Friends

One of my childhood friends came into town because a mutual friend passed away that week and her funeral was in Nampa. It was nice to see Jenna again and because she came in Thursday night she got to spend the entire Friday hanging out with me while I did my day.

She came with me to dance that night and watched while I taught. It was fun having a friend there and she took a couple of pictures which was fun to see. In this one Kemper is showing us her "pet mouse" which is really just her hand on her other hand. She cracks me up with her imagination!

The next day was the funeral for Shannon Campbell. Shannon was in my Stake growing up and I was not really friends with her then but she moved out here some years ago with her family and we hung out a few times. Chrystal and her husband Jeff came Friday night and stayed at my house. Chrystal was Shannons best friend. She and Jeff were also ones I knew from my Ward and Stake. 

Before we left for the funeral we took a picture outside of my house. It was nice to visit with old friends and to catch up a little in our lives. 

While I was at the funeral Kenedy participated in a modeling show. Lindsey who is the owner of Hattie and Grace asked some ladies to come and model clothes for her for a runway show she was doing. Kenedy was happy to help out and Lindsey also asked me but I was unfortunately not available. 

Meridian High Prom

Kenedy went to her Senior Prom with Lindsay and Hannah, two of her really good cheer friends. We "rented" the dress from a girl at her school which was nice not to pay a ton of money for another dress that probably won't get worn very much. She wanted me to give her hair a bit of a boho look with bubble braids and she was really happy with how they turned out. The girls did not plan the red, white and blue patriotic theme but were pretty excited about it when they realized the color match. I took some pictures outside our front door and then Kenedy sent me some pictures she had taken later.  She looked beautiful and had a really fun night with her friends.

Princess on the Run

Rylee expressed an interest in taking a Drama class and I told her as soon as Basketball season was over that we could look into signing her up for a class. I found a class through a friend in our Ward who teaches Drama classes at a local Drama school and signed Rylee up for a three day tester class. Basically the class gives them a taste of the Theater and Rylee loved it. She was recommended to jump straight to an intermediate acting class and after talking it over with her and that this was what she really wanted to do I signed her up for a 12 week intermediate acting class. During the 12 weeks the kids wrote their own play, cast it amongst themselves and rehearsed. 

I kept trying to get Rylee to tell me something about the play and her part in it but she would not tell me a thing. Little stinker!

At the end of the 12 weeks we were invited to go and watch the pay. I invited Brit and her family because she likes to go to plays with me and Rylee was excited to have her Cousins come and watch. 

I went to watch her performance with the expectation that Rylee was going to be visibly nervous, that she would be giggly throughout her performance and or that she would forget some lines. I was pleasantly surprised when Rylee delivered an amazing performance as the star of the show. 

The basic plot was... Rylee was a Princes who wanted to teach little ones to read and write but the King forbade such learning. Rylee saw an advertisement for a school that needed a teacher and she decided to run away, pretend to be a peasant and get a job teaching. The kids did not like her at first but grew to love her and even discovered her Princess secret. When the King learned where she was he went to get her and take her home but the children did not want her to go, she was the best teacher they ever had. The King had a change of heart and allowed Rylee to continue teaching.

It was really cute and Rylee was top notch. I loved watching her and am glad she had so much fun in her class!

Cheer Banquet

Kefford and I went to Kenedy's last cheer banquet of her High School years. It is a little bittersweet for her to be done with cheer. I am happy she won't have the crazy busy schedule and I am good to not be paying so much for her cheer but I have really loved going to the games and her competitions and watching her, I will miss that. 

At the banquet we had dinner and then they awarded the Varsity letters and bars and then gave the Seniors necklaces that had a bar with the word "Tribe" on them. They are really pretty. Lastly they recognized each Varsity cheerleader by "assigning" them a Disney character. Kenedy got Ana from Frozen because she is quirky and fun.

Kenedy wanted  pictures with her besties on the squad...

In the top picture she is with Lindsey and Hannah. She was assigned to be their big sister last year and they developed really great friendships with each other.

In the bottom picture are the ones who made cheer most fun for Kenedy..

Lindsey, Kenedy, Hannah, Audrey and Carly

Easter

Easter weekend fell on Conference weekend again this year and I really like it because it helps to celebrate Easter the right way. Last year we were "Egg Attacked" when someone left an easter egg hunt on our front lawn. I thought it would be fun to pass the tradition on and I bought candy and eggs and had the kids fill them while we were watching conference on Saturday morning. We decided to "Egg Attack" my friend Courtney and her little family. I met Courtney teaching Dance at Elevated and I had her daughter Maddie in my class for a few years. Maddie and I got to be pretty close and I thought it would be fun to surprise them with an egg hunt on their lawn. In addition to Maddie who is 7 they have Kate who is 5 and Evan who is 1. The perfect ages for a surprise egg hunt.

Sunday morning after the kids found their baskets we loaded up and headed over to Courtney house. We were going to the Farm to watch Conference and celebrate Easter and their house was on the way. I videoed the kids while they put out the eggs and Kefford stayed in the getaway car. We had so much fun performing this service and I hope Courtney's family enjoyed the surprise.

I made my Lutes Family traditional Easter Bunny Cake and we took it to the farm to share.

Alison printed off some "Conference Packets" for the kids to do while we watched conference and one of the pages had paper dolls for the kids to color and cut out. Rylee was really cute playing with her cousins, Maddie and Sadie, with the paper dolls under the table. My kids sure love being with their Cousins. 

Later that week Rylee and Avynlea enjoyed the sunshine while playing out on the trampoline.

Besties

Before Heather left to go back to California :(, we had Kenedy take Besties pictures in the park. We wore our Bestie hair bows and did our Bestie signature heart. I am so grateful for Heather's presence in my life. She is one who has my back no matter what and it fills me with joy that she changed her work career in part so she could come to Idaho to visit more. I am sad she had to leave but am looking forward to more visits and more memories!