Miriam's marching band

 This kid loves music. And she loves to be involved. And she's a pushover when it comes to recruiters. So last spring when the high school started hyping up marching band, Miriam decided she'd participate.

Things got off to a rocky start. She missed the spring camp because she was in Washington, D.C. for National History Day. Even though it was a school activity and we got the band director's blessing to miss the camp, Miriam was very stressed about being behind everyone else. 

Then her section leader told everyone in drumline that they had to submit daily videos showing them practicing the music for the show. Miriam stressed out about that as well. Even though I thought that surely her section leader would understand if she missed a couple of days because the family was traveling across the country, Miriam didn't think so. So she submitted videos while we were in Nauvoo.

Then she went to fall camp. It's a grueling two weeks of music and marching, drills and memorization. Miriam was ... wait for it ... stressed. And her feet hurt. She grumbled that this would be the one and only year she did marching band and that she would quit if she could but she knew she'd already committed.

Finally after countless hours of work--by herself, with her section, with the band as a whole--the season officially started. The band participated in four competitions and performed twice at halftimes. We were pleasantly surprised when the High Desert Marching Band took first place in their division at Highland High School's competition. Then they won again in Rexburg. We were shocked when they took first again in Logan. (At this one they were competing against bands they hadn't seen at other competitions, and marching band is a really big deal in a lot of places in Utah, so we didn't think they'd take first there.) They're last competition was at ISU. Not only did they take first place in their division, but they also received the best percussion award (which is especially exciting because Miriam is part of the percussion) and the Gem State award which is given to the band from Idaho with the highest score at the competition regardless of their division. (We heard a rumor that this was the first year in 15 that Madison hadn't won that one.)

And at some point during the season, Miriam relaxed. She had fun. She saw her hard work paying off. 

Now she's talking about participating in marching band again next year. So we'll see if she still feels that way in the spring.

The band had an end-of-the-year banquet after their final competition. The directors handed out a series of awards that were voted on by the students. Miriam received the "outstanding freshman" award. 

She is. It was hard. She sometimes regretted her involvement, but despite that she continued to work hard. And she was amazing. She's the cutest little 3rd bass drum player I ever did see.

Signaling her love before performing at the end of their fall camp. The family members were invited to Hillcrest on the final day of camp to see what the kids had learned.

Heading out onto the field before their first competition at Highland in Pocatello.

Heading behind the props during their performance at Madison in Rexburg.

Kneeling at the end of the performance at Madison.

Dancing to Cotton Eye Joe in the stands as the judges tally the scores at Madison.

Miriam performing at a Bonneville football halftime. The band performed once for a BHS halftime and once for a Hillcrest halftime since the band is combined with both schools.

Miriam signing a copy of Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree to give to her drumline directors. The show this year was titled "The Giving Tree" and was based off the book.

Miriam rehearsing before their competition at ISU in Pocatello.

More rehearsing.

Andrea and Seth with one of the rolling props that spelled out "And the tree was happy." We signed up to help move it on and off the field. Unfortunately, there was an incident with the prop and I ended up getting the back of my leg run into. The bruise was gnarly.

Seth shooting pictures of Andrea shooting pictures of the band at ISU.

Miriam with her outstanding freshman award and all the awards the band earned in their 2024 season.

General Conference

Years ago we had talked about taking all the girls to General Conference one time after we had taken each of them separately after turning 8. We even talked about how we needed to go for October 2024 Conference because we knew Rebekah would be home in between missions. Then we kinda forgot about it until just a month or two before Conference. So when Seth reached out to the stake to see if there would be six tickets available for one of the Sunday sessions, we weren't holding our breath. But maybe because this was the first year since 2019 and COVID that the Conference Center was filled to capacity, there were tickets to be had.

We knew we'd be busy the Saturday of Conference with a marching band competition. So it worked out well for us to leave home about 7 (Miriam's call time was a bright and early 4:30 a.m.) on Saturday morning (October 5), drive down to Logan, watch Miriam and the High Desert Marching Band perform, then carry on to Salt Lake and spend the night. 

