Dance Team

Ever since McKenna was born I have wondered if she would want to be on the school dance team. That was such a fun part of my high school years.  I made so many friends and had such great experiences, I wanted the same for my daughter.  Imagine my excitement when she said she wanted to try out for the middle school dance team!  Here is her experience in her own words:

For middle school this year, I decided that dance team was going to be my "big sport."  I was so excited to be able to tryout with my friends and do something I loved, but I wasn't sure if I would be good enough to make it.  I prayed extra hard every night during the tryouts and practiced the dance so much that I got bruises all over my body.  When I discovered I had made it in, I was relieved that it was finally over...but, dance team was only just beginning!

I made it!

In order to have our routines polished for competition we had to practice after school many days a week for hours at a time.  During the season we became like a family and went on to win all of our competitions.  All in all, dance team was a great experience that I hope to continue next year.

THE PRACTICES

Hard work, sweat and tears made us grow together.  We became one big family.

THE COMPETITIONS

It was fun to perform in front of an audience and was a great experience as well.  The first performance was nerve racking but after that I knew what to expect and it was just routine. I was able to relax and have fun at the other competitions.

 THE AWARDS

We are #1 - enough said!  We won every award in every category from drill down to best hair and everything in between.

THE TEAM

 All the girls were fun to be around and worked hard to deserve their spot on the team.  In the end everyone was able to help each other improve and built strong relationships with each other.

THE COACHES

Sarah Dayley and Tiff Tangen were great coaches.  They knew how to make the team work hard and what it would take to win.  Luckily they knew how to have fun too.

THE MOMS

By Keri:  Now I get to experience dance team from the perspective of a mom. (A big thank you to my Mom who set such a great example of support and involvement.)  It is a lot of fun, though McKenna did draw the line at letting me dance with them at practices.  I got to organize costumes and help with make-up.   I'm excited for next year too!

 

Indexing Challenge

At the beginning of the year our church began a big push with the genealogical society to get all the worldwide microfiche records into digital/searchable form by indexing in hopes of making genealogical connections easier and faster to find.  Our stake president issued a challenge to our stake that over the next year he would like to see our stake index 6 million records.  To accomplish this goal would require the effort of every member.  They started by training and teaching the youth.  Sunday afternoons at our house we would boot up the computers, download a batch and start inputting data.  We wanted to do our part.  On Sunday afternoon Carson was entering ship records of passengers sailing from Australia to the United states when he ran across one of our family names – Ellsworth.  Immediately I recognized it and started doing some of my own research.  I pulled out our Ellsworth history book to see if I could find out more information on this relative. Come to find out Curtis Tempest Ellsworth had just finished serving as a missionary in Australia and was coming home.  We then were able to piece together the rest of his story, where he settled, the family he raised, his service in his community and in the church.  What a testament to the great work this indexing was and the service it would provide to those trying to find their family members through searching old records.

Happy Birthday, Austin!

Well, it wasn’t so happy.  Austin, got the flu about the middle of January, while I was in Michigan, and he just couldn’t seem to beat it.  When he still wasn’t feeling well on his birthday, we started to worry it was more than the flu, but that didn’t stop us from celebrating.  

We all tried to find things that would make Austin happy.  Carson got him a memory foam rug for his bedroom because he knew Austin loved standing at Grandma G’s kitchen sink where she has a similar rug. 

I believe this was the beginning of the happy sock fetish Austin developed, his friends gave him some feel good socks and they made everyone smile.  

Uncle J helped me do some birthday shopping for Austin when I was visiting him in Michigan.  We found some things at the store and in Jason’s closet that would help fill out Austin’s developing wardrobe.  

There was no Red Robin trip today – postponed until Austin gets feeling better.  (Little did we know it would be months and months down the road before we would even attempt a RR trip and then not very successfully.  Several times we started out for a birthday dinner, but even in March we still would end up ordering at the restaurant and then bringing it all home in a box to eat later.)

My Trip to Michigan

For quite a while I have been wanting to go visit my brother and his family in Michigan.  I wanted to go see where they lived, Jason’s office, the kids’ school and Natalie’s home.  It was such a fun trip.  I will have so many good memories of this trip. 

 I loved playing with my nieces and nephew and because of winter weather  and school getting cancelled we got to spend a lot more time together, building snow forts and making snow angels, playing games, reading books and doing nails and hair.  

I loved going into work with Jason one day.  I was able to meet his co-workers and see his design process from beginning to end.  What a fun job he has!  

It was so nice to get to know Nan better.  She is so good at teaching her kids the gospel.  I came home and started writing scriptures and the articles of faith on bathroom mirrors with dry erase markers to help my kids with their memorizing. Thanks, Nan, for that little tid-bit.  Natalie and I didn’t get our girl’s night out though (Jason wanted me to play wii with him and I couldn’t deny him the privilege of being beat at tennis), so I guess I will just have to go back another time just for Nan.

The Best Christmas Yet!

It was great to have Tanner home for the holidays.  Having the family all together for Christmas was an absolute treat.  We tried to delay most of our traditions until the family was whole.  As in years past, we caroled at a local retirement center, delivered treats to our neighbors and friends and decorated our tree with the special ornaments the kids have been receiving each year of their life.

Decorating the Christmas Tree with help from our visiting friend, Gizzy.

This is about 10 batches of Chex Mix we made to deliver to friends.

Austin and McKenna sang a duet from the Polar Express, Believe, in our family Christmas program at the Retirement Home.

Austin put special effort into his gifts this year.  He spent many, many hours finishing the homemade knife Tanner had started but not finished when he had to leave for college.  It looked beautiful.  Tanner had no idea it was coming and was very touched by the gift.

Other gifts included many special things that everyone was very excited about.  The givers really took the time to think about and find the perfect gifts.

The highlight for everyone was the surprise gift that came after the other gifts were opened and everyone thought they were done.  We pulled out a small gift for our house guest, Gizzy the dog we were babysitting for the holidays. The gift included a dog leash, doggy treats and a new collar.  It was several minutes before McKenna realized the tag on the collar had our name and phone number under Gizzy’s name.  The look on all four faces was priceless as they realized we were adopting Gizzy as the seventh member of the family.  Austin actually cried – he had wanted a dog for so long, it was a dream come true for him. 

There really was a dog under our Christmas tree...

The Christmas break was full of fun activities including bowling, sing-alongs,  ebelskivers, gingerbread houses and a special ski trip.

Christmas Eve ebelskiver breakfast with Tasha and the Girls:

Christams Day with the Sork Family included a family music lesson on the pipe chimes:

Family Bowling:

 Gingerbread Houses with the neighbors:

Weird family fun:

Night Skiing at Ski Bowl:

Tanner and Eric