Performances!

My life is one big rotation of going from one performance event to another.  It's the profession I chose and as crazy as I get and act all frustrated and discouraged, I actually really love it.  So here's what kept me super busy from January to May.  (Not counting the Kids Next Door which keeps me super busy during these months, but ended with our Disneyland performance in March).

BATTER UP!  Kindergarten, ELD, 1st, 2nd, 3rd graders show with songs and dances about Baseball, America's pastime!  120 students were in this show.

Play ball!

There is no team, like the best team!

SHIVER ME TIMBERS  Our pirate show musical by the 4th-6th graders.  My good friend and neighbor, Peggy Moffat helps by directing the acting and helping me get through without going insane. 73 students were in this show.

Pirates looting...

Captain Louis LaMer and his all girl crew

Captain Seaworthy and his sailors

DANCE CENTENNIAL.  A four stake performance by all mutual age kids.  Thank goodness this was just a once in a few years event.  My friend Bobbi Rogers and I were in charge of the FINALE for 1000 youth. My daughter, Calli was also involved teaching the deacons dance.  It was so busy and time consuming, but the fun of it was working with my best friend and my daughter.  The show was awesome and a great experience for all of those youth!  Why don't I have any pictures of this?  Bobbi, you took some, I think I need a few!

Kyle and Kim's Kute Kids

At the first of February, Kyle and Kim went back east to Queensbury, New York to see Kirk and Bonnie and their family.  Kim was also getting some needed dental work.  So....Steve and I were the keeper of Kyle's kids for three days.  Yes, the memories came flooding back of when our own kids were this age.  Busy, busy, busy.  But we loved getting to have fun with these great kiddos.

NOAH:  Now he's fifteen years old.  Can you believe it?  Yes, he's a cool high school kid, but is a great help with all the little ones.  He always makes sure he's showered, smellin' good, lookin' good every day.  He really loves his new ipod touch.

NIXON:  Fifth grade.  Smart in school.  Hates to take showers (Noah is trying to help him get a clue with that one).  Learned to play some piano over the weekend.  Nixon is very good at helping.  If you ask him to do something, he'll do it!  How great is that!  He loves to play and he had fun playing with Duke.

JOSIE:  Eight years old going on 16.  She loves to hang with the adults and hates boy stuff.  She is so super smart it's crazy.  The hard words she understands is amazing.  I got to curl her hair in the old set of hot rollers and how cute is she!

FENIX:  You are amazed at the energy this kid has, especially because he doesn't eat that much.  There's only about three things on his menu to eat.  He runs to you, hugs you, and is friendly and sweet to everyone.  And yes, he's the one that ended up in bed with us at night......cutie pie!

 FOX:  This kid loves to play too.  He will entertain himself with two super hero characters and make up whole situations.  He is a snuggle-bug and gives the best kisses.  Looks like Fox needed and nap and grandpa did too.

LOVE YOU GUYS!

Springtime 2012

February brought the "Sweetheart Dinner" and here's some pictures.  I had three different table settings.

Black and white with my own china.

Gold and blue using Grandma Shirley's china and gold tableware.  (Shalene is now keeper of this china)

Pink and red using Kim's china she got from one of her grandmas.

Here's our fun family....and the chocolate fountain.   Yumminess!!

March 7 & 8, 2012.  I was superbusy getting ready for our K-3rd Musical Presentation of "Batter Up" where the kids did songs and dances celebrating baseball - America's Favorite Pastime.  (Pictures to come later)

The day after the show, Steve and I headed to Tombstone on our motorcycles.  Oh!  It was a cold ride.  We had fun in western town USA and got to see my friend Heidi in Sierra Vista.

Two days later I left for California with the Kids Next Door to perform and Disneyland.  

Jonelle & I with Chip/  Hey, where's Dale? 

 Waiting for our Disney Hostess to meet us

Our KnottsBerry Farm show got rained out.  Darn..... I was so lucky to have my bestest friends go with me - Peggy and Bobbi.  Oh.....the laughter that flowed this weekend.  So fun!

TOWER OF TERROR!!

 World of Color

Bugs Life

 John Wayne Airport on our way home

Christmas Fun 2011

Huffakers had an extended family Christmas party for all the Jack and Shirley Huffaker children, grandchildren, and many great-grandchildren on December 19, 2011.  57 people attending - wow!  How we are growing.  We had most everyone there except Kirk and his family who spent their first Christmas in Queesbury, New York in their new home.  We missed them terribly!  Hopefully I can get a picture or two from one of my kids to post here of the event.  We held it at New Horizon School.  It was very handy with the tables, kitchen, stage, sound system, and projector.  Yummy Mexican food  was on the menu.

