Choir Trip, Spring Break

We’re driving back to Idaho after a lovely trip to Utah. It’s Spring Break this week! Hooray. Last week Tuesday felt like a Saturday. Essentially, the students at school were all squirrely, tired, and so ready for a week off. I am having students copy paragraphs in computer lab. It warms my mom heart to hear all the whining and the glazed over eyeballs. Ha ha. I had fun spending some of my grant money on 7 coding mats for the bee bots, 10 micro:bit expansion kits (with alligator clips and extra sensors), and lots of flash cards for the mats. Wednesday afterschool I had the last “Coding without Fear” training. We chatted about AI in the classroom and what we are extending into the classroom from the knowledge we gained from the training. We had a gal from Virginia talk for about 30 minutes about AI and how we can prepare students to use it properly and responsibly. The repercussions of AI are honestly a bit daunting and intimidating. It was already difficult to separate real from generated, especially in the news and on social platforms. Yesterday I saw a video about a zookeeper caring for a 5 ft axolotl, the animal was completely generated. Gullible beware! At the end of the training was a drawing for another classroom Bee Bot Hive. Guess WHAT? I WON! No freaking way! Katie used one of those digital spin wheels, watching it slowly click over to my name was quite thrilling. Hooray! I plan to do an educational burst next week for any teacher that wants to come and learn how to use a bee bot! I love adding new technology for our students. 

Amelia and I got all packed up for the Utah choir trip Wednesday evening. Justin dropped us off at CHS around 6:30 am Thursday morning. As a chaperone one of my duties was to rifle through student’s luggage for inappropriate items. Justin is watching a TV series called “To Catch a Smuggler,” my brain made me into an airport security guard. “Do you have any seeds, fruits, vegetables, large amounts of cash, drugs, or any illegal items?” Most students just shook their heads in pity, Oscar played along with my charade. He’s a good dude. I perched in the back of the bus to keep tabs on the riffraff back there. Amelia sat next to Carli, her “husband.” Silly goose. The drive over was quite tame, students were tired so mostly slept. Our first stop was CSI (College of Southern Idaho) in Twin Falls. Mrs Sene arrange a clinical with Serena Jenkins Clark, president of the music department. She was amazing! She taught the choir her favorite warm ups like different SOVTs. I learned that singing lower that is comfortable is more damaging to your vocal folds than high notes. Students got to sing through smoothie straws. Con Brio performed first after which Serena critiqued the song and had the girls try different techniques.  Chamber went next with the same result. The last item was a Q&A. One tradition the choir has is to ask their clinicians is, “if you were a chair what would you be?” Serena chose an Ethan Allen comfy chair she once saw many years ago. One pice of advice she gave students was to just enjoy High School, don’t try to get through college in High School. There is enough time to be an adult at college. She sees many students coming to CSI stressed out to the max because they did too much during High School and got burned out. That stuck in my brain because Everett is wanting to complete at least his Freshman year in college in HS. Amelia loved when she said no matter what you do in life keep singing! We walked over to the cafeteria for lunch. I think we swamped the cafe! We walked over to the Museum of Science for a sky tour in the planetarium. We experienced the Deep Sky show and what the sky looks like at this time of the year. Thursday night was a complete lunar eclipse! Unfortunately, rain and snow obscured the sky. Amelia and I bought some slime and rocks at the bookstore! Amelia bought me a rock rooster! The rest of the day was spent driving down to Springville, UT. The OG plan changed from going to hotel first, getting settled, then seeking dinner TO stopping at Costco for 10 pizzas then hitting the hotel. Our time at CSI went a little longer and inclement weather prolonged the drive about 2 hours. At the hotel students each got a pizza per room and time to unwind, visit the pool, and such until room checks at 10 pm. I roomed with Mrs Goodman, the choir pianist! She is a very cool lady. She has one daughter with autism. We talked a lot about our neurodivergent children and experiences. Mrs Goodman liked to sleep with the bathroom light on, thank goodness I brought my fancy silk hair bonnet. 

