I am married with 4 children. I am a Special Education teacher at a middle school. I am a recent graduate from Brigham Young University. I have a cat and am pining for a dog.
Two of my sons had a chance to march in the Spanish Fork Fiesta Days parade as 2000 Stripling Warriors in the Army of Helaman.
They carried staffs and made their own flags as Titles of Liberty. They were given costumes to wear. The boys and men were ages 11-26 years old. Some of their leaders walked with them. They were divided by Stakes (you can see the tall white flags designating their group).
A vehicle was in their midst playing the Primary song We'll Bring the World His Truth (Army of Helaman) and the missionary hymn Called to Serve. The boys would tap their staffs in time to the music. Periodically they would stomp and give a chant and tap their staffs.
You can see my sons at about the 1:20-1:24 mark of the video I took. Zane's staff has a white flag tied with black shoelaces. Cooper should be near him. (Sorry about some of the picture my hand was getting tired).
Chloe participated in Spanish Fork's Little Miss competition. Girls are divided into age groups. Minis ages 7-8, Littles 9-10, Junior 11-12, Teen 13-15. Chloe was in the Little category. There were 18 girls in her group.
First we had to be there about two hours before the pageant for interviews. There were three judges and they each asked her two questions. They asked her about pets and her family.
The pageant is opened with all the girls (Friday night Minis and Littles, Saturday Jr. and Teen) dancing a production number in the same outfit. Each contestant is introduced with their name and number.
For her talent she performed a dance she learned with her dancing group at Devotion Dance Academy. It was a lyrical dance routine to Little Things by One Direction. We had to change a couple of movements since this was performed as a group. There was a section where they lifted a girl and rotated her. So some choreography was altered showing off some technique like leg lifts, straddles, and leaps. She was doing great on stage, she remembered the first two changes. Then she got ahead of the music, forgot one section and froze for about 5 seconds (which seemed like forever) quickly remembered and finished the song.
I met her backstage after her talent performance and she was crying and I was crying because I knew she'd be crying because she messed up. We talked with her dance teacher and choreographer backstage and she got us calmed down. We got her changed for the party dress portion. She wore the dress she got as a flower girl in her aunt's wedding. Each girl was walked out with an escort and walked to key points on the stage while information about the girls was read aloud. Information as in who her parents were, who her siblings are, and what her dreams and aspirations are.
After some entertainment while the judges calculate their scoring the girls are brought back on stage for the announcement of winners. There are four attendants and a queen for Minis, and four attendants and a queen for Littles. Chloe did not place. I didn't expect her to for her first time out. I don't think she expected to win either. Backstage there were girls crying because they didn't win. Chloe was just fine. She even commented to me in a sympathetic voice about how the girls were crying because they didn't win. Our only crying was in relation to her talent performance.
Overall, I think she had fun and it will be a memory she has for a while. We talked about her doing this again next year. She is up for it and hopes to perform better to even place.
My school was having a fundraiser and at ceratin dollar amounts the students got something (lunchtime activities, extra time for passing period, etc.) Well, at $10,000 they got the principal Ms. Gough to dye her hair, the male vice principal Mr. Welch to get a mohawk (that they cut on stage) and the female vice principal Ms. Wing to get a hair cut (also cut on stage) and a teacher talent show (forward to 19:00 for my number)
One teacher, Ms. Lynn, sang "Mele Kalikimaka" while four male teachers danced; Mr. Bustin, Mr. Carwin, Mr. Talley and Mr. Carlsen. They were dressed up in grass skirts, Hawaiian shirts with coconut bras over it, and silly wigs. They even went out into the audience and put leis on students.
Four female teachers did a dance competition with the wii; Ms. Vittetoe, Ms. Kirkman, Ms. Murdock and Ms. Nebeker. One teacher, Ms. Neff sang "All I Want For Christmas is You" (a la Mariah Carey). At the last minute a few of us acted as back up dancers. We had no routine, just followed each other.
Then as a surprise final number the flashmob. Mr. Talley is introduced as the final number. He goes out and dances a bit (he did a number last year showing off his dancing skills and the students go wild for it). Then a number of us join him on stage, and we are awesome. Then, more teachers from the audience join us. The students go crazy. They are all standing, many have phones out taking pictures and filming us. Lots of cheering, screaming, and clapping. It was such a rush. We did Gangnam Style by Psy. The routine we used from Cornell University.
A coworker of mine convinced me and some other coworkers to join him in a 5K. A few coworkers jog daily and planned to run the 5K. Others, like me, planned to walk it. I have never done a 5K and wasn't sure what to expect.
During times where I am exercising I would go walking and had gotten up to 2 miles and it took about 40-45 minutes to do that. 5K is 3.1 miles, I thought I could do it in 1 hour.
This race was called a Turkey Trot. I think the winners of each age group got a certificate for a turkey. We all got a race shirt.
I was in the Women age 35-39 division. I placed 23rd in that division and 134th overall (but I don't know how many participated). My time was 55:17.7 (55 minutes 17.1 seconds)
So I was under an hour. I hope that this race will jumpstart me to exercising more. I'd like to do another 5K and see how much time I can shave off.
I made: a Sweet Pumpkin Dip served with graham crackers, ginger snaps, and Nilla wafers; Savory Pumpkin Dip served with crackers and celery; Little Smokies in a pumpkin BBQ sauce; and a Sausage Stuffed Pumpkin.
Rachelle brought homemade pumpkin bread, Shelley brought homemade brownies with little pumpkins on top, Mitch & Jen brought pumpkin bread and muffins, Emma brought homemade Pumpkin Pie Pops, Dwayne brought a pumpkin pie, and Julie brought a homemade pumpkin dump cake.
There were also jack o' lantern sugar cookies for the kids to decorate.
A station set up for pumpkin carving. There were some awesome carvings.
A Pirate, a Werewolf, the Flash logo, Stitch an Alien
A mouse, a spider
Jack Skellington, A skull (which was the winner)
Another spider
A sun, Classic Jack O' Lantern, 2 Silly faces
A green pumpkin jack o' lantern (the token black guy)
