Christmas 2016

After an INSANE month, it was sure great to just be HOME for Christmas!  The kids were in school right up to Dec. 22nd so Christmas seemed to sneak up quickly on us.  We did all our normal Christmas Eve traditions of new PJs (everyone got onesies this year!), cookie ditching, light seeing, and Sonic shakes:)

Christmas morning was quite eventful.  We let the kids open one present before church at 8:30--they all got a new Sunday outfit.  Then we all headed over to the church early because we all had things to do--Chris had to open up the building and set up chairs, Ethan had to prepare the Sacrament table, Carlie and I had to go practice--I got called in last minute to play organ because the other girl was sick.  So a little more stressful than I planned but it all went just fine and the meeting was fantastic.  We were super glad to get back home to open up the rest of our gifts:)

Ethan was Captain America on the inside too:)

Max trying to look like Ralphie on "A Christmas Story"

Ethan's big present was a new trombone--an upgraded rose-gold trombone with the "F-trigger."  It was very obvious what the present was but we still made him guess:)  He just recently had to get a "pallate expander" in his mouth in preparation for braces so he hasn't even be able to play his new trombone yet:(

Yes...even our dogs got presents:)

It was a great Christmas at home--according to Tatum, it was "the BEST Christmas she's ever had!"  How to top that?!  For Christmas dinner we invited our neighbors (the Thurmans) over to eat with us.  They've been our neighbors for 12 years now and it was sure fun just hanging out with them.  We all were thoroughly exhausted by the end of the day.  What a fantastic day it was:)  Merry Christmas 2016!!!

Carlie Meeker...Extraordinary

This year started off really weird for Carlie.  She worked REALLY hard this past semester and made All-State.  She then tried out for the Phoenix Youth Symphony and made it.  It wasn't until after we got these results that we were given the PYS schedule--EVERY concert and social activity were on Sundays!!!  So as sad as she was about it, she decided to pull out.

Then school started.  This year is a re-building year for the music program at her high school--changes were desperately needed.  With this came the decision to cut all winds out of the orchestra program so that the new teacher could build up a strong string section.  There were only about 5 wind players as it was so I completely understood why they had to do this BUT it really stunk for Carlie because #1--she is a brilliant oboist and #2--she had to be enrolled in her school orchestra to even be allowed to try out for AZ Regionals and All-State.  I seriously thought we would have to start a new high school but the Principal and new Orchestra Teacher worked out a deal with us.  She is technically "signed up" in the orchestra class but she would just use that time as personal practice time--which has actually turned out to be a great blessing because her evenings have been filled with rehearsals/homework/work.  So we were happy with that compromise and Carlie got to stay at Heritage.

She then wanted to join a couple of the choirs there at school.  Yes...I admit that I do not think highly of any high school choir--long deep-rooted feelings dating back to my high school days when we joked about those "lesser musicians."  But I swallowed my pride and allowed her to do this so that she would have some kind of ensemble participation this year.  The school had also just hired a new choir teacher.

Fast forward to the Heritage Christmas Choir concerts last night.  I am now putting my foot in my mouth and eating a piece of humble pie because this Choir teacher has built up the BEST high school choir program I have ever seen!!!  Carlie is absolutely thriving this year!  Joining choir has just adding to her musicality and she is absolutely STUNNING up there on stage.  I seriously had tears running down my face last night.

In the first video, Riu Riu Chiu, she was the only female chosen to do a solo for this.  And in the second video, she plays the oboe.  AMAZING!




She has just blossomed this semester.  I am extremely impressed with this new teacher and am so grateful that I let this year play out.  Carlie Meeker is an extraordinary young woman and musician.  Singing solos, oboe solos, landing the part of Eponine...I would have never predicted this.  I can't wait to see what the rest of this year brings.

Piano Quartet:)

Last week made me almost forget about this!!!