Miriam following her performance. The drumline bought this unworldly combination of a shark and a horse to share. The kids took turns taking it home and caring for it. Miriam got it at the Logan competition. 

Miriam watching the other bands performing. We waited around to see the awards for her division. We had been sitting on the west side of the stadium for Miriam's performance, but pretty soon we felt baked and moved to the one spot of shade in the south bleachers. Some of us listened to parts of the Saturday morning session of Conference while watching the other bands perform.

Eating Aggie ice cream after the award ceremony.

Watching the Saturday afternoon session in our hotel room.

We had packed a lunch to eat while at the stadium. For dinner we had everyone vote and ended up ordering Apollo burgers with mozzarella sticks, onion rings, battered mushrooms and fries for dinner. We ate them in the hotel room while we watched the Saturday evening session.

Sunday morning we slept in a while (except Rebekah who woke up at something like 5:30 so she could go down to the lobby and have a phone call with her not-official boyfriend in Delaware), then ate breakfast, got dressed, packed up and checked out of the hotel. We drove to a parking lot downtown with easy access to a park and TRAX. We walked to the park, listened to the morning session of Conference, ate another picnic lunch, then put the cooler back in the van before riding TRAX to the Conference Center. 

The family sitting on the picnic blanket outside the Salt Lake City and County Building listening to Conference on a Bluetooth speaker. 

The girls laughing at the prank Miriam and Winnie were playing on Rebekah. Rebekah had a water bottle that was almost completely frozen. Miriam pretended to melt the ice and hand it back to Rebekah so she could dump the water into her water bottle. In reality, Miriam was simply pouring water from another water bottle into the one with the frozen core. Rebekah was astounded time and time again as Miriam gave her more melted ice. Winnie helped to distract Rebekah as Miriam played the trick. In the end, Rebekah admitted to knowing exactly what they were doing and just playing along with it.

Winnie applying some of her lavender mascara to Rebekah's eyelashes while the family waits for TRAX.

The whole family outside the Conference Center.

We found our seats on the mezzanine (the second level, which is one whole level lower than I've ever sat before), then enjoyed listening to the speakers and taking notes. President Nelson was not in attendance at every session (bless him, the man is 100 years old after all), but he was there for this last session. The last talk was a prerecorded message from the prophet which included the announcements of 17 new temples. After the session, we walked back to TRAX, rode it back to our van, and drove home. This will be our last family trip with all of us before Rebekah goes on her mission.

The family inside the Conference Center.

Seth and Andrea before the Sunday afternoon session.

Walking back to TRAX after the session.

Rebekah and Sister Frei, her companion in Nauvoo. We were walking back to TRAX when a girl in front of us glanced behind her and then did a double take. It was Sister Frei! She and her boyfriend were at the same session we had just been to. Neither of the former Nauvoo brass bandmates knew the other was going to be there. What are the chances we would see each other?! It was a fun and unexpected reunion.

Winnie is 12

This cute kid turned 12 this year, which means she received the two customary Grover gifts: a framed photo of a temple of her choosing (because the year you turn 12 is when you can start doing baptisms for the dead) and makeup. She opened the temple photo (Bountiful) at her family dinner on Sunday, September 29. She also received money from both sets of grandparents. (So far she has spent some of that on a weighted blanket.) Winnie had lamented that, although she's old enough to receive money from Grandma Susan and Grandpa Dennis, they had never tricked her by putting the money in a weird or funny place. This year they rectified that by melting some chocolate and smearing it on the bills before tucking them in some underwear. I guess you get what you ask for, huh?

We had Papa Murphy's pizza for dinner on a lovely Sunday afternoon. Both sets of grandparents came, along with Grandma Hendricks and Aunt Rachel's family. Winnie received some cute butterfly clips and a bag from the Wildes and had fun jumping on the trampoline with them after dinner.

Opening up her gift from Aunt Rachel.

Money from grandparents.

The cake Ana made for Winnie's birthday.

Then on her actual birthday, Winnie got her makeup first thing in the morning so she could have time to put it on before school if she wanted to. (She did.) 

A makeup kit.

