Date Night: MK and Cy

Knowing what a sports fiend Cy is, MK invited him to the LP vs AF basketball game and arranged to have him and Cara's little brother and cousin play a little hoop with the b-ball stars, post-game.

The game was hard-fought and hard-won—a whole lot of fun.
(Those surgical gloves on Cy's hands were passed out before the game as noisemakers—you clap 'em).

Then a post-game glitch. The basketball hoops were promptly elevated as fans stood on the court.

As a consolation prize, MK's friends autographed Cy's Ravens sweatshirt, posed for pictures, and basically made his day. Can't you tell? haha. Cy's got his signature tough-guy face on...

"Chase Handsome" is headed to the U for football (see?). MK says his dreams came true—he met Cy :)

Levi is a favorite at our house. McKenzie said she couldn't stop smiling just watching how the guys treated the boys.

(MK's the bomb—just ask Cy.)

Stag Pref

The L.P. girls all seemed to have asked early to Girls Pref, so the guys these four "preferred" were taken (Kaitlyn was in Vegas). Going stag to Pref in 80's duds was their natural conclusion.

They all got ready at Sara's together, then headed out... in style :)

At Zupa's they were met with stares, questions like "What are you doing?" and requests for cell photos.

At the ice cream shop they scored free ice cream from Zona, got crazy on the dance floor, and then headed back to Sara's to make movies til way after curfew (being grounded is a tradition, you know).

U-17 Premier Player Guide Profile

McKenzie Evans, #14, Forward

(L. P. High, #4)

GPA 3.75

Height: 5'2"

Mile time: 5:59

40 yard dash: 5.1 sec

Accomplishments: 3-year Varsity starter

Honor Roll

Member of the Varsity 100 and 4 x 100 track team

Named 1st Team All Region

Named 2nd Team All Region as a sophomore

Named Offensive MVP for Varsity

Named Offensive MVP for JV as a sophomore

U-15 D1 leading scorer

Coach's Comments: "McKenzie is a tenacious forward, able to create scoring opportunities when it seems that none are present, which makes her extremely difficult to defend. She is an active and quick player, always moving and looking to make a touch on the ball."

Nice job, Kenz!

My Kids Are Nerds

Before you leave the house...

Lunch with Mom

I met my mom for lunch by the mall before Christmas. We sat in a booth across from a man sitting alone in his own booth. When we got up to leave, he said to the waitress, "Give me their check—I'm going to buy them lunch." Then he told us, "I wasn't trying to eavesdrop but what I heard was the most intelligent conversation I've heard since I came to Utah in 2003." (Been out much?? haha) Then he said, "I tried to figure out your relationship and thought you must be mother and daughter, but then I thought, no, I don't think they are. They're best friends."

Ugly Christmas Week

MK and friends decided to honor the week before Christmas break by wearing awesome Christmas outfits every day to school and declaring it "Ugly Christmas Week."

A trip to DI was in order and then off to the dollar store to buy miscellaneous decor to pin on their outfits for the ultimate in Christmas ugly.

Those leggings from an old dance recital of cousin Ash's are pretty awesome, too—a green/red crushed velour that changes color with the lighting. Yikes.

There was Wacky Christmas Color Wednesday with a red sweatshirt, zebra shorts pulled high over her belly button, and red high tops. Then Mia and friends joined in towards the end of the week...

... and this is MK wrapped up as a present on Friday. Yes, this was all in direct violation of the dress code, which states something to the effect that students should not wear clothing which draws undue attention to themselves. Anyways....

Christmas Day, 2011, 6:53 a.m.

Just for posterity's sake, I'm recording the stocking fillers, sibling gifts, and favorite gifts we got this year.

Mia's stocking fillers: Vans Surfing Championship t-shirt (she's reading the program), cozy socks, Nike black crews, Jelly Belly Sport Beans for work outs, sports bra, lotion, gum, Ella Enchanted DVD, Raspberry-lemon Blistex, aroma pencils, feather earrings, and Rasta earphones.

Cy and Cam got rubber-band stun guns, funny glasses, gum, Nike crews, Microsoft points, and fuzzy trick worms.

Getty got lots of Axe and Old Spice deodorant, a whoopee cushion, more prank props, gum, Nike crews, aroma pencil, and an Antz DVD he wanted.

MK's is a ditto of Mia's, minus the feather earrings, DVD, and t-shirt. She got gipped.

Elle got three necklaces, three princess lip glosses, gum, and colored modeling clay.

After stockings, we started with sibling gifts. Mia got Cam a sand art project kit.

Cam got Cy wall balls, and Cy got Elle a mini pink Etch A Sketch.

MK got Getty crazy-print duct tape and Big League Chew gum.

Getty got Mia perfume.

Elle got MK a shirt.

Favorite gifts: Cy's Raven's hoodie.

MK's swimsuit. Pretty sure she'll need ten more for college in Hawaii next year...

Elle's screaming at her Justin Bieber doll...

"What's with all the clothes, Mom?"

Mia's Free Runs. MK's checking them out...

Getty's Go-Pro. Possibly the best suited gift ever.

We snuck into Megan's ward for church at 9:30 a.m., so we could get on over to Grandma's basement festivities...

Getty's prized pistachios. DO NOT TOUCH.

MK's favorite accessory.

I'm holding Elle's first bona-fide high heels. Ha! She's holding some of the cash Grandma gave all the kids.

So, I swiped Grandpa's camera thinking it was ours, so I didn't take any more photos that day. But, of course, we had a great Christmas dinner at Granny's and much more Christmas hoopla with cousins. Granny was a hit with her Seven Peaks "Pass of all Passes" for the kids.

Just to make this entry extra long and drawn out, I'll include the entire holiday vacation :) For New Year's Eve, Rob and I went to an early dinner with Megan and Scott, so we were home to let the top three go to parties. The kids watched "Smurfs" and a bit of "Series of Unfortunate Events," until Cam told me it creeped him out. At midnight, I watched the fireworks out our back windows and then went on my rounds picking up kids.

Monday night, we wrote our 2012 resolutions for family night and played our favorite rip-roaring candy bar game.

I have to say my reaction to this Christmas vacation surprised me over and over again. I can't remember enjoying myself so much for such an extended period of time. It was a total escape from schedules, and Rob was able to take extra days off to be home with us a lot. I was done with the Christmas jobs before school got out and didn't do many neighbor gifts, so I had time to play around and do whatever sounded good at the moment. And one of those was definitely to just relax at home. We all slept in every day, I read "A Thousand Splendid Suns," shopped with the girls, went to the gym together at any crazy hour of the day or night, Rob took the younger kids to the church gym to play basketball a few times, we played Bananagrams, watched movies, and ... I found out that is my version of bliss at this point in my life.

Today, it was back to real life. School, carpools, Mia on a ski day trip with her P.E. class, a primary meeting, homework, cub scouts, MK's Jr. Jazz game, and a group of YM/YW in our kitchen for an Iron Chef competition. What a difference one day can make. It's all good and fun, but I think I'm going to throw up.