Allyson's Senior Prom

Allyson got to go to Mormon prom first and now finally her senior prom. Her date was Brendon Crave from our ward. He also took Allyson on her first date the day she turned 16. He picked her up at our house and then they met up with a group of about 15 couples for pictures and prom. Had to get the picture of the art of pinning on the flower.

Just outside our house where we got just a couple of fun pictures.

Brendon with his two hot dates. Allyson's best friend BethAnn did  not have a date and so she went with them.

A few of the couples in her group. Hmmmm. I wonder why Allyson was a little concerned about how sleeves would work. After a lot of stress and trying to alter her first dress, I finally started to hunt one more time with a prayer that I could find just one dress with sleeves. With an answer to prayers, I found this dress in the same color as her original and returned the original one. No alterations needed. Not her first pick, but she was such a good sport about wearing it. I guess we are a "peculiar people!"

Some of her good friends from school!

I personally think she looked stunning. A little Audrey Hepburn flair. As they say "Modest is Hottest!"

Allyson and her best friend BethAnn

Allyson, BethAnn, and Adri

One last final picture. This is the problem with digital photography. I took 132 pics of prom and had to decide which ones to post. I love pictures too much.

Allyson on her very last day ever of High School. Finally!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She is done and the rest of the kids go for 2 1/2 more weeks. Bonding time. Yeah!

I figured this day was worthy of my master poster making skills. Hee Hee. Hey, I tried. Does she look a little excited or what. Goodbye Hononegah, Hello BYU!

Her excited sisters helping her celebrate. Are they excited for her to leave or sad?????

Just had to add this awesome picture I took out front in our flower bed. Pretty mad photography skills.

We are a little too die hard American Idol fans. Yes, one of the final three contestants is from near hear, so when they did their home visits guess who went down? Yes, our entire family, plus Allyson's best friend. We stood in the pouring rain for 3 1/2 hours to watch her short concert. It was crazy. Allyson and Mckenzie even got chased down by the police when they jumped the fence. Oh BOY! We did not even make it on T.V. after all that and she did not even make it to the finale next week. Whatever!

Yes, it was dark and rainy but here she is. Our AI favorite!

The girls with their mangled sign after it was all over. Notice the fatigue on their faces. Hee Hee. Also, notice Sydney's coat is covered in marker that dripped all over while she was trying to protect the sign.

They boys after it was all over were still giving it a thumbs up.

All the little wet rats.

Our little 8th grade Andrew signing his name on the National Junior Honor Society register. This is the first year they have done this in Middle School. Little smarty pants got nominated and had to fill out a whole application and then was inducted into the NJHS. You go boy!

Accepting his award!

He even got his own cords to wear with his 8th grade graduation gown. That's right. They do a full on 8th grade graduation, minus the cap. Silly if you ask me. But hey, who asked.

Special Olympics! This is a state wide event that the youth help with every year. Their favorite event for sure. They each get assigned athletes to help. These are two of the boys that Allyson and Kenzie helped.

Allyson awarding one of the guys his medal. They get so excited about this. They are so fun to watch.

Mckenzie awarding her girl a medal. They give them big hugs and get so excited. Makes them really appreciate their lives when they take part in this.

I couldn't find Andrew after the events started, but here he is with his buddies from chuch at the beginning.

They have a big opening ceremony and only our youth from the stake get to line the field to cheer the teams as they come through. They even light a torch to begin.

Little Princess Ka'hulani from Hawaii. (aka: Sydney) This was what she did for her wax museum at school. They have to dress up as their character and give a memorized speech when people push the button on their hand. She did a perfect job.

Easter fun 2011. This was Allyson's last Easter with us. Of course as you can see, she made her egg a "Jimmer" egg with her BYU t-shirt to go with it. You can click on these pics to enlarge them if you are really bored and want to see details.

Mckenzie concentrating hard on making a perfect egg.

I couldn't resist putting this one on here to show Sydney's beautiful face!

Little Tyler perfectionist working on making his perfect egg.

Little girly girl with her pile of eggs to embelish.

The clan having fun with Dad. I was happy to be the photographer and watch. So cute. I love all my little babies and that hottie Dad!

Allyson's Magical Mormon Prom

Mormon Prom! A guy from another ward in our stake (that is 1 1/2 years younger than her) asked Allyson to go with him. Evan Gallagar took her and even picked her up in a limo. How fun. They had a blast. They took them to dinner and then to Lake Geneva where the prom was held this year at the Riviera. A far cry better than stake centers where they have been in the past.

This is the group of kids she went with. She was the only one from our ward with this group. And yes, that is a purple tux and cane and top hat. I about died laughing when they came in. He reminds me of Ducky off of Pretty in Pink. They all came up to pick up the girls at our house.

Allyson had serious dress drama. This dress was from Penney's outlet of course for only $10. I ended up sewing the brown shrug and sash with bow to make this modest. What an experience. We all know I am no seamstress. By some small miracle it worked. Good thing you can't see details in the pics.

Cute little couple!

Getting into the limo with one of the dad's in the background to ruin the picture.

The boys brought corsages for the girls. They treated them like true princesses which is rare these days. Kudos to true gentlemen. They picked them up in a limo, gave them each a dozen roses, his mom made each of the girls a beaded bracelet to match their dresses, and the corsages. So nice.

Allyson trying to pin her boutonniere on her date. Took a while to figure out.

My favorite picture that her date's mom edited.

