Pieces of May

Here are some random moments from May.

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I have snapdragons in my front flowerbed that come in every year.  This year there were so many.  I loved it!

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We went to the Payson Temple open house.  I had heard that it was so beautiful and I had to see it for myself.  We went on a Tuesday in the hopes that the crowds would be smaller.  I don't know how it compared with other days but it wasn't too crowded.  It was a little rainy though.  It wasn't a problem until right as we were coming out of the temple it started raining hard.  We ran as fast as we could to get to the car.

 So beautiful!

Jaaromy came too.  He's behind the camera.  The temple did not disappoint.  It was absolutely beautiful.

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 Jonathan was fascinated with the little bubble thing at the bottom of the egg shell.

Then I told him to look at the camera and this is what I got.

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I was asked to play with a small orchestra some music written by a local composer who I've worked with in the past.  We rehearsed a couple of times and then performed at the Assembly Hall.  I've never played there before.  Weird.  I've sung there, but never played.  Anywho, it was fun to be on Temple Square.

 I had no desire to walk from the parking garage under the Conference Center to the Assembly Hall carrying my bass and stool so Jaaromy was nice enough to drop me off at the curb and pick me up.

The concert went well and it was fun to see the underbelly of the Assembly Hall.  The ceilings are really low so I feel like I know what it's like to be an average height person now.  Verdict: It's okay, but not great.

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 Jonathan had his first concert at the end of the school year.  He's been in the band class at Truman.  He has been to my concerts and Nathaniel's concerts.  He was so excited to have his very first concert.

 When they were all done, he took a bow.  He did a good job.

 The parents were supposed to all bring treats to share but only one family did.  When they realized they were the only ones, I don't blame them for just taking the treats home.  They had donuts and so Jonathan wanted to celebrate with donuts.  We went to Harmon's and everyone picked out their favorites.  It was a good day.

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Oh, Suki?  Yeah, she's still cute.

 I found her lounging like this and it made me laugh.  The sideways glance made it even better.

We bought her this toy that spun around and lit up.  It's actually for cats but she loved it and chased it all over the kitchen and living room.  It was pretty hilarious to watch.

So there you have it.  Our random moments from May.  I'll give Memorial Day it's own post since it's kind of a big deal.

Random Moments from April

Here are some random moments from our April.  Easter was a pretty big deal so it got it's own post.  But now for the rest of the story.

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 Suki loves our new rug.  I would have included this picture in my post about her but I hadn't written about our new floor yet and didn't want to "give it away" so to speak.  Then I was going to include it in the post about the remodel and of course I forgot.  So here you go.  When we first got it she would chew on it.  Not sure why.  She stopped after a while.  She still loves to roll around in it, it's pretty silly.

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Do you remember when we had the mud rain?  I went to take Jonathan to band and came back looking like this.  Luckily, it rained a ton after that and mostly washed it off.  It took us weeks before we actually took it to a car wash because it kept raining.

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As soon as I got our concert schedule last summer I have been super excited for our Spring concert.  It was called A Conversation with Sam Cardon.  He's a local composer who has done some impressive work.  Among those, of which I was already aware, was the soundtrack for World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria.  I don't play WoW much anymore but I loved and still love the music for it. 

 I had been waiting all season for this concert and it finally came!

Sam Cardon came to a couple of rehearsals.  My fellow bassist, Nate, took this picture and since it's so blurry we called it our Sam Cardon Bigfoot picture.  It was a super fun concert, all the music was so fun to play.  We played a few classics along with his music and one of them was Aquarium from Carnival of the Animals.  Bryce, our conductor, had sent out an email asking if anyone wanted to play the 2nd piano part.  I happened to be checking my mail at the time so I was able to respond right away and say YES!  So that was super fun too.  This was one of my favorite concerts ever.

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Speaking of driving to Provo, I drove past the Provo City Center Temple on my way to orchestra and was stopped at the light at University Ave. in the perfect spot for this picture.  I'm so excited to see it when it's all done.  Also, you can totally see how dirty my van is still.

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The very same night I was playing at my awesome concert, Nathaniel was playing at his Spring concert.  It absolutely broke my heart that I couldn't be there.  I made sure that he had plenty of family there to cheer him on.

 Jaaromy recorded it for me and I was able to watch it later.  He did such a good job.

Both pairs of Grandparents were able to come.  I'm so glad!

So there you have it, our April.  I believe May is next.

Easter

We finished our floor just in time for General Conference and Easter.  Whew!  We decorated eggs that afternoon.

She's so little!

Jaaromy took the pictures this time and experimented with different angles.

Jonathan made a Yoshi egg.

I love this face!

Then, Brigham and Jonathan played outside for a bit.

It's always fun trying to photograph objects in motion.

That night we went to Kelly and Megan's for our Zierse family Easter Egg Hunt.

They do a free for all so I always worry that they won't get many eggs.  They seem to get as many eggs as they care to.  Jaaromy's brother and his family were visiting from Vegas too so it was nice to have them there.

The next day we had our Easter FHE with our special egg hunt.

Suki had fun playing outside with us.

She sure loves sticks.

We were down to the last egg when Brigham quietly found the last one.

Finding the last egg has become very prestigious.

We talked about the Easter story as we opened each egg.

With the last egg being empty.  I love that.

Jonathan made an award for Brigham for finding the last egg.  It says Eggmaster.  Very nice.

A week later it was time for the Harding Family Easter Egg Hunt.

You're never too old for the slide, apparently.

Brigham got started on his candy right away.

She's too fast for me!

Brigham was pushing Brandon on the swing.  How cute!

Then it was Jonathan and Brigham's turn.

Grandma Bonnie's hammock is super relaxing.

That was our Easter, or at least the parts I'm willing to make public.  Good times!