Royalty Retreat

This past weekend we had a "Royalty Retreat" for the Santa Clara Royalty girls and moms. All five girls came and three of the five moms came. The retreat was held at Dan and Pat Frei's cabin (Klara Frei's grandparents) in Pine Valley. Dan and Pat were in our ward before our wards split years ago.President Frei is one of our Stake Patriarchs and is the one who gave Josh and Jenna their Patriarchal Blessings. 

Klara has a nice camera (not a phone camera) and the girls wanted to do their own photo shoot near some of the fall leaves. They rode an open UTV Ranger to get there and I have to admit that I was extremely nervous. Klara was driving and she was the youngest and least experienced girl there. Then again, she was the most experienced as far as driving up and down the steep hill to the cabin. The ranger wouldn't start at first, but then they got it going. The cabin is up on a hill, requiring a drive up a steep incline. I was a bit nervous driving up it myself, let alone having a UTV full of teenage girls drive it. Thankfully they made it back safely and got some cute pictures.

Then we had dinner which consisted of yummy soups, breadsticks, and salad. I had brought gluten free rolls for me and Jenna. Then the girls made "Junk Journals," which are like scrapbooks, but made with "junk" -- ripped up magazines, paper, pieces of ribbon etc. Mindy had the idea to do this so that the girls could document their royalty year. I am not really familiar with Junk Journals, but with the idea of scrapbooking in mind I brought pictures of Jesus and temples for the girls to choose from. They all loved these and each of them made a Jesus page, which was really sweet. Mindy and Sara brought TONS of scrapbookings supplies so they had lots of ideas to choose from! 

I am so glad that all of the girls get along so well together. It was fun to listen to the girls talk and laugh and to be able to visit with the other moms. I wish they all could have come. After working on the journals, we all had rootbeer floats and then everyone stayed up late talking. Then the moms went to bed while the girls stayed up until 2:30 am watching "Miss Congeniality." Cortnie finally gave Jenna the book she made for Jenna's birthday, and it turned out really cute! She had the ideas to do 18 letters for Jenna's 18th birthday. She requested letters and photos from family and friends and then put them all together in a cute scrapbook. she wasn't finished with it yet she brought the book and worked on it while everyone else was working on their journals. 

The next morning we ate a simple breakfast of yogurt, fruit, granola, and bagels and cream cheese and then cleaned up and headed up! Next item of business for me and my family was to take down our above-ground pool and get it put away before the storms came! 

Swiss Days: Santa Clara City Royalty

This week was Swiss Days and so it was a very busy week for our Santa Clara City Royalty!! Sunday afternoon included a photoshoot in order to hurry and get a photo ready for the Town Hall. 

Tuesday the girls met at the town hall to put together the race packets for Saturday's 5K. Here are the girls with our Mayor, Jarett Waite. Jarett took office last January, replacing Rick Rosenberg, who served as Mayor for 19 years. 

Wednesday night included meeting the city council. 

This is the royalty with the city council and the youth council (in red). I didn't even know that our city had a youth council! Jenna and the other royalty members all decided to join the Santa Clara City youth council, and so now they will be doubly involved!  

Thursday the girls helped serve cookies at the Town Hall dinner. 

After the dinner the girls changed from their short dresses into their long dresses for the Swiss Days opening ceremonies, where they were officially introduced to the audience.  

Friday the girls helped with butter-making at the pioneer games. 

Friday night the girls helped with the Swiss Miss and Mister presentations. 

Saturday morning, bright and early at 6:00 am, the girls helped finish up the race packets for the Swiss Days 5K, and then helped with the time cards after the race. 

Here is Jenna with Clarissa and Audrey, who ran the race.

Then the girls changed into their gowns for the parade! 

Jase and Ellen brought the kids to meet me at the parade. But then Jase and Evan had to leave for Evan's soccer game. Ellen stayed with Eli and Elsie and we got some pictures of them with the royalty at the "meet and greet." You can see by Eli's face that he is NOT happy about having his picture taken with the princesses, haha! 

We got a similar picture with Jared years ago! 

After the meet and greet the girls ate take-out from Costa Vida and then headed to the town hall to host BINGO!! Apparently this is a very popular activity with awesome prizes. 

Swiss Days wrapped up around 4:00. Jenna came home and attempted to take a nap and then she and some of the royalty girls met up with some of her other friends to go to the city slides in St. George. Busy day!! 

Dixie Round-Up Parade

Who knew there were so many parades in Washington County? This is the third week in a row for Jenna, with one more coming up next week! 

Can I just say that Jenna is the BEST 1st Attendant (and friend) EVER?? She helps keep Cortie on track -- with all of the little things: communication details, navigation, rides, hairspray, and fixing her crown. She even stayed up until 11:30 p.m. last night highlighting Cortnie's hair! I think they started around 8:00 p.m. -- so it took a while! 

Ivins Heritage Parade

This morning was the Ivins Heritage Parade! Rick was on a weekend work cruise to Ensenada and so he wasn't able to go. This parade was WAY shorter than the one in Hurricane last week! That one had 118 entries, and this one only had 40. So I was able to run out to Marion Wall's birthday party out in Hurricane after the parade. Jenna and the girls went out to lunch at Icebox in Ivins before heading home. I love Ivins -- we lived there for 7 years when we first moved to this area and so we have a lot of memories there! 

 Marion's birthday party!