Holiday Concerts

Darby has had over a full week of singing. She has either had rehearsal (early morning or after school) or a concert or caroling every day of almost ten days. 

Last Friday the varsity choir kids went on a bus to all the neighboring elementary schools to sing in assemblies. She said it was "so cute" and that she enjoyed doing it. They sang at about six schools.

The first concert was at Coronado High because their stage is larger than Franklin's. This concert was with the band and orchestra and choir (all levels) so they needed the space. But it was my favorite concert so far! The music was excellent. The orchestra and band were amazing and the choir really held their own though they are the smallest group. They sang Ave Maria and it was angelic. All the students were on the stage together for a Christmas medley that was so much fun! it was nice to see so many of the youth I knew as well in all three groups. Afterwards Darby was tired but in a good mood as the concert went so well.

The next concert was yesterday and it was the Franklin feeder program winter concert. That meant the choirs from the middle schools that were to attend FHS were incited. It was in the FHS auditorium with is actually quite small. This became a problem because the middle school parents brought their kids early to rehears and then just stayed there. So by the time we came, even early, the seats were all taken. They had to add chairs and even then we still had to stand for most of the performance. For the last number they got all the choirs on the stage (and in front since they did not all fit) to sing two carols. That was actually really nice and probably the best part of the concert. 

In my opinion, the auditorium is not well suited sound-wise for a concert and no one really sounded very great. Darby said after she found us after the concert that it was "Not a good concert" and "My knees hurt". She refused to smile.

Today she had to get to CHS early to take a bus to the district's main office where she is part of the West Side Carolers (varsity CHS and FHS choir kids who are exempt from finals and asked to participate). They sang Christmas carols for the admin at the central office for the morning. She arrived back at school before lunchtime. But she said it was fun. Later we also got a message that the school's principal wants them to sing at the front office Friday morning before school. And so she gets to go to school early AGAIN and sing. 

She is really, really looking forward to the break. She is a homebody and these long days are wearing her out. It's a good thing she likes choir. 

Eastwood Tournament

Hi, this is Eva, and I'm blogging to tell you about the December High Q tournament.

Fortunately I was able to get a ride to this tournament (I wasn't able to make it to the last one because I didn't have transportation) since Abraham's parents were nice enough to drive me. The tournament was at Eastwood, which I don't think I've been to before (or at least not the section the tournament was being held in). 

The tournament started a little bit late, and we had all 4 of our seed rounds before lunch with no by periods. However, we won all of our seed rounds and ended up being 6^th seed, our highest placement in any tournament for the year! I answered a few mythology and literature questions, but Abraham ended up being one of the top scorers for the entire tournament, so that was impressive.

After lunch, we went to the first qualifying round, and we also won. It was pretty close at first, but we ended up winning pretty handily. However, we did lose our next round, the quarterfinals. The team we were up against were really good, getting lots of power rings (which is when you answer before a specific part of the question and get an extra 5 points). We managed to get some points against them, but not enough to win. Still, winning our first qualifying match meant we tied for 3rd, so I was happy about that.

After the tournament, Abraham's parents dropped me off at Franklin where Mom picked me up. I was a bit brain-tired, but I was happy we'd done well in the tournament. Hopefully we can do even better next time!

Cowboy Christmas Party

Our ward Christmas party was tonight. The theme was Cowboy Christmas. Jason decided to wear his ugly Christmas sweater along with boots and a cowboy hat (mainly to bug me). 

The Relief Society sisters were secretly asked to send in pictures of their spouses so that wanted posters could be made. It was funny to see Jason come in and see his. The Halloween convict outfit was perfect!

There was a pictures station, roping classes for the kids and a nerf gun target game along with cute crafts in the back.

The food was amazing and laid out on a wagon deemed the "chuck wagon". The decorations were darling and the high point was the mechanical bull. There were signups for different age groups and genders. Jason signed up but we couldn't get any of the girls to sign up, not because they were scared of the bull ride but because everyone would be watching them. 

Jason was the first male adult rider. He lasted almost 5 seconds so he did not qualify for the prize. The absolute best rider was Holly Ashby. She stuck on that bull for so long! The women all cheered her on furiously too.

By the end the kids were getting antsy but we told them we would stay to help cleanup because that is what we do. After that we went home to watch Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. It was a fun night. 

I made sure to thank the bishop and his wife as I could tell they put A LOT into this party. 

