I love that if you look, you can find the most random things happening in your area. Ivory stumbled across a laser Taylor Swift show at the planetarium. She got tickets for her and Pearl to go. I'm not sure if it was worth it since I think it was just Taylor Swift songs playing while they did lights and pictures, but maybe the memories they made as sisters is priceless.
I think I'm mostly proud of Ivory taking the initiative to drive up there and get tickets and all that jazz. And ending the evening with ice cream makes the whole experience sweet.
-Insert from Ivory- You have no idea how hard it was to find that ice cream. Apparently Macey's is a hoax and they don't stay open as long as they should but we only wanted soft serve so we were looking around for soft serve near salt lake. And we decided to go find this one place that looked like it'd be really good and it took us to the middle of nowhere. There did happen to be a parked 'ice cream' car but it was actually just a police surveillance car in disguise.
After much more driving we did achieve ice cream, as you can see. That was honestly more memory making than the laser concert haha.
I had a goal to make a reel in 2023. As it got later in the year, I knew I needed to get on it, so when Pearl decided to cut her hair, it was a perfect opportunity. Except that Beau did most of it for me, so I'm not sure how much I can call it mine. But it got it done, and it was super fun.
For the record, the music matched perfectly in production and was off a little in completion. C'est la vie.
And for the book, here is a before and after pic. What a cutie. Pearl loves her short hair and it looks great on her.
Thanksgiving was a blast this year. We went up to Idaho because it is close-ish and we wanted to run into extended family, namely the married cousins and spouses. The older girls did not have much time off from work, so we went in two groups. Tyler went up on Tuesday with the younger three, and June, Beau and I came up on Wednesday night after June got off work. You can see here that the earlier visitors took advantage of their extra time...by watching movies. :) And playing some games. (I think they watched the entire Season 1 of Wednesday with Granny V.)
Nova was left behind, as usual, so we could love on Granny V's dogs. I believe Abu is the favorite, or perhaps he just snuggles better.
But Odie is very cute and gets in your business whether you like it or not.
Thursday was the only day we were all up there. Granny V put out the regular breakfast of pies. Basically, you can just get pie whenever you want all day.
She also inspired what I hope will be a continuing tradition. She hosted a Salsa Competition. There were five entries. June and I made salsa the day before and brought it up. Tyler and KJ made their salsa first thing in the morning. And I have no idea when Kaysen made his. Everything looked yummy.
Tyler made a unique but basic salsa with some serrano and mango. He called it Serrano Serenade. There was some good heat, but nothing overwhelming, like you might expect from Tyler. KJ made guacamole, which is cheating in my opinion, since I think guac is better than salsa. Kaysen made a sweet salsa that had pineapple and mango. I made an avocado salsa, which is NOT guacamole, thanks for asking. And June made a roasted habanero mango salsa that was easily the hottest of the group.
Granny V had guests judges come in. I was a little nervous when a whole bunch of old people walked through the door. I was worried that June's salsa might kill one of them. Luckily, those who disliked extra heat were warned away. (Sorry I don't have pictures of the judges.)
When all was said and done and eaten, the winner was Tyler. His salsa was very flavorful and delicious. Runner up was KJ, because guess what...the judges love guacamole. :)
Then we all dug in. It was nice to have chips and salsa to snack on before the main event. Great idea Granny V and we all liked the little salsa bowl that was the prize.
The rest of the day was super chill. Dinner wasn't until the evening, so everyone chatted, napped, read, played games, and hung out.
June's first companion in the DR happens to be going to school out at BYUI, so June drove up to grab her and bring her down for the feasting. It was so fun to have Hermana Fernandes, now Karla, come share in the festivities.
People were assigned different food tasks and worked on them when necessary. I was assigned yams which turned out very well, for my first time trying them. Kolby and Tyler are always involved with the meat. Beau worked on gravy and Ivory knabbed June and Karla to help her with the mini loaves.
Then...time to feast. Everything was delicious as usual.
In the evening we had more fun talking and hanging out. Karla got to try the oculus which is always fun.
Did you notice Daisy had blue eyes? Not sure you could really see them in other pictures.
The majority of us left that night so we could sleep in the next day. That may not have been the best choice. It was a very scary, snowy, icy drive, in which I almost lost control and almost fell asleep. The girls aren't the best at staying awake to entertain the driver. But no one died and I didn't even crash, so Yay! Next time, I'll drive during the day if possible.
Tyler stayed with the littles for another day to spend time with family. Got to soak up everything you can. And this picture from a video of Kolby is pretty worth it too. :)
Oh, the girls even helped Grandma put up a new tree. It looks lovely. I like how one holiday melts into the next.
