Thursday, August 26, 2010

Close Call

McKenna came home from baptisms for the dead the other day with this photo! Yikes! Shocked me until she showed me the next picture...
Ha Ha! We had a good laugh about that one!

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Monday, August 23, 2010

Catch Up





The 24th of July is the holiday Panguitch parades on and makes a big deal of (minus the fireworks - those are for the 4th). We started out the day by watching McKenna, Kimber, Addison and Marissa in the parade. The cheerleaders held a junior cheer camp 3 days before the parade and Marissa (Nancy's youngest) spent it with us to go to camp. We loved having her here and they were so cute in the parade chanting "Bobcats, Panguitch" and other one which exaustes my brain to write out because it is just spelling out Bobcats! Anyways, this year, was a town homecoming. Anyone ever graduating from PHS was invited back and there were lots of people in town and a big celebration at the high school later in the day. McKenna spent the day performing and cheering all over town.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Garfield County Outstanding Teen - 1st Attendant

Last night McKenna competed for Garfield County Outstanding Teen and received the title of 1st attendant! I am constantly amazed at this young woman, all her accomplishments, her attitude and her growing independence! Congratulations McKenna, you are beautiful, inside and out! For her talent, McKenna sang "Wouldn't It Be Lovely" from My Fair Lady. She tried to find a time period costume and thought it looked a little too elegant for Eliza Doolittle. So she modernized her wardrobe but kept the English accent. So cute!

She had to answer 2 onstage questions. The first one was about her platform issue. She is going to have a big fundraiser in all the Panguitch schools for Primary Children's Hospital. It really impacted her being up there for her surgery a couple of years ago. She roomed in the ICU with a little 18 month old boy who had basically lived in PCMC all his life. He was suffering from a degenerative disease. She wants to give to all those she saw that were in more medical need than herself.
Her next question was about a role model and why. She said her "awesome mother and grandmother". I agree her grandmother is amazing, but I wondered about the mother part. She just probably wants to gain brownie points for when she gets her license!

Instead of swimsuit competition, they have fitness lifestyle competition. Garrett scrubbed up his bike and let McKenna use it to show the judges. She also tried to brown nose the judges by saying that biking is her way of "going green"!


At the end of the night, Kenzy Veater of Panguitch took second attendant, Alexis Tebbs of Bryce Valley took Miss Garfield County, Outstanding Teen, and McKenna took first attendant! I would not have wanted to be a judge, all the girls did an incredible job. Congratulations!

For evening wear, the girls all had escorts. McKenna asked Garrett to be hers. After a promise of a dozen doughnuts, he finally agreed, and showed up at the competition dressed to the nines just to show off his sister! I think he looks pretty impressive myself!

McKenna and Garrett just after the competition. My photo of him escorting her onstage didn't turn out.

However hard we try, Garrett still shies away from kisses. We still try anyways! A great night!

Friday, August 13, 2010

Chicago!

So after waiting for McKenna to post her Chicago trip, I decided to do it. I am still missing my camera and school clothes for 4 children outweighed my need for a new one, I am stealing her pics and posting. I hope I get it right!
In her behalf, I would just like to thank everyone for all their support, she had an incredible time, was able to experience a once in a life time trip and came home with a gold medal from the national competition!
Baylee Palmer, McKenna, Katelyn Parkin, Frecia Houston
Baylee and McKenna competed together with their project of strengthening mother/daughter relationships by hosting a tea party for the cheer squad and their moms. They had a nationally recognized motivational speaker talk and we all had a great evening of bonding with each other. Katelyn and Frecia taught hygiene to 4th, 5th, and 6th graders in Panguitch and handed them out all a personal hygiene kit. All of these girls received a gold medal at the national convention! Great job. Also attending the convention from Panguitch were 3 other girls who received a silver medal for their book drive project and the solo young man who received a gold for his project in career choice developement.
McKenna and Baylee holding their poster for their competitive division.

Now that I got the proud mom stuff out of the way, here is the trip from start to finish.
Leaving from Panguitch - Dallin Bennett, Frecia Houston, McKenna, and Katelyn Parkin

After leaving from Panguitch late on July 2nd, arriving in Cedar to see the new Eclipse movie, and then staying overnight in St. George, the crew all arose early - around 5 am to catch the shuttle to Las Vegas for their morning flight to Chicago!

McKenna and Baylee in awe over their first airplane trip.