I had my piano recitals on Saturday, Dec. 3rd.  My own kids weren't able to be in their assigned recital times because of rehearsals and a softball game so I had them play in the recital that all of Carlie's students played in.  They got to play with two of their very good friends--Tyler and Natalie.  This was by far my youngest students I've ever put in this combo and they were amazing:)

Week of Miracles

I seriously had the CRAZIEST week last week--Dec. 5th-11th.  And as I've reflected over it these past few days, I realized that I had experienced miracles EVERY single day last week and would be very ungrateful if I didn't acknowledge them!

Monday, Dec. 5th:  Chris left for his event in Hawaii early this morning.  On top of my regular workload, I needed to get Tatum to an audition up at Heritage Academy at 4:30 pm.  I did have a couple days notice on this and Miracle #1--I was able to re-arrange/reschedule several of my Monday students to another day so that I could take Tatum to her audition that she was so excited about.  We went, she rocked it:)

Tuesday, Dec. 6th:  Once again, single parent with my normal workload and teaching schedule.  I had to get Carlie to get labs done today, Tatum had a softball party this night, Max had rehearsals, and Ethan had a band concert.  Miracles #2, #3, #4, & #5--Tatum was able to catch a ride to her party.  Max was able to carpool to rehearsals. I was able to make it to Ethan's band concert.  Carlie got her labs done and was battling a cold but was still able to pick up theatre kids to bring them home:)

Wednesday, Dec. 7th:  I get a call early that morning from Chris in Hawaii asking for extra prayers that the rain would stay away long enough for the parade to go on without a hitch.  It was a huge year for them--the 75th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor--and it was the rainiest week all over the Hawaiian islands.  They had hundreds of people there to perform.  So we prayed that morning for them.  I went to the Temple and put their names on the prayer roll.  Miracle #6--Despite the 80% chance of rain all day, the weather could not have been more perfect for their parade.  Not a single drop!  It poured the rest of the time but the parade went perfectly!  We had a crazy night at home with Carlie and Ethan at different places for mutual.  Max at home and Tatum with me at Activity Days.  And then, a music practice at my house.  Miracle #7--I stayed sane this day:)

Thursday, Dec. 8th:  We are all thoroughly exhausted by this day.  We're doing everything we know to keep the girl's colds at bay--Airborne, Zinc, oils, etc...  Miracles #8 & #9--We made it to Carlie's dermatologist appointment this morning.  I was able to find a ride for Max to band this morning (band was at the same time as the appointment)--he could not miss this practice this morning because his concert was that night.  After teaching piano, we all loaded up in the car to grab Chick-fil-A for dinner before heading over to Max's concert--I was sooooo over cooking at this point this week:)  Miracles #9 & #10--we made it to the concert that went well AND we got emails letting us know that Carlie and Tatum had callbacks for Les Miserables on Saturday morning!!!  Miracle #11--Tatum had a softball tournament game on Saturday morning too and I was worried that we would have to pull her out of callbacks early--which would NOT help her chances of being cast.  Her game was 10:15 and she needed to be at the field at 9:30.  All I knew was that callbacks were 9-11 am that morning.  BUT the young girls (there were 10 called back out of 25) were only needed from 8:30-9:00 am.  SERIOUSLY AMAZING!!!  I almost cried right there!

Friday, Dec. 9th:  Normal day--my carpool driving day, Carlie at work, Ethan hanging out with his friend, etc...I went to the Temple that night for our ward session.  Miracle #12--we had 28 ward members show up!!!  It was an amazing turn out!  I went back to change and checked my phone.  I had a text from Max telling me that Tatum was throwing up.  So I skipped the ward social afterwards to get home to my sick daughter.  She would go on to throw up another 4 times this night.  I was up with her at 11 pm when my husband got home from his flight.  Miracle #13--He was able to give her a blessing right then and there as she had a HUGE morning ahead of her.

