Baccalaurete

I had to look up the spelling of that word!! SO Sunday June 5 was Baccalaureate. This year it was at the Catholic church. I think it's cool that they get to trade around and go to the other church and see what it is like. It was a warm evening that night so the mix and mingle after was pretty toasty outside though. The service was nice. It was short and sweet since it was about a half hour I think. I loved the Encore Choir song:The speaker was Melanie Valet's brother who was visiting from the Air Force. He did a very nice job. Very military in that it was concise and brief. We enjoyed it alot. Afterward we tried to battle the crowd and get some pics of the gang while they were dressed up. It was surprising to me how many seniors didn't actually attend the service. They only get one in their lifetime but nope not there. For most of these kids though it was just another day to be together and enjoy each others company before they move on. They have been getting together daily for about 2 weeks!!

Hayden's Senior Pictures

Hayden's facebook Photo Album
I am experimenting to see if I can actually figure out how to do this. Try clicking on the link above to see if it takes you to facebook and all of Hayden's senior pics...If it doesn't work just try if you can see his pictures on facebook...I don't think they are private.
That way I only have to post a few here but you can still see them all if you want to. I guess if that doesn't work try DebbyLeavitt.com! Most of them are posted there.

Okay great story so I have to blog this one. A couple of weeks ago Hayden got his answer to Prom via a cute little chick on our doorstep. Well he had been living in Jeff's room (sorry Jeff) in his little box for a couple of days. One night May 2 about 8pm to be exact Hayden was doing his homework and this chick walked around the corner and out into the family room! Hayden screamed something unintelligible and I yelled to grab him. When he went to return him to his box he discovered he was out of food. It was decided then and there the chick had to go while it was still alive. He had asked everyone he could think of if they would take it and no takers. I had a brain storm (it happens once in awhile) and posted on facebook that we were in desperate need of a home immediately for the little guy(chick not Hayden...yet). With in minutes he had a new home (thanks muchly Coburns) so ...Hayden was taking said chick to his new home in his car thank goodness. He said The little chick was chirping like crazy so he peeked inside the box to make sure everything was ok and it got out!! Picture chick flying around and Hayden driving down the street. He pulled over while throwing the box around and trying to grab chick. Grabbed the poor little thing and threw him back in the box. Box shavings etc all over the car now! He drove the rest of the way with his hand on the lid. I wish I had it on tape. Hayden did a great reenactment though for me.Ahhh fun times at the Coopers

The locker at the Back Door

Since there is only a couple weeks until graduation I feel it is time to come clean. Time to blow the whistle on Hayden. While he is a great guy he does have a fault or two. This one in particular is worth mentioning. I know in a couple of months it will be gone so we'll call this "Ode to the locker at the back door." Hayden (Pretty much all my kids did this)loves to come home and dump everything. Each child has had his or her favorite spot over the years. Hayden's seems to be the back door. Heaven help us if we should have to use that door in a hurry because it can be quite a mountain back there at times. Yup we'll miss seeing all this by the end of the summer. Until then we hope we never have a fire or anything that means we need to get out in a hurry!

Battle of the Boy Bands

Well it ended up not being much of a battle. Each class was supposed to enter a boy band for a M Week challenge and one by one the classes dropped out. The competition must have been too stiff for them! The senior boys worked and worked on their rendition of "Bye Bye Bye". They practiced forever on those moves. I hear from some of the moms that the mirrors got quite a workout from their boys practicing. I think all the practice paid off. Those boys have the moves no doubt! I know the freshman girls were impressed.
The senior girls did an awesome performance of the spice girls that I didn't record because of battery issues darn it. They did a great job too.

The Prom

We had our last Prom in our family this past weekend. Just to keep things interesting there was lots of drama. There were girls bugging Hayden's car to see who he was going to ask, girls making nasty comments, boys getting discouraged, parents getting upset...what a mess.

In order to get more senior girls a date some of the boys switched dates and moved things around and on it went.

SO very long story short Hayden's date was Shannon Tuttle. He was excited to take her because he knew she would be fun and they have been friends for years.

