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.