First Show

The first showing of "2010" an Olympic Odyssey went well tonight. The "Swim" routine that I choreographed was skated to Splish, Splash and the learn to skate girls did much better tonight than they did at the practice. 

 

The little Snowplow Sam girls skated to Chariots of Fire and I like to move it combined. It was hilarious to watch but even funnier to try and get them to learn the program - Tamara and I both helped with that one.

All of the Swing batter, batter swing routine did better tonight as well.

Bicycle group was great no matter what...they always were so cute riding their tricycles and it was fun to choreograph. I haven't had anyone do that on the ice before.

And finally the big hit of the show was the Hockey group. They skated to We Will Rock You. The boys did an awesome job and I think they may have had more fun than the girls.

Hockey Group

I asked a few of Max's team mates if they would be interested in doing a hockey skating routine in the show and surprisingly I got a few of them to agree. They only had a few practices to get ready for it, and some of them only had one practice. But I think it turned out really well.

Back row: Markus, Christian, Max, Keb.

Front Row: William, Garrett, Owen. 

All dressed up

Photos from tonight's dress rehearsal. The "2010 Olympic Odyssey" show is this weekend at the rink and the rehearsal went pretty well tonight. My student Callie was in the bicycle group number that I choreographed for the show, along with (from  l to r) Paige, Sophia, Brianna, & Makaya.

Taylor, Emily & Sarah were in another group that I did the choreography for, "Swing Batter, Batter Swing."

BBQ Time

Markus wanted to eat outside last night since I was grilling some salmon, so he cleaned off the the picnic table and the umbrella, before we ate dinner al fresco.   

Molly In The Middle

 When the boys aren't playing baseball at the ballpark, they are playing it at home, usually out front in the circle but sometimes in the backyard. They play a game with Molly, like keep away or monkey in the middle but with Molly instead. They play catch with each other and try not to drop it because if they do Molly will snatch it up and run away with the ball and hide or she will run around the backyard with them trying to "tag her out"! It is funny to watch and they get so excited when Molly does get the dropped ball, and they scream and run all over.

 

Markus lost another tooth.

Molly is Max's dog now. Morgen was not taking care of her, feeding her, cleaning up after her or even paying any attention to her. Of course Morgen doesn't agree to it, but I told Max that Molly knows who she really belongs to, and he just smiled and gave Molly a huge hug.

Sierra turns 18

My niece Sierra turned 18 on Friday and had her party today at The Cheesecake Factory. She invited her two close friends, Amanda, left, and Kaitlyn. I cannot believe that she is really 18 already. She was just a newborn baby when I got married. 

  

Tanner & Max

Emily & Kiel came up from Provo for the party and just finished thier last classes at BYU. They were very excited to be done with school. Although they both still have an internship left next fall in Washington D.C., they are finished with all classes.

I ordered the lettuce wraps which were unbelievable...

And Tanner was being his usual goofy self and playing around with Max & Markus. Max is wearing Tanner's glasses, in case you couldn't tell! ;)

Playing

Max and Markus went to drop-in hockey today. They played for over two hours and were starving by the time we came home. Max's regular season baseball practice was cancelled this morning due to poor field conditions but he is scheduled to have his accelerated team practice tonight. Markus is supposed to have his practice tonight as well, if the fields dry out enough by then.

I just came back from my second bike ride so far this year. It was a B.E.A.utiful day for a ride.

True North

Markus and his friend Cooper on the bus to Capitol Theater. And outside the theater on the way in to see "True North".

Jason, Preston, B & Markus awaiting the start of the Children's Dance Theater production...

Along with about 2,400 other kids! Max was sitting with his class somewhere in the middle section. The entire school was there along with several other schools from our district and two others.

I thought it was an amazing production, with live music, light and sound effects and nearly 300 dancing children. Very cool.

The story of True North - an epic journey across the ice-bound Arctic territories of Canada. Far from civilization, in the middle of the vast ice fields of the North, a young child with no memory of her past mysteriously appears. A Pacific Northwest village takes her in and raises her as one of their own. Years later, the child receives a powerful vision that sends her on a quest in search of the answer to the riddle of her true identity. She makes her way northward across land and sea, through the realms of ancient spirits and wild animals, to True North... the home of the elusive Northern Lights.

