February Family Outing

We set a goal this year to schedule at least one family outing each month. With how busy the kids are, we don't always have family home evening on Monday nights since people are missing or don't get home until bedtime, and with their other activities it's really easy for time to get away from us and not hang out much as a family, so we thought that scheduling a day each month would be a good way to remedy that. In January we counted our trip to Phoenix for Rachel's jazz concert, but in February we went to Main Event and did a game of bowling, a game of laser tag, and spent some time in the arcade with passes we got for Christmas. Everyone had a fun time and it was great family bonding time.

Jacob had a really good bowling game. No so much for the rest of us. ;/

Valentine's Day Weekend (Vail Pride Day and Regionals)

 Vail Pride Day and Regionals usually fall really close to Valentine's Day, but this year it fell on V-Day, along with Regionals. They always kick off Vail Pride Day weekend with a volunteer luncheon on Thursday, the staff luncheon on Friday, then the main event with the students on Saturday. This year at the volunteer luncheon I received the Volunteer of the Year award from Cienega, completing my collection from all 3 schools my kids have gone to. ;) They always take pictures in front of a backdrop with a really nice camera, then no one actually ever sees those pictures again, so this is the picture my friend, Denise snagged from me with a few other photo bombers in front. :) 

Our ward had a Valentine's Day adult prom, so Jacob and I went to that. We're not big dancers, but did get a couple of dances in and enjoyed visiting with friends.

On Saturday Megan and I headed to Vail Pride Day early so she could visit the booths that give out free stuff and she got a good amount of free stuff. She even managed to sign the Declaration of Independence while we were there. 

We had to hurry over to meet up with Ryan who came later with Dad and Grandma Knight just in time for their call time for their band performance. They combine all 3 grades at the school (who normally practice separately), and combine with another school besides that, all with just one practice with everyone together, so all things considered, it was pretty good.

After that we headed over to Sabino High School where regionals was held this year. Rachel did so well (5th in the region) that she was unfortunately assigned to play with the orchestra, which she hated. She had several movements where she didn't play anything, and the parts she did play she ended up on a 3rd trumpet part even though she'd be on 1st trumpet with harder, more exciting music, if she was playing with the all-region band instead, like she wanted. Jacob didn't even realize she was on stage until the last song, because he somehow missed the discussions beforehand. That was their best song, so at least he realized it by then. 

Lydia made all-region choir, so we snagged a picture between performances of the future roommies.

Annie impressively made all region band as a freshman, and was actually the highest seated clarinet from Cienega, which is doubly impressive. She also got a seat close enough to the front that we could actually see her. She had a good time with the whole experience. While Rachel spent a lot of time playing games on her phone with Cassidy over the 2 days of rehearsal, Annie was glad to be with the band and had a more positive experience. 

Because both girls participated in all-region, they qualified to audition for all-state. They traveled up to Phoenix for that audition just before spring break, but unfortunately did not make it in. 

February

 February kicked off with the big event I've been working on with the PTO at CIenega for the last several months, the Bowling Tournament. It was a bit of a pain to plan--really it was not bad to plan, but we felt the pressure of the Admin's goal to raise $20,000+ for uniforms, and we weren't going to hit that mark no matter what we did. Once I let go of that pressure, it actually wasn't so bad. I was glad when the day arrived and we were able to get everyone checked in and started bowling, then it was easy from there. We had a great team of volunteers and helpers to make it all run smoothly.

Because the money was supposed to go for band and football uniforms, we got a band team (and a half) together to bowl. It actually was a lot of fun, and I was a little bummed to miss out on the cool shirts. But at least I got to hang out with my band buddies. 

Megan has moved on from crocheting super cute creatures, to crocheting fashion pieces. This shirt is so impressive, and super cute.

She also made a vest and a do-rag. She's got a whole list of things that she wants to make.

Most of Annie's free time in February has been spent building her physics marble track. They made it super cute and did a great job (and used a TON of tape), but they are so over this project. (In fact they got together over spring break to burn it in a bonfire.)

Megan is a baby whisperer--at church she often has little kids hanging around her, and she's so good at keeping them entertained.

Besides running after kids at church, Megan also ran a lot doing basketball during the 3rd quarter. She picked it up really quickly and was put on the B team this year, since not a lot of students tried out, which means that she was playing games against teams with mostly 7th graders on it, and often 8th graders as well. Though they did not have a great record, they did improve a ton from their first game to the end of the season. With a little more shooting practice they could be really good next year. 

