Mulan Jr.

 Our elementary school did 'Mulan Jr.' this year.  Ellie and MJ were both able to be in it.  Ellie was a hairdresser and mother.  MJ was a dressmaker and daughter.  They both had solo singing lines and lots of chorus songs and dancing.  It was a great little production and they each did an awesome job!  The hours that were put in are huge.  They rehearsed nearly every Tuesday and Thursday for 2.5 hrs. since January.  I helped on Thursdays with helping the kids learn the music.  It was a huge time commitment for me and I'm not sure if I want to do it again!  :)  A few weeks ago, MJ was complaining about another rehearsal and said she was not going to try out for the play next year...but now that its over she is already talking about what play they might do and is excited about trying out.  We'll see.

 You can imagine the time that went into the scene settings.  This was on the side wall.  It's looks like we might be in China, right?

These 2 photos were in the hallway advertisement.  Cute, right?

I bought the dvd so you can all watch it next time you come to SoCal.  :)

Happy Easter

We were so lucky to have the Petersen family here with us for Easter weekend!  They came specifically to be with MJ for her baptism.  It was a really special time.  We love them so much!  Easter morning was fun with these cutie pies.  (As you can see, Porter and Chloe were sleeping in.)

 Blake, Ren, Ellie, Cecilee, MaryJane and Jesse

It's hard to believe that Cece and MJ are a month apart in age.  MJ is a midgit (her words) and Cece is tall.  In fact, she is almost as tall as Ellie, who is also small for an 11 year old.

Party!

MJ's friends came out in full force even though I delivered the invites just 2 days before the party!  With a little help from my in house party planner (Chloe) and my sister, Rebecca, we had a blast!  We played games, ate, and played more!

This was a version of hot potato.  We wrapped up a stuffed animal in about 15 layers of foil.  Our game wasn't as successful as we wanted since someone (Ellie or MJ) spilled the beans that you actually wanted to end up with the 'potato'.  :)  We had music going and when the music stopped, whoever had the potato unwrapped a layer.  The girl to unwrap the last layer got to keep it!  It was Sara.

Above: front - Sierra, Sara, MJ, Isabella, Andi, Coral, Blaire and back - Mollie, Autumn, Ella, Elle, Rayna, Lindsey, Madison, Carmella and our cousin, Cecilee

Then we went in the back yard and played a new and improved game of musical chairs/scavenger hunt. Music played and when it stopped, Aunt Rebecca yelled out an item (one that we had pre-selected, like lipstick sucker) and the girls had to run around the yard and find said item.  We had toys and candy and gum spread all over our mini yard.  :)  When they found the item they raced back to their chairs, and if they didn't get a chair...they were out.  It was hard to make them be out, especially those first couple of girls.  But this ended up being really fun!  If you were out, you still got to scavenge for the item, you just couldn't get back in a chair, so couldn't win the game.

(Chloe played a version of this game at a party recently.  They had to find items like a credit card from an adult who would trust them to give it back, or a business card, or a tube of lipstick.  There were adults at the party too.  It was a bah mitzvah.  She said it was sooo fun!)

After the games, we made little necklaces.  I ordered 'dog tag' style necklaces engraved "Friends Forever! Love, MaryJane" from oriental trading company.  And on the other side of the tag, we let the girls put bling stickers.

And at the end...it was all about the tetherball!  And let me tell you, these girls are serious about tetherball!  We got this for MJ for her birthday.  It has been a great purchase.  The kids are out there all the time!  We love it!  Even though our yard is mini, we can still fit a tetherball.  :)

We had some decorations.  We had everything all turquoise and green.  Turquoise is MJ's favorite color. This picture doesn't do justice to how cute it was.  We had so much fun.  Thanks for having a birthday, MJ!  XXOO

Eight is Great!

MJ turned 8.  She was baptized on April 23.  We were lucky to have my sister, Rebecca and her family come down for the event.  And we had lots of good friends come to support her.  It was really nice.  I pretty much copied the program from Cecilee's baptism that we attended just a month before.  

Baptism of MaryJane Marsh

April 23, 2011

Conducting……..Bishop Keller

Pianist…………….Rebecca Petersen

Chorister…………Ellie Marsh

Opening Song………”I Am A Child of God”

Opening Prayer………Porter Marsh

Musical #...”Baptism” by Cecilee Petersen, MaryJane and Ellie Marsh

Talk on Baptism………..Chloe Marsh

Baptism performed by Rusty Marsh

Witnessed by Greg Petersen and Lee Hynek

Talk on Holy Ghost……………Greg Petersen

Confirmation

Musical #...”I Know That My Savior Loves Me”…………Cecilee Petersen, Chloe, Ellie and MaryJane Marsh

Primary Welcome………Ali Wilkin

Ward Welcome………..Bishop Keller

Closing Song…………….”How Great Thou Art”

Closing Prayer………….

