While Mike and I were in DC I got an email from the VetTix organization saying that they had some tickets available for an event in my area. I looked at it and saw that it was for a Hunter Hayes concert.
I thought this might be fun so I requested 2 tickets. I didn't know if I would get them because it's kind of a lottery system on some of the events. I was notified the next day that I got them :)
Noah is the one who introduced me to some of Hunter Hayes' music so I figured it would be a good outing for the 2 of us.
Maybe he felt weird going with his mom, but he didn't act like it. It was Noah's first concert, and we both had a good time!
Hunter Hayes put on a really great show...man that kid is super talented, plays all sorts of instruments and writes his music too.
Glad we got to go, and that it was free...love that VetTix does that for the military!
Oh...One thing that was kind of funny was a conversation that I overheard while we were waiting for the show to start.
Some teenage girls were sitting behind us and I heard
Girl 1: I don't want to be a stay at home mom. I can't stand the idea of sitting around all day and doing nothing.
Girl 2: I think I'll be a stay at home mom until my kids go to school, cause I don't want them in daycare, but then I'm not.
...Oh boy...I seriously thought about saying something, but I didn't...not sure it would have done any good and I know it would have embarrassed Noah, so I just smiled and shook my head.
We had a good time trying to make his Father's Day memorable.
First order of business was the kids delivering him a box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts in the morning, and then I also made him an egg sandwich.
He wanted pizza for dinner so I made some homemade pizzas and topped them with some of his favorite pizza toppings... bacon, canadian bacon, bacon and cheese :)
We did have some other toppings too but I think in his book the bacon takes the cake...or the pizza in this case.
Then we presented him with his cards and his present.
This year he requested a concert for his gift.It was fun listening to the kids prepare and then watching them perform for him. I'm thinking that we might want to make this a Father's day tradition.
So...with that in mind, here is our first annual Father's Day concert.
We sure love him and hope that he had a wonderful day!
We have had quite a few memorable musical moments recently
(how's that for alliteration!)
I thought I'd share them all in one post.
- Dallin played at a rest home with his violin teacher and some of her students. They did and the people were so grateful.
- Dallin had his Winter Orchestra concert, he did a great job. I was particularly impressed to watch as he noticed that a young lady did not have a music stand and he went and found one for her.
- Mike and I were able to go to see The Sound of Music at a local community theater. A friend of ours was playing Maria. It was very well done...really made me want to look into doing that again. It's been a long time! Just for fun I dug up a couple of old pictures from my community theater days...one of them is even pre-redhead! Enjoy :)
I played Rhetta in Pumpboys and Dinettes,
such a fun musical and a great cast!
I played Gloria in Damn Yankees.That was a great part! It was a very physical part too, I remember coming home very bruised from several rehearsals...but it was worth it!
I also stayed up one night and painted this olio drop, it turned out great and the director was very happy.
...so happy that he requested I do another one for Phantom...
I wish I could find my picture of that one, it was so involved!
(Maybe I'll have to do some more digging and do a more in depth flashback post!)
I was Carlotta in Phantom.
That has to be one of my favorite roles I've played. It was fun playing a mean, bad character :)
...and I had awesome costumes too!
Ok, sorry for the side track down memory lane, now back to the regular post :)
- Dallin performed at the mall with his violin teacher and more of her students.
They had a pretty big crowd gathered around.
They sounded so good!
- We went caroling as a family and delivered treats to some friends. We had a very moving experience when we went to visit a dear sister from our church who had cancer and was in a coma. I'll never forget the feelings I had as we sang to her. She passed away 3 days later. Her funeral was wonderful. I don't think I've ever laughed so much at a funeral...but she would have wanted it that way! She requested to be driven to the cemetery in a beat up red pick up truck (the story on how that was able to happen is pretty neat too) with Latin music blasting as loud as possible.
- Noah had his Winter Band concert...he nailed his solo, and he looked like James Bond.
- I led the choir last Sunday in church and it went very well. We did two songs and they sounded so wonderful! I'm so thankful to the awesome friends who come and share their talents and sacrifice their time to support me in this calling and to sing praises to the Lord.
and...I found the videos from the piano recital...I'm so happy!!
On November 30th the kids had their Fall Piano recital.
They all did such a wonderful job!
I was impressed with the progress that they each had made since the last recital.
I am seriously considering taking some lessons myself...
I also have to say though, that right now I'm just so upset! I took video of each of them playing and the videos are nowhere to be found...I seriously want to cry.
