Dan's latest music arrangements

Click on this title to see and hear some Nintendo music Daniel has put to paper by ear.

Andrea's 12th birthday

Happy 12th birthday Andrea!

Dinner Group

Dave and I get together with some good friends every couple months for  dinner.  So far the menu has been based on a different country each time.  The hostess makes the menu and we all make 2-3 of the dishes.  It's always good food and great company. This was Tapas night (from Spain) at our friends' house.

Harris Teeter opens

A new grocery store opened near our nieghborhood. The High School Marching Band (with Julia as clarinet Section Leader) played for the opening ceremony.

Andrea's Sleepover

Andrea had two friends over for a sleepover. In the morning they made themselves pancakes.

HAPPY 17! Julia

This year we had a rather quiet celebration of Julia's 17th birthday with just Andrea, Dave and I, but it was still fun. Julia brings a lot of sunshine. Hope it will be a great year, Julia. We love you.

Jewelry making

Jewelry: Cheri Designs

A few weeks ago I went with a few friends to a craft store to buy beads. We then worked one evening on our various projects and I learned the secret of bead crimping. I have always found jewelry making fascinating, but had never really tried it until now.
My new jewelry site is: http://cheridesigns.blogspot.com/

Julia and Andrea visit San Diego

Julia and Andrea went to visit Grandma and Grandpa in Fallbrook, CA near San Diego.

Julia and Andrea visited a nearby church one Sunday in Temecula (about 20 minutes away) where James was serving his mission. They were all surprised to see each other(except maybe Grandma.)

25th Getaway

For our 25th getaway, Dave and I took a couple day trips when the house was empty. (Julia and Andrea in California visiting grandparents, Daniel working in New Mexico, James in California on his mission, Erika working in Milwaukee, Kara in Denver with Luke and Jacob.) We visited some interesting spots within an hour of home.

The first place was Londontown--a pre-Colonial town on the Chesapeake Bay--which was first discovered about 400 years ago by John Smith. Dave is standing by a reconstruction of an early home that was rebuilt on its' original site.


Near Annapolis, the Londontowne Museum and gardens overlook a gorgeous view of the Chesapeake Bay.



We then drove down the Eastern Shore and walked around a little on the sand, and looked at antique shops.

Then we ate dinner at a nice restaurant in Annapolis and enjoyed the night lights on the water.

Julia's Trek

Trek is a youth activity that occurs once every four years in our area (so each youth does it once). It's a reenactment of the trek that thousands of Mormon pioneers took across the plains from Nauvoo, Illinois where they were driven out to the Salt Lake Valley.


Julia with her friends as they set out.



Julia's trek was July 22-25--in itself eventful as the first main group of pioneers entered Salt Lake on July 24, 1846, and one of her relative's was a scout for Brigham Young, who actually arrived July 22 that year and had began planting a crop before the main group of Latter-Day Saints had arrived.




The youth wear pioneer clothes and are limited in their gear and food. They push a hand cart all day the first day in the humid summer heat. The next few days involve other pioneer activities like a hoe-down, washing their hair in a stream, cooking meals over a fire and sleeping in sleeping bags on the ground. Each handcart has a Ma and Pa and assigned brothers and sisters.
The happy arrival. We picked up Julia in Pennsylvania. They had some hilly and difficult terrain to cover, but it was exciting feeling of accomplishment when it was over.

Deep Creek July13-17

We had a nice vacation in Deep Creek, a 3-hour drive to Western Maryland. My Dad was with us, as well as Kara and her son Jacob: also Erika, Julia and Andrea with Dave and I.

We stayed at a lake house about 5 days and did jet skis, tubing from a pontoon boat and canoing.

4th of July breakfast

Kara and Jacob were visiting over the 4th of July.


It was fun to have all our girls and one little boy at our ward's breakfast at a nearby park.




Andrea liked Jacob's cool sunglasses,

but I liked them most on him.

Day at the Zoo

Kara came into town last week with her baby Jacob. We took a day trip to the National Zoo in Washington, DC.


Jacob chose his animal shirt and jungle car seat for the occasion.


My dad was also visiting from Utah. There's my dad, Julia, Kara, Andrea, Erika and Jacob. It's been fun to have my dad here and all the girls together for a couple weeks.

