Rachel Preference & Prom Spring 2013

Preference is a girl ask boy dance held in the winter.  I believe it was in late February.

She took a friend from the cross country team.  

She borrowed this dress from a girl on the cross country team.

Her Dad & brothers thought she looked awfully pretty.

So did her momma..

                                         

Prom came around in the spring and she was VERY excited.  The boy who asked her is a good friend (on the cross country team of course) and she's been hoping very much he would  ask her to a dance all year.  He was actually her very first date on her 16th bday as well. . .

She'd gone straight for Preference and decided to go extra curly for Prom.  She borrowed the dress form her cousin Kei.  It had very thin straps so we went on the search at the mall for shoes, a bolero jacket and jewelry.  We tried on every black bolero in the University Townecenter I am sure.  Funny thing is we bought the very fist one we tried on.  It was perfect. 

She wanted a color to perk up the black and white so we looked and looked for green shoes.  I finally found some at TJ Max.  There was one pair of green shoes on all the racks and they were her size and they weren't those crazy platform heels.  She could actually walk in them.

It was a prom miracle!

We bought some material that matched the shoes for her to make hair flowers with to keep the green accents going.  

Her date's mom sewed a green vest so they looked quite dashing all put together!

She decided she didn't want a rose boutiniere this time around and I thought this one looked really nice with their colors.

Rachel's date was pretty smooth... he must have heard a thing or two about Mark from his uncle (our stake president). 

He asked "what time do you want her home?"

Mark answered "11:30" 

and then he slid a 100 grand candy bar out of his pocket and held it out as an offering...

 Mark grabbed it and said "on second thought... Midnight!"

Well played... well played!

Rachel had a great time and came home smiling!

Homecoming 2012

At the end of September Rachel crossed another milestone...

Her first Date Dance.

She was asked even before school started! 

At 10:30 at night in late August the doorbell rang and I answered it to find 2 boys from her cross country team at our door, dressed as missionaries in suits and ties.  They very formally requested an audience with Rachel.  

Later...the kids told me that they had come by earlier but Rachel and I were at Target buying Mark a birthday present.  The "missionries" had begged the kids not to say anything to give away their element of surprise and they didn't!

With true missionary spirit,  they waited and returned hoping to find a "golden" opportunity.

She was already in her PJ's in bed with her scriptures when they came the 2nd time. I went downstairs and said there are 2 very well dressed young men at the door asking for you.

She looked at me bewildered, popped out her retainers, changed back into her clothes and rushed upstairs.  

When she came into the room, they were very formal and said they had an important message to share with her if she'd care to listen.

She did!

They opened their scriptures to Mosiah and took a few liberties in paraphrasing a scripture about King Lamoni offering Ammon one of his daughters to wife but changing it to:

"The King of the land Bocanegra asking Ammon if he'd take the hand of his daughter Rachel to homecoming"

They then closed their books, very seriously, and asked her to ponder the scripture and give her answer shortly and turned and left abruptly, always maintaining an air of authority and officialness.  It was cute.

There happens to be a very nice boy on the cross country team named Ammon who Rachel is good friends with... so she was pretty sure what was happening here but was taken by surprise and wanted to make sure she was understanding correctly so she ran after them in the driveway saying 

"wait... so is Ammon asking me to homecoming???"

Well... Ammon was at the wheel of the getaway car so yeah... there was her answer!

She was very pleased but now.... how to answer!?

She decided to stick with the missionary theme and sent her 2 brothers dressed in suits and ties with Mark's old  "Elder Bocanegra"missionary name badges on their pockets.  They asked for Ammon and said they had a message for him and it would take hard work and patience but that if he persevered, he would get his answer.

He thanked  them with a grin and said "is it really going to take a lot of work?

Jacob patted his shoulder and said "yes... yes it is!"

Jacob handed him a paper written out by Rachel directing him on a scripture chase of sorts.  She had a scripture reference and then a direction to line and word 

ie. Helaman 5:12 line 3 word 2

eventually, after finding a scripture reference for each word,  he would make out a message:

After pondering for a night and a day she sayeth

1 Corinthians 9:24

Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.

Then it ends with "See you at practice!  I'd bring your scriptures if I were you"

At cross country practice that day she ran past him with this scripture reference written on the back of her shirt:

D&C 130:5

The first 3 words in the scripture are 

"I answer Yes"

Carly was able to come home the first weekend in September as a friend from SUU needed to attend a wedding in SLC.  She was able to come with Rachel and I to shop for a dress.  Carly and I have had good luck at Macy's department store so we started there.  They had hardly any dresses.  I was so disappointed.  I wondered if we were too early or too late!  

