SALEM DAYS!!!

Here is a recap of Salem Days for the Marbles~
It started on Thursday, July 30th for us. Samantha, Lindsey and Camille were in the Little Miss Salem Pageant. They had a dress rehersal on Thursday night. They learned their opening dance and practiced their talent. It was fun, but it was a long night. The cutest thing about this night was Camille, (she sang "Tomorrow" from Annie) they wanted her to practice her talent and hold the microphone, so she did. She had to do it twice. When she came down she said, "Mom, aren't you glad I didn't wipe my eyes." She was SO nervous about singing that she started to cry, but she just kept going. What a cutie!!
The Pageant was Friday night. The girls did so great and had so much fun! Samantha really sang her heart out! She sang "The climb" by Miley Cyrus. She did absolutely amazing!
Lindsey sang "Popular" from the Musical WICKED. Super cute, super funny. Had me cracking up--big time!
Camille is 2nd attendant for Mini Miss. The other girls didn't place, but they are fine and had a great time. Sam said "next year" Me? I was sad, I really thought Sam should have placed. I had to go home and let it go. Sam was a very good example to me!!
SAT: Mud Volleyball.
Rick and D'Ann came up and we had quite the mud volleyball team. I didn't go down and watch as much as I should have. I didn't want all the kids to get completely covered in mud, but we did watch a little bit. I don't really know how they do that year after year.
SUN: The fireside. Robert Millet was the speaker. He was excellent. His talk was quite political and religious. It was about how the problems in our country aren't economical but that our problems are the morals and values of the people. I was very impressed. He talked about esteem and confidence. It was very similar to dad's view on it. He has written several books too!!
TUES: The duct tape regatta. This is such a crazy fun activity. Each group is given 2 large pieces of cardboard and 2 rolls of duct tape and a 2x2x10 piece of wood. We then have 2 hours to make a boat that we will paddle around the pond. We did pretty good this year. Our boat was pretty good. Bri and Sam won our heat with a tim of 2 minutes and 23 seconds and our boat didn't sink!!! Last year Bri and Em got as far out as they could and then it sunk and they had to swim back with the heavy boat. People come up with some crazy ideas. It was hilarious!!
WEDS: Baby contest & Family Movie
Nico wouldn't "perform" he said hi but that was about it. I tried to get him to dance, to sing, to kiss my owie, all of his tricks, but no! It's really ok though. He has a really cute picture from it. (He didn't cooperate with that either!)
That night was the Family Movie--Kung Fu Panda. This was at the ballfield with a 30 ft. screen. I think the best part about that night was listening to Bubba laugh so hard. It made Chris, Whitney and I laugh just to hear him cracking up so much. The sponsors give out unlimited soda, popcorn and glow sticks. I think that was my girls favorite part.
THURS: Rodeo, but we didn't go...I had Enrichment. (I learned a lot of great cleaning tips)
FRI: The children's parade and Salem's got Talent
The parade is for all the kids, they can walk or ride bikes. We walked from Salem Elementary to the ballfield. It is a very short parade, like a block. They kids love it though. They always get a popcicle at the end. Lindsey and Camille rode scooters. (way ahead of us) Nico was in a wagon. Bubba was at a birthday party so he didn't go. Sam was at Belly's house practicing with Quincee. Bri was at soccer practice. So it was quite funny for Em, Lexi and I to be walking in a childrens parade bascially by ourselves.
After the parade, it was time for Salem's Got Talent back at the pond. Samantha and Quincee sang "What is this feeling" from WICKED!!! WOW!!! WERE THEY EVER GREAT!!!! Sam had green skin, a long black wig and a green frock. Quincee had blonde curly hair and a pink sparkly dress. They did so good!!! They sang so well and were just cute! There were about 30 groups that performed and the top 10 got to perform for the Pageant on Sat. night. The person over the show came up to me the next day and told me that Sam and Quincee were number 11. They missed it by --that much. Bummer, it would have been fun to see them do it again. But it is ok, they had FUN!!
SAT: The family fun run and 5k. Brianne was the only one of us to run the 5k. The rest of us just did the mile. I think I was like 5th from the end. Chris won his division. He was the only one in stroller division for men, but he still got a gold medal. hee hee We laughed about that for a long time. He was even invited to ride on the float as a winner. ha ha!
We then went to the breakfast. The council members stand there and greet everyone. First it was Stanley Green, he hugged me and turned to Lynn and said, "This is my family." Then Lynn said, "But they are my family." She is in Whitney and GG and Gpa's ward. (our old ward) Then Mayor Henderson said, "Wait a minute, they are in MY ward." It was so funny! It was kindof fun to be fought over for a minute. The Mayor thanked us for supporting them in everything and he also said that he gave Sam and Quincee a 10 the night before in the Talent Show. I thought that was nice too.
Then I took the kids to the carnival. They had SO much fun! Kaelys went in the dunk tank. Samantha won 8 3 liter sodas at the ring toss. They had cotton candy and pizza. Lots of games and prizes all around. I think my favorite though was Bubba trying to win a sword. There was a football throw and a basketball game that were handing out swords. He tried and tried to get a sword. You had to get all 3 balls in the basket or through the hole. He was really good at getting 2 of them. He jumped ALL over the place with excitement. Then he would miss. He said to the boy at the game "I'll be back" then go to the end of the line to start again. We did this probably 5 times. He got Samantha to try. A neighbor boy tried. Another one succeeded and gave him a sword, Bubba gave it to Nico. He just kept saying, "I'll be back." Finally he got 3 balls in the football throw!!! SUCCESS!!!!! He carried that sword around with him for the rest of the day!
We had our fill of the carnival and we home to get ready for the BBQ dinner. After the dinner was the pageant. It was fun. We basically saw it already because of the night before, but it was still good. There was another performer that we hadn't seen yet. Then it was time for the FIREWORKS!!!! They were awesome, we have the best fireworks ever!!! Nico, of course, slept through them. Something cool about the beginning of the pageant was our Mayor, he said that he has received some complaints about having an opening prayer at community activities, but that he didn't care. He said we were founded on religious beliefs and it would continue. He said it would come before the flag, because like always, God first. He gave no apologizes. AWESOME!!! LOVED IT!!!!
We got Harry and Whitney really good!! Whitney was worried about her chairs and blankets, she thought someone could sit inbetween her stuff, because they weren't close enough together...well, our neighbors decided to come to the pageant with us, and Corey set his chair up right in the spot that Whitney was worried about. I was just dieing inside. When they walked up I had to look away. They were so polite. Whitney was trying to get Harry to ask him to move a little bit and Harry was like, no, I'm fine. Then I couldn't take it anymore and had to give it up. We all had a good laugh! I guess I better watch my back. :)
It was fun week, but I am EXHAUSTED!!

