Homecoming 2014!

Since Landon turned 16 back in August (which I still haven't blogged about) he was able to go to Homecoming. I began asking him questions about this as soon as school started, (i.e., who are you going to ask?, how are you going to ask her?, who do you think will be in your group? etc.).

Finally on September 1 when we were together at Pizza Factory for dinner (and him cornered) we got him to say who he wanted to ask to Homecoming. This felt like a big deal and meant that we could move on to the next phase which was coming up with a clever way to ask her. We discussed several ideas and then brainstormed about things they had in common or that she likes, and he mentioned that she's way into the BBC show Sherlock. Randy and I rewatched an episode that night (we like that show too) to freshen our memories and came up with a fun idea.

Fast forward 3 days later when it suddenly became urgent to actually follow through and make this invite happen (he texted me from football and asked me and Whitney to put the tiny papers in the pills so he could drop it off when he got home around 9:45). Five of the pills had blank papers in them and one had his name on it, he came up with the "Holmes-coming" which I thought was pretty cute.

This is how it looked when he left it on her porch. The tag on the box says "The Game is On" which is a Sherlockism.

Her response was some stuff tweaked from Sherlock as well so it was pretty cool.

The ticket.

The $20 corsage.

Landon wasn't super keen when I initially offered to take pictures of their group, but I reminded him that every body seems to do a full on photo shoot for dances...I said I'd be on standby in case he didn't get a better offer.

It was fun seeing them all in action, they're so cute.

Landon's cute date Ashley is from our ward.

This is one of their silly shots.

The boys.

I don't even know how this strange shot came about.

How adorable are those yellow boots?! 

I don't think he started the date expecting to do this.

Isn't the beaded bracelet corsage cute?

Landon and Parker have been friends since they were little (maybe age 7).

I love their friendship.

One last shot.

What Life Looks Like These Days

Landon is a big 9th grader this year and is more social than in years past (he now has a Facebook account--I finally caved). He has always been good at stopping by the office at lunch time to give me a hug and say "hi", but this year he has forgotten a couple times...ouch!

We've been having some weird weather lately but it has produced some pretty evenings.

 

Whitney has decided to play the flute as part of Elementary Band! This means on Tuesdays and Thursdays I leave work at 3:30 in order to pick her up at school only to bring her back to the junior high! Aargh! We're giving her one semester to show us she's commited (i.e., will practice) otherwise she'll have to quit in December (remember we did this runaround with viola last year and it was awful). 

During the first day of band last week I went and got some frozen yogurt (I had a coupon) and read my book in the car, it wasn't too bad but I can't get yogurt 2 times a week or I'll have to get another job! The really maddening thing about the yogurt run was that I'd planned to hang out in the yogurt place to read, but ended up fleeing because there were some super obnoxious junior high kids (not from our school) dominating the place with their noise. The acoustics are so bad in there that it was painfully loud; I commiserated with the teenager working there (he wasn't keen on the kids either).

Landon's 2nd football game was last Saturday, here he is on the ground making a tackle, woohoo! It's amazing how much football has become part of our lives. He has practice from 6-8 Monday-Friday and then games on Saturday, this is a whole new world for us.

Whitney has decided to run for student council! The school requires 8 hours of service (4 at school and 4 outside of school) just to apply! I'm impressed with this and truly amazed Whitney is willing to do this. She came home Thursday afternoon and got busy picking up trash along the street for 45 minutes, then helped Randy with a car repair for 15. She also spent 2 hours helping Lori pack (she bought her first place and is moving soon) yesterday and has been going early to school and staying late as well. Who is this girl?!

Last Friday was Landon's first ever school dance! I took him back to the junior high after football practice (making my 3rd trip to the school for the day) and gave him a head start before going in to take pictures of the kids (for school bulletin board purposes). He got lost in the crowd, but lots of the other kids came running over to me to take their pictures. It was so fun! It kind of made me want to volunteer to chaperone next time except that then I'd have to be hot and sweaty and stay for a long time. My 10 minute visit was fun enough...oh those were the days weren't they?!

Whitney's Dance Recital

Whitney started taking dance last Fall from the same teacher I go to. She was part of a fun jazz/tap combo class with a few girls and one boy.

I had never seen her dance so the recital was her big debut!

The tap dance was a cute military theme.

She did great, though she looked rather serious.

Cute attitude at the end.

She also had a big speaking part as one of the 5 narrations between numbers, she had it memorized and did it perfectly.

Her 2nd dance was a jazz dance to "Footloose".

Oh the 80's look!

The big bow at the end of the whole show.

When did she get to be one of the big kids?!

My mom, Randy, Landon and I all went to Orange Leaf to celebrate.

Parking lot hug.