If we approach adversities wisely, our hardest times can be times of greatest growth, which in turn can lead toward times of greatest happiness...Come what may, and love it! -Joseph B. Wirthlin
Saturday, February 7th was pretty darn eventful. I cleaned the church with Harry, while Rinar took Raef to the deacon's game at the Stake Center. Raef played well, and Harry was an exuberant cleaning assistant. He just loved it. We had to clean all of the bathrooms and I gave him the spray bottle. He loved spraying everything down for me. It was an enjoyable morning with him.
After that, it was a lot of chores at the house. Catye and Mike even came over to help me because I was feeling especially overwhelmed. Then Rinar, Raef, and I had to race off to Bountiful to attend his viola graduation from book 5. He was the most advanced student there and therefore had a solo. Raef did a marvelous job.
In the evening, Rinar and I went to a Jazz game. I haven't been in years. He won tickets at a silent auction fundraiser. The tickets included a VIP pass that got us into the pre-dinner. It was surprisingly healthy and definitely delicious. Our seats were on the third row, close to center court. I have never sat that close. It was a lot of fun.
Our stake sponsors something called Trek once every four years for the youth. It is an amazing opportunity for kids 14-18 years old. My two are too young to participate, but they were asked to help out with the send off. Trek is a re-enactment opportunity to get a glimmer of what it was like for the handcart pioneers so long ago. I did not even realize that one of my ancestors was a handcart pioneer and successfully made it to the Salt Lake valley.
Anyways, my boys were asked to play the part of Jon Chatterly and his cousin, two kids who sailed with their families from England to come to America and Zion. While they were waiting for the boat to sail out of Liverpool, Jon's dad told them to take the dogs for a walk because it would be many months before they would be able to do so again. When the boys came back, the ship had started to set sail and was ten feet off of the dock! Yikes!! They had to hire a smaller boat to row out to the big boat. It was quite a story. But these boys were musicians who would entertain the sailors and passengers on the long voyage. Hence, Raef and Zach entertained the kids going on Trek by playing different fiddle songs. It was a fun morning.
And while they played for the youth, my little kids stayed entertained by playing on the swing set, eating donuts, and playing on my iPhone.
Then I had to run Raef and Zach up to the school where they were participating in a LEGO robot camp. After that, I took the little kids to the skate park. It is our new favorite thing to do. This was our second time going. They brought scooters and scooted around the obstacles. Every time they get a little more brazen and coordinated. It is fun to watch them grow and develop new skills.
Another year, another wonderful week of Suzuki camp at Juan Diego High School. Raef and Zach continue to progress in their musical studies and Intermountain Suzuki String Institute is an integral part of their development. I am always amazed at the growth I see after just one week of playing. It is fantastic.
Raef started the week before because he was able to play in the Chamber Days. It started on Thursday, June 13 and was three days of intense chamber training. He played in a string quartet with Emma T., Anna R. and Thomas, the cello player. This go around Raef was the oldest. And he did fantastic. They worked on a rather difficult Beethoven piece (Op. 18 No. 2 4th Movement) and I was so amazed when I heard the final product.
Then on Monday we started camp. It was the 35th anniversary of ISSI and they decided to perform an original piece by Michael McLean. It was 700+ students playing in the auditorium. It was quite the spectacle and it took all week, with lots of hard work, to pull it off.
Zach had 5 great classes: Performance (Solomon), Master Class (Johansen), Technique (Meyer), Chamber (Johnson), Orchestra (Becker). His master class teacher focused on his head and holding the violin correctly. He tends to slump down when he plays. It is something he is going to have to keep working on until it becomes second-nature.
Raef's schedule looked like this: Chamber (Waters), Technique (Steun-Walker), Repertoire (Richardson), Orchestra (Bayless), and Master Class (Smale). Raef really loved his repertoire teacher Robert Richardson. Robert would let Raef play lots of harmonies and even taught him some new ones. He had a lot of nice things to say about Raef which made me smile. Raef is such a special kid and quite a talented violist.
This is Zach with his chamber teacher Matt Johnson. Zach got to play first violin and he just loved it. I think this was his favorite class. They performed a Rondo by Mozart and it was quite lovely. Zach is a very confident performer.
