Ophir Old Mining Town

On Sunday, we decided to do something together as a family that wouldn't cost a ton of money since we need to save money right now. We have never been up to the Ophir old mining town but have heard that it's pretty cool. So, we took a drive to Ophir. It's a WAY WAY small town, and nothing I could ever live in or anything, but it was cool to check out. There were random things laying around the mountain area.









We kinda walked around and saw some of the cool things that were there.










We even saw an old phone booth that was right in the middle of "town". It cracked me up since I haven't seen one in years. I didn't try it out to see if it still works. LOL!



Josh and Tiff were funny. They kept looking in all the windows to see the things inside. Of course, I had to get the pics.




There were actually some pretty cool things inside the buildings. In fact, in one of them, they had a dummy in one of the windows and Josh jumped so hard he almost fell over. It was hillarious! I am too short to get a pic of the dummy since it was up way high, so the immagination will have to do for that visual.




There was a lot of fun things to see there.













It was kind of weird seeing the really old with the really new and right next to each other.







The other thing that cracked me up was their town sign. Only in nowhereville do people still have signs like this.



I will say though that it is pretty cool how very close they are to the mountain. I mean they are literally right next to it.



It was a fun family activity to do together on one our very few days where we are all actually off work, dance and school and can do things together. It's days and times like this that really make you remember why you love your family so much.

Layton Competition at North Ridge High

Tiffany's first solo competition was a new experience for both Tiffy and I since she has never done one. She was supposed to perform Friday night but at last minute (for some unknown reason) they bumped the mini and Juniors to Saturday morning. Actually, since we weren't competing as a team on Saturday, it worked out even better. Josh had a photo shoot in Ogden for a catalog in the morning on Friday. So, I kept Tiffy home from school and we packed everything up and got everything ready together. We also worked on her double pirouette and guess what? She nailed it! She was SOO excited. She couldn't believe it! She was almost crying she was so excited. She was "Oh my gosh! I did it! Mom! I did it!" I was SO glad that I had been watching her when she did her very first double and it perfect! Beautiful techique and form. It's those few first's that you get to see that make you just smile with pride for your child. We kept working on it for a bit until she was able to do 5 in a row. After, we drove up to Layton and met Josh up there.

Unfortunately, in all the rush of trying to get there early and get everything packed by myself, I forgot Tiff's costume. I realized this as I'm walking into the hotel and about freaked. I mean come on, its not I live close to Layton. Ugh! Thanksfully, Josh said he would drive all the way back home to go get it. While Josh made the long drive back, I took Tiffy to the pool and then we got back and chilled for a while while josh was gone. Tiffy always finds a hotel stay super fun. We both had fun playing in the pool and chilling. So, it wasn't too bad- for us. Poor Josh got stuck in traffic from Friday afternoon + construction. Not fun for him.




When Josh got back, we went to dinner. nothing major, but still fun to actually all get to hang out together. We went back to the hotel and went to bed since we had to get up VERY early the next morning for comp.

We got up and got ready the next day. Had some breakfast. It was funny to see how many people from competition were at the hotel and up and about at such an un-natural hour. After we ate, we ran to maverick to get some rockstars (very important caffeine staple for me- LOL!) and went to an ATM for cash (since they never take CC's or checks) and then ran over to the school for the competition to be checked in.

After Janica checked us in, Josh went to save seats and I worked with Tiffy to practice her routine before her comp time. She was so nervous that she almost started crying because she didn't want to mess up. I told her to have fun with it and remember hy she chose to do this. It seemed to help her calm down and remind her that at the end of the day, she does this because she loves it. I also reminded her to have fun and that I know that she will do great. We took a couple of pictures to help take her mind off of things.








A few minutes before she was on, Jocelyn came by and got her. I went and sat down to watch her. When Tiffy came on, both Josh and I were SOOO nervous for her. She made a couple mistakes (but Janica said no oine could tell since they didn't know the routine) and for some reason changed her roundoff to a 1 handed roundoff at last minute and then fell. She got right back up and kept going though. Overall, she did really well and was right on technically. The most important part was that she was proud of herself. I wasn't sure how she would be judged since she fell, but figured since she did well technically and had great showmanship, she would probably be okay.

