Elsie Plays Music

Elsie with Ms. Justine

After three years of attending weekly music classes, the evening of Elsie's big debut finally arrived.   The capstone to the Let's Play Music program is for each 3rd year student to perform their own composition.  The recital was held on Friday, April 24, 2015 at the R. Tabernacle.

Dolphins At Sea

It was extra special to have both sets of grandparents in attendance.  Prior to the concert starting, G-pa P took the opportunity to share a funny memory about the R. Tabernacle with Bob and Janene.  It's a classic Steve story about how he took two girls out on dates to the same event on the same evening.  One of the girls happened to be G-ma P.  The other girl was singing in the choir.  G-pa P coordinated everything quite well so neither date suspected what he was up to...or so the story goes.

Elsie - wearing black top and chevron skirt

  This is Ms. Justine's first graduating class so it was a banner moment for her.  She is an excellent teacher, an impressive musician (harpist), and an overall amazing woman.

Ashley, Elsie, Wendy, Grant

The students came up in groups of four and then waited for each other to perform their compositions.

Elsie's performance was flawless and it was rewarding to watch her play with such confidence.  We have had our ups and downs with the program but this final year certainly ended on a high note (pun-pun) for her.  She enjoyed Ms. Jessica for two years and really enjoyed learning from Ms. Justine this past year.

G-ma and G-pa M with Elsie after the recital was over.  Cameron also attended.

Both sets of grandparents with Elsie.

Traditionally, our children have started music with the Suzuki method.  There are pros and cons to every 'method' out there but I have been quite impressed with the way musical concepts are introduced and reinforced with the Let's Play Music program.  Elsie actually knows more theory than her older siblings and had fun (for the most part) learning it!

Now comes the 'fun' of transitioning to a private piano teacher setting.

Unfortunately, Aaron's late return flight did not allow him to attend but he and Elsie enjoyed a special breakfast together the next morning.

It's always fun when G-pa comes....

Nobody complained when G-pa wanted to check out the new donut shop in town on Saturday morning.  Yum-yum!

Hooray for home games - G-ma and G-pa P were able to attend one of Jantzen's games in the morning (and see him score the winning goal) and watch Anna play in the early afternoon.

G-pa P and Aaron put together drawers for the new HCP office.

We also fit in a few quick projects before they returned to CV.  It's been a very busy travel season for the two of them so we really appreciated their efforts to come see us.

They checked out the new HCP office space and we enjoyed a 'working dinner' from Costa Vida before bidding them farewell.  Thanks for coming!

Maki and Heather

On Sunday, we hosted Bob and Janene, Cameron and Maki for dinner.  My good friend, Anna G., currently lives in Japan (again).  The first time Anna's family moved their, they met Maki's family at church.  Maki was a teenager at the time but has since served a mission and is attending BYU-I (now age 23).  Through FB, Anna wanted us to meet each other and so we invited Maki over for Sunday dinner.  The kids enjoyed performing musical pieces for Maki and in return, she surprised them with her own abilities.  We learned more about the Japanese culture and really appreciated spending an evening with Maki.  The kids are already asking when she can come again.

In the church, it's a small world after all...