This is Zach's performance teacher Nicolette Solomon. She is from South Africa and it did not take her long to learn Zach's name.
It has been a long week. Rinar has been elk hunting since Monday. When we were in Europe he found out that he had drawn a bull elk tag. Apparently, this kind of tag is a once in a lifetime opportunity. He has been so excited to go hunting. Lyf and Nordel went with him and he hired a guide to help track down an elk.
But things did not go as he had planned. Day after day he would call in and tell me the news: NO ELK. It got a bit harry, so we really started praying that he would be able to fill his tag. Saturday was pretty much the last day, and what do you know? He did it. Rinar killed a really big elk. It is probably one of the hardest things he has ever done. It has been cold with lots of snow. There was a whole lot of walking and not a lot of sleep. I haven't seen him yet, but I am sure the guy is looking pretty haggard.
Rinar did not expect to be gone this long, so we had to make some adjustments at home. The main one had to do with Stake Conference. Rinar was supposed to accompany Zach and Raef on a vioin/viola duet for the adult meeting last night. That meant that I had to accompany them. {deep exhale} I could play the song, but I knew I was going to mess up. I just know me. Luckily my friend Larae offered to play it for me. And that is a good thing because then I was able to watch and enjoy instead.
And here is the best part. They played "I Know My Father Lives", "I Am a Child of God", and "O My Father". In the middle of the second song, Zach (who was looking a little bored), did a huge yawn. It was about the funniest thing ever. In his defense, it was pretty late, right?
When it was done, President Farr had a couple of funny things to say. He didn't see the yawn but he did mention that the boys thought they were playing at the beginning of the program, instead of an hour into it. He said that they had to sit through a talk about parenting and then get to hear the temple president swear (he had said hell a couple of times, in reference to the scriptures). It was pretty darn hilarious.
But the boys played an absolutely beautiful duet. There is so much more maturity and musical understanding in their performances these days. I think they are starting to get it. It was just pretty darn cool.
We just got back from round two of the Intermountain Suzuki String Institute in Draper, Utah. Wow! What a week. It was great and worth every penny. I took the kids to this violin camp two years ago, and we had a beneficial, but rough first go at it. I was better prepared this time. I left the little kids home with Rinar for the week.
We drove to Utah Sunday and stayed with Jared and Melanie again. They were so gracious to be our personal hotel and the great thing is that their house is only a few miles from Juan Diego High School, where they hold the camp.
Let the fun begin.
The Suzuki camp is no joke. They get the very best teachers from around the world and fill every single room in that high school and the elementary school with classes: orchestra, technique, performance, chamber, fiddling, etc. The music fills the hallways, emanating from every nook, corner, stairwell. I think that Dr. Suzuki must smile down on this incredible string experience. It really is an experience. This year they had 750 students attend. Most of them were violinists. There was a healthy amount of cellists, and then the poor violists. There are not enough violists!
Zach did a fiddling class with Aaron Ashton. This was his second time in there and he loved it. Aaron even let him try out the electric violin. Zach was really happy about that.
One of the benefits of attending this camp is that you get to take a masters class, where you get one-on-one attention from a prominent teacher. Raef was assigned to Beth Stuen-Walker, a viola teacher from Washington. I don't have a picture of Zach's teacher, Rosalie Keddington, but I did get to see her work with him one day. She was great, also.
Here is something I was really excited about. Because Raef is far enough along in viola, he was able to play in a real string quartet, two violins, a cello, and his viola. They were taught by Rebecca McFaul, who is a member of the Fry Street Quartet. They played a Rondo by Mozart and named themselves "Wolfie's Gang". It was challenging, but fun and it really came together by the time they performed on Saturday.
Zach also played in a 6 violin string chamber group with Becca Moench and I think they named themselves "Table For Six".
This was definitely a highlight of the week, violin performance (V6) with Terry Durbin. If you ever get the chance to take a class from him, you do not want to miss it. The guy is so fun, funny, animated, and a little off-the-wall. The kids were cracking up the whole time. But he was able to pull the very best out of them for their number, Concerto in G Minor by Vivaldi.
What a relief, because we almost had a replay of our last ISSI camp. While we were sitting in the auditorium for the opening ceremony, Zach had a panic attack realizing he would have to play a whole lot of violin for a whole lot of days. The kid almost had a nervous breakdown. Then he went immediately to Terry's class, and it all seemed to be okay. Thank you, Mr. Durbin.
