Dancer

If there's one thing in the world that Ella LOVES to do, it's dance!
Small Stars Team Picture (Ella is 3rd from Right, aka. the shortest one)

She had a great competition season. This year's ETR (Entire Team Routine) theme was This Joint is Jumpin'. And it was! Ella's group danced to All that Jazz. They took multiple 1st place and High Point awards with this routine. Here are a few of her preshow faces. Never a dull expression for Ella.

In the past years, she has done her specialty parts with Cooper Peters. This year, though, she did them with Keaton Ives. They were so cute!

Cooler than Me was the Small Stars jazz routine. Amazing choreography and super cool costumes. The girls had a blast with this routine. They took many 1st place, Platinum, White Diamond and High Point awards.

And if anyone questions just how much she loves this or if she is having fun, just look at that smile! No front teeth and all!

Funny story actually about Ella's teeth. She had one of her top front teeth that was just dangling at our 3rd competition. She kept pushing it forward with her tongue, making it stick straight out. Alisha, the director, told her that she had to stop making it stick out or pull it out. So, Ella reached it and pulled it out. She was walking around with wet paper towels in her mouth trying to get the bleeding to stop just minutes before dancing.

Here Comes the Sun was the Small Stars lyrical routine. This was Ella's first year performing a lyrical at competition. Like Cooler than Me, they received multiple awards, and it was well deserved. This routine was so sweet. Their faces and flowing movements were priceless.

At the end of May, it was time for A Night to Remember, the final recital of the year. This is where they perform all of the routines that they have learned, not just the competition routines. The above photos are of Ella's ballet dance. Ballet is not her favorite style, but she works really hard on getting her hand and feet positions correct.

Tumbling was a new class we added this year in hopes of getting her arials and back walk overs. Both her left and right cartwheels improved imensely and she is SO CLOSE to getting her walk over. Hopefully by the end of summer. I love the picture of her handstand above!

These pics are of her technique routine. Just a fun last minute jazz routine.

Ella was so excited that her nanny, Tanya, could be there to see her dance! And a huge thanks to her for taking all of the great photos of the night!

The end of June means National Competition in way too hot Las Vegas! Here Ella and I are taking a self portrait in our hotel room at the Orleans before leaving for her first routine. I didn't take any photos of her dancing since I had already done that at previous competitions. But I did take a lot of her playing in between dances! We were so lucky to have Papa and Grandma Miles fly in a few hours after us to spend the weekend, too!

Ella was most excited about getting to go swimming. The hotel has several pools and she bounced back and forth between them all.

After the pool, we hit the arcade. Ella played and played and played some more, collecting tons of tickets. I LOVE the picture above of her riding in a horse race. I lost count of how many times she rode it. Most of the pictures I got were blurry but not her face on this one! Hilarious!

When she was all done playing, we went to the ticket machine to cash in her winnings. We didn't get enough to get the computer she wanted (we would have been there for weeks to do that and spent as much as it costs to just buy the computer ourselves) but we did have enough to get lots of small toys and treats.

Papa and Grandma treated us to some yummy meals and Mr. Poppers Penguins.

Ella with Papa and Grandma Miles. The weekend was great! They took 1st place in Cooler than Me and Here Comes the Sun, 2nd place for This Joint is Jumpin' and 4th place in overall sweepstakes. Go Bountiful Stars!

On July 1, we officially ended the dance season with our year end banquet. We are usually in Seattle for this event so this was our first year attending it.

Ella and Taylor, one of her fellow small star friends

The girls were most excited about the chocolate fountain and the GIGANTIC marshmallows. Sydney was loving hers, even though her face doesn't show it. She was laughing too hard.

At the banquet, each girl is individually recognized. This year, we thought it would be funny to recognize Ella and Austyn together and present them with inflatable helmets. These two were constantly getting hurt throughout the year and we were always joking about putting them in rubber suits. Unfortunately, Austyn was in California and not able to be there. Ella wasn't sure what to think at first when Alisha put it on her head but in the end she thought it was pretty funny. I am sure she and Austyn will wear them everywhere together.

Sydney, Ella, Kira (instructor), Taylor and Kylie

Papa and Grandma really timed things right this year, not only making it to Vegas again but also just in time for the big party! How lucky can we get!

Mommy and Ella

(Sidenote: We really miss Daddy throughout the season. He begins traveling for work as soon as the competitions start, making it difficult for him to be there. He did make it to one in April so he had a chance to see her in person.)

And we cannot conclude a dance year without a photo of Ella and Austyn. These two are inseparable! Always dancing, laughing, and getting scolded for bouncing off the walls in the locker rooms. Now, time for a quick break and then the dancing shoes go back on for summer.