Good Mom or Bad Mom???

Confession:
Sometimes we just gotta play hooky!
Luke, Shera, Noel and I had a great day yesterday and went shopping at the mall, had birthday lunch with Holly (Sushi - her fave!) Jeff and Drew (then they went back to school). Then we went bowling, shared a giant RB with fries and onion rings! We really lived it up and it felt great! Don't you want to party with us??? Ha! Ha!



Watch how Shera plays around after she bowls her ball, then just barely notices at the last second she's getting a strike! So funny!

So, do any of you take days off with your kids? And if so, what do you do?

Our St. Patty's Day!

We had a great St. Patty's Day! Green pancakes for breakfast and for dinner we ate corned beef and cabbage with red potatoes! For dessert we had green shamrock cookies! Yummo!

The kids found the leprechaun's chest full of gold pennies and dollars! Very cool! The glitter always leads the trail to his special hiding spot that is only visible on St. Patrick's Day! They love it!

Catching Up On Events Of The Starrs!!!

We have had so much going on that I haven't had a chance to post a blog lately. So, here are six of our latest activities that have taken up all of our time to prepare in the last month. We wanted to share with you a synopsis of it. The videos are really great, take your time to enjoy them.

Drew Wins The Orange County Rotary Club's Voice Competition!

Last month, Drew auditioned against other high schoolers to represent the Mission Viejo Rotary Club to compete in this year's "Pathway To The Stars Voice Competition". He was chosen and went on to the semi-finals this weekend. He sang at UCI on Saturday for two university professor adjudicators. Forty-nine Rotary Clubs were represented. Three students were picked from each category and Drew was one of them for the Male Musical Theater Category. Yesterday, those top three competed against each other to place and Drew took First!!! Yeah!!!

Here is Drew, about to walk on the stage at the concert hall to sing.

These are the top three competitors in each category: Male Musical Theater, Female Musical Theater, Male Classical, and Female Classical.

The Mission Viejo Rotary Club was represented in the top three of each category - a sweep. And the students all went to Mission Viejo High School as well. They are in Chamber Choir and here is their teacher, Mr. Elg congratulating them on doing such a good job. We had two first places in Musical Theater and two third places in the Classical Category.

Our family was all there to watch Drew perform.

Here is the song we recorded that placed him first, winning a gold medal and a cash award!

Drew's Mormon Prom Last Saturday!

Matching white roses!

Drew went to Mormon Prom with Annie Penrod last Saturday. They looked so cute together in navy blue and silver!

The kids took photos all over our house. The lighting was beautiful up on the balconies so we got some good ones!

What a handsome couple!

Actually, there really were seven beautiful couples...

They all had dinner here as well.

Oh... Here's the other beautiful couple (of servers!!!) Annie's and Drew's dads!

Holly's Surprise Sweet 16 Party!

We gave Holly a fun surprise last Friday night! It was a week before she turns sixteen and she was really surprised! We had a 50's theme and everyone dressed up. The kids learned how to swing dance with a professional instructor. They really got into it!

She had a white cake with a Bavarian cream and fresh strawberries filling!


The kids took photos on a real "Fonzie" motorcycle!

There was a cotton candy machine too! Yummy!!!

Do you like Jeff's retro bowling shirt? Ha! Ha!

Holly's cousin, Andrea, came and loved dancing!

We made an "old fashioned candy bar" with Abba Zabbas, Candy Dots, Double Bubble, Rocky Roads, Chick 'o Sticks, and tons of other goodies!

Holly's Grandma Allred and Uncle Vern came too!

Some of us REALLY got decked out!!!

These two didn't stop dancing all night!


Here is Holly with her instructor cutting up the dance floor!




I had to add in Lukey! He was just too cute and having a great time!!!

ATV's in the Desert

We Love the River!

The sand dunes are right behind the trailer park, so we get to ride pretty much anytime we want!

This is Holly on our little go-cart!

We love to play games at the river, like Apples to Apples!

But our favorite thing to do at the river is just hang out together!!!

Here we are riding. Jeff and Drew are doing the jumps!

Drew's 18!

Here is a photo of Drew when he was three years old! But now he's an adult! How time flies!!!


Drew loves the Melting Pot with all the different fondues, so that's where he chose to have his birthday dinner. It was a Caribbean themed menu that night - lots of Cajun and Chutney! Right up Drew's alley!

Funny faces while eating cheese fondue with his brother!


The girls like all the variety when we eat here, even though Noel and Holly won't eat any cheese!

We all had a great evening! It's hard to imagine 18 years have passed since we had this cute little boy!

Everyone was having fun tasting this zippy cocktail sauce!
Luke finally got talked into trying the cocktail sauce! But don't worry, he laughed after he cried!

Skiing in Utah on President's Weekend!

February was such a busy month! I am trying now to finally catch up with everything! My laundry room looks the same as always while we are juggling dances, upcoming birthdays, voice competitions and the spring musical! But I wanted to at least start to catch up!

We went skiing up in Utah during President's Weekend and had a great time! Our whole family can finally ski together! Luke and Shera took a refresher lesson one day. And then we were off!

Our luggage got lost so I wasn't able to ski the first day. I got sunscreen and gloves on the kids and then decided to go shopping!!!

Moving down the slope!


Drew and Holly grew up skiing this mountain.


"The Tree Monster" attacks Luke!!! "Hey... Who put this tree here???"

Sweet Snowbunny Shera!

Noel enjoying hot chocolate after a good hard run...

Holly and Carol taking a lunch break!

Luke wants to be just like his dad!

Drew's got the shoes!!!