Piano Recital 2019

We had our final piano recital this week.  We are sad to be losing our beloved piano teacher, but I couldn't be happier for lessons to be ending.  It was a daily slog to get them to practice.  And just in case they ever come back at me and say, "I wish you would have made me stick with it!" I just couldn't force it any longer.  We had  good run!  They learned a lot.  And if they decide (like I have) to come back to it later in life, they have a solid foundation.  I will keep playing!  It is one of my 19 for 2019 to finish the adult beginner book.  I am well on my way.  It brings me joy to play.  It doesn't bring me joy to force them to play.

Anyway, it was also good to finish with a pretty good showing!   Ben and I worked really hard on his song.  I decided to just get up 15 minutes earlier and work is practices into my morning routine as his page turner, cheerleader, and mentor to make sure he really learned his song.  And he did.  It was long, but he loved it.  "A Million Dreams" from The Greatest Showman.
I was really proud of him.  It was fun to work together most days.  The hardest was actually once we had it mostly down and needed to do some cleaning up.  He got a little resistant to these efforts.


Sarah continued her usual--play it once and call it good.  So her piece never got super smooth.  But it was pretty hard.  So I was proud of how well she did considering her practice routines.  She is super good about getting up early and walking.  But then she disappears into her room to read and doesn't make it back to the piano most days.  So I have to hound, remind, etc.  And I just couldn't do it.  It turns out that if you don't practice, you don't get better.  Sigh. She wanted to do something from the original Mary Poppins, so "Jolly Holiday" ended up being her pick.


I haven't actually been taking lessons, but I have been practicing a few times a week most weeks.  I bought a fun song to learn for the recital, but I abandoned it when I just didn't have enough time.  Instead I played "Sweet Hour of Prayer." I had Derek and the girls sing.  They sounded awesome.  My playing was 95% awesome.  I messed up in the same place I messed up on in all of the practices where they sang.  I could nail it with no one singing.  A little harder when people sing with you.  More pressure!  But it is a beautiful hymn, and the message so rich.  I'm glad they sang.  I got teary introducing my song...thinking about the blessing it is to have my awesome family, and having Laurie as a friend, client and teacher.  I'm really going to miss her! I forgot to get someone to film this performance, so you can just imagine that it was amazing.

Fort Warden Choir Festival

The girls got to go with Seattle Children's Chorus Intermezzo Choir to Fort Warden this weekend for a quick 24 hour choir Festival.  They really enjoyed it!
I bought tickets for Derek, Ben and I to go to the Saturday concert.  Then Derek ended up working Folklife and Ben had a birthday party.  So I invited Brion and Geneva.  We had a really fun day together.  We made sat in a ferry line from 11:30-1:30.  We ended up missing the first 10 minutes of the concert, and of course SCC went first so we missed their first number.  But the other numbers were really awesome.  4 different children's choirs performed, and then they all performed together in a few numbers.  It was so good that even though it was like 50 degrees in the Balloon hanger where the concert was held, I was still enthralled! (And that is really saying something, because I really hate being cold.)
I had some fun inspiration for what to do with the kids this summer since I am not doing the research symposium.  (Details to be revealed later.) 
We ate dinner and had a quick (no line) ferry ride home.
I feel so strongly that SCC is a great place for my kids!
I wish I had stopped to take pictures with Grammy and Grandpa and the venue, etc.  But it was SO COLD.  And the girls had showered and "done their own hair" the night before the show.  So it was no bueno.  Decided these pictures would do. 

Henry Leck was the guest conductor.  He's super famous in the choir world I guess.  He stood right next to Libby (front row) for the group photo! 

The whole group.  So fun! 

   Apparently some of the performance will be on Youtube.  I'll share when it is!

Arts Festival

This year both Ben's grade and Sarah's grade performed at our school Arts Festival.
Ben got to do some partner dancing on one song, and Sarah got to be a drummer!
Our music teacher does a really good job of finding fun songs and adding a little bit of instrumentation or other interesting things.
It was fun to see them perform! 

Ben looking handsome! 

Sarah on drums

BEFORE...

We are starting a project.  It isn't really the project I wanted to do.  But we have had leaks in the sunroom, and now the window seal is broken and there is moisture between the glass.  So--it's time.
We hired a contractor (our first time doing this!)
So here is the before...the work starts this week. 

See how gross and cloudy the window is?  Yuck. 

