Quiet Week

Kaitlin and a cow.  

We didn't have a whole lot going on this week.  The kids are wrapping up the school year. We got the new car licensed and Ruth has taken it driving a couple of times.  I made a few sales on my Etsy shop. Kaitlin emailed us some pictures.  That's about it.

Jared did decide to quit the marching band. That's cleared a lot off of our calendar.  Ruth is busy with Les Mis rehearsals.  She has 4 lines in the show.

Tickets for Les Mis are on sale right now. They are $12 online and $15 at the door.  Performances are June 17 - July 2.   The talent for this show is through the roof, so it will be well worth your time if you are interested.

Happy Birthday

So last week when I wrote the blog I failed to mention that it was my birthday.  I had a good quiet birthday.  I got some nice gifts and Jared made some cookies for me.  I went out to lunch with friends this week to celebrate and it was good all around.

New (to us) Car

So we got a preliminary settlement from our insurance and Chuck spent all week looking for a car to replace Gonzo.  Here is the new car, yet to be named. It's an old Suzuki Forenza. It has a CD player (Gonzo just had a tape player) and automatic windows. It also has a sun roof and a DVD player for the back seat.  Fancy yes?  Some where along the way it got a new paint job so it looks really good for having over 100,000 miles on it.   As soon as we get it registered Ruth can start driving it, that is if she is ready to try driving again.

Jared's Final Band Concert

Jared had his last concert with the beginning band this last week.  He got to play both the tympani and the xylophone. He is looking forward to being in concert band next year.   We are still undecided on if he will stick with marching band. We will decide if he can drop out this week.

That's Life

The Accident

The phone rang and it was a number and area code I didn't recognize. Usually I wouldn't answer, but for some reason I did.  "Mom? I've been in an accident."

It's that call that no mother ever wants to receive.  After ascertaining that she wasn't hurt and telling her not to admit responsibility,  I hung up the phone and got in the car to meet her.  I felt amazingly calm my entire ride to the high school.  Ruth said she was fine. I couldn't have been that bad.

Imagine the sinking of my mother heart when I pull up to see this:

There were many cars pulled off to the side and a lot people. The police had not yet arrived.  I wondered if several cars had been involved.  I located Ruth, she was in good spirits.  She had been able to pull Gonzo (what Kaitlin had named the Kia) off to the side of the road.   This is what Gonzo looked like:

It's pretty clear to see that Gonzo was the winner. The Ford's bumper is attached to Gonzo's fender and it's engine is all across the road leaking in dark puddles. Gonzo still ran. If it weren't for the bent rim and frame, Ruth could have driven away.

Ruth was driving down the road and another girl pulled right out into her.  Ruth doesn't remember the crash but she remembers right after.  She remembers pulling off to the side of the road. She remembers several people stopping to offer help.  She remembers checking to see if the other girl was okay.

There were a lot of tender mercies that happened.  Kind strangers stopped and stayed with Ruth and gave statements to the police. Traffic was light enough that when Ruth was sent spinning across the road no other cars or pedestrians were hit. Ruth was hit on the passenger side, but she had no passenger.   Both drivers wore seatbelts. Neither Ruth or the other driver needed medial help on scene.   Ruth's good friend saw the accident in his rear view mirror and came back to help. It was his cell phone that called. It was he who had someone else call the police.  He stood next to Ruth for the next hour, the loyal knight, talking her though everything and holding her hand.

Ruth is still sore today.  This happened on Friday and I've had her rest since then.  We may take her into the doctor on Monday to have her checked out, just to be sure.  She also has a little post traumatic stress. It may be awhile before she will feel comfortable driving again.

I'm proud of Ruth. She did everything right.  Sometime bad things happen to us out of our control.


Marching Band

Jared has been looking forward to marching band for a month. We've been watching marching bands on YouTube, we went to orientation and wrote a big check.  Finally the time to start marching band had arrived, and...  he hated it.   He spent several days after school having rookie camp, 9 hours in all, and he hated every minute.  Then basics camp began on Saturday - 8 hours of marching in lines on the football field and he hated all of that too.   To make it all worse, because he is the new kid in the group he had to play cymbals, which was his last choice.

I've tried to be very encouraging.  Sometimes new things are hard before they get fun.  I'm confident that as he gets to know people that he'll start enjoying it, so I'm forcing him to stick it out a little longer.


Debanquet

We are glad that Ruth's Accident happened on Friday because  Thursday was Ruth's AP World history test. She said she felt like she did pretty well on it and is hopeful that she got a passing grade.  Wednesday was the Debanquet.  That's Debate/Banquet.   Ruth performed her Humorous Interpretation at the banquet and was given her awards that she had earned this year.

Ruth's awards

Ruth performing

Comic Con Launch

On Wednesday I went with a neighbor to the Comic Con launch. Anyone who went in costume got a free Friday ticket, so we ventured.

This cosplay couple went viral this summer with their awesome Rae and Finn. 

We were at the capital rotunda. 

This was my neighbor Judi's first time cosplaying (she was dressed as Prof. Umbridge from Harry Potter). She fit right in and before you knew it was taking group Harry Potter pictures with Belletrix Lestrange and some Quiddich players. 

