Some More Recent Activities

We had two Thanksgiving Dinners this year. Thursday was spent with Nile's family. We had a wonderful dinner and played a fun new game--we all had a great time! Minnie made some Pilgrim and Indian hats for her dolls. I thought they were very cute:



Friday we had another dinner with my side of the family. It was also very good and we played some more fun games (including the one we learned with the Cranes the day before.) We also celebrated the November birthdays so this is Atom with one of his presents:


A cash register which he LOVES! He also got a funny book.



Jumble wearing her hat that she got at Grand Nationals (it says "Clarinet")

In December we started the wonderful Christmas Concert season. I LOVE the concert part of Christmas! First Niles and I went to the BYU Christmas Choir and Orchestra concert together and it was fabulous! We wish we had taken Jumble because one of the faculty members performed two clarinet solos with the orchestra that he had arranged and it was amazing! She would have loved that.

The next week we had band concerts for Jumble and Minnie. This is Jumble with her band. She is second row, just to the left of the boy in the center.



I am one of the concert coordinators for the band and part of our responsibility was to find a Christmas ornament for the marching band members and boosters that would remind them of this year. We ended up having dog tags engraved "AFMB Memories 2009 *Heather* The Greatest Generation BOA Regionals/Nationals." The dog tags have red, white, and blue silencers on them and I tied on red and white ribbon hangers with a whole lot of help from Niles and Minnie (there were 275 of them.) Santa came at the end of the concert and handed out candy canes. Everything went as planned so that was a relief! And the music was very beautiful, of course!

The next day was Minnie's band concert. Here she is getting ready to play:



Her concert was wonderful, too. (It was less stress for me since I wasn't in charge of it!)

The next night Niles and I had tickets to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Concert with Natalie Cole. We were very excited to go. Unfortunately, an afternoon doctor's visit that involved waiting in the waiting room for over an hour meant that we couldn't leave at 5:30 p.m. as planned. We left by 6:00 p.m. but an accident on the freeway meant that we didn't get to the Conference Center until 7:20 p.m. for the 7:30 p.m. concert and they start giving seats away to people on stand-by at 7:00 p.m. So we didn't get our seats in the Conference Center, but were still able to see the concert on a big screen in the Tabernacle. It wasn't nearly the same, so we were bummed, but still glad that we got to see it at all. It was very, very cold that night! This Sunday was our ward Christmas program, of course, and Minnie and I sang in the choir. I think that is the end of our Christmas concerts for this year. I can't wait for next year!!

What Was Going on a Month Ago

So it's been forever--over a month since I posted. Sorry. It's been a bit crazy around our house. The last time I posted, Jumble and Niles were headed to Indianapolis, Indiana for Bands of America Grand Nationals. They had a great experience there and we are so glad they were able to go. They did a couple of features to highlight our band and tell the incredible story of their season and how they ended up at Grand Nationals, which was cool. We were disappointed, but not really surprised, that they just missed making finals again. They placed 15th in the nation, made semi-finals (again), and won the Al Castronovo Memorial Esprit de Corps Award. (As it says in the program: "This special award is presented to the band which, throughout their Grand National participation, best exhibits the pride, spirit, enthusiasm, friendliness, and unity of our nation's high school marching band members. This award is presented in memory of Al Castronovo, who exemplified the ideals throughout his teaching career that Music for All strives to uphold.")

Jumble and Niles both report that their semi-finals performance was like no other. They say they can't even describe the feeling that was there as they performed. It was a very emotional experience for all of them. Since their return home, Mr. Miller (band director) has been flooded with e-mails from people who were there and who were very moved by their performance. So they feel like they did what they went to do. I'm grateful that they had the opportunity to thank so many people, to honor our veterans, and to share their story and the legacy that Heather has left them, with so many people. I think it was very healing for all of them. Here's a few photos that Niles took in Indy:

Niles and Jumble--and Jumble is actually smiling!!


Getting ready to perform--believe it or not--it was in the 70-80's in Indianapolis in mid-November. It was warmer there than it was at home here in Utah! So they really enjoyed the pleasant temperatures while they were there.

At the semi-finals awards ceremony--our band drum majors are all in white in the center of the line.

Minnie helping to decorate Jumble's room to welcome her back home.

Atom and Jet helped, too. This is Atom writing his name on a balloon.

