A New Home

My orchestra has been around for over 50 years, and as far as I know, has always practiced at the Eldred Center.  Well, the Eldred Center is being torn down along with some other buildings around it to make room for a new Community/Fitness Center.  I always assumed that there would be a place for us to rehearse there.  Not so, as it turns out.  At least, not without a price.  Since we were already in the red, that just wasn't an option.  It was starting to feel like the city of Provo didn't much care for our orchestra which has been a part of the community for over 50 years.  I wondered if we should find a home in Orem.  They had already shown their interest in us by giving us a significant grant.

These were my thoughts, but I am not in charge.  The people who are in charge looked all over and found a place for us to play.  The Seventh Day Adventist Church in Provo.  They had recently built on a huge addition with a big multi-purpose room.  They were so excited to have us play there and have been more than generous.  They spent thousands on sounds panels for the walls and even added on a storage room for our equipment.

The view from my side.  My bass is on the far left, mostly out of the picture.

We're trying out all the possible set up positions to see what has the best sound.  So far, this one is my favorite.

As I was exploring during the break, I came across this.  I love it!  I'm not sure if they were trying to be just a little different, or if they misheard.  Either way, "Sunbeans" sounds pretty cute.

So this is our new home.  It's nice to feel wanted.

2012 Family Yearbook

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Temple Square

We never did make it to see the lights on Temple Square before Christmas.  On the Sunday after Christmas we decided to go downtown and see if the lights were still up.  I figured they would be, but I honestly don't know how long they leave the lights up.  Turns out that going after Christmas was perfect.  It wasn't too crowded, which is pretty much the biggest reason for us to stay home.

 Jonathan was so excited to see the compass points when we first got there.

 They sat still long enough for me to get this picture.

 Others may disagree, but I really like this picture.

 We didn't have the patience for the whole Nativity, but we caught the end which is the best part.

 The boys had fun playing with the interactive Jerusalem map.

 Outside wasn't too crowded, but inside the Visitor's Center was definitely crowded.  There was a huge line to go upstairs to see the Christus, which is unfortunate because the boys like to see the space mural that goes with it.  We decided to skip it this time and Brigham was very upset.  He kept trying to go back inside to go upstairs but it was just too crowded.

He calmed down when we crossed the street to see the Conference Center fountain.  He thought that was pretty cool.

So, new tradition.  We will forever go see the lights after Christmas.  It was perfect for us.

Christmas Day

Christmas morning was great.  The boys have always been good with letting Jaaromy and I sleep.  We try not to make them wait too long for us to get up.  They opened up their new pajamas the night before but I forgot to take a picture.  I suspect it looked very similar to this.

 Even though they had been waiting all morning for us to get up, waiting a few more minutes for me to take pictures was almost unbearable!

 Finally, they got the okay from us and ran downstairs to see what was there.

 Jonathan got some Avengers masks, a little Lego Deathstar, and a book he had wanted.

 Nathaniel got an art book, Anime Studio, and a pen pad for his computer.  Pretty sweet.

 Brigham got a cool space ABC book, some magnetic stackers, and a plasma car.

 Jonathan read his new book pretty quick.

 Then we went upstairs to open presents from each other.

 Brigham got these planet magnets from Mom and Dad.

 Jonathan got two more Lego planets, now he has them all!

We gave the boys a popcorn maker.  We've used it several times now and it has been so fun, and tasty!

 I gave Jaaromy these Hulk hands.

 He and the boys had lots of fun trying them out.

 They went great with Jonathan's new Hulk mask!

 Brigham didn't love the mask so much.

Good times!

 Brigham loved his plasma car.  We moved the table out of the way so he could ride around the kitchen.

Jonathan got this cool contraption lab from Grandma Bonnie and Grandpa Jay.  We were able to Skype with them that morning to they could watch the boys open up their presents.

After all the presents were open we had breakfast.  It was kind of sad to not have breakfast with my parents, but we did our best to keep the tradition.  I made some refrigerator cinnamon rolls, eggs and eggnog.  It was a tasty breakfast.

Later in the afternoon we went over to Lyenna's house for dinner.  I didn't have my camera so I borrowed pictures from Grandma Patti.

 The food was really tasty and Lyenna had her whole basement set up to accommodate all of us.

 After dinner we exchanged presents and then played some games.  It was a lot of fun.

 Brigham doesn't usually get attached to toys, but he carried this little rocket around all day.  It was actually a present for Jonathan from Nathaniel, but Brigham kind of took it as his own.  He loved it so much that it's kind of broken now.  I guess we'll have to replace it.

Christmas was great this year.  It's funny how it never feels like Christmas while you're experiencing it, but when you look back at all the fun memories, it becomes Christmas.

It was a fun Christmas to remember.