Easter General Conference, Moving Amelia, Tennis, and Contests

Basically, life is an insane tangle right now. The 3 local HS concert bands had a performance with the NNU concert band on March 31st in preparation for festival. All the bands sounded spectacular. Turns out 4 retired band teachers sat in the row/seats behind us, their running commentary was quite insightful. They chatted through all the performances much to my delight. 

Everett and Evelyn are in the thick of tennis season right now. I got to watch Everett play a couple times at matches held at CHS. I need to carve out time to watch Evelyn play at their next home match. Evelyn quite loves wearing the cute tennis skirts, she’s so cute. I found a pickleball net the kids can use at home to play tennis on the street as another outdoor alternative. 

Evelyn and Josie are in serious preparations now for the Idaho State Fiddle and Picking contest on April 11th in Mountain Home. There are a lot of feelings and hours of practice behind the scenes. Josie earned two chocolate bunnies by performing her songs for the kindergarten classes at school and for some of the teachers. She will work for chocolate! 

General Conference weekend was a boon. We dressed in our finest for the Saturday morning Solemn Assembly to sustain Dallin H Oaks as our prophet. Phillip and Evelyn brought down the Lego bins for the weekend, they built a mansion for Darth Vader, the pastel vibe was ever so stunning. Josie finished crocheting her first blanket! She did a really good job, better than my first blanket. I crocheted up a bunny using a pattern Josie got for her birthday. Josie is in LOVE! She named her April. President Oaks closing remarks centered on love, he did not say the customary “in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.” He walked away, the choir sang “Love at Home” added to the end of the song was a beautiful “amen.” That amen was the close to President Oak’s remarks. That was beautiful. We delightedly searched for Amelia during the Saturday afternoon session each time the BYU-I choir sang. I had to chuckle over the slew of texts from random folks sending me their photos of Amelia. It was especially poignant that conference was on Easter Sunday this year. The messages focused on the resurrections, becoming lifelong disciples, finding strength in the Savior, and to be a peacemaker. Sister Freeman connected with most of the MCO singers with her “best days” comments, which connects to the song “I’m so Blessed.” 

In between session on Saturday I called the girls over to come help pick up dog poop (random I know). Evelyn came skipping over which really surprised me. She heard me call them over for food and not poop. The expected tantrum ensued. She traded her poop duties with Phillip’s dishes chore for that day. After the last Saturday session we colored Easter eggs. I bought a bag of “pay dirt” from Spenser Opal mines last week. Josie and Justin helped me clean and sort through the rocks. There were only a couple shards of rainbow opals, most of the rocks were glass obsidian, white opal, and leverite rocks (leave-er-right there). Fun times. 

I hid Easter baskets between the Sunday sessions while the family took the dogs on a long walk. It is quite nice not having Fergus around. Justin was able to use the leaf blower without Fergus’ obnoxious barking.  Eve and Wally are coming out of their shells, especially Wally. He is bouncing around the house like a normal dog. I hear that Fergus is doing well at his new foster home, potentially an adoption home as well. Evelyn found her basket right away inside her guitar case. Josie took a while but found hers with Evelyn’s help. The two boys found each other’s baskets but could not find their own. They had to get clues, how embarrassing. We enjoyed a BBQ with the Ostler’s for Easter dinner. The kids helped dig quite the hole in Sara’s garden area over the weekend. They had a lovely time playing in the dirt. 

This week (April 12th) was very busy with tennis, Everett’s dress rehearsals for Pirates of Penzance, moving Amelia home, and the competition. 

Tuesday morning I received a phone call from the CHS school psychologist about Everett. My heart fell. He did something in his health class making some students feel very uncomfortable. I was very upset for the rest of the day and the next day about the circumstances. I was upset that Everett did not tell Justin or I, when I asked about the situation he acted confused until I told him I was aware and he needed to start talking. Surrounding all of this Everett was at school until 9-10 pm with play rehearsals so we did not have time to sit down and talk. Do boys really not get their brains until after 20 years old? I wanted to kick his booty up and down the streets until he came to his senses. He and I met with Austin on Friday to discuss the situation and come up with a plan. Satan really has it out for our young men, I want to rage around making a protective turf from that bastard. Leave my BOYS alone! Justin told me that part of the reason our kids are messed up is because I urge them to be weird. I was very upset about that comment. I had to disengage my feelings to think, he was in reaction mode and grasping for causes. Still! 

I left work early on Wednesday to drive out to Rexburg in order to help Amelia move back home. Josie came along for the adventure. Phillip and Justin removed the seats from the van and put on the cartop carrier before we left. It was a long drive after a long day at school. We got Kpop Demon Hunter happy meals for dinner, when you know you know! We stayed in a roach motel in Rexburg. Ok, it was a step above roach because they offered breakfast and there were not roaches. Josie was bummed the TV did not work. We pulled up to Brooklyn apartments early Thursday morning, smiled at Amelia’s joyful hailing from her apartment balcony. The next hour Josie and I bundled down tubs and boxes from the top floor. My knee and feet were very unhappy about that. Esther arrived while we were carrying down stuff. Hooray! We had a moment to catch up before we left. I wanted to stop at the BYU bookstore just for fun. In front of the bookstore students had craft items they made for sale, so fun! We found some really fun stickers. We jammed home quickly because I had a bridal session at 5:30 pm in Eagle. I counted on the Bride being late, which she was so that left me enough time to get home and breathe for 20 minutes before heading out again. The session was for Cara’s eldest daughter, Kylie, who just got home from her mission in July. She found her sweetheart and they got married the day after their bridal session. 

Friday was another jam-packed day with grocery shopping, meeting with Austin, tennis, and getting ready for the contest. The girls all drove out to Mountain Home around 4:30 pm on Friday. We stopped at the event site to help set up and join a jam session. Josie was literally crying with nerves when I suggested she join the fun. In the end she sat on my lap and played for a little while. Evelyn jumped right in and tried her best to strum chords and pick, following Eliza’s lead. We left to eat some dinner at a burger joint in town. A zesty thunderstorm provided entertainment during the meal. The burgers were especially greasy and not very appetizing. We stayed at a hotel with other contest helpers. After we got settled in we could hear fiddle music from the foyer…hooray! Eliza and Rachel were practicing much to everyone’s delight. They sound so good. 

Saturday was the big day. I was the score keeper for the contest and Amelia volunteered to be the MC. I entered all the judge’s scores and kept track of the results. Justin helped me make the math work in Excel, he’s a guru. Until I realized several random rows were not mathing correctly, I actually announced the incorrect results for the guitar picking section. Embarrassing. After that I triple-checked the math and made sure all the results were correct. Evelyn had a moment of anxiety right before her section. Emma made sure she knew that the contest did not define her, the results did not define her, this was just a moment with results that Evelyn could take in stride. She was competing with two older teens who had 2+ years of practice, compared to her 7 months. She did her very best, I am so proud of her for getting on stage and not quitting. Josie still struggled with her new songs, especially Bill Cheatum, it’s the memorizing that gets her tripped up. Her division ended up with 5 contestants, the top 3 were so good. She just locked in and also did her best. Justin and the boys drove down to watch Evelyn and Josie perform. Everett needed to get back for Faith’s birthday party and for the play, he was an extra that night. After awards and cleaning up it was after 5 pm. I am dead dog tired! The littles slept in until 11 am this Sunday morning. Evelyn placed 3rd out of 4 and Josie placed 4th out of 5 in the contest. My mind is boggled at these little kids sawing away without a single mistake.