Tonight, Kirstyn had her Fall Band Concert! She did a GREAT job! She has been practicing hard and really wants to do well. She loves playing the clarinet.
Great job, Kirstyn! Keep up the wonderful work! We love to hear you play your music…
Today was session #2 of the Bishop’s Storehouse Open House. Sarah and Kirstyn went up and helped Angela with the event and they had a great time! We had our neighbors come and they enjoyed it as well.
I brought up Brittany and the boys later on and we did a session. Nothing got broken or messed up which made us very happy! 🙂
Overall, the 2-day event was very successful! There were a ton of people that came up for the public open house and really enjoyed it. It seemed as though the tours never stopped. The boys particularly loved the refreshments! 🙂 When Angela came home, she gave a huge sigh of relief. She had put tons of hours into working on this and it’s nice that it was a huge success and that it’s finally over! 🙂
Today was an insanely busy day! We had our next to last football game and it was REALLY wet and muddy! The kids were totally filthy by the time they got done.
It just happened to be the day that one of the team moms decided to take family pictures of everyone! 🙂 Because it was cold, I had my sweatshirt underneath my coach’s shirt. When the family picture was taken, it looked like I have a huge spare tire around the middle (even more than I do right now) because my sweatshirt was bunched up. 🙂 Yikes!
After the game and haircuts for Zach and I, we spent the rest of the day preparing for the evening’s activities! The Bishop’s Storehouse open house was tonight for VIPs. Angela and the Public Affairs committee has been working on this forever and the time is finally here. They had a bunch of VIPs come. Among them was the Mayor of Aurora. It turned out great!
In the meantime, the rest of us were preparing for Sarah’s huge 18th Birthday Bash! She invited 50 people and we were very worried that we wouldn’t be able to fit them all in our basement, so we called the Anderson’s who live in NY now but still have their monster house here. They said we could use their basement, complete with full kitchen, bar, popcorn machine, movie theater, full-size PacMan, ping pong, pool table, etc. We decorated it up and then waited for the friends to come. Angela joined us when she was done at the Bishop’s Storehouse.
Sarah and all her friends had a GREAT time! There were about 35 or so that came, and there is definitely NO way we could have done this in our basement. 😐 They were all very respectful of the home and we were very glad for that. The theme of the party was Black and White so everyone was supposed to wear those colors. All the decorations as well as most of the food was black and white. We got a bunch of pizzas, pop, and such and the kids hung out, watched a movie, played ping pong, pool, arcade games, and other games.
Unfortunately, by the time we got to take the group picture, some of the kids had already left. The party was supposed to get over at about 10, but we were still down there with friends until past 11! 🙂 We then had to pack up everything and clean up the basement, so by the time we got home, it was almost midnight! Whew! We are really tired! Happy Birthday, Sarah!
Tonight was Senior Night at the football game. They recognized all the seniors from the football team, cheerleading, marching band, and color guard. It was fun! Angela and I got to go down on the field and be recognized with Sarah and they gave a flower to Angela.
The marching band did a GREAT job! It was the senior’s last performance and for some, it was very emotional.
We also won the game and ended up with a 4-5 record. Not bad for having our starting quarterback out for the last half of the season with a busted-up knee.
Tonight, Brittany had her fall Orchestra concert and it was awesome! They played some pretty difficult pieces. We really love the Metea auditorium. It has great acoustics. They really put a lot of work in to designing it well.
It also helped that we have extra babysitters to stay at home with the boys so we can enjoy the concerts without having to take Ben out half way through. 🙂 Brittany is a second violin and is first chair! Way to go Brittany!
Tonight, Sarah had her fall band concert at Metea in the auditorium. She did a GREAT job playing her flute and piccolo. It’s really cool that she was asked to play both in the concerts. They played some really nice music.
At this level, they play more than just typical marches that you would expect from a band. The music is “prettier” and more symphony-like. We are very blessed to live in a school district with one of the best music programs in the nation. The kids are really pushed to excel and they rise to the task! 🙂
Great job Sarah!
Today was a fun day. Although Zach’s team lost, they played the Broncos (Zach’s old team from last year). It was fun to see all the kids he played with last year, as well as Coach Tim and the other coaches.
Tonight, we had our Stake Roadshow performances at the Naperville Stake Center. It was a hoot to watch them. Our ward’s performance was one of the better ones and the kids had a blast doing it. The olio’s were also pretty funny as well. There are a lot of talented kids (and kids who aren’t afraid to get in front of others and act crazy) in our stake. The theme of the night was Bedtime Stories. Our ward’s performance was around reading “For the Strength of Youth” and Rapunzel (Denzel), Beauty and the Beast, Finding Nemo (Nema), and others. We hope to get a DVD of the performances soon.
