Dance Tour 2015; Branson, MO

After a year in the making, saving money, and dancing their guts out we are OFF!!

 

Branson, MO HERE WE COME!

We headed to Salt Lake on June 15th.  We spent the night there and EARLY the morning of the 16th headed to the airport.  We traveled ALLLL DAY!! Once we got to Kansas City we had a 4 hour drive to Branson.  The first part was ok....other than their 55 mph speed limit! We go 80 mph in Idaho so going 55 killed me!! The second half of the drive once it got dark got a little scary.  We got hit by a torrential down pour on streets we didn't know.  I was driving and I couldn't see ANYTHING! It was so scary! We were soooo glad to finally pull into the Dutton Inn late that night.

June 16 we started the morning with a Duck Tour.  So Fun! These funny little buses drove us around town and then drove down INTO THE WATER!! Crazy!!

(Cute little Great Grandpa and Grandma Romrell drove out to Branson to spend the week with us! What incredible Great Grandparents my kids have! They will always remember them being there to support them!)

And we all had to sport duck lips! hahaha!

We were also lucky enough to get Santa Claus as our tour guide.  Christmas music and everything!

I missed the big splash as we drove into the water.  Darn it! This is the best I got.

They let the girls all take turns being Captain on the water.  Captain Oakley and Captain Laiklie.

Oakley and Macady were on a different duck tour than we were.  Just the way these two teenagers like it.:)

Then we had free time and we chose to go to The Castle of Chaos, Maze of Mirrors and the Wax Museum.  We loved them all!

Castle of Chaos was a 3D show.  We were all given pistols and told to shoot the bugs and zombies.  Our chairs would spin through the theater and when the bats would fly at us they would shoot air on our necks to freak us out!! It worked!! Crazy fun!

The Maze of Mirrors was fun too.  You seriously couldn't tell what was a mirror and what was a hall way.  It was so fun we did it twice. Then to the wax museum.  They had this guy sitting right inside the front door and as soon as Oakley saw him she said, "I wanna sit by him, I wanna sit by him!!" Then she sits down and points at him and says, "I don't even know who this guy is!" We laughed and laughed! Funny girl!

The girls LOVED the wax museum and wanted pictures with EVERYONE!

We also found some free time to shop in one of the little plazas.

Then off to do a pre-show for The Duttons! They were our FAVORITE!! We loved their kindness and hospitality and their show was INCREDIBLE!

Our pre-show was pretty awesome too! Oakley on the far right and Laiklie on the far left.  These girls danced so well and did their costume changes in record time and the show they put on for 3 nights in a row had me in tears during the finale each time!

After the Duttons we did pictures (Julio....hilarious!) and ice cream.

June 17 we were suppose to do Silver Dollar City but Branson was hit with horrible rainstorms the week we were there (the humidity was awful!) so they put us on the Show Boat instead.  Still fun!

The whole Instep Clogging Crew!

Lunch on the show boat was amazing! The girls didn't know what to do with so many courses in a meal. :)

The show on the Show Boat wasn't our favorite.  It wasn't bad, but after the Duttons the night before it didn't even compare.  This is the fiddler hanging from the ceiling though.  There was also a very funny ventriloquist and an okay magician.

Once the show boat got out onto the water it was fun to walk out and look around.  It was a HUGE boat!

That night we opened for The Hughes Brothers.  Loved them too!! It was my night to be one of the backstage moms and just before we were suppose to go on we had a girl backstage with a really bad sprained ankle and all of a sudden she started to seizure.  I guess she seizures a lot, but those of us backstage had no idea.  I ran for her mom and our dance instructors husband for a priesthood blessing and one of the Hughes Brothers that was getting ready for the show ran upstairs for oil to help in the blessing.  What a neat experience.  Here we are 1/2 way across the country with people we don't know, but the priesthood is the same here as it is there and he jumped right into help.  It was a very powerful blessing and right in the middle of it her 10 minute seizure completely stopped.  I cried, the other moms cried.  It was such a neat experience. 

Then right off to doing the preshow with the audience completely unaware of the miracle that had just taken place back stage. So blessed to have witnessed it!

One of the things the girls LOVED about the Hughes Brothers was their incredibly cute teenage sons that were performers in the show.  They LOVED the meet and greet after the show too.

