Miriam is 14!

This beautiful, talented and sweet young lady celebrated 14 years of life on her birthday, March 27. She got to open a present at breakfast, then eat dinner and cake with family later that evening.

A book on the drawings in Full Metal Alchemist, one of her favorite animes. 

The strawberry lemon cake she requested for her birthday. Usually Ana takes care of these, but she had a busy week prior to the birthday, so I did everything minus the strawberries and lemons on top.

The giant bag of Nerds Gummy Clusters Uncle T's family gave her.

Opening the knockoff LEGO anime sword we got her. She sent me the link for two different weapons on Amazon and told me to pick which one to get her.

Opening a card from her grandparents. Both sets gave her cards and cash.

Then we got to take Miriam out to lunch at a restaurant of her choice: Hokkaido. We all enjoyed our delicious ramen on Saturday, March 30.

Eating ramen together. Miriam chose the same place last year.

Winter miscellany

Style: Wednesday, November 29

Winnie with her hoodie and coat. She said she had "Grandpa Scott style." Grandpa will often wear layers like this when working in the yard or the shop.

Cat treat: Friday, December 1

Seth getting Toad a little piece of ham from the fridge.

Migraine: Wednesday, December 6

Andrea rests in the recliner after getting a migraine. Winnie brought down her sleep mask and a couple of stuffed animals.

Donating blood: Monday, December 11

Andrea gives blood the same day she got the doctor's okay to take off her sling. She asked if they could poke her left arm instead of her newly emancipated right arm since it was ridiculously weak and gimpy.

Cat traditions: Saturday, December 16

Toad paws at Seth's head. The two had a morning tradition where Seth would walk over to Peach's house in the back yard to get the bucket to fill her water bowl and Toad would climb the tree and paw at his head.

Temple: Saturday, December 16

Andrea, Rebekah and Seth pose outside the temple after participating in proxy sealings. 

Date night: Thursday, December 21

Seth and Andrea pose at the river while on a date. We walked around to see the lights after eating dinner.

A good Friday: Friday, December 22

Seth and Winnie pose with the two shirts Seth found (separately) from different thrift stores.

Seth and Toad relax on the porch swing.

Andrea, Ana and Seth pose after completing an escape room in Blackfoot as part of Ana's mommy/daddy/daughter date. We completed the room with time to spare.

Hit and run: Saturday, December 23

Winnie holds up a piece of bumper and points to the place on the tree where a car slid into it and drove off. We never found out who hit the tree.

Dog visit: Tuesday, December 26

Miriam pets Lizzie while visiting at Grandma Susan's house.

Winnie cuddles one of Lizzie's puppies.

Nap: Thursday, December 28

Seth takes a nap on our bed with a myriad of pillows.

Style: Tuesday, January 2

Toad perches on the hood of the Stratus in the front driveway.

Reception: Thursday, January 4

Family selfie at a Mickelsen wedding reception.

Cat loves: Friday, January 5

Rebekah cradles Toad in her arms.

Shop relaxing: Friday, January 12

Seth takes a picture with Peach and Toad in the shop.

Recliner cuddles: Thursday, January 18

Andrea and Winnie take a selfie in the living room while Winnie snacks on apple slices.

Cinnamon rolls: Sunday, January 21

Ana puts copious amounts of raisins on her cinnamon rolls while Winnie reacts.

Tire troubles: Monday, January 22

Toad helps Ana change a tire on the Stratus. The spare ended up being flat and unable to hold air, so we can to take it off and haul two tires in to Les Schwab.

Puppy love: Friday, January 26

Winnie holds Taco, one of Lizzie's puppies. Grandma and Grandpa decided to keep Taco until someone wanted one of the male chocolate labs and Taco was the last one. They kept a black female instead.

Quick trip to Utah: Saturday, January 27

Andrea takes a nap on the way to her uncle Ross' funeral in South Jordan, Utah.

Class: Tuesday, February 6

Andrea takes a selfie during a break in her class at Sandcreek Middle School. I took a one-credit class through the district in order to finish my teacher recertification. 

Style: Friday, February 9

Andrea and Seth pose in The Smoked Taco, a restaurant in Lehi that's owned by the husband of Andrea's college roommate. We ate at the restaurant while in Utah for Ana's ballroom competition.

Late Christmas present: Saturday, February 10

Seth poses with the church socks the girls helped to pick out for his Christmas. One or the was consistently out of stock until after Christmas, so I ordered them after the holiday.

Cats and dogs: Friday, February 16

Seth poses with a mastiff outside of Bargain Hunters Bin Store. He was impressed with the size of the pet.