Since marching band season has ended, life has been particularly hard for Jumble. She has really been struggling and we have all been suffering along with her. But things are starting to get better now, and we are confident that we are all going to come through this experience stronger, better, and more compassionate people. We are grateful every day that we still have our sweet daughter with us. We know that the bus accident was an experience that she was meant to have and is part of the plan that a loving Heavenly Father has for her (and for us) to teach her things that she could not learn in any other way. We will always look back on this season of our lives as a time of trial mixed with many, many, incredible blessings.

Marching Band Update

Jumble left on Thursday, November 5th, for marching band tour in St. George. Thanks to various family members who watched our other kids, Niles and I were able to leave Friday morning to join her. Friday was the UMEA Red Rocks competition at Dixie State College. American Fork hosts this competition every year, with help from Davis and Mountain Crest bands. (Have I ever told you that American Fork has an INCREDIBLE group of band booster parents? Well, they do!) So Niles and I were signed up to help all day. We basically sat at the volunteer sign-in table all day. We were across from the warm-up fields so it was fun to see all the bands march by on their way to compete. We cheered them all on and wished them good luck as they marched by. Other than that, it was pretty boring. But we were glad to help. And the weather was gorgeous for our entire stay! This is the new logo on one of our trailers:

(The flip flops in the lower right corner are to remember Heather--she loved flip-flops and wore them all the time.)

We were done with our duties by evening so I was able to go see all the bigger bands compete. Niles was busy, as usual, helping the pit get on and off the field. A few photos I snapped of our show:

American Fork took first place in the competition, which was wonderful.

Niles, Jumble, and I after the show. Tired but happy

This is Jumble with her friend, Liz. They were sitting together on the bus when it crashed. They were both thrown forward five seats and Liz was pinned under the seat and had to wait to be cut out. She banged up her knee, but miraculously didn't break anything. They discovered the next week that she had a concussion as well.

The next day was the Bands of America Western Regional Competition. Dan Adams, our amazing band dad leader, convinced BOA to hold this competition in St. George this year (UNLV Stadium in Las Vegas wasn't available) and offered our band parents to help as volunteers. Niles spent the morning in the stands making sure that no one sat in the area reserved for band directors. I worked at the entrance gate for the bands, making sure only band members and staff came through that gate. Niles had another shift as a shuttle driver but it was cancelled so he was free for a while and then helped our band on and off the field for their performance. In mid-morning I moved to a hostess shift, which meant that I got to drive a golf cart around to various places delivering drinks to staff and volunteers. That was really fun! I made sure that it was time to check on the judges' drink cooler when American Fork was performing so I could watch their show from the press box! I was done with my shift in time to sit in the stands for the awards ceremony, where American Fork took first place in their division!

The kids in white are the AF drum majors and the kids in blue behind them are our color guard captains:

Ten bands were announced for finals. Four Utah schools made it to finals: American Fork, Davis, Mountain Crest, and our alma mater--Orem High. Niles was helping the band on and off the field again for finals, but I got to sit in the stands and watch the entire finals competition. All of the bands were amazing--it was fun to see the shows of the top ten bands in the region, one after the other. Here's a photo taken during AF's finals performance:

All of the finalists bands take the field for the awards ceremony. It looks really cool:

And best of all, American Fork took first place in finals! They are the regional champions for the second year in a row. The tradition is that the band that wins finals does an encore performance. I don't think there was a dry eye in the place as American Fork finished their show for (we thought!) the last time. Afterwards, Mr. Miller motioned all the kids over to the poster of Heather's photo, as we made our way down to the field. They have a tradition (started last year) of lying down on their backs to look up at the stars after winning region. This is the ONLY time they are ever allowed to do something like that in their uniforms!!


Jumble with Liz, again--this time wearing their champion medals. Smiling through the tears:

Everyone posed for photos with Heather. Jumble is in the top row that you can actually see faces, with just one person to the right of her:


This is Jumble, whose patience with photos is wearing thin, when Niles asked her to pose with her medal. That look says, "Enough of the photos, Dad!":

The next day we made it home from St. George ahead of the band and so we were at the school to see them arrive, escorted by the American Fork Fire Department with sirens blaring. It was really cool! We were exhausted and happy with the end of an amazing season. But that's when we found out that maybe the season wasn't over!