It turned out really nice.  Chloe did a great job on her talk and I wish we had it on tape.  She is so cute.  And Greg's, of course, was awesome.  (Chloe and Greg did the talks at Cece's baptism too.)  I really loved the musical numbers.  "Baptism" is a traditional song for us, it was sang by my Grandma Helen at my baptism and I think all my siblings as well.  MJ sang the 1st verse, Cece the 2nd and Ellie the 3rd.  They did a really nice job.  And the other number was really nice too.  

 Our stake provides a dress that the girls can be baptized in.  (My other girls used the white jumpsuits...not near as cute.)  

 So many of MaryJane's friends came.  Taylor, Sara, Ella, Andi, MJ, Elle, Anna, Cece, Madison, Ellie and Hannah

 Ren likes to pose...he kept asking me to take one more...this is 2 of several.  :)

Little Bunny Foofoo

Here is my cute little bunny! 

Ren's preschool class had a little Easter hunt and party.  They sang songs for us moms and a few dads and siblings.  They ate snacks and played a bit.  It was precious!

Ren makes a valiant attempt at his name!  I'm pretty impressed actually.  I think he probably had some help with that.

He is singing popcorn popping, the 'I looked out the window' part.  He can't see much out of that window, obviously!  :)

Popcorn popping on the apricot tree!

Hawaii - Day Seven (last Hurrah)

One last hurrah swimming at the lagoon and pool.  We made one stop on the way to the airport.  The ABC Store.  That place has everything a tourist could want!  We bought chocolates, so many we didn't count (Rus brought lots back for people at work, as well as friends), souvenir jewelry and t-shirts.  

The plane ride was like entertainment central.  Each headrest had a personal tv, including several movies, tv shows, music and games.  Ren (along with us all) was in heaven.  :)  He also really wanted to pull his own luggage.  It's pretty much as big as him.  He is so adorable.

We all can't say enough about what a great time we had!  In fact, we have a list of things that we'd like to do if we ever go back.  :)  Great memories.  

We did have a pretty rude awakening the next morning.  Seminary, school, work...with the time change, it was a tough adjustment for a few days.  Well worth it though!  We love you Oahu!

Hawaii - Day Six

Rusty played golf all morning.  His course was very green, with mountains surrounding it.  He's never played in a place quite like that.  

While Rusty was away, the kids and I played.  We rented one of those trampoline/float things to play around with in the lagoon.  And also a kayak to paddle around.  That was cool, but after our allotted hour, I was very nauseous and was wondering why!  I mentioned it to Rusty later and he suggested that I might be sea sick!  I had not idea I would get that, but the lagoon was a little choppy that day.  We spent some good time snorkeling along the lagoon walls.  I have to admit, I was a little chicken.  Me and Ellie swam across the lagoon.  That was quite a feat.  It was a lot larger than we thought.  :)

When Rusty got home, he and Porter did some snorkeling and we all played in the sand/water.  It was a relaxing day.  I loved it.

 Porter geared up.

So, later that night, Rusty and I went on a dinner cruise.  That was so much more fun than I thought it would be!  We went with a group of his friends from work.  They were crazy and fun.  And the food was so yummy.  We ate crab and steak, delicious mashed potatoes and steamed veggies.  And fresh green salad and a decent dessert.  Ok, dessert was just ok, but everything was really good!  It was all you can eat crab, and I had asked for more at some point in the evening, but it never came.  So, I was like, oh well, forget about it.  But Rusty, he flagged down out waitress and she apologized for forgetting and brought me a HUGE plate full!  Way more than I could eat.  It was slightly embarrassing but mostly just funny.

 Me and my crab!  I found out, I really like crab, if I could just get it out of the shell!

 While I worked on eating all the crab...Rusty took some great pics from our boat.  Aren't they beautiful, and really the photos don't do the real thing justice.  It's just a teaser for your own trip.

 Dessert - presentation, A; taste, B

 Rusty, me, Armida (Director of nursing at Rusty's facility) and Armida daughter standing behind her.

So, after dinner, we watched a very entertaining show.  We were front and center to this set of dancers.  We could literally reach out and touch them!  They were very entertaining.

After the show, the DJ put on music and everyone on the boat got up and danced and I was amazed at how people come out of their shell on the dance floor!  Check out Armida and Shoney (DON at another facility) rock their moves.  This whole night was super fun!  

When we got off the boat, my legs were a little shaky, though.  I guess I just don't have sea legs, as they say...Rusty apparently does.  :)  We were sad for this day, our last full day in Hawaii to end!