We had a brick flower bed up against the house.  So Derek had to remove this so that we can bump out a window seat.   

Derek's part is done.  He single handedly (with a jackhammer to finish) removed the bed, loaded the bricks into his truck, and took them to Pacific Topsoil.  It was a LOT of bricks.  There is some moisture damage here...Ugh.  And maybe some carpenter ants too.  So I'm glad we are doing this.  Even though I'd rather do the office.  I can be patient.  Right?

Decades Day!

We had a Decades Day Spirit Day this week.  It is the kids' favorite.  The night before we had a rare night at home.  I had them figure out their outfits.  Then I was working on the computer.  They made up an elaborate 3 act skit for me (choreographed, with music).  It was hilarious and amazing.  They bickered a bit as they got it ready (Libby is really bossy), but they made it though and wowed me with the performance.

These are the titles for each act.  This was Decades Oscars.  The snowman is the Oscar award that Libby received.  Amazing!  

Decades Dominos--they kept falling down and helping each other up and then pulling each other down.  Hilarious.  

The Fashion War--They were mean mugging each other as they walked a catwalk (made of yoga mats). 

The whole crew at school.  Our last year all together.  Sob. 

Happy Mother's Day!

The only way I could feel good about not going to Utah for Spring Break, was if we had another plan in place to see my mom soon after.  Mother's Day seemed like a prime opportunity to fly down to Utah.  So we bought tickets.  Then, we ended up going to see her for Spring Break anyway.  So--surprise!  We are back just 2 weeks later!   

But Dave joined us in the surprise and it was so good to see her getting even stronger.   Rachel and Brad drove down from Bread University at Great Harvest Headquarters in MT.  It was a 5 out of 6 sibling weekend!  My mom came out to lunch with us, went to church with us, and started a game of scrabble (Nick had to finish for her because she had to do something else).  It was fun to come down to the kitchen and see her doing a little cooking.  She's getting back to herself!  

The trip felt miraculous in another way too.  Everywhere we went, no lines.  Even airport security on the way home!  Restaurants, etc.  We just seemed to walk right in.  Then a line would form behind us.  It was so nice.  Not sure how we managed that. 

Notice that one of these kiddos isn't mine.  Devin adores Ben and wants to be with him ALL THE TIME.  Pretty sweet, even if Ben gets a little tired of it.  It's hard being adored.  

Even Derek came--2x in a row.  We are spoiled!  But he won't be coming this summer, so we had to soak it up while we could! 

My brother Brian spoke in his ward for Mother's Day and was looking for some help with his talk...I gave him this gem as I was heading out for my walk.  Darn autocorrect!  I got a really good laugh when I realized what I'd said.  Beaters instead of bearers.  HA!

We all went to church in Lehi.  I took some irreverent pictures before the meeting started.  It was so fun to have a whole row of Randalls wedged in.  It was also a very exciting meeting.  Someone pulled the fire alarm during the sacrament.  They knew almost immediately it was a false alarm, and it wasn't that loud.  So we just finished the sacrament with intermittent beeping and advisories to leave the building until the fire department could come and clear the alarm.  Brian did an amazing job on his talk with the 5 minutes he got.  

Mimi out blowing bubbles!   

We stayed through Monday, and we got to see Derek's favorite tourist attraction in UT, the Copper Mine!  This is the largest open pit mine in the world, or something like that.  It is pretty amazing.  Not everyone was as impressed as Derek, but it is really cool! 

Spring Break 2019

If you recall, we (ie Santa) gave our kids a trip to Great Wolf Lodge for Spring Break.  And I was pretty excited.  No cooking or cleaning.  Just a chance to read some books and let my kids splash all week.

Then we found out that my mom needed another surgery.  She has been struggling with a new infection for a few weeks.  Antibiotics + anti-fungal weren't clearing it.  (Did you know that taking antibiotics only kills the infection in living flesh?  So the infection on the plate couldn't be cleared by just taking meds.)
 So they needed to remove the plates in her chest.  We found out on Thursday night, the 18th.  Spring Break started on the 22nd.  I had a total meltdown.  It was like all the pain of November coming back.  And I couldn't do Great Wolf Lodge when my mom was going to have another surgery.  But I was so worried about Derek and the kids--Derek was fabulous.  He got 2 extra days off of work so he could go and help me decide to change our Spring Break plans.

