USA Dance

We drove to Rexburg at the end of February to attend Brooklyn's first ballroom dance competition...had no idea what to expect...it was very well-run, the judges had hand-held keypads that immediately posted scores on the main board for the dancers to see. They handled, perhaps, a thousand dancers with great efficiency. Fantastic!

Couple # 115 takes the floor...to perform what I would term free-style...no choreography, just listen to the music and DANCE!

Brooklyn did so well in the competition...they had to perform foxtrot, samba, waltz, swing and chacha...each dance was done in its own separate competition with judges placing dancers into quarterfinal, semifinal and final rounds each time.

In a different type of competition, the dancers wore costumes and performed choreographed dances...Brooklyn and partner on the right.

Each member of the team received a Gold Medal

...and the waltz competition ended with a first place trophy!!!

Christmas...at last!

Little Durham likes the lights on the tree...

We gathered at Eden's this year for Christmas Eve...

We start 'em young in Bronco Country!





Eden had a beautiful, watercolor "family tree" painted for us. WOW!

The festivities concluded with Christa's Danish pudding tradition...as the children turn 10, they can participate...We all choose a dish of "ricelamon"(!?), eat, and try to guess who has the hidden almond secreted in his/her mouth. BAILEY! A NEW WINNER!

Tradition

We are going to The Nutcracker.





We love being at the Morrison Center. It's a beautiful concert hall, especially at Christmastime.

We love being at the ballet.

We've studied the program...let the dancing begin!

Festival of Trees

My granddaughter, Brooklyn, started taking ballroom dance lessons, and performed a waltz at the Festival of Trees during the Thanksgiving holiday. Very exciting!

I asked Brooklyn to pose "over by that tree"...then I looked closer...


What a SURPRISE! The class in which I did a long-term sub from the first day of school, through September, won a blue ribbon for their entry in the decorating contest. I was SO PROUD!! (I feel like they're MY class too!) When I saw them last week, I went into their classroom, told them how I found their tree, and gave them a big cheer!

Pumpkin Train, Halloween...NOW October is OVER

MY favorite thing about Halloween is the Pumpkin Liner train ride to Banks, Idaho. This year the weather was spectacular and we had so much fun! Halloween for the grands is always celebrated with fabulous costumes and parties and a parade!

October!

SO...where did September go??? For that matter, where did August go? In August, we took our annual trip to the Oregon Coast. We met Missy, Kip, and McKena in Seaside for some fun family time. Eden had her baby boy, Durham, on August 13...then we sped along toward the first day of school. I took a long-term sub job which started with the "Sneak Peek" the day before school started. I had the most wonderful group of fourth-graders (32!) for the first four weeks of school...they kept telling me, "Mrs. Bates, you're like our REAL teacher." That's how I felt too. I did Back-to-School Night, and an all-day field trip to Celebration Park. September just flew! Reed and I both celebrated birthdays. We took a quick trip to SLC for Conference last weekend. The men of the family are enjoying the BSU football games. The leaves are turning. I just put up Halloween decorations. How can it be October already? Vaca photos will be up soon. Hopefully, I'll catch up.

Grandma Camp...The 9s

Three of my granddaughters are nine years old, in the fourth grade, are great friends, and decided to all have french braids at camp!

Oops...out of order!

We tried our hands at Native American beading...

Of course, we read in the "reading tent"

We "hiked" the Oregon Trail following the markers throughout Boise.


We finished camp by making "fairy houses" our of leaves, seeds, twigs, pine cones, etc.

Yellowstone (in May 2011)

We went to Yellowstone with Eden, Dan and kids the last weekend in May...who knew the weather would return us to frigid temps, rain, sleet, and snow. I had never been there...it is spectacular! We met visitors from France, Germany, Japan, and all over the U.S. Fantastic!





Right on time...we got there, the snow came down, Old Faithful erupted, the skies cleared, all within about 15 minutes!!