I tried to get some pictures, but we were a ways away and with our small camera, it was too dark. I only got one of Sarah that turned out blurry but recognizable…
Sarah played Nema’s mom and they were dressed up like clownfish. 🙂 Brittany was a cute pink fish and had her face painted up as well. Kirstyn was one of Rapunzel’s (Denzel’s) flock of girls who thought he was really cute. 🙂 I guess you really had to be there to understand. 🙂 I’ll try and get some better pictures posted.
Great job girls!
Tonight was a pretty busy night. Football practice was moved from last night to tonight and Zach and his team scrimmaged against the Steelers at their park. Zach did well. He was very excited to play a game with his cast and club off! 🙂 Everybody was excited to see him “castless” as well. 🙂
Right after practice, I dropped Zach off and hurried up to the high school to help with Marching Band. They (as usual) did a rockin’ job in their performance. We as the pit crew have things down now so we can get the equipment on and off the field pretty quickly. It helps to have a bunch more on the crew than we did last year as well.
Unlike the Marching Band performance, the game didn’t go so well and we lost. It stinks that we were able to start the season 3-0 and then lose the rest so far. 🙁
Today was a VERY exciting day! First, Zach got his cast off! He is sooooo excited! He can’t wait until tomorrow’s football game so he can play without his club! 🙂
Tonight, Sarah and Angela went to a meeting with Utah State University to learn more about their programs and to see what kind of scholarships Sarah might be eligible for. They took Sarah’s transcript and ACT score information with them. The understanding is that there were some “spot scholarships” that would be given there and Sarah was hopeful.
They had a great time there and learned a lot. The best thing, however, was that Sarah was awarded a pretty good-sized scholarship!!!!! 🙂 She gave them her transcript and ACT information and talked with the admissions folks for awhile. They were very impressed with her and ended up giving her a non-resident tuition scholarship worth about $13,000 the first year, and about $4,000 the second year! 🙂
Needless to say, Angela and I are very happy about this too! She still wants to go to BYU Provo, but USU is a great school for education and we’ll see what happens!
Congrats Sarah!
Happy 18th birthday today, Sarah! Where has the time gone! I don’t think that it’s really sunk in yet for Sarah either that she is now officially an “adult.” 🙂 We had a fun day today. Sarah opened her presents and per her request, we had cheesecake. 🙂
Today we just hung out and celebrated as a family. In the next couple of weeks, she’s going to have a large party with a bunch of her friends. So far, I think, the count is around 50! 😐 Not sure where we are going to have it, because I seriously doubt that 50 kids will fit in our basement (at least not comfortably, anyway)! 🙂
Happy 18th!
Today, Sarah had her senior photo shoot! The pictures turned out SO cute! We are going to have a hard time picking out the ones we want for the package. Here are just a couple…
Fortunately, we are going to get all of the pictures on a CD that we can then use for our family DVD and such. The photographer was absolutely wonderful to work with. He really made Sarah laugh and have a good time. Angela was cracking up at some of the things he said too. 🙂
What’s really unnerving is how fast time has flown. It seems like yesterday that Sarah was only a little bitty baby getting bathed in the kitchen sink in our apartment in Provo… sniff, sniff… 🙁
This week, Zach was captain of the football team. Today, Zach got to go out on the field with his club for the coin toss, and he was pretty excited.
After the game, we got cleaned up and went to Sarah’s and Brittany’s Elvis Tribute Concert at Metea. The Marching Band performed with a live band singing Elvis songs. It was very similar to the Billy Joel Tribute Concert that they had last year. They had a blast! The lead singer of the band was outstanding! He is a well-known Broadway performer that is in downtown Chicago for a show. It was really cool that they could get him to take time to come out and perform!
We went up early so the boys could say hi to Sarah and Brittany. Zach wanted a picture of him in Sarah’s band jacket, so she obliged. 🙂
When the concert started, the band played their entire halftime show through. It sounds really cool in the auditorium! As usual, they did an outstanding job! 🙂
Then the marching band turned the time over to the tribute band who played Elvis songs for about an hour! The band members jumped up and danced with each other, swayed to the music, and made everybody in the crowd laugh. It’s great to see how many friendships the kids make with each other during the marching season! At the end of the concert, the band came up on stage and everyone played together. It sounded awesome!
When the concert was over, the girls found the lead singer and just had to get their picture taken with him. 🙂 Kirstyn even joined in the fun!
Great job girls! Way to play!
