We survived the rest of the school year!

 I knew that it would be a long stretch of crazy from spring break until school was out, and life did not disappoint! I'm gonna break this blog post up into:

-Animal pictures (why were there so many on my phone?)

-Performances

and Celebrations- with a few random things mixed in here and there

First up- Animals! Carson is about 10 (11?) years old now and while he's had some old man issues, he's still just as cute and sweet as ever. Our cat Apollo is now almost 1 year old and we think is done growing. He can be a bit crazy and a jerk, but he's still sweet at times too.

Sometimes he sits like this!

A sleepy Saturday morning

Better than knocking our game pieces onto the floor!

They tolerate each other. The cat joined the dog on the bed, not the other way around, lol

We went to Deschutes Falls Park the other day and Carson was barking at the water as if he saw something. It was bizarre. If you know Carson you know he's afraid of the water, but he kept trying to get in! Dan even helped him try to find whatever it was- still have no idea what caught his attention!

Cade was not forcing the cat to be in this position, it was truly content

Now for performances! It's pretty easy in our family to blend work and music together, and sometimes the music is work and the work is music. I'll start with the kiddos. 

In May they had their final SOGO concert for the season. You can see the whole concert here, both boys playing in the brass band, Conservatory orchestra, and Alex also in Academy. I especially recommend listening to the Academy Orchestra play Flight of the Bumblebee. Why? Because Cade orchestrated the whole arrangement! It was his debut as an arranger. 

Cade spends a lot of his time making arrangements of pieces for brass and has a lot of those on his YouTube page. Next year, SOGO will be making a special spot on their March concert for his full orchestration of Debussy's The Sunken Cathedral, and I can't wait! 

While both boys also had an end of the year band concert, they are much more proud to share their SOGO performances with you. Cade, however, also took up choir this year and is really enjoying it. So much that he auditioned for the top mixed choir and made it for next year! Here's one of the songs from the choir concert.

Speaking of next year- the boys weren't sure how it would all work out, but they are giving Marching Band another shot. After all, our team did win State this year and it was an exciting season! So without further ado, meet one of the new drum majors, and new brass captain for next year!

The other drum major is Mackenzie's brother, and Alex's good friend, Spencer!

With all the performing we do as a family, sometimes it's good to hear someone else perform! On a whim I bought tickets to a Candelight night with Hans Zimmer. It was a string quartet performing Hans Zimmer music. Unique, good, too short for the drive, and good ice cream afterwards :)

In March I was approached about being a rehearsal accompanist for the SPSCC Theatre Collective on their upcoming musical, Sunday in the Park with George. I was hesitant to say yes because I know Sondheim musicals are HARD, and I just wasn't sure if I'd be able to hack it and keep up with my full time day job. I ended up saying yes and I'm so glad I did. It was such a rewarding group of people to work with, the hard work on the music made it all the more fun, and it was hard to let the show go at the end of it all! I hope to keep working with them in the future!

And of course Dan works as a musician too so his performances are often ceremonies and parades that we've kind of grown out of watching. We also often let each other know when there's something we want the other person to see, or when it's just not worth the time to come out. If you know, you know! I actually had the chance to see Dan and the Army band perfomer at a Mariner's game but ended up feeling really awful that day. I did NOT want to drive to Seattle, figure out parking and all that by myself, etc etc when I felt so rotten. Because of that we especially didn't want to miss when they played for the local Minor league game.

We got to sit in a private suite with food and everything!

And they sounded awesome!

Alex said to us- why do they have such a huge net? There's no way a foul ball would get all the way up here! And indeed that's exactly what happened! Hit the window of the suite and bounced down where Dan got it!

Whole Fam Damily! (plus photo-bomber! he said he couldn't resist)

And now for some Celebrations!