When we got back to the hotel Oakley said, "Mom send me that picture of me with Jacob so I can hurry and crop Ciara out!" Bahahahaha!! So funny!

On the 18th we slept in (we needed it!) then we were off to the water park.  It was a rainy, muggy day, but still warm enough to swim and the girls had a great time.

Look at the joy on that little face!

That night we pre-showed and watched an acapella group named Six.  They had INCREDIBLE talent, but it was our least favorite show...still so good though.  We walked down for frozen custard and go carts about 10:30 that night and those were great!

On the last day, the 19th, we started the day with an Eastern Clogging Competition.  Interesting. Great to see how they do it there.  But....we all decided we won't do that again when we go next time.  As hard as it was sitting through a competition knowing there was a whole town to explore Oakley did AMAZING on her individual events and came home with SEVERAL awards. She got 3rd out of ALL the freestyle girls, and she got 2 firsts on her 2 duets and her and Brooklyn took OVERALL GRAND CHAMPIONS of all the duets of the entire day.  Our studio ROCKED Branson's dance competition!! It was such a big self-esteem boost for Oakley to see that she can get up on any stage and come home as one of the top dancers.  She rocks our western competitions....and apparently eastern ones too.  So proud of her!

 

We skipped out on the competition before Laiklie did her duet....we were all burned out! (she did great in her team dances though) and before Oakley's acappella and headed to Silver Dollar City.  It was our last day in Branson and we wanted to see all that we could before we had to go home.  The Harlem Globe Trotters were preforming at Silver Dollar City so we got to see their 1/2 hour show.  Pretty good.  Not as good as we were hoping.

We also made it on a few rollercoasters.  Right as we were running out of time we got in line for one last rollercoaster.  Laiklie asked if it went upside down.....I could see that it had atleast one upside down loop, but told her "I didn't think so." (I know that is lying! But I knew we didn't have time for any other rides!) So just as we were getting on it she saw the loop....I talked her into going and what do you know, that dumb rollercoaster went upside down FIVE times!! Poor little girl! She giggled all the way through and kept yelling, "I'm doing it mom, I'm doing it!!" Oh I love her!

That night we didn't pre-show, we just got to go to a show.  It was the Haygoods show and it was SO MUCH FUN!! Very similar to a concert! SOOO GOOD! We loved it! One of the things I LOVED about Branson is how family friendly it was.  The first 2 shows we did were LDS families.  The other 2 shows were just all around great people.  You didn't have to worry about the music or what they might say or wear.  It was all very appropriate and I LOVED that!! I would take my family back in a second!

Sunday we headed home! After a long week we were sad to leave but excited to go home to tell everyone about our experiences.

We had a delay in Denver which put us into Salt Lake at about 11 pm.  Dallin left the next morning at 7 am for Scout Camp so there was NO WAY I wasn't driving home Sunday night so I could see my boy for even just a few minutes before he left.  It was so hard to stay awake....but we finally made it home about 2:30 am.  It was so nice to climb into our own beds and love on my boys the next morning! What an incredible FIRST Dance Tour!! Hoping for many more in the future!

Rhett

The week after school got out Rhett and his best friend Raegan decided they wanted to do a jump rope camp together.  It was 3 days of fun learning some cool tricks with their jump ropes.  They loved it and they loved being together!

 On June 12, Rhett's scout group hiked to Lower Palisades Lake in Irwin.  It was a LONG (8 mile) hike, but these 10 year olds did AMAZING! We were all hurting, especially our feet, by the end but all had a great time together!

 Mark, Jackson, Rhett and Koah

What troopers! So proud of them that they made it to the lake and back again!

What a Joke!

Sometimes when Ryan and Dale need an extra hand I become "that" extra hand! I have done some crazy things with these two.  I usually love every minute of it.  This day.....not so much! 