The BOA staff felt that our show should be seen at Grand Nationals (in Indianapolis, Indiana.) "We really wish you could be there next weekend," they said. Then someone (with resources) said they would donate $25,000 to get us there if we could come up with the rest. And suddenly everyone started talking and thinking that maybe this crazy idea could really happen. The kids really wanted to go to share their show honoring veterans to a much larger audience. It would also give them a chance to share their story and honor Heather. They would also be able to thank many of the bands in person that have showered our band with cards, e-mails, flowers, and plants following the accident. Of course, as parents we would love for our kids to have such a wonderful opportunity. And we hoped that it could help them heal their grieving hearts. But it would take about $250,000 to get the band and all the directors and support staff there. And these are hard times, after all. We don't really need such an extravagant thing, especially when so many people are struggling so much. Of course the Regional win is a wonderful end to an extraordinary season. But we have also been lamenting all season that this wasn't a Grand Nationals year (the band tries to go about every third year) because the show is one with an important message that we felt would be great to share with more people. It became even more significant after the accident and Heather's death. Even if we could somehow scrape up that much money in 2 days, could we get flights and accommodations for 250 people? Would BOA even let us participate? The deadlines are long-past and the schedule is set, after all. So our director called BOA on Monday and they told him another band had cancelled just last week, so they did have an opening and would be happy to let us fill it. Then he called Horizons Tour and Travel, the company that does all our tours, and they said they could get the flights, accommodations, and transportation even with that short notice. The media was alerted to the story and a crazy, two-day fundraising marathon began. We also had to get approval from the school district. We all kept shaking our heads and saying, "This is crazy!" but by Tuesday afternoon thousands of wonderful people from all over the country had sent in donations large and small, and that combined with what the band families could scrape together was enough to go. The district met that evening and unanimously approved the trip. Even more incredible, Niles checked and discovered that he could use his frequent flyer miles with only 2 days' notice, that they expired in December (we didn't realize so soon), and that there was room on a flight to Indianapolis leaving this morning. So he could fly out to help with the band for $10. Everything fell into place, and despite the fact that it still seems totally crazy and unreal, it feels like it is right. It was meant to be. We feel so blessed. Who knows what an impact this show will have upon people's hearts? Our band kids feel so grateful and honored to have a chance to tell the nation about their love for their country and for the heroes of the past who have sacrificed so much, many of them their lives, for our freedom. And they are honored to share with all who will listen, the love that they have for their woodwinds instructor and guardian angel, Heather Christensen.

Yesterday morning at 6:00 a.m. our semi-truck and trailers pulled out for the 22-hour drive to Indiana. And this morning I took Jumble to the school at 4:30 a.m. and off they all went to Indianapolis. Niles left shortly after to catch his own flight to Indianapolis. They will be playing at Grand Nationals tomorrow afternoon at 1:00 p.m. (Eastern time.) We still can't believe this is really happening!

Atom is 5

Atom turned 5 recently and I was realizing that we have only celebrated his birthday on his actual birthday ONCE in his entire life! It seems there are always a million things going on around November 5th. The last two years, we have celebrated a day early, so he really doesn't mind! The two times we celebrated late were when he turned one and three so he was too little to know any better. This year Jumble left early morning of his birthday for band tour and she wanted to be a part of it, so we had our family party the night before:

He seemed to like his presents:

We saved the cake for his actual birthday, the next evening, and Jumble just had to miss out:

Happy Birthday, Atom! We love you! You've come a long way in 5 years.

Random Activities

Besides Marching Band, which basically consumes our life this time of year, here are some of the other things we've been up to:

Here is Minnie with our spaghetti with "eye balls" that we had on Halloween.

Minnie is Alice the vampire from Twilight, if you know who that is. (If you don't know, she wears stylish clothes, not scary ones.) Jet is Harry Potter and Atom is the modern version of GI Joe. Niles and Jumble were at a band competition in Logan. We had a trunk or treat at the church the week before Halloween. Then on Halloween we went trick or treating in our neighborhood and then went to hang out with the cousins at Tim & Rachelle's house for a little while. The kids had a great time!

The annual Band Bash was held at the American Fork High School gym on November 3rd. It used to be for all the bands in the AF band program, but now it no longer includes the elementary and intermediate bands because there just isn't room for them! This concert includes Jr. High Cadet Band, Concert Band (Minnie's group), Symphonic Band, and Wind Ensemble and the High School Concert Band, Symphonic Band (Jumble's group), Wind Symphony, and Marching Band (Jumble's other group.) Each band plays one piece, except the Cadet Band that plays about three really short pieces and the marching band which plays their whole show (3 movements this year.) It is crowded, but lots of great music and it is fun to see how the kids advance as they go up through the bands.

