All the Formal Pictures!

Every little glimpse of "normal" this year feels like such a tremendous gift!  So, imagine how amazing the extraordinary, like a night of formal attire, fancy hair, dates, dancing and an 18 passenger SUV limo, feels!  A family from our school graciously hosted all the students at their private home ensuring this year our students would not be without special Formal memories!  It was not an official school event, but it was full of friends and classmates.

Our favorite hair-styling friend, Melinda, did Ella's hair again.  Next year I'll have two girls sitting at her kitchen counter needing fancy curls and braids!  Melinda absolutely nailed the exact "braided bun" hairdo that Ella wanted and made her feel super beautiful.

As you saw in a previous post, Dave and I had a wonderful time taking Ella out for dinner and dress shopping one night a few weeks ago.  She's such a beautiful, special gal; what a delight it is to have this front row seat to her high school adventures!

The first meeting place was her friend Morgan's.  Here half the group met first to exchange boutonnieres and corsages.   It is so much fun to watch Ella enjoy all this with her boyfriend Evan!

Morgan's parents got the kids the huuuuuge limo and stocked it with pop and snacks too.  So generous and fun!  What a fun life our kids have!

The limo drove the group (with us moms following) to a pretty park for pictures of the whole group-- 18 kids!

Now, let me just say something about this neat group of friends that has assembled this year.  In these pictures you see 2 freshmen, several sophomores, and 5 seniors!  How does such an eclectic group come together, you wonder?  It's ROBOTICS and DRAMA!  Represented here is Ella's group of girl friends that she's had since 5th grade, but along with them are some of our school's best actors and almost the whole Robotics team!  They have all found each other this year, through these school activities, and formed their own awesome friend group!  For this night, they even paired up so almost everyone could go with a date.  How cute is that?  Ella, being a common denominator for almost everyone in the group, had just the best time with all her people around her all night!

Our big, fun group of paparazzi moms tucked our kids into the gigantic limo and and bid them farewell at the park.  When Ella came home, the reports of formal were all good-- delicious food, gorgeous outfits, and fun dance music.  Formal was yet another special opportunity this year to celebrate the absolute gift that it is to be with friends making lifelong memories!

Outstanding Outings!

What makes visiting a spectacular place like Knights Ferry, Yosemite, or Santa Cruz even more spectacular?  Well, visiting with a carload of loved ones, of course!  We treasured sharing these 3 favorite places with Kris, Kyle, Cole and Miles.

Knights Ferry was ablaze with the color of wildflowers in full bloom.  Now is the best time to visit and I always love that first view when you round the bend and see the rocky hills framing the river rapids.  I love even more seeing it through the eyes of a first time visitor!

The boys handled a rocky hike, that was more climbing than walking, on this hot day with adventurous spirits and strength.  I was proud of them.

 

Our day in Yosemite was as amazing and awe-inspiring as a day in Yosemite always is.  We enjoyed taking our time around all the Valley Floor stops-- parking and hopping out to see gorgeous views with minimal effort.   First stop: that first view of Half Dome as you start descending into the valley.

Second stop: Tunnel View, which never disappoints!

Third stop: the Yosemite Falls loop.  This was the longest walk, but it's a great one because that view of the falls doesn't go away as you get nearer and nearer.

Brrr!  Mist from the pounding, snow-melt falls was freezing!

After our picnic lunch by the river, we goofed around in this field for a while.  The kids made a see-saw.  We took jumping pictures, which had us doubled over in laughter.  Not posting the awkward outtakes my youngest daughter spent the entire car ride home making funny memes out of! ;)

Fourth stop: the river by Bridalveil Falls where Miles tried to beat his "number of rock skips" record.

 

Last stop: somewhere on top of the valley where the snow had not yet melted for AN EPIC SNOWBALL FIGHT!

We got another crew of family members to fall in love with Yosemite on this day.  Though, admittedly, that is not a hard thing to do at all.

Another day we spent in Santa Cruz, promising the kids the sights and smells of the Boardwalk, seals, pirate mini-golf, toes dipped in the ocean, Marianne's ice cream, and Pizza My Heart.  And as you can see, we checked it all off the list!

Boardwalk. Check.

In pirate mini-golf we split up into two teams-- Boy vs. Girls, or Team "Da Boyz" vs. Team "Nice Balls".  It was an intense competition and in the end Da Boyz beat us girls by just one point! 

 

Even with this devastating loss, though, golfing with hilarious Auntie Kris was its own kind of prize!  Delia will tell you this was one of her favorite parts of the whole week.

Toes in the ocean. Check.

Seals. Check.

Marianne's.  Check.

We squeezed a little hike on the bluffs and in the wind gusts of Wilder Ranch into our Santa Cruz day too.  Here we held onto each other so we wouldn't blow away while admiring the crashing waves and sea otters.  

