Ok, lots of pictures, I know, but Carmen and Matt were going to come and couldn't come so I wanted to be as detailed as possible. We had a great time the first day. It really, really, really rained the second day. We prepared for rain but we couldn't stay with the amount of water was collecting in our camp spot. It's a great spot and a tradition every year- right by the river but we're on a mountain so all the rain was gushing through to the river. Brian has always wanted to sleep in his own tent, this year his wish was granted.
This is "the hill" our kids love to ride down it on their bikes, every year. It's kind of a Parry joke that every Parry gathering will have a #10 can of Olives so I made Mom pose for a picture. Tia listening to music. Not only did I feel sneaky taking this picture but artistic as well. Mom brings lots of activities for the boys every year, they are in Heaven. They look forward to this all year. Sarah reading in the sunshine.
The boys doing dot-to-dot pictures mom brought under our additional rain guard we rigged up. We are in charge of breakfast every year and Matt makes his homemade pancakes. This year's new toy (it's Mom and Dad's) is this nifty camp stove. The boys staying out of the downpour. Us, in the downpour. The boys all nice and cozy watching a movie while we pack up camp. We had fun. We didn't get to go hiking or do everything we planned on but Friday night was a lot of fun.
racing down the hall seeing who can slide the farthest! Ashley, Katie, and Dominique being weird... more weirdness.... My friend's Katie(left) me(center and Dominique(right) in our capes and socks! :)
So Mom wants me to post my last day of school. Surprisingly, it is actually fun! Hardly anyone comes, so you get to run around the whole school randomly, get candy from teachers, watch movies etc(the list is endless!) Last year, My friend and I decided that this year, we would wear capes, so we did! It was so much fun and everyone stared at us like we were crazy! We also skated around in socks, and went into the computer room and played computer games.
So Tia's graduation was more entertaining than I thought. They started out with four student speakers and after each was a mini performance type thing. One guy played the zxylophone, the choir sang, and a girl sang. They were amazing! What happens at a graduation when the principal speaks? You bring out the beach balls!! apparently, some guy brought like five of them! one would just pop out of nowhere, the graduates would toss it around for about 15 seconds before some security guy would catch it. And every time that they took one away, another would pop out. It was hilarious! Even two beach balls came out of the audience. The principal was getting really annoyed. He was threating to take up 46 minutes of talking and even told the parents not to encourage their kids. Oh! And how could we forget the pictures!! each graduate, as their name was read, had their picture professionally taken. They put the poses up on the big screen. 9 out of 10 did something funny. People jumped on each others backs, pretended to be on the phone, and we even saw a mug shot! Tia was texting, she wanted to make sure that we could recognize her(well it worked!) and as you'll see below, Corinne posted pictures of the party afterwards(thanks!!)
Ok, I'm not trying to steal the spotlight I think Kelly should still post her pictures and thoughts - I just had so many cute pictures! It was really fun seeing Kelly last week. We managed to squeeze in a trip to the zoo, Ross, and of course- McDonald's to get apple pies.
Kaylee kept trying to grab and eat everything on the table, she actually did get some butter.
Absolutely loved playing in the pool with Taylor and Alex.
We had Corinne and Matt's boys, Taylor and Alex, come over on the Saturday before Mother's Day while their parents climbed Mt. Timpanogas. We helped them make mother's day cakes, they helped Grandpa plant tomatos, and ended the day with climbing trees at the park with Tia and Sarah. Also, the title of the post is a reference to what Alex said to Matt when he got back. :) So cute.
This Friday, Sarah, along with 7000 other local church youth, performed in the spectacular Draper Temple Celebration for over 42,000 people-- including the prophet. It was magnificent production, very rich in cultural diversity and Sarah was in the scene that showed the Pioneers coming to Utah. She got to run down the center aisles to the floor to dance with the other youth from our stake.
:) We thought you'd like to see the pics of Sarah in her costume (Thank you, Ruth!).
Also, another point of interest is the wristband they gave her and all the other youth who performed. It says, "Come up to the mountain" which was also the title of the performance.....
It was a spectacular and spiritual performence! Mom cried through most of it and Dad was teary eyed through it.
so uhh..."my turn" according to Mom. So I guess Mom wants me to say how amazing and spiritual it was and how it built my testimony and all of that. so uh I'll give it a go!
Yes it was very fun and I would do it again any time, just ask! so they told us like two or three months ago that President Monson wanted all of the youth in the temple district to put on this huge performance for everyone celebrating the Draper and Oaker Mountain temples. My stake was in the pioneers coming into the vally dance. (there were a bunch of others like the building, celebration, asian, baseball and so on) we were the second act so thankfully we were done quickly. The only scary part was that we were perfoming for the prophet,(who was in the front row) this was being broadcasted to the stake centers and probably the BYU channel plus it was in the newspaper, and the fact that we had 39 seconds to get on stage! AHH! talk about no pressure or anything! It was so cool because I got to go to the conference center mulitiple times to practice, and hear President Monson talk. Im really sad that it was a one night thing and they haven't had a celebration like this since the detication of the Salt Lake temple.
