Calissa's Dance Recital

Calissa's dance recital was last Saturday night.  She had pictures the Saturday before and then a dress rehearsal the Friday night before out in Antioch.

 Here she is before her pictures.  I was not a fan of her costume and voiced my disapproval, but what to do when it's a week before the performance?  When she put it on for the first time it was sooooo bad, but after an hour of alterations (thanks mom) it was definitely much better and at least a little more modest! 

 The theme this year was "Everything Old is New Again."  Most acts danced to older music that has been remade recently.  As always it was a really nice show.

 Travis and Parker were off in Utah running Ragnar, so it was just Conner and I, 

 and Grandma and Grandpa to support Calissa.

 She performed in the 1st half of the show,  but sat out in the audience with us for the 2nd half.  They danced  a tap number to "The Time (Dirty-Bit)" by the Black Eyed Peas.  She did amazing and I think she was the best one up there!  She was definitely the smallest, but she held her own.

 Here is the curtain call at the very end of the show.

 Congratulations Calissa!  We're very proud of you!

Here she is with her favorite teacher, Michelle!

(Now we can throw that costume away!)

Overhang gone

In preparation for our new backyard, we decided to take out the overhang ourselves to save a little money.  Last Saturday Trav, Parker, and I got busy and started cutting it down. Calissa did help when we started hauling it all away! Conner was on a camp-out for Scouts so he missed all the fun!

 We talked strategy for a while and then just went at it.

 It worked pretty well until a section fell on Trav, but at least he didn't get hurt!

 Travis had Parker do a little of the cutting at the end.  He thought his brains were going to vibrate out of his head, but he did pretty good!  I did my job well of holding the support post up (and taking pictures, of course)!

 

It took two trips to the dump, but we got it all out by ourselves and our patio and backyard look so much bigger!

Father's Day Surprise for the Bishop

Trav came home from the Tuesday night youth activity with a fun surprise from the Young Women in the ward.  They made him these darling shirt and ties and wrote personal notes to Trav, wishing him a happy Father's Day and thanking him for his service as Bishop.  It also had some candy that we all enjoyed.  Trav was really touched by the time that the girls and leaders spent to wish him a happy Father's Day!

We celebrated that morning by having roll-up pancakes and having him open presents.  He received a cute picture bookmark of Calissa, a new charcoal grill (that he hasn't been able to use yet, but I've used a couple of times), a new pair of exercise pants, and a stick roller to use on his muscles after he runs. After a day of church, a dinner of lasagna, and a banana dessert, it was a great day!

We love Travis and appreciate all he does to make our family complete!

One last quilt

Almost each year, I've made a quilt for the kids' teachers at the Elementary School.  This is the last year we are at Monte Gardens and I really struggled with making that final quilt!  It wasn't that I didn't want to, it was just that I was sooooo busy subbing and helping the kids with final projects that I wasn't sure I really had the time to do it.  The guilt won out and so I went shopping for fabric the last Monday afternoon of school. I cut and sewed on Tuesday, and cut some more! Then my mom washed it (so it could fray) on Wednesday.  Finally, we gave it to her on the last day of school on Thursday.  It was worth it, since she loved it.  I'm glad that I was able to complete that last one!!

Calissa is officially a middle schooler!

Wednesday, June 12th was not the last day of school, but it was the day of Calissa's promotion ceremony from Monte Gardens.  

 It was the end of an era there since our family has been attending that school for 11 years.  Here is Calissa at home before the ceremony. Doesn't she look beautiful?

 A picture before we got to school.

 It was PACKED!!  We stood in the back of the room.

Here is Calissa and she accepts her certificate from her teacher, Ms. Gerdts.

 After the ceremony, they had a reception outside their classroom.  We had a chance to visit with some other families and talk about how fast our kids are growing up!

 Calissa, and her awesome teacher, Ms. Gerdts!

 These girls have been through a lot since Kindergarten, but still love each other ... at least most days!

Congratulations Calissa!  We are proud of all the hard work that you've put in and know that you'll do great at middle school!  Watch out Sequoia!

One last award for Parker

Parker received an award from his Pre-Honors English class at the end of the year.  His teacher chose him and one other student as the "Student of the Year."

Congratulations Parker!

Conner's end-of-year awards!

At the end of the school year, Sequoia has an awards assembly for each grade level.  Parents are not invited, so we didn't get to go, but Conner received several awards and we are very proud of him and all the hard work that he put in this year!

 He received an award for Pre-Algebra, 

Spanish, 

Gate Science, 

and a 4.0!  

Congratulations Conner and we know that you'll do great in 8th grade!

A Busy Thursday!

The Thursday before school got out was a busy day in the Burr household!  All the kids had projects due that day and we worked hard to get them done!  It was a struggle, but we all made it happen somehow!

 Calissa had her state float due for the parade that afternoon.

 Parker had his group Physics bridge due,

and Conner had a paper due as well as his play for the student body that day.  Luckily, everyone got everything done on time and turned in!

 Here is Calissa coming by my classroom that I was subbing for that day! 

 (I subbed 7 out of the last 10 days of school ... it was a little crazy!)

 Here are the cute 1st graders that I was with that day!

 Luckily, the craziness is almost over!  Soon it will be summer and another kind of craziness will begin.

Conner's School Acting Debut

Conner was assigned to have Art and Drama, each for a semester in 7th grade this year.  He wasn't really excited about either one, but he ended up enjoying both of them.  He had Drama the 2nd half of the year and they put on a play at the end of the Semester.  He surprised us one day when he came home and told us he had the male lead in the play!  The play was 28 pages long and he had parts in almost every scene.  It was a lot to memorize, but he did a great job!

  

On a very hot Friday night, we went to watch him perform, "Beauty and the Beast: A Love Story?"

Here he is before the play started, all dressed up as Joshua Harcourt. 

Here is his bio in the program.

Conner did a great job!  Several times I was laughing so hard, I was crying!  At one point the stage crew put up the wrong scene behind him and he ad-libbed for quite a while until they got the scene right again (after a lot of hints from Conner). He also had his trademark "Conner expressions" and really just shinned on stage!  Here he is at the curtain call. I tried to get some video in here, but am having technical issues!  

Conner and his friend Aaron.  Conner played Belle's father and Aaron played the beast. 

Congratulations Conner on your acting debut! You did a terrific job!  His teacher hopes he'll be in Drama 2 next year since he did such a great job, but Conner's not quite sure yet!

Calissa's Birthday Party

Calissa had her birthday party last Wednesday after school.  She had 9 friends over to make crafts at Grandma's House.  This is the third year that she's done it and she and her friends all LOVE it!

We had a little fruit and "spa water" to snack on before the party started.

 Then, we had brownie ice cream sundaes after the party was over. 

 Grandma had everything all ready to go before they all arrived.

 Here are some of the girls working on their projects.

Haley, Janel, Kaitlyn, Calissa, Kyrsten, Alexandra, Gracie

 Jocelyn and Jennifer

 Calssa and her two friends working on a project.  Aunt Tina and I helped out as well running a few of the easier projects. 

Here are the projects that the girls did.

Fancy dress card.  (I think this is my favorite)

 Just a general card.

 A notepad.

 A birthday cake with a candle (using a tea light).

And, a couple of cute necklaces.  We managed all of those projects in 1 1/2 hours!  We were moving fast.

With a couple of minutes to spare the girls dished up their brownie sundaes

and watched Calissa open her presents.

Thanks mom and Tina for making her party a success! My mom is pretty amazing!  Several of the girls told Calissa that she has the best birthday parties!  I would have to agree!