Last Christmas with Lillie before her mission

We decided that we would spend Christmas and New Year’s with Lillie in Utah, helping her pack up, mail, store all her things before her mission. It was so nice to spend time with her. We were really able to do that without being burdened with our regular schedule back home. 

Kim and I decided to spend a little extra and fly first class  it wasn’t that much more, but it was worth every penny!!  We really enjoyed the meal  On our flight home we also splurged for Lillie to fly first class with us!!  

Nothing like the Utah mountains. They are so grand and majestic! 

The first week we spent time at her apartment watching Korean dramas and helping her pack everything and store and mail boxes back to Maryland. Lillie did most of the work and in the end she accomplished what we set out to do, return the room back to the way we found it when she started her freshman year. 

Of course Santa found Lillie and delivered all 25 gifts to her in Utah. When she was born we applied to the North Pole government that as long as she believed, Santa would bring her a gift a day through Christmas in December. And this year was the same!!  We loved our little Christmas away from home. 

Every year Santa brings a special ornament. This year he was so thoughtful to bring an ornament that looked like her as a missionary, with a North Dakota flag and all. 

We are at all our favorite haunts from when Kim and I were in college at BYU. 

We saw some very cool Christmas lights. 

We went to a very cool sci fi exhibit in Provo. 

We did a lot of shopping for Lillies mission. 

We spent New Year’s Eve at Solitude ski resort and watched a light show of skiers coming down the slopes with a fireworks show. It was so cold up there. We thought it was good practice for Lillie’s mission in North Dakota!!

As Lillie closes on chapter in her life, we are all excited for her next chapter. She has made her mom and dad very proud of who she is, how she conducts herself, and how she treats us and others. She is a very good girl. We will miss her dearly on her mission. 

We treated Lillie to first class seat on the way home. She enjoyed it!!

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!!

Meet the new concertmaster of BYU Strings

 

Lillie called us tonight with some pretty exciting news for a violinist. She had seating auditions for her orchestra and played Spring by Vivaldi. Out of the 20 plus violins, four auditioned to be placed. She said she didn’t do as well as this other girl and yet tonight she found she is the concertmaster!!  Our little girl, concertmaster of BYU strings!!  We could not be more proud of her. She has always worked so hard at learning to play her violin. And we know it was not the most fun thing for her to do at times, but she is such a good girl and practiced so hard her entire life!!!  She deserves this great honor in college!!!  

First day of sophomore year in college

Can it already be the start of Lillie’s second year in college?  We are so proud of her. She is such a good girl!