White T-shirt Monday - Aspen Follies and Family Talent Show at ASPEN GROVE

 Good Monday morning, Aspen Grove!! It was designated white t-shirt day. 

Time for breakfast.

Caroline had to get her last baby hold in for the morning before she headed off to join her group.

Lincoln, Wynne, Magnus and Jonah look like they are in the mood for fun.

While the young ones were with their age groups, the rest of us headed off to the shooting range.

Who knew I would have done so well! I shocked myself! 

Some of the family members did pen turning. After purchasing a block of wood, the process is to cut it, drill a hole through it for the ink part of the pen to be inserted. Then the wood is put on a lathe and the wood turns and turns while using various tools to get it to the desired size and shape. 

As we were walking around, we saw some of our family members in their groups. Brooke's group was doing painting under the pavilion. 

We saw Carson, Newland, Madison, Claire and Caroline walking along the road.

Magnus, Kade and Jonah's group was on the sidewalk holding onto their rope. 

Eli, Logan and Spencer were on the move with their group down by the river.

After their fun activity-filled morning, they were definitely ready for lunch.

The first afternoon activity was Aspen follies out on the field. Each family rotated around to each of the activities.

At the end of follies everyone joined in on a water balloon flinging event.

There was also a rocket-building activity. Kade, Jonah and Magnus made rockets and the counselors were so kind to keep shooting them off as many times as the children wanted.

The rest of the afternoon was for family activities. We had a group go to the shooting and archery range. 

Caroline did ceramic painting in the craft building.

The common area in our lodge right outside our rooms is where we did a lot of game playing.

The evening entertainment was a family talent show. We sat and watched other families performing, just waiting for the big moment when the Thomas family was represented on stage. 

Wynne played The Star Spangled Banner on the piano. She had it memorized and even got a standing ovation. Well technically, we all stood through the whole song because it is our national anthem. She did a great job!!

Next up was Caroline playing her memorized recital piece The Phantom of the Opera. She also did a wonderful job!!

Abe was a good sport going on stage as per my request. 

He had the guitar out at home one day, taking little breaks from work to play it. One time when Rebecca's family was here, I asked Abe to play his guitar and sing a song to entertain the children.

He sang his original song, Testing Center Girl, that he had composed when he was a student at BYU. 

The kids were all enthralled at his animated performance and it even elicited some smiles out of Spencer. At that point, I knew it would be a fun number for him to perform in the Aspen Grove family talent show.

Abe invited Rebecca up to the stage with him so she could explain what the testing center at BYU is like as a lead-in for his song. It also gave him some time to get the microphone set to the right height and then she was up there to hold the other microphone up to the guitar.

Rebecca described how immense the room is in the testing center with desks spaced out and the vast amount of students sitting at those desks filling out their bubble sheets for whichever test they were taking.

Then Abe began his song about going to the testing center, not wanting to be there, filling out the bubble sheet, looking up and spotting a cute girl, wishing he could take her outside to examine her which seemed much more appealing than taking the exam. 

He worded it in such a cute way, singing a catchy chorus about his testing center girl after each verse. It is such an adorable song and he thought the BYU counselors there would love it. And they did!! Everyone in the audience loved it!!

Later we found out one of the counselors works at the testing center and that her parents met at the testing center. Fun little fact! Laurie had recorded Abe's performance and sent it to her so she could share it with her parents. 

Even though Klarissa is not Abe's testing center girl, it is nice to know some other couple actually did find love in the testing center.

After the talent show, as usual, the youth went to the game center and the adults went to the pickleball courts. 

As unathletic as I am, I had been taking my place on the sidelines...until Rebecca, Natalie and 

Emma talked me into giving it a try. 

I must say, I was proud of myself for making the attempt, but it was a reaffirming few minutes of  demonstrating that my athletic prowess has definitely NOT improved with age.

It made for a super cute picture of my teammates and me after the game, though, so it was worth it!