We are still a family with 5 out of 7 of us wearing glasses. (Pearl has not succumbed to bad eyesight, but there are hints that she may trend that way.) Needless to say, glasses and contacts are an essential accessory around here. When the girls get new glasses, it is like buying a new arm. Well...maybe more like buying a new pair of pants you plan to wear every day. Okay, not that gross, but you get the idea.
New glasses are pretty exciting. It changes the whole way you look. I didn't take before pictures, but you could go wading back through the blog to find their other glasses. Oh wait...I can put together something.
Ha ha. I just grabbed some previous photos. Here we go. Let's start with Robyn. She actually didn't make much of a change. Her clear glasses were swapped for clear glasses with a floral print on them. Just enough change to bring out the sassy in her.
Daisy went from the dark side to the light side.
And Ivory, in turn, joined the dark side. It is good to have a change. And suddenly I really want to watch Star wars. May the 4th is coming up quickly...
June doesn't feel like her prescription has changed at all, so she is still sporting her spicy red glasses. And she wears contacts half the time anyway. I'm grateful that the world has invented ways to see clearly and I'm even more grateful that I currently don't have to use any. Yes...I know my time will come. But I'll enjoy my sight for now.
Another spring has come. Well, it was really slow in coming. This has been one of the longest winters and the rainiest springs, but it is getting there. Ivory decided to go out for track. I feel like all the kids should try it. (I didn't succeed with Robyn, but she did take tennis, which she still likes and which will be featured later in this post.) Ivory does distance running. She seems to like it, but I think she likes the social aspect most of all.
June was pretty fast her 7th grade year. She really enjoyed running and made good time. Ivory is not quite as fast, but I think she has great potential. Her pacing is very good and she starts in the back, but passes a lot of people. June doesn't run anymore. Her shin splints got so painful in 9th grade that she decided to stick with ballroom and give up the running for now. But she wanted to come watch and Robyn also came to support. That was great, because I was able to time and the girls took some pictures for me.
I'm not sure if Ivory was nervous for her first track meet. It looks sunny, but I think most of the meets were cold! We brought blankets and curled up in the stands each time. Here she is trucking along.
Like I said, Ivory keeps a good pace and reserves some energy and is able to sprint at the finish.
This was her first time.
Ivory also competed in the 800 each meet, but I was never able to stay for the whole thing because usually I was taking kids to work or something else. So mainly, I was tracking her mile.
The next track meet, Ivory knew what she was doing. I was hoping she could beat her time from the last meet. Here she is talking to friends before the mile. She has lots of friends in track and I'm sure that makes it more fun at practice.
Here she comes sprinting in. (And hello random guy with the sunglasses.)
Eleven seconds off her time. Nice work!
Because of kid conflicts, I missed the next meet. I tried to get there, but the mile had just finished when I pulled up. Such is the life of a busy mom. Ivory said she was close to 7 minutes, but I wasn't able to time her. (I'm not sure why they don't do a better job getting the kids their times. It seems they would want to know, but a lot of the time, they don't even call it when they cross the finish line.)
Final track meet of the season and Ivory was pretty chill. She knew she wouldn't go to Alpine Days because you need to finish in the top three consistently, and whereas she had improved each time, there were some very fast runners in her grade.
Ivory had a great race. We cheered her on all the way and she was able to get a PR! Just under 7 minutes.
I'm so proud of this cutie. She supported all her friends at Alpine Days and our school did really well. The girls came in first overall! I'm hoping Ivory will do track again next year.
On the other side of the coin, Robyn (who does NOT do track) did tennis again this Spring. It was a weird season for her. It was not the smooth sailing of last year, because this time Robyn had a job, so she missed many practices and meets. And the weather was so crazy. Practice and meets got canceled here and there, so it was hard for Robyn to get work off on the right days, because we never knew when it would be clear. Oh, and somehow the coach left my email off the list so I didn't even get messages about rescheduled meets. It was a bit of a mess.
When Robyn finally made it to a meet, she did well. She likes to play doubles and she was paired up with Megan in varsity.
They won that match. However, Robyn missed enough matches that they put her on JV for the tournament. I told her she should be happy, because she had work off that day. She was able to play one JV match with her partner Kate before the tournament. (Oops, I missed pictures of that.) The tournament was on a Saturday.
The mountains were a beautiful backdrop and it was a gorgeous day...up until it wasn't. Gotta love Utah. If you don't like the weather, just wait an hour. In this case, it had been blazing hot in the morning. We had done yard work and an Easter egg hunt and I had gotten a mild sunburn. Then, in the afternoon, a storm rolled it, the temperature dropped and it eventually started to rain with lightning in the distance. They didn't call the match, but they did have everyone take shelter for twenty minutes or so. (Many thanks to Chris for letting us pack in his car. We didn't have a vehicle that day.)
