Voice Recital

September 22, 2012
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
1100 Montano NW, ABQ

So this past Saturday, I did something mildly presumptuous in presenting a voice recital given by . . . . Myself.  

My friend Jaime and I have been talking about doing a voice recital for several years now, primarily to give us a reason to keep practicing.  Now, Dr. Robison up at BYU always said that you have to achieve a certain level of vocal beauty before you subject a room full of people to listening to you sing an entire voice recital, (hence the capstone Senior Recital of the Music Performance Major).  Since I was not a performance major, I felt slightly conflicted about doing this because who's to say if I ever actually achieved that level?  But luckily, I have kind friends who were willing to come listen regardless of whether my vocal beauty is of a high enough caliber.

Besides, I feel like mothers sometimes need a big project to work toward (that doesn't involve housecleaning or child-rearing.)    Some moms run marathons and some moms put on recitals.  (If you're Jaime, you do both.  She's heading up to St. George next week to run a marathon with her husband!)

Well, for one reason or another our recital was postponed and postponed and postponed again, until finally, the stars aligned and we were able to coordinate our two schedules and our two accompanists' schedules AND were able to reserve the Relief Society room at one of our church buildings.   So we did it!

We each sang 4 solos, and did 4 duets with each other, and each of us did a duet with our oldest daughter as well, so that was fun to involve those cute girls.

I've been going through the recording and figuring out what I feel comfortable sharing.  :)  (i.e. good enough to put online . . .)  I may have more later, but here is the last song we sang--It's a trio where we each are playing the same character ("Fiona" from Shrek, the Musical!) at a different point in her life.  Daphne was little-girl-Fiona, Jaime was teenager-Fiona, and I was adult-Fiona.

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We had a pretty fun time, and I was really grateful to all of our kind friends who somehow managed to squeeze one extra thing into their busy Saturday afternoons to support us.

THANK YOU for listening!!!

Soccer Players

September 8, 2012

AYSO-Albuquerque

Game 1, Sean and Hayden

All last year during Sean's soccer games, Hayden kept talking about when he'd be old enough to play soccer too.  So this year we signed him up, but when it came time, he didn't want to do it!  On the way to his first practice/game, I asked him if he was excited, and he said, "Um, not as much.  I'm kind-of thcared."  But once he got out there, he was a natural and just loves it!  

Hayden, #3 on his team, the FLAMING TIGERS

This is Sean's 3rd year playing soccer.  He loves going to practice and his team is working on some defense strategies that so far (3 games into the season) have kept their opposing teams either scoreless or down at just 1 or 2 goals.  Sean is particularly good at defense and really keeps that ball from getting on his side of the field.

Sean, #8, team RED MAMBAS

Labor Day Hike

September 3, 2012

Sandia Mountains-Hike to the Crest

Just some pictures from our hike in the Sandia's on Labor Day.  We had a picnic lunch with the Andersons and then went for a little hike.  It was wonderful to be up in the mountains, and the kids all did great!

View from the crest

everyone intently studying a map

7 & 9

Daphne and Sean recently celebrated birthdays.  (Poor Hayden laments on a daily basis how far away his birthday is, and why oh why did God make him born in NOVEMBER!?!)

Daphne turned 9

Here she is with her especially requested"Beanie Boos.  Sydney has since claimed the giraffe.  But Daphne is a good sport to let Sydney think it's hers.

Daphne is a wonderful girl--she loves playing with her brothers and being with friends.  She sings beautifully, and is learning to play piano, although we frequently have battles about practicing . . .  She also LOVES going to Activity Days with her friends at church.  She is a good artist and loves drawing pictures of princesses and mermaids.  She has several homemade paper dolls that she designs and draws clothes for.  She continues to LONG for a pet.  We told her when we were done potty-training the last child, we might consider getting a pet, but for now, we are maxed out on the amount of poop clean-up we already have.  So even though that may be a while out, she still constantly thinks about what kind of pet she wants and what she'll name it and how responsible she'll be in cleaning up after them.  Daphne is a big help with her younger siblings and is good at picking her room up when I ask her to.  We're so glad she's in our family!  Happy Birthday Daphne!

And Sean turned 7.  

The only thing he wanted for his birthday was this particular lego set, and it was good that's all he wanted because it took his whole birthday budget.  :)  They have been playing legos non-stop ever since.