Stan was sending these two to treat the lake at the ranch for the moss.  They thought they would go up, fire-up Dales old little motor boat, hurry and treat the lake and come right back home.  The kids were in their last week at school so I headed up to help.  When we got there Dale's boat was full of rain water from sitting outside.  And not only was it full....it was the NASTIEST WATER EVER!! There were some mice that had made a nest in the boat at some point so this water was full of that PLUS stunk like NOTHING ELSE!! It took us 15 minutes just to drain the boat, then another 30 to fix the two popped tires on the boat. Then we had to put it on the charger for a good 30 minutes because the battery was dead.  Once we finally got to the lake the place we had to put the boat in was SOOOO MUDDY Dale's truck about sunk and we were worried it wouldn't make it back out pulling the boat. We finally got in the water and had a system where Dale drove, Ryan spread the moss killer and I kept his bucket of moss killer full.  The moss killer is nasty and can make you sick if you don't wear a mask.  It started out pretty good....till the boat DIED! So Dale and I ended up rowing Ryan all over the lake in this big heavy boat so he could spread this chemical that kept getting all over all of us while riding in the stinkiest boat EVER! We survived and we were able to pull out of the lake in the super slick mud even.  What a crazy day with these two!! I sure love the time I get to spend with them! Most of those times are ones I will NEVER forget! :)

Floating the Canal

One Saturday just before school got out Ryan came in late afternoon and started to change from his work boots to his tennis shoes and announces to the kids, "Put your shoes on if you want to go kayaking with me!" WHAT??!! That is TOTALLY NOT Ryan! He had only been on the kayak once even! The kids immediately started getting their shoes on. We thought he was taking us to the cabin, but when we got outside he was loading the kayaks on the flatbed truck to float the canal! They had let a bunch of water out of it because of how much rain we had gotten and so it was shallow enough to even kayak under the bridges.

 The three big kids are off! Scary!

 This little girl went too.  We had forgot their life jackets at the house but decided since we could see the bottom that they would be ok.  Just after Laiklie went under this bridge she got pulled to the side where a branch caught the under side of her kayak and flipped it.  When it flipped it she went under.  It was cold and scary! Luckily I was there on the bridge watching it all.  I had to yell SEVERAL times to "just stand up!" She was in such a panic she didn't realize she could touch.  Poor thing! It was the last time she got in the canal for the day! I don't blame her!

 

 We even talked this big guy, Uncle Dale, into climbing out of the swather and trying it out.  So fun! He kept racing the kids! He also helped rescue the shovel that Ryan lost when he was trying to use it as a paddle. Hahahaha!

What a fun time! Ryan is a great dad and this was a great surprise.  We floated it 3 times in a row that evening and other than Laiklie falling in and Ryan falling in (it was his own fault BAHAHAHAHAHA!!) we had a blast!

Cows, Ugh!

This year Ryan and Dale decided to AI the 140 heifers we had between us and Stan instead of spending the money to buy bulls.  It ended up being a long process of heat checking, AI'ing, chasing cows and running them through the chute a million times. We learned pretty quickly we didn't get to choose when it was time to AI and sometimes it was cold, miserable weather....and other times it was hot miserable weather.  Either way I was so grateful to see the tail lights of the semi as it hauled the heifers off to the ranch for the summer!

 This is Ryan out in the POURING RAIN on one of the days we had to run them through the chute to AI.

There were several days he enlisted the help of the kids and on one such day by the time I got to the porch to put on my muck boots all pairs my size were gone.  My kids are getting too close to my size!! So I hurried and threw on my cowboy boots thinking the ones wearing the muck boots would be the ones in the poop. 

 I was wrong. When cows decide to fight, as heifers do so often, they scare the kids.  I don't blame them, they scare me too.  I was the lucky one that got to dart infront of a couple heifers that were being a pain and I ended up right in the nasty! It was about as thick and slick as it could be. 

 You might notice I only have on one sock in my boot. Yep, my boot on the other foot got stuck in the crap and my foot flew out and landed right in the same crap. YUCK! So my sock had to be stuck in my pocket and bare foot in the boot.  Nasty! Good thing I like helping Ryan with this kinda stuff!!

 I also got the crappy seat this day! I was next to the chute when Laiklie yelled, "Mom, that cow is farting and pooping at the same time!" just then it also swung it's tail through it and I ended up covered! So gross!

You can see my sock in my pocket. What a crazy few days! Darn cows!

