Piano Recital

No one performed perfectly, but they're all making progress. Practice time is even enjoyable most of the time! Although we don't need to hear these songs for a while... :)

Proud mama

Dad gets credit for enforcing practicing!

Wonderful grandparent support

Their amazing teacher, CarolLynn

Ainsley can't wait to start learning to play...

Peter Breinholt Concert

I didn't go to my first concert until I was in the ninth grade (Thompson Twins at the Special Events Center). Our kids, on the other hand, are veterans, with the Peter Breinholt Sandy Amphitheater show as (yet another) favorite summer tradition. The Stringhams and the Dunfords have been with our core group for the past three years, joined this year by the Boydens and Marti.

We have to get there pretty early to secure our front row lawn space, but the wait is never boring. We usually bring our dinner and eat it while we wait. I'm not sure how much dinner Ainsley ate once the Boydens broke out the blue cotton-candy though...

After dinner, the arm wrestling began—Robbie v. Lindsay or Lauren. There was a lot of cheering by the respective genders. I'm not really sure who emerged as champion.

The younger kids played around on the hill.

And we had time to take group photos. Beautiful girls. And Peter, who wasn't about to be left out.

One of the highlights this year was seeing Josh (Boyden) piping during Too Cold a Stone. Rob set him up with this gig when Pete asked if he knew any pipers. Josh was awesome, and promised Rob he'd play for free at his funeral for the favor. Hopefully not anytime soon.

The kids all ran to the front to dance during You Wear Flowers and were happy when Pete said, "Hey, it's the Marsh kids."

Good times.

Summer Piano Recital

Tonight was Ellie's first piano recital. I promised Ralph and Judy that I'd post video, so here she is, playing Sugar Cookies. She did a great job!

Joey played The Rainbow Connection, and did well too. Unfortunately I zoomed in to get rid of the heads in the audience, but forgot to refocus, so it's blurry.

Robbie is now practicing an hour a day, and it's really paying off. He loves jazz, and definitely has a talent for it.

Their teacher awarded prizes for the most days practicing, and the boys tied for first place. As Rob said, it is probably the first time Joey has been happy that he is forced required to practice daily. They each scored a Slip-n-Slide, Water gun and some fireworks. Joey also admitted that the regular payoff of playing well in front of an audience was pretty cool.

Our performers:

And all four kids:

With their teacher, the fabulous CarolLynn Gregson:

Ainsley can't wait to be her next student.

The kids were so happy to have Great-grandma Clayton at the recital and for our treat at Dairy Queen after the performance.

I missed Father's Day photos this year, so tried to sneak one in while everyone was cleaned up.

Best. Concert. Ever.

Rob thinks The Police concert a few years ago was better. And I'll admit, it's a tough call. But I've got to give it to U2. What a show.

We loved every minute of it. Except maybe the minutes that Fat Courtney Love was shoving/stepping on/groping us. Still, worth all that and the year-long wait. I love them as much (or more) than I did as a teenager. Hope they're still rocking when I'm a grandma.

P.S. This concert was a close runner-up.

The Honeymoon Phase

After some serious begging, Ellie started piano lessons on Monday, and is loving it. Her practicing is punctuated with questions like, "If I finish playing everything five times, can I still keep practicing?" Today she's got a friend over, and they spent at least another twenty minutes playing songs for each other. Any bets on how long this enthusiasm will last?

Band concert

Robbie is still doing percussion in the school band, and is sounding great. After sitting through the 5th and 6th grade orchestra and band Christmas concert, I am thrilled with his choice of instrument. While the strings and horns are fabulous in the right hands, they require years of painful practicing to perfect. Robbie is also sounding so great on the piano these days, his teacher raves about him, and we love to listen to him practice. He's currently playing songs from Pirates of the Caribbean and some Jazz that is amazing.

And I know I'm biased, but he's a good-looking kid too.

Side note: Rob left work at lunchtime to make it to the 1:30 concert, only to be stuck on the freeway for nearly two hours because of an accident. He made it to the school just after the concert ended. "A" for effort.