After that, we went to brunch with my parents. They missed her performance, but decided since they were going to be in the area, they would have a bite to eat with us. They are always late, so I didn't bother to tell Tiff they would be there since I figured they would miss her performance time. And I was right. At least they came for something though, so that's good. They decided to go on a drive instead of watching her awards ceremony.

After brunch, we went back for the awards ceremony where she took Queen which is the highest you can take in the category. I was SO excited and proud of her at that point. She was SOOO excited and couldn't believe it. She got a big trophy and a tiara. She didn't get the high point award, but she was okay with it since we planned on this just being a "rehearsal" for the next competition anyway. She really wants it for the next comp though. We took a lot of cute pictures and then went on home.








We were so tired when we got home, but there was no time to chill. I had plans for Bunco that night. So, I unpacked and then went to Bunco- which is always a ton of fun. We did sleep in the next day though. Lol!

This weekend

It is Tiffany's first solo competition this weekend. She has put an amazing amount of time and effort into this and I hope that she is 100% ready and prepared for it. We did a run through of all the solo's last night at dance and although I am biased, I do believe that she will win- at least out of all the people in her studio that she is up against. The dances were all cute, but I think that she has put the most work into her routine and has the most "attitude" and therefore should get extra ponts for showmanship which is usually the final deciding factor when all technique is equal. Though, I do also believe her technique is the best as well. Yes, I know that I am a parent and biased, but I think I'm pretty critical as well. There are times when people say that she did great and I think it was just awful. So, who knows... All I know is that I want her to succeed and do well. At the end of the day, even if she doesn't win, if she learns something from it, gets better, and feels good about herself and her performance, then we have won.

I did get some bad news yesterday, but I am determined to try to see it in a positive light and see things as an oportunity to spend more time with my child. Who knows, maybe I can lose some weight by hitting the gym double time. Every cloud has a silver lining in it, you just have to find it.

Perspective

I recently discovered that some people seem to believe that bad or crappy things happen to people because of their religious preferences and actions. Personally, I think that's a load of crap. I think that if you are a good person and strive to be the very best that you can be as an individual and a human being, then you will have good things come to you. I think that some things are karma and that others are just life. I think that believing that a person will be "jugded" for their religious beliefs, is a lot like believing that walking under a ladder will give you bad luck. So the lesson for the day is that if you feel the need to judge others for how they live their life, judge yourself first. I know I do. You can't make a judgement without being handed one yourself.

Makeup Run-Through

So, to prepare for comp, we did a makeup and hair run through. Then I took some pics in the proper lighting so I could get an idea for what her "highlighted" makeup will look like on stage. I think it shows off the highlighted sections of her face. Now, this is definitely "stage makeup" and is not your normal every day wear. lol. I did Brieann didn't work very well with th makeup. I guess she needs more practice if she will be performing in the future. Either way, the girls had fun and they were cute. Josh hung out and played on Jeanie's PC while we ran through everything.

Dance Rehearsal

Watching Tiffy dance is always a fun past time for me. I really do love it. She takes such joy in it and is very technical. So, I like seing the progression that she has had. She has gone leaps and bounds this year, and IF we can get her to a double pirouette by the end of May, she may very well bump to the next level of dance which would be AWESOME! Tiffy was recently told that she could someday become a professional dancer and get paid for it, and even though she's been told that before, it all of a sudden clicked in her head. I thought it was pretty funny. She said she thought that would be a "freaking awesome job!" LOL!









Their Jazz dance, in my opinion is the cutest. They have a lyrical as well, and while it is technically "prettier", I like the fun dances better.

Josh is funny

I think it's really funny that Josh is hooked on my trashy magazines. Now don't get me wrong, it's not like I read the National Enquirer or anything. I read things like People and Life & Style. Things like that. Anyway, I caught Josh with his guilty pleasure and had to take some pics. He he he. Even he thinks it's funny. That happens people! You get married and you start to take on different attributes or characteristics of your spouse and you pick upon habits and sayings. Like every once in a while, Josh will say something and I'll laugh cause it's such a "Cio" phrase. Like "cereally" instead of seriously. lol.