Thursday some of the grandkids came to make "gingerbread houses" with grandma.  Well, they were really graham cracker houses, but it's the decorating that makes for fun.  Here's what they created.

Christmas Eve was spent experimenting different foods in the deep fryer.  Afterwards, we all felt we would float away with fat and oil in our digestive system.  Brock and Jesica's buffalo hot wings were one of the best foods we ate that night.  Steve and Brock set up a large propane heater and fire pit that made it cozier outside.  We sang Christmas songs around the fire pit, told funny stories, and really enjoyed being with each other.

Christmas Day we all met at 4:00 pm for "Fort Building". Josie came with her hair all festive as if she was in the "Grinch" movie.  How amazing was that? 

 Large cardboard boxes and duct tape were available to create our fort.  The little kids really enjoyed going in an out the fort.  Here are the kids being happy in the fort ....

 ......and then this showed up!

  Yes, we had much screaming and crying.

After eating ham sandwiches and salad, we watched the music videos made by each individual family and  again (like last year) we were entertained, we laughed, and were amazed at the crazy ideas everyone had. Shalene put together a great slide show of the entire year's events and it was wonderful to see how much fun we had in 2011.

Opening gifts and playing Kinnect finished out our busy Christmas Day.

New York State

On October 12 Steve and I started our trip back east.  First stop was Buffalo, New York.  We rented a car and drove 30 minutes to Niagara Falls on the Canadian side.  This was the view from our hotel room on the 16th floor.  Amazing!

The next day we bought tickets to go on the Maid of the Mist which takes you right out to the falls.  

We're in our blue rain gear ready for the adventure.

At 12:30 we checked out of our hotel and started the two hour drive to Palmyra, New York.  What a beautiful drive it was through the country.  It is amazing how much farm land is in New York.  The trees were changing color which was such a thrill!  

We started at Hill Cumorah Visitor's Center, then to the Palmyra Temple.

Next we toured Joseph Smith's first log cabin he grew up in, then saw the bigger house they moved into later.  We ran into a couple from Brazil.  The wife had been baptized a year after Steve left his mission and she knew Steve's mission president.  It was fun to listen to them visit in Portuguese.

We had a nice walk in the Sacred Grove and enjoyed the peace, quiet, and beauty there.

The most interesting tour was that of the building where the first 5000 copies of the Book of Mormon was published.  The building was all original and many original documents were displayed.  What a great undertaking that was for the time period.

We stayed that night in the Palmyra Inn-a very nice place to stay if you go there.  Large rooms, but no restaurants in the city.  We had to drive to the next town to eat at a diner.

The next morning we left bright and early to start the four hour trip to Queensbury, NY, where Kirk and Bonnie's family live.  I was to be in the dentist chair for a root canal at 1:00 PM, so we couldn't dilly dally.  It was so fun to see little Luke Huffaker for the first time!  What a cutie!

We enjoyed burgers at Five Guys with all the gang that night.

The next night we at at Phila Fusion Asian Restaurant.  

Sunday was Luke's blessing day and Kirk gave him a beautiful blessing.  We were so glad we could be there for that.

Fun times!   We miss them being so far away.  Any more root canals needed and off we go to see them again!!!

Really, I'm a Quilter?

I do not consider myself a quilter. No, I'm a dance teacher. That's what I am. Yes, I've always enjoyed sewing, cooking, fun physical activities, but a quilter? No, not me. But the thing is, I keep making quilts! Here's a link to look at some earlier quilts. Some are memory quilts made from my mom's stash of fabric.

Here's some of the latest quilts.

As you can see, this one is for Molly Barainca. This quilt is named "Bzzy-Bee".

Here she is with her matching "petal" dress that I made her. What a cutie!

Adelaide Huffaker (Brock and Jesica's first baby) got her quilt from Grandma Candice and here she is with Grandpa wearing her "Harley" onsie.

This quilt turned out so awesome! This is from my mom's stash of fabric. The pattern is called "Louisiana Pinwheel". My sisters and I started it two years ago, and I finally got it sewn together, bordered, quilted, and bound. We named it - "Where there's a "Wheel", there's a "Wray". Shelli came up with that clever name!

And here is the newest grandchild, Luke Marvin Huffaker, born to Kirk and Bonnie. He is number 16 of our grandchildren. This is his little quilt called, "Hot Diggity-Dog".

So, my sisters and I got together just last month in September when we took a trip to see Brock and Jesica at their new home in Lehi, UT. We also had a "Mini Wray Reunion" at Ronda's house and it was just great to see so many of the young mom and dads with their cute little ones. What great parents they are!

We started another quilt with mom's fabric of Light Blue. Here's what went down. Fun! Can't wait to get it finished.