At the end of the season banquet Megan was recognized as the defensive player of the year on her team! 

All State Jazz band

 Rachel made it through two rounds or auditions and got into All-State Jazz Band this year! It's quite an accomplishment and very exciting! The performance was on a Thursday night up in Mesa, and she had to be there all day Wednesday and Thursday for rehearsals, so the school was going to pay for a hotel room, but we thought it would be a fun opportunity for her to visit with her second cousin, Mariah, and Susie was gracious enough to rearrange her schedule allow Rachel to stay with them and to get her where she needed to be. Jacob drove her up Tuesday night and Wednesday morning Susie drove her to downtown Mesa and passed her off to Mr Bailey who would keep track of her during the day.

She said it was a lot of fun playing with lots of really great musicians. Everyone got at least one solo, and Rachel ended up with a couple of them. They ate lunch with some of the other Tucson band directors and students both days and went out to dinner Wednesday night with some of them. Since jazz musicians are predominantly male, Rachel was a bit in the minority and some of the meals she just hung back with the directors since some of the guys are weird. But even that was part of the charm. She had a good time all around and loved being able to paricitpate. 

We drove up Thursday night to watch the performance, and Susie's family came, too. We ate dinner together then went see the show. And it was so good! The only complaint was that it ended at 9pm, then we still had 2 hours to drive home. Rachel was amazing on her solos, and we all enjoyed the music. Mr Bailey sat with us and it was touching to see him wiping tears away after Rachel did so well on her first solo. 

The kid next to Rachel has the "jazz stank face" that means he's really digging what she's playing. 

January

 With the new year, Megan is in Young Womens now, and able to go into the temple! So the first day the temple was open we all went and didn't have to leave anyone behind. It was fabulous. Grandma and Grandpa already were planning to be there to do sealings, so they came over to the baptistry when they were done. It was a good day.

In December the Stake Young Women presidency got reorganized. I was so worried that I'd be released just as Megan was coming in to YW and finally able to go to camp with me, but thankfully, I got to stay in. I love my calling and it is a joy to work with these ladies. Julie Bytheway (blue) is the president, Berta Echols (striped) is the 1st counselor, and Sheridan Robinson (grey) is the 2nd counselor. We have lots of fun together.

Since Ryan got stacking cups for Christmas he has been a cup stacking maniac. He has a timer and everything and has gotten really good and fast. We have had to tell him often that it is time to go to bed and stop stacking. 

One night I came to find him stacking his cups in a different way.

New year, new glasses. Megan's glasses were fine, but this quarter she started playing basketball, and got hit right in the face one day, so we had to go get her glasses adjusted since they were bent from the face smashing. We decided it was time for new glasses anyway, then she could keep her old ones to use for basketball, and the new ones would stay safe. She tried on quite a few before she settled on one, and also ended getting up getting a second pair for free. 

Ryan was invited to play in the middle school honor band. They got out of school early 2 days in a row to go to practice, and had a concert at the end of the second day. 

Jacob and Megan and Grandma and Grandpa stayed to hear the rest of the concert (and take Ryan home), but I ducked out right after the band played to go to Annie's Thespian induction. This is all new to us, having never been involved in drama ever. It takes a certain amount of experience in order to be inducted as a Thespian, so it's special for her to be inducted as a freshman. 

The next morning I headed north with Rachel and Megan to meet up with Annette and Jesse (and more importantly Sarah and Aften). They were down for Annette's cousin's funeral, so we left Megan with them to entertain and watch the kids while I took Rachel to her All-State Jazz audition. Megan was so happy to have time with the girls.

The warm up room for the auditions was thick with stress. Everyone was just anxiously waiting for their turn to audition. She left thinking that she messed up on one of the parts of the audition, but on our drive home we got a call from Mr Bailey to let her know that she made it to All State Jazz! We were all JAZZED to hear it ! :) 

For my birthday I got a ding dong ditched and found this beautiful boquet of flowers. It took a little sleuthing, but I figured out that my band mom friend, Emily dropped them off for me. So nice of her. :) 

Ryan got invited to his friend Carter's surprise birthday party. I'm glad he's got good friends at church and at school. 

Megan went out for basketball this year. There weren't a lot of girls that tried out, so the B and C team were both completely made up of 6th graders. Megan played on the B team, but got to also play a couple of games on the C team, which she enjoyed because it was more evenly matched. I enjoyed watching her play.