I took them with my phone because I forgot the video camera...I'm trying to figure out if they were accidentally deleted and see if I might be able to recover them...but the pessimist in me feels like there is no hope :(
Grace was on the math team this year and she made All-County Chorus. Both events were held on the same day (April 28th...yes I am way behind here, I know...but I'm catching up!)...thankfully they were at schools right across the street from each other!
Our family had the opportunity to participate in a Pioneer Day fireside at the Washington D.C. temple visitor's center this past Saturday.
Aren't we cute!
The music and spoken word presented were great. It was fun to be a part of it. I especially loved watching my kids.
Here's a little dance they did
You probably noticed that Noah was missing from that first picture, he didn't think he should be in it because he wasn't in pioneer clothes, but we had to get one with him anyway. He watched from the audience...and manned the video camera.
He was at scout camp for the first rehearsal and honestly, I didn't think he would have wanted to do it anyway, since he is getting older. I was surprised when after it was over he told me that he wished he would have been in it and that it felt weird to watch us perform without him. I asked him if he wanted me to force him to do whatever comes next and he said, yes! Love that kid :)
We got an extra fun treat after the fireside. Our good friends the Fishers live here in Maryland, but we haven't been able to get together with them. We met them about 12 years ago while living in Monterey California. Anyway, I let them know about the fireside and they canceled all their plans for the evening ;) and came and watched it (mostly because I bribed Chaoyi with a zucchini from my garden, kidding!)
After the fireside we all went out for treats. It was so fun catching up with them in person rather than through blogs and facebook, though I'm so glad to have those means of keeping in touch.
I can't wait to get together with them again, I know we'll have so much fun!
...oh and I have to say how honored I felt to be the first contact Chaoyi entered into her new phone :)
Ok, so it wasn't actually a date...but I got to meet Sheri Dew last night :)
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir had a concert on Wednesday at Wolf Trap. I got to do some photography at the VIP reception just before the concert, and she was one of the VIPs.
(Thank you to President and Sister Matsumori for introducing me to her.)
Anyway, our payment for doing the photography was VIP seating for the concert. The concert was great! It's fun to see the choir sing things that you would never hear in General conference. There were a couple of songs with some featured soloist that were amazing. They also did a whole section of music from stage and screen. They ended with 2 of their most requested pieces, Come Come Ye Saints and Battle Hymn of the Republic...but that of course wasn't actually the end. They did an encore set including God Bless America and This Land is Your Land, guest conducted by Virginia Senator Mark Warner, then finally ending with God Be With You Till We Meet Again. We really enjoyed the evening.
*Crazy coincidence...as we walked to our seats to sit down we saw Keith and Jeanene Davey (in-laws to two of my brothers) sitting directly behind us. Out of 4000 seats...what are the odds of that! It was great to see them.
Last week we had three concerts, two of them were on the same night. I know this is just going to happen more and more as all the kids get older.
Noah is playing the French horn now, and is doing well. This is his favorite piece from his Spring concert. You can't see him because he is on the back row :(
Dallin also had his Spring concert. I have a few short pieces from it. This is Dallin's first year playing the violin and he is enjoying it and doing well...even if his reason for choosing the violin was because he wanted an instrument that didn't take his breath to play.
Dallin was one of about four kids in his school orchestra who made the all-county orchestra. We were very proud of him. Here is one of his favorite songs from the all-county concert.
I couldn't help notice the boy in front of him playing the other direction. Dallin told me that they had to change his violin all around because he has some disfigured fingers and couldn't do the fingering with them, but he can hold the bow with them.
Oh, and a big thank you to my friend Nanette for recording the all-county performance for me.
Anyway, we are glad that our children are learning these instruments and doing well. We are so proud of them.
We love music!
* By the way, I know these videos are a little long, I don't expect most of you to watch them in their entirety, but I figure I'll let you choose which part you watch. You might just want to see the beginning, or just skip to the big finish at the end...your choice :)
We are fortunate to live so close to our nation's capital and we try to take advantage of it. On Wednesday we went up and visited the Air and Space Museum with Sylvia and her kids.
On the metro
Exploring the museum
Isaac was chosen to
help with the presentation on air pressure.
He thought it was pretty cool!
On the metro ride home Isaac
decided that he needed to meditate.
Then on Friday we went up to the Capital for a concert with the Vances.
Random picture I took of a flower while we
were waiting for the concert to start.
It was a beautiful night and the music was fantastic.