Favorite Pastime

pas·time (pstm) n. An activity that occupies one's spare time pleasantly: Baseball is his favorite pastime.

When Max isn't playing baseball he is looking at his basball cards. He LOVES baseball!!!

The last day of school classes was today. I really enjoyed most all of the schools this year. It was really fun to teach more than 400 fifth and sixth graders how to skate, and I see a lot of them at the public sessions when I am teaching my other lessons. They are there skating with their friends and having a great time.

Markus has new shoes!

He has been asking me for quite sometime when he could get new shoes, as his feet have grown two sizes since school started last fall (see post on Growing Boys!). So tonight I finally had time to take him over to the mall to buy him some, since all of the baseball games were rained out...yet again. He thinks he has pretty sweet feet!!!

Hockey Skills Clinic

Max had his second hockey skills clinic last night. I don't think he is learning anything new really, but he at least is maintaining the skills he learned this year.

Baseball Practice

Max's team has been practicing on extra days since they have had a rough time getting their regular practices in with the crazy weather we have been having.

They have a few really good players on the team and a few others that have never played before.

Max with his coach Jay.

Growing Boys

We just came home from church and Morgen was starving he said, so he ate 5 deviled eggs, 2 1/2 pieces of toast, a grilled cheese sandwich, a bowl of strawberries and a glass of milk. That will probably hold him for an hour or two...Holy Cow!!! I think that he must be growing and in fact when I measured him upstairs after lunch he has grown over 1 1/4 inches since September. He is officially not a midget, since he has broken the 5 foot mark! 

I noticed at drop in hockey yesterday that Max's hockey pants are looking really short these days and with good reason HE has grown over 6 inches since he started playing hockey!

Marko has grown almost 8 inches in the same amount of time and, in fact, is the same height that Morgen was when he was 9 years old. Only Marko is 7! 

Praying for...

Miracle Mason


My sister Sheri has found a few close friends through her CHD (Congenital Heart Defect) support group. One of those friends has a son with the same condition as Connor and has had all of the surgeries that Connor has had and/or will have sometime in the future. His name is Mason and she asked me to pray for him tonight as he has received a new heart but his body is rejecting it. You can read her blog if you click on the link above.

Nadalynn

Nadalynn, my niece, turns 15 today. I took this photo of her a few weeks ago when she was staying with me while her mom was in the hospital with Connor. She didn't want me to take her picture before dropping her off to get her hair cut. She is working at Lagoon this year and had an orientation that day as well.

Happy Birthday Nady!!!

Little Darlin

My sister Darlin sent me this in an email today.

The face of Sun Valley

Her picture is all over the Sun Valley website as well. I am going up to visit her next weekend. And I can hardly wait!

Where I will be next month...

I am going -  next month all by myself  - to Belize! Actually a tiny little island off the coast called Caulker Caye, that is 1 mile wide and 3 miles long. You take a water taxi to get there and there are no cars on the island.

Spring Show

It is that time of year again. The ice show is at the end of this month and the practices are in full swing.

Update

Connor had to have another procedure done last week while he was in the hospital. The hole that they had gone in to make bigger right after he was born had started closing and that is why he wasn't getting any oxygen. So while they were doing the MRI and noticed what had happened they went in and used a stint to widen the hole again. His stats look much better but still not perfect so they sent him home on Friday rather than having the surgery done on that same day as they had originally thought when he first came in. His chances of surviving the surgery were 6% lower if he had it done now than if his heart had better pressure in the chambers, so Sheri decided to wait until next month. 

 

Connor was sent home on oxygen and is waiting until May 3rd to have the next surgery done.

Sheri is having a rough time thinking about the upcoming surgery as it is a major ordeal, with Connor being put on the iron lung and having his heart stopped for 1 1/2 hours to reconstruct the Vena Cava and then restarting it and putting it back in. Then if all goes well and he goes home after 10 days of recovery in the hospital they will repeat the whole thing in a few months for the other artery in his heart, the Aorta. They used to do both artereries at the same time but the babies were having a hard time surviving such a major surgery, so now they do it in two stages. Talk about stress, she told me she just holds him and cries.