Mother's Day 2009

"Mom," I was informed, "you are not to do anything on Mother's Day." And so I didn't really but I did plenty before Mother's Day... such as buy the things James was supposed to get for dinner, shop for the exact right extra table (which I never found), clean a bit and set up the tables to transform the house into a mini-diner. It was really fun to prepare for and especially fun because my in-laws came! Below are a few of the photos that depict what Mother's Day is all about.

Dress Rehearsal

I might actually have time to breathe today. Yesterday was a killer marathon day of all kinds of awesome things to do. I started the day taking James to Taylorsville High School for his annual Salina Leadership Camp. On this overnight trip he helped train the leaders for next year. His heart hasn't been in JROTC as much as it was after having experienced Basic Training but he is taking this camp quite seriously. I think that's mostly because dad can't go so James gets to play medic.

Back a few weeks ago, I had all these costumes to make. There were about 100 skirts, kilts and drapes to make and it would be cool to have a few vests. I decided that we'd get the essentials (skirts & kilts) done and see how things were going. I cut out fabric and made instructions and shopped for threads and elastic. Everything was given out in kits and the sewers were given two weeks to complete the tasks at hand. If it all worked out well, I'd have two weeks to spare until dress rehearsal day and felt we could easily get 32 vests made in that amount of time. It went really smooth so as I began to get skirts, etc back all complete, I got really excited and made the vest kits to hand out. This did not go quite as smooth. Some sewers no longer had time and one thing and another conspired to hold things up so that I didn't get them all back in a week but have had them straggling in this last week too. Then on Wednesday, I discovered that I was short a few drapes and had to track those down which took a couple days.

All this week I've been sewing odds and ends. I had two kilts and one skirt to make as well as lacing up all the vests. You know, it takes longer than you'd think to match up costume pieces with all the right sizes for each person. I also put a number on each costume piece to identify it to its wearer in case something gets misplaced or mixed up. Once all costumes were hanging with all their pieces, it was time to convert the Yukon into a costume vault. Everything got loaded Friday night... much easier than waking up at 5am to do it before the THS run.

As soon as James was on his way, I high-tailed it to the church to set up. The kids started arriving just before 9am and were given their costumes to change into. The boys and girls each had two of the smaller multi-purpose rooms for changing so those had to be set up too with pictures of what they were to look like and some brief instructions inside the room and on the doors. I also needed to set up tables for checking the costumes back into me. That went fairly well for our first time doing it. There were just a few bloops and blunders. One gal was on my list as YM so her costume was very wrong! Luckily I had almost a full outfit extra at home and could run go get it. Another gal was measured wrong or something because she got a skirt that was about 5 sizes too small so I have to quick make a skirt for her. Then, to top things off, one of my clothing racks broke the weld where the rack attaches to the wheel base. That was interesting. Duck tape to the rescue! It was a temporary rescue at best but bless Bishop Watts for knowing how to weld and having all the equipment. When we were done checking in all the costumes, he took that part home, fixed it, and ran it right back up to the church. Fortunately I don't have to haul costumes back and forth but can store them in a fairly secure place on site.

Then it was time to get home and change for the temple. Little Diane-y and her hubby were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple today. It's awesome that they made this commitment to each other and to the Lord. Their sealer was really good and it was neat to see Diane's family in the temple setting. It was also awesome to see the change in Joe's countenance and I felt really good about their temple marriage.

Rush, rush, rush... then it was time to get to Greg Fetzer's Eagle Court of Honor! Everyone who knows Greg can hardly believe that this finally happened. He waited until the 11th hour (11:59 to be exact!) to get his Eagle papers in and have his Eagle Board of Review so it was no surprise that it's about a year later that he's having his Eagle Court of Honor. I'm almost amazed he did it at all. It's fun to see all the accomplishments of the young men of our ward. Now I'm off to another Board of Review... keep 'em comin'!

Queen's Royal Guards Drill at Taylorsville High School

Friday, 08 May 2009

The Queen's Royal Guard presented a drill demonstration on the Taylorsville High School driving range Friday. It was very exciting to have these guys perform and most of the school turned out for it. Notice how they have their fists balled up.