Kate and Robyn did a great job. They won their first match and then had a tie breaker in both their other games. Sadly, they lost both, but only by a smidge. It was really close and they were both good sports about it. Robyn really likes tennis. Although she can't play in the fall because of Marching Band, I think she will keep playing in the Spring.
I'm happy to see my girls developing healthy lifestyles. I think it is important to be active, whether you like to run, tumble, dance, or play tennis. Just get up and get moving!
National History Day is a huge event. The kids start working on it in September and it culminates in the Regional Competition in March. Each year there is a theme and the kids can choose anything in history they think relates and connects to that theme. Last time we had to do this, it was June with the Theme of 'Taking a Stand in History' where she and Hannah focused on Miep Gies.
Fast forward and Ivory is just beginning her NHD adventures. The theme this year was 'Triumph and Tragedy.' It took Ivory a bit of time to decide a topic, but she eventually chose the life of Susan B. Anthony and her triumph and tragedy in fighting for Women's Suffrage.
After choosing a topic, the next step is deciding how you want to display your info. The options are:
Paper
Documentary
Exhibit
Website
Performance
June did a paper her first year. Her teacher made everyone do a paper, then they could expand their project if they wanted. June was content with her paper. The next year (Miep Gies) June did a group exhibit. They did a good job and almost made it to state. Ivory went a different direction and decided on performance. This seemed like a good idea to me since she has done many plays. This meant writing her own script and staging her own performance. It took her a while to get everything in order, but she finally was ready to go.
Interestingly, when we learned that she needed to be multiple characters, we both thought of a split costume. Apparently, that is not common, but since we both thought of it, that is the way we went. Ivory was herself as the narrator and she was also Susan B. Anthony. She was half and half. All she had to do was face a different direction to change character.
NHD Regionals arrived. It was on a Saturday and sadly, Ivory missed Teen Author Boot Camp, but sometimes it can't be helped. We knew we needed to arrive early, and it is a good thing we did, since Ivory was very first. We went to the room and waited for just a bit for the judges to arrive. The kids have five minutes to set up and they need to be able to do all their set up on their own. Ivory had a simple set with a table that rotated. It took her less than a minute to get everything in place.
Here you can see her Susan B. Anthony side. Very prim and proper.
I recorded her performance here. This isn't her best one, but it is pretty close. The nice thing was that it was so early that the room was basically empty. She had a small audience and I think it helped her stay calm. Oddly, there was a ton of people outside the door, so whenever she was Susan B. Anthony, she could see them out there waiting. But she made it through just fine.
I left after her performance. They spent the whole day there, but I ran off to watch Pearl tumble at a meet. Then I came back in the afternoon for the awards ceremony. The year June got third, they only took the top two and the third was an Honorable Mention and only advanced if one of the first two dropped out. This year, they took three finalists in no particular order in each category. Sure enough, Ivory was one of the three. Since there were only five individual performances, this wasn't terribly surprising. Good job Ivory!
Moving on to the next round. I can't believe she can walk in those heels.
When you combine all the categories, it ends up being quite a few kids. There are the five different categories, but each category is also divided into group and individual. Look at all these happy qualifiers. I'm not sure how many kids we had originally in our region, but it is easily in the hundreds.
Here is a close up of Ives. It is hard to catch a photo with parents all around. I think there were 24 kids from our school, which is a pretty good showing.
A month later was State NHD. This was all day on a Friday. Once again, we had to be out there early, and we had to drive up to West Valley. We brought a dolly so we didn't have to carry everything around. Best decision. Upon arriving, we checked in and took our stuff to the dance studio where we would store it until we needed it. I like the mirrors. Here you can see both halves of Ivory. Her regular self and her Susan B. Anthony side.
Ivory was not first this time, so we took the morning to watch other performances and documentaries. It is really impressive the work that has gone into these projects. We watched a documentary on the Radium Girls and it was our favorite. We were rooting for Ivory's friends (Wyatt and Cohen) to make it to Nationals.
Nationals are in Washington D.C. Honestly, I didn't really want Ivory to advance to nationals. I hear they pay for one plane ticket, but hotels, food, excursions, and any other plane tickets are supplied by the family. That is quite pricey. But no need to count chickens before they hatch. Let's see how she does...
Oddly, the performance right before Ivory was the Life of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who was Susan B. Anthony's partner in crime. We decided that having a performance about a similar topic could lift Ivory up, or bring her down. We just didn't know which way it would go. Stanton focused on costume and vocabulary. She looked sensational and spoke right out of a colonial dictionary. She was cool to watch. Her performance was that she was giving an interview as Elizabeth Cady Stanton's daughter. She didn't have any props, but she didn't really need any.