The Grotto

Bubba proving how tough he is...
He fell down and scraped his knee...
He showed it to me and then went
to find a "big" leaf to wipe off the blood.
Samantha was determined to get in the waterfall, it was so strong, she couldn't hardly do it. It was also super cold!

It was so loud in the cave part because of the amount of the water. We couldn't hear each other talk. It got to be too much for Camille.

Everyone being silly. Same place to pose as last time we went.

NEW YORK!!

Lexi and I are going to New York, we are G O I N G to New York! NEW YORK!! We are going to see Wicked, In the Heights, Mary Poppins, and Guys and Dolls! Plus, we are going to see as much of New York as we possibly can!

We are going to New York!

We head to the airport around noon. We find out that we do get to sit by each other on the flight.

We play the in flight trivia game and watch Monk. We can't sleep. Way too excited for that.

We get into NY at about 11:00 maybe 10:00 I don't really know, and I don't really care...

We are staying at the Double Tree.

It is right smack dab in the middle of Time Square. We get out of the van from the airport and we are completely awe struck! The lights, the Broadway show billboards everywhere. The ball that drops-every new years eve...

We get into our room. We write down everything we want to do and see.

We can't sleep, but we have to, we plan on being up by 6:00a.m. and it is already 3:00a.m.

The adventure begins...

New York: Day 4

Today we decided that we hadn't been on the subway yet or that we hadn't been in a Taxi either. We picked the subway first, the subway that we wanted wasn't running so we had to get on a subway and then take it to a main sub station and then switch and get onto a different one. It was intense. It was scary. It was all that and more. We ended up getting off in Harlem. We were wondering why everyone on the subway was looking at us so weird. We wanted to find the Temple. Turns out it is really close to Central Park and also the Museum. Hence, the Taxi!

Like everything else in NY, the Temple is built UP. There is no room to build out, so everything is 10 stories high. It is hard to find, but we did it. That was awesome. I said to Lexi, "We have to know where it is just incase we are stuck here or something bad happens, this is where we would want to get to and FAST." It just so happens that part of the Julliard Campus is across the street from the Temple so we got to see that too. We then went to the Museum of Natural History. That is where the movie "Night at the Museum" is filmed. Again, HUGE!
We were seeing "Mary Poppins" as a Matinee, it was very good and very cute. I enjoyed it, Lexi, not so much.
After the show we went to Macys. Macy's is an ENTIRE city block. No joke. It is 9 stories. I have never seen anything like it, in all my life. Alexis went to all 9 floors, just so she could say she did. hee hee. We finish all of our shopping! Bringing home some fun things...hee hee
We fouind the Ed Sullivan Theatre:

Then for our last show we saw W I C K E D !! It was Amazing, Magnificent, Incredible. I loved it so much. If I only saw that one show, I would have been satisfied with my trip. I didn't want the show to end. Alexis was 2nd row center! Me right next to her. It was FABULOUS!!

