Rylee's Recital

 May 26 - WAY back in May, our little dancer had her very first dance recital!  She was so excited to show us what she learned all year.  Her dance teacher asked that we not stay and watch her at dance every week, so this was really the first time we could see anything she had been working on all year.  I kind of wish that they had done another recital in the middle of the year.  But anyway, we were all really excited to see her perform.  Daddy even missed a Real Salt Lake game for it, and that is a big deal!  Her recital was the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, which I thought was poor planning by her teachers because it made planning anything that weekend really difficult!   It turned out to be a bit of an all day event.  She had dress rehearsal in the early afternoon and they asked the moms in her class to stay and help with costume changes because she had to change her entire costume and her hair.  (Most classes just changed their skirt or something...)  Darren took Logan to the air show that morning, so I had to take the other kids with me and sit through the rehearsal for about 2 hours.  Then, we came out of the rehearsal and it and then we had to get home and get her hair in curlers so her hair would be ready.  When we came out of the dress rehearsal, it was POURING rain and I was trying to get Bronson and the 2 girls in the car by myself.  It was a bit crazy!  Luckily, we survived!  Then it was a big rush home to get her hair into curlers so it had time to dry before she had to be back there that night.

Also, I was not fully prepared for the whole dance thing.  I NEVER took dance in my whole life.  Do I look like a dancer???  It just wasn't really in the cards for me!  So, I didn't know all the ins and outs of being a dance mom.  I picked Rylee's studio because they seemed so laid back and I was intimidated by some of the more serious places and I wanted it mostly to be fun at this age.  And I think for the most part, they did a great job of that!  I was a little surprised though while we were sitting in rehearsal, one mom got out a roll of tape and started taping off rows to save places for that night.  It set off a major chain reaction!!!  I think almost all the moms there had a roll of tape in their purse, but didn't want to be the first to pull theirs out.  However, once someone did, it was ON!  Moms were taping off everywhere!  I was completely unprepared for that!  Luckily, my friend was there with me and ran to the dollar store and got us some tape so we could be some of the crazy dance moms, too!  I had no idea what I was in for!  And that night, poor Rylee had NO makeup because I wasn't prepared for that either.  I just put on a little lipgloss but when we got to the performance, I found she was just about the only one not all done up.  Ooops....

Ry with her hair all in curlers after rehearsal - We had the funniest converstation while doing her hair for pictures earlier that week! We were talking about the recital.  She told me she was a little nervous because there would be so many people there.  I told her lots of people who loved her would be there.  She started going through the list.  Would I be there?  Would Dad be there?  Would Logan?  Grandma?  Grandpa?  Then, randomly she asked, "Will Heavenly Father be there?"  I told her that he is always watching over us.  She said, "No mom.  That is Santa!"


In between rehersal and the performance, Grandma and Grandpa Boman came up and we made a quick run to the cemetary in Lewiston to visit Great-Grandpa Dean's grave.  It was raining pretty hard still so it was a quick stop and we didn't get out of the car for long.  Then we went home and had a quick dinner and headed off to the recital! Here are some pictures of our cute little dancer all ready for her big debut! 

This was her first costume for the performance.  I love all the poses she came up with when I was taking her picture.

Mommy and Rylee

Rylee and Daddy

Rylee really wanted her picture taken with the Bobcat at the high school.  Funny girl! 

I dropped her off backstage and she was so excited!  There were a few times when she told me that she was a little nervous, but I think once it was time she was really excited!  Here she is with a couple cute friends from our ward that were in her class.  Bentley, Taya and Rylee.   They aren't in our ward anymore, but they were such cute little dance buddies!

Rylee's fan club...
  Little Mr Bronson who was good enough to sleep until after Rylee danced so that mommy could go backstage and help change costumes and take lots of pictures of Rylee performing!  Such an angel baby!  And then when he woke up, he just nursed there and was quiet and not a problem at all! 

