Visitor from College

Megan came home for the weekend. Mostly just to say hi, but also to eat home-cooked food, chocolate chip cookies, and pick up cooler weather clothes.

It was wonderful having everyone together again, even if it was just for a really quick weekend.

And nice to know she's still just as goofy.

Selfies

Alison and Kristen love playing with the camera. So, it's always a surprise and a delight to see what's on there from them. This is the latest batch.

Alison was very happy when Blood of Olympus came out.

They're adorable.

Haunted Candy Houses

I don't know if we were really planning on getting out the stuff to do candy houses this week, but Elder Talaenuga called saying he was being transferred and could they come by to say good bye? Of course, but first, we want to rope you into our traditions!

I made one before bugging off to yoga...

And then the rest of them took over and made a ginormous mess.

Isn't that the point, though?

The finished products. Except for Elder T's. He decided to take his home and eat it.

And saying goodbye. They were a fun pair to have.

Roadshow!

Last weekend was the Roadshow performance. After all the work I put in as a pseudo-director (I directed by committee... it got pretty loud at times as everyone was shouting out suggestions), I was a bit sad to miss it. But, they seemed to have a good time, and for the most part (there was only one real snafu, when Alison's line as Dory the fish got skipped over), everything went smoothly.

In the Green Room beforehand:

Playing games with The Boy Who Called Wolf and Pinocchio

Kristen was mostly our lights person, but she had a small part as Belle,

Alison, one of Cinderella's Stepsisters, getting makeup.

Maleficent and Gandalf.

Maleficent and Hades. Don't ask.

Russell and the girls in full costume/makeup

And the show... (This is the version without Dory. Oh, well.)

Grease

We went and saw it last night. It's still a horrible musical with some terrible messages (even Kristen picked up on it: "This is BAD. Why should you change yourself just to get a boy to LIKE you?") BUT Caitlyn (and the rest of the cast) did a fantastic job. No videos because of copyright stuff, and no pictures from the performance, but we snapped a couple of us before (we dressed up to get $1 off admission)

and Caitlyn after.

Her basic costume. She decided her character (she was in the chorus) was that of the awkward bookish girl. During the dance scene, she and her partner really did up the whole awkward bit. (Which wasn't hard, she said; she really didn't get along with him at all.)

I meant for this to come out better....

And Caitlyn took selfies with her friends backstage:

It was a fantastic experience. And auditions for the next show (a series of one-act plays) start on Tuesday.

When Dad Takes the Girls Camping

So, Russell has missed having the daddy-daughter campout these last few years, and decided this year to bring it back. It was a bit nippy this weekend -- it got down into the upper 30s -- but dang it, girls are tough and can camp in cool weather, too.

They had all the important things:

Bonfires

(but not appropriate footwear.)

S'mores:

(but not thick jackets)

Nature

Goofy adults...

.... who tell funny (and sometimes scary) stories

Friends

and pocketknives to carve names in an old log.

They haven't stopped talking about it since they got back. I'm glad Russell gave them the opportunity to do this.

Third Grade at Cowtown

Friday, Cowtown had an education day, and the third grade got to go down and experience it. And because it was a Friday, I signed up to chaperone. It was a lovely day, and it was quite nice going around when it was not freezing and not crowded. We hit all our favorite spots (since in our group we were the only ones who'd been there before), and tried out a couple of new things. Kristen especially liked the games they had set up.

It was a lot of fun!