After the date situation got resolved and organized the next hurdle was the enormous group. These boys all wanted to be together and so their group was 18 couples or 36 kids!! It made some things almost impossible to organize but they would not be separated. (We tried) Some of them had gotten together and started planning an Amazing Race patterned after the TV show. Somehow I got volunteered because according to Hayden "I love these things" (refer to the Amazing Race post).Here they are starting the race. There were a few problems naturally. These kids ran the race like their lives hung on the balance. They just flew through their tasks! They were so far ahead of schedule that they killed the schedule. So we had problems keeping up with them. We had stations un-manned at the last minute and lunch wasn't ready when they were told. Kind of discouraging to see things not go according to plan because I am one who lives and dies by the plan. Well what can you do. After lunch I turned them over to Adventure Glide. They had wanted to zipline and climb a rock wall so I found them one. Last minute the county didn't have the zipline permitted yet so that was out so I subbed in a rapelle which I thought they would enjoy.
The wind kicked up nicely that day so the 140' rapelle was cut down to about 100' which didn't hurt my feelings any. The disaster part ...trying to get 36 kids through a rapelle of that size, well any size. I was originally told 6 man crew 3 lines etc and there was 1 line with 2 guys running it. They got those kids through as fast as they could but it took hours. Apparently with the wind they couldn't have run more than 1 line anyway.
They were so sick of waiting around for their turn in the heat that I am not so sure they even enjoyed the rock climbing wall or the paintball. The damage was done. Seriously 36 kids...NEVER again!

They had dinner planned at the Fun & Sun that was decorated nicely by Rhonda Pulsipher. Once again we tried to run 36+ kids through pictures and wouldn't you know it we ran out of daylight. Here is a pic of Hayden and Shannon Tuttle. She was so beautiful. I have to say the parade of gowns was incredible. Seriously gorgeous gowns that certainly couldn't be called just dresses! These kids clean up nicely.

There were actually 2 more couples that joined them for dinner too. The dinner was fabulous though. Hayden raved about it all. The Staley's put on quite a spread. They were served by some cute little cousins and friends.

The boys and their GQ pose.

After the dance they all headed over to the man pad where they enjoyed an ice cream buffet and a movie. Thanks so much to all the parents who helped put this all together. After my melt down Sunday night I can say it was fun and I think the kids all had fun too

The Amazing Race

SO I spent weeks working on another "Amazing Race" for Prom this year. Somehow I got volunteered because according to Hayden "I love these things". Sadly I guess he is right because Pam Waite and I dove right in like a couple of fools. It took over 2 weeks of planning and organizing to get the Amazing Race done. The entire spring break and then some. I mean 2 -3 weeks of constant fretting and worry and planning like I've never planned before. The big problem was the group was 36 kids!After I got the clues figured out I spread them out on the floor to make sure they were all in the right order etc. You can see the 3 different colored races going on here pretty well.Then I got all the clue boxes for each station organized and stuffed with the clues. Everyone got the schedule and their instructions all typed up. Pam and I gathered all the equipment that would be required to run each station and off I went to deliver everything. I got everything finished up the night before the big day. Whew. We had enlisted lots of moms to help run this thing. Thank goodness for them!!

Here is my master race plan just so I can brag about how well organized I was:

			The Amazing Race Prom 2011
		Blue Group		Orange Group		Gold Group
9:00			All Start at Football Stadium
9:10		4 Wheelers		Drive		Drive
9:20		4 Wheelers		Reservoir		River
9:30		4 Wheelers		Reservoir		River
9:40		4 Wheelers		Drive		Drive
9:50		4 Wheelers		River		Reservoir
10:00		Drive		River		Reservoir
10:10		Reservoir		Drive		Drive
10:20		Reservoir		4 Wheelers		Gordies
10:30		Drive		4 Wheelers		Drive
10:40		River		4 Wheelers		Park
10:50		River		4 Wheelers		Park
11:00		Drive		4 Wheelers		Drive
11:10		Gordies		Drive		4 Wheelers
11:20		Drive		Gordies		4 Wheelers
11:30		Park		Drive		4 Wheelers
11:40		Park		Park		4 Wheelers
11:50		Drive		Park		4 Wheelers
12:00		Stake Center		Drive		Stadium
12:10		Stake Center		Stake Center		Stake Center
12:20		Stadium		Stake Center		Stake Center
12:30		Drive		Stadium		Drive
12:40		Drive		Drive		Drive
1:00		LUNCH		Drive		LUNCH

