Lillie plays her violin at the Governor’s house

 Lillie was chosen to play in her high school string quartet for the Governor’s annual Christmas open house. She is getting all these very once in a life time opportunities. She did a really great job!  Our violin star really was the star of the quartet!!

She looked sparkling in her Christmas dress!!

We are so proud of how she has applied herself to learning the violin!  

Lillie got recognized for her achievements—Award

We are so proud of Lillie again!!  She was chosen as one of ten students from her high school to be recognized for her grades, leadership, sportsmanship, community service. She is such a good girl and we are so proud of her accomplishments!!

CYSO does a flash mob

At the start of CYSO this year, CYSO decided they were going to do a flash mob at a holiday outdoor market in downtown Annapolis. The practice before was outside in a park. 

They would walk in, in groups until all the students were playing. 

On the big day, the musicians gathered and waited in a restaurant near by. Then at the appointed time they started to gather and play their piece in small groups. Each adding to the group before. 

They actually sounded really good!!  

All County Orchestra

One last time. Sad to think this was Lillie’s last all county orchestra. She was magnificent as usual. Very dramatic, moving and very accurate. We could hear her lovely tone she was making and she nailed it!!  She has come a long way with her violin playing and we are proud of her! 

First Day of School

Lillie’s senior year. We are so proud of her. This year instead of catching the bus she is driving to school!!  Below are pictures of our neighbor boy, Jake. They have gone to school together since elementary school. It really is hard to believe how old they are. Both of them are driving to school!!

It’s going to be a great year!!  

Youth Conference

Lillie was able to participate in a church youth conference this past week. There was over 500 youth from all across the area who all came to the University of Maryland for a one-week conference filled with classes, games, dances, and devotionals. The theme was Trust in the Lord!  

We dropped her off early Monday morning. Here she is with her best friend Lilly, from the ward. Lilly’s sister is behind them. Her dorm room seemed a little primitive, but it worked for them!  And the food was pretty good, she reported. Lots of variety and chocolate ice cream too!  

The kids were all divided into small groups where they learned and played together. Lillie loved her group! Their company name was called "Be One" with two counselors (Tyler and Erin). There were 6 girls (Lillie, Lilly, Sam, Kelsey, Catrina, and Paula - all from the Suitland Stake) and 9 boys (Daillin, Jacob, Chad, Phouc, Scott, Calvin, Evan, Ben, and Tobey). Her family away from home. 

The group immediately had some large group activities. First day was orientation where all the youth learned what would happened throughout the week. Lillie and her bestie Lilly stayed right next to each other thr entire time.

  

Day two was full of fun classes, activities, and a dance! Lillie met many new friends, learned many new things, and got to dance with a lot of nice boys. 

Day three was more classes and then game night! Be One won lots of the games. Lillie and a few of her friends helped make a banner for their company. They drew a bee and Lillie wrote “Be One” in her fancy calligraphy. They even made a chant to show off to other companies. The night ended with a pizza celebration.

Day four was the spiritual day that consisted of many devotionals, more classes, the variety show, and a musical program. Lillie was able to play violin duets with Blythe, a girl from the stake, in the musical program. Some of her friends also participated and sang in the choir with her.

The five and final day was the most exciting and sad. There were even more activities, a slideshow, more music, another dance, and goodbyes. It rained as the kids were walking to the dance haha. When Lillie came home, she said she had so much fun at FSY. It was an answer to a lot of her prayers such as wanting to meet new friends, learning more about the gospel, touring UMD (a college she was interested in), and getting a feel of the BYU environment and college life. 

We have a third driver in our house

Lillie got her driver license today!  She worked so hard and overcame nerves and conquered driving. All along we were told that Maryland did away with the on road test, only some parking skills on a closed course. It was done away with for Covid, so the tester didn’t need to be enclosed in a car with someone else. But apparently they reinstituted it July 6. We were unaware. So we were completely caught off guard. But Lillie slayed it and passed the on road driving!!  We are proud of her. 

George Mason University Summer Orchestra

Lillie has been coming to this orchestra camp since 7th grade. It was closed down for two years because of Covid and they just started it up again this year. We stay at a hotel the entire week out in Virginia and it is a staycation to the mostest!!  This year did not disappoint. She did a great job!!

This is Dr. Soo Han the conductor. He is also the director of orchestral studies at George Mason University.  

Our little girl sat first seat!!!

Ms June Huang, one of the university’s violin teachers. She helped teach at the camp.

Our Lillie even had a little solo!!  We were so proud of her. The orchestra sounded really good. They worked so hard all week long. It is hard to believe that this is probably her last year!!  

CYSO chamber concert

Lillie did a great job again with the chamber orchestra. They have a great concert. These kids worked hard on all their pieces  

Junior Prom

Another milestone for our sweet Lillie. Junior prom. We just can’t believe that Lillie is old enough to go to prom. It seems like just yesterday Kim and I were headed to prom. Lillie was so excited to go to prom. She looked at dresses several months out, thought about who she might go with, thought about the night. It was very cute. She looked so pretty in her dress. Rather than wait for a boy to ask her, she ended up asking a boy in another ward in our stake. Jaden. He is such a good boy. Very nice, amusing, has a good sense of humor and checked off all the boxes for Lillie. He wasn’t a dud and comatose. He was engaging and Lillie had so much fun with him. 

Unfortunately, the rest of her friends just wanted to go stag. So Jaden was actually the only boy with all of Lillie’s girlfriends. Before prom we had everyone over to the house for dinner. We tried to make it like a restaurant with a choice of entrees and drinks. The kids seemed to love it. We had chicken teriyaki, roast, chicken pot pie and ramen. All in honor of our Lillie. We had mixed drinks too!!  It was a lot of fun. 

Jaden and his harem below:

We just love that Lillie had so much fun. After dinner they weee off to a dance at a ballroom at a firehouse of all

places. We just love our Lillie!!