Saturday, Dec. 10th:  CRAZY morning.  Max had rehearsals (thank goodness for our theatre carpool), Tatum and Carlie had callbacks AND Tatum had a big game.  After a LONG night, Tatum was super determined to make it to where she needed to be.  So with a single cracker in her stomach, we headed off to call-backs.  Miracle #14--She ROCKED it again!!!  Carlie stayed for the next 2 hours of callbacks.  Miracle #15--Her cold did not affect her singing and she ROCKED it too!  Then off to Tatum's game.  I kept a bag of snacks for her hoping that she would be able to eat a little more. She put on a brave (but pale) face and Miracle #16--had one of her best games ever!  She was hitting like a boss and making outs at first like a boss and she even caught a pop-fly.  It was a heck of a game but her team did end up losing by 2 points.  But that was okay because Tatum was then able to come home and take a much needed 2 hour nap.

Miracle #18--my girls were BOTH cast in their dream roles Saturday afternoon.  Carlie will be Eponine and Tatum will be Young Eponine.

Sunday, Dec. 11th:  Miracle #19--Neither Carlie or Tatum were at their best on Sunday but they had a performance to do.  They sang "Were You There On That Christmas Night?"  And they were amazing as always.  I sent them home after sacrament as they both needed down time.

Whew...I am exhausted after thinking through this past week again.  How grateful I am to be past it and how grateful I am that I learned that Heavenly Father knows me.  He knows my children.  He knows what is important to us.  I seriously carried a prayer in my heart every minute of every day last week and He strengthened me and blessed me as I trusted Him to help carry me through.

Heritage Winter Formal 2016

The week after Homecoming at Heritage, the girls all went CRAZY!!!  It was only October and Winter Formal wasn't until December 2nd.  This is a girl-ask-guy dance so the panic was on!!!  Carlie knew she needed to make her claim early--and she did.  

She wrote the cutest Halloween poem--because it was Halloween time AND her date was currently in a production of "Dracula"--and she attached it to a super cute Halloween candy gram.  I'm not sure WHY I did not think of taking a picture?!?!  Anyways, it was super cute and Kale answered back within the week with this cute sign:  (The sign was SOO cute and it matched all my Halloween decor so well that I left it on my porch for ALL of October:)

Carlie and Kale have a long history together.  He was Prince Eric when she was Aerial in Little Mermaid Jr. at AYT four and a half years ago--and they've been in several plays together since then as well.  Look how cute they were:

Carlie was 12 and Kale was 13:)

The girls planned a super fun day date of Gingerbread House decorating, watching Elf, and eating lunch.  Kale is currently in the Hale production of "A Christmas Carol" and he had to go and perform in the 5:00 pm show.  He got Carlie a ticket to go and watch him.  Then right after I met up with her at her friend's house so I could help her get dressed.  Look at these beautiful girls!!!

Rebeckah, Carlie, Kelly, & Kalissa

Her beautiful hair:)

Kale & Carlie

Daniel, Kale, Mitchell, & Cyle

The Whole Group!

Kale and Carlie had a great time.  He was such a fun date for her.  It's always a party when he is around.  The next dance...Sadie Hawkins--another girl-ask-guy.  Carlie is going to play it cool and wait until at least January before she asks a guy:)

Thanksgiving 2016!

It had been several years since we did the whole Carlsbad Caverns/Christmas on the Pecos trip so we decided to do it again.  This time my older brother who lives in Monterey, CA met us there in Carlsbad, NM.  

Carlsbad is an interesting little town.  Not much goes on there.  We drove in on Thanksgiving day and were planning on eating at Golden Corral for dinner but...the Golden Corral had closed:(  So we found a Denny's open so we went there and actually had the WORST service ever!  Not exactly sure what happened but it took about 2 hours to get all of our food.  But it all turned out just fine as the manager was extremely apologetic AND gave us a steep discount--all 14 of us ate dinner for $50.  So we left happy about that:)

Right behind our hotel was this interesting "Aqua Duct" contraption.  Apparently the town is quite proud of it as they keep it lit up even at night.  So of course we had to go have a look--the kids sure had a great time reading all the graffiti on Trump and Hillary mostly:)

