Kenna At Nationals... and "The Bun" - 2013

All year long, ballroom studios around the country put in hours of work and miles of dance steps for four days in March: The National Ballroom Championships. For a little dance company in Idaho, this week is their Olympic Games. After considering dozens of other scenarios about how to juggle the boys at home, work, and piano festival, it was decided that Justin, alone, would forge through this four day competition. I was pretty devastated. I was missing McKenna's Olympic moment! But Justin promised to make me feel like I was there... and he came through. In those four days, I received HUNDREDS of texts and pictures updating me on McKenna and Extremes every move.  Here is a glimpse of McKenna and Justin's trip to Nationals:

McKenna was missing three days of school, so being the good girl she is, she got right to work on her homework on the way down.

See how hard she is working?

 The Marriot Center.

"Brother Bear" wins First Place in Latin Division 2.

(They were disappointed to not make division 1, but winning first place in division 2 was the next best thing!)

"Home on the Range" wins First Place in Smooth Division 1.

(And might I add that they beat out BYU Youth... this has only happened one other time for Pre-Teen Gold in 10 years!)

In the individual syllabus event, McKenna and partner Brady were thrilled to win 3rd place in Samba/Paso! Only one other couple from Extreme placed in the syllabus events. This was a huge honor! McKenna loves telling people that in Samba, she is "third in the Nation!"

At these events, there are usually some celebrity sightings... Recognize this profile? This is Louis Van Amstel from Dancing with the Stars. He choreographs for Center Stage Ballroom Company in Utah.

And this guy was a judge... Yep. That's also a Dancing with the Stars alum: Jonathan Roberts. (Marie Osmond's partner!)

 Justin also sent me updates of the coolest and craziest costumes!

As well as all of the awesome food that McKenna and Justin were enjoying!

And all of their silly photos...

 And you might think that the next photos are silly, but they are SOOOOO NOT! They were the.... wait for it....

 HAIR PHOTOS!!!!

 Oh yes, these were REQUIRED photos. You see, I was just a tiny bit nervous about Justin doing slick-n-shiny buns, gluing on fake eye lashes, and applying stage make-up... only because he has never held a mascara wand or bobby pin in his life! (Hey, I didn't want my 12 year old looking like a clown... or worse, a hoochy mama! Can you blame me?) I went to great lengths to prepare Mr. Mom. I grouped and labeled all make-up items, typed out step-by-step instructions and even DREW a diagram of how to do the ever looming BUN! This came morning one for approval:

I was so very proud of that Dance Daddy. But to tell you the truth, I had no doubt that he could do it. If the man can build a house, he should be able to pin a bun, right? However, I was surprised at how quick my humble husband went from meek to mega cocky.

Me: "So, how was your first bun?"

Justin: "Pssshhh. So easy."

I then began receiving texts throughout the day that McKenna was dancing so well... probably due to "the most amazing bun she's ever worn." But I went from amused to officially annoyed when McKenna, herself, said that "Dad's bun was so so so, good, Mom! I think he does buns better than you." 

Stop right there. 

Crossing the line.

Check out Justin's work on Day 3:

(Just kidding! This was the work of a fellow Mom!)

Well, the battle of the buns will probably continue, but there was no arguing over the winners at Nationals. Move over Utah.... At the end of the week, it was announced that little ol' Extreme Ballroom from Idaho Falls, Idaho was the overall winner of the entire event!  Utah pools from thousands of kids. Idaho Falls does not. We are lucky to get 10 guys on a team! With these odds, it is simply AMAZING what this dance company is creating. We feel so blessed to be a part of this company!

McKenna had a fantastic experience... And I am definitely sure that she had a lot more fun with her dad than she would have had with her el-cheap-o-mom. I, for sure, would have been too sensible to indulge in the late-night pre-teen swims and the All-Night-Party! This mother is too fragile... sleep is required! But oh, not party-hardy, Dad! They played twister until 4 a.m for crying out loud!!

Many moms have since commented to me about how impressed they were with Justin. Few dads would have (#1) taken work off to help his wife or (#2) attended at all or (#3) attended happily or (#4) sat through hundreds of syllabus heats--listening to the same dumb song over and over to the point of insanity and (#5) become Mr. Fabulous Hair Extrodinare!! Yeah, he's pretty great.

It was a week of fun memories! I hope we (meaning ALL of us) get to do it again someday!

And my buns are better. Just sayin'.

Captioned Ballroom Photography

Ballroom is so much fun to watch... especially when it's danced by professionals. They make it look so easy! McKenna and Justin got the opportunity to watch three of the nation's top ranked pro's battle it out last week, and McKenna said that when the men danced the jive, it looked like they were FLYING! Yes, they literally make dance become art.