Memorial Day 2015

We did our usual visit to the cemeteries Memorial Day morning.  This year it was a little different because it was the first time visiting my Grandpa Jacobson's grave.  It is hard to lose grandparents....even when your 35 years old. Then we went to my Aunt LaNae's for the usual family picnic.  I LOVE memorial day.  I get to see a lot of my cousins and their kids and it is always fun to visit and let the kids play. Such a nice day!

 Dallin going in for a lay-up.

 They pulled out the high jump bar again this year.  My aunt has had this since I was little and we loved it then and they love it now! It is always a crowd pleaser! Rhett can JUMP! He was REALLY good at this!

 Laiklie has some incredible jumping skills too.  I was surprised at how long she lasted as they raised the bar.

Dallin and Oakley on the other hand struggled a little bit. Hahahaha! It is amazing to see the differences in all 4 of my kids.  They are all given different talents and abilities and it is fun to see them all be good at different things!

 Then of course I forgot my cell phone and had to have my sister bring it...so I got several super fun selfies of her and these kids! :) Love it! What a great day!

End of the School Year! YAY!!

We had all sorts of fun things happening at the end of the school year.  Field trips and programs and parties!

 Rhett was in 4th grade this year so he learned all about Idaho History and a lot of other historical things.  His field trip was to a place that showed them life in the olden days.  So cool.  It had a general store, a old school house, an indian pueblo and a place to pan for gold even.  They had a great time even though it was a cold rainy day!

 Rhett's class also did a 4th grade play.  He was James Monroe. He wanted to be the dog and even tried out for it.....but so did 12 other kids.  He got called back for a second round and his teacher told me they picked a boy from the other 4th grade class so they had to pick a girl from his class.  She said if they had needed a boy from hers it would have been Rhett.  She said he did great on his speaking part and song solo for tryouts.  What a BRAVE boy.  I NEVER would have done a solo in front of my class at that age.  He teacher wanted him to have a speaking part and so he was given James Monroe.  He was good at it, even though it wasn't his favorite. :)

The same day as Rhett's class play was the 6th grade track meet that Dallin was in.  Each 6th grader had to do 2 events.  After practicing for weeks and weeks Dallin was given the 400 meter run and the Frisbee throw as his two events.  He did great on both!

 They were told they would throw 3 times and count their best.  When they got there though that isn't how they did it.  They got ONE throw is it! He didn't know that till after his throw and he was TICKED! It took a little while to get him to settle down (the teenager is coming out in him!! AHH!) He was upset....but out of 25+ kids he took 5th! So we were very proud of him!

 Dallin and Nathan with their Frisbees.  They had a great year in 6th grade and came home pretty blue the last day of school.  They are going to miss elementary, but are on to bigger and better adventures!

 This was the two 6th grade classes last day of school party with their teachers! These are some great kids and some of Dallin's very best friends!

Laiklie got to go on a "walking" field trip this year where they walked to the city building to meet the mayor, then to the police/fire station, the candy shop (my favorite) and the park for a bbq.  It was a fun day to spend with her and her class.

Look at that smile! It's the smile of a girl that just got to honk the horn on the fire truck!:) 

Laiklie met Blaire this year at school and have become very best friends! Life is better with a best friend! We have prayed for this for the past 2 years and are so grateful to a loving Heavenly Father that put Blaire in the same class as Laiklie this year. 

 We had the awards ceremony at the end of the school year again and all 3 of these littles got awards in the physical fitness program! Yay!

 Dallin also got an Academics award.  They announced about an academic award where you had to score 1 year above your reading level in either math or reading, and have a 3.5 GPA and when Dallin's name wasn't announced it didn't surprise me too much.  Dallin struggles with reading and we were just proud of his good grades this year.  Then they announced they were going to give out an award to the kids that tested 2 grade levels above on BOTH their reading and math tests and kept a 4.0 GPA and I kind of tuned out thinking NO WAY would Dallin get it.  But then what do you know.....about 1/2 way through the list of about 10 kids THERE WAS MY BOYS NAME!!! I seriously about fell off my chair! I had NO IDEA his grades and test scores were SO GOOD! I had to hold back the tears right there in the gym!! And of course I didn't get a picture of it because I didn't have my camera ready not knowing he was getting the award! SOOO PROUD of him and my other 3 that worked hard this year and had a great school year! Summer break HERE WE COME!!