Swing Thing Tour 2013

When I moved over to Holbrook from Joseph City the first big thing I decided to change about how I run my music program was to do a tour one year and a musical the next. Well this year was a tour year :) We had originally planned on going to Hawaii but we were unable to get that approved so we "settled :)" for California. It was a great tour thanks to Alli and all of her planning/organizational skills.

Before we left Loni Hatch and Margret McClellan made the choir Mickey Mouse shaped cookies which got everyone very excited.

Savana Shumway offered to do Alli's nails this year.  I learned that this year themed nails are a must :)

We loaded the suburbans early on the Monday of Spring Break (March 25th)

We had quite the caravan as we took 4 suburbans instead of a bus in order to save money. We were a little nervous at first as each Suburban had 7 kids and a driver in them. But it turned out to be a great way to travel and I didn't hear the kids complain once. Except for on the way home when Alli wouldn't stop in Joseph City for a kid to pee :)

Who said it wasn't educational?

If you haven't traveled with High School kids you are missing out. It is always a party. Here they are playing ninjas in the parking lot of Jack in the Box where we stopped for lunch.

We made it to California early that evening and so we decided to head to the beach. We couldn't have asked for better beach time and it was so much fun to see the kids who had never been to the beach before fall in love.

After a long day of traveling and beach time we headed to one of the fanciest malls I have ever been to where we ate at California Pizza Kitchen. The manager there was awesome and extremely accommodating.  3 kids partnered up and then ordered 2 pizzas among them. When the manager found out we were on a budget and touring music group he gave us almost a 50% discount including tip.

The next morning we headed off for Disneyland. Alli did a great job of finding us a hotel within walking distance. The kids did fine waling to Disneyland coming home wasn't always as fun :)

Again one of the perks of going to Disneyland with teenagers is they are able to make anything fun. Even waiting for me to pick up the tickets.

 One of the first things Alli has to do when we get to Disneyland is find the Churros :)

Here is the stage we were able to perform on. This year we actually performed in California Adventure. The stage was so much better for a Show Choir. And I had to eat my words, I told the kids to expect a small crowd for the show but we performed for a full house with people standing all around the outside. Our host said it was the largest crowd she had ever seen at a performance.

Needless to stay the kids absolutely rocked this performance. The energy was through the roof and they all had so much fun you couldn't help but have fun watching.

Such a good looking group of students!

After the performance we surprised the group with Breakfast with Minnie the next morning. They were ecstatic! It was such a fun surprise and an experience I am sure they won't soon forget.

Don't worry we got our fair share of rides in. I love this picture because you can see all of our choir t-shirts.

 It was so busy that day you could hardly ride and rides with out a fast pass or go in the single rider line. We did it right :)

We even got to check out the new cars land or Holbrook as we call it.

The next day we went back to Disneyland for some more Fun and our clinic. We did the Show Choir clinic again this year after our great experience with it last time and it did not disappoint.  We are not allowed to take pictures back stage but this is the lady who worked with our group this year. She really connected with the kids and made them better performers in just an hour. If we only did this clinic it would have been worth the whole trip.

Then it was off to more rides :)

The last day there we went to Universal Studios and Medieval Times. Once again we had huge crowds but still had a ton of fun. It was really fun to hear the kids say stuff like I can't believe that's how they do that in the movies. It was quite educational.

Side note: When we were coming down the big escalator one of the workers saw our shirt and said "Are you guys a fight club?" You win Alli ;P

When we went on the tram tour there were so many of us that we got our own car to ourselves.

 After Universal we went to Medieval Times which is a dinner show where you get to pretend to be Spanish royalty for a night, watch some jousting, and eat with your hands. Most of the kids really liked it but Kevin is ready to work there.

We were the Black and White team.

The next morning we once again loaded the suburbans and headed for home. Exhausted but happy.

 Let's do it again in 2015!

Photography Hobby to Wedding Photography

I have always considered photography a hobby of mine. When I was in college I took a semester photography class and learned a lot of basics and even how to develop pictures the old school way. Now I know how it feels to reminisce about things that are now obsolete, I guess Alli is right, I am old. 

A couple of years ago Alli and I decided that it would be a good idea to invest in a nice camera so that we could take better pictures of our kids and that renewed my hobby. My niece had seen a few pictures that I had taken and said she liked them (oops) and when she got engaged she talked about how much a photographer costs so I offered to do it for her. I understand what it means to be on a budget :) 

Well she took me up on the offer and I didn't want to mess it up so I offered to do portraits for anyone that wanted them for free! Well with not a lot of time I only got the chance to go out a couple of times. Once with London and then with the Christensen Family and then for some Pre-Mission pictures with Malisa Farnes (A Former Student). Here are some of the pics for their wedding. I will do another post from the other shoots so that it is not a huge post.

Princess Macy and Ballerina London

You really never know what you're going to get yourself into with a husband like Kyle. BYU has tons for performing groups that go all over the world and perform and Kyle and the Holbrook Arts Alliance decided to bring one of them to Holbrook. The only group going through Northern Arizona this year was the BYU Ballet and we got to host them. Along with the actual Ballerina show you also have a "Meet the Princesses" party beforehand that you are supposed to decorate for and all that jazz. Well, Kyle's not much of a princess party type of Kyle so I took that one by the horns. I teamed up with a good friend Lynda Fraley and we got the whole thing planned in a breakfast date at the Donut Shop. We had a big castle built out of cardboard, lights, tissue fluff ball things hanging from the ceiling, and even a couch that we turned into a dragon. It really was quite the party. We had little brownie bites and punch for our princesses and they could each make themselves a crown out of foam. We had Cinderella playing on the smart board and there were princesses and ballerinas everywhere. All the little girls were dressed up and it was so adorable. I really need to make taking pictures of the things we do a priority, but I always forget :/

After the Princess Party we went and watched the actual Ballet. I'm not gonna lie, ballet isn't my favorite- but I did appreciate all the hard work they do. During intermission they invite the little girls in the audience to go and dance with the ballerinas. It really is the sweetest thing you'll ever see. This momma definitely had tears. The girls were nervous at first but warmed up right away when a ballerina came to help them.

They really started getting into the dancing and I think the ballerina was afraid they were going to fall.

The girls had such a good time, it was any little girls dream!