Nicole Parker played Elphaba:
I have no words to describe how good she is.Alli Mauzey played Galinda or Glinda (without the Ga) The cemistry between the two leads was something to see. I truly have never seen anything like it. I can't decide which one I liked better.

I loved the fun part of Glinda, but Elphaba won your heart. I would really LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to see them again. The same cast, I mean. I sat there and bawled like a baby during the last number. So sad it was over, so touched by the whole thing. I turned to Lexi and I was so embarrassed! I had no control over my emotions at all. We both just sunk down in our seats and said we were NEVER leaving. We were going to set up camp there and live there and watch the show over and over and over and over and over and over...you get the idea.

The trip changed me, changed something inside me...I am not afraid anymore. I used to live my life in such fear, but it is gone. I walked the streets of NY, I figured things out, it was the most amazing thing! I loved every minute. I am glad Lexi was with me too. I hope I can do something similar to this with all of my girls!

New York: Day 3

The next morning we got up and decided to get on one of the tour buses so that we could see more of the sites. We took the bus for a little while and decided that wasn't the way we wanted to see NY. We really couldn't get off the bus when we wanted to. We took it to Ground Zero and then got off the bus. Ground zero was very somber--even still. There was so much hussle and bussle until you were close to it--then there was a silence. We were both surprised at how quiet everyone was while walking by the construction site. This was not the best part of the trip, we were far from our hotel and we weren't sure where we were, where we were going or how we were going to get there. So we found water and walked along the edge for a mile or two. (Lexi would probably say 20) We saw Battery Park and the Ground Zero monument.

We finally came to Ellis Island and the Staten Island Ferry. So we jumped on. The Ferry gets you pretty close to the Statue of Liberty, but not close enough in my opinion. I would love to take a different Ferry and actually go to the island. I think that if I ever get back to New York that that is one thing I want to do. Seeing the Statue of Liberty was AWESOME! Something I have wanted to do my whole life. I am so glad that I was able to fufill this dream.
We had a hot dog from one of the carts because I said I wanted a NY hot dog and we had to cross it off the list. We decided not to get back on the bus to go back to the hotel, instead we decided to walk. That was a long walk. It was at least 5 miles back. We saw a lot, but my legs were getting tired after yesterdays adventures. But it was fun, we saw a guy filming something, we don't know what, but we took a picture anyways...
We walked to the Empire State Building and decided to go up to the top. There are really long lines and a whole lot of people in there. The Building was fun to see, but I don't think I would ever go to the top again. It took about 2 hours to get to the top. Just standing in lines and then we were only at the top for like 10 minutes and then the long wait down. There were a lot of people so it was hard to see much anyway, and it was expensive. Something funny that happened, we were talking to this family, they had a baby girl with them. The employees were letting them go through the line, to get down, a lot faster than anyone else. When they asked them how many in their party--they said 5. They had included Lexi and I with them so were able to get out of there really fast. It had Lexi and I laughing for quite a while. We could definately see a lot from up top. This is where the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade starts. That was fun. We found the Chrysler Building. "I want it to shine like the top of the Chrysler Building" (Annie) We drove past Madison Square Garden on our bus ride to Staten Island.

We barely made it back in time for our next show. We grabbed some Philly Cheese steaks from a vendor cart on the road. And gobbled them down.

We saw "Guys and Dolls" The costumes were great and the set was incredible. I wouldn't say I could recommend the show. Especially if young kids were going to watch it. It is a little on the skanky side. It was good, but not great. The way they moved from set to set was pretty amazing, one of the best that I have seen.
On our way home we saw this guy making the most incredible paintings with only spray paint and a few tools. Mostly a spackle thingy...we watched him for a long time.

Today was Shirsten's 18th birthday, so we had lots of fun desserts to sample and sat around and visited with everyone. Then it was off to bed.

New York: Day 5

TIRED, EXAUSTED AND YET NEW!

This has been the best trip it was so much fun. I am so glad I got to spend time with Lexi and see NY with her.
I am ready to go home and see my family.

We get up early, get to the airport, in a LIMO, and fly home.
Alexis and I play the trivia game on the plane the whole way home.
We stop to eat at Marie Callendars on the way home with Lauri and Denali, Maren and Tamsen and Rilee, and Demaris.

HOME--My girls and my boys! Yeah!

THINGS I'VE LEARNED ABOUT NEW YORK:
1. It stinks really bad!
2. The sewers really do steam.
3. The people there are really friendly, except the one begger who growled at me.
4. There is garbage EVERYWHERE.
5. It was fun to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.

THAT WAS A TRIP OF A LIFE TIME!!

I LOVE THIS!

Emily had oranges in her braces, and we were cracking up! This is already outdated, because Emily got her braces off today!

Picture of the kidos