Another Day, Another Concert

Tori performed with the Allegro Singers from Skyline High School.

Tori is in the front row- 2nd from the left.

The concert was fine, but I guess with Ty haven't been taught by Mrs. Peterson in WI, no high school choir has measured up. Other schools version of the "Hodags" or even Ken's Jr. try-out choir in WI doesn't even come close. It really is a whole different kind of advanced choir. They use mics and have essentially no moves. I really wish I had some videos of Ty performing with the Hodags. It would be nice to show a choir teacher to give them an idea of what a high school choir can do. These are talented kids here, I'm sure they could do it. Anyway, she sang. It was long but nice.

Tori: Teacher Appreciation and A Night at the Opera

For three years now, our Stake has done a "Teachers Appreciation Night". All of the Senior High School Students are asked to choose a teacher that has been either a favorite ( for a good reason) or has had a special impact on your life.
Then these teachers are invited to attend. They had it all nicely decorated and had plenty of yummy looking deserts.
The students each took turns bringing the teacher of their choice (if the teacher was able to attend, about 4 weren't able to) to the podium with them. They were given a framed certificate of appreciation and then the student explained why this teacher is special to them.
Maybe it was just me, but I found it interesting that the most touching and more heart felt tributes were delivered by a student who attends a small charter school and Tori, who has attended a private school. Don't get me wrong, the others were nice and you could tell that the teachers were touched, but there was a difference.
Tori's tribute was (and anyone who knows Tori will have already guessed) to Bro. DeGraff from Liahona Prep. Academy.
Tori doesn't want me to include, in this blog, what she said because it is, "too personal".
I would just add that I am most grateful for the wonderful teachers that my children have had in their lives. The ones that have really made the subjects come alive and MEAN something, stand out.
Tori was the beginning and the end to the evening. After the opening prayer, she sang Maria Carey's "Hero". She did an amazing job and afterwards, nearly everyone there made it a point to thank her and comment.
Then our Bishop asked her if she would be willing to sing at a wedding the next day. The day after that, at church, people who had gone to the wedding told me how impressed they were with her singing. Proud parent stuff!
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The next evening, Tori was able to attend a local opera with a family in our ward. It was fun getting all "decked out". She had a great time
and was blessed to have been asked to go.
This picture doesn't do her justice. She looked even better than this.

Cubby's Concert

Yesterday morning, on the way to school, Cubby said, "oh yeah, I have a concert tonight".

Hummmmm

"What time?", said I. "Ummmm, I don't know", is the reply.

Arg!

Wednesdays are always busy. Steve gets home from work, just in time to gather things together so I take him to the church for Webelos. Then the girls are supposed to be to the church for cotillion class at 6:45 and Noah, as the 11 year old Asst. Scout Master, at 7:00. So, Cubby then needs to be to the school at 6:30 for the concert that would start at 7:00.

One of the complications of having one vehicle in a busy family is I end up doing a lot of back and forth.

Anyway, everyone got where they needed to go, and Steve and I made it just in time for the concert to start. (I had been feeling feverish and blah the day before and had been feeling better, but about this time in the evening, I was getting it back. Ugh!)

As for the concert:

Sadly, the one viola was terribly out of tune and added an unfortunate dissonance to the 5 pieces that were played, but Cubby and her purple violin looked great. I can't say that I could pick her playing out of all the others, but the violins sounded great and she certainly looked proficient and pretty.

Look Out, Mama's Got A Camera

I'm very happy to say that I now have my nifty camera up and running!
The cool camera that Ty and Cami got me for Christmas is ready to shoot. It has always been taking great pictures, but I was having a problem getting them downloaded to my computer. Now that problem is solved, so the "Picture Queen" is back in business. I love it!!!!
If you see me coming, just smile. :)

Noah To The Rescue!

Out with the old and in with the new.

