March-ness

We celebrated Brandon's 19th birthday a week early when he was in town for Spring Break. Living in Cedar City makes it so we don't see Brandon as much as we saw the girls when they were in college. Logan to the north and Provo to the south are still only a little over an hour drive away. Brandon's drive is 3.5 hours which means he's less likely to want to make the seven hour round trip for just a short weekend. It was nice to gather...the first time we'd all been together since Christmas and since the coronavirus hit. The temperatures were up in the 50's and since we'd all been staying mostly indoors at home due everything being shut down, closed and cancelled, and the no-gatherings-over-ten rule it felt incredibly nice to go to the nearby park together to play some games. (Yay for being a family of less than ten!)

In other March-ness...

A few days before school shut down Lilian had an orchestra concert. She auditioned for and made first chair in the cello section this semester. 

This was our last Young Women activity before church shut down. Spending Wednesday nights with these amazing girls is such a delight. 

When you are doing online school and the weather is somewhat decent, it makes it possible to do your work from the backyard.

Yoga is always a good idea to alleviate stress...

When each day kind of looks the same in terms of errands (none), school (online), girls nights (unsafe), rehearsals (cancelled), church (at home)...you tend to find your wardrobe changing up a bit. Sweats are the new norm. I'm kind of looking at it as a healthy re-set for my hair and skin as I'm realizing what's the point of make-up and hairspray? And bras? Don't even get me started. It's all about comfort. 

But when you do have to go to the grocery store...

Ha! Not really. But we did get a laugh when Bryan came in from his man cave to model his new pandemic wear. 

For some odd reason there has been a run on toilet paper. It's been the strangest thing. It's become so hard to obtain that people are standing in long lines first thing in the morning at Costco and various grocery stores to try to score some. I understand the idea having a bit of extra food on hand in case you get sick and can't get to the store is wise. I get that TP is one of those essential items you want to make sure you have. But why in the world are people hoarding it? Once toilet paper became scarce people snatched up all the kleenex and paper towels in its place. We are lucky that we had some extra in our basement already. But little by little we've been going through it and I'd been hoping that when we did indeed run out, this TP craziness would be over and the shelves would be stocked again. I was starting to worry that might not be the case. Bryan happened to be picking up some groceries on a Sunday morning when a shipment of the precious stuff was brought in. He grabbed two packages and then sent this text to his siblings and parents...

Someone posted this on instagram and it seemed spot on. 

Love Day

Brandon wasn't able to come home for President's Day weekend, even though it was a 3-day weekend. We had even tried to bribe him with the opportunity to go on a business trip with Bryan where he could take fun photos...something he's wanted to do lately. The reason? He had bigger, more important plans. His girlfriend Abbie had a birthday on February 9th and then of course Valentines Day was a few days later on that Friday leading into the long weekend. He was not about to skip town during such a momentous time. Their instagrams showed them having a great time...

Lilian and I had our own little Valentines Day photo shoot...

Senior Prom

The day after the Sweethearts Dance Brandon got a call from his date, Navie. She sounded somewhat panicked as she told Brandon that rumor had it someone was planning to ask her to Prom the next day. Brandon failed to see what the problem was. He congratulated her on getting a date so early and told her it was okay if she went with someone else...especially seeing as they had just attended Sweethearts together.
BUT, she said...but she wanted to go to the dance with Brandon! It was the biggest, fanciest dance of the year and as they were more or less a couple, shouldn't they go together? Please, would he come ask her that very night before the other boy had a chance to? Brandon thought the whole thing was rather crazy seeing as Prom was still 2.5 months away. Why in the world were people already putting together dance asks this early? But he agreed and asked Jordan and Julianne to help him come up with a Prom ask and then also to assist in carrying it out.

So on that snowy Sunday evening with a huge box filled with balloons in the back of the truck, we stealthily pulled up to Navie's house. Brandon and Jordan hopped out, grabbed the box and once on the front porch Brandon crawled inside. Jordan affixed the lid, rang the doorbell and then ran (half slid) down the snow covered driveway back to the truck where we then took off down the street.
When Navie opened up the front door she found a package addressed to her. And though she obviously wasn't too surprised, she was reportedly rather delighted when Brandon popped out of the box with a PROM? sign after she took off the lid.

A couple weeks later Brandon came home and interrupted Navie mid-Prom Answer as she was saran wrapping his bed, desk, dresser and various other possessions in his bedroom. (And yes, I did lift these pictures off Navie's instastories...)

At first I was a little dismayed when I realized that I'd have to buy Brandon a full suit for Prom considering he didn't actually own one. Until I realized that this one suit that he'd be able to wear again, was so much less expensive than all the many formal dresses I'd bought and rented for his two older sisters throughout all their high school years. Brandon actually enjoyed suit shopping quite a bit, especially when he found one that looked nearly identical to one that Ryan Reynolds wears. Because as everyone knows, Ryan Reynolds is one attractive man, especially in a suit, and it never hurts to adopt his look, yes?  

Prom weekend arrived and there was a flurry of coordinating a tie to the dress, getting flowers, arranging for photography, planning and carrying out the day activity and then getting ready for the big dance. Don't they clean up nice?

Sweethearts

Brandon met Navie at the Fizz at Station Park where she worked this past summer. Over the course of the summer they became friends and he dropped by often to visit her at work or hang out with her after she finished her shift. He was happy to find that they both went to the same high school, but once school started, it became harder to find time together. For multiple reasons things kind of fizzled between them until one day in January when Navie texted Brandon and asked him to lunch. He was surprised but said yes and was pleased to find how easy it was to jump right back into comfortable conversation the way they had over the summer. The next day Navie asked Brandon to the Sweethearts Dance. Brandon was once again surprised but pleased. He answered yes, but also decided to ask why...especially after not having heard much from her the months previous. She admitted that she had missed him, that she realized belatedly she liked him much more than she had originally thought and she regretted ending things with him.

So the two started dating and Brandon began spending a lot more time at Navie's house as the dance got closer. Preparations for the dance included once again, a matching tie...but rather than flowers, they went shopping together for matching black Vans shoes. What a fun idea. And though am I of course, a huge fan of flowers despite the fact that they eventually die, Brandon is going to be wearing those shoes for many months to come.

If you look closely you can see Brandon's USAGW gymnastics bracelet on Navie's right wrist. Rumor has it she wears it daily...

Sweethearts was a happy success. What a cute couple.

Christmas Dance 2018

Brandon got asked to the Christmas Dance by Carin, a girl he didn't initially know very well but who was in his photography class. Besides the Homecoming dance his sophomore year, Brandon hadn't been to any other high school dances. He just hasn't been very invested in the social and extracurricular of high school. His life has revolved around gymnastics and gym friends. And the few girls that he did hang out with his junior year were all a year younger and not allowed to date yet because they were under 16. So this Christmas Dance invite was a bit of a surprise, but a happy one.

Brandon set out to get to know Carin better as the weeks led up to the dance. Texting commenced. And then some hang outs and dates, and even a joint photography adventure. By the time the dance rolled around, Brandon was super excited. We found a tie that matched her dress and ordered a corsage. Brandon kept asking me if he needed to get tickets or pay for dinner or pick her up. "No," I replied each time. "This is a girls choice dance, she invited you. Flower and matching tie...that's all you have to do." To which he responded, "This is awesome! I love girls choice dances!"

They went to an Escape Room for the day activity. Brandon hadn't ever done one before and said he'd had the best time. Dance day consisted of dinner, dancing, a movie afterwards and then even a few kisses before the night ended. Sounds like a good time was had by all.