On Monday, Josh and Ammon left for District Golf at Rigby (Josh drove the bus again). It was an overnighter, so they were gone for Family Home Evening. The boys and I decided to read in the Pearl of Great Price instead of having a lesson because we've been reading it as a family, and we were so close to finishing it. Since there was only 4 of us at home, we thought it would be a good idea to pick a 4-person game that we don't usually get to play when we're all together: the boys chose the game Sorry. I'm not particularly fond of that game, but they like playing it!
Josh's grandma planted over a dozen lilac bushes at the beginning of Corbett Lane many years ago, and they are blooming brilliantly right now! I swear I've never seen them look so amazing before! I stopped and picked a few on Monday to bring home so we could enjoy the smell inside our house, too. I've enjoyed driving past them every day and admiring their beauty!
Ammon played pretty good at the district meet on Tuesday. He shot a 93 and tied for 5th place overall. The Salmon High School boys got the lowest team score, earning themselves the title of district champions.
My co-worker Janna's mother passed away on Tuesday. Janna had been gone from school since last Thursday, when her mom was life-flighted to Missoula. Janna is the head teacher for the afternoon preschool class that I work with every day. When she left, I realized that I would be in charge of creating the following week's lesson plans. I was happy to be able to help out in some way, but it was a very stressful week. I basically had no lunch all week long, I worked through every morning recess and possible prep time getting ready for every afternoon. (I'll admit I did have a meltdown for a hot minute at work on Wednesday when I found out that the library lady wouldn't be coming, because she reads and sings with the kids for 25 minutes, and that meant I would have to suddenly come up with books and songs too after already doing all the lesson plans and materials). On Tuesday, though, there wasn't even a substitute available in the district to replace Janna's absent position, so I taught the class alone. That was a whirlwind day at work. I was SO glad when Josh came home late on Tuesday night. I swear things always fall apart in his absence!
On Wednesday, our family finished reading the Pearl of Great Price! That was exciting! I really enjoyed reading about Joseph Smith's first vision, translation, and the circumstances surrounding both. It made me want to watch the Martin Harris pageant again--I haven't seen it since I was a teenager.
On Thursday, the preschool had their big field trip & picture day planned. Most of the preschool kids are on a block schedule: they come MW or T/Th. For our field trip, ALL the kids from both blocks came, so we had double the kids. Thankfully, Geri (the head teacher in the morning) came up to help me that afternoon! We took the kids to visit the elementary school where they'll be in Kindergarten next year, and we took them to the city center to visit the student art show (where some of their work was on display). While at the art show, I found a piece of art that Kanyon submitted with his class. All of their class's pictures were in front of the windows to let the light shine through what they'd colored with crayons over paper they'd painted black. It was cool! When I showed my photo of it to Kanyon, however, he didn't recognize it because apparently they'd done it a long time ago.
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| The morning preschool class did the handprint bird paintings on the left. Our afternoon preschool class made the fork flower/potato vase paintings on the right. |
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| I don't think we can fit any more kids around our snack table!!! |
On Friday, I worked diligently on my college class assignments. I'd work for a couple hours, take a break outside for a bit, and repeat the cycle. I wanted to be out enjoying the beautiful weather and sunshine, but I was so far behind in my college class, that I knew I needed to get work done, too. It was a good balance. A surprise gift showed up for me on Tuesday in the form of a mailed package: another glass ball that Josh had ordered for me for Mother's Day. After I hung up the other two several weeks ago that we'd gotten from my Grandpa's house, we felt like the third (and last) section of the deck needed one, too. I hesitated buying one myself though, and I thought I might buy one later down the road when I felt like I could afford such an unnecessary expense. I didn't know what the package was when it arrived, because Josh usually orders parts online. So when it came, I just left it in the living room. When he got home from Idaho Falls on Tuesday night, he opened it up and brought it to me, wishing me a late happy Mother's Day, and I was SUPER ecstatic!!! It was beautiful and was just what I'd been hoping for to hang in that section! So on Friday, as I was in between working on my assignments, I hung it up outside. I absolutely love it!
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| Our deck just grew another ball! |
On Saturday, Kanyon went to Cub Scout Day Camp at Cockrell Campground. There was a science theme this year, and he'd been looking forward to it for weeks. Cheryl Beers is the stake primary president, and she's so creative, fun, and organized, and always has the best kid activities! While he was gone to that, I went to Janna's mom Beverly Cockrell's funeral. It was nice, and surprisingly short--it only lasted about an hour. Josh picked up Kanyon from scout camp for me, and took Micah to a friend's house to play for the afternoon. When I got home, Kanyon showed me one of the things he did while at scout camp: made his own music by putting a pencil through the hole in the record, spinning it around, and then putting a skewer in his mouth and playing on the record as it spun around!
