Idaho Ballroom Competition

We decided to go to Idaho for Shawnee's GEM state Ballroom competition in Rexburg!  She rode up on the bus---and we came up later.  On Friday--we left at about 9:30am ----had a few errands to do.  We woke up to 10 inches of snow.  Garrin hurried and shoveled so it didn't look like we were gone all weekend.  I heard that it was melted by the end of the day---but it was light and fluffy. We ran by the shop to make sure it was ok...and the cars were covered.  They didn't have as much as we did at the house--but still a lot!

 So...Friday...We got to Rexburg just in time to check into the hotel and get to the competition really.  We were there until 10:30 that night...so it was a long day of driving and just sitting.   Shawnee competed in 4 out of 7 of the team dances....and they won 3 thirds, 2 seconds and tied for a 1st in the national championships.  It was very fun to watch.  The next day (Sat) we didn't get there until 2:00. We woke up the next day ready to spend some time swimming at the hotel---only to find out that the pool was closed.  We ended up moving hotels as that was one of the things the kids wanted to do that day. 

We drove by several places that Garrin and I wanted to see since we both had lived in Rexburg ourselves.  This is my Great Grandma Rigby's house.  I have many great memories of visiting here there while growing up.  I also visited almost weekly while going to college at Rick's.  She had this little house in back that you can see that was rented out to college students.

This is Dorm 6 at Ricks---where I spent my first year.

 This is Heritage Manor where I lived my 2nd year.

This is the Bunkhouse where Garrin lived a few years 

The girls got bored on the drive and took some cool pictures of each other

When I lived in Rexburg---they didn't have a temple.  It was really cool to drive by and see this there now.  

Ashurity and Wes came by our new hotel and brought the kids for a swim..that was fun!  This is Kendall

Wes, Pyper, and Jaycee

Jaycee and Pyper

 Saturday was individual dances all day---Shawnee competed with Michael Boyd (below) and JD Steeneck (below) and one other kid I didn't know in 7 different dances as a couple.  She and Michael took a 4th place in Tango and a 3rd place Mambo with JD (out of probably 50 couples).  So...she did pretty good.

Jenny, Heather, Shawnee and Emily dance their standard medly

Sarah and Shawnee

Go LEHI!

At the very very end...they have a team match...they all dress in their purplest outfits and choose a couple from the team to represent them in 5 different dances.  The rest of the team tries to "bribe" the judges for high scores by bowing down to them, giving them treats, kissing them on the cheek, doing little routines like backflips, splits...that kind of stuff in between songs...so it's funny..  One of the kids wanted us to wear their shirts as we didn't know about this and didn't bring any purple...but obviously we didn't fit into a teenager's shirt LOL.  So...this is what they did to us instead  Anyway---just crazy LOUD fun!! We loved being with the team and watching them all...so much energy.  :D

We got home about 5:30 Sunday....so it was a long long weekend!  We're all tired!  Ashurity and Wes came over to the competition with their 2 kids and Lark came over too from BYU-I.  It was fun to see them for a little bit.  We went by Ashurity's house today near Idaho Falls on our way home to see it.