The many faces of Aubree

 Don't ask this girl to be serious...that's just an invitation for her to be silly. :) But Mom gets the last laugh when she's immortalized just like this on the family blog. Smile!

                                Are we finished yet? Nope! Got one more!

Aubree's Senior Prom

 After 2 less than spectacular prom dates, Aubree decided to stag her senior prom. And wouldn't you know it? She had more fun this prom than both previous proms combined. :)

 She got together with her girlfriends who didn't get asked, and some who did, and worked out rides, dinner and even corsages for everyone. No rules, no expectations, no pressure.

                                                     Messing around........

                                                Striking a pose........

Great group of kids. One is married, 4 are on their missions, and one is preparing to leave.

Championship Soccer Season 2013

                               

                                                      Legacy Traditional School developed a championship soccer team in the year 2013 and Rylee got to be a part of it. This was her 3rd year playing for Legacy. She has a strong kick and likes to be the last defense if the opponent's ball gets through midfield.  

She has learned to be more aggressive in getting to the ball before the other team can score, and she's not afraid to go up against boys. Legacy does co-ed soccer, so there are always boys on the opposing teams. She's just learned you need to be quicker and kick harder than their forwards. :)

 This was a really fun team to play on. Most of the players were 8th graders who'd been on the team for several years, so there was already camaraderie  and communication on the field.

Canyon Athletics Association Junior High Co-Ed Soccer State Champion Division II.

Kiersten's Junior Prom

 Kiersten was asked to Prom by Braden Bitter, the son of some of our good friends. We help them on the annual SCUBA trip for our stake. He ordered some fortune cookies with a very specific message, in Chinese, about going to the dance. She answered him with a stuffed animal lion, that said, "I'd be "lion" if I said I didn't want to go to the dance with you."

 We have over 100 dresses in the closet, but Kiersten didn't want to wear any of those. :/ We went shopping for the tulle skirt that she wore over a plain black concert dress. It turned out nice. But I must say, the sash I created really added the finishing touch. :) Braden's boutonniere matches her sash also.
You can't see them, but Dad bought Kiersten aqua green Van's to match her sash. She thought that was pretty cool. :)
And she even let Aubree curl her hair and pin it back. :)

 They went with a group of youth from our stake. They all chipped in and rented a limousine for the night, and the stake youth leaders made dinner. The boys just had to pay for the food. Then they traveled to Gilbert to the multi-stake prom at the Barney Sports Complex.
I wish I could say she had a great night, but her Prom experience was kind of like my Prom experience. :( Braden had been kind of a jerk to her leading up to the dance. We had to talk her into going. And she said the best part about the night was her steak at dinner. XD

Family Day Friday

 Our "family day" this year consisted of traveling to Main Street in Mesa to try out their seasonal skating rink and visit the Mesa Temple lights. It was a chilly night, so we topped it off with hot chocolate from QT. It was a great night!

 When Scott left on his mission in Nov '91, he was in the MTC learning Swedish during the holidays. I wanted him to have a taste of home, so I talked my dad into helping me take a picture of the Mesa Temple lights. We had to play around with the different F-stops to make sure the shutter was open long enough to absorb the light. It took us a couple of tries, but we came out with a few that looked good when they were printed. I sent them to Scott in a Christmas package. But now, I have a camera that does all of that for me automatically. :) Good memories.

 Canon ruined every picture I took of him that night. The only reason we got the one at the top is because someone else was taking it.

 Kiersten says she doesn't like making a fool of herself by falling on her butt in front of everyone...so she opted to stay off the ice and take pictures with me.

                                                                    The brave few....

I think Canon told Dad 5 times that he was done and wanted to take the skates off. But every time Dad took him over to the side, he changed his mind. Canon and Raegan came home with a few bruises from falling, and I think everyone that skated was a little sore the next day. But it was still a lot of fun!

Thanksgiving 2015

 Of course we eat all the normal Thanksgiving food and spend time together. But we only take pictures of the Turkey Bowl because that's where we embarrass ourselves the most. :)
This year was bittersweet because Mom and Dad will be serving a 2 year mission presiding over the Guatemala MTC. They decided to sell the house to get rid of the mortgage payment, which is a smart move. But that means this was the last Thanksgiving holiday in the house we grew up in. By Christmas, it will belong to someone else. :(

        Aubree got to fly home for the holidays, even though her flight was delayed and she missed dinner. That will just be our new normal. I don't think she'll ever be content living at home again. 

                

Touching moment. *sniff

                  

 Great picture! I love the candid ones, when they don't know they're being photographed.

 What a motley crew! Everyone made it except Clint, Marilee, and kids because they were dealing with the stomach flu. But they made it to town Sat. for the family pictures.