This is Jumble in the center of the photo with Symphonic Band (next to the girl with glowing eyes!)

Here is Minnie in the center of two of her friends: Samantha on the left and Kristen on the right. They are getting ready to play their flutes with Concert Band. It was a very enjoyable evening.

Another thing I am doing these days is babysitting two little girls. (I think I mentioned this once before.) Tiffany is almost 2 and I have her every day until early afternoon. Courtney is 2 months old and I usually have her early afternoon to dinner time two days a week and morning to early afternoon one day a week. This is Jumble holding Courtney. Jumble and Minnie both really like having little ones around to help take care of, and I am enjoying it, too.

She Finally Did It...

Since she was two years old, Minnie has had long, blonde hair. After a while, it became part of her identity!

Yesterday at age 12 1/2 (almost exactly!) she finally took the plunge...

And did something she's never done before--got her first haircut!

Donated her hair to Locks of Love...

And here's her new look:

We love it! Even more important--so does she. Whew!

Way to go, Minnie!

Retro Wednesday: Hopes Realized

When Jumble was in 5th grade (back in 2004), she started playing the clarinet. This is a photo of her at her first band concert in the fall of 2004:

(Sorry, it's impossible to get a good shot of your child on the stage without a fancy camera! You can see Jumble on the front row, about the middle of the picture squeezed between two music stands.)

This is her after the concert. Although going to beginning band concerts is exciting because your child is excited and it is cool to hear them playing anything, when just a few months ago they didn't know how to play at all, it isn't exactly great music.

But they keep practicing, and you keep going to support them...

because someday you hope to go to a concert and not just love it because your child is playing, but because the squeaks and wobbly notes are gone and you can sit back and truly enjoy a fabulous performance:

This is Jumble at the band bash last November playing with her Jr. High Wind Ensemble: one of only four jr. high bands in the country that were invited (after an audition tape) to participate in the National Middle School Concert Band Festival in Indianapolis, Indiana.

And this is her playing the bass clarinet at the same band bash with the marching band right after winning the Bands of America Western Regional competition and right before leaving to attend Bands of America Grand Nationals (also in Indianapolis, Indiana) where they took 14th place in the nation.

And I am thinking about this because last night we attended another truly enjoyable concert of fabulous music where Jumble played with the high school Symphonic Band. (But I forgot the camera, so no photos!) It's been great to watch our hopes (when we started on this journey five years ago) be realized. Thanks for practicing and sticking with it, Jumble!

(Minnie is well on her way with the flute, too! More great music to come.)

Crash Diet

About two weeks ago I thought to step on the scale. What a mistake! There's a reason I don't do that very often. I was horrified to discover that not only have those extra ten pounds leftover from Atom's pregnancy (he's turning 5 in a few weeks!) still not magically disappeared, I'd gained about 8 more pounds to go with them. I was chagrined. Worrying about my weight is a new (unpleasant) sensation. (All of you that have struggled with it forever--don't hate me! I bet you haven't had teenage acne for 30+ years. And I bet your hair wasn't the inspiration for the phrase "bed head"--mine looks like bed head all day every day even after spending an hour daily trying to tame it. And I bet...oh, I could go on and on but I digress... We all have our things. I'm just saying...) I have always said that I don't deserve to be thin, I just got lucky in the metabolism department and someday, in my old age, it would slow down and I would be in trouble. So it seems that I am getting old and my prediction is coming true. "I have to make a plan," I thought, "a plan to lose weight before this gets out of control." Turns out that I didn't need to worry. A solution presented itself unexpectedly. It's the crash diet--literally. It works like this:

1. Your daughter is involved in a traumatic bus accident.

2. You find that your mind is on so many other things that you keep forgetting to eat.

3. When you realize you haven't eaten all day because you are getting lightheaded and lethargic, you choke some little bit of food down to keep you going because you have absolutely no appetite.

4. What little bit you eat sits there and feels funny in your churning stomach so you have no desire to eat more.

Presto. Eight pounds gone in a week. I'm afraid this is one of those diets where you gain it right back, though. Because on Sunday things finally started looking good to eat again. I might have to do something radical like eat healthier and exercise regularly.

Band Performances

Here is a video of American Fork Marching Band's BYU performance on Tuesday night:





And here is a link to a video of their performance at ISU on Saturday afternoon (can't get the embed code to work for this one):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75NogwTZfIA

Heather is standing in the foreground of this one with other band staff members, watching their band perform. She is on the right, in a black jacket and camouflage hat, standing next to Michelle in a red jacket and yellow pants.

