We left after school on the 8th in a blizzard. Seriously! Heavy snow, blowing, the whole deal. We really had our doubts about proceeding, but our Smart Phones came to the rescue. I was tracking the storm on radar, and saw that it eased up after Blackfoot. We hung in there (passing on the news to the other parents driving down behind us), and were relieved to find that the storm didn't extend southward. Such a relief! We had great roads for the remainder of the trip. We pulled off at Brigham City around 7 to get some dinner, connecting with Mary and her mom, who were right behind us. The girls were thrilled to have the chance to eat together. (They'd been constantly texting throughout the trip.)
Salt Lake has changed a great deal since the Olympics ... certainly for the better! I was very impressed by the changes which had been made. We pulled in to Salt Lake around 8:30 p.m. Definitely don't love ten lane highways - my least favorite thing about SLC. However, we were once again thankful for our Smart Phones AND our GPS apps. It made getting around SO much easier. Bailee, who has never been to a large city (in her memory) was blown away by Salt Lake. It's the first time she's seen skyscrapers up close and personal. Once we got to our hotel (just off the U of U campus), Peggy and I concentrated on getting Bailee settled for the night. She had a terrible cold, and felt miserable. Luckily, the medicine I gave her helped her to have a good night. She felt a wee bit better when she got up the next morning.
We spent the morning touring around SLC. We found the building where her audition would be, then headed off to Trader Joe's. I have several friends who are big fans of Trader Joe's, and they have gifted us with some of the products available through the store. Needless to say, we were excited to check it out. Bailee loved it. Really loved it. She can't wait to go back - with coolers. After stocking up on some items, we toured the downtown area. The highlight was seeing the Capitol Theater where Ballet West performs. Bai was really excited.
Before we knew it, it was time to head back up to the university for the audition. Bailee was excited to see her friends, but they were all pretty nervous. The parents opted for going out to lunch since we couldn't watch the audition and didn't want to just hang around for two hours being nervous. We had a great time together. When we returned for the girls, they all felt that they had done pretty well. By this time, the weather had turned on us, and it was snowing heavily. The others went out for dinner, but Peggy and I decided that we should probably get on the road before it got any worse.
Our roads got pretty dicey around Ogden, and remained so until we passed Malad in Idaho. Lots of slideoffs, but we did okay. So thankful for that! Bailee basically passed out in the back seat. Once we passed Malad Pass, our roads were great. We got home around 9:30. Trip over.
A week later we got the e-mail telling us that Bailee hadn't been accepted. Her ballet teacher was stunned. Mary and Aleks couldn't understand why (and both cried on her behalf). Bailee, however, was fine with it. She just said "God doesn't want me to go this year. That's okay. He has a reason." She then told us that she had been struggling with a bad feeling about it since we returned home. So, we don't know why it's a no go this year, but we're willing to accept that there's a reason. She'll try again next year.
Meanwhile, she'll attend her usual summer intensive in Pocatello with Sergiu and Beth. We also are hoping that we can arrange for private lessons with either a former Ballet West dancer OR Risa Mochizuki, a Japanese dancer currently working with a ballet company in Romania. Either way, Bailee will have a chance to continue to develop her ballet skills. I'm glad that she has had the opportunity to find out that the disappointments in life don't have to destroy you. Life goes on, and so do we.
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