Lillie’s BYU Orchestra Concert

Somewhat unexpectedly, a work colleague couldn’t do a meeting in Salt Lake City so they asked me to cover for my colleague. I was so happy to do it because Lillie’s orchestra concert would coincide while I was there. I wanted to surprise her. So on the morning I would see her I texted her this picture of the Wasatch mountains and said the mountains look so beautiful to me today. 

We texted and she was excited to learn I was in Utah. I was excited to see her too!!  Especially to see her last concert before she leaves on her mission. 

I finally caught up with her on campus later in the afternoon!!  

I took her back to her apartment to get ready for the concert. She looked so pretty in her black concert dress. She has used that for all her concerts since high school. 

Then it was time for the concert. I was so proud to see her name asterisked as the concertmaster and  principal. She has worked so hard on perfecting her playing skills and I am proud of her. It wasn’t always her favorite thing. 

And she was going to have a little solo duet

The venue looked so beautiful all decked out in Christmas!!  It really filled up too!  

And then when I found my seat, I was front and center in front of Lillie. That’s her empty seat since she would walk on stage as the concertmaster!!!

I was so close, I could see her every move. 

A bunch of friends came to see her and I was happy to meet all of them. I will miss her concerts and violin playing for a year and a half while she is on her mission. I am so glad I was able to see this concert. I will remember it for a long time. The orchestra sounded good, they performed with high caliber, and Lillie eloquently lead the violin section as well as the entire orchestra. All of that made me so happy for her and I was reminded how lucky Kim and I are to have her!!

I hope these video clips come through so you can hear and see what I felt and saw!!

Lillie is going on a mission

We have neglected to post about this because even though we are happy and proud of our Lillie, we will deeply miss her. She has become a bright spot in our lives and thinking of her being gone for a year and a half is unfathomable. But we know this will be a great experience for her. It was so with my mission and will be for her. She will learn things about life and the gospel that she will never get elsewhere. With tears and a shaky voice, she called us and read her mission call to the North Dakota Bismarck

What a sweet girl!!  She has done so well in college and grown so much. She is driven, ambitious, cautious, fun-loving, somewhat adventurous, a good friend, strong willed, musically talented, has a testimony, loves her family and loves the gospel. She will be one of the great missionaries there ever was for the Church. It will be very cold in her mission, but her warmth will make it all okay!!!  We will miss her very much, but feel somewhat comforted she will be in the states!!  We know God answers all our prayers!!  This is exactly where she is supposed to go!!

Playing with COSMIC

When Lillie left for college I thought I would fill some of my time with playing in a community orchestra. So I auditioned and surprisingly got it. It’s been two years now since I have been playing and it has been pretty fun. Will Eaterling is our conductor, and is fabulous!  He is a real professional. Here are some shots from our Christmas concert this year. In one of the pictures, we ask an audience member to come and conduct Sleigh Ride and this year a 12 YO boy conducted. He was cute!!

Thanksgiving 2024

We sure missed Lillie like we always do. She is our greatest blessing that we could ever be thankful for. She was able to spend it with family in Utah. Her cousins and Kim’s sister-in-law. 

Kim and I kept our tradition for over 15 years now of going someplace close and staying in a hotel and eating out at a very fancy restaurant.  We had a lot of fun eating and shopping in DC!!