It seems that with the summer schedule I'm having a hard time posting on a regular basis. It's not that I don't have anything to blog, it's just my blog list keeps getting longer!!!


Anyway, I wanted to post some video's from our June recital. Daria played fantastic and this time did 3 pieces. One was a duet with her super good friend Brooklyn. She also did a re-arrangement of the Primary song "My Heavenly Father Loves Me" and a stunning piece titled "Moonlight Fantasy" by Melody Bober. I like that piece a lot.


I played Nocturne in C-sharp Minor by Chopin. A small note of history, this piece is from 1830 and is Op. Posthumous which means it was found after he died, so he may never have played it publicly. (I love history). While I made mistakes playing my piece, I'm totally ok with it. I didn't feel as anxious as I usually do but was anxious enough. Thankfully Janalen put me first, that definitely takes the edge off. This time instead of my hands shaking my right leg started to shake which was really annoying and made it very hard to concentrate and keep my foot on the pedal which I needed to use. I've finally convinced myself that it's ok if I mess up. I know I can play it at home without error and that's good enough for me. One thing I have learned about taking piano is that playing on a grand piano is such a great experience. We have a super nice piano at home, but when you sit down at a grand, the sound is 100 times better, richer, more dramatic and better dynamics. One can only dream...... All in all it was a fabulous recital. Janalen and her sister Jen who also teaches had most of their older kids do sonatinas, which were very long and difficult but I really thought it was a treat to listen. It was like a free concert. I loved it and was SOOOOO amazed at what these kids could play. Amazing!

Well May has come and gone. In fact I still can't believe we are knee deep into June! Where does the time go!

So May was fun, busy but fun. The kids participated in field day. I'm NOT sure why the school chooses to do it in May when the chance for super hot weather is pretty high. Although the past several field day's were overcast. No such luck this year. This was Dustin's first official field day. I say first official because he's been to all of Daria's and even participated in some of hers (not that he was supposed to) I remember her 1st grade year as I was taking pictures of the limbo and all of the sudden I see Dustin doing the limbo. Funny because he was two years younger than the other kids and not even in school, but you couldn't tell because he was the same size. SO, I was looking forward to watching Dustin experience his own field day. This was also the first year the school handed out ribbons for two events. FINALLY I thought to myself. For all the world's desire to be "politically correct" I hate that we've taken so much away from our kids, like "oohh, we can't give out ribbons because someones feelings might get hurt". Whatever! what ever happened to, "hey, next year I'm going to run faster than the guy who got first!" I think as long as it's not overdone our kids can learn good skills from competition, winning and losing. Anyway.. I digress (as usual). Dustin is built for athletics and the funny thing is, he doesn't even know it. He got first place in the softball throw and the 200 yard dash. He was pretty excited. I thought it was fitting since we had read the book "Ziggy's Blue Ribbon Day" the night before. Daria came in 3rd for the 200 yard dash which was awesome. when she started out she was near the end and then just passed up all the other girls. It was HOT. I had lathered the kids up with sunscreen, and lathered myself up. I even rode my bike to the school. The unfortunate thing was that I was there ALL day long and I must have forgotten to sun screen the back of my neck which got totally toasted.

Another thing we did was take a trip back home for Ken's nephew's wedding. First off I have no idea how he can be old enough to get married because I sure don't feel older. It seems just yesterday he was 12! As usual heading back home is nice. As I've said before it is a special treat to go back to the country, time slows down, everyone knows everyone and it's peaceful. This is the prettiest time of year in my book because all the crops are up. It's like green carpet laid out over the land. I love it! I think I also get the feeling that history is still alive in places like this. In the city heritage, peace, and family enjoyment seems swallowed up in activities, going here going there, cell phones, ipods, technology. Sure the country has that too, but it's still not the same. Ken's family lives in a rural area, out in the country. His parents have lived on this farm for at least 40 years and the house pretty much looks the same as it did when Ken grew up there, with a few minor changes. The nearest town or gas station is 13 miles away. Everybody lives on farms. It's a welcome site to my sore city driving, house built next to house eyes. When we arrived on a Friday night we picked up Ken's mom and drove even further down the highway to a even smaller township to watch our niece play softball at a super great softball field literally out in the middle of nowhere. Corn fields, fields, a church, a country store and a big ball field. It was nice. It was peaceful, and they one 12 to 4 I think.

I love sitting outside, it's quiet, all except an occasional holler from one of the cows, or the breeze through the trees and sometimes you can hear the cars from the highway. At night it's pitch black and all you can hear are the crickets. For some people a beach or some exotic place is their sanctuary. I think those places are nice too but being in the country for me rates right up there with being in the Rocky or Smokey Mountains.

I also love going to lunch at the sausage house. It's a famous sausage house located in the middle of nowhere, but EVERYBODY loves to eat there. You are not a stranger when you walk in. So we made our traditional trip there for lunch on Saturday with Ken's parents. Said high to many of the people there and I just sat back and watched and listened as I saw grandparents with children and grandchildren of all ages come in and eat. Old friends, old co-workers. There is something very safe and comforting about that. I remember when I first moved there I hated that everyone knew everyone, but now I think it's nice.

Another thing I like about going to the country is it's a GREAT place to take photographs. So many lines and colors it's like photographing for National Geographic. I love it. Ken's parents I'm sure think I'm weird, walking around taking pictures of old tires, farm equipment, cows, and corn fields but I love it. Here are a few I played with. The fence, which I couldn't perfect but I did like this one. The old bike and of course the lush green corn field.

The kids enjoyed the rides on the 4 wheeler and most of all feeding the cows. That is their favorite part. This time Ken drove the tractor to pick up the round bale, I went with him. The kids went with grandpa on the four wheeler to open the gate and cut the rope off the bale. The farm is an endless playground for the kids.

The wedding was nice and the dinner and dance was a blast. Daria and Dustin danced and played all night on the slick floor. Ken and I danced a few dances and Dustin even danced with me. I included a picture of Dustin with his absolute favorite cousin, Jonathon, who we won't see for awhile. He graduated a little over a week ago on a Friday, then flew off to the Marines on a Monday. I don't know what Dustin will do when he visits next time without Jonathon there. We will miss you Jonathon!!