First, Prom 2023! They chose not to go to the school prom, but went to the one put on by our church. They got to have it at the Capital Rotunda in Olympia! It was a weird schedule that day though (involving a paid performance for Cade at someone else's high school jazz concert!), so no fancy formal pics, just a few from her dad who was the DJ for the dance :)

Work for me has been pretty wild. Teaching full-time is no joke. I'd say the first two months were me just trying to figure it out, the next two months were me really digging in and trying to get some things going, and the last two months were me more relaxed and starting to feel the groove. I was pretty close to learning all 700 student's names, they were getting to know me and I had every reason to believe that since the teacher I was taking over for had resigned that the job was mine. I naively approached everything with thoughts for the years to come in that job and didn't even consider that I might not be returning. You'll imagine my surprise then when I went to my interview and 3 other people were there interviewing, and my panel of interviewers who I've worked with the past 6 months told me to act as if I didn't know them at all. I did not get the job. I was not hired back. I was devastated. I was told that I interviewed well, said all the right things, did a great job in my time there, but they ultimately went another direction. It was very hard for me to finish those last few weeks of school knowing I wasn't coming back, and that I didn't very much agree that their choice of hire was a better option than giving these kids the consistency they so badly need. I do truly believe that everyone has something valuable to offer, and I know she'll do an amazing job, I just had to mourn for the kids to go through another change, and then to figure out what it meant was next for me. 

There weren't a lot of music positions open, especially in our district or in a distance I was willing to commute. But one opened up for a 0.6 Elementary Music Teacher in the neighboring district. I interviewed for and was offered the position! So I am now a music teacher at Woodland Elementary in Lacey, Washington- part of the North Thurston School District. It's all very new and fluid- I'll be taking over for someone who's been there for years and years. Lots to update in the classroom and make my own, but I'm excited to be at ONE school instead of two. Here's to new adventures!

The day I found out I got the job I had just taken and passed my Music test to get my certificate, and had a date with myself at the Seattle Temple!

Alex turned 15! On odd years we just do family celebrations, and Alex's happy place is shopping, especially in retro video game stores. We made a trip up to Kent to do just that! It was a fun day out! We came home and had Costco cake and played Munchin as a family- a board game he'd been begging us to buy (again) after we gave it away years ago. Happy Birthday Alex!!

No better way to celebrate than the 4th of July! We were able to do some of our own fireworks on the 3rd (we're a state that allows the good stuff)! And then we spent the 4th watching Dan perform with his band down by the lake in Kent. It was a spectacular sunset that night with perfect weather. It even made up for the long walk back to our car and hour ride home, lol.

Lastly I want to share a different kind of celebration- one of friendship and life. As a military spouse I constantly find myself in new places and needing to make new friends. We all need people, right? In Texas I connected with my friend Teletha over the Interstellar soundtrack! From there the rest is history. Unfortunately she was recently diagnosed with a second round of cancer, because breast cancer wasn't enough. She is losing this battle with Merkel Cell Carcinoma which shouldn't be even happening to someone of her age. As soon as our school year ended I made my way to San Antonio to spend some time with her. 

The trip was bittersweet in so many ways. It dawned on me that we'd been away for two years! And we were only ever in San Antonio for 3 years! It's always weird going back. I didn't expect to feel anything, but as soon as I stepped out of the airport I felt a rush of emotions. While I may have spent a good amount of my time in TX catching up on food I missed, I spent most of the weekend in deep conversations with those whose input I value and trust. We talked about important life decisions, lessons we've learned, kids, family and everything in between. 

Thank you for everything Teletha. I will truly miss our conversations and the never-ending support. Thanks for allowing me in your home during this sacred time and I love you!

And thank you Jacqui for housing me, but really for the late night talks and friendship that has grown through the years! You're always down for anything and I loved catching up and hanging out!

And a shout out to San Pedro ward! Coming to church with y'all on Sunday was a treat. Miss you!

And now just to share some things that stood out to me on my little trip away! Travel has changed! And San Antonio still has way better food than WA.

Who needs humans anymore?!

I flew two different airlines on this trip, and every seat had some sort of USB charger!

Did you know Amazon had its own airline?

Mt. St. Helens from the plane!

Did I mention how hot it was while I was there? 

Now for the food!

Breakfast tacos and donuts from The Original Donut Shop

It's not TX without Tacos! (and Topo Chico)

Sorry to any San Antonio friends that I missed and/or didn't reach out to. I purposely kept the trip as simple as possible to focus on my friend. I look forward to the next time I can make it back out that way!

Last shout out for this blog post that spanned 3 months is to my hubby. Thank you for always supporting the many things I do, and allowing me to take off last minute to TX! Here's a few pics of us cuties together! 

There's the Capitol Building from this fun little view point park where we had dinner and tried to fly a tiny kite!

At Deschutes Falls park

Walking around downtown Olympia after subbing on percussion for OSO!