But after scouring the racks we found this dress on clearance from $170 to $70.  When she put it on it was so flattering to her shape but she had wanted something with a little more color.  It was comfortable though, not itchy or tight and modest.  She really liked it.  Carly and I really liked it.  We decided we could buy it and then return it if we found something we liked better.  

When we got to the register it had been marked down even further than the tag said and we got it for $40!

She wanted to dress it up with Yellow shoes and jewelry.

We searched all over the entire mall for yellow shoes and jewelry and found nothing suitable.  It was very discouraging.  I told her there was still time to look for another dress but maybe we could dress it up in other ways so we kept looking at shopko, target, kmart, etc.  One yellow necklace was okay so we bought it.  Then my niece said she had yellow heels and a yellow tank we could borrow.  We picked those up and the yellow tank was a hit but the shoes didnt' work out... 

Rachel and I went to the fabric store and bought yellow ribbon for a possible bow at the waist, yellow tulle to attach to the hem maybe and yellow satin to make hair flowers.

I wasn't quite sure how to proceed but ended up cutting the tulle into 8 inch wide lengths and then cutting the 8 inch wide long pieces into 12 inch pieces.  I would fold them over accordion style 3-4 times and pin them onto a cotton slip we had and sew them on.  We liked how it turned out.

We weren't sure about the ribbon at first but after adding the underskirt, we loved the effect.  after adding so much yellow to the dress itself, we decided black heels and jewelry would be just right.

Rachel made the flowers and came up with her hairstyle although I did help her recreate it the night of.  

We bought some fresh baby's breath when we bought her boutonniere to tuck into her hair.

I thought it turned out so pretty and she was very happy with it.

She doesn't have pierced ears so she wore a lovely black and silver ring and a black and silver rhinestone necklace I actually wore in high school. 

Carly caught a ride home that afternoon with my brother and sister in law who were coming up to SLC to attend a special dinner.  She arrived about 30 min. before Rachel was picked up so that was a fun surprise.

She was very nervous, waiting for Ammon to arrive, especially when we went outside to take pictures. She was just sure I was subjecting her to mortification of the worst kind to be outside posing as he drove up but I WOULD have my pictures and he was late so dignity was saved.

He arrived, looking handsome and nervous.  Apparently, this was his first date ever. Mark enjoyed drilling and teasing the poor boy as usual....

Threatening to carve out his heart with   dull spoon should he hurt little Rachel...

He was a good sport.

The flowers were beautiful and exchanged w/o too much difficulty.

Once again, I must have my pictures and then they were off...

He was a gentleman and they had a good time.  

Rachel reported that they listened to the BYU UTAH game in the car on the way home....

Cringing with all the other fans at the protracted ending

Once again, so grateful to live in an area with righteous young men available to date my lovely girl.

Homecoming 2011

Getting ready for the big game Friday night

:( They lost. 3rd year in a row.....

Football is not THS' strong suit.

But it's still fun to get dressed up and go cheer them on even if you have no hope

This smile is even after the game so really, for my girls, it's all about the hanging out with friends. Not so much school pride and winning the game.

Saturday night!

Getting all laced up. Good Heaven's I'm glad we've done away with Corsets for every day wear!

Carly would much rather be silly than serious in pictures.

"The date" arrives.

She's getting better. No help from mom pinning it on this time.

Dinner at Macaroni Grill.

Dance Dance Dance the night away.

Home by curfew with sore feet and deflated curls.

(To use the words of another darling girl...)

I think that calls for a

"Smile, Wink and a thumbs up! "

Out at midnight.... ON A SCHOOL NIGHT!!!!!!

When she was preschool age, I was not a very structured mother. I had a 4 yr old and a 2 yr old and a husband who worked lots of hours. We had naptimes but they were not rigid. We had bedtimes but they were not rigid either.

It worked for us. We were happy.

It was not uncommon to find Carly and I up at 10pm making cookies if we felt like it.

I've always been a night owl.

We'd tuck Mark in since he had to get up early for work....

We'd tuck baby Rachel in since she had to grow and then we'd stay up late and do whatever we wanted. Not every night but plenty of nights.

Well a couple of weeks ago we were at it again.....

It's Homecoming time

Senior year. Last one.

Homecoming was less than 2 weeks away. She was worried she wouldn't be asked. Most of her friends had been asked. As far as she knew all of her guy friends either had to work or had already asked someone. She had bought a beautiful dress for $25 from her former babysitter several months ago.

She said "of course the dance I already have a dress for will be the one I don't get asked to..."

