a long night, an even longer day

The girls and I packed up the suburban this morning around midnight and hauled ourselves to the movie theater to get in line for the final installment of Harry Potter.  

We hung out in the back of the car looking all sketchy while we sat in the parking lot until about 1:15am.  We then went into the theater to find out from a manager where our line would be lining up.

The picture below is our no nose tribute to the dark wizard himself...Voldy.

Once we knew were to line up & a few more kids showed up they all hunkered down on the cold hard cement to talk about Harry Potter into the wee hours of the morning.  I, not being willing to sleep on cement, took to the comfort (haha) of my suburban.

After my two and a half hours of sleep (honestly, I'm too old for this) I awoke to a sidewalk full of slumbering kids.  I'm not sure how they could sleep...it was cold and wet.  The world decided to send rain today (or maybe it's dementors)

I left them to sleep for 20 minutes while I ran to pick up cereal and milk.  They are currently all up, enjoying breakfast and chatting with all the other Harry Potter crazies that joined the lines while we slept.

We'll see how the next 14 hours go.  I'm hoping that we'll be awake when the movie actually starts.

this is....american idol

 Last week as I lay confined to my bed with vertigo I got an email on my phone letting me know my name came up on the wait list for the final performance show of American Idol (cue teenage daughters giddy with excitement)  We made plans to go - the girls and me along with am American Idol loving cousin who was going to come in from St George.  Without going into a big long story...cousin couldn't make it, it was becoming clear that there was no way I was going to make it (the vertigo kicked my behind) and since the person whose name is on the ticket must be present Megan and Emily were not going either.  

I decided to call the ticketing place just to see if they would take pity on a woman suffering with vertigo with two teenagers that really wanted to see Lee and Crystal.  They did!  They let me transfer the tickets to Megan as long as the girls came with an adult.  To avoid any friend favoritism I decided to find two adults willing to take my girls so we wouldn't have to choose any of the girls friends and their mom.

Big thanks to these two that stepped up to make the long drive to LA and were willing to endure long lines and hours in the sun...

The girls in their outfits adhering to the must follow dress code

Live from the Nokia Theater

Big Mike 

Remember him?

Does this picture help? 

How about this one?  Norman Gentle.

Hello Blake Lewis, you are one of my favorites and I'm not the least bit embarrassed to tell the world I own your album and that I love to run with your beat boxing melodies playing from my ipod.  Blake lovers of the world stand up and be proud!

Could Brooke White be any prettier?  We saw a rehearsal show the year she was on - she is gorgeous in person.  And look who is with her...curly haired Justin from Season 1 - I'm glad Kelly won that year.

Little David Archuleta was busy with the press so this was as close as the girls got.

Before heading in to the theater the girls had to lose the camera, phones, etc so no more photos of the night.  The had 5th row seats after the pit so they got to see the show from amazing seats.  They got their fill of star sightings and even got to sit near Mr Blind Side as well as some old American Idol alum.

They finished the night at LA Farmers Market for dinner and then headed home to do homework, study for a seminary test and pack for a trip.  They had a long night!

back from camp

Derek, Megan and Emily got back on Saturday from a 4 day fun-filled, no sleep, giggle fest with 24 other girls and 7 other leaders.  Not sure Derek was doing much giggling (do boys giggle?) but he and the girls all had a lot of fun.

Girls Camp this year was just our Ward (our local congregation) as opposed to Stake Girls Camp (with a stake covering a bigger geographical area)  This is the first time we have had Ward Girls Camp and I think it was a big success.  I believe the plan is to alternate each year between Stake and Ward.

The group left Wed morning and headed off to the beach in Santa Barbara for some tent camping and lots of outdoor fun.  Everyone looks so rested and clean is this picture - I guarantee you they did not come home the same way.

This is our great group of girls and leaders that went.  Hats off to all the leaders that did a ton of work to pull off a successful camp.  I am so glad that Megan and Emily have leaders that genuinely love them and care for them.   

An interesting fact about this group - the first two rows are all Beehives.  Beehives is the name given to all the 12 & 13 yr old girls in our Young Womens organization. Did you count them? Yes, we had 18 Beehives in attendance compared to the 8 total Mia Maids (14-15 yr olds) and Laurels (16-17 yr olds).  I am sure the abundance of 12 & 13 yr olds made for a lively camp :)

Since the camp was at the beach the theme was Life is Swell  - get it? a wave or a swell - not sure if some of my land locked readers understand the lingo :)  Just kidding of course, I know only highly intelligent readers frequent this blog.  Swell standing for Stick With Essential Life Long - the essentials being prayer, scripture reading, sacrament (as well as many other essentials that help us build and strengthen our testimonies).

The girls had a lot of great devotionals, scripture reading time, testimony meeting and more. They also had lot of fun activities planned that helped them build stronger friendships with all the girls and leaders.  

They went on a great evening hike to watch the sunset over the beach.  The hike was hard. According to Emily she has hiked enough to last her a lifetime :)  Although hard I think the girls have a better understanding of how even though things may be hard there are lessons to learn and rewards to be had when accomplishing something that may be difficult.

They also went horseback riding and had lots of fun doing that.

Kayaking was another fun activity that allowed the girls to get up close and personal with dolphins and sea lions

Even though I now have a laundry room full of stinky, dirty laundry and a family that is still a bit tired from all the activities I am glad that they all got to go.  It was a great experience for Derek to be their with our girls and I think they loved having Dad there.  I'm glad that my girls have good friends that share the same values and are constantly trying to make good choices.

Thanks to Emily for the above pictures.

a stack of sharpies and a hand cramp

The girls and I left Thursday for our trip to San Francisco.  Before we headed out for the long drive we made a stop at Torrance High School for an author discussion and book signing with Stephanie Meyers.  We got to listen to her answer fan questions about the Twilight series and her new book The Host as well as hear a few personal stories.
We were about #830 and above in line so we had a bit of a wait after the discussion to get our books signed but it was still an enjoyable night, at least for us.  I can't imagine being an author and signing so many books.  Each person could have as many Host books signed as they wanted and then up to 2 other books. Between myself, Megan and Em we were able to get each Host book signed and then all our copies of the Twilight books.  The group waiting in lined was into the 900's so you can only imagine the hand cramp poor SM must have had.  We laughed when we got to the table because there was a huge pile of black Sharpies at the ready.

We had never been to a book signing so it was a fun new adventure for us to experience.  I'm not sure I would do it again - I take that back, I would do it if I could get a book signed by JK Rowling but beyond that I am not sure I would sit for hours to get a signature.  It was still an enjoyable night and a great way to kick off our San Francisco trip.

we heart san francisco

The girls and I are home...update coming soon!