Sara took care of MCO rehearsal carpool and dinner on the home front. Evelyn stayed home from MCO to attend Finlee’s birthday party. She was quite nervous about going to the party because several mean girls from school were also invited. However, she really wanted to support Finlee who is in her class at school and a church friend. Justin called me with Evelyn crying almost hysterical. She calmed down enough to tell me that Harper, Edyth, and Sophia cornered her at the party demanding her treat them nicely OR else they would be mean to her the rest of the year. Earlier at the party Harper yelled at Evelyn during a game, Evelyn stood up for herself asking Harper to not yell at her. Harper thinks Evelyn is mean to her but really Harper is just mean in general all the time so students tend to be defensive in her presence. I was upset she dragged Edyth to the situation, Edyth is a confrontational character. I am sure Evelyn was a bitt snippy earlier but the fact that they gas-light her was very upsetting. I called Sister Potter to fill her in on the situation. She said Evelyn did ask her to leave early but was able to hold it together by singing some Wicked songs. Next day I messaged Evelyn’s teacher about the situation because all 4 girls are in the same class. She immediately called me about the situation. We had a 30 minute conversation about the girls. I know Harper has severe family issues which contribute to her drama. I explained a few other incidents Evelyn’s had with Edyth and Harper over the past few weeks, including some PE drama and the movie/pizza situation. Harper and Sophia begged me for money after they spent their money on candy. The pestered me for about 20 minutes then turned on Evelyn and had her ask me then took the pizza. Little stinkers. Mrs Camarda has a better relationship with Harper so will keep an eye open for any shenanigans. Evelyn was able to chat with Nina the next day about the party, that helped her as well. 

Friday morning the choir kids had a clinical with Dr Wells at the BYU School of Music. I quite enjoyed meeting him because he was the reason MCO Idaho started. He left to teach at BYU the year we started at MCO 4 years ago. I gave him a hug from Wacky Spacky (Jen Spackman). Dr Wells said he would be a PPPPPPPPPP chair. He advised students take piano and at least know the basics. He did not click with middle school students, quite enjoyed elementary, HS, and of course college. I learned how to find my “j-space.” If you suck in a startled breath the back and top of your mouth expand, that is where you can find more resonance. Our mouths have 4 singing stations from the tip of the nose to the very back of the throat. After the clinical we had a short tour of the new concert hall. A BYU organ student was practicing for his final exam/performance before graduating. The stage is in the round, risers are set in the floor and can rise when needed, flatted when not. The organ is a modern marvel. We lunched at the Cougar Eat. Amelia and I chose chik-fil-a, the screen let us know there were 68 orders in front of ours! Gracious, it was p-a-c-k-e-d packed. We watched one of the choir rehearsals. It was mostly the choir honing their stage placement and coordinating some hand movements. The little bit of singing we heard was heavenly. Amelia was star-dazzled with BYU, might want to split half her time between BYU-I and Provo. We had a fun 30 minutes at the BYU Bookstore before heading back to the hotel to rest and get ready for the evening. One of my chaperone duties was handing out $10 bills to students for lunch. That was fun. We had 2 hours at the mall to walk around and get dinner. Miekka and Lia met us at South Towne Mall! We had a fun skipping hugging situation going on. The highlight was trying out the new Princess line at Bath and Body, Tiana’s scent is the best. Amelia found a scent that smells exactly like dole whip. We got our emo on at Hot Topic. We dined on the best offerings in the mall food court, we got to choose where our cravings led us. Mia stayed longer at the mall with Miekka and Lia. I shouted her bus number just too keep the shouting in order. The last event of the day was at the Hale Theater to watch Little Women. Oh my heck, it was amazing. I’ve watched many plays and movies of Little Women. This by far was my favorite. I LOVED how Beth had a cute personality not just a section of the wallpaper. They had her and Mr Lawerence in a sweet scene laughing and singing together. The kite song with Jo and Beth AND Marmie’s song to Jo brought tears to my eyes. Theater performers always astound me! Exchanging sillies with Mia and Lia made my night. 

