I've Had the Time of My Life

Abe has dreamed of hosting a family dance for several years.  I knew his 40th birthday was the perfect occasion to finally make it happen. 

Forty years old.  Or as Clark and his friends decided...

...Abe is now old.

The hope for the family dance was that all ages could come and just have a fun time together, with older music and newer music.  I declare it was a grand success.  We rented an indoor pavilion in our town for the evening.

Abe's younger, hipper brother, Phil, who lives in Orem was so great to come be our DJ.  Abe gave Phil his wishlist playlist for the evening and Phil did a really great job of balancing Abe's desire for 80's music with some more current hits.

Here is Phil's wife Katie. Katie was very helpful getting things set up while Phil tinkered with the music. We were so happy to have them at the dance because they know how to get down and boogie. 

Abe and Cannon just before the party began.

Cannon was a dancing machine!   He and his friend, Jake, were crazy!  Crazy AWESOME!

The conga line was a favorite of the 6-10 set.

The Macarena early on got people loosened up.

Peter found friends to snuggle and dance with him.

It was so cute to see my parents dancing.  They were good sports and stayed the whole evening.  I knew when "Celebration" by Kool & the Gang came on that my dad couldn't resist getting up to dance.
Daniel (Abe's oldest brother) and Lori's family know how to have a good time!  We loved dancing with them.

I may or may not have followed Bethany around at times with the express purpose to embarrass her with my dance moves.  She may or may not have turned and walked away from me each time I did so. 
Parenting teenagers can be such fun.

The disco lights really helped the atmosphere.  A big thanks to my Aunt Jennifer for letting us borrow them.

 The young men were a little slow to warm up to the dance.  Notice Clark's expression?  How could you miss it?  He was... shall we say... apprehensive about the evening.  I can understand that from his perspective at 15, it would be hard to top the embarrassment of your parents dancing in front of not only their friends, but your friends as well.  I get it.  It didn't stop us, but I can understand it.
See for yourself what he had to deal with.

Ah,! But did you see who is in the video along with Abe?  The apple doesn't fall that far from the tree, and Clark did join in the fun.
You know what first got all the young men up and dancing?

Vintage dancing!  Andrea, our dancing instructor, was fabulous.  She led us in two dances. The first one, "Patty-Cake Polka" was so sweet because all the little kids could join in with the adults.

The second one, "Lucky Seven" was a little more complicated, so we gathered all the little ones into the middle and danced around them.

Cotton-Eyed Joe for the fittest and more athletic of the crowd.

Andrea (in all black) saved the day again when she led the group in the "Thriller" dance.

Do you know the feeling when you are dancing and you think you look cool doing it, but then you see a picture of yourself and realize you are a complete dork? 
Yeah, me neither.
I admit I did wake up Sunday morning feeling very hesitant to show my face at church.  Kind of like I couldn't quite remember what I'd done, but fearing others would.

One of my favorite things about the evening?  Daddys and daughters dancing together.  Abe and Elinor.

Abe and Bethany

Grandma Cannon and Malachi

Brothers and sisters dancing together-- Cannon and Bethany

Husbands and wives-- Brig (my sister) and Dev

Friends and neighbors-- Sarah and William dancing.  In the background, Jenn, Candice, Evan and Kierstin.

Pia and Edward Navarro.  I have to give Edward the best male dancer of the evening award-- he was fantastic!

Ryan and Katelyn.  Ryan receives the award for "Stepping Furthest Outside His Comfort Zone".  Talk about being a good sport!

Philip and Katie.  Oh, look, I just noticed my cute nieces, Takara and Emi dancing together.  That's sweet.

I told Cannon to go ask Faith to dance.  I failed to teach them how to slow dance.  Not so natural looking.

Then there was the classic dance where teenage boys lift up their friend in a chair and slow dance in a circle. 
What?  You've never heard of that before?  It's all the rage round here.

Maybe Lori and I need to go clubbing.
Actually, I don't really know what clubbing is.  Maybe we just need to go dancing more often.  On second thought, based on this picture, we probably ought not to dance publicly ever again.  It was just so dang fun!  Kylie, however, looks beautiful.

Abe and I were both so pleased with the evening.  To have friends and family come celebrate this milestone for Abe and make it so fun and memorable means so much to us.  Most everyone who was there is pictured in this post, but a few escaped the camera.  A huge thank you to everyone who joined us for one of the most enjoyable nights of our lives.