YW Trip to See the Lights

 For the combined YW activity this week the leaders took the girls to see the Winterfest lights and to visit the Giving Machine. Our daughters weren't as excited about it as they could have been since we have done both of those things twice. But we encouraged them to go and they ended up having a marvelous time. They even got some treats at the plaza. Paige said it was her first time having a churro (a major oversight on our part) and she loved it!!

One of the girls brought "blessing bags" to hand out to the homeless that can sometimes be found downtown. But they didn't end up seeing any. Darby and Eva rode with Sister Kendrick and Kenlie and they talked all about their favorite Christmas movies. Paige rode with Sister Halliday and sat in the back with her friend Samantha. They had a nice, long, deep chat and Paige felt really great about it when she got into my car to go home. All in all, a successful and festive activity for the Young Women. 

Giving Machines

As has been stated before the Given Machines have come to El Paso and we are so excited. Each stake in the area was assigned a few days to volunteer at the machines. We signed up to go today and our shift was right after church. We told the kids to dress warmly and prepped them about what to expect. Sadly, it was the coldest day of the year yet, quite windy and also a midday on a weekend so we did not have very many people come by. I am betting that the shifts when Winterfest is happening (since it is right across the street from the plaza) see a lot of donations. But we had the opportunity to talk to a few people and to smile and say hello to many others. It was nice to be a part of such a fabulous event. I will be interested to see how many El Pasoans donate this year and also if it will be coming back next year. 

Setting Up Christmas

Because we had Thanksgiving a day early so Uncle Fred could join us, we also set up Christmas a day earlier than we normally do. We put on some Christmas songs and headed to the garage for the bins. The kids are older so they are more helpful. And they were so excited to decorate. In fact, Darby set up all the stairway garland by herself. She also helped me with the wreath and porch decorations.

Paige helped me with the nativity and Eva and Elder McDaniel got out other Christmas displays and put up stockings. Paige set up one for the rats too. 

After getting down all the boxes from the garage and assembling the tree, Jason took a turkey break and then a small nap while we set up the house. 

Then we gathered together and put up the special yearly ornaments one by one. After that we set the kids to work on finishing the tree. Isn't it lovely?

Jason was also in charge of the lights outside. He tried something new this year and I love it. 

And here is a picture of the Christmas living room on the first night. It is magical. 

 

Uncle Fred Visit

I don't have many pictures from the Uncle Fred visit because we just had so much fun that I didn't always pull out the camera. Fred came on Monday morning and they came back from picking him up at the airport just as Elder McDaniel and I came back from the mission office. Uncle Fred had said that there were a few things he wanted to do on his visit - Thanksgiving, D&D and trivia. 

That first night we took him to this steakhouse we discovered due to Ed's recommendation. Jason was so excited to take him. It is in a sketchy part of town and is not very pretty but has the absolute best steak we have ever tried. Fred's eyes bugged out as he saw the size of it and after taking a bite he agreed it was amazing. He also loved that he could get Mexican Coke in a bottle. 

We introduced Fred to Blue Bell ice cream and we must've gone through at least six gallons in the time he was here (just three days). He came with us to Winterfest, played countless board games, ran errands with Jason, helped with the turkey for Thanksgiving, just sat and talked with all of us A LOT. He also gave haircuts to most of the family.

On Wednesday morning he joined the kids for D&D. Elder McDaniel fleshed out an existing NPC (Bellyn Hamwood, a halfling cleric obsessed with finding the big bad guy and that makes him make poor decisions) and had filled in Fred all about his backstory. From the sounds of it, they had fun. I should have one of the kids tell you about it.

(This is Elder McDaniel. D&D with Uncle Fred was lots of fun, even though he didn't really manage to do anything helpful. His character was a lot lower in level than the sisters, partly for simplicity and partly because I'd said he was lower level previously, but I hadn't realized how dangerous the monsters the sisters were fighting would be to a level 5 player. Uncle Fred's character almost died twice. But, miraculously, he survived!)

We had a trivia game as well. Jason won, followed by Fred. We also spent Thanksgiving night playing song trivia, which I am pleased to say I did quite well on. That was maybe my favorite part of the visit as we all sat around and tried to beat Quiz Channel's Finish the Lyric game. 

Jason, as the new EQ President, was asked to help someone move so he and Fred went to help as well. Fred also had homework to do during his visit (he is taking a Pathways course). It's a math class so Elder M was able to help him a little. It was quite adorable.

Fred had to leave super early on the actual Thanksgiving Day so all the kids said their goodbyes on Wednesday night. We all love Uncle Fred and can't wait for him to visit again!