Band and Orchestra

We had our first concert of the year.  Sam did saxophone in the jazz band (did you know that Grandma Robertson played sax in high school?).  He also played flute in Symphonic band.  There used to be a lot of flutes in his band.  Now there's only two.  I'm glad he still enjoys it.   Evelyn is playing the violin in the beginning orchestra.  She really likes it. (Did you know that Grandma Wilcox played the violin in the Utah Youth Symphony?)

Seth really wanted to take pictures and it was a good way to keep him from climbing all over everyone.  These seats really are the worst I've had to sit in for a while.  The ones in the Utah Capitol theater where they hold the Opera are a close second.  I'm always glad when my parents come.  The kids love it.  This was right after my mom had a shot in her back and was really sore.

Sam had a rough start with Sax, but he's picked it up and run with it.  His previous band teacher asked him to play sax in jazz band this year, so Sam did.  His teacher left for a different school and the new teacher had no idea that Sam didn't already know how to play the sax. They got him his instrument 3 weeks after everyone else had one (we told them and rented the sax a long time ago.... it must have just gotten lost along in the transition.)  Then they had him playing with the wrong reed.  The teacher asked me to get him personal lessons.... I made a bargain with him.  I asked that he teach Sam to use the reed for three weeks and then I would get him a teacher after that if needed.  Low and behold, they found that they gave him the wrong reed, taught him how to use the reed and viola.... he's doing just great.

Sethie's pictures. This is the only picture of Ada there... She was running around trying to find Evelyn later while we were taking pictures.  

Hope and Sam.... the flute section.  Hope is also part of Sam's D&D group.  She's fun and smart, but I'm really glad that Sam can't text from any phone but mine.  A lot of their group texts for D&D are fine.... but she reminds me of some of the friends that I wouldn't let Ada text without me.

Evelyn said that she needed a solid colored dress/outfit for the concert.  She really wanted me to make her a black dress. So I took her to the store and we picked out a nice, soft and stretchy velvet. She picked out the pattern, I modified it to fit her better.... and then they were told that they could wear their Halloween costumes too.... so she wore her new dress and her cat costume.  She was super cute.

 

Misc

I have a balance platform, these guys realized that they can sing on it and it cracked us up.  I think this has some fun potential.

One of my daycare babies has decided that our cats are her favorite.  Everywhere they go, she tries to.

Uncle Seth invited us to a paint night at the game store by his house.  It was fun and the kids loved it.

These marvelous children helped me get a matching game ready for primary... It was fun.

We had the rest of the apples that Grandma and Grandpa Robertson had given us.  Sam used them to make apple pie.  Yummy!

Our broken windows got replaced yesterday.... These window sills are the next to go.  Jer was amazing and did everything to get ready for our new windows.  We still have a couple of little ones that they need to finish up with, but it's looking good.

My cousin, Liz, had her daughter get married.  I was so happy to be there and loved seeing my cousins.

 

Mountains

The leaves in the mountains this year are spectacular.  We went a week too late for the reds and a week to early for the yellows, but we got to drive up the mountains.  That was fun.  It was a good day.

Three in flip flops....

 

Opposition

I'm seeing something good in Sam.  He used to have that fiery "just good at everything" spark.  Then came his splitting his foot open, his allergy treatments not working, Cushing's syndrome and then his broken foot last year.  He was disappointed and upset with himself for not being "good" at soccer anymore... but this season I've seen a mature determination in him.  I would take that quality over just being good at soccer any day.  If you watch his face.... he's determined that he's going to do his best.  He's even determined that he's not going to listen to nay sayers.  Coaches that yell at the ref during games... and his own teammate that yells instructions at him the whole game instead of letting the coach do his job.  I'm proud of this new determined Sam and hope that's a quality that we can encourage. 

Just to give an idea of who he's playing with.... The team is 12-18 year olds.  There are 4-5 teens his age and one that's 12... then there's this guy in the red that looks like he's the father of 3 and works out in his spare time.  It's an interesting dynamic.

I love his tongue in this picture.

This was Seth's game.  I try to get one game of the season where I bring my real camera... I haven't made it yet for Seth's.  Next week I'll take the camera instead of a phone.

 

A long post

I try not to post a really long post.  They're harder for me to do and to search, but I'm being lazy this week.  

This week, my Ecuadorian friend, Pablo, passed away.  I wish I could have introduced my kids to him once.  Maybe I'll still be able to visit his wife. My favorite thing about teaching him the gospel was that he was the epitome of humility and obedience.  We taught him about the Book of Mormon sitting on the floor of his carpentry shop.  The smell of wood shavings.  When we taught about tithing, we learned from the Bishop that he paid his tithing without being a member yet. When I came back to visit a year later, he was in the bishopric and all of his adult children and many of his previous congregation had joined the ward. He's a good man. 

We got to go to Howl's Moving Castle for family night last week.

I was trying to show Ada my hair.  She's always combing through or fluffing my hair. I actually wore it down and wanted to show her proof.

Ada doesn't like orange skittles, but she knows I do.  So for General Conference, she seperated all the skittles so she could have some and I could have the others.

This was our low key, at home conference.  We did the first 4 sessions at home, then the Brashers invited us to eat lunch with them at Grandma and Grandpa Robertson's house before they drove home.  It was fun to see them, even for an hour.  The 5 of them left and we stayed for the last session on conference.  It was a nice conference.  We didn't have anywhere to go, all the kids easily listened to the speakers.  There was a little pent up energy at the end, but they did great.

Evelyn always builds a tent during conference. She's getting too big for this one though.  I realized just today that she's grown a lot lately.  I wonder how tall she's going to get and who's going to finish growing first.... Sam or Evelyn?  I think Ada's mostly done.  She's stayed still for about 6 months.

Seth's Primary went to Wilderson farms.  He had so much fun but I don't think he liked the ferris wheel.  He told me about it with a little trepidation.  (This is Seth's friend, Gabe).

Then the school had a Fall Festival.  I wasn't able to go, but Seth had fun with Jack. Jer said that it was fun, but honestly it was too many people for the activities that they'd provided.

After conference, Grandpa invited Seth to help him put together a Winnie the Pooh puzzle. They were so cute just giggling over there.