During their visit to the United States for a series of soccer matches, 18 members of the Queen's Royal Guard impressed students with marching precision and skill. Because of the difficulty of transporting the sizable ceremonial uniforms, only three of the soldiers wore their traditional red and black Buckingham Palace attire. The rest of the guards wore neatly pressed camouflage fatigues. Each soldier has a tunic and bearskin cap which are fashioned from the skins of Canadian black bears only when a bear hunt is authorized to thin over-population.British youth can enlist in the military at age 16, but are not allowed to deploy until they are 17-and-a-half. The code of ideals the British soldiers strive to embody includes discipline, integrity and respect for others. Their role is infantry soldiers first and ceremonial soldiers second. And on top of that, they're soccer players.

The Queen's Royal Guards stand guard at royal historic sites in England and their army infantry duties take them all over the world. They were very fun to talk to and quite willing to let students try their caps. Isn't James just stunning in it?

JROTC Awards Banquet 2009

My highly decorated son could totally

run for president. See, he's got the

wave down.

James is down in front. This is for the Team Awards

which were all on the same certificate. They were more

efficient this year. In fact, there were a number of

awards that weren't deemed important enough

to give out on awards night.

James also received a national award: the

American Legion Medal for Military Excellence.

At the end, seniors are recognized and parade through

the Honor Guard. In the spirit of those who have gone

before, James hugged fellow cadets

and pinched their cheeks.

Colonel Horton, James and Master Sergeant Hardcastle.

Disneyland or Bust!

This last week we gathered the whole family together and went on vacation. We visited Disneyland and Knottsberry Farm. Each person made the trip so memorable... here's a few of those memories beginning with a ride in a stretch SUV limo:

Hubby/Dad/Grandpa always makes an impression in his quest for the perfect picture. Sometimes it's a pain but it's always worth it in the end. He also let out the snortiest snore one night that sent James into extreme giggles.

Hillary knew where everything was without ever looking at a map. Even if it hadn't been 14 years since I'd been to Disneyland, I'd have needed a map. She was also very patient with the tagalong grandparents! I think Hillary wanted to be in the picture with the Aztec dancer at Knottsberry Farm more than her little ones did. Hee hee.

Marc did funny impressions while we waited cuz you know you wait for everything at Disneyland. He had a backpack full of snacks and jackets for his little ones which he carried everywhere and was able to take care of all of their needs.

Natasha and Emma could go on most rides so they were kind of put out about the one or two they weren't big enough for. Both were generally very agreeable and no trouble at all. (At least not for me!)

Samantha was in her own little world most of the time and proved to be quite a good escape artist but we didn't lose her. She also had to be pried off the tea cup ride. It was cute to see how enthralled she was with the airplanes coming and going at the airport and grandpa was so good to be appropriately thrilled with each one.

Adelyn loved the carousel and cried when she had to leave her horsey. She had so much fun on rides she even caught herself smiling and put her hand over her mouth to cover it!

Sonia did a lot of leg work for me with scheduling the flights, hotel, shuttles, etc. We still might not have that done if left to me. She was my go to gal and also knew where everything was found at Disneyland and Knottsberry farm.

Shawn had a donut shirt that was so funny, people stopped him to say he had an awesome shirt. Sami was really studying it too since one poor donut had a bite out of him and his poor jelly goo was spilling out.

Roxanne was a huggy girl. I got hugs from everyone but I received 2-3 each day from Roxanne. She foiled her sisters evil plan and did not grab some random person's butt like Sonia wanted her to. Undetered, Sonia then smacked Shawn's hand to try and make him do it but that didn't work either.

Leland didn't know I was watching but he looked like a little kid staring out the airplane window. He was sick with some stomach bug (for which he received antibiotics when we returned home) and was such a trooper. His big thing was to get some cotton candy. He bought two and shared with everyone. Some had fun making mustaches and other things out of their pieces of fluff.

James had so much fun running on all the rides he could. He was willing to try everything since the last time he'd been to Disneyland was at age 4. I don't think Thunder Mountain Railroad was quite as memorable for him this time as it was back then. He does seem to be having fun on one of my personal favorites... the tea cups!