Pomp and Circumstance! KAILA - Salem Hills High School Class of 2009

Aaaaahh! It's actually here... Graduation week. And Yes, ladies and gentlemen... she made it! This is one of those milestones that always seem so vague and fuzzy when you look into the future...then you blink and it's here!

Have you ever heard that saying that

"The days go slowly, but the years go by so fast"?

We are feeling that today, Miss Kaila-Roo.

From that first day of Kindergarten, where you proved even then that you could rock ANY style, even your self-inflicted haircut.

One memorable quote from her Elementary school years... her second grade teacher, Mrs. Melander, was trying to be positive during parent-teacher-conferences when she said "Kaila is very social... and she does love to accessorize!" The myriad toys, make-up, game pieces, etc. that constantly appeared in her school bag could surely be defined as "nuisance items"!

Jr. High brought the arrival of a new girl... Kaila's soul-mate: Heather. We can't imagine what her High School years would have been like without her siamese-twin!

And Heather is just the center of Kaila's fantastic group of friends.

Thank you girls for your positive influence!!

Sandi, Lexi, Sheii, Kaila, Kenna, Heather & Sarah

Two years at SFHS involved in the show choir, Premier.
Two trips to Branson for Nationals!

Summer Job: THE POOL!
As a life-guard and swim teacher... Kaila loves this job.
And mom and dad love the money she makes for HERSELF!

And finally... getting to be a part of the first graduating class at the brand new

Salem Hills High School.

Congrats Roo! And may the rest of your years be as full of joy and laughter as you have made the last 18 for us.

Salem Hills Swim Team

Kaila is having a BLAST swimming for our brand new high school! She swam for the city team for a few years when she was younger, and of course she spends AMPLE time in the pool all summer being a swim instructor and a lifeguard... so how could she resist swimming in school??

This new team is really enjoying their first season. And the nature of swim meets is that you are out of the pool waiting for your race more than you are IN the pool... so that leaves plenty of time for hanging with your friends, taking pictures and just generally goofing off! Oh, I mean... you spend all that time in intense focus planning your strategy for your next race. You can just see the focus and concentration being employed by these tough-as-nails athletes!

Yeah, she looks really miserable in these pics, huh? Its a rough job, but someone has to do it!

Just giving you a hard time Roo... It's very fun to watch how close they are as a team. They really do work hard, and the entire team is improving every day. Kaila's times have been getting shorter and shorter. She's turning in to a breast stroke phenomenon! At her past two meets the coaches had her swim a 200 IM, which means she had to swim 50 yards of each stroke: back, breast, butterfly and freestyle. I could do back and free... maybe breast if I had to... but butterfly... NO WAY! (oh, you do realize that I mean I could do that 20 years ago... yeah.) And she did it!! All 4 strokes, high speed, and not dead at the end of it! Now THAT is cool.

Kinda cool to be watching our kids in events where it's perfectly acceptable to jump and scream at the top of your lungs! GO SKYHAWKS!!! Whoot-whoot!!