Gem State band

Rebekah auditioned for and made the Gem State Band. She was supposed to perform with the rest of the band during the previously mentioned week of snow and drifting in January. Because students weren't able to make it to Gem State rehearsals in Blackfoot, they rescheduled for Tuesday, February 11.

Bekah spent the day in rehearsals again, then performed on her euphonium. Again, the performance was very impressive. Seth and I attended the concert that  night in Blackfoot. Aunt Jessica baby-sat Miriam and Winnie. Ana got a ride to her youth activity. All returned safely for bed that night.

Headed onto the stage with her euphonium and music.

 All I could see of her while she was playing. (Look for the bell of her euphonium, and you'll see her blonde hair behind it.)

 Smiling after the performance.

Honor Society and choir concert

Our night on Monday, February 10 was full of craziness. Analee was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society at Rocky Mountain Middle School, and then we made a mad dash to the Hillcrest Performing Arts Center to watch Ana and Miriam perform with the Bonneville choirs. Ana made honor society because of her amazing grades (of course). Ana and Miri were in the concert because they had participated in a choir clinic the Saturday before. Both the induction and the concert had to be the same night because we weren't crazy enough already.

 Ana headed to her assigned seat in the auditorium.

 Receiving her certificate and shaking hands with advisers.

 Miriam singing "The Voice that I Hear" and "Homeward Bound."

Ana singing at the concert.

Rebekah at all-state band

Rebekah qualified to play trombone in the all-state band, so she boarded a bus with the three other Bonneville band members who made it on Wednesday, January 29 and headed to Nampa.

Bekah spent more than two days in rehearsals; all the practice culminated in a concert at Northwest Nazarene University on Saturday, February 1. Seth and I drove to Nampa on Friday, went to a session at the Boise Temple, checked out their D.I. and said hello to my brother and his family in Meridian. That way, we were set to check out Goodwill, Idaho Youth Ranch and D.I. in Meridian before seeing Rebekah's concert on Saturday. My parents were also able to attend.

 Andrea tallying yearbook surveys in the foyer while waiting for my parents to arrive.

The entire all-state band warming up on stage.

 All I could see of Rebekah from the front of the auditorium. See her little blond head and the temple piece of her blue eyeglasses? 

 Check out two o'clock, and you'll see Rebekah's head. It was absolutely impossible to see her from where we were sitting.

Good thing Grandpa sneaked onto the stage during warm-ups so we could actually see her face.

Rebekah leaving the stage with her music, trombone and two mutes following the concert.

We may not have been able to see her, but we certainly heard her (and the rest of the band). We were very impressed by their performance.

Bekah rode home with us and napped part of the way. 

Yule Ball

Poor Rebekah missed out on the Idaho Falls Public Library's Yule Ball this year because she made all-state band. Her group left the same day as the ball (Wednesday, January 29), so we adopted Aunt Jessica to come with us. Our group ended up winning third place in the family costumes contest, so now we have a cool Harry Potter wand that lights up (besides all the cool memories of drink butterbeer, dancing, making wands, etc.).

 Winnie as Dolores Umbridge. 

 Andrea as Rita Skeeter.

Miriam as Nymphadora Tonks. 

 Ana as the golden snitch.

Let's take a minute to appreciate Ana's costume, shall we? She wanted to be a snitch, but the only gold metallic clothes we could find at D.I. was this pair of 2XL leggings. 

I'm no seamstress, so I must say that I'm pretty darn impressed with myself for being able to transform that pair of leggings into Ana's snitch dress. Let's see the side-by-side, shall we?

Her wings are various silver tulle and ribbon I found at thrift stores.

Seth as the biggest Dobby you've ever seen. 

Aunt Jessica (as Ginny Weasley) with Winnie, Ana, Miri and Albus.

Tonks chasing Umbridge through the library.

Seth helping the snitch to fly.


Forbidden love: Rita Skeeter and Dobby.

Targhee

We made a trip to Grand Targhee on Saturday, January 25. With the fog and snow, visibility was low. Winnie stayed with Grandma Susan. Bekah's feet were hurting her (we have since found out she has bunionettes and the start of bunions), so she went on the runs that were easy enough that she could just point her skis downhill and go. Seth went up Dreamcatcher once, thought he would die, then stuck to the easy runs. Miriam experienced the bunny hill and magic carpet several times and then braved several runs accessible to Shoshone. Ana showed us all the green runs she had discovered last year. I managed to keep all parts of my body intact.

 Bekah, Ana, Seth, Andrea and Miriam at the top of Shoshone.

 Andrea at lunchtime. We tried to sit as close to the outdoor fire pit as possible.

 Seth pulling a face.

 Rebekah.

 Ana.

Miriam and her peach ring.

Snow days

These kids have been a little spoiled with the number of snow days they've had so far this year. In fact, the week of January 13, they only had school for 1 1/2 days because of the snow and drifting. But we made the most of it.

Ana and Winnie in the ditch. The girls braved the weather to dig tunnels through the snow that drifted and completely filled the ditch. 

Ana playing Settlers of Catan with me while Miriam plays with her dolls. 

We also made a trip to the library, had some hot chocolate, worked on driver's ed (Bekah) and borrowed Seth's truck to go grocery shopping since it has four-wheel drive.