Christmas with the Hardys

We spent most of Christmas with Marcus' family.  His brother Paden was in town from California with his family, so Chase and Ty got to play with their favorite (and only) cousin.

On Christmas Eve, we went to the Utah Symphony concert.  They were playing the soundtrack to the first Harry Potter movie.  We watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone while they did the music live.  It was really great.  

I thought I had more pictures of Christmas, but apparently in my blogging craze (since I was catching up from over three months), I can only find one of each boy.

Ty was given a bear

Chase build a snowman with Grandpa

When we got home, Chase and Marcus began their Lego building.  They were both really looking forward to building their new Lego sets.

Utah Symphony Concert

Marcus' parents gave us tickets to (and babysitting for) a Utah Symphony concert up in Park City.  Marcus was really excited because they were playing the 1812 Overture with actual cannons.  They were also doing my favorite violin concerto.

Waiting for the concert to start

The cannons all lined up

It did rain for a few minutes at the beginning - it was funny to see all the umbrellas pop up

Such a beautiful place for a great classical concert!

Rehearsal

Before our big Carnegie Hall concert, we had a big Carnegie Hall rehearsal in Westport.  Lots of kids, lots of instruments, lots of music.  

Utah Symphony

Saturday night, we went to the Utah Symphony concert with Marcus' parents, his brother Derek, and Derek's finacee Lindsey.  The program was titled "Let's Dance!" and featured a lot of great singers and dancers.  

Obligatory Chihuly Selfie

It was a great program.  The dancers were incredible, and the music was a lot of fun.

Jeff Tyzik, conductor
Stephen Edward Sayer, Chandrea Roettig, Diego Di Falco, Carolina Zokalski, Forest Walsh, Melissa Shahin, dancers
Ted Louis Levy, tap dancer
Michael Lynche, vocalist
Julie Jo Hughes, vocalist
Utah Symphony Orchestra

Program To Include

BERNSTEIN West Side Story
STRAUSS Blue Danube Waltz
Arr. TYZIK Charleston/Shimmy
Arr. TYZIK Kiss of Fire
Arr. TYZIK Sway
BIZET “Bohemian Dance” from Carmen Suite
O’FLYNN/MESKILL/Rich arr. TYZIK Smile Darn You Smile
Arr. TYZIK 1950’s Dance Medley
OFFENBACH “Can Can” from Orpheus
arr. TYZIK Swing Dance Medley
MATOS /arr. TYZIK La Cumparsita
SAINT-SAËNS Samson and Delilah: Danse Bachanale
arr. TYZIK Fever
arr. TYZIK Cute
arr. TYZIK I’ve had the time of my life

It was a fun evening.  I loved the tap dancing especially - Ted Louis Levy is incredible.  Marcus enjoyed the program too!  Definitely a win with dance + music :)

Fall Concert in Connecticut

It's been a crazy November with lots of extra trips up to Connecticut.  We've all been going a little nuts trying to stay on top of life.  Let's just say we are really looking forward to our trip out west to have some time to relax, visit family, and recharge.

This time, the boys didn't come with me up to Connecticut.  I rode the train up to Southport for the Fall recital.  The three cello teachers combine and have a big cello recital, so it's fun to get lots more students from all levels.  It still didn't take too long.  I was back on the train in no time at all.  But since the commute takes a good 2+ hours, it made it an all day event.  (The 7 Train wasn't running, so that complicated getting home - plus I had my cello!)

The recital was held at a beautiful church in Southport.  It's where the fall recital was last year - Trinity Episcopal.

Looking out the window 

We didn't fill up all the rows, but the sound there is still great

Of course, everyone shows up with just barely enough time to get tuned and lined up.  I believe we had twenty performances.  (A few violinists did play too.)

All in line :)

After, there was a small reception with treats.  And I was given flowers from one of the parents.  It's a beautiful, fancy bouquet, and it just keeps looking better every day.