A makeup bag.

Hunting

Besides the Labor Day weekend hunting, Seth and Rebekah each took a week off (Seth from work, Rebekah from her temple shifts and her jobs as a TA in brass methods and a music department librarian) to search for wild beasts the last full week of September. (Originally they were going to go the week before, but the weather wasn't as good as it was forecast to be later.) They didn't fill their tags, but they had a good week together.

Out in the forest.

Taking a break in our hammock at camp.

Rebekah with a bone she found in the forest.

Jim, Seth, Rebekah, Dennis and Susan.

Rebekah in the hammock with Grandma and Grandpa's dogs paying her a visit.

The jaw bones Rebekah found.

Rebekah and Seth.

First day of school

Winnie and Miriam had their first day of school on Monday, August 26. Since they were both first-timers to new schools (Winnie as a 7th grader at Praxium and Miriam as a freshman at Bonneville), they got to go to a half day of school without the older kids so they could become oriented with their new surroundings.

Mandatory 1st day of school photos. 

Smiling, showing her grade, showing how excited she is, showing her backpack. Not every kid has a bag for her drumsticks and mallets, though.

Instead of going to class on Monday, Ana and I spent 4.5 hours painting her senior parking space. Ana paid a few extra bucks to have her own spot. She designed the space, Miriam made stencils of the Beatles, and Ana and I spent the morning making her vision come to life.

Mixing orange and yellow to make her various shades for the sun.

Painting.

The finished product. We were among the first to be done.

Then on Tuesday, August 27, Ana went to school for the first day of her senior year.

I guess some seniors do this thing where they get a little kid's backpack for school. Ana found the perfect bag for her: Olivia the pig from a series of children's books. She had an Olivia backpack in kindergarten.

 

Arlington with Rebekah

 The day after we returned from Island Park for our Labor Day weekend jaunt, Seth, Rebekah and I got up early and had Ana drop us off at the airport for a work trip. The software Seth has written while working in the cybersecurity department of the Idaho National Lab had its first dedicated conference in Arlington, Virginia, and Rebekah and I took the opportunity to travel with him to see him in action and to do some sightseeing.

Tuesday, September 3

A full day of travel. Rebekah and I flew from I.F. to Dallas, then from Dallas to Dulles. Seth flew from I.F. to Denver, Denver to Dulles. We ended up arriving at our destination within 20 minutes of each other, gathered our luggage, then tried and tried to get a Lyft only to have the app decide it didn't want to supply us with a driver. We ended up getting a ride from an Uber driver who showed up for another family that wasn't ready to go yet. It all worked out, and he got us to our hotel in Arlington. 

We went to dinner at a really good burger place, Seth and I walked to Target to pick up some breakfast and picnic items, then we settled down for the night.

Rebekah with her head covered during our first flight.

Rebekah at the burger joint where we ate dinner. She disapproved of their slogan.

Wednesday, September 4

Seth somehow slept in later than he wanted to, so his morning was abrupt. But he made it over to the conference in time. (It was a short walk from our hotel to the building where it took place.) Rebekah and I followed a little bit later. We had to go through security and relinquish our drivers' licenses to get in. Rebekah picked up stickers that had logos for some of the things Seth has worked on. She and I listened to a joint presentation that included Seth talking about what's in store for his program in the near future. Much of the jargon went right over our heads, but it was cool to see him in his element.

Seth during his presentation.

Then Seth directed us out of the building so he could continue attending other presentations while Rebekah and I bought subway passes and made our way to the National Zoo. She and I spent the rest of the day there getting plenty of steps in and seeing all the exhibits. We had packed ourselves bagel sandwiches for lunch and enjoyed them in the perfect weather with nominal crowds. In fact, that basically sums up the touristy aspects of the trip: beautiful weather and plenty of space everywhere we went. It was perfect.

Rebekah in the subway. She was sufficiently impressed by public transportation. We transferred from the subway to a bus at one point, and I later pointed out that the bus smelled like pot. Rebekah was astounded and told me to let her know the next time I smelled pot because she wanted to know what it smells like.

