Taking the family to see Echo!

It's been four years since we took our three older children to see a Cirque du Soleil show for the first time.  Since I took all four kids to see The Lion King on Broadway in December, I decided that we wouldn't take them to see CDS when I found out that they were coming back into town this winter.  However, after getting a BYU Alumni email a few weeks ago announcing discounted tickets for sale for the ONE Saturday in February that we were free, I decided to jump on the opportunity to buy them.  In addition, I decided to invite my mom to join us as she has never seen a Cirque show before and I knew how much she would enjoy it.  So we headed out today around 1:30 to pick up my mom at 2:30 to make it to Redmond in time for the 4 pm show.  We were all so excited to be back under the grand chapiteau, especially with Emmett who was seeing it for the first time.  As always, Cirque did not disappoint.  From the hilarious clowns, to high flying trapeze artists, to a giant, walking puppet, we loved it from beginning to end!  I am so glad that we were able to attend one CDS as entire family as this might be Lia's last time joining us.  Sniff.

All seven of us standing on the red carpet next to the signature, blue and white tent.

A close-up of our family with my mom.

The main character of this show was a girl with bright red hair named Future.  Here we are standing in front of a poster of her face inside the large tent.

This show follows the main character and her pet into a fantasy world full of animals.  As a result, several of the performers wore white animal costumes throughout the show.  Here are Ella and Emmett standing in front of a poster of a white horse before heading to our seats to watch the show.

A trapeze artist doing the splits while hanging from her HAIR.

The two hilarious clowns entertaining us in between acts.

The human tower of performers that grew as people jumped up one at a time.  It was amazing to watch!

The main character, Future, sitting in the hand of the giant puppet man that interacted with her on the stage.  This was an absolutely incredible and unlike anything I have ever seen performed before at a CDS show!

Boxes played a role in this show from small ones carried by the clowns and performers to this large one that sat on the stage the entire time.  At the very end, it spun around and opened up with the entire cast inside.  It was such a cool way for the show to finish!

Lia's 18th Birthday!

Luckily, Lia's 18th birthday fell on a Sunday this year, so she was able to sleep in.  I decided to round up the rest of the family to go into her bedroom at 10 a.m. to wake her up for church by singing "Happy Birthday" to her which was a first for our family.  It was a rather funny way to start her birthday!  After the traditional whipped cream and strawberries on waffles for breakfast, Lia went to church and spent the afternoon working on memorizing all of her lines for Freaky Friday since she is supposed to be off-script by now.  We then had the grandparents over in the evening for her actual birthday celebrations.  As always, we enjoyed a dinner requested by Lia before opening gifts and eating banana cream pie for dessert.  It's hard to believe that my first born child has reached adult age as she is still such a child in so many ways.  However, the fact that she will be going off to college in Utah in a few months and celebrating her next birthday without us forces me to acknowledge that this adult age really does mean some big changes in the next few months.  I am so excited for her and the journey that she is about to begin.  Welcome to adulthood, Lia!

Lia smiling in bed after we woke her up on her birthday morning.

Lia and her siblings posing around her breakfast waffles before she blew out the candles.

The family, plus my parents, sitting around the table at the beginning of dinner.

Lia sitting next to her presents before opening them.

Emmett insisted on helping Lia open all of her gifts.

I ordered different colored, custom made shirts for all of us to wear for Lia's senior trip to Disneyland next month.  They all have a Mickey head on the front wearing a grad cap with the phrase "From the Tassel to the Castle" written on top.  Each shirt also has our names written on it.  Here is Lia holding up her shirt that boldly says, "The Grad," underneath the Mickey head.

Lia holding up the book that Ella gave her and the 1-8 that Ella made out of Perler beads.

Lia showing off the ticket to The Phantom of the Opera that I am taking her to see in Seattle in May.

The family photo I asked my mom to take before Lia blew out her last candles of her 18th birthday celebrations.

The siblings helping Lia blow out her candles!

Lia's 18th Birthday Party with Friends

Although I was supposed to be done hosting friend birthday parties for Lia after her Sweet 16, she managed to twist my arm last year and again this year.  She was able to convince me to throw an 18th birthday party due to the following three reasons:  a "smaller" list of invitees, no sleep over (that would require me to make a big breakfast the next morning), and agreeing to use the same decor theme that Ella had already chosen for her 12th birthday party next month.  So with all of those reasons in place, I summoned up enough energy to host this final friend party of Lia's career.  Although she promised that it would be a smaller party, Lia ended inviting seventeen girls from her elementary school group, her running group, and her NTWL and high school theater groups.  Fifteen were able to join us for the evening's affairs.  I decorated the party in light pink and black, bow-themed decor and provided a dinner and dessert for the girls.  They ate dinner, opened presents, ate cupcakes and ice cream for dessert, went crazy with the photo backdrop downstairs, and ended the night watching one of Lia's Barbie movies (on a DVD) from her childhood.  Lia allowed Ella and Emmett to join for the evening's festivities while Logan avoided the group like the plague.  Everyone seemed to have a great time and I am glad that Lia was able to have one last hoorah as a child before she moves on to bigger and better birthdays in the future!

The party decor around the fireplace.

