Celebrating Our Anniversary

We decided we would celebrate our anniversary this year by going down to St. George to see Aladdin at the Tuachan Theater.  We went down a weekend early, because my mom was going to watch Kendrick, so that weekend worked best for her.

We headed down to St. George on Thursday, July 26 after Scott got off work.   My mom had stopped by our house and picked up Kendrick.  He was going with her to a party that my sister was having for Jackson.  He was going to open up his mission call letter, so they had a party so everyone could share in the event.  We had already made our plans and got our tickets, etc., so we were going to have to miss the party.

We did get the news on the way down though, that Jackson would be serving in the Tijuana Mission.  Very exciting--he will leave in November.

The first night we just got checked into our room and then went out to dinner.  We didn't go anywhere too fancy--just Red Robin.  I love the burgers and fries there.  Especially the fry sauce!

The next day we got up and went and did a little bit of shopping.  Then we got ready to go to the backstage tour, dinner, and show at Tuachan. 

Scott - posing on the backstage tour.

 Caught in the iron cuffs!  He doesn't look too concerned.  HA HA

 The Genie - this was a float they use in the parades for advertising of the show.

 Scott the Sultan?

Me and Scott

We had a good time at the dinner and show.  The show was so good!  I loved all of the effects, especially the magic carpet.  One fun coincidence - The Maple Mountain Chamber Singers were there for the show as well!  They were on their annual retreat in St. George.  My drill team president, Shalee Hiskey is also a member of the chamber singers, so I saw her there.

One thing that was sad on this trip, is this is where I received the phone call from my mom letting me know that Granny J. had passed away.  I felt bad that I was down in St. George, but there wasn't really anything I could do, and the viewing and funeral was going to be the next week, so everything was fine.  My mom had my brother Charlie watch Kendrick while she was in Nephi helping with details for the funeral, etc.

I still can't believe that Scott and I have been married for seven years!  Wow!  It seems like two or three--time flies when you are having fun!

Grandma J's Obituary

 Marcile Bruno Jackson died peacefully on July 28, 2012 in Nephi, Utah. Mom was born on August 12, 1928 in Moroni, Utah to Scott Barnum Bruno and Sophie O'Leary Cloward Bruno. She was born on her mother's 35th birthday and was the seventh of ten children. Mom lived an idealic life growing up in Moroni, often roasting potatoes in a bonfire with the neighborhood kids. She graduated from Moroni High School. Mom met and married Dad, Harold L. Jackson, upon his return from serving with the 145th Field Artillery in World War II. Together they raised seven children. She worked for Mountain Bell Telephone Company when the first dial system was installed in Nephi. She worked for Smith Bakery selling many "Burnt Blacks" to the students of Juab High School. Mom was also employed as a "Lunch Lady" at Nephi Elementary for 24 years. She retired in 1996. Mom served a service mission for the LDS Church. Mom was active in the Nephi Third and Ninth LDS Wards. She was the captain of Camp Birch of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers and was a member of the Variette Club for 60 years. She has many good friends. Most of all Mom loved her family. She always supported every family member. She loved her brothers and sisters. Mom is survived by seven children: Judy (Morris) Wright, Sandra (Paul) Mangelson, Barbara Cowan, Scott (Eve) Jackson, Lisa (Morris) Blackett, Bart (Carmen) Jackson and Fawn Steele. Mom was affectionately known as Granny J to 26 grandchildren, 50 great grandchildren and 2 great-great grandchildren. She is also survived by her sisters, Grace Ostler and Jewel Bailey and her brother, Perry Bruno. Thanks to Dr. Rasmussen, the nurses and staff at Central Valley Medical Center and Heritage Hills Care Center for their love and comforting care. Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, August 1, 2012 at the Nephi 9th Ward, 1125 N. 400 E. A viewing will be held at Anderson Funeral Home, 94 W. 300 N., Nephi, Utah on Tuesday, July 31, 2012 from 6 to 8 p.m. and at the church from 9:45 to 10:45 a.m. prior to the services. Interment, Nephi City Cemetery.

Fiesta Days

Spanish Fork's annual celebration in the summer is Fiesta Days.  It is always around July 24th, Pioneer Day.  This year we went to a few events.  The first thing we attended was the flag retirement.  Annie's husband, Jim, was helping because his National Guard unit was there helping. 