We have our own videos of the performances, but I don't know how to get them from our camera to a computer so these will have to do.

And the Band Played On

This is a photo we took of the band playing for the families after winning the Idaho State University Invitational in Pocatello, Idaho on Saturday, October 10, 2009. Jumble is (tiny) near the center of the photo behind the percussion and drums, and in front of the tubas. Niles was trying to zoom in on her for another photo but we are still trying to figure out our new camera and couldn't get it to focus on zoom. But she's in there, trust us! This was the last photo we have of the band before everything changed.




On Tuesday night, Jumble's band participated in the Rocky Mountain Invitational at Lavell Edwards Stadium at BYU. At first we thought they would not be able to make it to the competition. But by Sunday night, with only one student still in the hospital, and with no one seriously injured, they decided that they could do it--and that Heather would be mad at them for not doing it because of her!



They changed the end of the program a little. They added a photo of Heather to the photos of veterans on display, and also added the scripture from John 15:13 "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

There were some very nervous kids on the woodwinds bus, but they faced their fears and went. All of the bands in the area (actually in the nation, too) have been so sweet to our kids. They were all wearing red ribbons on their uniforms and had red ribbons on their buses. Jumble said that all of the band members were able to keep their composure during the performance, but as soon as they finished playing they all began crying as they left the field. All but four of them were able to march and play. The four that couldn't march played from the sidelines.


Many students at many schools in Utah wore red and black on Monday and Tuesday to show support for our school. Many students also wore red ribbons to show their love and support for our band. This is Jaron Idso, our friend from Arizona who marches with Sky View Band from Smithfield, UT (near Logan.)



One of the buses with red ribbons in memory of Heather.

As the band marched into the stadium before their performance, everyone in the stadium cheered and cheered. Except me--I cried. It was so overwhelming to see them all marching in, alive and well. They were all there--it's a miracle. I already knew it was a miracle and reading this news report only confirmed it:

Rescue worker says seconds made the difference


"One of the rescue workers at the crash scene agrees with the students, saying he believes if the crash happened one second sooner or later the outcome would have been much worse.

"A rescue worker says had the bus hit this pile of lava rocks, the outcome of the crash would have been much worse
Volunteer firefighter Gregg Mix of Inkom, Idaho, sent KSL News pictures, tracing the bus' path. In an e-mail, Mix wrote: "...the bus threaded the needle between the rock pile and the viaduct drop off..."
"The bus went right between an outcropping of lava rock, and a 12-foot embankment--a cattle viaduct. According to Mix, hitting either at full speed would have meant greater disaster.
"It is a miracle that this bus took the only path possible to avoid a great tragedy," Mix wrote.




The performance was amazing. I was literally shaking from head to foot through the entire performance. Afterwards, the BYU marching band performed. For their last song, they played "Amazing Grace" especially for American Fork band. The BYU band also presented our band with a beautiful floral arrangement. Shortly after the BYU band finished their performance, and before the awards ceremony, a flock of white doves suddenly flew into the stadium and flew over where our band was sitting. No one seems to know where they came from.

Here's a few more photos from Tuesday night:

Jaron Idso and his family met up with Jumble after the performance and gave her some flowers. They also delivered a gift from the Sky View Band lower bass section leader--a big Symphony chocolate bar. Jumble has that funny hat cover on because it was raining and they are required to keep the real ostrich feathers on their hats dry! (Why they trim marching band hats with something that gets ruined by rain is beyond me.) The yellow across the bridge of Jumble's nose and under both of her eyes is one big bruise from hitting her nose during the accident. At least the swelling is gone.

The American Fork marching band invited all of the other bands to join us for hot chocolate after the performance as a way to say "Thank you" for all of the cards, flowers, gifts, messages, etc. that were sent. This is Niles helping with his Band Dad duties.

This is Jumble after we returned home that night with some of the many flowers, treats, cards, and gifts that so many people have given her. We also had two of our wonderful neighbors bring us dinner on Monday and Tuesday nights. Everyone has been so kind to us. We really appreciate it.



American Fork was awarded Outstanding Performance in all four areas--Music, Visual, Color Guard, and Percussion. They also took 1st overall in their division. It's never been about winning, it's always been about doing your best. Tuesday night they especially didn't care about winning, they just wanted to play their best for Heather.