A Night at the Emmas

OK, so it may sound completely crazy that my Church lets me work with the youth... but nonetheless, it's happened. Here's some highlights from our "Night at the Emmas -- Young Women in Excellence." 

Here they are in their formal "modest is hottest attire"  

We also had them each decorate a section of table showing who they are, things they love and talents they posses.  These teenagers and tweens are deep.  It amazes me everything they're doing: piano, violin, viola, singing, sports... the extracurriculars are astounding...

And of course, no awards night would be complete without a red carpet to accept thier "Emma" on stage. The girls' dads escorted down the red carpet; and Danny (he's such a great support) helped them walk up the "steps." Two little bits about that #1 - once they had received their award, their "acceptance speech" was saying a value that was extra special to them (for those not completely following, the YW values are: faith, divine nature, individual worth, knowledge, choice &  accountability, good works and integrity.) 

The "Steps" were make shift from a primary room step and a table to get the appropriate hight for the stage -- not too sturdy for heels. We obviously need and eagle scout to build something more suitable...  anyone know of a dude trying to get his Eagle?  I've got a great service project idea!!!

We also had "walk of fame" stars in front of their section of table...

And yes... you guesses it "the emmas!"  The actual awards we gave as trophies are pictured below.

The Night at the Emmas idea came from someone else, who I would give credit to, but I basically got a piece of paper from the YW Prez we were combining with... so I don't know who to attribute the idea to. But I did not come up with the idea to spray paint Mrs. Butterworth's bottles... I only wish I was that brilliant... but they looked AWESOME!! You could even see the features on her face... and now, the girls not only have a memoir from a great night -- they have a delicious topping for pancakes and one more item to add to their food storage... because I bet that stuff has a shelf-life measured in half-lives. ;)

Special thanks to my husband who helped out SOOOO much! I was playing point on this project, and I swear I was ready to have conference calls to get things completed.  My "task list" looked like the minutes from one of my division meetings; and I kept thinking I should have an assistant to follow up... I've been spoiled by (my) "Nicole" at work. But everyone pitched in... and Danny was especially helpful.  That man is so great at entertaining...he took pictures, and helped with set-up and tear down, and like I said, helped escort the girls up the stage with the "hand off" from their fathers.  He's such a gem.  I can't imagine doing these types of things without him. By the time we got home (and I had been on psychotic "prep mode" for about 72 hours,) I was exhausted.  He said he can finally "keep up" with me... because he thinks my pace on pregnancy, is like an average person's... ot true, but still kind of adorable. 

Anyway, I was totally breathing heavy and had probably lifted way too many things being preggers... not to mention I was in 3 1/2 inch stilettos so my back was a little shot. ;) Self induced obviously -- you don't have to feel sorry for me. Anyway, he just told me to lay down and took care of everything... helped me "slip into something more comfortable"... which meant yoga pants and an oversized t-shirt... and eventually it was time for sleep!

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I know this post is already super long but I also just want to mention, some of my girlfriends hosted a really sweet baby shower for me and Holden this weekend.  It was such a busy day, with 1/2 of them going to the game with their families and a million other things going on... but I was so happy to see them.  So those of you that made it, thank you so much!  It was so special.  (Even Brandi and Marissa -- yes, Honey & Snow -- flew in from St. George and we spent all day together Friday and then they came to the shower Saturday too.) 

Also on Saturday -- Danny also surprised me with an extra ticket to the Utah game.  He was going with my Dad (7th row, 50 yard line... the seats are really amazing!!!) But my Dad got injured that morning taking my mom to Twilight (Danny and I saw the 2:40 AM showing Friday morning!); so my old man gave Danny the extra ticket. I think it's so cool he took me instead of one of his buddies. I mean, I get winded walking up the Skyline High school bleachers, so it was kind of a gamble...but it was awesome.  I think I almost went into labor 9 weeks early from the excitement! Go Utes!

And yes, I said 2:40 AM to see Edward. Danny knew I wanted to see it so bad (I even had a shirt made that said "Edward's the father- my baby's part vampire")...so Thursday night at 9 pm he said, "see if there are any seats left" (we like reserved seating). Danny said we could go home, sleep for a few hours, wake-up, see the movie and come back and sleep from 5 am until he had to go to work (which is basically 2 more hours of sleep.)  How could I say no?!?!!  We went in our pajamas... and even though the movie was not the best I had ever seen, who cares?  It's Twilight -- it's Edward Cullen... and I will remember the night for the rest of our lives.