winter formal happened

Hosting ten teens for their Winter Formal dinner was the best. A little stressful, but mostly just enjoyable to listen to their laughter and conversations. I loved it. This was a girl's choice dance so they planned the whole thing and did all the driving/picking-up of the dates. I didn't get to see firsthand the always-awkward pinning of boutonnieres and corsages at the boy's house, or group photos at the nearby wash. But I did get to welcome them into our home for games and food. It was awesome.  

One of the boys was not present for the photo shoot. He was off winning a tennis tournament, and so his date, far left, was trying to look pouty and mad for this shot. Maybe she really was upset, but she handled it gracefully. The photographer was a friend from the neighborhood who has her own little photography business. She did a great job! And eventually, the tennis champion arrived late for dinner. Bummer for the photo shoot tho.

Also, everyone is so color coordinated. None of that was planned, except for between couples. Kind of fun when it's accidental.

The dinner menu:

Make Your Own Italian Cream Soda

Penne Alfredo with Chicken or Angel Hair Pomodoro 

(both from Rosati's) Took a friend's advice to not stress about the main dishes. So glad I did that!

Green Salad with Homemade Creamy Italian Vinaigrette

Homemade Garlic Rolls

Roasted Carrots

Oh, and Jonah and Owen were my waiters - they dressed up in white shirts and bow ties, but I didn't get a good photo of them. Darn. They did a great job and got to make Italian Sodas to their hearts' content as payment.

After dinner and lots of laughter playing Apples to Apples, the group headed out to another house to decorate sugar cookies and watch Elf. Eventually they made it to the dance too.

And now I must thank you for making it all the way through this photo marathon.

i am out of touch. and i am old.

when mark and i went to watch the phoenix suns recently, i was reminded of the last, and only other, suns game i attended.  18 years ago.  i think.  it was a finals game.  with all the hometown favs:  danny ainge, charles barkley, tom chambers, k. j., thunder dan, kurt rambis, etc.  it was thrilling.

when i saw all those old favorites' retired jerseys on display, i felt really old.

the suns current lineup - nash, stoudemire, richardson, barbosa (these are the only ones that stand out to me right now) - is impressive, for sure, but nothing like the glory days of the early 90's.  is it just me?  is anyone with me here?

  

don't get me wrong.  the game was so fun and i loved cheering for the suns with my utah jazz boy.  but i am now older than most of the players.  i could be their...aunt?  maybe steve nash's slightly older sister.  it's just sort of surreal.  when did this all happen? 

don't be jealous that we sat so close to steve. or that thunder dan was within hollering distance.or that tom chambers sat within feet of us.  i was trying to be coy and snap this picture without him knowing. (great to have a little point and shoot for star struck moments.)