Ivory went right after her. She did a great job, although she rushed a little. But everything was nice and clear. I really like Ivory's idea of trying to convince her older sister to vote. Here are some shots from her performance. When her performance was done, the judges asked her questions. Ivory never practiced her answers, but she always did a great job sounding intelligent about her subject.
After, we got a picture of Elizabeth and Susan together. (Well, Elizabeth's daughter technically.) The world needs these amazing Women's Rights Activists!
Then we had to wait. In all the other categories, once they are judged, everyone can leave and come back for the awards. EXCEPT performance. For performance, they pick six finalists and have them come back and perform again. The list was posted around noon, so we hung out and waited. Ivory took a selfie. She looks ridiculously young in this picture.
Results are up. Cross your fingers. Looks like Ivory made it. (So did Stanton. And Brock.) Brock is Ivory's friend in her class. She was really excited that he made it to State. We wanted to watch his performance, but we didn't have time in the morning. He does a great job and even plays the bagpipes.
Ivory was last this time, so we took that time to go grab a treat. We drove to a nearby Iceberg and got mini shakes. MINI! I'm not sure they understand that word.
I'm a fries dipped in frosty kind of gal and when I went to dip my fries in my shake, Ivory yelled out, "Mommy, NO!" It was so funny. She was so concerned for me. Someday, she will understand the deliciousness.
Back at the venue, Ivory performed a second time. She did a good job. She said she was less nervous this time. No interview questions, just in and out.
Then back to waiting. We played cards to entertain ourselves and this random guy came up and told us that he would teach us nines. He was an elderly gentleman who was one of the judges. I think he may have been bored. He taught us 9s and it was really fun. We played a game and beat him. Gar had no idea who he was teaching. Ivory and I are ruthless.
Then we went in for the awards ceremony. It actually takes quite a while to get through all those awards. And every kid is only listening for one category. For individual performance, Ivory was not one of the two State Champions, and she wasn't the honorable mention either. So, we didn't have to worry about nationals. It was a shame, but a relief at the same time. But she did get a special award. There were several special awards and one was about Women's History. Wyatt and Cohen also got the Women's History award for Radium Girls (and they moved onto nationals) and also the Elizabeth Cady Stanton girl too! In fact, they added an honorable mention so that both girls could get one.
Like I said, sink or swim together. I think had there only been one, perhaps that girl would have gone to nationals, but with the same subject matter, it would be weird to send two. So, I think they chose other performances. That is my personal opinion. And in the end, it worked out just fine for us. Good job my Spivey.
We drove home through crazy traffic, but it wasn't bad because NHD was all behind us. Can't wait to do this again next year...
Robyn is taking Studio Art this year, but things are a little different than last year since the teacher changed. However, they still managed to do the Studio Art field trip to the Springville Art Museum. It is one of my favorite shows of the year since they feature all the best high school art in the district.
I came as a chaperone since I didn't want to miss that one. (Next year, I'll have no excuse to go with no kids in art.) Robyn sat with me and as we left the school, she said something snarky about me, while using an 'S' adjective. That started a weird competition where we thought up 'S' adjectives for the next four hours. There are a LOT of them. And I know we didn't get them all.
Our first stop was the Art Museum, where they broke us into groups and had us take a tour. They mentioned that one section had Science Fiction art. That is what I wanted to see. But our tour managed to go to three other sections first. One lady talked so long about one piece of art that I left. (Yes, I am a responsible chaperone.) I knew we only had so much time and I didn't want to miss the one section upstairs that I wanted to see the most.
The Sci-fi art didn't disappoint. Check out some of these cool pieces.
Then we went downstairs to see the High School art. There are so many different mediums and interesting pieces. I could spend hours walking around. Enjoy some of my favorites.
This was my favorite of all the pieces. If you can, zoom in. There is so much detail to this picture and I love all the funny book titles.
Back on the bus, we took a selfie. (While thinking of more 'S' adjectives of course.)
We ate lunch at the mall and then amazingly enough found another school art show on display there. My girls have had pieces showcased at the mall, but not this time around. But we did find a painting by Sophie. I love her art.
Finally, we went upstairs to the Woodbury Art Museum. They have some interesting pieces, but in general, I like some of the other shows more. Check out the third picture. So unique. All the beauty products are made with plants and natural ingredients. I'm not sure what it was called, but I would call it, 'Natural Beauty.'
That's it. I should have taken more pictures of me and Robyn, but we were enjoying the art. Next year I'll have to be self motivated and go to the art show on my own. And I'll make sure to take the whole family.