Zach's technique class was taught by Wilfried van Gorp, from Belgium. He is very funny and tough. I think it makes a perfect combination for teaching violin.
Raef was mentored by David Becker two years ago in viola, and this go around he taught Zach in orchestra. That was pretty fun. He is a super-nice guy and both my kids really like him.
Here is Wolfie's Gang right after their successful chamber performance. Well done, kids.
Raef was in Orchestra 11 with Michael Bayless. He was place quite a ways ahead of Zach, but this is what happens when you play the viola and there aren't many violists. You get promoted quickly.
Our nights were filled with lots of fun stuff, but I will do another post for that. Camp was a huge success and I could see an incredible amount of growth in both of them. When the concert finished early Saturday afternoon, we hit the road for the long drive back to Reno. I hope we get to go again next year.
Well, my kids keep marching on with violin and viola. I think this was their best recital yet. They both played really well. It is interesting and I have probably talked about this before but I am amazed at the journey we have taken together.
It didn't seem that long ago that my kids first picked up a violin. They were 4 1/2 years old. Zach could only hold it in playing position about 2 minutes and then he was wiped out, crumpled over. Raef had a very short attention span and it was difficult to get through all of our practice tasks successfully. There were many times when I seriously considered quitting, but we just kept trudging on week after week.
Then when I sat there and listened to them play their pieces with the accompanist, I was overwhelmed. I couldn't believe how far they have come. They can both play an instrument beautifully. I seriously almost cried.
I am realizing more and more the incredible wisdom in the scripture, " by small and simplethings are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise" (Alma 37:6) Isn't life really about the small victories? When you add all of those up, you get something amazing and great.
Let me give you a few examples...the first one would be dieting. Okay, I am not going to call it dieting because it makes it sound temporary. Right now, my goal is to eat clean. To me, this means that I am cutting out sugar and processed food. In simple terms, I am cutting out the crap. I have had three very successful days of eating this way and let me tell you, I feel great. I don't feel deprived at all. But the small victory this week came at book club. I brought the treats this month and I picked a healthier fare. I had no intention of eating anything, but I did indulge in a small bowl of kettle corn, which has been my only sugar intake this week. I made a choice, it was either that or a bag of the 100 calorie minty fudge cookies. Normally, I would have had many choices, but I picked one. But don't think I was not having an argument with myself the entire time, because I was. "Oh, come on...it is just one bag and only 100 calories, what's the big deal?" "No, it is a big deal because then you won't know that you can exercise self-control." Yep, these kinds of thoughts were coursing through my brain.
It was a small victory, but I know it will add up to great things. I am preparing my lesson for Sunday and it is on fasting. The manual teaches that when we have a successful fast, "We are a little stronger by having proved to ourselves that we have self-control." I had never really thought of it that way. But think about how when we have a small victory, we are proving to ourselves that we can accomplish our goals.
In the same way I have taken on the monumental task of educating my children. With each day of successfully hitting the books, I am adding drops of knowledge to their little brains, which will culminate into glorious things when they get older. I definitely see it. They have come so far in their education and I know that I have only laid the foundation for the things that they will do in the future. With every math problem they successfully solve or word they correctly spell, great things are coming to pass.
This has been palpable with violin and viola as well. Last night I had the privilege of sitting on a bean bag being overcome by watching my children practice their recital pieces with an accompanist. All the hours of lessons and practices...all of those small victories and now I sit back and watch the miracle. I really did almost cry last night.
As I move forward in my life with eating better and such, I will build off of my small victories. I know that I will not be perfect and I am okay with that. But each day I get stronger. That is truly a blessing.
I have finally been able to get back on track with a Christmas tradition Rinar and I started many years ago. We shared a Christmas program at my grandmother's retirement home tonight. We haven't done one the past three years because I have had two pregnancies in three years. It just wasn't going to happen. But it did tonight and it was wonderful.
My grandmother lives in a nice little retirement home in St. George, Utah. Rinar, Raef, Zach, and Linda (Rinar's mom) all participated. Linda was awesome. She just jumped right in a played the piano for pretty much all the numbers. Rinar usually plays all the accompaniments, but she did it this time instead. She also played a beautiful piano solo by Sally Deford that incorporates Still, Still, Still and Silent Night.
