Happy New Year's Eve!

Here's how the Coe's finished off 2010!

Abbie & Torra attended a Multi-Stake New Year's Eve Youth Dance

with 700 of their closest friends!

(a 'stake' is made up of several wards or congregations in an area; 

and four stakes were involved in this event, hence the attendance of 700)

The theme was 80's -- can you tell?

Sue was involved in putting this event on, 

so my day/evening was spent decorating, chaperoning & cleaning up

which was amazingly easy considering the numbers.

What a bunch of fun, energetic & well-behaved teenagers!

It was especially fun for me when Abbie & various friends

would stop & say hi when we ran into each other throughout the evening :-) 

Kenzie was feeling like a craft,

so she had a couple friends over 

& made these darling little 'hamburger & fries' cookies 

to take to a friend's house for a little celebrating!

They turned out so cute . . . and tasty!

I SO WISH I had snapped a photo of what I found 

when I arrived home from the dance at 1 a.m!

But I didn't.

Porter & Dave (& Jake) passed out on the couch 

while Darth Vader's Light Sabers swiped around on the TV.  

They had enjoyed a chinese dinner together &

polished off a bottle of Martinelli's in our 'fine' crystal 

while watching several episodes of Star Wars.

Doesn't get any better than that.

Bring on 2011 :-)

Russian Dance!

Mrs. Hess' piano students all learned songs from 

"The Nutcracker Suite" for the Christmas Recital this year.

Here's Porter playing his choice -- "Russian Dance"

Sorry, no video of Abbie :-(  

But, just think "Waltz of the Flowers!"

Very pretty.

Merry Christmas . . .

. . . from Abbie & the MVHS Choirs!

I look forward to attending the Christmas Concert at the high school every year.  

And I am so glad Abbie joined up just as Kenzie graduated, 

so we'd have an excuse to keep going!


even if I do always have to watch it with Porter on my lap
(he's getting kinda big for that) 
cuz we are only allowed 4 tickets, 
and Grandpa & Grandma wouldn't miss it for the world!

We have the most wonderful, talented & inspiring Choir Director --

 and what he teaches the kids about performing music will benefit them forever. 

 Thank you, Mr. Elg!!

Abbie tried out for the Treble Choir & made it 

(by singing a solo, mind you - scary!)  

Here's a snippet from "White Christmas"
abbie = front row, 4th from right

And, Mr. Elg has established a tradition of performing the Hallelujah Chorus
with all choirs combined, as well as visiting alumni
at the end of the concert every year.

It rivals the Mo Tab, if you ask me
and that's saying something
Brings tears to my eyes every time

(Abbie's in the 2nd row & virtually impossible to see, 
but she was there, singing the soprano part, i know cuz I've heard her sing it at home!)

It was kinda too bad Kenzie was still up at BYU-I 

and didn't get to join in as an alumna :-(

What the Heck?

We   h a v e   a 

1 9 - y e a r - o l d !

Here she is

on her birthday

with her friend, Molly

and the gift Molly brought her

and, I'm not gonna lie

she's been a tad parsimonious* about sharing

and that's been kinda hard on me

what, with the box staring me down all day long

just sayin'

*a thesaurus is a handy thing :-)

Well, 

even with all her parsimoniousness

we love her anyway

Happy 19th Kenz :-)




post edit:  the red velvet with cream cheese frosting were especially yummy.
Mmmmmm.

At the Derby

He won some . . .

And, he lost some!

(he's "Solid Gold" #99 - entirely self-built)

And ended up in 4th -- Way to Go Porter!!

Sweet 16!

Abbie chose $money$ in lieu of a party for her 16th birthday (thanks, abs :-)

but somehow the festivities kept popping up all week long!

Her friends surprised her at lunch with b-day sunglasses & a 'watermelon' cake

(it happened to be a spirit day at MVHS - hence the crazy red/gold clothes)

She & Torra fueled up at at In 'n Out...

...on the way to celebrate some more at Disneyland 

on an early-out day from school!

G'pa and G'ma took her out to dinner one night, 

and we had her favorite for our family celebration dinner - -

Salmon w/soy vay, rice, and asparagus. 

 Followed by another request - Pear Crisp - Yum!

And, I just had to add this pic I snuck of her recently 

teaching one of her very bright piano students -- so cute.

And last, but definitely not least, 

she is now a proud, card-carrying, licensed driver!!

 (after a grueling 4-hour visit to the DMV 

in the pouring rain during Christmas break)

20 Years

This was one of my better choices.