 

When we got there, I received a text from one of my old drill girls, Kaitlynn Blood.  She said she liked my shirt--I had on a bright fluorescent orange and white striped top.  Anyway, I asked where she was sitting, and we went and sat by her.  Annie and her boys came and joined us.  We thought we had a great seat, but Annie warned us that it may get hot when they light the fire. 

 

She was right, it was very hot!  But it was a very patriotic event and I'm glad we attended.  Here are a few pics from the event:

 Boy Scouts would bring the flags to the National Guard.

 The National Guard would then turn around.

 Then throw the flags into the fire.

 They let off some big cannons --I'm not sure what they are called, but Kendrick plugged his ears because it was so loud!

 

On July 24th, my drill team performed in both the Mapleton parade and the Spanish Fork parade.  It was a hot day and the girls looked great performing their routine.  Here are a few pictures that Scott took for me while they were performing.

 The routine included some kicks --of course!

 Me and my new assistant, Camille Montague.  I had Jason Gibson come and do the music--such a relief.  Last year I had music equipment issues, so I'm always glad when he is available to come run the sound!

 Shalee -- she is the President of the team this year.

 The team.

 Cute close up shot of some of the team.  Laney Melton made their cute headbands! 

The team performing on the semi truck.

 

We did go down later that day and walk around the booths at the park and around the carnival.  We saw some people we knew from Provo and talked to them a bit.  Then later we went and found a place to watch the fireworks.  Kendrick had a good ol' time playing with everyone around us.  He is not afraid to go up to people he doesn't know!  Especially if they have a dog--which one guy did.

 

Maybe next year we will try out the rodeo.  We'll see if Kendrick can handle it!  HA HA

Pioneer Day Celebration in Levan

We went down to Levan on Friday, July 20 for the Pioneer Day celebration. The celebration was on Saturday, July 21.  We wanted to be there early for some of the events that were early in the morning.

The night before, we helped my mom and sisters put a float together for the kids to ride on in the children's parade.  The there this year was centered around pioneer ancestors.  My mom had the kids dress in western wear and we honored our ancestor, Rodney Badger, who was a pioneer in law enforcement in Utah.  He was killed in the line of duty rescuing someone in the Weber River.  So, our float had the river on it and then the kids dressed in western wear. 

The next morning, we woke up and went to the breakfast.  We had pancakes, sausage, and eggs.  Some of my family ran in the Levan 5K.  After breakfast, we went back to my parent's house to get ready for the parade.

All set up and ready to go!

 Kendrick had to take his cup along for the ride.

 I ended up walking along the side just in case Kendrick didn't last.  But, he was fine.

 Cute little cowboys and cowgirls!

 The float from the back.

After the parade, we went back to my parent's house and relaxed and my dad bought us lunch.  He got hamburgers from the park.  Later, we decided to walk to the park and check out the pioneer activities and the other fun events they had going on.

 Walking in the park.

 Kendrick wanted to check out the bounce houses.

 It was really hot, so he didn't last too long in there!

 Kendrick would rather play on the swings and the slide - aka, wee wee and side.

 He loves going down the slide.

 Going down on his tummy.

 Kendrick also loves to swing!

 We took a break to get a snow cone.  It was a hot day!

But, just as we were thinking we would walk back to grandma's, it looked like a storm was coming.  It started raining as we walked back and then it poured!  Luckily we were back at grandma's!

We took a nap and then woke up in time to get ready to go to the dinner at the park.  It was good!  Especially the dessert--ha ha, not!  I mean, watermelon is ok, but it is not my dessert of choice.

Annie loved the delicious dessert!

Sorry, Annie!  We took that pic to send to my sister Amy to see if she was jealous that she wasn't at the dinner to enjoy the dessert.

After dinner, we listened to the entertainment for a bit while the kids played some more.  Then we walked back to grandma's to watch the fireworks from her back porch.  

We had a fun time in Levan.  Pioneer Day was always a highlight of my summer when I was growing up.  Gotta love small town celebrations.  Plus it is always good to come home and get together with family.

Kendrick's First Swim Lessons

Kendrick and I took a "mom and me" swim class that went from July 9 - 13.  When I signed up for the class, I thought it was a week that I didn't have drill, but it ended up being the same week as the PDC Camp.  This meant that I had to go to drill, get things started there for the camp, change into our swim clothes, and then leave for an hour with Kendrick to go to the swim lesson.  Then, come back and finish out the camp until 4 p.m.  Scott came and picked up Kendrick at 1 p.m., when he got off work. 



