Impromptu Alger Gathering

Kris and Aric were in town for a few days.  Max went through the temple in preparation for his mission to New York.  We are so excited for him.  While they were here we decided to have any Algers that were available over for a visit.  I wasn't sure if any one was going to make it so I invited Jessi and her girls over too.  (Todd had meetings.)  We ended up have a good size group with Mike and his kids, Chad and Melissa with Gracie,  James and Laura with Leah, Grandpa Alger, Aric and Kris and their boys and Gavin and Cadie.  

 So cute, Daddy Aric and Daughter Cadie. 

I turned Tim loose with the camera to document the gathering.  He got some really interesting shots.  Chad hid from the camera all night.  He was playing some silly game.

 Chad and Melissa

He almost got a good picture of Mike, Rich and James if we could meld these two shots.  

 Gav and Gwen

 Grandpa, he's such a cutie!

 Classic Richard with Susanna

 Taylor and Heidi

 Taylor

 Max, Leah and Gracie

Poor Max, mid blink, but Leah looks gorgeous and Gracie is adorable.

 Jessi and Steph

 Chad hiding again

Lilli and Sara

It was a great evening.  It still makes me giggle that my little brother is  part of the Alger clan now.  It is fun to see him at all the family events.  We loved having Kris and Aric over.  We miss them since they moved to Idaho.  They leave a big hole in the family.  And we are so proud of Max.  We have the best nieces and nephews.  They are all growing into amazing people.

RAIN!!!

Yes, when it rains here we get excited.  It is so rare.  This was from about a month ago.  The kids were in heaven.  It really was a beautiful rain with the sun shining on a Sunday afternoon.

Church Prom

This was Sam's first formal event.  He took Madison as  his date.  They both looked amazing.  Here are some of the highlights.  They went with a group of kids to do photos and dinner at The Olive Garden.  Then they were off to the Prom.  Victor and his date Mariana were part of the group.

Victor, Mariana, Maddi and Sam

They decided Mariana's dress looked like it was made for the tango, so they tried it out.

Victor doing some deep thinking.  Ha, ha, what a funny kid he is!

Sara Alger CEO

Sara got to go on a field trip to Junior Achievers Biz Town.   "JA BizTown encourages students to learn about the free enterprise system by participating in a simulated town. Student experiences vary from working in a bank, a television station, or a retail store, to managing personal finance, writing checks and accounting. Students realize the relationship between what they learn in school and their successful participation in a simulated economy."  It  was a day of hard work and lots of fun.  The kids studied about  the ins and outs of  business in preparation for the trip.  Sara got to be CEO of a restaurant.  She actually ended up doing a lot of work running the food side of the business as well as the office stuff.  She dressed for the part in her most business-like attire.  She looked so grown up and pretty.  It was an awesome experience for her.  She was tired when she got home, but she had a great time.

 

She makes my heart smile!

February / March Family Birthday Party

Here are the highlights of the latest Ely birthday bash.  We had 8 birthdays to celebrate, 

Uncle Eric, Tony, Tim, Steph, Jonah, Tori, Dandi and Daniel.  

 Aren't my sisters so pretty!

 Tony and Wendy always bring a grab bag of mystery candy and little presents for the birthday people.  The kids LOVE it!

 We had the party on St. Patrick's Day, so almost everyone had on green.  

 One of Daniel's gifts was fruit snacks.  He love it.  We  never buy them and so it was really a treat.  He was super sweet about it and shared a lot of them.

 Tim was trying to have crazy hair, but it actually was kinda cute.  

 Dandi modeling some of her new jewelry for us. 

 I love this picture of Ben lovin' on his sweet little Danica.  She is such a pretty baby!

 The expressions on Eric and Tony's faces make me laugh!

Uncle Eric brought the cake.  It was so cute and "magically delicious"!  (a little Lucky Charms humor)

 I had to include this lovely picture of Sam sporting an old dress up hat.  I am not sure what inspired this but it did look....    awesome?

I love our family parties.  Growing up I was always jealous of my friends that had lots of cousins and aunts and uncles, and grandparents close by to grow up with.  I am glad my kids get to have that experience.  

Should I Stay Or Should I Go?

(I thought that I had posted this a couple of months ago, but apparently I forgot to hit the publish button.  Oops!)

Our ward youth participated in the Surprise Stake Roadshows.  Each ward had 12 minutes to present their show.  They did an amazing job.  Their leaders, writer, director, choreographers... etc, did an awesome job coaching and teaching them.  The theme was Arise and Shine Forth.  The premise of their show was a young man deciding whether or not to serve a mission for the church. You can watch their show  here.  It's 11 minutes long.

In the opening Josh was the star, doing a mock up of this Old Spice commercial.  I was surprised, when I heard him practicing, at how low his voice has gotten.  I thought he did a great job being the cool return missionary or RM.  It was also funny that Josh played the older version of Sam, the Preemie (pre-missionary).

I don't have a picture of it, but if you watch the video you can see after the scene of Sam waking up, Tim rolls across the stage to remove his bedding from the stage.  They told all the prop guys that they were Stage Ninjas.  Tim had fun going along with that idea.

This scene was awesome.  It was cleverly written and the choreography was great.  I loved how well the kids played their Mario characters.

I loved the slow motion to the Chariots of Fire music.  It was a great way to start the scene.  Tim cracks me up again in this scene when he is kissing his muscles and showing off.  The boys all did a great job with their mad swimming skills.

   

I don't have a picture of the angel jumping on Sam's back, but that part is muffled a bit and you can hear the angel explain that he is a "shoulder angel".  You know the kind that sits on your shoulder and tells you what to do.  So he is not attacking Sam, just trying to take his proper place on his shoulder.

 I love that Sam is holding Tim up there by his pants.  Tim kept leaning forward so Sam had to grab on to the back of his shorts.  Sam's cheer training really helped out in this show with his jumps and with lifting Tim.

I could not have been more proud.  They put a lot of hours into this in a short amount of time.  They had to squeeze practices in between Sam's cheer (they are getting ready to go to Nationals at the end of the month) and tennis schedule, Josh's track schedule and a big physics project (he along with another boy in the roadshow and a girl from school have had to build a car out of cardboard that Josh will be driving through a course at school.  BIG PROJECT!) and Tim has been being the school mascot at his school sports events.  They have been running ragged, but they have had a good time and the results were great!