february

I started making almond milk.

 Dave got Sawyer and Emma doing soccer drills.

Keri and I went to the Leonardo Museum in Salt Lake together.
I went to our stake Women's Conference where Susan Easton Black and Liz Lemon Swindle spoke.
Dave and I went to Dreamgirls with Keri and Michael.

 Slade and Nathan both went to classes at Thanksgiving Point.
We had a wonderful family dinner on Valentine's Day.

We went to see Rapunzel, A Very Hair Fairy Tale at the SCERA theater.
We went to the Scouts Blue and Gold banquet where Slade received his Webelos award.

Sawyer participated in the Suzuki Twinkle graduation. Emma and Sawyer also played duets together a few times. Music to my ears!

The kids spent a lot of time in front of screens. As usual.

delightful duo

Dubbed the Delightful Duo by their teacher, Emma and Emmeline played two duets at a string festival today. First they played Coburger March and then they played Minuet 1. Emma was really nervous before hand. Afterward, she told me she felt good about it but really wished she hadn't messed up. I assured her that we all mess up in performance but I was proud of her for continuing on and making it work.

book 1 recital

On Sunday, Emma had her Book 1 Recital. She played through the 14 of 17 pieces that she has been learning since she started. She is already well into Book 2 but we hadn't done her recital yet to make her an official Book 1 graduate.

There was much weeping, wailing, stomping, and throwing herself onto the couch during the practice sessions leading up to the recital. Her performance itself though went very well. Emma gets distracted easily so playing in front of people is not easy for her. Neither is playing duets which she did with her wonderful teacher, Lauri Driggs. All in all, it wasn't note perfect but when she made mistakes she kept going! A big accomplishment for her. She played very well and felt successful at the end.

We appreciated our family coming to show their support. In total we had about 20 people there with grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Emma felt loved. Much thanks to Colin for video-taping the performance. Much thanks to Keri and Amy for providing me with all the pictures that I missed.
We had soup, rolls and treats afterwards.

We're so proud of you, Emma!

P.S. I just want to document how badly my food preparations went this week. First I made sugar cookies and something was just not right. They didn't roll well, they were undercooked, and something just didn't taste right (although they did all get eaten by my family when I said they were fair game). Then I made mint brownies. I tried to take a shortcut with box mixes for the bottom. Again, something was off. Too oily or undercooked or something. Then on Sunday, I made Broccoli Cheese Soup and Beef Stew plus rolls. I cooked my stew in the pressure cooker and it completely burned on the bottom, leaving the stew with a decidedly unpleasant, charred taste. And my rolls were semi-burnt on the bottom too! At least the cupcakes were totally delicious!

violin recital

on to the next

Emma's violin teacher that we've been with for the last year decided to stop teaching for a variety of reasons. After lots of phone calls, I found a new teacher. She teaches at The Music School, which is a really great set-up. We met her on Wednesday and Emma had her first lesson today. I think she is going to be a fabulous teacher. She is positive, energetic, demanding yet not over-bearing. Hurray! I'm thrilled even though it will cost $20 more a month, although that is somewhat canceled out by the fact that we don't have to drive an hour round trip.

The Music School sent an email from her that said:
I really enjoyed meeting and working with Emma today. What a bright, careful and responsive student. Lucky me!

How nice is that!