2009 Cougar Marching Band

We found out rather late about applying for bands at BYU. When Daniel and I looked into it in May, they had already been accepting applications for a couple weeks. Daniel requested the Marching Band music by email and I think he only had a day to rehearse the music. His last week of school, amidst finals, his band director kindly helped him tape a DVD audition to send.

After waiting several weeks to hear back, Daniel got the great news that he has been accepted into the Trombone Section of the 2009 Cougar Marching Band which plays for all of BYU's football games--some of which are televised. Daniel will also receive a small Talent Award for his services. I'm very excited for Daniel. He'll do great. And he'll keep the Cougar spirit alive--as his parents and grandpa are also BYU alumni.

Daniel accepted to BYU

Since his sophomore year Daniel has collected letters inviting him to apply to colleges. He has over 200 letters here. But he never opened any of them. He always wanted to go to BYU--Brigham Young University (in Provo, Utah), or BYU-Idaho in Rexburg, Idaho. He was accepted to both schools and based on the Music Program, has decided to attend BYU.

I also started out as a Music major at BYU --though I later switched to elementary education, and minored in music.

Daniel will be living at Young Hall. Back when I attended (34 years ago!) Young Hall was a women's dorm--and that's where I lived my freshman year. That's probably where the similarities end, though. I'm sure Daniel will be very successful there!

Student of the Month

Julia has snagged two Student of the Month awards. She received an April award from her Math teacher, and a May award for Band.

And only one more day left of her Junior year. Good luck on those last finals!

Erika is home

Erika graduated from Brigham Young University-Idaho with a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology on April 10, 2009. We were not able to attend, but her Grandpa Vic and Grandma Susan who live nearby in Logan, Utah were able to celebrate with her at a campus dinner and then at the ceremonies.

She has been accepted to Idaho State University in the fall as a graduate student in Marriage and Family Counseling.

She went to work in Milwaukee for 6 weeks selling alarm systems door-to-door. She flew home a week ago on June 3rd and now has a job nearby at a small restaurant.

Andrea was excited for her to take her to her school carnival on Friday.

Bike Ride to Annapolis

We try to put at least one special family day a month on the calendar--which we call Make-a-Memory day. Last Saturday we decided to go on a bike ride. Daniel had just left for New Mexico and Erika had just come back from Milwaukee.(James is still in California on his mission and Kara, Luke and Jacob are in the Denver area.)


So, it was Dave, Erika, Julia, Andrea and I who went on this ride. We had just enough bikes and helmets. We (or rather Dave) checked the air and seats on the bikes and loaded them into the van. We drove about 1/2 hour to Severna Park where we parked at a Park and Ride. Then we rode on a nice, wooded bike path for about 7 miles into Annapolis, Maryland's historic capital. We rode over a scenic bridge over the Severn River and into town.


We parked out bikes at the Naval Academy and walked a couple blocks into the heart of town. There we bought sandwiches and chips at a deli and ate lunch in the center of town, on the dock where the sailing and other boats congregate.






On the way back I found that riding on the old bumpy cobblestones was getting to be a bit much for my knees and tired legs. I rode outside Annapolis and opted to wait at a bus stop for the rest of them to finish the ride back. Julia and Andrea then stopped at an overlook and Erika and Dave rode back to the car and picked us up.

We stopped for Slurpees (and a V-8) on the ride back. We were pretty tired, but had a great day together.

Quilts

When Kara graduated from high school in 2003, I started the tradition of making a lap quilt for college. Kara's was the first quilt I made. I bought a book of patterns and created my own variation.



Erika graduated in 2004. She wanted happy, springtime fabrics in a simple pattern. Small buttons are sewed in all the corners.



For James, the chess enthusiast, who graduated in 2006 I made a chessboard. I also made foam chess pieces so he could actually play.



Then I joined a quilting group that meets twice a month. I learned a little more and did a log cabin pattern for Daniel who just graduated in 2009. I call it a jazz quilt. He requested bright colors, and the fabric with music notation reminded me of Daniel's love for music.




Two more high school quilts to go. Now I need to start on Julia's for next year.

Dan's Seminary Graduation

We attended Daniel's seminary graduation last night--without him. (He left right after high school graduation for New Mexico, where he is working for the summer.) He has attended seminary (a religion class) at 5:45am each school morning for four years. We're proud of the work he has done and for getting up and driving himself and Julia the past two years. His diploma includes the signature of Thomas Monson, the prophet and president of the church.