Andrea cuddles with Toad in the shop after helping to judge National History Day papers at Praxium.

 

Prayer time: Tuesday, February 20

Winnie sits on Seth's back as the family prepares for prayer.

Another T-shirt quilt: Wednesday, February 21

The T-shirt quilt Andrea made for the Bonneville ballroom fundraiser silent auction. It sold for $400.

Day date: Friday, February 23

Andrea and Seth at Lava Hot Springs. We spent two hours soaking and then went to lunch at a Mexican restaurant in Lava before driving home.

Couch cuddles: Sunday, February 25

Seth and Ana cuddle on the couch at Anne and Jim's in Rexburg after a family dinner.

Quick Utah trip: Friday, March 8-Saturday, March 9

Andrea and Rebekah eat grocery store sushi and watch the first half of Amadeus in a hotel room in Lehi. We were in Utah for a Nauvoo missionary meeting and rehearsal the next day.

Andrea outside the Saratoga Springs Temple after attending a session while Rebekah attends her missionary meeting.

Boglin: Sunday, March 10

Winnie uses Seth's boglin to make a funny face.

Puppy time: Thursday, March 14

Lizzie licks Seth's head while he visits his parents.

Lizzie tries to sit on Ana's face while the family spends time with puppies.

So many performances/dances

Leading devotional: Tuesday, January 9

Rebekah took a basic conducting class during the winter track. The students were told they would all lead the music at devotional at some point that semester. When the professor asked who would be willing to lead the next day, there were no takers. Rebekah then raised her hand and said she'd do it. I was teaching F.A.M.E. the day of the devotional, but between classes I pulled up the video and got to see my girl in front of everyone.

Rebekah leads "The Lord Is My Light" during the first devotional of the track.

Drum recital: Saturday, January 20

Miriam's drum teacher held his first-ever recital at Chesbro. Each kid drummed along to a recording of a song of their choosing. The kids in front of us were excited when Miriam's teacher announced that she'd be playing with "Gangsta's Paradise," but their jaws dropped when they heard the first notes. Miriam was playing along to the Postmodern Jukebox version of the song, which is much different than the original. 

We all wore earplugs and sat politely in our seats (despite Jonah's attempts to get us to stand and mosh?) as we listened to the budding drummers. 

Miriam playing the drums during her recital.

First bumping Jonah after the song finished.

Eastern Idaho Ballroom Showcase: Saturday, January 27

Seth, Winnie and I went to my uncle Ross' funeral in South Jordan, Utah, then drove back north in time to attend the annual ballroom showcase at the Civic (now Frontier Center) Auditorium. Miriam and Ana had rehearsals earlier in the day and the performance that night.

Ana in "Never Alone," a waltz.

Miriam in "Can't Stop the Feeling."

Ana in her Guardians of the Galaxy medley.

Sweetheart Ball: Saturday, February

Ana asked her open partner and friend Asher to this girls' choice dance. In the morning they went to Reed's Dairy for breakfast (apparently it was National Ice Cream for Breakfast Day, so they were offering French toast with ice cream), played Jackbox games at our house, then went to an escape room. I shot pictures of them before they ate dinner and went dancing that night.

Brandon, Lilli, Ana, Asher, Eme, Kenneth, Brigham and Samantha.

Asher and Ana.

Skyridge Classic: Friday, February 9-Saturday, February 10

The high school dance teams traveled to Lehi to take part in this competition. In the past they've participated in the Utah Classic, but they were venue-less because the Legacy Event Center was being remodeled. So they found another comparable competition for the kids to attend.

Seth and I got a hotel with our airline miles and left Idaho Falls early enough Friday morning to stop at several D.I.s along the way. 

Ana in "Guardians." Their team took first.

Ana in "Tu y Yo," a samba.

Ana in "Never Alone."

Ana and Asher dancing their waltz.

Jo, Lilli, Ana and Asher asking the official about their scores. The two couples had a tie, but Ana and Asher ended up placed higher because of "Rule 11" or something.

With their ribbons Jo and Lilli took third; Asher and Ana took second in their novice open smooth.

Ana dancing syllabus.

Ana and Eme laughing at something while Brock reacts to who knows what.

Ana and Asher dancing their samba.

They took fifth in novice open Latin.

BYU-Idaho jazz festival: Saturday, February 24

Thirteen middle and high schools from around the area attended the BYU-Idaho jazz festival. Because she works for the music department, Rebekah was very involved in the preparations for the festival. After the high school students spent time learning about jazz and how they could improve as musicians, Rebekah and the rest of Sound Alliance got to perform. The school also featured an alumni band in which Kent came from Virginia to participate.

