Stop growing up so fast, little one!!

 Emma's big 6th birthday! She really wanted an Ocean party. NOT a beach party, an under-the-sea type party!  So we went for it!  She had a lot of strong opinions haha. 

Here she is wearing Christmas pajamas on her birthday morning!  And with the cake that she designed and helped decorate.

The one thing that was probably the most important to Emma, was to have an "underwater room" like you were going under the ocean.  Well you know I love a great theme/challenge/creating an experience!  So we made an obstacle course in our "underwater room". It was super fun!  Katelyn helped make the sea turtle, and Owen and Maris helped with some of the other decor.  I especially liked how the hanging seaweed and jellyfish turned out!!  And of course owen and maris were a big help with running the obstacle course.

All the cuties ready for cake!  and playing of course- the fishing game. Thanks Whit for running that one!

The kids with their decorated dollar store pails, ready to play the Cakewalk on the sea animals Emma had drawn and colored!  Cute Korver was the only boy who came to the party. Also you can see that Emma asked Katelyn to do facepainting for the kids, thanks Kate!

Owen being a shark for the obstacle course- they had to paddle six times to get away from him.

And here's all the kids having free play time under the sea.

Present opening and the lovely cake.

The sign for the door that Emma made, and doing a puzzle for part of the treasure hunt. Eric helped by putting on an ocean screensaver haha.  

hailey doing the balance beam part of the obstacle course, and more fishing.

After the party we went to the Nicklecade for a family activity. Emma and Maris purposely dressed to match!

We had fun!

One last shot of the side of the cake, and the invitations that Emma also made.  

We love our Emma so much, 5 was SUCH a cute year for her. She had a lot of fun being the family goofball. She jumps at the chance to play with anyone.  She loves to pray and sing. She loves to learn.  She has great musical, athletic and academic talent. Go Emma!!

Tuck- the Professional Pics

 I sorted through literally 1,000 professional pics of the show to get these, so I had to include them!  

What a cute wood spirit!

 Katelyn top right- you'll see her in this spot a few times.

Singing right behind Sulice. 

Cast funny photo, Karlie is choking katelyn over on the left haha.

Dancing up top in Good Girl Winnie Foster.

On the left behind the boat in maybe my favorite song, It's a Wheel. Jonny and Sarah and the wood spirits were so good!!

Singing her heart out!

Playing a drunk carnival go-er in Golden, on the left by Sulice.

Bows, from the Right, Camille, Katelyn, Rebekah, Grace, Malaina

More bows

Dancing! 

singing with Dylan in Live Like This- Dylan ended up getting best High School Musical Actor for the whole state of Utah for this role!

More crowd supporting vocals and great supporting acting!

and drinking haha

Being part of the woods!

playing games at the fair behind Dillon and Sarah's masterful Partner in Crime

Real Cast Photo. So many great people, friends, actors, and techs in here!

Wheel Reprise/Finale. Evan, Dillon, Liliana and Jonny as the Tucks, Katelyn standing by Nathan Tanner (spoiler- we just found out they will be playing Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett together in the next show!)

This was a beautiful, soulful show!  So glad she did it and loved it and we got to enjoy it too.

Tuck Everlasting❤️

 The Spring MDT class musical ended up being a big hit!  I wasn't excited about the show at first, because once again Katelyn didn't get a part and she was disappointed. But as a wood spirit/townsperson she was actually onstage more than the smaller speaking parts (Winnie's mom and grandma) that she had wanted, and she got to be in all the fun songs and dances.  So it turned out to be a really fun show for her. Here she is with her siblings, who of course wanted to see the show multiple times, and with me backstage when I got to chaperone!

view from backstage, and with Andrea by the GIANT tree they built for the show!! 

I will never forget being backstage with Katelyn and she had on her ballet shoes (that we bought for the show- the first time she has owned some) and she said "these shoes just make me want to dance!" and she kept flitting around the dressing room gracefully like a child.  It made me so happy to see her so happy, getting to move her body in such a joyful, carefree, beautiful way.  I'm thrilled that she has had so many opportunities to dance and feel confident in that.

So actually....I ended up LOVING Tuck Everlasting!  The cast was FABULOUS, the show itself is very soulful, and it was just fun and beautiful!

Katelyn dancing and singing on the back row, and in the front middle. 

They all just looked so pretty! Background vocals for "It's a Wheel, Winnie" 

More backstage

This gorgeous, fun set for the carnival scene!  Wow!  Katelyn got to be a mom to little Owen Ellis for this part, during a couple of songs. Here they are in the middle of the shot, she's in a patchwork dress.

Both of these are from the big number "Live Like This" that they ended up getting to perform at Abravenel Hall in Salt Lake because they were nominated for best musical by the Utah HS Musical Theater awards.... more on that later. It was so cool!!

Yay for another successful show. :)