Intrigue - South Jordan

Another Intrigue! My girls love this convention so much...it really does feel like family. The teachers, staff, etc. all feel like home to them. We look forward to this convention every year where Intrigue comes to our studio and does their convention just for our dancers. Britney got to assist in the mini room which was easy for her but she loves helping all the younger girls. Brynlee has been a teen true performer since she was 13 so her scholarship expired and she had to compete for it again. And Brielle has come close to getting Apprentice probably 6 times in the past 2 years and wants it so bad. So this weekend meant a lot to all the girls! Brooklyn even came over for a couple of the classes. It always makes me so happy to have all 4 girls dancing in the same place. 

Friday was full of hard classes and the girls worked and worked. It's not always easy to put themselves out there but they have learned to be confident in themselves and step up and do what they can to improve and also get noticed. Brynlee and Brielle got called out in all their classes so they knew they were in the running to earn the top scholarships. Brooklyn even got called out in the classes she took which she loved.

Saturday was another day full of dancing! After having Black Bow (see next post) for half of Friday and getting home so so late, they were up bright and early to finish out the convention. Minis and Juniors were the first half of the day on Saturday and their awards were right after lunch. During lunch Brielle and I had a good conversation where we both had the feeling that the Apprentice scholarships were going to go to a couple of the other dancers. Brielle was definitely the best dancer in the room, but isn't always the one that your eye is drawn to. There are others that work it and demand attention and those are the ones that tend to get the scholarships. Brielle was feeling good about how hard she had worked, felt like she got better over the course of the weekend, and had a lot of fun. She knew there would be other opportunities this season to get that Apprentice jacket. She has literally been the runner up over and over again which is heart wrenching. She has had to go through so much discouragement and always picks herself up and keeps going. 

They started announcing the scholarships. Me and Brynlee were in the lobby of the studio watching the tv. I could see Brielle at the end of the hallway closer to the room where they were announcing the winners. They started with all of the lower scholarships and they didn't call her name. I caught Brielles eye and we knew she was either the runner up or the winner. Then they started talking about the Apprentice scholarship and said they picked one runner up. They called one of the girls we thought was going to get Apprentice. Brynlee and I grabbed each other. We knew it had to be Brielle. I looked down the hallway and I'll never forget the look Brielle and I shared. We knew. They chose 3 Apprentices and Brielle was one of them!!! We were so so excited for her! She finally got her moment to run on the stage and get her red Apprentice jacket. That moment will mean more to her than most as she had come so close so many times. She was on cloud 9 for all of the pictures afterwards. Brynlee got to share the biggest hug with her.

6 hours later it was time for the teen awards. We were pretty sure Brynlee would re earn her True Performer jacket as she is one of the best ones at our studio at conventions. And since she already had her jacket it was different bc she is just re earning it rather than earning it from scratch. And yes...Brynlee got her True Performer jacket! It was fun for her to share that moment with the others that earned jackets.

My girls don't always get to celebrate after conventions, and rarely do all of them get to celebrate at the same convention. But today it happened. I'm so proud of them for always working so hard and putting themselves in uncomfortable situations bc that's where they have been stretched and grown to be beautiful dancers. Good job girls! The pic with both girls in their jackets and Britney in her Assistant jacket mean the world to me.

 

Ballet with Kevin

Kevin (owner of Intrigue) came and did a couple of ballet classes for our studio. Britney first went to her own ballet class, then stayed for the next class so she could attend Kevin's class (he only taught 2 classes). Kevin asked her to stay for his second class bc it was the more advanced class and felt like she would be challenged more in the second class. So Britey ended up with 3 hours of ballet lol. But she worked hard and did a great job keeping up with our top dancers at the studio.

It was fun to have all 3 girls in the same class. They all are really good at ballet so they were some of the strongest in the room. Brynlee was asked multiple times to demonstrate things as she is probably the best ballet dancer at our studio. Her lines and technique are stunning and she likes ballet which most don't lol. Good job girls for showing up and working hard!

 

Miss Drill

Brooklyn wanted to compete in the optional Miss Drill competition as she is trying to get seen by college coaches. She has worked hard on her solo and did a great job! 

 

Pres. Nelson Viewing

When Brayden was 14 months old I bundled him up in the middle of winter and headed downtown to the viewing of President Hinckley. We ended up being in line for 4-5 hours. It was crazy, cold, and took forever. But when we walked into the room where the prophet was the spirit was so strong I'll never forget it. It became a very sacred experience to me and I loved that Brayden was there to experience it with me. 

Fast forward 17 years. President Nelson has been prophet for the majority of our kids' lives so he means a lot to all of us. I was insistent that we take the kids to the viewing in hopes that they could have a neat experience like I did with President Hinckley. The problem is that our kids are busy. So busy. I was afraid the line would be 4 hours long again so I didn't know how to make it work for us to all make it. I was prepared to go at 6am to stand in line until it started at 9, but my girls couldn't miss the beginning of school so that didn't work out. Throughout the day I kept hearing that the line was only 15-30 min long so it gave me hope that I could make it work. I found a short window during dance where the girls had classes they could miss. So I headed up to the conference center early to scope it out and see how long the line would take. Josh grabbed the girls from dance and was about an hour behind me. 

The line was short enough I decided to go through by myself while I was waiting for my family. It only took 15 minutes to make it through. It was a really neat experience for me as I entered the room with President Nelson and I knew it was worth making the effort to go there. My family made it and we waited in a shortly longer line but still not bad. It was a tender moment for all of us to be able to stand next to the prophet that means so much to us. We stopped for dinner afterwards with the Brauns bc they went as well. It was a special and tender experience that I hope our kids will always remember. 

 

Bingham Bash

Brooklyn got asked by Brody Hedrick. It's been kinda fun to watch her not have a boyfriend lol. She is getting asked to the dances and going on dates a ton!

 

Intrigue - Orlando

Britney's first convention of the year with Intrigue! I'm not sure how many we will be able to go to this year bc our studio schedule is pretty intense, but we were able to make it to Orlando to kick off the season. Britney loves her group of mini assistants and they had an amazing weekend! 

Thriller

Brynlee got to participate in Thriller again this year as a zombie. She loves walking around and honestly she is definitely the scariest zombie. People get so creeped out by her lol. It was fun to make an evening of it in Park City and head up early for dinner. I let Brielle and Britney each bring a friend an we had a great night. And of course Bryn did a great job!