Sunday, September 20, 2015

Homecoming Day Date - Skittle Bowling and Pizza

Grace and I went shopping Saturday morning to find her a cute pair of shoes and a few other things for the Homecoming Dance.  She was back and ready by noon for Kendall to pick her up for their "day date".  Both were as cute as could be when he picked her up.  I love that he had no problem with me taking a few pix before they left.

They went "Skittle Bowling", which means that they bowled with a "twist".  Before each bowl, you'd draw a skittle from the bag and follow the designated instructions.  Orange means you bowl with the opposite hand.  Green means you bowl "Grannie style", between the legs, Red means you do a spin in the lane before letting go of the ball and so forth.  Grace said it was hysterical!  After they bowled, they ordered pizza.  She said the guy took for.ev.er to bring the pizza.  When he returned with it, he brought a Dominoes box of pizza.  Dominoes is right next door!  The guy charged them twice the Dominoes price for pizza that they could have walked over and gotten themselves. They thought that was pretty funny!



She came home in time to run to town and pick up a few other last minute items that she needed for the dance and then back home to start curling her hair and make-up.   Grace was so excited all afternoon!  I loved her enthusiasm!  She and Kendall are friends, neighbors, ward members, so they are totally comfortable together, which makes it nice...none of the jitters seemed apparent!  It was a great way to attend her first semi-formal.  Grace opted for a short dress instead of a formal for this dance.  I've already bought her formal for a winter dance, so I hope she gets asked!  ;)

When Kendall picked her up, he came in with a beautiful fresh lei from Hawaii.  His dad had, literally, gotten off the plane two hours before and brought it fresh that morning.  It smelled divine!  I knew that this was his plan, so I ordered a boutonniere with a blue and purple orchid in it.  They looked smashing together!  I think that they were both a more nervous about putting on the boutonniere than any other factor in the evening.  They were troopers and let us take tons of pix before they left for dinner.

Here's a few of the pix... the first, I took with my phone, before Kendell arrived.  I texted it to my mother and to Liza.  Liza had been on Facetime while we did hair and makeup, giving her big sisterly advice.  Mom immediately called and left a message:  "Put Gracie in the bedroom and LOCK THE DOOR!  Do not let her go on a date!  She's too beautiful!"

We had a little sit-down visit about being gracious...not that Grace would ever need that, but we talked about dating etiquette, about showing appreciation for every little thing and making every moment count before she got dressed.  It was funny because she was telling me what mattered.  Love this girl's manners and, as Doug said, "She got the right name.  "Grace" fits her to a tee!"

I love the dark blue tulle layers of slip, but it doesn't show in any of the pix!  Barely in this one.

"Scootching" down for Kendall to put on her lei.  Oh, it smelled divine!  Seriously, like heaven!


Putting on his boutonniere.  (Truth be told, we had Julie, his mom, help!)


My favorite!


Could she be any cuter!?


The other couple...so cute!  Love the bow-ties, boys!

And we had to have a silly one!


"I can't believe I'm really a Junior and I'm going to a dance!" were probably Grace's most repeated words all day! 

They came home as soon as the dance ended and Grace floated in!  She was so excited and loved every minute of the day!  She could hardly stop talking to go to bed!  It was a hugely successful day!  Julie and Layne said that Kendall was just as happy with things.  Score for Homecoming!  What a wonderful memory she will have!

She was excited to wear her lovely blue dress to church this morning.  I had to grin when I noticed Kendall and Grace sharing a hymn book, as we all sat on the same row in church.  She was blushing, but it was so cute.  They really are good friends!

It was a harried afternoon of going from our home ward to the student ward.  As soon as the meetings ended, we had our first "Linger Longer", which is a full-fledged meal for the students, where they can linger and get to know each other.  Since the committees are not all totally in place yet, the Bishopric wives prepared the meal for 150 hungry college kids... hawaiian haystacks.  They were a huge hit, followed by Ward Prayer and then icecream and cookies.  We are loving getting to know these kids more and more each week!  I realized a few days ago that our first Home Evening in our home will be on my birthday!  So, for my birthday, this year, I'll be cooking a meal for 47 college students!  I'm so excited for it!

After all of the meetings and festivities, we all came home and the kids were right out the door to a Bishop's fireside at his home.  We were getting ready for bed and realized that it was almost ten, and where were the kids?  Doug opened the front door and half the ward kids were out in the front yard talking still.  A good night and lots of "That was awesome!" as they came inside.

Doug and I climbed into bed together after family prayer, for the first time in five years on a work night!  At 10PM!  HAPPINESS!  And now, he's snoring and I'm back up blogging because it will take my body a few weeks to adjust to the earlier bedtime.  BUT, it was so fun to crawl into bed together and talk for a few minutes before he was out!  I'm so excited about this shift change!

We have had both vehicles down for the past few weeks.  We got the tranny fixed in the van and on the way home from picking it up, something with the radiator in the Expedition died.  So, we've been using Doug's mom's Subaru for several weeks now.  The van will be ready to pick up in the morning.  Having one car this past week has been a nightmare!  Five people, four with jobs at all different hours, school, church and life in general... it will be great to get the van back tomorrow...and to take the Expedition in next.  Help!  Talk about emergency fund!

Life is good!  Even with broken cars!

3 comments:

  1. perhaps I missed it but after the darling invite, how did Grace accept?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Her hair is so amazing!! Does she had any tips/tricks to share? What type of wand does she use? Thanks, Starla

    ReplyDelete
  3. Grace is so pretty in her lovely blue dress, I can't believe how your kids are all so grown up now. I have followed your blog for a few years now and wow, how they have all changed so much!

    ReplyDelete