But the best part was watching my little boys do many different musical numbers so confidently and with pizazz. It was neat. They played 5 different songs on their violin/viola. They sang two duets, Little Drummer Boy and Away In a Manger in perfect harmony. Raef recited the Christina Rossetti poem "What Can I Give" and then sang a solo, The Nativity Song. Zach plopped himself down on the piano and played some jazzy number he likes to play at home with a lot of his own Zach improvisations. It was neat to see how they would just keep going or adjust if they messed up a little bit. It didn't phase them at all. They love an audience and they have no fear. I don't think many people can say that about 8 year-old boys, but I definitely can about mine.
I had to drop the babies off at the babysitter's house, so I got there 10 minutes before we were supposed to start and the kids were already standing up there playing pieces they have been working on for the past few months. They took turns and they played and if they messed up a little they just kept going.
Oh yeah, I also sang several songs and then we did a quick sing-along of Christmas hymns at the end. It was funny but I sang Silent Night with an arrangement by Sally Deford and I got all choked up and almost couldn't finish. It just touched my heart so much. I have no idea why, nevertheless I was grateful for the feeling.
Both of grandmothers came to our little concert and many residents were there as well. It was a lot of fun. Oh, and I forgot to mention that Rinar played a really great version of Jingle Bell Rock on a saxophone he rented for the month from the music store. He is such a ham. It was a lot of fun seeing him play and work the crowd. I begrudgingly admit that it stole the show.
It was a wonderful way to celebrate Christmas. I look forward to doing it again next year.
On Saturday night, Rinar and I went to a reception and concert at Nevada School of the Arts. It was a treat because we got to see Grace W. play in the Vivace group. They did a great job. Hopefully, Zach will be in that group someday soon. It is just for violins, so I don't know what aspiration Raef has for the future. Maybe he can do chamber music.
The kids played "Twinkle" in the plaza while we went into the lobby for the big unvieling of the twinkle sculpture.
I I like the sculpture. It is simple, but relevant to the school, that is for sure. "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" is the national anthem of the Suzuki Program. If your kid is in suzuki, you will probably hear that song about 20,000 times at least, before you are through.
This is the dean, Shakeh giving her little speech.
Labor Day weekend was fabulous. We went to St. George Utah, and the boys participated in the fiddling contest in Hurricane. They did really well in their small fry division (0-10). Zach got first place with 882 points and Raef was really close behind him 879 points.
Here you go...
Top three for the small fry division.
The winners...
And Eli got first place in the "Cotton Candy Eating Enjoyment" category. See...he is wearing his blue ribbon all over his face.
Zach is really growing up. He now needs glasses, as he is pretty blind. I felt an urgency to get glasses for him since he is in a city orchestra with Raef. They had their first official practice yesterday. It is a great organization. There are four levels and the boys are in the ensemble, which is only string instruments. The highest level is a full orchestra of high school students and they actually get to go on a tour next year to China. Cool, huh? They do a big trip every 3 years so that every kid can have a chance to go.
They seat the kids according to how they ranked them in their audition. The auditions were tough. There was a standard piece you prepared for the audition and then when you were done with that, they had you sight-read something. Parents were not allowed into the audition room, so I had no idea how they had done on anything.
We found out yesterday. Raef was #1! He did the best on the audition for violas. There are never enough violas, but regardless, he is by far the youngest violist in the group. All the other ones look like they are middle school aged. He looks so little compared to all the other kids, but I am sure that won't last long.
Zach was also seated. In a group of about 30 violins, he was #2, first violin! He gets to sit in the front. I was really surprised because there was so much competition. But one thing about him is that he is an excellent sight-reader, so in a way I am not surprised. He just attacks it.
So here is one proud mama who had to take a minute and brag about the kiddos. Thanks for bearing with me on this.
Okay, let me confess ahead of time. My babies are REALLY HAPPY to finally get a bath. I really have no comment on when they had a bath previously. That is all I am going to say.
