In fact, we had so much that
a) Sarah was advised by the Lambs to stay with us rather than brave the long, winding driveway that would most certainly be snow-covered at her apartment
b) church meetings were cancelled throughout the stake.
This is Sarah visiting with Kaylee. She attends Truman State in Kirksville and is
engaged to Jon in the YSA branch. When she comes down on weekends to visit, she sleeps at Sarah's apartment so she also stayed over with us. We had our own little Sunday devotional – we watched
“To This End Was I Born” and Jeffrey Holland’s talk from October general
conference. Then, we discussed Lesson #11
in the Sunday School study guide. The rest
of the day was spent doing family history.
Here is Steve sorting through the various tubs of artifacts we brought
back with us from American Fork last summer after Iola’s funeral. I caught the family scrapbooks up to
date. Mormon Tabernacle Choir CDs played
all day in the background. The snow fell
thickly and looked so beautiful. We had
ham, potatoes supreme, asparagus, fresh pineapple, and strawberry pie for
dinner. What a lovely Sabbath.
This is how Sadie looked after one of her outside trips that day. Hee Hee
The end of last week was District music festival at
Mexico High School. Thursday night was
for the large ensemble performances. I
went feeling fairly confident about how Rock Bridge orchestra would do with the
two numbers we had been working on since January. And, I was nervous about the sight-reading
portion because during our sight-reading practice sessions in class, it was
clear that the kids were not the best at counting. I was just sure that would be our downfall. As we performed, I thought we sounded terrific. And the piece we were given to sight-read was
amazingly easy. So, I was completely dumbfounded
when I collected our scores and learned we got a 2 rating. (1 being the best) And, it wasn’t just one of the judges, it was
all three who rated us a 2. Mostly for
intonation, but also balance. And, we got a 1- in sight-reading. Of course ALL the Rock Bridge choirs and
bands got 1’s. All of them. So, the orchestra continues in the poor
step-child status! And it was a blow to
my ego. However, when I listened again
to our recording the next day, I admit they were right – we do have intonation
problems. You know how you can go so
involved in something, when you care so much some someone that you cannot see
the flaws? I guess that was me with the
orchestra. I know how far they have come
and so proud of that accomplishment that I couldn’t see their weak points. And, how can three BAND judges know this with
one little snapshot moment at Districts?
Solos and small ensembles were held on Saturday so, once
again, I was on a yellow school bus to Mexico for pretty much all day. Half my students got 1’s and the other half
got 2’s. Is it terrible that I am
relieved that the student I accompanied got a 2 because it means I won’t have to
worry about playing the piano again for state? (it had some really hard parts
that I just couldn’t master with my limited practice time) Sorry, Molly.
And in the middle of Districts on Friday night was the
stake Easter cantata. Sarah and I sang
in the choir. I played cello in a string
quartet accompaniment for one of the numbers.
Sarah had a solo (which she aced) with another choir number. Steve conducted. I baked gluten-free sugar cookies for the
refreshments. Pretty heavily involved, I
would say.
I finished the audio book of Tale of Two Cities
last week. Wow, what a story. I got pretty teary-eyed at the end.
And, Steve and I watched Megamind
Friday night after the cantata. We loved
it. As much as Despicable Me.
Finally, thanks to wonderful spring break this week, I have the 2012 Lambson Life photo book 98%
completed! I just need some name
confirmations and a spell-check and it will be uploaded and ordered. What makes me really happy , even more than
it being done, is that it didn’t take all this week to finish. I just had my two lessons for tomorrow cancel
so I have a whole morning to do something I want to do. Nice.