She had kind of given up hope the day it happened. She was sitting on the couch studying for a test when we heard a knock at the door.

Mark: "Who's knocking at our door at 10 o'clock at night?????"

It was a plate of berry swirled cheesecake bars with a note that said "I know it's cheesy but will you go to homecoming with me?" Inside each of the 6 bars was a piece of paper with a letter written on it laminated with tape.

It spelled out his name.

Hope was restored. He's a fun friend who shares her medical interests. She was happy to be asked by him and knew she'd have a great time.

She said "How am I going to answer him???" To which Mark popped off with "Cheez... I think I will" which got the synapses firing. It was late and she had a test to study for and we waffled about doing it that night or whether to wait... It was already 11pm and answering would involve a trip to the store. She finally decided it would be too good to pass up to answer the same night she was asked. He wouldn't expect it and so off we went to Macey's.

We bought 2 boxes of these:

3 little individually wrapped Tillamook cheddar squares:

3 little Ritz cheese and cracker packs:

3 Mozarella string cheese packages:

and a can of squeeze cheese:

We arrived in his very quiet neighborhood at 11:30pm and it started to sprinkle but we went ahead anyway. He drives a big suburban and it was parked outside. Perfect!

On the side of the suburban facing the house we did the following:

Front passenger window:

Stuck cheezit crackers all over with a squirt of squeeze cheese glue

Middle seat passenger Window:

Taped string cheese, cheese squares and cheese and cracker packets all over with a few cheezit's glued around for good measure.

Large back seat passenger window;

Wrote in squeeze Cheese "Cheez..... I think I will!" with hearts and more cheezit's glued to the window. It looked so great. I was so mad to not have thought to bring my camera. She stuck a cheezit to the center of every hubcap for good measure and tied a bow around the unopened box of cheezit crackers and hung them in a bag from the side mirror. She also tied a bow of ribbon around the half used can of squeeze cheez and set it on his front porch.

Then, giggling, we got into our minivan and drove away.

Maybe

I really should have encouraged her to study for her test and told her that running around town at midnight, in the rain, on a school night was not a good idea.......

But next year at this time when, if all goes according to plan, she'll be living on her own away from me-

I'm pretty sure

I'll be really glad

that I didn't.

An Unusual FHE

Carly wore her Prom shirt to school today.

The boy she was hoping it was picks her up for school on Mondays. When she first got into the car he had his jacket zipped up. They said their hello's and then as she got into the car he handed her another bottle of coke and said "just in case you didn't get enough before!" He then unzipped his jacket revealing the matching red Prom 2011 shirt.

She laughed & hugged him and thanked him but that was not all!

He opened the glove box and there was chocolate waiting for her. 5 Hershey bars wrapped in ribbon. What a boy. She is a very happy girl.

She found a dress online that she loved over the weekend as she began dreaming of what she would wear. The problem is we'd have to order it and then see if we could find the right color/type of material to modify it as it is strapless and wouldn't work with a bolero. A friend said she was pretty sure she could alter it to be modest so that dress was a big possibility.

She did want to go to the mall AS SOON AS POSSIBLE to look around and surprise of all surprises.... Mark said Let's go for FHE. I was surprised. Shopping is not his favorite thing to do.

So, we decided the whole family would traipse over to the mall. Mark agreed to take the 3 younger kids to the tree playhouse area when they got rowdy. I never thought prom dress shopping would be a whole family affair. It was fun though. The only one not quite onboard was Jacob. He climbed into the car scowling. He had insisted he should be able to stay home alone but we said "It's FHE. Get in the car!"

Our first stop was Allyse's bridal. It was Mark's idea to stop there first. Mark and the kids hung out on the little sofas in the try-on area while she tried on about 4-5 dresses. We found a gorgeous hot pink dress on the bargain $100 rack. It is already modest, needs some minor alterations to fit just right but it looks SO pretty on her. We put it on hold. Mark was a proud dad, insisting that if he hadn't mentioned it we might never have stopped there. (I think we might have found our way there......)

After this, Mark took the kids to the treehouse and then to the food court where he bought them pizza at Sbarros while we looked at a few more places. Carly hasn't decided just yet but the pink one is probably it as the price is good, it's so pretty on her and there are fewer what-ifs. It looks sort of like this.... It is about the same color anyway and has an empire waistline. It's skirt is not pleated however, more of a chiffony overskirt over taffeta. The bodice is beaded a little, not as heavy as the blue one but with a sort of flowery design. It has a very square neck with little sleeves that I'm not sure how to describe. It's pretty though......

That's all you get until the last Saturday in April. Stay tuned!