Mother's Day

Mother's Day, the most delicate of days, for me meant sleeping in. It meant a great Relief Society meeting a church and a lazy afternoon.  Mother's day meant grilled cheese sandwiches, pancakes, and Ruth's first ever fried egg. Mother's day brought an original poem from Jared entitled "Mom is the bomb"  and smashed Jr. Mints from Ruth.  Mother's day brought stainless steal measuring cups (with gradations!).  Mother's day meant Skyping with Kaitlin from across the globe.

Here are some pictures from our Skype with Kaitlin.  I videoed it and will put up a segment from our conversation soon.   Kaitlin is working hard and that work is helping her become someone amazing.

Here is a fuzzy picture of Kaitlin being happy.  

Kaitlin's companion is from Argentina and she told us that Kaitlin is an amazing missionary but also a little crazy.

Sadie Hawkins Dance

Ruth went to the girl's choice dance this weekend. The theme was "Decades" and her group chose the 50's.   I don't have a picture of Ruth with her date, but I have one of Ruth with the other couple in her group. They all looked adorable.

Stake Choir
a long story for your amusement (or not)

Today my choir sang at Stake Conference.  Stake conference is a gathering we have twice a year where several churches in the area meet together to hear from high-up leaders.  This time we had two members of the Seventy come and talk to us.  The equivalent of a Mormon Seventy would maybe be a Bishop in the Catholic church.   So I was asked to form a choir, with members from all the churches to sing for this meeting. Because of scheduling problems we were only able to hold three practices with this choir before hand, and there were about 35-40 singer total and we sang 3 songs.

Do I even have to tell you what something like this entails? Music selections, preparing everything, recruiting, enlisting the help of pianists and section leaders, coordinating the practices, practicing conducting for hours in front of a mirror, long rehearsals.  You get the point.

At the end of the meeting Elder Roney stood to speak.  At the beginning of his address he starts talking about the choir and the song we had sung. He tells the congregation that they don't get to see things from the close vantage point that he gets sitting on the stand. Then he turns to my Stake President and asks what the director's name is.  The Stake President was caught off guard (I think he was confused as to whether he was asking for the name of the music director or the choir director), so when the Stake President doesn't answer right away Elder Roney turns around and looks right at me sitting there in the choir seats and  he points and asks what my name is.  I yell it out to him and he turns back around to the congregation (hundreds of people) and tells them my name.  Then he says (speaking of my directing in our last choir number)"You should have seen her. She was crazy. It made me want to sing, and I don't sing."

I just smile and tried not to put my head in my hand. It was meant in the nicest way. It was meant to be a complement, but when it was time to direct the choir for the closing number, I had his words in my head.  It took me a whole verse before I was able to shake it and get into doing what I was up there to do, that was to make the choir the best sounding choir I could.

After the meeting Elder Roney approached me and he smiled at me in a kind way with just a hint of apology. He offered his hand to me and I took it.  "I'd like to think I'm passionate," I told him. "Not crazy."  "Passionate," he repeated back to me, "that is a much better word."   And then he thanked me and complemented the choir.

The choir did do very well. I was happy with it. It wasn't perfect, but for only three (long) rehearsals, they were excellent.  I received a lot of complements.  In the end I received more complements about how I made people feel, how they felt the spirit, or felt inspired, than I did about the music itself.  That's very satisfying. So maybe it's okay to be a little crazy.

BYU Women's Conference

Here's our group.

Women's Conference is always a highlight of my year, and this year was even better than most.  The best part, of course, is spending time with dear friends.  Another thing that made this a great year was that we were able to serve as table captains for a service project called Feeding Children Everywhere. It was really fun to help lead volunteers in making soup kits for the food bank.  There were hundreds of people there and at times it got crazy.  For a little while I was running 3 stations all at once, that's 36 people to manage!   There is a video below that I made from someone else's video that will give you an idea of the scope of things.  I also was able to go to some classes and hear some good speakers.  All in all a really great time.

*If you get this blog via email here is a link to watch the video: https://youtu.be/sqGzUFrW0_M

Marching Band and Les Mis

Ruth started Les Mis rehearsals.  She was cast as "onlooker #1"  which means she has a couple lines. She is also one of the factory workers. She's happy with her part and relieved not to have to be a "lovely lady."  I went to the first rehearsal and the talent was amazing!! This will probably be the best musical any member of my family has been involved in.

Guess who is going to be in high school marching band this summer.  Jared!  The high school lets middle school students join the marching band over the summer to march in the parades.  Jared is signing up. It will keep him very busy in May and June, where he will march in 4 parades.

Musicals

Oliver had the best costume!

We had a week of musicals.  It all started with Ruth's auditions for Les Mis.  She has been practicing for months.  She wasn't very happy with her audition, but was called back and was able to sing again. She didn't make it to second call-backs however, which means she will not be getting a big part in the show.  She said that there was some amazing talent there. Ruth has been spending the week helping with make-up and hair for the middle school production of Annie.  Jared and I went together to see it on Friday.   Then on Saturday we drove up to see my nephew perform as Cogsworth in his elementary school production of Beauty and the Beast.  It was by far the most entertaining performance of that show that I've ever seen.