The kitchen decorated in pink and black with lots of bows.

A close-up of the head table.

Lia asked all of the girls to wear something whimsical that celebrated their inner childhood.  She chose to wear a pastel colored dress with little flowers on it.  Here she is standing outside next to the sign that Ella wrote a "welcome" message on.

All of the girls enjoying dinner together.

Lia at the head table with some of her friends during dinner.

Lia and her friends:

Back row (from L to R):

Griffin, Elle, Mollie, Sienna, Lia, Hope, Ani, Esley, Emily

Front Row (from L to R):

Rian, Emma, Cobie, Willow

(Not pictured:  Abbie who left early and Erika who came late)

Ella hanging out on the couch with Lia's close friends from elementary school.

Lia holding up the very appropriate shirt that her high school theater friend, Emily, gave her.  The message on the shirt says, "Maybe I Am The Drama."

Lia holding up the homemade booklet that her friends Cobie and Willow made that contains pictures of all of her fictional husbands.  Such Silly girls.

Lia posing with one of her closest and oldest friends, Mollie.

Lia waiting for the group to sing "Happy Birthday" to her.

Blowing out the candles.

Lia helped me make a photo backdrop in the basement that entertained the girls for quite some time after dessert.  Here is Lia posing with her elementary school friends.

Lia with her high school friends.

The girls (plus Emmett and Ella) all bundled up and ready to start watching a Barbie movie.

Tubing at Snoqualmie Pass

Since we had no school today due to midwinter break, we spent a fun filled morning as a family tubing up at Snoqualmie Pass.  This is something that we have never done before, but I thought of it last month as a gift that we could give to Logan for his birthday instead of a friend party.  I thought that all of the kids would really appreciate it this year since the sledding was so disappointing at Priest Lake in December due to the little amount of snow that was on the ground.  We got up to the tubing park early to be ready for our 10:30 time slot to begin.  We then spent the next 1 hour and 45 minutes tubing our hearts out on the huge hill.  We had such a great time and couldn't get over how fast the tubes went on the first part of the run.  Everyone did great with having to walk up the massive hill over and over again.  Emmett especially was a trooper and only Logan could keep up with him.  We had such a great time and I am so happy that this birthday gift turned out to be such a fun experience for Logan and the rest of our family!

 

A family picture that we had taken of us while waiting for our time slot to begin.

Ella (on the left), Logan (in the middle), and Lia (on the right) going down at the same time together.

A close-up of the three of them finishing their run.

A shot of Lia walking to the end of her lane after finishing another run.

Emmett running out of his lane.

Ella walking out of her lane.

A group shot I was able to snap of the kids before they walked up the hill again.

Ron pushing Emmett down from the top of the hill.  I was amazed how he never was afraid to go down this massive hill alone at such a fast speed.

Lia pulling a worn out Emmett, Logan, and Ella back to the parking lot at the end of our tubing session.

Ella Competes at the Charity Choice Invitational

Ella just competed in the Charity Choice Invitational in Tacoma for the third year in a row.  Although she has enjoyed this meet in the past, it ended up being her most disappointing meet to date.  She started out strong, earning a score of 8.85 on floor and an 8.5 on vault.  However, she slipped at the beginning of her bars routine and only earned an 8.3.  Due to her frustration with this slip, Ella totally let it get the best of her on beam.  She fell once and forgot a part of her routine and earned a 7.1 which is the lowest score of her gymnastics career.  As disappointing as this meet was, I think that it was a valuable learning experience for Ella and, hopefully, she will not let it affect her for the three remaining meets of the season.  

Ella's team walked in for the opening ceremonies wearing St. Patrick's Day sunglasses and headbands.  She got to be at the front of her team and carry the sign which was such a fun surprise for me to see.

A close up of my girl.

Although Ella didn't earn any medals at the meet, she was able to go up on the stand at the end when they won first place for the team award.

A cute shot I was able to get of Ella on our way out.

Rise and Shout Lia!

 

After years of working hard in school to earn straight As, participating in many extra curricular activities and service, and attending seminary, Lia found out yesterday that her lifelong dream came true with the arrival of her acceptance email from BYU Provo!  Although the acceptance emails were not supposed to go out until Monday, they arrived early at 4 pm yesterday.  And although I found out about this from my friend, Kerry, at 4:10 pm, I had to wait until Lia got home from play practice at 5:30.  I was hoping to surprise her by telling her to check her email after she walked in the door, but, sadly, she had already discovered the email on her phone and had read it in her high school bathroom after her rehearsal was over.  In addition, Lia texted a few friends and called one of her school friends AND Ron and the kids on her drive home, so I technically was not the first one to hear.  Although I was sad to not be with Lia when she read the happy news, I started screaming the second she casually mentioned it to me a minute or two after she got home.  Needless to say, we are all so excited, happy, and thrilled about this news!  A day later, I am still pinching myself to make sure it is true.  I just can't wait for Lia to become a Cougar and to have the experience of a lifetime at my beloved alma mater.  Way to go, Lia!  We are so dang proud of you!

A proud Lia holding up her acceptance letter.

A screenshot of what Lia posted on the Senior Sunday following her acceptance into BYU.