Hawaii Spring Break 2011

Hawaii Spring Break 2011

March 21-28

Hawaii here we come. This was no small deal getting a family of seven ready for a once in a lifetime trip. Here we are at Chicago O'hare airport with our million pieces of luggage. We flew to Oahu and we were quite the spectacle. We decided to take a big family vacation before Ally heads to BYU this fall and we still have all our kids at home. We had the time of our lives and hope these memories will live on in our family for years to come. We felt so blessed to be able to do this.

Our arrival in Honolulu greeted us with a few showers and clouds. There was a perfect rainbow welcoming us to Hawaii as we pulled out of the airport. This was our first full day and because of the clouds we spent the day doing non-beach outings. First stop, Dole Pinapple Plantation. We toured all the grounds and had the best dole whip ever. Kids had a blast seeing how pineapples grow. Underground like potatoes.

Next stop. Waimea Bay Waterfall. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! Our two teenage babes on the bridge. This was definately the prettiest part we saw in all of Oahu. It cost a whopping $72 for our family to hike up to the falls, but boy was it worth it. The foliage in this valley was like nothing we had ever seen. So beautiful. Took our time getting up to the falls where we would swim in the falls.

I couldn't help but add this picture of the hottie of the pack. Wearing Allyson's fedora hat with no care in the world about how he looks. Good old dad.

Here we are swimming at the bottom of the falls. So relaxing and so fun. LOVED IT!

Our hike back down the valley with the beautiful fall in the background. What a fun way to start our trip.

After the falls, we went to the beach on the North Shore. The waves were wild. This picture does not even begin to show how wicked the waves were. Brian bought 2 boogie boards for the kids and Andrew and Tyler had a blast here with them. Yes, Brian bought the boards.

My favorite picture. Hee Hee. Andrew and Syd had so much fun burying Tyler and it looks like someone's head rolled off and is just laying on the beach.

Andrew showing off his svelte bod while pulling Ty's head out of the sand.

Our little Hawaiin babe.

To end the day, we stopped at the famous Matsumotos on the North Shore for shaved ice. I know one would not think one shaved ice is better than another, but we will testify that this surely is delightful. Ice cream on the bottom. Yummy to our tummies.

Next day was spent snorkeling all day at Hanauma Bay. Here is the clan at the top of the hill overlooking the bay. So beautiful again. Paradise actually. Perfect place for the little kids to snorkle. It was a shallow bay that they could easily get around in. Ty and Syd are petrified of sharks and did not want to go out too far.

Hanging Loose while snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. Andrew did not want to come in from snorkeling.

Our little 10 year old snorkeler having the time of his life. He stayed out almost the whole day.

The three sissies enjoying the crystal clear water and hangin together.

At Hanauma Bay. You had to walk down a big mountain to get to the bay. This is a pic from the bay.

Allyson modeling on her way back up the mountain overlooking the bay.

The whole clan on top of the mountain with the beautiful Hawaiin ocean in the back.

After snorkeling, we stopped at the Halona Blowhole. It was pretty awesome. It had a big hole in the rocks next to the ocean with water spurting our every few minutes.

Ally modeling again. This was a little beach we climbed down to next to the lookout. This is where they have filmed movies and do modeling shoots. Beautiful with sea turtles and tucked away.

Five out of seven days in Hawaii we had a perfect rainbow. No wonder they call it the rainbow state.

Of course the Zoobie family had to make a visit to BYU Hawaii. This was our next day which we spent at the Polynesian Cultural Center all day, but we stopped here and the temple grounds before starting the day there. Our future cougarette visiting her sister school.

Our next future Cougarette! She looks like a Hawaiin babe.

And our first Cougar, we hope.

Ally and Kenzie

We had arranged for the 3 oldest kids to do baptisms for the dead at the Laie temple, so I got to take them into the temple and watch them do them. It was so neat for them to have that chance.

Dad and Mom in front of the Laie temple. Beautiful grounds.

Ally and Syd in front of the temple.

On our way back to the Polynesian Cultural Center we found the famous Giovanni's shrimp truck. Brian was in heaven. If only I liked shrimp. They have tasty garlic shrimp. Brian loved it.

Arriving at the Polynesian Cultural Center. We spent the entire day here going to all the villages, then the luau and fianlly the night show with all the fire dancing. Tons of fun. We won't mention that Brian, Allyson and Mckenzie left us and went back to BYU Hawaii to watch the BYU basketball game on t.v. Thank goodness someone told them the wrong time so they were not gone too long. The nerve.

Inside the PCC

This was the village of Samoa and Andrew got called up on the stage to be part of the show. It was hilarious. He did a great job and was so excited. He even got to drink the coconut juice.

Our awesome coconut tree climber.

Village of Fiji

Village of Tahiti

Our awesome Luau! O.k. the kids wouldn't touch the food. But we had to say we went to a luau while in Hawaii. They put on a show during the luau and they parade the roasted pig across the stage.

Our PIG!

Posing after our dinner

Ally and Kenzie with their hottie! They were in heaven to say the least.

As if that weren't enough they had to live up again at the end of the night show. They were pretty excited!

Andrew and Tyler boogie boarding on Waikiki Beach. The three littles and Brian were out playing and a huge sea turtle swam right up next to them. They ran back like maniacs to tell us sunbathers what we missed.

Doing what Sydney loves most. Playing in the ocean. This is her happy place.

Tyler trying to stay occupied during our 9 hour flight home. Playing with all his army guys that he bought at Pearl Harbor. What a trip!!! WE LOVED IT!!!! The nine hour flight and five hour time difference made getting home and to school the next day a little tough. We are back and in our routine again with this trip engrained in our memories for a lifetime!