Duck Dynasty Dance

The day after the girls birthday they both went on their first dates.  They each asked a guy out to the MORP dance which was Duck Dynasty Themed.  They both had a great time and they both had a very different experience.

Nichole went on a date with a boy from the ward named Treyton.  I went over and picked him up and dropped them both off at Eagle River High School for the football game.  This was the first part of their date.  It was chilly outside so they were both dressed really warm (BTW no pictures were allowed because Nichole wouldn't let me).  They were going to meet up with their friends there.  The  plan was after the football game they were going to go to dinner and then over to the dance.  Which was for the most part how it turned out.  I of course didn't hear from her until after the dance when I went to pick her up.  Notice I didn't say them.  I only picked up Nichole. I was just as shocked as you were.  I was expecting to pick them both up and drop Treyton off at home.  

Here's the scoop.  I dropped them both off at the game.  Which was awkward for Nichole  because Treyton is a football player for the JV team and ended up knowing a lot of people at the game and really only talking to his friends that he knew and not to her.  They couple that they were meeting up with there didn't end up finding them until way into the game.  

After the game Treyton's parents showed up and took them to eat.  So not only was Nichole ditched by her friend that she was supposed to be going to dinner with but Treytons whole family, that's right WHOLE family crashed their date.  They ended up going to some burger joint in downtown Anchorage.  Where Nichole got interrogated by his parents (his parents are both police officers).  But on the same time she didn't end up having to pay for dinner so that was a plus.

After dinner they were dropped off at the dance on time mind you.  If you have ever gone to a LDS stake dance you would know that you never, ever show up to a dance ON TIME!  You are always fashionably late.  They were at the dance without another person their age there for over 45 minutes.  That is a huge chaperon to teenager ratio.  You know that you are early when the DJ is calling you by name to try to get you to dance.  Honestly in what world would they actually get up and dance.  Its awkward enough to dance when kids your own age  are around but to have 20 adults watch you do it.  That is just worse. But on the bright side they did get to finally talk just the two of them. 

After the dance I went to pick them up.  But Nichole was the only one that came traipsing over to see me. I  asked her where her date was and she replied that he was going home with another girl.  The date went that well that he had to go home with another girl?  In actuality the girl that he went home with was having a family party at her house and his parents were there.  They just thought that it would be easier.  I must say I thought that it was a little odd.  All in all it wasn't ideal as a first date but it was fun for her.  I asked if she would ever go on a date with that boy again and she said yes as long as his family wasn't there. 

The next Sunday I saw them and told them that I was offended that I didn't get invited to family dinner.  Come on why can their whole family crash and I not get invited to that.  I always joke that I am going to crash my kids dates but I would never really do it.

Natalie's first date didn't have as much twist and turns in it as Nichole's and was relatively calm compared to Nichole's.  They didn't plan on an activity before the dance besides dinner.  Natalie got to hang out and relax before her date.  She got a call from Cara (the girl that went with her) to let her know that she was on her way to pick her up.  The plan was that Cara would pick up her date, pick up Natalie, and then go and pick up Natalie's date Mitch.  After everyone was picked up they came back to the house and got  their pictures taken by me.  Following pictures they went to dinner at Taproot.  They had a lot of fun.  They ordered a pizza to share and every time that the waitress came over they would swap places that they were sitting.  In hopes of confusing her.  It worked.  After the dinner they went to the dance (of course the showed up a respectable hour late).  They danced and had fun.  After the dance Natalie was dropped off first because Mitch insisted that he walk Natalie to the front door.  Even though they had to back track past the church to take him home.  She had a great  time and really seemed to enjoy her first date!  

I really had a fun time dating people and can't wait until the girls get to date a whole bunch well maybe not a whole bunch but a respectable amount.

The girls sweet 16 party... Alice in Wonderland Murder Mystery Dinner

The girls party pretty much went off without a bang.  The only few glitches we had was the fact that the girls didn't show up on time.  When you are hosting a murder mystery dinner it is essential for all of the  people to RSVP so that if someone is unable to show up you can move people around to fill all of the scripted parts and the second essential thing is for all the people to show up on time.  Both of which didn't happen at the girls party.  I was able to read the parts for the people that were running late (I mean late one didn't even arrive until after the dinner was completed).  With a murder mystery you follow a script and everyone gets to participate in every section of the dinner.  There are questions asked and answers given to try to figure out who murdered Tweedle Dee (or Dum, hmmm I really can't remember now).  

I would bring out the different courses of food, the girls would eat and go over their script for that part of the dinner and then they would read it.  After that they would move onto the next part of the dinner.  

The menu was hard to make because there was a girl that that is allergic to gluten.  I tried to make the food gluten free the best that I could.  I also didn't know this until at the dinner but she was a dairy allergy too.  Boo!  That girl btw can eat grass and that's it.

Toward the end of the night I had a very special guest (the girls young women president, Brooke Cook) come over and read the conclusion of the dinner. I didn't know who the murderer was until the conclusion of the dinner and was shocked to find out that the murderer was my own daughter.  Nichole a.k.a the white rabbit.

After the dinner the girls posed for the photo booth.  After the photo fun the girls opened their presents and then went downstairs and watched Alice in Wonderland.

I think that they enjoyed the whole night.  I did enjoy putting the whole thing together.

 Stephanie- The Cheshire Cat

 Kiley- The Executioner

Myranda and Audree- Unfortunately these two girls decided they were too good to dress up.  The punks. 

 Jessalynn- a maid

 Natalie with her two besties

 Natalie- The Queen of Hearts

 Nichole- The White Rabbit

Nichole the murderer with all of the fingers pointing to the murderer. 

 The girls with Cheyenne- The Mad Hatter

 The girls with Kaitlynn- She didn't show up until the very end because she had a gymnastics competitions.

 The girls with Brooke Cook

 Mariah- The Cook

Natalie and Nichole's sweet 16 party! Alice in Wonderland murder mystery dinner. The details.....

The girls sweet 16 party was a hit.  But before I get into the actual party I wanted to show the details of what went into it.

 The girls sent out their invitations for the party about 2 weeks before the actual party day.  We printed off the invitation with the character synopsis and party information on it.  Complete with a "N" wax seal.

 The Table was set in Black, White, and Red with a hodgepodge of tea cups for everyone to drink out of.  There was also cards, and photo booth props going down the middle of the table.

 I made place mats for each person out of red felt.  I printed off a menu of our dinner then glued it to a paper bag that I decorated with a card and black and white doily.  Inside the bag I put red silverware and a polka dot napkin.

 I set up a table with giant "N"s on it with sharpies for the girls friends to write a sweet message for the girls on.  It was later hung up in their bedrooms.

I hung keys from the chandelier in the kitchen and teacups from the guardrails of the stairs.

I but together a dessert table for the girls with some of their favorite foods on it.  I wanted to make desserts in varying sizes.

 I had a girl I know make this adorable custom cake for the girls!

This was a mad hatter hat.  I took a marshmallow and chocolate glued it onto an oreo and then dipped the whole thing in chocolate.  I then took red chocolate and traced a rim around the hat.

 I put together an Italian Soda  bar with tons of delicious flavors to mix together.

 I dipped twinkies in white chocolate and then drizzled purple and pink chocolate over the top.  I added candy eyes to try to make the twinkies look like the Cheshire cat.

 There were mini pecan pies and red velvet cupcakes to snack on.

 I also dipped apples in caramel.  They didn't turn out looking pretty but they tasted really good.

 As a goody bag I made these boxes and added the little hats that I made in them.  The party turned out great mostly thanks in part to Pinterest,  Ok not in part entirely thanks to pinterest.