Rebekah posing at the zoo.

Looking at the Amazon exhibit.

With the birds.

And the sea lions.

In the giant aviary.

This bird just chilled on the railing while we walked by.

With the kamado dragon. Rebekah remembered seeing this one when we came to D.C. in 2013, but it had really worried her then.

Holding hands.

After the zoo, we rode the subway back to our hotel, then we met up with some of Seth's coworkers for dinner at a taco place before retiring for the night.

The weird looking rooster at the taco joint.

Thursday, September 5

Seth had another day of the conference, so we bid him adieu in the morning and rode the subway in to D.C. and then made good use of the bikeshare to see all the monuments and memorials. We spent the afternoon at the Holocaust Museum as per Rebekah's request.

White House.

Washington Monument. I tried getting us tickets to ride the elevator to the top, but it's so hard to get them. You have to be logged in to the website 10 minutes before, then refresh it at exactly 10 the day before you hope to get the tickets. Anyway, I tried both Wednesday and Thursday to get us tickets, but it didn't work out.

The bracelet I didn't want but ended up getting hustled to buy from a guy who looked like a monk. 

FDR monument.

Rebekah with Murray the Outlaw of Falahill, FDR's dog that commonly went by "Fala."

Idaho at the WWII monument.

WWII monument fountains.

Lincoln Memorial. We're so funny with our T-shirts.

Korean War.

Vietnam War. A volunteer working there thanked us for walking our bikes past the monument. Rebekah said something like, "Of course we'd walk them." The guy said there are others who just zip right past. Neither he nor us thought that was very respectful.

The Capital.

Eating sushi at the USDA Food Hall. It's a government building, but the cafeteria is open to the public. We learned that thanks to Google the night before and decided to try it out. 

Holocaust Museum. Rebekah took the time to read every single sign and watch every single video until it looped back to where she had started.

Then we rode the subway back to Arlington and met up with Seth for dinner. We went Nando's Peri Peri Chicken for dinner, then stopped at the Shake Shack for a peach shake.

Seth trying to get Google to figure out a song by singing the tune into his phone. Rebekah was skeptical, but it worked.

Friday, September 6

With the Malcolm conference over, Seth got to play tourists with us for the day. We got him a subway card (despite going to Arlington several times for work, he had never ridden the subway and hadn't been on it since we were in D.C. in 2007) and went back into D.C. to see some sights.

Seth getting Rebekah to pose like this picture of The Rock since she was wearing a black shirt and black fanny pack.

At the Enid Haupt Gardens outside the Smithsonian Castle.

The moon gate in the gardens.

At the Museum of Natural History.

In the origin of man exhibit.

Seth seeing what he'd look like as an early human.

Rebekah balancing paper clips on a magnetic rock.

Seth riding a bike from our lunch spot to the Botanic Gardens. Seth had found a promising Korean place on Google, but it was a little tricky to find. We ended up inside a very fancy building and had to ask for directions. The security guard there kindly directed us back out of the building and just past the door we had come in to the next door.

Seth, Andrea and Rebekah with the Capitol in the background.

Rebekah with a baby pineapple at the gardens.

Seth in the most humid part of the gardens.

Seth and Andrea at the gardens.

That night we walked to a food court for dinner. Rebekah chose pizza. Seth and I chose Indian food. 

Enjoying our dinner at the food court. We bought an enormous cookie to take back to the hotel and eat later when we were watching our movie.

While on this trip we watched three movies together: Clear and Present Danger, Minority Report and Host. The first two take place in D.C., so it was fun to see some of the places we had been. The last movie was a scary one, so I mostly read on my phone to distance myself from the horror. 

Saturday, September 7

This was another full day of travel. We ate breakfast at IHOP because Rebekah had never been to one before and there was one right across the street from our hotel. We watched our last movie that morning because we didn't need to be to the airport until later in the day. Then we packed up, got a Lyft to the airport, and got on our plane. We were all on the same flights going back home, but Seth didn't sit with us because his flight had been booked through work. We made it home in time to go to our ward dinner that evening and enjoy some baked potatoes.