Concert Week!

 Erik participated in his holiday band concert on Tuesday. I love seeing how he has progressed on the trombone. Being my only kid who never took piano lessons, he's catching on to music very well and even enjoying it, though I don't he would admit that. More than half of his school is in the band! His band teacher is amazing, which is probably why. Next week, the choir and band will attend a showing of Wicked at the movie theater! I'm so jealous! His band teacher got the approval last second and made a quick turn-around to get all the permission slips in. Erik thinks he won't enjoy it, but I know he will secretly!

Unfortunately, my new phone and the videos I took aren't cooperating with downloading, so no videos of the performances. Just as well, since you couldn't see Erik at all, just the tip of his red Santa hat. 

Erik has the Santa hat on in the back.

The orchestra concert was on Wednesday. I probably would have been sad to not see Austin up there this year, but since he got together with a friend last weekend to play Christmas songs on his cello, and they sounded so amazing, despite Austin not touching his cello for 6 months, I was okay that he's not currently in orchestra. Perhaps when he gets some of his other classes out of the way he can rejoin. 

Kade performed so well! It's been fun watching him improve on his new viola. His orchestra teacher asked him to join the symphony to play Hark! Hear the Bells Trans Siberian Orchestra style on his bass guitar, to join the upright bass. For that song, they also had the HS jazz band join them. It was some super good Christmas rock! Kade also played Sleigh Ride with the rest of the Concert Orchestra and the Symphony, per tradition, with the jazz band as well. Again, I'm disappointed I can't post the videos, but the two I was going to post (Hark! and Sleight Ride) you can't see him very well either because of his positioning and the extra kids on those numbers. Oh well, enjoy the pictures!

Kade's blonde head is just to the left of the stand. This is concert orchestra tuning.

After their pieces.

Here's his piece with the symphony. He is standing in the back. In between Mr. Edwards' head and the bass, you can see a little poke of blonde.

Here are all orchestras after Sleigh Ride. He's in the middle back.

NJHS

 I mentioned in Erik's birthday blog post that he is now a member of the National Junior Honor Society. It's been fun to see him interacting in this club with kids that have similar school goals and are service-oriented. They have to get so many hours of service in, a lot of which will be provided by the school. He already gets a lot in through church. Yesterday, he got to ring the Salvation Army bell in front of Kroger, though that was with his soccer team, and they all count towards his hours for NJHS.

Back in September, Kade, Erik, and I participated in a service project organized by our ward. It was supposed to be Austin, but he had a meet, so Kade took his place. It was supporting the Miracle League at a baseball game. Jason went with the boys last year and I was so happy to be able to attend this year. Each person is assigned a buddy to be with during the game. We basically just made sure they knew where they were going, were safe, and felt loved. That was it. There were no outs, fowls, or points. Everyone was given a chance based on their abilities. For instance, some hit the ball from a slow throw, while others hit it off a tee. They had bats of different sizes and materials for each as well.

Kade's buddy was really fast and knew what he was doing. He hit a homerun every time! Kade just had to follow him around and encourage him. Erik's buddy was in a wheelchair and Erik and Nick pushed him around and helped him hold the bat. My buddy was really friendly and into the fans. Following the lead of her sister from the bleachers, I carefully guided her with my arm around her so she would go to all the bases after hitting the ball, rather than smile at the crowd the whole time. She was so sweet and fun to be with. 

Kade and his buddy.

My buddy and I, plus Spencer, who was originally assigned to her, but I don't think he felt comfortable holding onto her, so he guided us through the game.

Erik, Nick, and their buddy.

It's going to be a fun rest of the school year for Erik in NJHS!

Thanksgiving

 It was a longer Thanksgiving break for me because 3 staff members tested positive for Covid, so they closed Red Bell for Monday and Tuesday, in addition to being closed W-F for Thanksgiving. We just didn't have enough staff members healthy enough to keep open. Between going shopping for food items and some other things with my mom and going to the pool, which included a flat tire, the 2 extra days went quickly. Suddenly, the kids were done with school and we enjoyed going to the movies to see Red One and preparing food for Thanksgiving.

Luckily, Jim was there to do the job!

Thanksgiving morning, Austin, Erik, and I ran in the Canton Turkey Trot. Austin decided not to go all out and be a top 5 runner in the race, but rather take it a little slower so he didn't injure himself off-season and be 19th in the race. His senior friend Isaac went all out and came in 5th! 

Erik was overcoming a cold, but still hit a PR of 23:56 for the 5k. I felt extra motivated, especially when I saw I was approaching Erik in the race, so I hit a PR of 23:58, coming in 2nd for my age group! We saw a lot of friends there, which was so fun!