On Saturday night, Josh and I went to karaoke and dancing with John and Amanda. It was the first time I've gone to karaoke since...I don't know...November? And it was the first time we've hung out with John and Amanda since the end of January--she hasn't really talked to me since January 29 when she found out that I went to someone else to get my haircut because she gave my scheduled appointment time away. Surprisingly, Josh and I had an enjoyable time; I sang some new songs, Josh even sang, and we danced several times. The Inn was pretty empty, so we got to sing as much as we wanted. I like that it's smoke-free now, so our eyes don't burn, our throats don't get raspy, and our clothes and hair don't stink as a result of being in there. Josh had to get up at 5am the next morning to drive bus for the golf team to drive to Nampa for State Competition, so we were hesitant to go out in the first place, but he was really enjoying the night, so we stayed until around midnight.
This morning, Josh and Ammon left our house about 5:30am state-bound for Nampa. Last night, I had a moment where I felt overwhelmed with unsurity about their trip--I felt uneasy that something was going to go wrong. At 8:45am today, Josh texted to say that they made it to Arco, but the bus engine light came on and was beeping, so they were turning around to head back to Salmon, and the bus supervisor was driving down to meet them halfway with a replacement bus. It turned their trip into a 10-hour drive. They didn't get to Nampa until 4:30. Their practice tee time was 2:00--they [obviously] missed it. They'd never been on that golf course before, and didn't even get to play 18 holes before they had to head back to the hotel in Boise for the night. It was a terrible trip--Josh's worst bus trip ever and Ammon hated it, too. They'd all wanted to leave yesterday afternoon; they've left on Saturday afternoon in the past when the state competition golf course is over 6 hours away, but the A.D. wouldn't allow it this year. I'm glad they finally made it, though, and all in one piece!
Today was a musical day for me. I played a duet in Sacrament meeting with one of my piano students Wyatt. We'd practiced the duet piece for I Stand All Amazed multiple times together during the week. I thought we were pretty prepared, but there were a few mistakes that occurred during the actual performance. It was to be expected, since our practices had gone so well! ;)
Malachi and Molly came up to Salmon to visit for the weekend (much to Kanyon's absolute delight!). Kanyon spent every possible minute he could down at Grandma's house this weekend so that he could be with his favorite uncle. On Friday, he went down mid-morning after he'd gotten his chores done (it's the only time he's happy to do chores and gets them done quickly), because he knew Malachi would be here that day, and he wanted to already be at Grandma's house waiting when Mal arrived. After about an hour, Grandpa sent him back home saying that Malachi and Molly wouldn't be here until midnight. Kanyon came home so sad. But surprisingly, just two hours later, they were here!!! And he bounced back to being happy. Anyways, on Sunday, Malachi and Molly also had a special musical number in Sacrament meeting and it was so beautiful. Mal played the piano and Molly sang.
After church, we ate at Grandma's house, and then I started getting everything ready for my students' piano recital that evening. It was at 6:00 in the high school music room. I like to make fun visual displays with the refreshments each year, and this year I got kit-kats, reese's, and strawberries to make the words [I heart music] and cream puffs and mini chocolate eclairs to spell out "POP". This year, my theme was "Make Music Pop". Each student had at least one pop song or a song from pop culture. My gifts to them were "Pop" items: otter pops, popcorn, lollipop, and pop rocks candy.
Jesse, my newest student, played Jingle Bells, Pop! Goes the Weasel, and Hand Bells--a duet with me. She's only been playing for a month, but I love her enthusiasm for music!
Shyla didn't show up for the recital. She's been fizzling out lately, and I was surprised (but also not shocked) that she didn't show up. Anna played 3 songs: I Need Thee Every Hour, Oh! Susanna--a duet with me, and Say Something. She looked so pretty at the recital!
Wyatt also performed 3 songs. He did the Chopsticks duet with his mom (that was a fun addition--he was supposed to play it with Shyla, but his mom Hailey stepped up just days before the recital to say she was willing!). He also played I Stand All Amazed (but by himself this time since we'd done the duet together at church the same day), and Safe & Sound. That last one was a 6-page song, and he'd been working on learning how to turn pages and still keep playing the piano. He totally aced it and I was so proud of him!
Jonah and Micah came to the recital with me (which was a first). They were good helpers to assist me in setting up and cleaning up. Also, John was a huge help to me and I was so appreciative of him letting me use his classroom. The baby grand piano in there is so gorgeous and feels professional to play on, so I'm very grateful that my students had the opportunity once again to use it to perform on.
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