So honestly the best part of this town is the Caverns.  Seriously AMAZING and way better than the 2 cavern parks in AZ.  We hiked down 80 stories into these caverns--about a 3 hour walking tour.  We thought my mom was going to die but she made it and took the elevator back up:)  

We're scared to go in:)

This formation is called "Whales Mouth"

Hard to get really great pics inside:)

"The Big One"

This is "Fairyland"

We spent the morning in the caverns and then hit the zoo in the afternoon.  Best day ever to go because admission was FREE all that day!  Seriously, $50 dinner for 14 and then FREE zoo admission!  We scored!  My kids are always up for animals:)

Wolf in the background

The zoo has an animal celebrity--Maggie the Bear!  She actually paints pictures!  And her paintings are actually for sale in the zoo gift shop!  My girls each got a bookmark with a Maggie painting:)  We got to see her during her feeding time.  SUPER cute!  I would totally take her home:)

Tatum with Maggie the Bear

We packed in all of the fun stuff into a day--Caverns, Zoo, then Christmas on the Pecos river cruise!  The Pecos River runs right through Carlsbad and there are some beautiful homes built along it.  These homes have amazing Christmas decorations every year and this river cruise takes you along to see them.

Grandpa/Grandma Knoop with Knoop/Meekers
Our whole gang:)

So the best part of the trip was of course just hanging out with cousins.  Our kids don't get to see their cousins very often and it's always so amazing to me to see how they just pick up where they left off.  There is no awkward or shy moments.  It's like they know that they belong together somehow.  And it's ALWAYS a party when Papa Frank is around.  He has limitless energy when it comes to the grandkids.  They climbed all over him all weekend long and he never tired of it--and they stole all his gum:)  But he never complains.  It was just a fun-filled/jam-packed weekend!  Happy Thanksgiving and now let's bring on Christmas!!!

More Foster Babies!!!

Oh my heart ACHES as I post these pics!!!  I miss these fluff balls like CRAZY!!!  

I was asked to take in these 3 pups that were left on the doorstep of a Vet's office.  They were estimated to be 4 weeks old and had been left with no mother.  So I immediately picked them up since I was going through major "puppy withdrawl"--oh yeah...it's a real thing--from the chihuahua pups:) I was "told" they were border collie mixes but who knows, they were just plain CUTE.  I joked all the time about what they "actually" were in my pictures of them.

Roxy:  She was the most playful and adventurous of the bunch and she just LOVED Rocco.  Roxy and Rocco were quite the pair:)

Vicious dog attack:)

Puppy or bear cub?

Puppy or Werewolf?

Puppy or Hyena?

Olive:  This little girl was probably my personal favorite.  I just loved burying my face in all her fluff:)  One day I was outside with them and I was picking up dog poop.  I came around a corner to see Roxy staring over the pool edge and waves being made in the pool.  I threw the shovel, poop went everywhere and I RAN to the pool to see little Olive treading water like a champ in the pool.  I immediately pulled over out and she was completely fine--didn't cough up water or anything.  I was just so glad that I was there for this and said LOTS of "thank you" prayers for sparing this little girl.  We totally bonded over this event as I held her in a towel drying her off.

They were soo tiny at first:)

Puppy or baby skunk?

This was her "serious" model pose:)

Fiona:  Also known as "Fifi."  This little girl seriously looked like a stuffed toy--she had to have batteries somewhere right?  We also thought she kinda looked like a baby girl Wookie or Ewok.  SOOO dang cute.  She was the runt of this litter and pretty much the boss too:)  She would also be the first of the 3 to get adopted!!!

Definitely bear cub right?

Puppy or Baby Girl Chew Baca?

Rocco just loved them too!!!

I took these puppies back to the shelter on a Thursday and ALL 3 were GONE by Saturday!!!  I was beyond happy to know that they went so quickly.  I am just sad that I don't personally know any of the people who took them.  But they got off to a great start with TONS of attention and TONS of love and now they're off to good lives in good homes and that's what matters most.  LOVE fostering pups!  Seriously one of my most favorite thing to do:)