We had a lot of fun for the 4th. Unfortunately, I do not know where my camera is at the moment, so I have no pictures of the weekend. Anyways, since the 4th of July fell on a Sunday this year, I thought it would be a good idea to go to St. George. In St. George, they never celebrate the Fourth on a Sunday, so we were able to watch the fireworks on the 3rd. It was awesome!
In the morning there was a small parade right outside our back door. The kids were still in their pajamas. We thoroughly enjoyed it. There was a lot of candy and Raef and Zach were not interested in picking it up off the street. I thought aliens had invaded their bodies or something. They must have still been asleep, I guess. But Eli was awake. As soon as a fresh batch was strewn across the pavement he was out there picking up as many pieces as his little hands could hold. Good for him.
After the parade, there were games and booths and such at the park. I coaxed the kids into playing some fiddle music there in some non-descript, shady corner of the park. Once we got going, we played about 10 different fiddling songs several times. Raef just improvised his viola harmony and it was really cool. In the end, the kids made $13.50 in the guitar case we left conspicuously open in front of us. They were wowed at how much money they raked in. My fingers were killing me, because I haven't played my guitar in so long and don't have good callouses. But it was worth it, because when we were done, they divvied up the money and used it for the rides and treats at the fair. It was great! Now I know how I can start paying for their violin lessons in the future.
In the afternoon we went to Rinar's grandmother's care facility and played our stuff again. The residents loved it. Rinar and his mom played their piano duet and while they were playing Grandma got up and started dancing all over the place with her walker. She really is the life of the party at that place. Rinar's mom then announced that I would be singing a song. Huh? I wondered what song I would be singing. Then she showed me the music and I didn't have a clue what the song was. I had never seen it. But luckily, it was simple and it sounded great. It was a song from the 1930's and you could tell that everyone there knew it. They all kind of sang along and their eyes sparkled. When I am old and someone is singing to me at a care facility, will my eyes sparkle when some kid sings a rousing rendition of, "Who Let the Dogs Out?" Hmmm....
The director asked us if we would go play some songs for the Alzheimer's patients in the back who don't get visitors. We thought it was a great idea and so the kids got to play their songs some more. My fingers were really killing me by then. Ouch. But some how, I managed to make it happen. I sang again and the reaction was the same. It was really cool.
We had some friends from our ward in Henderson come up to see the fireworks. It was fun to share the evening with Sean, Cyntha, and their two little boys. Rinar's brother Lyf and his family also came over. So the six of us played Eight and Back (I really should write a blog about that game...) for a few hours while we waited for the fireworks. The kids ran around and played and it was really quite perfect. Babies fell asleep before the fireworks, so Sean and Cyntha stayed at the condo because their kids were asleep as well. They watched from the balcony and we walked over to my Grandma N.'s grassy viewing location. It was a lot of fun and Eli cheered on each BOOM!
Our Independence Day celebration was a big success. I love America! Happy Birthday!
It was a big week for me. You remember how before everyone thought I was totally crazy for taking my kids by myself on a little jaunt through Arizona? That was just a warm-up for the week I just experienced in Utah.
I took Raef and Zach to the Intermountain Suzuki String Institute camp this week in Draper, Utah. Wow, what a week, huh? Let me see...me, check. Raef, check. Zach, yep him too. Oh yeah, then there was Eli, check. Harry and Julia, check, check. Yep, uh huh. Just me and five little ones at a rather serious Suzuki string camp for 6 days. I didn't have a clue what I was getting myself into when I went.
It was at a private high school and it was me against all of them. I mean, me and all of them together. One big happy family.
My thought was that I would stay the whole first day and get them oriented to their classes. I had arranged babysitting with Melanie, superwoman! After that first day, I would drop them off in the morning and spend time with Melanie and go to a few classes in the middle of the day.
There was only one teensy weensy little problem.
"Mom, are we done yet?" spoken by Zach after the first class was finished. He only had 3 more on the first day, and 5 more days ahead of him.
"Is this my last class?" spoken by Zach after his second to last class, to his fiddling teacher, the guy who was teaching 6 different classes in a large high school where every single room was being used for classes.
"Are you Zach's mom?" spoken by Zach's violin performance teacher Andrea Sanderson, on Tuesday when it became painfully obvious that Zach was very wiggly and disruptive to the entire group.