Saturday we went to the Loveland Aquarium after checking out of the hotel. We ran around like little kids ooing and ahhhing over the cool ocean creatures. I loved the penguins and otters. I bought over-priced chochkiesz for the kids like tiny tumblers for the girls and rubber hand puppets for the boys. Miekka met us at Raising Kane’s in Midvale after lunch. That particular location is famous because Post Malone endorsed the location. It was a fun, happening place to eat. My order was misplaced so we ended up getting a free order after it was discovered after the cashier had already replaced our meal. Amelia said the thing to do is split the toast, stuff it with fries, chicken strips and of course the sauce. The chicken and fries were nothing special, without the sauce it was bleh. So really you go there to eat over-priced fry sauce. We nabbed our stuff from the bus and stuffed it into Miekka’s van. We bid our choir friends farewell then went on a new adventure with Miekka and Lia. Of course what do we do? DI trip baby. Miekka spotted the perfect pink dress for Mia to wear as Lottie for her Disney bound outfit, Lia will be Tiana. I stocked up on church pants for the boys. Yay. Miekka needed a few items from Walmart so we stopped there on the way to their home. Justin arrived to Eagle Mt while we were out galavanting. We had a Lance family dinner with Jana, Jeremy, Lane, Debbie, and Jeffrey et al. James smoked a brisket! If he shows his love through food then he really, really loves us. Jana brought her famous strawberry dessert. The kids ruled the basement in true cousin style, popping up every once in a while dressed in silly costumes. Nadia stole my Auntie heart with her new haircut, thanks to Ksenia for wielding the scissors. I was in cotton-headed land after spending 3 days on high-alert with teenagers. Hannah and Rachel stayed the night, Jana got the night off. I should’ve sent my girls home with Jana instead. Evelyn’s tummy was not feeling great, she barfed a little bit the next morning. 

We had vacation church, aka sacrament only. Evelyn stayed home alone sleeping from 10 am until 2 pm! She was one tired potato. She had no idea we were gone! Hannah and Rachel were on the bored side with Evelyn out of commission. They started a silly game with woofs, meows, and all sorts of animal sounds. Josie was the caller and the cousins the echos. Miekka got out some clay and shrink paper to make earrings. Amelia made a pair of Peep bunnies. I helped Rachel and Hannah make their designs. I made cute Totoro earrings. Jana came around 5 :30 for her girls. I am glad the girls got to stay even with a very tired and boring Aunt Jenni. We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the “new” guest room at Miekka’s home. The room has two bunkbeds and the queen mattress on the floor decorated with a fun fossil and Dino theme. I just enjoy sitting next to Miekka spouting off whatever random thought comes to my mind. That is what I love about Miekka, she is my favorite. 

Monday we wanted something fun to do…what is more fun than a trip to IKEA? Depends on who you ask! The first 30 minutes is always fun but then your senses are overloaded and the rest of the store gets longer and longer. We tried out many chairs, couches, beds, and even found the Duolingo owl lurking on a shelf. I plucked random crap off the shelves that met my fancy. Miekka and Lia went to DI while we headed to visit Grandma and Grandpa for an hour or so. Evelyn and I played some ukulele songs for the grandparents. Josie practiced her fiddle competition songs for them. Dad had us oooh and aaaah over Grandma’s growing collection of religious canvas paintings. Yay. Driving back to the Lances during rush hour was quite the extended experience. Google maps had me taking all the back road routes in order to reduce the drive time. After dinner we ran off our wiggles at a fun park nearby with a ninja course, skate park, and playground. Amelia said she stayed up until 1:45 chatting with Lia. Ahhh! I remember those cousin chats. Miekka and I ordered matching DL shirts and got our tickets paid for and booked. This is really going to happen. I cannot wait! This will be my first girls trip in like 15 years…or more. Crazy. Now we are driving back home to see our darling puppies and enjoy the rest of Spring Break. Amelia now has about 26 costume orders to sew up and distress. Looks like most of her Disneyland trip will be paid for. I’ve also got the daunting task of cleaning the loft again. Josie is coming down with a head cold, tis the season. James sent me a nice text this morning, Made me tear up a bit. Thanks man! Love you and your brisket.

