Ryans Law School Graduation

Here are pictures from Ryans graduation from Washington Lee School of Law.
It was nice that he had all of his family there to support him. The Petersens are a wonderful family and they really are wonderful to support each other.
Here are some pictures of the University. I think it is really beautiful.
And this is the graduation facing the Robert E Lee Chapel. Isn't that a magnificent setting!
I caught this cute shot of Matthew and his cute grandpa. Don't they just look like they adore each other!
So now Ryan is officially a graduated law student and now he is busy studying for the Bar exam so he can begin his life as a lawyer.

Shanda's Junior Prom

Its been awhile since I have worked on my blog so I will just quickly post a few of the happenings of the last few months. It has been a whirl wind and I have not had five minutes of calm but here is little of what has been happening. Shanda got to go to her Junior prom. Here is a picture of her and her best friend Jenna Phillips just before their dates came to pick them up.
Here is Shanda and her date Seth Ashby. He is the son of Lynns second councilor in the Bishopric. He is an awesome young man. Don't you love the suit! He and 6 of his friends all bought these suits and Seth added acessories to match Shanda. The 7 couples all went to one of the boys houses for dinner and then to another for dessert after the dance. They had a old fancy car of some kind that they all got their pictures taken by. I haven't got the pictures of the group yet.

The next day at church all the laurels wore their dresses. I think it is commendable that they are all so darling and modest.

Baby London arrives!

London Angelina Lee arrived on April 16. She weighed in at 8.5 lbs. I went down to help the following week and stayed for about 10 days. She is a beautiful little black haired girl and sweet as can be. She is really a good baby. They are a cute little family.

Isn't she adorable!
Lynn joined us there on the weekend and we took Gavin to Sea World.


Gavin got to pet a baby alligator. I was surprised how unafraid he was.

Grandma got in on a little game of T ball with Gavin.


We had a very fun 10 days and Jenni and Dave impress me so much with what a sweet couple and parents they are. They certainly will have their hands full for awhile but we've all been through it. Gavin is such a smart little boy and he has more personality than is good for him. He is a character! I wonder where he gets that!!! He is sooo cute, and London is a sweetheart!

Matthew visits Grandma & Grandpa

Matthew and Kim came out for a week and let Ryan study for his finals in peace. We spent the week going to the ballet, and looking for houses for them for when they move out here in a month! yea! Here are a few rare of Matthew and grandma. Usually Grandma is the one taking all the pictures you see of Matthew and Grandpa!

And here is my new little blonde granddaughter Mattie!
Kim & I found them a cute house not too far from ours. Its down the hill by the fairgrounds. It is in our Stake but not our building. So it will be fun to have them close but not too close.

The ballet "Giselle"

The ballet "Giselle"

Its been awhile since I've blogged and so I am trying to get caught up with what I've been up to. If it seems like all I blog about is Shanda it's because for awhile thats all I did is keep up with her and all her activities. I wrote about Jr. Miss but now its time to show pictures of the ballet. Her Studio put on the very famous ballet Giselle. It was fantastic. In the first act she played the roll of the noble woman ,Bathilde, who the prince is engaged to. But the prince is in love with the peasant girl Giselle who Bathilde becomes friends with but the two don't know that they are in love with the same man.... When Giselle finds out that her true love is the prince and that he is engaged to Bathilde, she goes mad and dies of a broken heart.
The rolls of Giselle and the prince are played by Sergiu Brindusa and Beth Moore-Brindusa who are the teachers and owners of the studio. They are amazing. They were both trained at the Kirov school of Ballet and were principle dancers in the Orlando ballet before buying the studio in Pocatello. Sergiu's father Florin Brindusa danced for years and years in the Bolshoi ballet in Russia and since then has trained professional ballerinas all over Russia. He comes spring and fall and helps Sergiu and Beth with our ballets so it is really a wonderful opportunity for our girls to be involved and get such great training.




Bathilde and Giselle become friends.
Bathilde and Giselle share secrets about thier loves ( but they don't know it is the same man!)


Oh! Oh! The Prince shows up and his two women are together. Uncomfortable! He is about to be caught!
Giselle asks why are you with my love, Bathilde answers by showing her ring... Because he is my fiance'!
Act 2 The Wili's ( the ghosts of all maidens who have died of broken hearts) dance at Giselles grave and prepare to welcome her.


Weird story line but absolutely beautiful dancing. It is reffered to as the White ballet because of this act. It's stunningly beautiful.

Here is Shanda as a wili dancing at Giselles grave.
The most beautiful scene of all is when the Prince comes to visit Giselle's grave and her ghost visits him one last time in a beautiful love dance. It is a real treat to see these two dance they are amazing!

Junior Miss

Here are pictures from the Jr. Miss Luncheon. After the luncheon the girls all had their interviews with the judges which count for 25 % of the points. This is Shanda with her friend Monique Betty who was last years Jr. Miss. She dances with Shanda and she is amazing. She is currently auditioning for Professional ballet schools.
This is Shandas new friend that she made during Jr. Miss. Her name is Anne Midler and she is from Poky High. The next four pictures are just taken at home before the luncheon.



Notice the cute pink heels and jewelry (made by mom !)... don't they just look like Shanda!
This is a picture of four of Shandas best friends since kindergarten. L to R is Jennessa Buttars, Maren Thomas, Shanda and Jenna Phillips. Missing is Katie Castro who was also in the program but she was missing in action when the pictures were taken.
This is during the Poise and Appearance section or now called "Self Expression" because they have added a question that the girls have to answer in front of the audience. This is the award Shanda won and she won a $400. scholarship for it. She also won most photogenic and she gets her Senior pictures done for free by a popular photographer here in town. The Self expression number was to the song "Masquerade" from "Phantom" which explains the masks.

Shanda and her hostess Stephanie Victor who is also her Young Womens leader. Stephanie is leaving for Boston this week to compete in the Boston Marathon! She is awesome!
Shanda hates this photo but I like it! This during her talent number... a pointe solo from Don Quixote. She did really great on her talent!

Physical fitness....
Opening number... A darling dance and singing number to a song from "Hairspray."


Any way thats about it. We were so proud of Shanda. She is quite the little performer! She was absolutly darling. She had the audience vote all around. She had a great time and learned alot. They had some really good workshops for the girls where they taught them about poise, dress, personality and interview skills. They had alot of fun learning all the numbers and they all made new friends. Over all it was a great experience.

California !!!

I promised I would post pictures of my trip to California to help Jenni and Dave move. I have put my application in for the new nanny if they will let me come and live with them. Here is the front of their beautiful new home. It is on a corner lot with beautiful landscaping complete with a gardener. I didn't get pictures of the inside but it is beautiful! Its all brand new with beautiful natural stone tile floors and dark cabinets and granite. It was the model home so it came complete with stylish curtains in every room and even artwork. It is painted great colors of tans and reds.

This is the picture of the back of the house is taken from the park where Gavin is playing. It is only about a block away. Grandma taught Gavin to lift his feet when he went down the slide so he would go fast. He thought is was the best!! Can you tell!
This is the back yard of their house. Gavin didn't know what a back yard was. All he had in Vegas was a concrete pad and some gravel! No plants, trees or grass. He is one happy boy to have a yard to ride his trike in. And he loves to play on the big boulders. He also loves to pick the flowers so I suspect that there will not be any left by the time I get back there in a month. They also have a beautiful court yard on the side of their house with a beautiful garden a fountain. It is really spectacular!

They live about 1o minutes away from the beach. These are some fun pictures we took while there. Have you ever seen such a happy little boy!




And here is a cute picture of the little family. Jenni is due in 5 more weeks!