"I couldn't find my class." spoken by Zach when I needed him to go to his next class on his own, as I had to deal with my little ones. I had only physically walked him to his class twice so that he would know where it was and had also written down his schedule with all the class numbers, so he could ask someone if he got lost. He lost the schedule on Tuesday morning.
"Your violin bow is not a sword." spoken by me.
"IT'S NOT FAIR!!!!!! YOU ARE CHEATING!!!!! YOU DON'T PLAY FAIR!!!!" spoken, I mean, tearfully screamed by Zach at lunch break when he didn't like the way the game was going because the other kids were bigger and he was constantly losing.
We went to Melanie's house a few times to hang out when camp was over in the evenings. It was a lot of fun and the kids really enjoyed reconnecting.
This gal is the best. She totally saved me. When it became woefully apparent that I was going to have to do a lot of hand holding for the entire week, she stepped right up and watched my babies the majority of the time. They got lots of naps and attention and fun. Whew! She totally saved me. At night we stayed with my Uncle Barry and Aunt Sue in Orem. It was a lot of fun being able to reconnect with them and just hang out. I was grateful for the opportunity. There was one tiny, little thing that I didn't like. Bedtime. I mean, Eli and bedtime. Those two things just didn't really go together very well. You remember how I chronicled his bedtimes problems at our house? I am not going to rehash that, but needless to say it was quite painful. It was Act III. Every night it took hours to get all three of them to sleep. The problems really revolved around Eli. Errrrrrr!
So I seemed to go to bed every night around 12pm, but we were always up bright and early around 5:45 to 6am. And somehow I survived.
But look at these faces...
Oh, come on! How could I be mad at that???
I made sure to take some pictures with their teachers. This is their orchestra teacher, Denise Willey. She was fantastic; dynamic, funny, instructive, helpful. Everything you would want in a teacher, she fit the bill. The kids loved her class. Raef was the only viola.
There he is...all by himself, holding down the fort and doing a mighty fine job.
Oh yeah, that is Zach...
Now unlike Zach, who struggled all week...Raef thrived. He is just a cool kid. There were not very many viola players and he was by far the youngest kid in his group. He is very advanced for his age. He is going into the 3rd grade and the next youngest kid was headed to 7th. But he fit right in and made lots of friends. In this picture he is getting instruction from his master's teacher, David Becker. He helped Raef work on his dynamics.
David Becker is from Wisconsin. Because the viola group was so small, Raef was able to get a lot of needed attention with his instrument. It was fantastic.
These are some of the kids he studied with this week. They are just the cream of the crop, wonderful kids with great personalities and so kind. I loved the environment he was in. The vibe in the viola class was cool. There was a camaraderie that really worked for him.
His performance and technique teacher was Dee Martz. She is also from Wisconsin. I loved her class and so did Raef. They would make up stories about the songs they were playing and this really worked for Raef. It helped him with dynamics quite a bit.
One neat thing about Dee is the viola she is holding. It was made in 1773! It is a Guadagnini and there were only 12 made, with 4 known to exist. The university she works for owns it and lets her play it. Isn't that cool? It has its own name and everything...Cosio. Whoa!
Raef made a friend at camp named Tyler. He came from South Dakota to study. They really hit it off and Raef and him would go play rugby in the field during lunch break. Raef thought that was the coolest thing ever.
Zach reminded me several times this week that he will never be an aborigine. But he did enjoy this exercise where they actually got to wander around while they played. He felt right at home as that is how he usually practices at home.
Zach with Andrea Sanderson. She is a very compassionate lady. She was very patient with him and pleasantly surprised when he didn't do anything outrageous during the final performance.
This was Zach's master's teacher, Deborah Moench. She is a well-known pedagogue in Salt Lake City and I believe her daughter is a world-renowned violinist. She is soft-spoken, but tough.
On Saturday we enjoyed the fruits of our labors and the kids did a concert in the main auditorium. The babies were terrible when it was time for the show. Luckily I brought my brother Jamie along and he watched them so that I could see it. Julia listened to a little bit of the pre stuff on the floor. Oooohhhh! So cute.
Of course I made a couple of videos if you want to hear what it sounded like. The actual concert footage is terrible, but it sounds good. There is a faculty orchestra that accompanied them and that was really cool.
