Sweet Sixteen

Sarah is about to turn 16. Tomorrow is the day! To begin the celebration, last Friday we had a party with friends from school. The party started out at the city ice skating rink. In years past, our family has skated on this rink and it was pretty fun. Not perfect ice but it worked. However at Sarah's party, the ice was chipped, cracked, bumpy and soft. Very different from what one would imagine at an ice rink. The party goers were good sports and made the best of a failed ice skating attempt. When that portion of the party ended, the girls came to our home for hot chocolate, sweet rolls, mexi-dip and fruit dip. They also played fun games. Sarah was happy with the end result and said it ranked as one of her favorite birthday parties.

Other activities during the week:

Dave and I helped with mock Jr. Miss interviews. These interviews give the girls experience in answering questions about themselves, current events, opinions, goals etc. in a practice setting. It was fun learning about the girls that will be competing, and finding out how teenage girls respond to an assortment of questions.

Saturday, I accompanied students applying for music scholarships at BYU-I. It ended up being an easy job. I just accompanied 3 students with pieces that were fairly easy. Doing this sort of accompanying is a bit stressful because I only get about 15 minutes to rehearse. So I generally hope for easy music or something I have already played. If that is not the case, then I just pray that I don't mess them up in a significant way.

On Saturday night, Dave brought a group of youth from the stake to fulfill an assignment given by the temple These youth serve on committees that assist in planning activities such as youth conference. So along with bringing these youth, the leaders also brought along their own children which for Dave included Sarah and Catherine. Dave was assigned to do confirmations. As things were wrapping up, Sarah was the last proxy to be confirmed. Dave said the very last confirmation of the night performed through Sarah was performed for a girl named Sarah. This Sarah had no last name and was spelled just like Sarah's name. Dave thought that moment was very special. Catherine mentioned that she was confirmed for a "Julie Anne" and a "Sara Jane." Pretty unique.

On Saturday night, Kirsten and I attended a high school play. It was "Noises Off." It was edited for our high school audience. It was extremely funny and I would recommend it to be seen but I think the editing that occurred was fairly extensive and most play directors would probably not edit it to the extent that Madison High School did. Apparently lots of swearing and innuendos in the unedited version.

While we were all out on doing our activities on Saturday night, Spencer babysat for the first official long time. He and Matthew watched Bob the Builder and White Fang to keep themselves entertained. Spencer did a fine job of keeping order in the house.

Tonight Camille is speaking at a stake Relief Society meeting at BYU-I. The girls and I are planning on attending to support her in this moment.

Looking forward to this upcoming week. It is a birthday week. Sarah turns 16 and Dave 45. Can't believe it.