However, trying to capture images of this art form is quite another thing. Justin tried to take some pictures for me, and instead of basking in the beauty... we had a laughfest at the strange faces and positions caught in still photography.  

Just take a look at what happens when ballroom is photographed:

This is what happens when you forget to take a potty break...

"Oh snap... I seriously should have taken that potty break!"

This is what happens when you invite vampires to the competition...

 "My darling, I can only describe your beauty as... DELICIOUS!"

"I vant to suck you blood!"

This is what happens when you invite vampires AND blind zombies to the competition...

This is what a wardrobe malfunction looks like...

This is what happens when you combine ballroom and shock collars...

PRETTIER pictures of our little dancer to come...

Flashback Friday--October 2006

Another favorite. 

And that Power Ranger costume is still seen around the house daily. Great investment--that one!

Chocolatey Scouts

Another year, another miserable pinewood derby experience. 

(We seriously gotta figure out how to make faster cars. Is it that we're not cheating? Is there a parent pinewood derby class somewhere?) One thing is for sure, we are learning how to be gracious LOSERS! That's an important life skill, right? I think we are getting it down!

Here is Ky's chocoleriffic pinewood derby car--dedicated to Grandma Luke, of course! Sorry Grandma... the car made in honor of your M&M devotion was cute, but SLOOOOOOW! 

We also got to decorate a cake for the blue and gold banquet last week. Together, Kyler, McKenna, and I made this AWESOME pig hot tub cake! I spent half the day watching youtube videos on how to make homemade marshmallow fondant... thus the darling scout piggies! (Though darling, I wouldn't recommend fondant making--very messy and time consuming. I think my palms are still slightly dyed pink too.) However, unlike the car, our cake was a WINNER! Every scout there was fighting over who got to eat a PIG BUM! 

Yep... this cake (work of art) was sliced into about 15 minutes after it was completed. Kind of sad. Thank goodness it will live forever on the blog!

When Mom Leaves Her Phone Behind

There is nothing my children love more than getting a hold of my phone. It's always a joy to click on my phone photos--only to see 200 images of Ashton's tongue. A few weekends ago, I left my phone behind for McKenna while she was babysitting. The kids think it's so fun to take pictures of themselves, but what they don't realize is that they are incriminating themselves. Here are just a few of the things that go on when mom leaves her phone behind during a two hour period...

Abuse to the Little People

Gobs of Adolescent Self Portraits

Enormous Amounts of Weirdness

And Messy House Evidence

The real question is: Do I WANT to know what's going on when I'm gone?

Flashback Friday - 2003

I thought it might be fun to remember some images that came way before the blogging era... on Fridays! Here is one of my favorites of fearless McKenna Lyn from 2003. Seems like yesterday.

Crazy Cupid's Cafe

I've decided that my greatest talent is making things way harder than they need to be.  The night before Valentines Day, I was feeling everything but warm, fuzzy, 'lovey' feelings. Here's why:

 When I was a kid, I loved making friendship bracelets. A few months ago, I showed my kids this mad skill they didn't know I possessed. It kept them busy for an entire day. I had the brilliant idea of making bracelets for Valentines. I figured that making a few a day would be fun and totally do-able. That is, until my kids quit making a few a day. Of the 90 homemade Valentines here on this bench, we made 60 of them the night before!! Plus, I discovered that my badly needed circle punch was in a box buried deep in our storage unit... the very box I've needed about hundred times this last year. It made for a late evening. But aside from making me extremely grumpy, the bracelets were a hit and my kids felt awesome.

The next morning, I had slept off my grumpiness and was excited to get to work on our family's annual "Valentine's Dinner." I was planning on adding some fun new elements thanks to my new brain that thinks for me (Pinterest). A cool new dessert... a fun game... And this is what happened mid-dessert making.

If you think this was bad, you should have seen my shirt. 

Not feeling the love.

It was a stressful day. 

I was late. Behind. Hurrying. Clumsy.

But I somehow made it to this moment... seeing my family seated together around our table--my kids giddy to have Grandpa, candy, and candlelight--and somehow everything was perfect. 

And again, thanks to other talented women who put this stuff on the web for other non-talented women like me, I had this awesomely cute "Mystery Love Menu."

No one knew what they were ordering or the order in which it would come.

 Grandpa's first course made sense...

 But some people got dessert FIRST!

And others (Justin) got utensils for an appetizer!

It was a memorable Valentines Day for sure! 

But no matter how many days go perfectly or disasterly, in the end, things eventually work out because I somehow married the "BESTEST" Valentine ever. This guy...

 ... a man who manages to be the favorite parent to all of my children, a man who works himself to the bone for our family, and a man who is beautiful enough to be a vampire. (You may not understand this reference, but just know that it's the highest complement I can give and an inside joke!)

Happy Valentines 2013!