A proud day.

Jackson

Dance Recital

 Ressa decided to quit karate after one year and focus on her dance career. That was written with a touch of sarcasm. It was becoming too difficult for her to attend her karate class held in the same school gym where her friends were also having dance class. I finally relented and she said good bye to Mr. Mehr and hello to CoolImage Dance Studio. My friends Tiffany and Missy started the studio a couple years ago out of Tiffany's garage and it has grown into a huge success with 150 students. Ressa started in the Fall, taking two classes: Hip Hop/Jazz and Ballet/Tap. She has loved it and it turns out she has a really good memory and learns the dances quickly. Chad and I hadn't seen her really dance until her recital in May and we were blown away at how well she did and so proud of her! I don't know how she keeps from getting so nervous, but she just goes out there and doesn't let crowds bother her. I know that I can get up in front of people pretty easily, but that certainly wasn't the case when I was 7 years old! Way to go, Ressa!

Sisters Week!

With an 18 year age difference between my oldest and youngest sister, we have waited a long time for us all to be able to get together with just us girls! And it was worth the wait and mom came, too!  We all flew into SLC and Samantha drove over from Colorado and picked us up. She was our chauffer and had her fill of back-seat drivers. lol! We stayed in a hotel in Provo that mom had arranged with her rewards and it wasn't too far from BYU. We planned ahead and had our nights scheduled with a musical dinner theater for Thursday and a comedy improv show for Friday. During the days we spent at Womens Conference, attending a variety of classes on prayer, scripture study, unifying our ward sisters, and one other one I can't remember. Sister Beck was a main speaker and so was Elder and Sister Bednar. I missed the Bednars because I chose to wait in the line for the Carl Bloch Exhibit at the Museum. The tickets I preordered were for Saturday and we would not have time to go and make our flight. So I had to wait and wait instead. I was so glad I did-so worth it!

We sat here and ate lunch while mom went over and talked to John Bytheway who happened to be signing books right next to us. He had finished and was there by himself getting ready to leave. We begged her not to ask if he remembered going on a date with our sister-in-law Amy years ago. We don't think she did. This was all of our first time at Womens Conference so we didn't know that many authors and artists came to pedal their stuff and sign books and art. I couldn't believe the size of the BYU bookstore and went upstairs to see if they had the paintings of an artist, J. Kirk Richards, that I recently discovered. I wanted a painting called "Every knee shall bow". When I reached the top there was a display of his and there sitting right there was the artisit himself! He is my age, married with 4 kids and such a nice and unassuming guy. I talked with him and his wife for a while. He signed the picture that I bought for me and I was thrilled! I had it framed and it is hanging in my dining area on my bronze wall and it looks perfect. I plan on printing out the title on black vinyl and putting it under the picture. I hope to get a couple more of his paintings in the future.

Since it was mother's day the next Sunday, we decided to take Mom out and buy her a new wardrobe on Friday night before the comedy show. Our poor mom doesn't have any daughters at home to help her dress ( as illustrated in the picture above) and we introduced her to the 21st century! We had a lot of fun and she was very cooperative and between the four of us girls pitching in we were able to get a ton of clothes thanks to Ross Dress for Less!

The dinner theater put on Sherlock Holmes and it was terrific! My favorite line:

Sherlock: Are there any ships that leave for Cairo?

Weston: No ship, Sherlock

I laughed and laughed!

The improv was stinkin' hilarious and my sisters and I laugh like a bunch of crazy hyenas! I had to apologize to all the people around us. I hadn't laughed that hard in years!

Get ready for some BLUE STEEL...

You go, LeaAnn! It was wonderful to stay up late, laughing with my sisters and talking about life an sharing stories and thoughts. We are all different but similar and feel so comfortable around eachother. I miss having my family around me, especially sisters. I have really felt the loss of having LeaAnn move to San Diego. I hope we can make a tradition of getting together, although I don't know if we will do Women's Conference again. Something a little less structured next time. What a perfect weekend!