Dance Festival

Tyaan was involved in a church dance festival last weekend. It included 12 stakes in Southern California and about 3000 youth from 12-18. She has been going to practices for several months and has put in a lot of time and long days into preparing. Our stake wasn't involved because they did the trek instead, but Upland Stake did it and Tyaan joined with them. (That is where Jon's parents live, and is the ward we were in for a few years)

This is Tyaan with her dance partner, Alex.


It turned out really well. It was unbelievable to see how many youth they got together for this event. On Saturday before the festival started Pres. Monson's daughter came and spoke to all of them. Tyaan said it was really good.



Here are a couple quick videos I got with my digital camera. It isn't very good quality but gives a little bit of an idea of what it was like. We were sitting down low in the stands so we had a good view of Tyaan dancing, but couldn't get a good shot of how many kids were on the field. They made a flag at the end using the different colored shirts they were wearing. Tyaan was in blue at the other corner of the field.

The first shot isn't even half of the kids. They didn't even get all of them out in time to do the opening routine. Tyaan's group, along with a lot of others didn't get out in time. This is mostly just beehives and a partial of the Mia Maids and Teachers.

Then there is a minute of Tyaan's dance. They did a waltz to Disney songs. We are supposed to get a DVD of the whole thing which will be a lot of fun to watch. Tyaan's group knew the dance really well so they were put up front and were on camera and up on the big screen during their performance.

Tyaan's Party

We had a party for Tyaan's 17th birthday yesterday. (Her birthday is actually tomorrow, the 23rd) It turned out really well and she had a good time.


She wanted a chocolate cake, so that's what she got. She got all 17 candles out at once, also!


I had tables and chairs out with some candy, bubbles, and paper blowers. They looked cute, and after eating it was great to sit and snack on the sweets. Jon cooked hamburgers and hot dogs on the barbeque and made homemade salsa. Everything was really good.


We also had a jumper, which was the first thing on her list of what she wanted. It was where she spent most of her time. It certainly got used!




We also had Rock Band set up out on the patio. It worked out really well. They'd come play when they needed a breather from the jumper.


We had a lot of fun. We had some friends there that we hadn't seen for a while which was great. And we had several others stop by and had a great time visiting with all of them. We stayed up too late and there's still clean up to be done, but it was worth it!

Malibu with the Haslams

Jon's family all got together this weekend in Malibu. I had never been to Malibu before so it was interesting to drive through it. It wasn't what I expected, but I guess you have to go behind the gates to get to all of the million dollar houses that the famous people live in. :-) Jon had worked in the area while doing air conditioning/heating a few years ago so he got to point out some of the places he had gone to.

This is a picture of us in front of the house we stayed in. It was a nice house with a great view of the ocean. We didn't get there soon enough to make it to the beach, but we got to visit, have dinner, play Rock Band, and spend a night. It was fun to have everyone together since they all live in different areas these days.

This is a picture of Rachel and Andrew with their Uncle Jon, who they obviously love. Jon really enjoys getting to see them.



I took this picture of Tyaan on the drive home. She's such a pretty girl, isn't she?

Tyaan's Picnic Date

Tyaan had a date last Friday night and borrowed my camera so I got a hold of a few pictures. I thought this one was cute. They had a picnic and played a game with another couple. Her and Kenny (her date) then came to our house and played Rockband. She said it was fun.

Hope she doesn't mind me sharing... If so - Sorry baby! :-)

A Visit from some Andersons!

My Uncle Norman (one of my moms younger brothers) and his family stopped by last Sunday to visit with us. They came to SoCal to visit Disneyland and Universal Studios. It was a lot of fun to see them, even though seeing how grown up his kids are makes me feel really old!

Jon's Birthday

Jon's birthday was Tuesday, July 15th. His mom and dad stopped by with a cute cake for him and sang Happy Birthday.


Then our good friends, the Withers, came over and helped us celebrate some more. Jon wasn't very happy that we put all 35 candles on the cake.



It was a fun night and we stayed up too late. But birthdays are fun to celebrate, especially ones for those that are most important to us.

Happy Birthday Jon!!! We love you!

The Trek

Tyaan came home safely from our stake youth handcart trek. It was a great experience and it sounds like she had a really good time.

On the first day it was very hot and they went about 6 1/2 miles. It was the furthest distance they covered in 1 day. There were 7 handcarts total and about 10-12 youth per 'family' along with a ma & pa. There were also several other leaders that went to help.


Here is Russell and Ty ready to get going again. I had several people tell me that they were 2 of the strongest trekkers. They actually won an award for "super trekkers" on the first day.




One morning all of the men and young men were taken for a 'meeting' and ended up walking ahead, leaving the girls alone to pick up camp and get the handcarts going. They went for a while on a downhill slope, but as they turned a corner there was a steep hill. The young men were waiting at the top of the hill but the stake president drew a line that they weren't able to cross and couldn't touch the handcart until it had gone further than that. It was apparently hard for the boys to watch all of the girls get those handcarts up that hill so they prayed, sang and encouraged them. The girls all worked together to get each handcart up. Tyaan helped with all 7 handcarts, and had to convince her ma that she could go back for the last one. She's a strong girl and I had dozens of people approach me to tell me how hard she worked, how much she impressed them, what a great leader she is, and even that she always had a smile on her face. What a girl!


One of the handcarts going up. Notice the guys along the side giving encouragement.


Tyaan and a few of her 'brothers'

There's that smile!


The last day they climbed Testimony Hill. It is long, uphill, and in many places extremely steep. It took a lot of endurance, and teamwork to get all the handcarts to the top. Jon and I had the opportunity to drive down and back up this hill with one of the leaders that had a rhino (4 seater, 4x4 vehicle) and I was stunned at how long this hill was. I pictured one big hill, but it was a long, windy, up and down (mostly up) dirt path. I am so impressed with these youth.



Once they reached the top of the hill they would head back down to help the next handcart come up. From where we were waiting at the end of the trek we could see the top of the hill. We saw the first handcart make it to the top and waited about 45 minutes before they had gotten them all there. Tyaan said that the whole way up the hill they didn't know how much further until the first handcart got to the top and could see us all down below. She said the message got passed all they way down that they were almost there and they were able to work together to get the last of the trek done.



Once all 7 hancarts were at the top of Testimony Hill it was a short downhill section to where we were all waiting to bring them in. This is Tyaan's group, who was first in line, coming in. They were all singing Come Come ye Saints and looked very happy to be 'home'.



She's finally back. We really missed her but are so glad that she got such a great opportunity. She always does good, and impresses us. We love her and are always so proud of her.