Pre-race

We ate dinner at the Remingtons again. Kara's parents were there as well, and her neighbor who was there last year, so we had a couple sets of grandparents with us at our meal. The kids enjoyed playing with their friends, and we all watched the Lions pull off a win! That, and good conversation, made it a nice afternoon/evening.

Kade made a cheesecake for the first time. It was a hit!

The feast!

 

Friday morning, Mother Nature gave us the holiday weather of snow flurries and temps in the teens, just in time for our service project in Detroit of manning the Giving Machine. Our shift was from 12-2 and we divided up so that Grandpa Jim could go with Jason and the kids to try those coney dogs at Lafayette and American Coney Island (they all concurred as I did that American is the favorite) and my mom and I had soup at Potbelly, which was the closest place that looked good because I just wanted to get out of the cold wind as quickly as possible! We enjoyed our service there and watching/helping people choose an item to give to someone in need. There were options to give throughout the world and locally here in the Detroit Metro area. 

The rest of the weekend has been spent decorating for Christmas, playing games, watching football, watching movies/shows, and eating good food. 

I guess now we're officially in the holiday season! Happy Thanksgiving!

Erik is 13!!

 Erik has been manifesting his teen personality lately, but what do you expect when you live with 2 other teens and you're in 7th grade? It's been fun watching him grow and interact with all his older siblings, especially yesterday when Victoria called him on his very own cell phone, which he has been asking about for months now. He got my old phone, which Jason fixed up a bit since the speaker had some issues, and a new case. The good thing about it is I can now contact him if I'll be late picking him up from somewhere, the bad thing is we have to set those parental controls in place. He is usually pretty responsible for screen usage, but that could change with his own phone and his coming into the teen years officially. 

Talking to Victoria on the phone.

He is enjoying being on the club soccer team and played really well during the outdoor season, even though it was a losing season. They are now in the indoor season and his team is improving. Erik is still like a solid tree while playing defense, as displayed last weekend when they had to stop the game twice for him while he collected himself after some hard hits from the ball. 

He's looking forward to track season, which will be the first time he gets to participate in it. He enjoyed cross-country season and especially enjoyed feeling motivated by Austin's success. 

He's trying something new, that his siblings never did. That is joining the NJHS. He was recently accepted and inducted into the society. He already is a great leader, scholar, and is service-oriented, which are the main pillars of the NJHS. He doesn't like a lot of positive praise or pomp and circumstance, so after the ceremony, he only allowed one quick pic of himself before we had to rush off. Typical Erik!

Shaking hands with the principal.

He's to the left of the principal on the risers here.

Here's his one pic before we left. 

I went back to take a pic of the poster that he made of all his years of service, he was in the car by this point. 

I wanted to take his picture here, but no such luck.

 

His trombone playing is coming along and I am proud of how he is applying himself there. His band teacher has high praise for him, along with his other teachers. He still is a respectful, helpful, hard-working student. 

We partied yesterday on his actual birthday. He had some friends meet us at Flodin Park to play basketball, football, soccer, grounders, and infection. When they were done there, we drove them all back to our house to play games and eat. They still went back outside a few times, because they didn't get enough time outside at the park, I guess. We served pizza for everyone, but breadsticks for Erik, along with carrots, pretzels, and soda. Erik wanted his favorite poppyseed cake and homemade vanilla ice cream which was a big hit! 

Regathering after a few plays in football.

Determining who is "It" for infection.

Food!

Fun group of boys!

His favorite cake!

Earlier in the day he opened his family gifts. This is a Plymouth Reign soccer backpack.

His favorite cereal.

The phone!!

He got some Minecraft Legos too.

Grandma Pat and Grandpa Jim were here and we finished up the day watching football, one of Erik's favorite things to do, and for some, eating McDonald's. He also really enjoyed playing games on his phone with Kade and Austin. 

A big breakfast with Grandma and Grandpa!

Happy 13th to my baby!

A Quick Trip

 It's not very often that I get to make a quick trip out somewhere for a long weekend, but that's exactly what I did last weekend. The reason behind it was to watch Victoria perform at Extravadance, which is the fall dance showcase for the BYU I dancers. Each dance is directed and choreographed by a student dancer. Other dancers try out the 2nd or 3rd week into the semester and are placed by the choreographers accordingly. 