Death By Chocolate

Just had to share this. I made it for Shannon's Birthday so all the office crew could have some of this fabulous dessert. It takes a couple of days and tons of chocolate and cream but it is worth every bite. We originally tasted this delight at the Trellis restaurant in Williamsburg. It has been featured on the Food Network and lots of magazines! We had it in 2003 for my birthday when we were there with the family. My sister Carolyn went there with her family a few years later and bought the cookbook with the famous recipe featured in it. She shared it with me years ago. I only make it once in a blue moon. It takes so much time but mostly it kills in the calorie count...a mere 1350 calories per slice. 2 different mouses, ganache, brownie and chocolate meringue layers all combine to make the practically perfect dessert! I am looking forward to the next time already!

The Free Room

For years now we have owned a Marriott Timeshare in Newport Ca. We have never actually stayed there since we keep trading it away but that is another story. Well My sister bought the same timeshare and got a much better run down on the perks and things you can get with it. We got our Marriott Visa but she got the Black Marriott Visa card since she knew about these things. After a year or so I heard about the black card and got one too since it comes with a free room annually. Well I got this card years ago...at least 4 I am guessing and never once did I get my free room. It was always in the back of my mind but I never thought about it when I was home or near a phone or bla bla bla. Needless to say I never did anything about it.

About 6 months ago I finally called and did something about it! Well these so called free rooms had just been expiring because I didn't know how to access them and when I called one had just expired 1 week before. So I pitched a fit and she renewed that 1 expired room and got me started on how do redeem these "Free Rooms". Well the renewed room was set to expire again May 2 so we needed to hurry and use it. We decided to go to the Temple and stay in Vegas last Friday to use up this room. I told them I didn't care where we stayed but if all things were equal I wanted the nicest Marriott in Vegas. They got us a king room at the J W Marriott in Summerlin. Unfortunately when we checked in there were no King rooms available. SO once again I was bummed. I must have looked pretty disappointed because the girl said to give her a second then asked if it was ok if she upgraded us to the King 1 Bedroom Suite.....ok...are you kidding!

Can I just say It was gorgeous ...The living room that is accessed by walking down a long marble hall. There was a bar of course with a hand hammered brass sink. For once there was even chamomile tea in the drink assortment. Too bad you can't see the balcony behind the dining room set.

The entertainment center was huge.

The bedroom was enormous. Hard to tell from the pics. Also balcony that you can't see.

This is a portion of the bathroom. All marble with a fun marble inset medallion in the floor that I cut off in the pic of course.

Needless to say we got our money's worth on this deal. Finally!

Easter 2011

We had a fun Easter this year.Once again it was touch and go with the schedules but we got together and had a fun evening. It's always so great to get together with family. We had Charlie & Alisha and Rob & Beth and all their kids over. We had a yummy ham and turkey dinner that was fabulous as always. We so enjoyed just visiting for hours.

Probably the highlight was our traditional Easter Egg hunt. Everyone knows that Hayden gets a little excited and competitive about things and since this was his last Easter Egg hunt before his mission he was in rare form. It was dark by the time we got around to doing it so we locked the kids in the "condo" while Beth and Alisha and I hid the eggs inside the house. We set a few ground rules and then turned them loose:

Look out everyone here they come. Thank goodness Hayden didn't mow anyone over on the way out the door.

We were very thorough. We also had a ton of eggs between us so we hid them everywhere.
OK I might have gotten a little too creative with this but I couldn't resist. (It was empty)

It was fun grossing Hayden out at least. He didn't see that coming.

I took great delight in hiding alot of eggs nice and high so we could watch their creative little selves get at them.

OOps Hayden got so excited he bowled Cymoni over on the way to an egg.

At least he helped her up after he flattened her.

I did hide a few eggs up there and I was surprised he looked!

This was incredible...Hayden found an iTunes card from Christmas wedged under the couch cushion!! Finders keepers I guess.

The hunt goes on...

We got a pic of the cousins exhausted from the excitement and ready for more.