Color Guard, Prom and Missionary Farewells

Melanie tried out to be on the High school color guard team this week.  She faithfully went to the practices all week and then tried out on Friday afternoon.  She found out today that she made the varsity team.  We are still figuring out if we will let her do it.  It is very expensive and there are lots of practices and she will need to be driven around a lot and with Warren and I both working and Tyler so busy I'm not sure how that will work out. The director assured me they have carpools.

Tyler got busy this week getting everything ready for his Prom date.  We planned for him to wear Graig's tux, the one Graig wore two weeks before he left on his mission.  Warren suggested we should really have him try it on to make sure it would work.  Tyler has worn it in the past so we were assuming it would be fine.  Well, he could hardly even button the shirt at the neck, the pants were too short, and the jacket was tight.  We decided instead of renting a tux we would put the money towards getting him a new suit he can wear to church.  He picked out a nice slim fit dark grey suit.  Torrey's dress is turquoise and so Tyler rented a silver vest and a turquoise tie.  Her corsage was white roses with some fake silver leaves and a turquoise ribbon arranged nicely together.  I haven't seen a picture of the two of them yet but I'm guessing they looked really nice together.  It rained most of the day today so Tyler made sure to take an umbrella to keep her dry if it was raining when they were on their date.  His friend Caleb asked Brittany Grover to Prom and the four of them rented a private room at Jack and Jill's bowling alley for their day date.  I'm not exactly sure what that means.  Tyler said they played one game of bowling and then played arcade games.  He was the driver so after driving everyone home after the day date he only had about 20 minutes to get himself dressed and ready before he needed to start picking everyone back up.  They were to meet at the Lee's house and Caleb's mom was supposed to take some group pictures.  They had dinner reservations at an Asian restaurant where they planned to order a few dishes and share them around the table.  Then off to the capitol and the Prom.  I'm waiting up to see if things went as planned.

 Jannik, Melanie, Dad and I went to the Djurich's house tonight for Sara's farewell party and dinner.  Her dad roasted a pig in their backyard and they also had chicken and lots of other yummy food.  It was fun to see KT and Jamie, Garret, Josh Lee, and Sara's family.  Sara had cut her hair really short in anticipation of the hot weather in Mexico.  She is excited to get to go to the Mexico City MTC, instead of Provo.  We will attend her farewell talk in the morning.

LHS Prom Pictures Tyler and Tori

Happy Birthday Jannik

We have been looking forward to helping Jannik celebrate his 18th birthday in America since we found out he was coming.  Eighteen is a big birthday in Germany because it is the birthday when you can begin to drive. (It is killing him to have to wait until he gets home to drive.)  He finished driver's ed before he left Germany and has his license all ready to go and waiting for him.  Melanie helped me decorate the house with streamers and banners and she left him a note on their bathroom mirror after he went to bed on Sunday night.  I decorated his locker when I went to the swim morning workout at the high school on Monday morning.

It was a little hard thinking of what to give him for gifts.  We decided on some of his favorite things: Mnt Dew and Frosted Flakes.  We also gave him a photo album with pictures of him since he arrived.  There is still room in the album for pictures from now until he leaves.

 After dinner we went to 7-Peaks Lehi and played a game of Laser Tag, played arcade games, and did a round of mini-golf.  The weather was so nice!  We had a great time.

 I think Jannik beat Warren every time in the boat race game.

 Melanie likes this dance game.

Deadstorm Pirates is one of our favorite games because up to 3 people can play together.  I was steering while Warren and Jannik manned the guns and then Melanie and I switched out.

 Warren won our mini-golf game with Melanie in 2nd place and Jannik and I tying for 3rd.

Easter Week

This is one of my favorite weeks of the year because we take extra time with our family devotional each day to study the last week of Christ's life.  On Thursday we had our traditional "passover" meal and it was so nice outside we ate it on a blanket on the lawn.  On Friday we talked about Christ's trial and Crucifixion. We had the missionaries over for dinner and they joined in our discussion and study.  I had found some quotes by James Talmage that added some insight into our study.  That night Warren, Melanie and I went and saw a local production of "Lamb of God" that told the Easter Story.  The music was beautiful and there was even a live orchestra.  They had a great cast and large chorus who had obviously spent many hours in preparation. It was a great community event.  On Saturday evening, the missionaries came over again for dinner.  Warren and Jannik BBQed hamburgers and chicken for dinner.  The missionaries helped Melanie color Easter Eggs and make resurrection rolls.  She did a good job keeping them entertained.  That evening Warren took the missionaries to meet some of the investigators in our ward and they had a good visit with one of them. Sunday morning we woke the kids up in time to watch the sunrise as we read the story of the Resurrection. There is something great about reading about how the women went to the tomb before the sun rose and found it empty and then saw Christ as the sun is rising.  We then worked together to fix our traditional eggs-a-la-golden rod breakfast.  It was delicious.  Easter evening we went to my Mom and Dad's house for dinner and games.  We celebrated David and Jannik's birthdays.  Tyler hung around upside down on the gravity board to stretch out his sore back.

Day 3: Riverwalk Trail and Court of the Patriarchs

Jannik and Tyler at the beginning of the trail.  We didn't see them again until we got to the end of the trail. 

 The trail was crawling with these cute squirrels.

 Jannik and Tyler at the end of the trail

 The gateway to the Narrows hike is behind us.

 Warren, Melanie and I walked back to shuttle bus very slowly, 

stopping often to enjoy the beauty around us.

 Then we ran into some of our friends at this pool in the river.

 After the river walk trail we climbed to see this view of the Court of the Patriarch

From the left: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (who is behind Moroni).

 Waiting for the shuttle to take us to the visitor's center.

 The shuttle picking up on the other side of the road.

We made a lot of great memories on this trip and had a lot of fun.

Reptiles and Evening Hikes - Emerald Pools and Weeping Rock

As we checked into our hotel, Melanie noticed that there were lizards crawling around the porch area.  She went right to work catching and playing with them.

It was a beautiful evening for a couple of hikes.  We first hiked to each of the three emerald pools and waterfalls.  Jannik and Tyler walked much faster than Warren, Melanie and I.

 Middle Emerald Pool

The boys were waiting for us on this rock by the upper emerald pool.  As soon as they saw we had arrived they headed back down.

 Zions Park can be a dangerous place to hike because of the high cliffs all around.  There are signs like this all over warning of danger. 

 Our next stop was the Weeping Rock, dripping springs that creates a hanging gardens.

 The view from the Weeping Rock is spectacular.

We then rode the shuttle to the end of the scenic drive and back.  There are many foreign visitors at Zions and Melanie made the goal to meet someone from France and to try and talk with them using the French language skills she has learned this year in school.  She listened to the other visitors on the bus for someone speaking in French and found some cute girls in their twenties.  She got up the nerve to talk with them and became friends.  She was able to introduce herself and our family to her new friends in French.  The girl she was speaking with seemed glad to have someone to practice English with.  The girl's name is Coralee (The same as Warren's mother!)  Coralee is in the United States traveling until the end of April but offered to be Melanie's pen pal so that she can practice her French.  Melanie was very excited to return to French class and report on the experience.