Victoria was chosen to perform in a contemporary, 2 tap pieces, a disco/funk piece, a jazz piece, and the closer piece. She worked really hard through her displaced rib, bronchitis, broken thumb, and strep throat, taking breaks as needed. Less than 2 weeks prior to the performance, she sprained her ankle at a trampoline park- badly! She was doubtful I should even go out there. I assured I would still go out and attend, whether or not she performed. 

The night before dress rehearsal on Monday, she and some of the choreographers decided that she should step out of the contemporary dance and the closer, because of the tricks she had to do in those dances. She was able to dance in the 4 others since they weren't quite as strenuous on her left ankle. She iced, heated, taped, and tried to use her ankle in healing ways so she could do her best in the 5 performances of that week.

I flew into SLC on Thursday at noon and my mom picked me up. I drove us up to Rexburg in time to hang out with Victoria before watching the performance that night. Afterward, we went to Applebee's with most of the dancers. Victoria still performed so well and has an amazing stage presence! Her ankle hurt a bit, but she hung in there!

We couldn't take pictures, but someone took some of Victoria in a couple of her dances at the dress rehearsal. This is one of the tap pieces. 

Jazz- Michael Jackson!

The Closer. Victoria wasn't in the main part, but she was out for the bowing and celebrations.

Her roommates!

Roommates and dance buddies.

A friend who graduated came to watch!

Friday we went grocery shopping for my poor college student, clothing/Christmas shopping, and lunch at a very delicious Mexican restaurant, El Rancho Taqueria, that Jason and Victoria found when he dropped her off at school last year. My mom and I shared some street tacos and a sopa de camarones- so, so good! We toured the school and her apartment area, which were getting decked out for the holidays and so cute! We even went on a quick hike for about 15 or 20 minutes on what they call R Mountain. It's out in the boondocks, not far from campus, and so pretty. I have to say that both gimpy people did well on the hike (my mom with a recently replaced hip and Victoria with a sprained ankle). While Victoria went to class, my mom and I got our hair cut at the newly opened Great Clips which had a grand opening sale. They were offering haircuts for $5.99! I couldn't pass that up!

The menu at El Rancho Taqueria. It's hard to see, but it's ok, most of you who read this are in the West and can get good Mexican food, unlike me in MI!

The Tetons from R Mountain.  

R Mountain looks more like a hill when compared to the bigger mountains, but it's definitely mountainous compared to Michigan. I never saw the R, I think it's on the left side. 

Looking toward the north.

While my mom rested, I hung out with Victoria and also took her to urgent care to get the official word that her ankle was sprained. She had to get a note so she can medically withdraw from her Modern dance class since she hadn't been able to complete the dance test in that class because of the movement required on her ankle. She's kind of bummed about that, but happy with her decision. She wants to get a good grade in that class and will do so next semester.

While she got ready for Friday night's performance, my mom and I hung out at the hotel. We enjoyed the performance Friday night even better than on Thursday. They all did so well and Victoria surprised me again, dancing on her sprained ankle the way she did. 

I hung with Victoria after the performance for another late night, but we didn't have to wake as early on Saturday, so that was good. My mom and I got to use the pool at the hotel again and enjoy a small breakfast before picking Victoria up for a brunch of pie. When Victoria told me she wanted to take us to the White Sparrow Country Store for some delicious pie I was surprised and a little doubtful. I thought pie in the middle of the morning a little odd, however, she had gone on a date there and assured us how good it was. It was also out in the boondocks, not far from campus (everything around Rexburg is in the boondocks!) 

The White Sparrow Country Store is about the cutest thing I've ever seen! Adorable Christmas country decor for sale and extremely delicious pies! Victoria got the apple, which I tried and it was divine. My mom and I split a gyro and a blackberry (savory and sweet). It was one of the best gyros I've ever had! And the blackberries....mmmm! The crust was so light and not overwhelming, which is my biggest dis with pie, I'm not a huge crust fan. And these were encased in crust, like empanadas. So, if you're in the area, go visit the White Sparrow Country Store!

We had to leave after one more visit to our favorite cute store in Rexburg, Real Deals. Luckily, I know I'll see Victoria in less than a month for Christmas! 

My mom and I went back to her place. I will see her and Jim in a few days for Thanksgiving. I went over to spend some time with my sister. We went for a little hike Saturday night, followed by dinner, visiting, and watching a show. We both were tired so we went to bed early so we could go for a longer hike Sunday morning before she took me to the airport. We don't get to spend enough time together, so it was nice to catch up.

We visited Blake's gravesite. 

Returning from our hike on Saturday.

This is the Stewart Falls hike. 

I was back late and up early again to start my week at work, but my weekend rejuvenated me!