The Game

 

Kendall plays the trombone in his school band.  In October all the area high school and junior high school bands performed during the half time of a Highland football game.  We loaded up the family and headed to the game. Kelsey opted to sit with her friends instead of her totally cool parents.  It was fun to see Kendall perform.

Kylie and I cheesin’ for the camera and Kaiden and his cousins being rowdy.

My mom brought binoculars so she could see Kendall down on the turf.  Kylie soon became obsessed with spying on Kelsey and her friends.  It was hilarious. I think she spent half of the game watching Kelsey and her friends.

SHE CAN DRIVE!

 

Here is Kelsey ready to take her drivers test with the instructor.  She was so nervous!!

After passing her drivers test, we headed to the DMV to take the written test.

It was a success!

I have learned something about my own driving through this process.  I am a speed demon.  Seriously I didn’t realize how fast I drive until I had to sit back and let Kelsey drive the speed limit. It drove me crazy to drive so slow. And driving isn’t quite so fun when your teenager points out all the things you are not doing by the book. It was eye opening for sure.  I am so glad Kelsey has her license, as her social life has quite outgrown my desire to taxi her around every night.  And having her run errands is the BOMB!!

I Love Being a Mom

I love my picture.  Awesome hair, hot dress and I can totally kick Kenny’s butt!

1000 Miles

When Kelsey told me she was going to sing a song at her talent show I was excited.  She has an amazing voice and I knew she would do great.  When I heard the song she and her partner picked, I was a little nervous because I knew the song was not easy to sing and I just wanted it to be a good experience for her.  They did all the practicing at the other girls house so I didn’t get to hear them until the actual performance.  I walked into the gym and sat in the folding chairs on the middle of the floor.  The bleachers on both sides of the room were packed with 6th, 7th and 8th graders.  It was loud and chaotic.
I was so nervous for Kelsey as the show started. 
I was impressed with the kids who performed but I have to say, Kelsey and Jessa were THE BEST of all.  They totally nailed the song and I was so excited for Kelsey!

If you have problems watching the video here then view it on You Tube at    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDqJDUjWToo    Isn’t she so beautiful?

Kelsey's missing voice

Kelsey is the cute blond on the front row. :)

Kelsey is in the Girls select choir at school. She has a beautiful voice. I was glad to hear she was trying out for one of the solo parts for their Christmas program. She practiced and practiced for a week and on tryout day she made it! At the end of that week she got a respiratory virus along with the rest of the family. We hoped it would clear before the concert the next week. The day before the concert she was trying to practice and her voice was squeaking and cracking pretty good. She rinsed with salt water, drank some hot herbal tea and went to bed early hoping for a better result in the morning. As she tried to practice that morning it was worse. We talked about the fact she may not be able to sing.
It was decided at choir that day to find a replacement just in case. As I sat in the audience listening to her performance, I still wasn't sure if she would be singing. I caught her eye as the song started and she nodded no. I was so sad for her! You know those moments as a parent when your heart hurts and you wish you could change things so your child would not be disappointed or in pain? I felt that way especially as I watched Kelsey subtly mouth the words to her solo as she watched and listened to her replacement sing. I know this was not a life or death situation here but it was still hard to see her miss out after she had worked so hard to get that solo.
The battery on my camera was almost dead so Kenny only caught a little snippet of the song. (FYI- his camera skills are wild.)Here is Kelseys solo from last year.

Festival

Kelsey chose to sing a solo during the music festival for our school district. They sing in front of a judge and are scored on their performance. She scored 32 out of 35 and received a Superior rating, the highest you can achieve. She sang beautifully! Good job Kelsey! We are so proud of you. And a special thank you to her talented voice teacher, Allyson Johnson.

Lego Robotics Competition

Kendall joined the Lego Robotics team at school this fall. It is a really neat program. They actually design and build a robot and then program it to perform certain tasks. All the schools in SE Idaho gathered at ISU to compete. The table is set with different objects and tasks that the robot must complete. They have a 2 minute time limit to complete as many tasks as they can. They learned alot about team work. I posted 2 video's of their first heat. They had a malfunction on the robot near the end and were pretty disappointed. It was really intense and I found myself getting really tense watching. It was fun to spend the afternoon with Kendall.

Festival of Trees

Kelsey is in 7th grade choir. They performed at the Festival of Trees tonight. She had a solo part and did such a good job. She has a lot of musical talent and is taking voice lessons from a good friend of mine, Allyson Johnson. I am posting several pictures and one video....the clip is off my cell phone so the quality is not the best, but you can hear her solo at the very beginning. Her voice rings as clear as a bell. Great job Kelsey!

YW in Excellence

Kelsey had her YW in Excellence program on Tuesday night. I am so incredible impressed by the YW leaders in our ward and the time and effort they put into making this a special event.
My heart swelled with pride when Kelsey walked to the front of the room and talked about a goal she had worked on. She talked about participating in the Wizard of Oz. She said what she learned was committment and that once you committ to something you have to stick it out even if you want to quit. She is such a sweet daughter and a righteous young women.
I felt the spirit as the girls sang. I was watching their faces and wondering if they knew how important they are. That the next generation of saints will be born and raised by these young women. I thought about the valiant fights they will fight and hoped that they would all know their true worth. I was filled with memories of my Young Women years. I loved my leaders and they taught me so much. I feel very blessed that Kelsey has leaders that are doing the same for her, that mine did for me. Everything was perfect from the decor to the refreshments and hand outs.

Good Job!....Wait....What!?

Great job, Kylie! Way to get 100% attendance so far this year!

(I am not sure how that happened...in fact I am thinking that it must be an oversight...no one in our family has ever won this award before, We'll take it!)

Way to Go Kelsey!!

I have to say, Kelsey has done awesome with her studies this year. She got her first report card and has straight A's! I am so proud of her. She has worked very hard. It has been an exhausting change going into 7th grade, with all the socializing and all the homework, but she has been diligent in keeping her studies up. Way to go, Kelsey!