Luckily for me, it all worked out!  Kendrick did pretty good at the swim lessons.  He wanted to get in the water right when we got there and didn't want to listen to any of the teacher's instructions before hand.  The teacher gave us bubbles to keep the kids busy while she gave us instructions, but on the first day Kendrick didn't want to listen, he just wanted to jump right in the water!  He was better the next day and he was always good once we got in the water.  I guess I'm glad he didn't get upset when we got into the water!

Here's some pictures we took:

 Ready to go to swim lessons!

 Waiting for the class before ours to finish--Kendrick is ready to jump in!

 Playing games - Scott has Friday off, so he came to watch and take pictures.

 More games - we are in the middle of the picture.

 Practicing kicking.

 Getting out to go down the slide!

 Listening for instructions.

 Having fun!

 Blowing bubbles!

 More bubbles!

These video clips are really short, I had some better ones, but for some reason they would not upload!  I'll keep trying!

Blowing good bye bubbles!

Time to get out!

Enjoying his ice cream treat he got since it was the last day of class.

Ready to go home!

Ute Stampede 2012

We went down on Friday, July 13 to Nephi to the annual Ute Stampede.  We went to the Mammoth Parade and then the carnival later that night.

We had a good time at the parade.  The weather held out right up until the last of the parade had passed by, and then it started to rain.  We started gathering our things up and ran to the truck.  We got there just as it started pouring. 

We went out to Levan and my mom ordered pizza for everyone and my dad cooked up some burgers too.  After a while, we headed back into the carnival.  Kendrick fell asleep on the way in.  So, he slept in the stroller as we watched the other cousins go on the rides.

Eventually Kendrick woke up and he was a little bit unhappy and probably unsure about where he was!  So, he wasn't to hip on going on carny rides!  He finally perked up and decided to go on the ferris wheel with me.

 Waiting in line--sorry for the poor pictures.  It was dark and we only had our camera on our phone!

 Buckling up!  Here we go--

Kendrick had a good time riding the ferris wheel.

We left after that, Kendrick didn't really want to go on any more rides and we were tired too.  I had a drill team car wash the next morning, so we decided to go home so we could get up for that.

Maybe next year we will take Kendrick to the rodeo.  We aren't sure if he will want to sit still for that long! :)

Precision Dance Camp

On July 9 - 11, we had a private camp with Precision Dance Camps.  Last year, we went to one of their regional camps and I liked the camp and thought it gave us some usable routines that not every other drill team had.  But, this year their regional camp was on the same week we were going to BDT, so I didn't think we would do a PDC camp. 

But, they contacted me to see if we wanted to do a private camp at our own school.  I hadn't ever done anything like that, so I decided to try it.

It worked out pretty good.  I liked the individual attention that my team received because we were the only team the staff was working with.  It was a small staff of two girls--but they did an amazing job.  Of course, there aren't other teams there to inspire you and push you to be your best, so it is a different feel at a private camp.

 Talking and meeting the staff on the first day.

 We had some great lunches put together by the moms!  I was so grateful for their help.

 Lunch time was always a fun break!

 Learning the fun PDC Camp Dance - "Sassy Glam"

 One of the team building activities - each girl had a puzzle piece that they took home to decorate to represent themselves.  Then we put them all together to make up our complete team!

 Posing with the puzzle on the last day, just before the performance.

 Awards given by the staff - Lindsey - Most Spirit, Jamie - Best Showmanship, Jourdyn - Most Improved, Laney - Hardest Worker, and Shalee - Best Technique.

 The staff took some fun pics of the team while we were getting ready for the performance.

 Jamie

 Haylie

 Laney

 Shalee

 Jourdyn

 Performing the PDC Camp Dance - "Sassy Glam"

 It is a very cute dance and the team really had fun with it!

The PDC Camp was great!  I'm glad we did it.  I think the technique was great and we will use a few of the routines.  Plus it was fun for the girls to work together again and get to know one another better.

On the last night, the team had a pool party and sleep over in Mapleton at one of the girl's house.  The pool party was at a neighbor's house and then they all came to Bryn Starkey's house to eat and sleep over.  Me, Scott, and Kendrick made an appearance at the Starkey's house when they all arrived from swimming.  It was fun to see them all having fun and getting to know each other.  I'm grateful to have such great girls on the team and great parents that support them too!