Sadly, about a month after we moved here, a piece of glass went into the garbage disposal, and we didn't know it and it ended up breaking. We haven't had the money to replace it until now. So, Steve and Noah went off Lowes and bought a new one. Then Steve had to go off to work. Noah, being the handy and adventures guy that he is, decided he wanted to install it. By reading the instructions and having a natural gift for this kind of thing, in no time at all he was asking me to go in and see it. He had even done ALL by himself and did the testing to make sure it not only worked, but didn't leak or have any problems at all.
This is a BIG proud parent moment, and a BIG help to us all.

So, a mighty "Way to Go Noah"!!!!!!! What a guy :)

Happy to see the old one go.

"See mom, no leaks"

OH NO, Another Random Picture Post Bwahahaha

There is no particular order to these pictures. It has been such a long time since I have posted, I just browsed for pictures I have taken. I'm sorry to say that since I started working two part-time jobs, I haven't taken very many. Shocking to me, was coming home from our trip to UT, having taken only a few, and those were random and weird.

So, here we go.

First in line is Tori. In these pictures, she is in the Honors Choir Concert. This concert was the day after we returned from our trip. We got home at midnight, and the next morning, we were all up and going in all sorts of directions. Tori went to the day practice for the concert, Cubby went to school, Noah started unloading the van full of our extra stuff we finally brought from UT, Steve drove us around, dropped me off at work and then went back home to help Noah. He later worked his evening shift at the library.

While we were in UT, I broke down and bought some new clothes. I was getting tired of my pants being so baggie. I used to joke that I couldn't afford to loose weight. It's not a joke. It's hard to buy new clothes when you're not just replacing something here and there, but practically a whole wardrobe. So I just started with a pair of pants and a shirt.

Zuzu and Kricket. Cute as ever!

"I sure hope everyone is noticing how patient I am!"

Steve gets glasses! I'm not supposed to make a big deal out of it, so that is all I will say.
(Isn't he cute!!!!!)

A beautiful snowy day, shortly before we left on our trip.


It was funny how the wind,

that came with the snow,

stuck the snow to the road

signs on one side.

My (Karen's) jobs. In the first one, I have finished packaging these 60 cases of energy bars for Fiona's Granola and Energy Bars. Thankfully I had some help from Cubby and Tori.

Then I work 3 mornings a week at The Renewed Spirit Wellness Klinik. I love the ladies I work for and the people I meet. I am the receptionist, and it's lots of fun.

Great walls. Though this "Show me the Art" board isn't displaying their best work, it is a fun place for our budding artists to show their stuff.

On the same wall, on the other side of a door, is a great place to display J.A. Toons. My favorite cartoons by JennAdam. I have the two special editions, one about Ken on his mission and one of the people in our family, and then one place for the most recent edition. Big smiles and great times.

Well folks, that's it for the pictures. I will try to post more often and respond faster. I enjoy this very much!

Thank you to all we got to see in UT for making our trip a special one. Can't wait to see you again!

Movie Reviews

Howdy All!

I don't suppose anyone out there would like to share their thoughts about good movies? We tend to have limited funds for going to the movies, especially since moving from Utah. We don't have a "dollar" theater here. Unless it is either part of a series that I have been watching, and have been really looking forward to it coming out, or I have to have some recommendations from trusted family and friends, I don't like to take the chance. So let me know. It's a fun date night, or treat with the kids.

I would like to give y'all a big "Two Thumbs Up" for a movies I just saw.

It's called, The Adventures of JennAdam".

Though Jenn did have input, (they're a great creative team) it was mostly Adam's genius behind this amazing DVD.

The music, timing, use of video and stills, the themes etc were, in a word, prefect!!!!

Now, one of my goals is to get pictures together and some money saved up, and hire Adam to do this with our pictures. I'm sure it will take several volumes.

Adam has not only the know-how, but a real "sense" for it. The music was perfectly timed. He would zoom in and out, and transitions were flawless. It did not feel like I was watching a DVD of pictures, with some video tossed in. It was smooth and moved along at a perfect pace.

Anyone wanting a copy of this amazing DVD, let me know. I will talk to the producer about making some more.