Jack Johnson

Rob swears I never answer my cell phone, and it is true that I might not notice I have messages for days. I'm really glad I had my phone with me this morning though, since I got a text from Natalie asking if I wanted to go to the Jack Johnson concert with her. I jumped at the chance, knowing that she has at least 765 friends (last count on fb) who would surely be more fun at a concert, but selfishly not caring. The show was epic. We were on the floor, with the "hey wow" crowd. I pointed out that I was easily the most conservative person in the pit, and Natalie said, "Well, I'll give you that." :)

Loved G. Love, even though Natalie was worried about subjecting me to "The Booty Call."

Zach (Vince :) Gill was awesome on various piano instruments and vocals.

The whole band was great really.

But let's face it, here's who we came to see, and he did not disappoint.
It was almost 1:00 a.m. by the time I got to bed, and I had to get up at 5:00 a.m. for my long run, but it was so worth it. Couldn't have been better. Thanks again Natalie!

An annual tradition

Last year we had such a great time at this show we decided to make it a tradition. We staked out a large area on the lawn with the Stringhams, Canteras and Dunfords. Angela joined us, and we saw the Breinholts, Ensigns, Watermans and a couple of Allens too. Good times. Can't wait until next year!

NOW recital season is over

Robbie didn't tell me until this morning that he had a band concert today. I can't hear an inexperienced band now without thinking of this prank. I must say, I'm glad Robbie's doing the drums. They may be loud, but they are not out-of-tune or screechy. He did a great job today on snare and cymbals.

Practice pays off

The boys did a great job at their piano recital tonight. Joey played Green Onions by Walter Noona. He played better in front of a crowd than he ever does while practicing. He definitely thrives in front of an audience.
Robbie played Persistent Rhythm by Martha Mier. It's a great jazz piece, and he was awesome.
Here's Joey with his cute teacher Emilee, who is a senior at Skyline. Unfortunately for us, she's starting school at BYU in June.
Fortunately for us, her mom is Robbie's teacher, and has agreed to add Joey as her student. CarolLynn is wonderful pianist and person.
The recital started at six, so we grabbed some dinner at Hire's afterwards. We're lucky to live near so many grandparents, and always love to spend time with them.

My lifting buddy

She can't really spot me on the bench press, but Ainsley is very enthusiastic, and a great flexibility coach. I'll be struggling to touch my toes, and she'll say, "No mom, you're doing it wrong. Just do this. See, it's easy!"

Here she is working out with me this morning. We've taken a page from Rob's book and are watching a Palladia concert. This one is Jason Mraz's Beautiful Mess.

Epic. Awesome. Music. Thank you Natalie, for posting your favorite music on your facebook page so I could discover him last year.

Best Birthday Ever

I was at youth conference for Robbie's birthday this year, and felt bad because I like to make birthdays a really special day for the kids. To make things worse, we've decided that once they're in the double digits they probably won't get a friends party, and since we've already bought him a new bike, tennis racket and sleeping bag this summer, we told him not to expect any big presents. Here's what saved the day:
We had talked about going to the Peter Breinholt concert, but decided it was a little late to keep the kids out when we had church at nine a.m. Luckily the Stringhams wanted to go and we decided to throw responsibility to the wind and join them.
Becca was kind enough to bring our blankets since she was coming early anyway. We also got to sit by the Ensigns, Griffiths and Breinholts, so it was a huge party. We even got a sneak preview of the set list:
Of course there was a lot of dancing:
I didn't get a great shot of the birthday boy—he WAS having fun, really.
It was a gorgeous night and a great venue.
We had a great time, although the young couple sitting next to us might NEVER have kids now.
The best line of the night came from Scout—Rob was teasing her and she replied "You're the president of the you're wrong club!"
The absolute highlight was when Pete wished Robbie Happy Birthday right in the middle of "Flowers." I'm so bummed, I had been shooting video of the kids dancing, but had turned it off as I turned back to the stage, so I missed catching that on video.
To top it all off, Pete gave Robbie a signed copy of Deep Summer for his birthday. Robbie declared it his best birthday ever, and it's hard to argue with that!

We love you Robbie!