Rebekah on the big screen.

Talking to family after the concert.

Regional National History Day: Saturday, March 16

While Ana and I were skiing at Harriman, Seth took Miriam to Rexburg so she and her group could participate in the regional National History Day competition. Miriam and the other members of her group spent months researching their chosen topic and preparing a performance. Then her group competed against one other group performance and took first. Their topic: the invention of the piano and how it has shaped music. 

Their performance includes speaking as well as piano playing from all three members. Seth and the other parents got to watch as the kids performed and then fielded questions from the judges. Seth and Miriam came home for a while in the middle of the day, then went back to Rexburg to hear the results. 

Archimedes, Connor and Miriam after their presentation. Miriam is by far the tallest of the three, so for this picture she and Connor compensated.

Miriam and the other winners posing after the award ceremony.

Hand bell choir: Monday, March 18

Rebekah got roped into participating in a hand bell choir during a student recital at BYU-I. The campus has a composition club, and they worked together to compose a hymn for hand bells. They needed another bell ringer, and Rebekah was asked to participate. Rebekah learned that you have to wear gloves when you play the bells. She also learned that there are very specific methods for picking up, ringing and setting down the bells.

Rebekah leads "The Lord Is My Light" during the first devotional of the track.

Gem State Classic: Thursday, March 21-Saturday, March 23

This is the ballroom competition that requires us to stick around during spring break. The girls had practice on Wednesday, then competition on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Both Miriam and Ana had team routines and syllabus. Ana also had open.

Miriam dances swing with Jamison. They took took seventh place in junior newcomer swing A.

Miriam and Aiden receive medals for first place in junior bronze American waltz B.

Miriam dances cha cha with Timothy. They received second in junior newcomer cha cha A.

Selfie with Miriam.

Miriam and Brayden dance "Can't Stop the Feeling." Their team took second.

Miriam dances "Perfectly Loved," a waltz. They took first.

Ana dances Guardians. They took ??. 

Ana dances "Never Alone." 

Receiving their 2nd place medals for "Never Alone."

Ana dances "Broke," a novelty. 

Ana bows after dancing a waltz during Team Match on Friday night. The oldest and most experienced dancers get to participate in the dancing portion of Team Match.

Miriam cheering and holding up a sign during Team Match, which is basically sanctioned Lord of the Flies where the teams bribe the judges and scream incessantly all for fun.

Ana dances quick step with Jo during syllabus.

Ana dances with Asher during syllabus.

Miriam dances with a random ballroom kid during the 

Ana dances her waltz during open smooth. She didn't receive any callbacks for open, but we (as always) thought they did an amazing job.

Ana's samba for open Latin.

Seth's setup at the end of the Skyline gym during the final day of Gem State.

Pre-tour show: Tuesday, March 26

Rebekah and the rest of Sound Alliance performed a concert in preparation for their tour to Florida immediately following the end of the semester. They played some old-school big band hits that the retirees of Florida will be sure to jam to.

Rebekah (lead trombone) plays with the other members of the band.

Chamber brass: Thursday, March 28

Once again, Rebekah participated in a brass quintet and impressed us with their difficult song selection at the end-of-semester concert. Apparently Canadian Brass wears white shoes, so these kids did the same as a tribute to the world-famous brass ensemble. Ana particularly enjoyed their rendition of "Penny Lane" since she's become quite a Beatles fan as of late.

The members of the quintet including Rebekah.

A bad picture of Rebekah, but a good one of Grandma Hendricks whom we picked up so she could attend.

Idaho National History Day: Saturday, April 2

Because they took first at regionals, this group had time to revise their performance and then travel to Caldwell to present their project to another group of judges. It was an interesting experience involving a clankety old piano with an F key that didn't work and a pageant-girl-type mom who chewed the kids out for messing around with said piano until Seth stepped in and informed her that the piano was kind of their whole project and they needed to warm up. But the performance itself was great, and the kids took first once again. Now they qualify for the national National History Day competition at the University of Maryland in June. 

We caught as much of General Conference as we could when not on the College of Idaho campus or driving home on Sunday.

Miriam doing her speaking part during the performance.

Miriam playing "Yellow" as part of her performance. 

Miriam, Connor and Archimedes posing after their performance. (The boys wore concert black for the actual performance, but they had already changed by the time we took the picture.)

The kids receiving their first place award.

Piano recital: Sunday, April 14

Winnie and Miriam worked hard all school year long in order to be ready for their annual piano recital at our church. 

Winnie playing "Snowflake Rag," "Tarantella" and "Nocturne."

Miriam playing "Ballade" and "Yellow.:"

Standing and bowing with all the piano students.