 

What a wonderful week!  Kris said it perfectly in an Instagram post, "My dreams are now my memories."  We dreamed about this visit and are feeling that happy, full, satisfied feeling you get after a feast of great time together.  I'll be laughing about Cole's Mario accent, Kyle's giant cross necklace, Mile's love for steak, feet glasses, Bruce Villanchi, failed jumping pictures, and "Nice Balls" jokes until we are all together again soon and able to make more new memories!

Murder at the Pizzaria!

Auntie Kris came with the most awesome gift: a murder mystery kit!  Can you imagine anything more perfect for this group of actors?!  I've never done a murder mystery party before and everything about it was super easy and super fun.  The kit comes with everything you need, including detailed descriptions of the characters to chose from and scripts to follow, including questions to ask and answers give, if you are either innocent or guilty (something that is decided when you select your fate paper out of the bowl at the beginning of the party).  

You know we don't do anything halfway, so here we are all dressed up and ready to solve the mystery of poor Karl's murder by pizza cutter in the pantry at the pizzeria!  Delia was SO into playing her character, she admitted she wasn't really following the whole murder thing when it was time to point a finger at a suspect!  

Murder at the Pizzeria starring:

~Auntie Kris as Una Cornetto, the sweet ice cream scooper who went into business with Karl and was owed lots of money by him.

~Ella as Donna Canneloni, the crime boss who competed with Karl and had some shady business deals with him.

~Jen as Alona Novella, the librarian with a checkered past, whose library stood to gain a huge inheritance from Karl's will.

~Dave as Mayor Fiasco, the bumbling goofball Mayor who wears and cape and silly socks and does other strange, nonsensical things.

~Delia as Poni Danza, the circus performer whose beloved horse partner, Sparkles, ran away after Karl spooked it with a camera flash.

~Cole as Mario Carto, the incompetent plumber with an Italian accent...who is really a Swedish spy (that only Karl knew about)!

~Miles as Rocky Marciano, the heavyweight boxer who was bribed by Karl to throw fights for bets.

~Uncle Kyle as Francisco Benedicto the monk who delivered all his lines in a chant, who mistakenly heard Karl's confession about where Karl burried his money one time when he mistook him for a priest.

So you see, everyone was pretty sus.  After about an hour of playing our parts and hearing all the details, it was revealed that poor Karl (RIP) was murdered by...Miles, aka Rocky!  Awards for best costume, best acting, and best sleuthing were awarded.

Our Murder at the Pizzeria Party ended the only way possible-- with make your own pizzas, of course!  And since we are officially in the dry season here, Karl's chalk outline will probably live on my patio for the next 6 months, which I love!  I'll smile whenever I see him and remember the fun we all had dressing up and playing silly parts together!

A Special Spring Break

We are feeling super thankful that this year for Easter we had a house full of loved ones and laughter!  Kris told us at Christmas that she wanted to come out with the boys this spring, and, to be totally honest, I celebrated the news with a guarded heart.  Too much of life is too easily disrupted these days.  So, what a gift that these plans not only worked out, but ended up being some of the most fun we've had in a year!  Kris traveled out for a whole week with her two boys and with Kyle also.

Our nephews, Cole and Miles, are in 7th and 5th grade and have never visited us before!  We tried to be intentional about picking outings and activities that would show off our home, but be fun for kids.  The boys were so much fun to get to know and hang out with!  The girls and I were still finishing up school on their first day of visiting, so Dave took them to our friends' super-modern, run-by-robots dairy.

Our state gave us plenty of help with the showing off!  Spring is one of my favorite times because everything is blooming and warming up.  Cherry trees, wildflowers, and waterfalls all displayed their splendor for our visitors.

And as long as we're talking about showing off, Ella wanted to do a bit of it herself, inviting the boys to the school Robotics Lab to give a little demo on her ball collecting/launching robot.  

We adults enjoyed the treat of eating a delicious restaurant dinner INDOORS while our kids stayed home and played Smash Bros.

We shared some of our favorite Easter traditions too, like baking Resurrection Rolls, dying eggs, and diving into Easter baskets full of candy.

My pew was full at our Easter Sunday service-- another thing I don't take for granted in these strange days of worshipping.  What a blessing to be together on this favorite holiday!

Lots and lots of cuddles with Ivy and Jackbox games were also enjoyed this week!

The night before our family left, we made a campfire.  Ella's boyfriend came over to meet the cousins and got the stamp of approval.  ;)  We also discovered a new Easter treat-- roasting Peeps on the fire!

How do you summarize a whole week of jokes, hugs, deep talks, shared outings and adventures, and goodbye tears?!  I'm missing these people.  Maybe after the year we've had, this connection felt especially sweet.  Or maybe there is just something miraculous and steadfast about family...no matter how much life you lived since you were last together, the bond is quick and the love is deep.   In the Lord's goodness, we had the opportunity this Spring Break to be reminded of this truth.