Jessica's Senior Prom

One of the many "lasts" that Jessica experienced during her senior year was her Prom on Saturday.  Laura, Suzanne, Terri, Ashlee and Meaghan were all here to help her look her prettiest. 

They also did Meaghan's make up. 

Most of the family was here to send her off; hovering in the kitchen, peeking around the corner when her date came.  They had been warned not to make a "spectacle" of themselves.  I am lucky that I get to pin the boutineer on; I can get an up close look at the guy she's going with.  His name is Morgan and Jessica was thrilled to go with him.

This is the dress from "la garment" district.

Like Mother Like Daughter

Mine is the left foot and Jessica's is the right.

Hmmmm....wonder why I wear a 6 and she wears a 7?

Does anyone think she and I look alike?  I am thinking of entering us into the

Idaho statesman's mom & daughter look alike contest.  I'll find some pictures and you

can tell me what you think.

Getting the Dress

The reason we went to the L.A. garment district was to get Jessica a prom dress.  We went to the streets that had multiple prom dresses and it felt like a smorgesboard.  We were surprised that there were some modest dresses there; when I say some, I mean maybe 2%. 

We had a full three hours there; we had to leave for the airport by 4:00.  The hardest part for me was walking past all the stores I wanted to go into. 

And the purses.....guys on the street saying in a low voice, "you like Louis Vitton?  Over here I have discount for you."

Finally after two hours we had narrowed it down to two dresses.  One was at a shop owned by some Indian people.  I asked for a discount on the dress.  He said no and I started to leave. 
"Okay, for you I give the price on the dress."
"Thank you; we are going across the street to try on the other one she likes to make a final decision." 
"No, you like price on dress, you get it now".  So basically I had to stay with the dress while Gordon went with Jessica to try the other one on. 

I passed the time by putting various jewlery pieces with it and trying to get them down on the price.  The jewlery lady was not compromising, "No, lady!  Dhis is de price!"  really loud so that all the people looked. 
I finally settled on a lead crystal navy blue chandalier necklace for me. 
Then my phone rang and it was Gordon telling me that they decided to get the other dress.
Now for my escape....I walked to the front of the store by the jewlery and when the guy turned around, I darted out the door.

We had a few minutes left to shop the other stores and we got Jessica some great jeans for $20 each.  I wish we had two more days to comb through all of the shops.  It was definitely an event that I would like to recreate.  But I think it's important to have a male figure with you when you go there. 

The best part? That Jessica has a dad who will shop till he drops for her.

Adventures in LA

I wish I could say we spent all of our time at the beach while in LA but there were so many things to do;
one of which was find a PROM dress.  Jessica got word while at the competition that she was being asked to the Prom by a guy she really wanted to go with. "We're going all out on this dress!" was her tagline.  Whatever we do, it is her tagline, "We're going all out on this".  It needs to go on the shirt, for sure.

We looked around a really swanky mall for an afternoon with no luck and then a friend that had family in Cali texted Jessica about a place called "la garment district". Jessica then proceeded to tell Gordon and I about it. 

"Is is French", I wondered aloud?
"I don't know, but it's in downtown LA in a seedy area."
"Doesn't sound French".
Then Gordon piped in, "Could it be the L.A. Garment district?" 
Silence.
Laughter. 
It needs to go on the shirt for sure.

L.A. Garment district is like the mouth of the stream.  Blocks and blocks of storefronts open to the street for retail and wholesale purchases.  Everything from prom dresses & suits to shoes, candy and toys.  And I mean everything.  $100 jeans here were just $10 and $20 there.  (We got Jessica two pair - wish we had gotten three).  It would take three to four days to feel like you saw most of it.  It is Canal Street in New York times a bajillion.

Did we find the prom dress?  Yes, eventually.  But that is a story in itself and I'll post it next time.
I love "la garment district".

I'm just wondering...

My internet feed says I get upward of 60 hits per day.  I wonder about that, though, based on the comments section.  If this picture doesn't garner any, then I think I must be getting hits from the crazy key words I use.

Darling or what?

My Favorite

Go HERE for my favorite American Idol Performance  I loved this!  Jessica teases me because I always like the long haired guys, but hey - there's no arguing this.

I imagaine a different ending for the song but he didn't check with me for my opinion.

Spring, are you coming?

Since we got back from California, it has been positively cold, rainy and snowy here in Boise.  Today, however...it is sunny.  Yes.   I love the sun.  But fooled, I walked outside this morning to get the paper and WHAM - I was hit with a blast of arctic cold air.  But that's okay - sunshine makes a lot of things bearable.

We had a wonderful Easter Sunday with the family.  I told Jessica that she had to come and do eggs with me, since this is her last Easter at home (guilt works, you know).  We even put glitter on the eggs - that's about as crafty as we get!  

Laura made a Dinosaur cake for our celebration of Cam & Eli's birthdays. I love her - she is so much fun.

Sunday dinner - as I look at the picture now, everyone seems real excited, don't they?  Gordon must be pontificating.

Cam & Eli looking for eggs. 

