Water Sport Action Photo Shoot

A friend of ours at church, Erik Isaksen, is a professional action photographer.  He asked to use our backyard for a water sports action photoshoot.  He wanted a yard with a pool so he had lots of water accessible.  This was a two day shoot.  He asked if my olders girls could be in some test shots.  He wanted to make sure he had the lighting/water perfected before the professional models came over.  

At first the girls were reluctant.  Modeling is just not their "thing", however despite the freezing weather and water they ended up having a blast!  Here are some of my ameture phone pictures.  

The first set of shots involved misters overhead as the girls stood in a pool of water.

The next set of pictures involved hitting water balloons.  So the balloons would explode just as he took the picture.  

The last set of pictures involved two people on either side throwing buckets of water at the girls as they did some action moves.  I wish I could show you the end results as they are AMAZING, but they are copywritten incase a company purchases the pictures.  However below you can see two samples of the action shots with misters, water balloons and water buckets.

Disney's Candlelight Ceremony

Mackenzie got the priveledge to perform in Disneyland's Candlelight ceremony twice this year.  I was lucky enough to be able to chaperone and bring Meredith with me as a side kick!  The program is beautiful!  I admire Disney for not being afraid to have a religious ceremony for the public.  

Kurt Russell was the narrator the night I was there.  He read the story of Jesus birth, life, death and resurrection.  My favorite part was when he said "there has been no other person, event or war that has touched or affected people as much as this one person, Jesus Christ, the Son of God" (or something like that). The story and music were amazing!

I had to chaperone one show and got to watch the other.  After both shows were over Meredith and I had about an hour to run and go on Small World then watch the fireworks and "snow".  It was such a fun night for the two of us!  Mackenzie unfortunately did  not get to "come out and play" the night I was there.  

All I Want for Christmas...

Meredith's Jazz class did a little routine to "All I want for Christmas is You" this Christmas.  The parents were invited to watch and see the progress they have made during the year.  It was a cute dance and she is having so much fun developing her skill of dance!

JV Tennis SJHHS

 Madalyn played on the JV girls high school tennis team again this year.  She really improved her game and was ranked the #2 doubles team for JV.  She had a great season with some wins!  It was exciting to be able to see her play and see her progress!

Last game of the season

Madalyn's partner

 Pink out for breast cancer game!

Flag Football

Trevor was on the Steelers this year.  It was a rough year without many wins, but he had fun despite it all.  Plus he gained some more experience which is always a plus!

Welcome Home Elder Shipp!

 Today was the big day!  Elder Shipp returned from serving an honorable Mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Durban, South Africa!

He flew home via London and his flight landed in LAX around 1:30 p.m.  After getting through customs he finally made it past the gate to see us around 3:00 p.m.  We could not have been more excited!  

Anxiously waiting

Walking up the exit...our first view of him!

Then all the hugs and greetings started!!

So happy to have him home!

Elder Shipp with Grandma and Grandpa

Elder Shipp and his mom

 Mackenzie could not be at the airport because she needed to go to her pre calculus class, but she was able to make it to Grandma's house before Scooter got there!  Trevor is away at science camp and was super sad to miss Scooters homecoming, but Scooter will be there to greet him when he returns from camp!  What a great reunion that will be!

Pinewood Derby

Ryan was out of town for 3 1/2 weeks and it was Pinewood Derby time...yikes!  I am not good at this type of stuff nor, I will admit, do I want to be good at it!  So for my benefit Trevor chose a simple cut car.  Then he decided, in honor of Elder Shipp aka Scooter, to paint the South African flag on his car.  Elder Shipp would be coming home exactly one week after the Pinewood Derby so he thought this was perfect!  He named his car "The Elder"!

Grandpa Wright came down the night of incase there were any problems with the car.  As it turns out it was .2 oz too heavy so here he is helping Trevor remove a few weights.

Trevor loves the Pinewood Derby and was sad this was his last one as a scout!

Lined up and ready to race!  He did not have one of the fasted cars this year, but he did win a few races and had lots of fun!  3/4 way through the races the wood chipped by the front wheel and the wheel broke off.  Luckily I am good with a glue gun and could glue it all back together :)!

He got the "Best Paint Job" Award!