawing in Jake's possession,
two ugly caricature drawings also in Jake's possession.
One ugly caricature drawing in Alaina's possession.
Mar didn't want them.

Proms are done.

VPA Revue 2019.

Thursday, May 2nd

Castle View's VPA Revue

You may or may not remember this event from last year.

I got to the school at 5pm to help serve pizza to the kids who had been at school all day rehearsing for it. Bill came around 5:15 to secure a good seat. Turns out we wanted a seat on the bleachers after all, for a better overall vantage point. Nothing like waiting pert near 2 hours to save a seat you could have had if you came 15 minutes prior to start time. We both also had low batteries on our phones, so I plugged my phone in to charge while serving pizza up until start time, and only added about 10%. I am suspicious of the outlets at the school. Needless to say, we had to conserve, but still managed to record all of Mauri's performances plus snap a few pics.

The theme this year was "Decades."

The first piece, Baba Yetu, was all the choirs combined... Mar has a brief solo part.

 

And the final piece was I'll Be On My Way performed by Voices of the Pride.
Mar is in the trio.

There was a whole lot o' singing and band-playing and orchestra numbers and dancing and even a snippet from a play in between the two. It was a l-o-n-g night, but I enjoyed watching Mar in her FINAL HIGH SCHOOL CONCERT along with many of our Seminary students.

Afterwards someone had the choir seniors get together for a quick pic. Luckily Bill ran over and grabbed a shot before they disbanded.

I think Mar had a huge some influence on Jake taking up choir and doing the musical this year.

This cute girl is in our ward and may {hopefully} be in our Seminary class next year.

Annnnnddddd a quick selfie before my phone died...

...although it managed to eek out a couple more quick shots of these cute girls.

Phew!
We {and our phones} made it to the end.

This is one of our last parental-support-of-public-school-events EVER, at least for our own children. We definitely hope to attend similar events someday for our amazing grands.

It's weird to think back on all the room-mothering, PTA-ing, class-volunteering, fundraising, band-supporting, play-attending, locker-tag-making, hair-curling, cheer-track-swim bleacher-sitting (and cheering), car-pooling, team-party-throwing, musical-watching, and choir-listening I've done over the past 25 years. It's been challenging, yet joyful at the same time. I have LOVED that my children have been PARTICIPANTS. They have overcome fears and developed skills and talents. They have had to stretch themselves, but became better for it.

The least I could do was to BE THERE.
Not just passively, but as an active and interested supporter.
Their biggest fan.
Other than Little Billy, who admittedly is {slightly} more animated and enthusiastic than I am haha.

Easter 2019.

Easter came quickly because it was so late.

I kept thinking it was always a week or two away, then suddenly it was here. It was a bit of a flail this year. I have high hopes that in future years I can manage a more meaningful and well-planned celebration.

We went with Lex and M to our HOA egg hunt on Saturday. It was so nice to be outside enjoying a beautiful day. 

Note Little Billy snapping to try and get M's attention.

 Lex met up with her good friend Sydney (M and Josie are buddies too).

M did NOT want to give up those eggs once he had one in each hand, so his momma and Little Billy helped him fill up his basket

  

The eggs all had stickers in them, so M is in good supply haha.

Sunday after church we had a quick picture sesh.

...then Mar basket hunted for a bit.

 Bill thought he was super clever for tricking Mar into thinking her basket was hidden somewhere in the basement... only to finally reveal it was really on the main floor.

M's basket was in plain sight on the ottoman... Lex better up her game next year {wink}.

In the middle of the day we had a lovely rain shower, which Mar couldn't resist. A few days later when I was sorting laundry, I asked Mar why she had sopping wet clothes at the bottom of her hamper. She couldn't recall {and neither could I hahaha}. Just a day or two ago she finally remembered why those clothes were so wet... because of her frolic in the rain on Easter. 

We gave M and V a little story book + a tiny gift.

We had a VERY traditional Easter dinner with ham (it was so dry - I don't typically purchase spiral sliced, and now I think that's why. I should also mention that my meat thermometer officially died that day), cheesy potatoes, asparagus, salad, deviled eggs, and carrot cake.

I shouldn't have put the sprinkles on the cake... it looked very Birthday Cake-ish. The whole day was an exercise in my fave mantra at work: 
start where you are, use what you have, do what you can.

(I think I'll tack on, "And at the end of the day, it's the thought that counts.")

 

The weather had cleared up just in time for an ultra-simple Gigi and Little Billy egg hunt for V and M in our still-in-need-of-SO-MUCH-WORK backyard. (Apology in advance to our grandchildren... we can not compete with Great Grandma Syddall's egg and basket hunts your parents will fondly remember from their youth.)

 V had her egg-hunting ON this year.

M, much like the day before, was content with an egg in each hand...

...and with just being outside.

It wasn't the most amazing Easter ever, but it will do.

This was very likely our last stint at Easter Bunnying {for our own children}, and I'm secretly celebrating. We've been doing this gig for 29 years, and I'm ready to sit back and watch.

I am also determined to do better next year at focusing on why we actually celebrate Easter. Work, Seminary, and a whole bunch of oxen {aka the minutia of life} prevented me from attending the feast (see Luke 14:16-24). I hope to manage things differently next year. If I need to quit the job or sell off the oxen,