Weekend In Vegas

Shelby had the opportunity to go to a 3 day dance convention on Las Vegas this weekend. We had a BLAST!!  Did TONS of school shopping!  CRAZY GOOD SALES IN VEGAS!  (Chris was sooooo happy that I saved him so much money HAHA). Rode lots of roller coasters and basically had some good ole mommy daughter time!  

On top of the stratosphere!  Shelby actually rode the "Big Shot" and the X-Scream....a dozen times.  She's out of her mind. 

The convention had several very well known (around the dance world) dancers and choreographers. Here she is with Joe Tremaine (Founder of Tremaine Dance Conventions), Tiffany Maher (So You Think You Can Dance) Derrick Schrader (amazing choreographer) Colby Shinn and (my personal fave) Tony Bellissimo (So You Think You Can Dance and Step Up Movies) 

One of her former instructors works for Tremaine. She still teaches when she's home to visit family, but that isn't very often since she moved to L.A. Lexie actually asked Shelby to let her have her seat to record the finale, but didn't recognize her until she saw me. She just couldn't believe how much Shelby has grown up (that makes 2 of us).

Shelby had a blast! She's already planning her next convention.  She was blown away by some of the talent there, but was also able to see how far she has come. A year ago, there is no way she could have kept up with that level if choreography!  Huge accomplishment! 

Earning Her Keep

Morgan is officially gainfully employed!!! She is saving up to buy a gymnastic bar!  We spent several hours trying to figure everything out. Oh what an experience. To sum it all up..the bike doesn't work...walking takes too long...the vest weighs a ton and slows her down too much...it's going to cost me more in gas to drive her around, but this is more about the life lesson  than the money...she and I can have a REALLY good time laughing at our mistakes!!! Haha. 

It's Great To Be 8!

We baptized my baby today!!!! I can't believe he's getting so big! Thank you to everyone that was able to share this special day with us! We love you all.

Moe's Birthday Weekend

Morgan decided that instead of a friends party, she wanted a new pair of Nike's, an outfit and a trip to Fiesta Fun Center. SCORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SOOOOOOOOO much less hassle for me!
We got to the fun center and found out she was too short to drive the go carts. Instead they put her on these:

Ya....um....she was not impressed!!!!!!!! We were able to talk them into letting her ride with Shelby on the real go-carts...

That's more like it!!!!!!! 

Next was bumper boats...the girls were not impressed with the water. I don't know what they thought was going to happen when they went under the freaking water fountain...but they got screamed like someone had shot them!

We played a round of mini golf. Both girls got hole in ones. Then we played in the arcade for a while. I was ready to take Preston and  Shelby to Vegas! The both hit the jackpot on different games! 

Morgan didn't hit the jackpot, but said she still have fun! 

The next day we went to Escalante to visit family. It was fun to just hang out and take the kids to the playground. I'm not sure who had more fun, the kids or Chris playing with them! 

End Of Year Awards

I'm not going to deny that I never really tried in school. I did well, but never really put forth a lot of effort (Be nice Charon! HA!) Chris on the other hand did REALLY well in school. To say that school work is a big deal to him would be a MAJOR understatement! If grades drop then dance, soccer, karate, friends....pretty much everything...goes BYE BYE!!

Shelby was recognized for scoring above 90% on her "End of Levels" tests in Math, Language Arts and Science.  In fact she only missed 2 questions on the entire exam! She also received an award for scoring a 29/30 on her Utah Writes exam. She should have received an award for Perfect Attendance, but it was over looked by mistake. Not too bad for a girl that dances 12-14 hours a week!

Morgan was recognized for participating in an essay contest for the Sons of Utah Pioneers. She wrote her essay about her Grandma Almeda. She also received the Presidential Fitness Award and awards for scoring 90% on her Math and Language Arts End of Levels exams. I may or may not be a little biased, but I think she's pretty freaking awesome!

 Preston received an award in his class for "Most Rationale Kid".  Mrs Fuson couldn't think of how to word it, but she said that he can't just skim over a topic. He has to know every little detail about things. Not only that, but he retains the weirdest information.  You know when you watch Jeopardy and you think "Who the heck knows this crap?".... That's the kind of random information he remembers!

I know I post about sports and dance a lot, but this is the real stuff that we're proudest of! This is what will carry them through life! 

Cash!

After Max died, I promised Shelby that I would get her a new dog if she won the Parowan Dance Competition. Well...

So here is our "Cash" :

He's a spoiled little dog...but.....is this really a surprise? HA!! 

Releve

No family, we haven't fallen off the face of the earth. We're just REALLY REALLY busy!!!!!
This weekend, the girls had their first dance competition for the year.  They both did really well. Shelby started off the weekend by performing her solo. It's amazing to look back on last years solo and see the difference in her! She has improved so much! She didn't score as well as we all thought she would, but she actually watched the video and was pleased with it. This NEVER happens!!!

The next morning, we got up at the crack of dawn to go to Masters Classes with Alex Wong from So You Think You Can Dance. Shelby has taken classes from Twitch, Allison and Ivan from SYTYCD. Alex is one of her favorites! 

After the class, the real craziness began!!! First up was Shelby's Lyrical. Her team got White Diamond for the routine. She is on the right and does a triple in the very beginning. 

Next was Morgan's Lyrical. They got Pink Diamond. She is the one that does the ariel in the beginning.

After a quick change, Morgan did her jazz routine. They got Pink Diamond again. She is front and center. The one shaking her hips WAAAAY better than her Daddy would like HA! 

Shelby's jazz routine got a White Diamond. She's on the right side. 

After another quick change, Shelby did her Modern Routine. It's a very dark dance, but she LOVES it!! They got a Pink Diamond rating. 

Last was Shelby's Hip Hop dance. She's in a yellow shirt with a red tank top under it and comes to the front right in the beginning. They got Pink Diamond

Shelby was miserably sick all day with a migraine.  Morgan was HYPER all day, bouncing around like a little pinball.  Preston was BORED OUT OF HIS MIND!! Chris and I are just glad the week is over! This morning, both girls are well rested and Shelby has already practiced all of her dances. Morgan said she was too sore to practice, but felt like doing flips and cartwheels all over the living room HA!  

All in all, it was a good weekend for On Stage and it's feels good to have the 1st competition out of the way! 

LIVING IN THE MOMENT

Every year, the National PTA sponsors an arts program called Reflections. The categories include: 3D Art, Visual Art, Literature, Photography, Videography and Dance Choreography. Shelby decided to give the Dance Choreography a shot. She won for her school, so she went on to Regions. She won 1st place at Region! She was so surprised and excited! 

California Day 2

On Day 3, we drove to San Diego to visit the USS Midway Museum. It's a retired Aircraft Carrier that they have converted to a museum. It was a blast. Shelby even says that she enjoyed this more than Disneyland. There was another aircraft carrier at Coronado. It's the one that carried SEAL Team 6 to capture Osama Bin Laden. It's also the ship that they threw the bastard off of!
The tour takes about 4 hours to complete, but it's so worth it. Highly recommended!!
After the tour, we went back to the hotel to swim. VERY FUN!!