Avery and Grandpa - This girl LOVES her Grandpa!  They are cute little buddies!

Avery and Grandma and Grandpa Boman - Both Great-Grandmas were also able to come.  They are so great to come and support the kids whenever they can even though they live pretty far away. 

Uncle Kyle and Logan - Logan was a pretty good sport, but the rehersal did get pretty long and was by his definition "very girly".  He was super excited when Rylee decided not to do dance again because he didn't want to go to another recital!  He was very sweet after to tell Rylee what a great job she did and how pretty she looked.  He is the BEST big brother! 

The pictures are pretty bad of her dancing.  The lighting in the auditorium was so hard to take pictures with the spotlights and stuff.  And my camera doesn't have much of a zoom... so this was the best I could do!  Her first dance number was to a song called "Stupid Cupid."  It was really cute!  I was a little nervous after watching Rylee at rehearsal because she wasn't always dancing when she should have been and she seemed nervous about the crowd.  But, she did so great!  I think she turned it on in front of people and loved performing!  She did even better than rehersal and had the biggest smile!  

This part was so fun!  Each class came out and then they called the each girls' name.  They came across the stage doing a sassy walk (which Rylee is WAY too good at!), then at the corner of the stage, they did a turn. 

Then they sashayed across the front of the stage.  It was a adorable! 

Rylee's last dance number was "Its a Hard Knock Life" from Annie.  It was THE cutest dance!  I think it was the crowd favorite for the whole night.  It got such loud cheers and had everyone laughing and clapping.  These girls' pouty faces were TOO cute! 

For the last part of the dance, they had these little mops as a prop.  It was so fun! 

For the finale, each class came out and danced a little with ribbons, and then they all danced together to the song "Let it Grow - Celebrate the World" from the Lorax soundtrack.  It was really cute! 

Rylee is the one on the far right next to her teacher

That is a LOT of little dancers!!! 

Rylee and her dance class backstage after the recital - Sydney, Teacher Danielle, Maddy, Addy, Kaitlyn, Teacher Madi, Rylee, Taya and Bentley

 After her star performance, we had to give our little dancer a flower!  She loved that!  Logan was the one to give it to her and told her what a good job she did.  I love when they are so sweet to each other! 

Afterwards, everyone wanted a picture with our little dancer!  Rylee with Logan and Avery

Rylee with Grandma and Grandpa Boman

Rylee with Great-Grandmas

 Rylee with Mom and Dad

Daddy and his Dance Princess

Mommy and Ry - We are SO proud of her for performing even when she was nervous and for working so hard all year to learn her dances!  She did a great job and we love her so much!  She looked so cute up on that stage!  I was even a little bit sad when she said she didn't want to do dance next year.  It was so much fun watching her perform.  She told me that she loved the recital, but she thought it was a little boring at class every week.  She decided to try gymnastics, so we'll see if she likes that better.

When we got home, we took a couple pictures in her "Hard Knock Life" costume - She was being so silly with her mop! 

Love the pouty face! 

One of my favorite parts of the recital was watching Avery in the audience. She watched every performance and copied their moves!  It was so cute!  In the car on the way home from rehearsal she said, "When I'm big and I be Rylee then I can take dance too."  I love it that she said she would be Rylee to take dance, not just big like her...  Since then, they play "dance class" on a regular basis and do lots of performances for us.  It is so cute and they play so well together when they play that and Rylee is so sweet with Avery and shows her so many fun things.  She teaches her to stretch out and how to "make the pizza" when she is stretching.  One of the classes danced to a song from Rapunzel (I want something that I want)  and Avery loved it!  She asked for that song all the time at home and would dance for us and remembered lots of moves that they had done in the recital.  I think she sashayed everywhere she went for about a week after watching Rylee!  She also did this funny move where she would push her hands out in front of her and then turn in all directions and she loved the move where she would sit or lie on the floor and kick her feet.  Maybe we will have another dance recital coming up someday!!!