We ended up having a fabulous trip.  My mom came through her surgery so well.  She was back out of the hospital in 1 day!  She was home for Easter. 

This is 1/2 of one of the plates from her chest.  My dad said he wanted the plate since it was $25,000.  Ha!  Doesn't look as much like a plate as I expected.  But they used it to screw her sternum back together.  She still has one plate inside.  But they said her sternum had been healing nicely, so they didn't need to put any new ones in. 

We played UNO, Scrabble, worked on a really hard puzzle, and even took my  mom out for Pizza.

We promised the kids it would still be a Spring Break with lots of fun.  On Tuesday I stayed home with my mom and worked in the chair next to her.  Both of my sisters called, so I got to catch up.  Derek took the kids to "This is the Place" Monument Park.  Where Sarah commented that she was glad I stayed home because I would have "rained on their parade."  Ha! On the way home they went to Temple Square, touring the conference center and the family history center.  Derek and Libby got super sunburned.  Oops!   

It turns out that Dad makes them read a lot of plaques!  

After a delicious taco dinner at home, we went to see Missing Link with my dad.  $5 movie night is a thing in UTAH!  It was awesome.  Cheap popcorn too! 

Day 2: Hogle Zoo & the Utah State Capital ending at the Pizza Pie Cafe.

Hogle Zoo is WAY cooler than I remember.  They have upgraded lots.  But, they didn't get rid of the lion head drinking fountains!  

We went with Drea, Ruger & Reagan and Drea's friend Sarah met us there.  I didn't get many pictures.  Hopefully she got some more.  But it was a perfect morning for the zoo.  Not too warm, but sunny, and all the animals were out! 

On the way home from the zoo we went to the Utah State Capital.  The week before we left we went to the WA state capital on a field trip with the 4th grade.  It was really fun to see the Utah Capital since we had just been to the WA capital.  Sadly the Legislature isn't in session.  But we tagged along with a tour group already in progress and it was really amazing.  It is a spectacular building.  So beautiful.  Libby's sunburn was killing her, so she was over it.  Ben was dragging too.  But the rest of us enjoyed it!

Bryn & Brian brought their kids up and we went to Pizza Pie Cafe.  It's a pizza buffet, perfect with our crowd.  But totally brutal for me since I am eating Gluten Free right now.  But they did make me my own little Gluten Free Pizza.  It was fine.  But there is just something about Gluten.  I am feeling better though, so I am sticking to it for now.  (There is a whole other story about my digestive journey...maybe another post on another day.)

Day 3: Logan!
I love taking my kids to Logan and daydreaming that they will be Aggies one day too! We got everyone a shirt or sweatshirt.  Walked up Old Main Hill, and walked around campus a bit.  It is even more beautiful than it used to be.  I love Logan!

 Then we stopped in at my grandparent's old house.  The new owners have said we could come and look at all their renovations.  I texted her the night before and we set up a tour.  They are doing a great job.  The house needed a lot of work, so I know they are brave!  They are also doing a lot of the work themselves.  Libby kept saying, "This looks like an episode of Fixer Upper!" 
It makes me happy (and I got a little teary) at how they are preserving many of the things about the house, while updating and making it more functional.
I didn't take any pictures though.  Ugh.
Then (after a yummy Mexican lunch on Main Street) on to the cheese factory! We bought lots of cheese, and of course had ice cream.  We bought a lot of cheese to bring home. Luckily I can eat cheese during the next phase of my digestive healing journey.

 My favorite stop was actually our first stop in Logan, the temple.  We took pictures outside.  It is fun to think that our eternal family started with Derek and I's sealing in 2003. 

We don't look any older, right? 

Then we went back and babysat Nick and Drea's kids so they could go out for her birthday.  It is fun to be with littles for a bit to remind me how glad I am that we are through that stage!

We had an uneventful and relatively quick (just under 13 hours) drive home on Friday.  Derek had committed to work the Shoreline Invitational Track meet on Saturday, and I was helping at a funeral luncheon, so it was a short visit.  But I am so glad we changed our plans.  It was good to see my mom doing so well, rebounding quickly from this last surgery.  It was fun to take our kids to explore in Utah.  It was awesome to spend so much time together. Yesterday (in addition to the funeral lunch) I tackled a massive to do list (and I have some more today), but I feel ready to face down these last 8 weeks of school.