Jessica's Senior Sweet Liberty Nationals

March 24-31 found us in Anaheim, CA. again for USA Dance Nationals.  The team had qualified for the championship division in Kick and Military.  Prop was in the open division; we missed qualifying by .40 in Las Vegas and just couldn't get the Idaho judges to buy into the routine. 

Kick and Military both got into the finals on Saturday night.  There were only two teams in each of these categories that made it into the finals.  It was a great show with so much talent.  It is so fun to be there and it was so fun to see Gordon really get into it.  The caliber of dance at that level is so good and fun to watch that it's not hard to have fun. 

The team we competed against in Military had some similar music and (I thought) some similar choreography.  They went first and then it was our turn.  It was about as perfect as they have ever performed it, with a couple of minor glitches.  They won the national title!  Not only that, they won the sweepstakes trophy for highest military score overall (small, medium and large militarys).  Kick came in second.  As I mentioned before, the prop routine from the open division received the Judges Award of Excellence and Best Choreography along with an invitation to perform it at the finals.

So all in all, the girls came home with seven trophies.  It has been so much fun to experience this with Jessica on this level.  What a great way to cap her senior year; it couldn't have gone better.  We are so proud of her.

Right before Jessica went in to perform her solo, we ran into Kerrington from "So You Think You Can Dance" and the movie, "Fame".

Words to live by

LDS General Conference has been awesome so far.  Two of my favorite quotes from the Saturday session:

"Peace, hope and joy are available to those who measure succes properly."  Julie B. Beck

"What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say."  Ralph Waldo Emerson

And...the overwhelming message that Christ our Savior achieved Victory over the grave. 
And we will too, thanks to Him.

Hotel California

The past three years for Dance Nationals, we have stayed at the Sheridan Hotel, just down Harbor Blvd. from Disneyland and just a hop, skip and jump from the Anaheim convention center.  You can walk anywhere you want and it is such a nice hotel with a great pool area and ambience.  There are plenty of gathering places for the team and I just love it. 

Because we were staying three extra nights this year, I decided that I would book us a hotel down the road at one I had seen the previous year that I found through priceline for half the price.  So, with Sunday night approaching, we drove past it.

Suddenly didn't look nearly as good as I had remembered and the pictures online had really made things look much better than they were.  I slyly got online back at the Sheridan to see if I could cancel the other reservation.  Yes, but with a whopper of a cancellation fee because I booked through Priceline.  (I don't think I will use them again for this reason.)  I decided that I would just have to leave the comfort of the Sheridan for this new one.  So, we checked out and headed down to the other hotel.  We couldn't check in yet, but we needed to change out of our church clothes.  Prepared to eat the cancellation fee,  I asked the man in the office if we could cancel our reservations.  Well, if you had cancelled yesterday (when I first wanted to) you could have, but now the rooms are paid for and you're committed.  (I was about to be committed!)  He offered us a bathroom to change in.  As I walked in, it smelled like a cross between stale bread and really old mold mixed with damp dust that has been around a minimum of 5 years.  It was disgusting. I didn't end up eating anything that day until about 3:30 and I think this is why. (couldn't have been a cumulation of  all I had been eating that week.....)

"Let's walk down and check out a couple of the rooms and the pool", Gordon suggested, trying to gingerly handle the situation.  The pool looked nice and blue but when we got close, there was dirt settled on the bottom in little colonies.  The hot tub was worse.  On our way to look at the rooms, I thought to myself, "I can stay here if the rooms are clean, and I'll just have to suck it up".  We came to the first room; same smell as the bathroom we changed in.  Second, third and so on. 

I told the guy at the office that his rooms stunk.  He looked puzzled.  Must have been the Indian food reeking from the small kitchen area behind the office. 

We got in the car and I was near tears wondering what we could do and feeling like a spoiled little brat.  My head was aching and I was feeling beside myself.   I don't do smells. 

We went back to the Sheridan and I got online and on the phone to Priceline to their customer service.  I told them about my tour of the hotel they had fixed me up with and told them that it was dirty and smelly.  Long story short, after waiting 10 minutes on the phone, they cancelled the reservation and refunded all of our money.  The key words I gave them, I believe, were dirty and smelly.  I was so relieved and happy the rest of the day; it was the best day of the whole trip. (that, and the picture below of me in my Happy Place).

The bonus:  Gordon scored us three more nights at the Sheridan for a significantly reduced price than we had been paying because it was Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

At this rate, I am hesitant to book our cruise.  I mean, I don't have the greatest track record with these things.  I have Champagne taste on a beer ability.

Our Beautiful Dancer

No text needed here. (Posted at 4:25 p.m.)

On second thought (posted 4:38 p.m., this is our favorite all time dance picture of Jessica. So much so that we paid a fortune for it at the competition! It does capture one of our favorite routines of the season, although we couldn’t score a first with it in Idaho.

 The Nationals judges recognized it for what it is and gave it the “Judges Award of Excellence” and best choreography in all the open division  (approx. 120 dances).  I'm being openly snarky when I say that we couldn’t get it into championship, thanks again to the Idaho judges. They were invited to perform it at the championship show Saturday night, where they won the military national championship.  It was such an honor for them to be singled out that way.
More pictures of Nationals and our trip coming soon.