District Orchestra Monster Concert

Last night was the Provo School District Orchestra Festival Monster Concert. Great name, huh?! :) All the elementary schools get together to play two pieces (followed by the combined middle school orchestra and combined high school orchestra). We've been working on the music for just a couple weeks, and it seemed to come up so fast. I won't lie, after our rehearsal that morning, I was a little nervous for my school. And when they were all a little late to the rehearsal, I was ready to panic. But I didn't! Be impressed. Haha. And good thing I didn't because it was so fun! My school really had worked hard, and they fit right in with the other schools.

I took a bunch of pictures during the rehearsal, and Marcus recorded their two songs (Theme from Sonata in G Major by Beethoven/Matesky and Blue Jeans Blues by Feese). Some of the kids from my school sat with other kids from the school while some sat with people in other schools in the district, so I will try to point them out. Teaching orchestra has been a lot of fun, and successful nights like these make 7:20 A.M. rehearsal not quite so bad :) I never thought I'd be teaching orchestra, but I am so glad that I do!

Getting ready for the concert

Waiting...

Just about time to rehearse before the concert

I have lots of pictures from the back because I stood back here during the rehearsal :) You can see two of my cellists here, but they're pretty little

Kaitlyn and Maddie a little closer :)

Matt (viola) is in the very middle with the sweatshirt

The Junior High teachers conducted. Thankfully she conducted just how we practiced.

Jorge's back (viola-- well, a tiny violin strung like a viola)

Braden-- he decided to push himself and play the advanced part :)

Kaitlyn and Maddie again

Robert and Hunter (my whole violin section)

James-- he sat first chair viola! I'm glad he's a fifth grader because he'll be back next year.

Braden

Matt

This is basically all you get for pictures of me "teaching"... or tuning a crazy violin. At the end of the concert, all the elementary orchestra teachers went on stage--Let's just say I was probably the youngest by about twenty years :)



Turn down the volume on your computer before watching this or the clapping will probably blow out your speakers or eardrums!

A pan of the entire elementary group. You can play I Spy and try to find the nine kids from my school :)

Violin: Hunter and Robert
Viola: James, Matt, and Jorge
Cello: Braden, Madison, and Kaitlyn
Bass: Aiden (he was sitting in a small chair, so I couldn't get pictures of him)

First day of spring... finally!

I am so glad that it is finally springtime! Not that the Utah weather listens and actually warms up for longer than four days, but it is promising. I thought it would be fun to post some pictures of pretty flowers that Marcus has given me over the past few months. I was going to do this sooner since they were all so pretty, but this seems fun too :) at least for me. And you can see my fun vase that we bought as part of my Valentines present. (A special thanks goes out to Misha for helping Marcus decide to get me flowers some days!)

This week's fun bunch:



during a really stressful week:

Valentines Day (these ones are hanging up in our room dried):


And I've had requests to show pictures of Fish's leaf couch, and a spring post is a great time to include pictures of cute little animals. The couch is pretty sweet. The fish really sits on it. Just ignore the food on the leaf-- we fed him while he was still napping on his couch. Maybe he'll get cable next :)

Sweet, huh?!

it almost looks comfortable :)

Our fat frog charging the phone

Even though I'm crazy excited about it being spring, which means it may be nice outside sometime in the near future, we had a great winter overall. Here's some pictures of one of the most random and exciting winter evenings at our apartment:
When I was trying to get my cello and tons of other stuff in the door one night, this cat jumped on the opportunity to run inside to get warm. :) He was very clean and healthy, so don't worry! :)

First he checked out the couch.

And then the toilet, naturally.

And His Cuteness was then treated to some milk. Too bad we only had skim and 1%. But he was a fun intruder. (Now we really want a dog-- don't worry we're trying to be patient.)

Be excited for more pictures as it gets warmer-- we bought a new camera today, so you don't have to see lame phone pictures but fancy Olympus Stylus 7010 pictures. YAY! We'll have to take more pictures of our fish and frogs so you can really see how awesome they are.

The Death of Cody

Sadly, our beloved Cody has passed away. He was such a good little guy, but I guess he was depressed due to the cold and darkness. Too bad he didn't let us know before it was too late.

We had a funeral for Cody at 3:30 P.M. this afternoon, and it was a nice family event. Marcus was delicate with Cody's shriveled body as he hummed part of the Apollo 13 theme song (???).

He will always lay outside our window, near the gas meter. His body will forever be warm and outside in his favorite surroundings... dirt and rocks.





"May he rest in peace, our little cacti friend." -- Marcus



Cody Cactus
November 15, 2009 - March 8, 2010