Turtle Butts and the National Anthem….Shout out to TANYA WILLIS!!

 

When I was in High School, a dear friend of mine, Tanya Willis (now Headrick), and I would sing the national anthem for football games, basketball games and a few assemblies.  She was soprano and I was alto.  She sang clear as a bell and my nerves always got the best of me, leaving my voice shaky.  The national anthem is a hard song to sing, and if you start out on the wrong note you will quickly find yourself trying to hit some preeeeettty high notes. To help us start out in the right key we brought along a ceramic turtle whistle.  One of my uncles made it and I ended up with it somehow.  It was little, green and fit right in your pocket. Only problem……the spot you blew into, was the turtles bum.  It just happened to whistle in the exact key we needed, so we toted the turtle around and blew in his bum and sang.  It was a beautiful thing.

That little story brings me to the REAL subject of my post, which is my daughter.  She and her friends sang the national anthem for a High School game. It brought back lots of memories.  I guess you could say, like mother like daughter….except Kelsey was not blessed with my nerves.  She sings clear as a bell. Just like Tanya.

Kelsey and Maria

Maria, Kelsey and Kimmie

National Anthem

Cabaret

In February we joined the grandparents to watch Kelsey perform with her show choir, the Trouveres. I came earlier in the day to help the kids set up and to help Kelsey get ready.  I snapped a few pre show shots.

Kelsey got us a front row table so I was able to get some good pictures.

It was fun to have Kenny’s grandparents attend. I think they really enjoyed the show.

Me and my hot date.

Kenny’s parents

My parents

Kelsey’s dance partner is Caleb.  He has an awesome fro.  It makes it really easy to find Kelsey in a crowd….I just look for his hair.

Kelsey and Caleb breakin it down front and center.

I’m Lovin’ It

 

Kelsey started her first job in January.  Aunt Lori was able to help her land the position right when she turned 16.  This was definitely out of Kelsey’s comfort zone and she was pretty overwhelmed the first few days she worked. She is doing much better and is getting the hang of it.  It’s interesting to listen to her come home and talk about people who are mean and yell at her.  So remember the next time you are being helped by a teenager, they are probably super nervous and when you yell at them they come home and cry. They are trying their best so be nice!!

Sweetheart 2012

 

Kelsey was asked to her very first High School dance on Valentines day.  She found this vase on our front steps when she came home from a youth activity. We are not really sure how they stayed in tact because the dog was outside. She is lucky he didn’t eat the flowers and candy.

After dumping out all the candy she pieced together the valentines to find the message below.

First Dance!

She also got a bouquet of flowers from “Alexandria” for Valentines.  Two bouquets in one day!! No word yet on the new name her dad will be giving to Tanner. I’ll keep you posted.

The day of the Sweetheart dance, she had to work from 8-4. So I picked her up and dropped her off to go bowling. Then she took a quick shower at her friends house and I met her there with her dress.  I loved helping her with her hair and makeup.  She is so incredibly beautiful. I couldn’t narrow the pictures down to just one so get ready for a model shoot.

                                                  

I took this picture when she wasn’t expecting it. When I pulled the picture up later I gasped!  She looks like she is 18 going on 25!!! YIKES! This growing up thing is speeding up it seems.

Kelsey and her friend, Maria.

After the photo shoot, the boys arrived.

Maria and Tyler

Kelsey and Tanner.

No you are not seeing things….they are identical twins.

No worries, parents.  Jesus is watching over them.  

Seriously, she did not get her photogenic genes from me. She looks good in EVERY shot! (her date is pretty cute too.)

We gave her a midnight curfew and warned the boys that it had been snowing at our house so the roads up the mountain would be slick.  We got a phone call about 12:05am.  The road was so slick they couldn’t make it up our street.  Dad had to go out on a rescue operation.  But he slid all the way down the street, through the stop sign at the bottom and on down the next road before he was able to stop and turn around to go get Kelsey. She had a fun night and I love this time in her life. Even though it has some emotional up and downs, it is awesome watching her embrace life.