Waiting for the train

Attempting to take a selfie as I stood all the way home!  Full train :(

Better shot of the bouquet

It was fun to go up for the concert, but it was a lot of traveling for a 75 minute concert...  Good thing I love teaching :)

Spooky Concert in Connecticut

One of the schools I teach at, The Suzuki Music School of Westport, has an annual Spooky Concert around Halloween.  We decided to go as a family since it's a shorter concert with a carnival.  It seemed like a great time to bring the boys up to Connecticut to meet some of the other teachers and a few of my students.

We rented a car and drove up to Connecticut.  No one got sick this time, so that was great :)  We did get a little turned around on all the residential streets, but that is a great area to get a little lost.  The homes are beautiful!  And all the leaves were just starting to change colors.  

The school the concert held at was a private elementary school for boys.  It was an incredible building.  Those families must pay college tuitions for those kindergarteners...  Actually they basically do.  We looked it up.

Man, Connecticut is amazing.  I really enjoy teaching there.  And concerts are a lot of fun.  This was was a spooky success.  My group classes combined and played Old MacDonald.  They had learned to play some animals noises on their cellos.  Not many came, but it was a cute piece.  Other classes played spooky variations of traditional Suzuki songs or songs with Halloween words in the titles.  Everyone seemed to have a nice time.  

Oh, and did I mention everyone was dressed up in costume?  They had all the faculty dress up as Suzuki songs, and there was a contest to guess who was which song.  I was Chanson Triste from Book 4.  I wore a shirt covered in music notes and Marcus drew tears on my face.  Chase was the Man in the Yellow Hat, but by the time cameras were out at the carnival, he just looked like a walking banana.  Ty was a monkey :)

After, there was a carnival.  There were probably eight to ten games, but Chase only did a couple.  And two of them he repeated over and over and over...

Pumpkin Toss

He didn't quite understand eating the doughnuts off the string.

I helped :)

Yum Yum Yum

Then Chase saw a game he really wanted to play!

That is my boss, the music school's director, Andrew.
The game was "Throw a wet sponge at Andrew."

Chase LOVED it.

He also loved the Witches' Hats Ring Toss

This was one he played a lot!

While our sweet monkey slept

And Marcus enjoyed some Hot Chocolate

And Chase then was back and forth between the hats and the sponge.  He helped pick up the sponges after kids threw them.  Chase was a super helper!

buddies

After the concert, we went to one of my students' homes in Westport for dinner.  His dad is a chef who owns a restaurant in Connecticut.  Of course Chase wouldn't eat the dinner, but I'm pretty sure Marcus and I will dream about the pumpkin ravioli and pork with apples...  Drooling again.  It was a really fun day!  I'm glad we all went.

Connecticut

One of the schools I teach at is called the Suzuki Music School of Westport and is located in Westport, Connecticut.  It is a really beautiful town -- makes the long commute a little nicer.  When we got the date for the concert, I thought it would be fun to have Marcus and Chase come out and see the school and the city.  Plus I normally only go from the train station directly to the school, so I've never made it downtown at all.  We were able to make the trip happen thanks to some great friends (with a car).   

We decided to make a day of it and drive out to Westport in the morning, have lunch downtown, and attend the concert.  It was a really nice trip, especially if you ignore the fact that once again, Chase puked in the car...  

Marcus really enjoyed being by the water and had fun taking pictures with his camera.

It was pretty chilly!

Check it out, an open Crumbs!  Of course we went in :)

The concert was technically in Southport, a short drive from the music school.  It was at a church there that is almost 300 years old.  It was beautiful inside and out.  Chase particularly loved... exploring.

Watching from the balcony

I had four students playing in the recital.  In between Chase's shenanigans, Marcus was able to snap pictures of three of them.  The only one missing here is Elysse, who rocked Tarantella!

Ebba is just learning to play Twinkle -- we did a duet

Jasmine played Rigadoon, accompanied by her mom on violin

Tomaso played Breval

Right after the concert we had to head back to the city.  Marcus had a Priesthood meeting before Stake Conference.  We didn't have much time to spare, but the drive was also beautiful.  It was hard to get a good picture of it while we were moving.  The trees were all kinds of amazing fall colors.  It's amazing how different it looks just an hour away.

And then we were back in the Concrete Jungle...