Family Adventures

The last couple of weeks have kept us all busy… very busy.  Lilli goes to school (something she isn’t always thrilled with), Hannah reads tons and goes to work at Jamba Juice, I go to the high school to help with class and to work on Addams Family, and John has been working late working on his current project at work that “goes live” this coming weekend.

Lilli was super excited to get new point shoes.  She and I went up to Portland to a dance store to get them,  Her feet are strong enough now that she can go with a full shoe, not the half stiff thing she had before.

Lilli and Hannah went to the Independence Ghost Walk with Lilli’s friend Ethan.  They had a great time learning about the history of one of our little town.

Chad continues to serve his mission in Michigan.  He is a trainer and has a companion straight out of the MTC.  We have gotten the first letter from his mission president arranging for his coming home.  His home date is December 6.  We are all very excited to see him.

I love going to the high school and teaching kids about working hard, being creative, and building skills.  The tech theater class has been working on the set every day.  I have to do something over, or “fix” a few things at the end of the week, but in general, these kids are getting the hang of it.  The tech theater class has a ton of kids that are new to the performing arts department.  It is great to inspire new student involvement.  John came to help last Saturday.  That was nice.  This set build hasn’t had very much adult participation.  Only a couple adults have been around to help.  The kids have done well, but I sure miss the adult help!

Lilli performed in the school talent show.  She did very well… especially since I couldn’t see the music and made up the piano part all together.  She was going to do a contemporary dance, but she hurt her wrist and switched to singing a song at the last minute.  One of the hardest things for Lilli in high school is struggling to be her own person.  Most people expect her to be Hannah.  but she’s not Hannah.  She is Lilli… a talent all her own with strengthen and likes and dislikes that are all Lilli.  I am proud of her that she is fighting to stay true to who she is, even when people treat her rudely and expect her to be her sister.

The talent show was sponsored by MUN.  There were very few contestants.  Lilli took third.  Her friend Ethan sang a song too.  That kids has one deep bass voice.  Pretty amazing!

Lilli had a few of her friends over after a set build.  It is amazing how in this day and age this (see picture below) how we socialize.  It’s more than a “youth” thing.  I’ve been at several adult social events where we all are doing the same thing.  It’s weird how actual talking to each other or playing games or something is almost a thing of the past.

I got to the end of reporting on the family adventures and realized I don’t do well at taking pictures.  I don’t have pictures of anything Hannah has been up to, nor do I really have pictures of me.  I should do better at documenting our adventures.  future generations are going to think we don’t really do anything.  Hmmm.

Well, until the next report… I better start snapping pictures!