2022 Photo Dump

 I think on my last post I made it through the end of 2021. Now I'm going to try to make it current. We'll see. I used to think my life was busy when my children were young, but that was nothing compared to the craziness of teenagers. I have to admit I love it, and I'm well aware I have only a few years left until they're onto their own lives. Amelia's graduation is it's own post, so I'll try to update to that point. Here's some more photos of our life:

In between the slew of Amelia's activities, Cooper had a few ballroom competitions and concerts:

Amelia has almost hit her goal of attending all the high school dances her senior year by with going to Sweethearts with Josh.

Why yes, he is also over 6 feet tall! She had a few classes with him, and she knew he was someone she wanted to go with. Turns out I knew his mom a long time ago, so that was a fun coincidence.

I'm sure I'm posting these events out of order, but what's most important is that I'm POSTING them, right? We took a quick trip to Utah to grab Amelia some new pointe shoes for her final recital and visit our cute nephews/cousins. Katie introduced us to a diner that had AMAZING ice cream sundaes. Cooper was in heaven!

Amelia's dance streak continues with the Spring Fling. She went with her "husband" from the Nutcracker, Andrew. He is NOT 6 feet, however, he is 6 feet 5 inches.......she had a fantastic time and said she'd never laughed so much.

Both Amelia and Cooper had birthdays, which makes me the proud mom of a 18 year old and a 15 year old. They are such good kids, I'm so lucky to be their mom!

Amelia had a THOUSAND end of year senior things. Here's just a few:

Round 2 of Senior Pictures

Final orchestra concert:

Seminary graduation:

Her final ballet recital:

I do need to say a little more about this event. This was her final hurrah and her teacher, Diane, had given her a fabulous, LONG, pas de deux and solo. Amelia worked so hard on all her dances and they were looking amazing---until she started feel pain in her right calf and ankle. She put if off thinking it was just overworked, but it didn't go away. We went to the doctor who referred us to a physical therapist. The final diagnosis was severely strained calf muscled and Achilles tendon. She asked if she could still dance, and the answer was no, or she risked the tendon snapping. She asked how long it would take to rehabilitate, and her therapist said 2-3 months. Her recital was in 5 weeks. She began intense physical therapy three times a week, and was diligent with her at-home exercises. She was not allowed to dance at all for 3 weeks, which was really hard on her emotionally and physically. Each day we hoped and prayed she would be able to dance, even if it wasn't on pointe. Two weeks before the recital, her therapist said she could cautiously begin dancing on her leg. Honestly, what happened next was nothing short of a miracle. Amelia was able to dance her final recital--not on pointe--but she was able to dance and show off her talent, hard work, and diligence. She was BEAUTIFUL. Her dances made me cry. I'm so proud of her for having faith and doing her part to help her leg heal. Her therapist said he'd never seen someone improve and heal so quickly. I only have a few pictures of her recital until they release more. And yes, she was crying with happiness and a little sadness of her experience being over.

Finally, the LAST dance of the year--Prom--came around and Amelia asked if she could go with Justin, a young man she's decided she's fond of. I had a rule of not going to more than one dance with the same person, but she gave me that sweet smile she's had since birth and I caved. I also gave Justin a stern talking-to, and feel confident he's scared to death of me. 😂

I have such mixed feelings of Amelia graduating. She's ready, she's a mature, kind, confident young women, but it's hard to think of her not being around all the time. Here are her prom pictures:

Lastly, before I end this post and start on the graduation one, Amelia was awarded a half-tuition scholarship to BYU-Idaho for the fall and winter semester. It not only was a wonderful blessing financially, but a wonderful reward for all her hard work. 

Whew! If you're still with me after that crazy long post, stay tuned for more!

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!