October Happenings Besides Band

 Here's the happenings (besides band) this past month.

It rained and it rained and it rained....There was lots of flooding of greenbelts and the pond literally spilled over.

Matthew making his Halloween costume.

Megan painted and decorated this mask to use with her costume.

Matthew showing off his costume with the shield he got when he was about 1.5 years old from Allison and Seth.

Matthew helping Adam demonstrate a self defense move by hugging him.

The kids were super excited the trunk or treat was on a Wednesday so they could go. Several of Megan's friends who attended last year went with us as well.

Megan, Ayasha, Grace and Elyse

Matthew the knight attacking Megan the dragon.

Matthew, Megan, Ayasha, Grace, Elyse

Sorting of the candy after the Trunk or Treat: Elyse, Grace, Ayasha, Matthew, Megan

The kids happily went trick-or-treating a couple days later on Halloween.

Megan the dragon went to Elyse's neighborhood.

Adam the BYU security guard and Matthew the knight went trick or treating in our neighborhood.

Me had a sleep study. While she got a horrible night's sleep, she did not get diagnosed with sleep apnea or any other issue they were screening for.

October Marching Band

 Band took up a lot of time in October. Megan and Matthew had a fall break marching band camp before their first competition on October 4th.

Me and U helped with pit crew and then followed the trailer up to Glendale for the competition.

Warming up.

Matthew ready to perform.

During the show.

Hamilton won their division and received 3 out of 5 caption awards (visual, auxiliary and percussion).

The next weekend, they had another competition. There was a bit of a question if it would actually happen due to remnants of a hurricane moving through. However, the weather was perfectly clear with no rain during the competition. Due to expected rain, the director made the call to not stay for awards. It worked out well since shortly after we got everything back in the band room, it poured!

The band ready to perform on 10/11. Even though it was dry, it was still a little windy so 14 adults held the props so they wouldn't blow away or over. U is on the end prop and Me is about halfway up. (Our neighbor took this photo, saying she did not know we were in the show. Ha ha!)

Hamilton won this show and received all 5 caption awards.

Not everything the marching band did was competitions. They also played at football games virtually every weekend (starting the end of August) and visited some elementary schools to encourage interest in the band program.

Performing the show before the Homecoming game.

Visiting Basha Elementary school. Megan and Matthew's 6th grade band teacher was there and took this picture of Megan (and others).

Preparing to play the show before the Hamilton at Basha football game. It was nice preparation for the Regional Marching competition which took place at Basha the next day.

Performing the show before the game.

The next day was the Regional competition at Basha.

U braided Megan's hair since Me was in Utah. Not bad for the first time French braiding!

U and the rest of the pit crew for this competition.

A few pictures from the show.

Notice how the front of the show shirt has a compass and the back has a skull. This represents the search for the Lost City and the ultimate failure of that search resulting in everyone dying.

Dramatic ending!

Hamilton again won their division as well as all 5 caption awards!

A few days later, CUSD had their marching showcase where all 6 marching bands in the district perform for each other. It was cool to see the other shows. Chandler's show was all about mental health awareness and reaching out to help those in need. It was right before Hamilton's show where everyone dies!

U rushing on the field to help when some of the props started blowing away/tipping over.

U took advantage of his positioning to get a couple good pictures of the kids.

Matthew and the brass

Megan and some clarinets and saxes

Other pictures from the show. It was super nice of 5Deuce media to make these available.

See how close Matthew and Megan are to each other? And they are moving towards each other.

All the CUSD Bands. ACP, Chandler, Basha, Casteel, Perry, Hamilton
Hamilton is the 2nd biggest marching band in the district after Basha, which is roughly double the size of Hamilton. 

Full band picture

A few pictures from some of the many football games they went to.

Megan dancing in the stands.

Matthew playing stand tunes with the brass.

Megan playing with the woodwinds.

Me's Trip to Utah

I (Me) flew up to Utah for a few days mid October for a conference and to visit some friends.

Beautiful view of the Grand Canyon!

Janae, a friend from church, picked me up at the airport. We ate lunch and visited a bit before I drove to Ogden to meet up with Noelle, a friend from Anasazi who I had not yet met in real life, and her daughter Elizabeth. We went out for a yummy dinner at Hug-Hes and then drove through Ogden city center. Ogden High School looks like a castle and is listed on the National Registrar of Historic Places. We also saw the Egyptian Theater and city hall. The temple is beautiful. We even got out of the car (and froze!) in order to see the glasswork up close. We stayed up late visiting and we were able to chat some the next morning before she went to work. It was fun to talk about missions (Noelle served in Bordeaux so we have French speaking missions in common). Elizabeth taught me a lot about linguistics!

The temple theme is roses.

A couple pictures of Noelle and Me. The picture in the background is a bridge in Bordeaux.

The next morning, I was able to meet James and Becca! It was so cool to see them. We had a delightful visit. Since it was a bit chilly outside, we met at Barnes and Noble. James loves books so he was happy pulling lots of book off of the shelves and looking at them. He is quite the little talker and he mimics what others say a lot. Becca said that a few months ago, he was adding 10+ words to his vocabulary every day. He loves Bluey and Bluey's sister Bingo, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Pajama Time and lots of other books. James says/sings the alphabet a lot, always saying "Z!" with great gusto. Becca says he has started pointing out letters places which is so fun. I enjoyed getting to know Becca better. She is an excellent mom and it's obvious James loves her a lot.

James running across the stage.

James and Becca reading.

A few photos of James.

Me and James

We got lunch at Red Robin.

Becca and James

Me, Becca and James

I drove back down to Orem. Janae and I went out to Cubbys where we got salads for dinner. I was able to see her in the show "Flowers for Mrs. Harris" where she played Violet Butterfield, the best friend of Mrs. Harris, as well as the French Char Lady in Paris. In the Paris portion of the play, a lot of the lines were in French which was fun for me! It was a cute play that had good messages about the importance of friendship and kindness.

Me and Janae after the show.

Thursday, Janae and I put together this puzzle.

Cindy the cat. She slept a lot but could be very loud at times.

We ate lunch at Maglebys. I had halibut which was delicious. I also had some yummy sweet potato fries.

Me with the Wolverine at UVU.

We went to the Roots of Knowledge stained glass mural at UVU. It was so interesting! The docents were very helpful and full of information.

Who do you see there? If you said Stephen Sharp Nelson (cello) and Jon Schmidt (harpsichord), you are correct. There are lots of little Easter Eggs like this throughout the stained glass mural.

Thursday evening, I went to the keynote address of the Repair Conference with Jim Ferrell. He spoke about how everything is relational and how evaluating the space between the people gives a good framework for how to work on relationships. Friday and Saturday, I attended four workshops about peacebuilding. They were really good with lots of practical skills and mindset shifts. Definitely a lot to think about!

Chad Ford posing with his photorealistic iceberg. His class on Dangerous Love was really good!

Beautiful sunrise Saturday morning

Provo City Center Temple

After the conference was over on Saturday, Janae and I got dinner at Bianca's French bakery. They had yummy food! The next morning, I headed out early to fly home.

Beautiful view of the mountains on flight home.

Flying into Phoenix from the west, Me could see the Footprint Center, Chase Field and the Arizona Science Center.

Some artwork at the Phoenix Airport Art Museum.