The Chicago River runs 156 miles through Chicago and is also know as the Chicago Loop. The river flows south away from Lake Michigan and towards the Mississippi River. The river is know for it's blue/green color and is dyed every year for St. Patricks Day.

Baylee, Katelyn and McKenna at the wonderful lobby of the Hyatt Motel.

Skyline view of Chicago.
Katelyn, McKenna, Dallin, Baylee, and Frecia at the Navy Pier

Lighthouse as seen from Navy Pier.
Navy Pier. It was build in 1916, it is one of Chicago's main attractions.

I love this photo of McKenna. I believe she is on a ferris wheel found at Millenium Park.

The Bean at Millenium Park. Actually it's real name is Cloud Gate, but has been dubbed the Bean because of it's shape. It is compsed of 168 stainless steel plates welded together and is so highly polished that it's exterior has no visible seams. It is 33 feet by 66 feet by 42 feet and weighs 110 tons. Cloud Gate is inspired by liquid mercury. You can walk all the way underneath it and around it and the crew had alot of fun with pics beneath it's mirror-like surface.

This is a view from under the Jay Pritzker Pavilion. The Pritzker Pavilion is the home of the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and the Grant Park Music Festival. The Pavilion also is home to many musical and performing arts events.

I wish I knew the name of this fountain, I tried to google it, but came up empty handed. It is also in Millenium Park and in my opinion, these 5 great youth are even more amazing the fountain behind them.

When McKenna showed us this picture I commented that it was odd, that in such a large city, there is not one car visible. I didn't even see the few people walking in the lower right corner until much later. Just an eerie pic considering the size and population of the city!

When McKenna got home, one of her impressions she shared with us was all the different architectural styles she saw.

A chapel, it looks like build more up than anything, I am guessing because of space constraints.

Another impressive building that caught McKenna's eye.

A view of the Chicago skyline from the vantage of a double decker bus.

Baylee, Frecia, McKenna and Katelyn on their whilwind (sp?) double decker bus tour.

One of their sight seeing stops was the Shedd Aquarium. The Aquarium opened in 1930 and contains over 25,000 fish, and was for some time the largest indoor aquarium in the world with 5,000,000 gallons of water. The Shedd Aquarium was the first inland aquarium with a permanent saltwater fish collection. I think McKenna took more pics here that anywhere else she visited in Chicago!

I guess even the fish have experience posing with the tourists who visit the aquarium!

Certainly the scuba divers cleaning the tanks like to get in on the photo action too!

Katelyn, McKenna and Baylee

Another way these guys experienced city transportation - a trolley ride!

When I first saw this picture, I was sure glad I wasn't there in person. This is from the Sears tower! She certainly doesn't have her dad's phobia of heights!

View of Chicago from the Sears Tower.

Yet another form of city transportation - Subway!

What trip to Chicago wouldn't be complete without a baseball game! This one at the US Cellular Field.

It rained quite a bit on the fans, and the game was delayed for a while until the boys could play without getting their uniforms all muddy!

Perhaps the highlight of the trip for the girls was their brunch at the American Girl Doll store. Dallin was patient enough with the tea party, knowing soon he would be visiting Wrigley Field!

Each girl was able to pick a "date" to brunch with. Dallin decided to forego this invitation however and just became the official photo taker for all the girls!

Mmmm, looks good! McKenna said this was one of the best meal she ate in Chicago. It rivaled the stadium style hot dog at the White Socks game and the Chicago pizza they enjoyed their last night there.

OK, so this picture got posted a little out of order, so bear with me. These girls attended a semi formal gala their last night in Chicago. This is so typical of these girls - strike a pose. It is just so them!

Back to the brunch - McKenna posing with her "date"!

Now back to the gala. There were 4 different dance genre floors, different bands, different refreshments. One big national teenage dance-off!



Finally, Dallin got his time too. Fan day at Wrigley Field!

McKenna picking a leaf from the Ivy Wall!

Besides getting to enjoy the sun on the outfield, the kids got to stand on the pictures mound, see the view from the dug out, and visit the locker room!
McKenna said Garrett Popcorn was all over Chicago. I think it made her miss her wonderful, sweet brother, just a little! She also said it was pretty good popcorn!
All in all, McKenna had a great trip. We were so grateful for her wonderful advisors who brought her home safely to us! She had an incredible time sight seeing, gaining cultural experiences that will last a lifetime, and learning with equally talented youth from all over the nation. We are so proud of you McKenna and love the beautiful young woman you are becoming!