Eight Isn't Enough: Lots of Hair and Music!!

Well, it's been another fun and busy week. I don't think we know how to live life any other way. When you are raising a house full of your best friends, life is almost always a party.

Andrew's hair was just so ridiculous this night, it needed to be documented for posterity.

Laney went on her school field trip to Great Skate and had a wonderful time! Her teacher sent me this picture.

I dropped by to see Grandma and Grandpa Alger. Grandma is looking super cute with her new haircut. She is doing so much better and will be going home soon! Hooray!!

Freddy and Lilli had their final dance recital of the year, Last Dance. Dad, Sara, Andrew and I attended on Wednesday night. Poor Daddy had just finished his second long day in the office downtown with people that had flown in to meet with his team. He had started his day before 5:00 am and taught seminary before going in to work. He was pretty tuckered out. He borrowed the hat Andrew was wearing to cover his eyes so he could nap in between Freddy and Lilli's performances. It was kinda cute, and funny.

Freddy's first number was Your Future Is Not Mine
Here is the video:
https://youtu.be/BpxhWCBCD8k

The second one was New York.
Here is the link:
https://youtu.be/WjpAXc5QlKk

Freddy and Lilli both did a great job. They LOVE to dance! And it is great that they get to share this part of their lives as cousins.

Andrew always has the cutest smirky smiles! You can feel the love.

Brandon was also there to support them.

So proud of her brother!

I love that these kids all go to high school together!

So proud of our sweet Freddy!

The next night Jessi, Gram and Papa went to the recital.

Grammy brought Aunt Judy into Sara for a haircut. I went down to be with them so all us girls could talk while Sara worked on her hair. Aunt Judy and I had a great time reminiscing about Ben and I coming to stay at her farm in Northern Minnesota when we were kids. She has forgotten much of her life and everyday activities, but she remembered almost everything I spoke with her about from those visits.

Sara did a great job with her hair and she was very happy with the results.

After Grammy and Judy left, I stayed and Sara practiced up-dos on me. It was a lot of fun! We talked about different personalities from the 16 personalities test that our family members have been taking lately. We love all that nerdy stuff!

She did some really cute styles!

Sara and I have been spending a lot of time together lately. It is fun to have a grown up daughter. I have really enjoyed her company and talking about everything to all hours of the night with her, or giggling about ridiculous things, and snuggling her at bedtime. I don't think you ever grow too old for snuggles.

Friday morning, I attended Jessi's graduation. She received her associates degree in Dance! She is moving on to a university in the fall to get her bachelors and then on to a masters. I am so proud of her hard work. It has not been easy and has been a long road so far, but we have an incredible team of family members that pull together to make things work. She is going to be amazing in this next stage of her education. Hooray!!!

Andrew went it to get a haircut on Friday. He was tired of everyone wanting to touch his curls and wanted to cut them off.

Lots of curls on the floor!

He was a little freaked out about his hair being so much shorter. He loves it, but he misses his curls. He said it is the right cut for now, but he will probably go back to the long curls.

Saturday morning we got up and cleaned the house and did yard work. Then, Josh and Miles came over to play for the day. We started with lunch and talking.

And then tickling and wrestling.

Then music when Gavin came over! Josh played for us a bit, then we sang Broadway songs. Josh and Gavin talked studying music in college, favorite composers and pieces. The twins and Miles went upstairs and played video games for a bit.

Here is Josh playing part of a Rachmaninoff piece for us.
https://youtu.be/ciLENpi2sAE

Josh talked photography with Sara and I for a while and he showed us the wedding he just shot. We showed him Josh and Leigh's wedding photos and Sara's senior pics.

Then they had to run back to Gilbert for Josh to shoot a wedding reception. It was a super fun day!

You can see Josh's expression changing in these as he was being tickled from behind by Freddy and Miles. It makes me laugh!

That evening, the grown up Ely siblings, Gram and Papa and a couple of spouses had a fancy dinner. Dandi and Gavin's kids came to hang out with my kids at Jessi's house, while the adults had a quiet dinner at our house. Jessi's girls were all gone for the weekend and Nan was running around to different events with her kids.

Emmett always looks for Sara first thing. He LOVES her!

These two are silly and fun!

I had Sara take a few pictures for us of the dinner. It was super delicious and a lot of fun to just be grown-ups together.

Richard folded all the napkins in to rosettes. It looked really pretty with the beautiful table settings.

Here are the kids watching a movie at Jessi's house. They had a good time too.

Sunday was Mother's Day. I love Mother's Day pictures!!! I have pretty amazing kids and I love them to pieces. It is always strange to have a few missing in pictures. We missed our Elder Timmy and Josh and Leigh, but luckily we got to video chat with them all later.