Jekyll and Hyde- MHS Theater production Spring 2015

 Rylee auditioned and got the part of a lady-in-waiting for one of the well-to-do characters. Kiersten was cast as one of the street gang and got to put on makeup that made her face look dirty. She also got rid of her glasses for the performances.

 Although the cast did a good job on the performance, I was disappointed certain subject matter was allowed. It is possible to eliminate undesirable aspects of Broadway productions, or find a junior script where those things can be edited out. This was definitely a teaching moment for our girls.

 Mr Hyde strikes again!

 Fancy lady and street urchin

Cast picture outside the auditorium after the final performance. Rylee didn't want to be in this one. She struggled her whole freshman year to feel like she was really a part of anything.

Pirates of Penzance- MHS Drama production Fall 2015

 This year, Rylee decided she wanted to help with the set, so she signed up to be in the Technical Theater I class, where they actually build the set and assemble the props. She had a lot of fun learning how to use a saw, drill and other power tools. :)

 Kiersten was cast as one of the General's daughters. You can see, they added a few daughters from the original stage production because Mrs. Calhoun has a "no cut" policy. If you want to audition, we'll find a part for you.

 Kiersten enjoys being on the stage and belonging to the production family. Most of her friends come from drama or orchestra.

 It's an entertaining story to begin with, but when you let the students interpret their own meanings and add their own personalities, it becomes even more amusing. The cast and crew did a great job!!

 Grandma Geneva, AKA the Grandma with the Grandpa with the candy cane, passed away last month. She had just barely turned 86. It was not a sad time for us. We knew her body was failing and that she would be happier reuniting with her parents, siblings and Grandpa Lua. It's hard to watch loved ones suffer when you know they'll be so much happier in paradise.

It was interesting to note the differences between the family members that are still active in the gospel, and those that are not. It truly was a sad day for some who don't believe we will see her again. My heart aches for those who don't have a firm belief in eternal families. It would be devastating to say good bye to someone I loved and not cling to the fact that I will see them again, soon. Alma 40:8 states that"...all is as one day with God, and time only is measured unto men."

 These two photos were taken at Thanksgiving 2014. We took Grandma to lunch at Fuddrucker's and took a 4 generation picture afterwards. I'm so greatful for modern technology and the ability we have to capture snapshots of our lives.
Grandma Geneva holds a special place in Scott's heart. She always made him chocolate chip cookies if she knew he was passing through, which was often since we lived in UT and the rest of the family lived in AZ. He also passed many happy summers staying for weeks at her house in Page, AZ.

After our family picture, we got together as "just the girls" and took this picture

SCUBA 2013

 The whole time Aubree was serving on the stake's youth committee, she and I had to hear about the stake SCUBA trip. She was so tired of it, because it took up most of the meetings during the summer time. We even made a bet once that every time the word SCUBA was mentioned, she'd get an extra cookie from the treats I brought every month for the youth. It got to the point where she had so many cookies, she couldn't eat them all. :) The dive master wouldn't certify anyone under the age of 16, so when she was old enough, we decided we would try it.

 It was fun when there was no pressure to perform and we were just playing around. But when it came time to certify, I had a case of the nerves and would have backed out if Aubree hadn't been going full speed forward. I tried to talk her out of it, because it caused me a lot of anxiety, but we made it through and got certified. ;)

 I didn't end up doing any dives because we didn't realize we would need dramamine for the sea sickness on the boat. That was absolutely horrible. As soon as the boat stopped moving and was rocking with the swells of the water, I was sick. They said if you got in the water, it wasn't as bad. But there were swells in the water too. You had to be 40 feet down in the water to not be affected. I wasn't too thrilled about the kelp forest you had to swim through to get to the interesting stuff either. Aubree was worried about getting tangled in it.
There was another boy who was having a difficult time, so I stayed with him, while Aubree dove with Shay and Bro Bitter. She did a great job! Captain Eric nicknamed her Purple because of her wet suit. She was also the only girl to do all the dives, so I think she earned his respect. Both Shay and I opted not to get back on the boat because the nausea still hadn't worn off. Capt. Eric let her use his hood and gloves on the afternoon dive the next day because the water is so cold. It's like having a permanent brain freeze!

By the time we got to the beach dive, there was no equipment left for me to use. Aubree and Shay had to wait about 45 minutes for Bro. Bitter to fix a piece of Shay's equipment. I stayed topside and snorkeled. I got some great pictures of the sea lions that swam around me. They were very curious...basically dogs that live in the water. It was beyond cool. Come to find out, most of the interesting sea life was where I was anyway. Aubree said there were a lot of lobster and fish 30 ft down, but nothing as interesting as my sea lions. :P

 This is Aubree going down with her dive buddy, Justin Crandall.