The rest of our Spring Break this week was a blur. Tuesday was gone spent traveling home. We stopped to visit with Charity for an hour, Reagan showed up before we had to leave. That was fun to visit for a little while. Wednesday was spent grocery shopping in the morning, early afternoon. Amelia got started cutting all the fabric for 21 MCO costumes. That took her until 10:30 pm to get that portion completed. I helped out a bit but mostly spent some time switching out the St Patrick’s Day decor for cute Easter and Spring decorations. Hooray! The girls really wanted a picnic but the weather was too windy and/or cold. I promised we would have one on Thursday. 

Everett had the time of his life learning to scuba dive with the Deacons and Teachers at Dive Magic in Boise. He left excited and come home even more excited! He said the best feeling was lying on the bottom of the pool looking up through all that water. Indeed, that is quite a magical experience. He wants to take the complete course and get certified. I am a bit reticent because once you get certified you are supposed to dive at least once every year or so which can be expensive. Plus there are not many options for that in Idaho. The little girls helped me assemble some squishmellow LEGOS, ok not legos, rather the BLDR brand. I can’t wait to get the sets to school for my classroom. 

Thursday the girls had music lessons with the Beck family. Josie is honing her fiddle songs, working on finger placement, bowing perfection, and playing faster. She had quite the smile on her face playing along with Eliza and <<<<<<. Evelyn and got two new songs and some new notes to practice plus the waltz strum. Yay! We got to bring home a new HEDGEHOG we named Blueberry. She is about a year old and not expected to live longer than a few more months. Blueberry is going to stay in Evelyn’s classroom until school ends. We are hoping she stays alive long enough to end the school year. She does not like to be interrupted during the day. She came with three purses so she can go outside for fresh air and nibble on bugs. We had our picnic in the cold garage…it started raining right around dinner. Evelyn fixed up a fun space on the floor with tablecloths and cut flowers in a vase. I made pasta salad for dinner with spiral noodles Walmart recently started selling. Yum. Amelia had a movie night at Hailey’s home. She wore her cute pink dress we found thrifting with Miekka and Lia. Amelia shed some tears of frustration over sewing the costumes. I came home after music lessons to find her at a complete stalemate over the bobbin thread. Together we sewed 10 costumes in about 6 hours, I kept sewing while she was gone so got about 6 completed. 

The costumes project loomed over our heads, we just needed to get them completed. I sewed the last stitches at 10:30 pm. Friday evening I also cut out and sewed our own costumes which brought the total to 26 costumes. Amelia is very excited to earn money for Disneyland through sewing. 

We are loving the puppies. Wally fits in Justin’s shirt pockets, Eve is a chunkier so only her bottom half fits. Both puppies now can open their eyes for a few minutes when they are hungry. Last night (22 Mar) we saw both puppies taking shaking little steps on their legs. So CUUUUUTE! So cute.

Saturday morning Justin and Phillip went to the shooting range for a Priest’s activity. The rest of us at home got to clean the loft. Yay…NOT. It was time to shove the monster back into closets, cubbies, drawers, and bedrooms. I had 5 photo sessions between 4:30-8 pm! It all started with Loni Coil from MCO wanting photos of her twins while family was in town for baby blessings. Thursday Andrea contacted me wanting some maternity photos with her two kiddos, added her to the hour right before I needed to leave for Eagle, ID where Loni lives. That was crazy. Dahlia was not happy to be in the garage, it is a strange place to have photos. I packed most of the items needed in the van before Andrea arrived. I was getting the light packed up when Amelia asked me to curl her hair, disrupted my line of action. I should’ve finished my track, alas no. I forgot the power cord to my studio light. Justin saved the day driving it the 35 minutes to my location. Amelia, Josie, and I ate some dinner with the family members gathered for the twins. Loni’s family is a big crazy Polynesian affair. It was a whirlwind of prim white folks and animated Polynesian folks. I heard “Little bunny hop, hop, hop” screamed while aunties tried to get the babies to smile. I just rode that tide to the end. I was late meeting Sara at the Boise river for Senior photos with Carson and then Amelia. I also snuck in phots of Josie for her 9th birthday (just 1.5 months late). I rotated each individual, during which the person not getting photos changed outfits. We got smoothies for a treat. Amelia got a tropical smoothie with jalapeños in it, it was an unexpected punch that was quite lovely.