2021 Photo Dump

I don't know what I thought life would get less busy once my children were older. FALSE!! So much has happened the last five months. I tried to update around the holidays, but for some reason this site wouldn't connect with my Google photos, where everything was. So, I'm going to try again. Here's the rest of the photos of our highlights of 2021. 2022 will be coming soon. Brace yourself.

First day of school! Both kiddos are in high school now, even though freshman still meet in the junior high.

Amelia loved her ES (Environmental Solutions) class so much last year she worked her tail off over the summer to take online classes so she could TA for it this year. She has LOVED it. So much that she has decided to major in it in college. 

One of Amelia's goals for her senior year was to attend every single dance. She had a good start attending Homecoming with her friend Ammon. 

Rexburg is growing like crazy, so we're getting a lot of new businesses. One is a hatchet throwing place. We went for a combined older class activity. Amelia was scarily good at it. 

The next school dance was the Halloween dance. She asked her friend Jonas that she knew from ES. 

A lot of things this year are bittersweet for Amelia. She's having a year of "lasts", but she's completely living every single moment! She is such a vivacious young women and truly puts all her effort and energy into the things she loves. This year in the Nutcracker she had a solo as the marzipan shepardess, played one of Clara's sisters, and still danced in 3 other dances. She was AMAZING!

Cooper was in the party scene, and did a fantastic job! He must have impressed Diane, because she asked him to be the Nutcracker next year. I know most of these pictures are of Amelia, and she's truly having a fun-filled year. However, Cooper is still keeping plenty busy with ballroom, choir and friends. I have a video of one of his syllabus waltz performances in November. It's fun to watch because he had a competition just last week and did SO much better. It was fun to see the improvement. I'll post that in the 2022 photo dump coming soon.

 

Continuing her goal of attending each dance, Amelia went to the Winter Formal with Justin.

May I point out, she has yet to go to a dance with anyone under 6 feet tall. 😆

Another big moment (I warned you these months were PACKED) Amelia finally gave into my "suggestions" she pierce her ears. I pointed out she'd gone through much worse pain with her braces/teeth pulling. After her ears were pierced, she said, "Wow, that wasn't bad at all." It was almost like I was right.

Going along with the "It's All About Amelia" theme, she had a fundraising concert with Kurt Bestor. What was great about this is she was finally in a position I could see her! Yay!

Christmas rushed by in a flurry of celebrating and hanging out with our ever-growing family.

In the last few weeks of December, we were lucky enough to travel to Utah and meet our newest nephew/cousin Ladd. He was just adorable, and it was so much fun to spend time with Katie, David, and Linus.

The last event of 2021 was a big one. Restrictions were lifted, and Amelia and Cooper were finally able to go to a stake dance together. The first and the last. It was a fun night, and a perfect way to ring in 2022. We're cautiously hoping it's better than the last two years!

I Need a Whole Day....

 ...just to catch up on posting. Summer just flew by, and the school year is looking to follow suit. I'm gonna take just a minute to post Amelia's GORGEOUS senior pictures. I'll find time to come back later and update all our summer and first-of-the-school year activities! Enjoy these for now---it really hit home she's in her last year of high school when she did the photo shoot!

End of Year Wrap Up!

 Wow, the end of the school year flew by, yet dragged at the same time! :-) We went later, date-wise, into May than we ever had and it was hard on everyone. Add in recitals, new jobs, and end-of-year craziness we are beat. 

HOWEVER, both Amelia and Cooper passed their final exams with flying colors and are now officially a SENIOR and a FRESHMAN. I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around that. This year will be all of Amelia's "lasts". Here's a quick wrap up of our school year: 

Hanging out with family camping and learning driving skills.

Cooper's 14th birthday party! He has a fantastic group of friends, most of which he's had since 4th grade. They are a good, fun group that are so kind.

Cooper had his final ballroom recital, guitar recital and choir concert. He's doing so well in all, he's a talented kid!

Amelia's final ballet recital. Her solo was AMAZING! She's grown so much as a dancer. Her hard work has paid off beautifully!

                                            She has the best group of ballet friends!

                                               

She also had a fabulous time at prom! (Still waiting for pictures, but I'll post what I have.)

Amelia also had her last orchestra concert. Her first song was 27 minutes long. 😬Thankfully, the last one was from Star Wars and much shorter. The file is too big to post, but I'll work on trimming it. 

Lastly, our summer will be full and busy! We all have summer jobs so there won't be much down time. Amelia is working at the movie theater, Cooper at Jason's mechanic shop, and I'm teaching summer school. 

And finally, our yearly end-of-school dinner at Pizza Pie Cafe:

Whew! I'll post more when I take more pictures of our adventures! We're all happy school is over and looking forward to some relaxation.....in between jobs of course! 😆