Prom 2011.

2 of her friends were asked this week so the anxiety of "would she be asked" began...

She has been hoping for a specific boy to ask her.

She had a dream last night that she was asked. In her dream it was "so cool" There were tons of presents on the doorstep. As she opened them, each gift was successively cooler and she was happy in her dream because she knew it was this boy and then it turned out it wasn't. Instead it was a vague acquaintance from her med/anatomy class. She woke up extremely disappointed.

Well, tonight the doorbell rang.

Silver balloons spelled out her name. Each tied to a bottle of Coca-Cola. Her favorite- which she doesn't get very often as she honors her mother's request not to become an addict.

And a gift. Wrapped in Purple.

*sigh*

Her signature color.

Once opened,

it revealed 5 more bottles of Coke with her name spelled out on top and written on the four flaps of the opened box...

"Wear Me On Monday"

She dug through the box filled with packing peanuts to find a shirt that says "Prom 2011" in Coca-Cola script.

She still doesn't know for sure who it is but she is hopeful and happy and fairly certain. He works at a t-shirt screening place.

Hmmmm...

Coincidence?

We'll find out on Monday.

She can barely stand the wait while she sits contentedly on the sofa watching a spooky movie with her dad sipping coke.

Here's hoping her dream was anxiety and not premonition...

Is Popcorn your Preference?

There are 6 dances at Carly's high school every school year.

3 boy-ask-girl and 3 girl-ask-boy.

There was a semi-formal girl-ask-boy dance this month called Preference. At first Carly decided she wasn't going to go. Most of her friends weren't planning on it and she didn't have enough $......

Then 2 of her not-as-close friends talked to her about joining their preference group and they had a not too expensive plan for dinner and date and even an idea of who she could ask and they changed her mind.

This was the first time she has gone out on a date with a boy I don't know, a boy out of her regular group of friends. He's a senior and she knows him pretty well from the few drama productions she's done this year and last.

This is how she decided to ask him.....

First she ding-dong-ditched leaving this tub of butter & note on his porch.....

Then 10 minutes later she ding-dong-ditched again, leaving this giant bag of popcorn and note indicating he'd have to dig through the butter to find out the identity of who was asking him out. In the butter she had placed laminated notes saying "keep going", "you're almost there" etc. When he got to the bottom of the butter tub there was a note saying "oops! I meant the buttered popcorn!" So then he'd have to dig through the buttered popcorn to find 5 little laminated squares with "C", "A", "R", "L", "Y" on them and unscramble them to figure out who was asking.

She did this on a Wednesday and no answer came on Thursday, no answer came on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. She was starting to get a little worried. Did he want to go? If not fine but give me an answer!!!!! No answer came on Monday, Tuesday.....

She started asking her friends to do some digging, find out if he wants to go with me or not.

The word came back...

Yes, he wants to go with you.

I was starting to get really annoyed with this kid I didn't know who was keeping my daughter waiting for an answer! How rude!!!

Then she came home from play rehearsal on Thursday pretty happy with popcorn kernels in her hair. "He answered me and it was epic!"

A friend told her she needed to go out to the front of the school with her to "see something". When she walked out of the front doors there was a giant box of popcorn sitting on the sidewalk. She didn't know what she was supposed to do, there were quite a few people out watching... She walked up and knocked on the box and out flew popcorn everywhere and the boy in question: Royce

saying "yeah sure I'll go! why not?"

The box was dropped off in our front yard later that day and is now in our garage... what are we gong to do with it? I don't know but it's awful cute. He went to a lot of work and it made her happy so he has been redeemed in my eyes. I see now why it took so long!

There's always a "day date" and then the dance in the evening. One of the girls had plans all of saturday so the three couples had a date friday night and then dinner and the dance Saturday night. They had a Nerf war and war painted each other's faces. Then they went to some program at the high school called Mr. & Miss T. I still am not clear on what exactly that was. Then they went to "The chocolate" a dessert cafe for cookies and ice cream and back to one of the girls houses for games. All in their camouflage face paint...

Saturday night was the dinner and dance. I begged her to stop by and take pictures. She wasn't sure what time it would be. She made rolls and bought Caesar salad for their dinner. She went to her friend's house to get all primped up and get her hair curled. They picked up the boys and had dinner at one of the girl's houses and went to a park to take pictures. Mark and I had gone out to see Harry Potter 7 again and then shopping at Macey's so I was afraid I might have missed them. I didn't. Then I got worried they weren't coming by at all but they did. I got to shake hands with the boy and be introduced. I took a couple of pictures and gushed about how cute they were and they were off again.

awww... so cute.