Cinderella Musical

Earlier this year I was approached to see if I wanted to play in the Summerstock series in St Mary’s County of Cinderella. They needed two first violins, so I asked them if Lillie could also play with me. They said yes!!!  I was so excited to play together with Lillie. She has worked so hard honing her skills, even though it’s not her most favorite thing to do. But she has been a trooper since elementary school!!  And she is probably a little better than me in playing!!  It would require two months of twice a week rehearsals, a week of every night rehearsals leading up to the show, and then four performances. We are in the middle of the performance and we have been having a lot of fun, although it has been a lot of work. Here are some pics!!  I am so proud of Lillie for playing with me!!

The organization gave us a very cool poster of the pit orchestra. Such a commemorative poster!!  

Lillie is home

After a very successful and happy first year at college, our Lillie is home!  And it feels so good to have her back. She did so well in her first year. Straight A’s, a great student job as a media specialist, a side gig as a photographer, made the best new friends that have influenced her for good!  We could not be more proud of her!!

Jack My Violin Student

My student is Jack. He has been such a pleasure to teach. He practices and is generally always interested in learning. He is also just an all around good young man. He signed up to do a solo at his spring orchestra concert, so I told him it would sound good if we did a duet because of all the harmonies. So we played in front of about 350 people in a large auditorium. His first time playing in front of people. Usually we just play in the music store. But he did exceptionally well!!  I was so proud of him. 

Trip to Hawaii for Lillie

After an illustrious and epic first year in college, we thought we would send Lillie back to Hawaii by herself, to visit with family!!  She was more than excited to go!!  We were so happy and excited for her to travel to Hawaii herself.  We were excited for her and all the fun we knew she would have. We love our Lillie and deserves this happiness!!! Below are some pictures from her trip.

First of all not only was she able to see all her cousins,  but she was able to eat all her local favorites.  She was in heaven!!

She was also so lucky to see her cousin's games, and year end concerts.  She went to a state volleyball championship game of her cousin, and they won, which made t extra special.

She loved spending time outdoors.  We think this helped her allergies!!

And look at how beautiful the water is!!

Guys and Dolls Musical

Sometimes local high schools in the area will ask my orchestra to help fill in with some players when they do their school musicals. Such was the case with Chopticon High School. So I thought I would volunteer and see what it was like. Lillie played in two musicals at her high school and it was a lot of work, but I also know she had fun playing the music. Now I have experienced the same thing she did. It’s hard work and the music is fun to play. 

Lillie was on the Dean's list for her First Semester at BYU

We are so proud of our Lillie.  She got straight A's her first semester at BYU.  She worked hard for that, so we always want to honor her and let her know how proud we are of her!!  Look whose name showed up for that honor on the BYU website (see third column)!!

Lillie and Travis

It is hard to believe Lillie is old enough to have a steady boyfriend. He is the nicest young men we know, treats Lillie with such respect, worries about her and helps her to be good. They are both having such a fun time at BYU. They took some fun valentines pictures. These picture show their bright and happy personalities  

Lillie back for her second semester

We had a most wonderful time with Lillie. We ate at some of her favorite restaurants, played our violins, she saw some friends and we made a lot of her favorite foods. It was fun while it lasted and now we miss her a lot. Here is a picture of her on her first day back for second semester. 

Lillie is home from BYU

It’s hard to believe that Lillie has been away for one semester. But it was so good to have her home. We have been going out to her favorite restaurants, eating her favorite foods for meals, and playing music. She has also been seeing old friends and relaxing!!!  

Thanksgiving—BYU Style

Lillie had a fun Thanksgiving with Uncle Maka and Aunty Rhonda’s family—all her cousins!  And Nika (Uncle Stew’s youngest also came because she teaches in Utah now). We love our family and so glad Lillie can spend time with family she really never got to know growing up.

Lillie was lucky to have a buffet of her favorites—won tons included!!

It was a quiet thanksgiving for us. But we went out to Reston, our family tradition and had dinner at a very nice restaurant. The food was out of this world!!!  We were most thankful that Lillie is adjusting so well at BYU. 

We saw our favorite newscaster in the DC area, Angie Goth!  She was MCing the tree lighting ceremony in Reston. Fun!!