Sean is a great kid.  He is happy and finds his own fun where ever he is.  He hates doing homework, or any kind of work for that matter.  Once when we were all doing family jobs, he refused to do the work, so I had him sit on the dryer until he was ready to help.  He sat on the dryer for TWO HOURS!! when he could have been done with his jobs in 30 minutes if he had put his mind to it.  (So clearly, we still have some training to do when it comes to that department.)  But Sean is very gentle with his younger siblings and Hayden and Sydney adore him.  He is enjoying playing soccer this fall, and is especially good at defense.  He is also learning to read and is pretty good at math.  He loves playing with legos, cars and will do almost anything to earn computer game time.  He has a unique way of looking at the world and frequently says things that make me laugh.  We love this boy and are so glad he's in our family!  Happy Birthday Sean!

Hayden Preschool update

When I picked Hayden up from his first day of his new preschool, the first thing he said to me was, "I made thom friendth!"

That's all he needed.

July & August Quotes

Sean:  Being a lifeguard is very boring because nobody ever drowns.

Hayden:  I'm tho glad that God thent Thydney to live in our family.

Sean:  I'm hungry!  

(20 times a day this entire summer)

Mom:  Stop whining! 

(20 times a day this entire summer, and not just to Sean who is perpetually hungry.)

Hayden:  (randomly at dinner) Eggnog!

Dallin:  (first day of school as a 5th grader)  Today I get to sit at the back of the bus.  

I have been waiting my whole life for this!

Hayden:  I know, I know, I jutht forgot, okay?  I'm only four yearth old!

Hayden:  Bananas are my life!

(Watching Beauty and the Beast)

Belle:  We're together now, everything's going to be fine.

Beast:  At least I got to see you . . . one last time . . .

Hayden:  And now he's gonna turn into a weirdo.

I heard Sydney saying, "Excuse me . . .  Excuse me . . . Excuse me . . ."  

She had the hiccups and was excusing herself for each one.

Sean working on homework.

The homework instructions read: "Add some words to finish the sentence:  Sam can . . . "

Me:  Sam can play?  Sam can ride a bike?

Sean:  Sam can . . . BLOW UP!

Me:  Or . . . Sam can eat a cookie.

Sean:  Sam can . . . do something violent!  Just kidding.  Violence isn't good for school.

(clearly there's been a conversation about that.)

Dallin:  What kind of tree is this?

Me:  A Crabapple

Dallin:  You planted a CRAP Apple?

Me:  No, a CraB apple.

Dallin:  I was gonna say, these apples must taste really bad!

Sydney: "Oh, pitty spahkles, Mom!"  (pretty sparkles)

Hayden:  Mom, when are we getting a new car?  

We've been driving this one for like . . . a hundred days!

Listening to "What Makes You Beautiful" 

Hayden: I need to thing thith thong (song) to Ellie becauthe I love her.

Sean:  You're too little to be in love.

Hayden:  I'm four and I love her.  Like boyfriend/girlfriend love.

Sean:  Mom, there's something in my folder that we can turn in but we don't have to.  We get a prize if our class turns in 15.  So I don't need to bring mine back because everyone else will.

Hayden:  Mom, what does our king look like?

Me:  Our King?  We don't have a king.  We have a president.

Hayden:  What?!?  We don't have a king?

Me:  Nope, we have a president and a congress, and no king.

Hayden:  Why don't we have a king?

Me:  Because we live in a free country--we don't want a king because they can take away your freedoms.

Hayden:  I don't care if they take away our freedoms, Mom, we NEED a king!

Me:  Have you been anywhere that has a king?

Hayden:  Utah.

These last two are not quotes--just funny stories I want to remember about these two boys.  Sean and Hayden are buddies.  Hayden LOVES Sean.  He can't wait until Sean gets home from school and sits with Sean while he finishes his homework, so the second he's done, they can play.  I love that they are friends, but they are also co-conspirators in lots of misdeeds and get a real kick out of teasing me.

It's a regular occurrence for me to get in the car, and Sean and Hayden are sitting like little angels in the back, all buckled and ready to go.  If I look closely, I can usually spot mischievous grins on their faces, as they wait for me to start the car.  When I start the car, all the blinkers are on, and the windshield wipers are going full blast, and Sean and Hayden start laughing hysterically at their prank, like it wasn't the 27th time they've done it.

Last night I was practicing a song with a group of ladies for an upcoming ward social.  From the piano I could see someone was placing stuffed animals all along the banister as if they were watching us.  I thought it was cute that they were providing us an audience.  When our rehearsal was done and I turned off all the lights and started coming upstairs, I heard giggling, and then a whispered, "1-2-3!"  All of a sudden, it started raining stuffed animals all over me, and those boys just erupted into laughter.