I think it might have been June's year to make the turkey while she was on her mission. So we had Beau do it instead. However, the 2022 turkey has still not been laminated. Beau made it, we took it to CA and had the Kelly's draw on feathers, we brought it home, left it for a year and then finally glued it together and yet...it is not finished!! Beau refused to put the year on it. (And I actually have no idea where it is now.) I hope it shows up again next year so we can get it on the wall. If you want to remember what it looks like, scroll through this post.
Meanwhile, with June home this year, she was in charge of the turkey. She came up with a fun idea to do a black and white turkey. He looks very sharp.
But probably the most astounding thing was that I figured out how to hang the turkeys...finally. Every year I put them up with tape and nothing keeps them on the wall. Each morning, we come down to see how many turkeys gave up and landed on the floor during the night. I've tried all sorts of fancy sticky stuffs. This year, it finally clicked. I put up ribbon and strung the turkeys with clothes pins.
Seriously, why didn't I think of this years ago? It will look nicer next year. I just barely got the idea going. Next year (this year - 2024) it's my turn for the turkey. We are a bit out of order. I'll see if I can make something half as good as tux turkey.
The Mega concert is a huge deal at our high school. The choir kids use it to raise money and they spend weeks and weeks getting ready. Even if I didn't have a kid in choir, I would go. It's a really fun event.
This year was even cooler than usual, because we have two kids in choir, and Ivory is in Chamber, so she gets to do some extra things. But even on top of all that, Ivory auditioned with Kelsie to be the MCs of the show and they got it! For you, this means more video than usual and you can watch what you want and just view pictures if you don't. Ives and Kels did such a great job. They were the cutest.
The theme this year was Contemporary Musical Theater, which is a favorite of mine, and honestly a breath of fresh air after the Jazz year. (sorry Jazz) Ivory and Daisy auditioned for a duet and sadly didn't get picked. They sang Meg and Christine's duet from Phantom of the Opera and it was amazing. However, there is a lot of things that go into choosing and I liked most of the other choices for the concert. And perhaps it would have been a bit much for Ivory to MC and have a specialty number.
Let's get into the concert. Obviously I focus on my kids, but you'll get to see a couple other things as well. There was a large group number at the beginning, but the song was from Rent and I haven't seen that yet. I just saw a trailer for a movie about how Rent was written, starring Andrew Garfield. I wonder if it will be any good...
Then Ivory and Kelsie came on and kicked off the show. Their sketch was two girls going on a road trip to New York and Ivory wants to play Musical Theater music on the way. Kelsie is skeptical, but she goes along with it.
At their next interlude, you find them at a diner, where they meet a sweet waitress, Jada. Jada went on to sing, She Used to Be Mine from Waitress. (Which I also haven't seen. Maybe I'm not as big of a fan as I think...) I'm sad I don't have Jada's number. It was lovely.
Chamber Choir was up next. They sang songs from Dear Evan Hansen. (Um...I haven't seen that one either. How embarrassing.) But I did recognize the songs. Probably many people heard songs they recognized from the concert, although they may not have realized they were from musicals.
The next encounter for Kelsie and Ivory is at a random park, but it yields great rewards.
It leads into Zach's solo, which was amazing. I made Tyler record it the next evening. (And YES, I've seen Beauty and the Beast.)
Then it was Con Brio. This was Daisy's time to shine. She had a solo in Mama, I'm a Big Girl Now, from Hairspray. (I've seen parts of that one...does that count?)
Kelsie and Ivory were back after that. They made it to New York!
After a few specialty numbers and one really funny number (Always Look on the Bright Side of Life from Spamalot) Ivory and Kelsie were back, still in New York and looking for another adventure.
That bit led into some numbers from Greatest Showman. (Yes!! I've seen that one.) I'd also seen many of the shows highlighted in the specialty numbers. There was Les Mis, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Wicked, Beauty and the Beast, and Newsies. My favorite was I Dreamed a Dream duet performed by two girls. The harmony was fantastic.
Our MCs were back to find love for Ivory. It almost works. I had Tyler record the second night so we could get Parker's song. Totally worth it. (And no...I haven't seen Hamilton yet. No Disney+)
The combined girls did a great number from La La Land, Another Day of Sun. It was super cute. Both Ivory and Daisy were in it, but it was really hard to find Ivory for most of it. She was in the back on the left side. Daisy was right front.
Last choir up is A Cappella. They did several selections from Hamilton. It's a great medley.
And so the Mega Concert draws to a close. So does Kelsie and Ivory's road trip. Goodbyes are hard, but the promise to stay in touch takes away the most bitter sting.
The closing song was from Wicked (which I have seen!!!) For Good, was a great choice for a closer. And Ivory and Daisy even were near each other.
It was a wonderful concert. I was able to go both nights. Everyone split up and went the night that worked best. Here's the group night one.
Granny V made it night 2.
My kids are so talented. It was fun to watch them stretch and try new things. I'm very grateful to Mr. Taylor who organizes this event so many kids can experience this type of production.
