Fall Piano Recital

This fall's piano recital was really fun. The kids' teacher let them choose fun settings on her keyboard to make their songs sound cool. Little L got to play hers with background percussion. The kids have improved so much this year. It was exciting to see them performing at a whole new level. It made me cry to see them playing so well. Enjoy the videos.

Bunnie Babies

Ever since we moved here Richard and the kids have been working on me, trying to get me to agree to a pet. Finally I agreed to get some bunnies because the girls can learn how to take care of them from 4-H leaders and eventually present them to judges at the fair.

We got two cages from a kind lady who just gave them to us along with a lot of advice about how to take care of them. We bought two mini rex bunnies from a breeder in our ward when they were only 10 weeks old. They are so cute. The black and white spotted one is Joy and the little brown one is Daisy. They are sisters and so adorable. I am surprisingly attached to them, it is like they are my babies. I hold them at least once every day while the girls are at school to make sure they feel loved.

The girls love them and so far have been very conscientious in taking care of them. Another bonus, their waste makes good compost for the garden.

Czech Nonet

A couple of weeks ago the three oldest and I were fortunate enough to get tickets to go hear the Czech Nonet play. Apparently the nonet (which is a group of nine musicians) formed in Prague before WWI. They were a string quartet and a wind quintet which combined to create the nonet. The group has lasted through all the world wars and is still going strong today (obviously with different musicians than the originals.) They only visited one state on their world tour and it happened to be Oregon and somehow the Umpqua Symphony Association got them to visit us after playing in Portland and Eugene. How lucky are we!!

The concert was inspiring to say in the least. The musicians were amazing. The kids would lean over and comment on how "impressive" the musicians were or how "amazing" it was to hear the music live. We sat right up front so the kids could see every movement. The first two pieces were by Mozart and Prokofiev and very beautiful. My favorite was the third piece by a composer I hadn't heard of, Steven Sacco. It was a piece called Divertimento. I loved the dynamics of this piece and its playful melody.

It was so great to hear a live concert again. I love love love going to classical concerts. It fills and enriches my soul and I could tell it did the same for my kids. It was wonderful to share that with them.

Spaghetti Face

My friend Leanne is so creative. She bought a fall cookbook and found a great way to decorate spaghetti. We had a little dinner party and everyone was a complete mess when we were done! It was great.

Grandpa is in Afghanistan

A little over a week ago was Richard's dad's birthday. He is a doctor for the Navy and was recently deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan. For his birthday everyone decided to write him a nice letter and we spent some time taking pictures which I printed out and put in the envelope. These are some of those picts.

We are told that his "hospital" and dwellings are a little more primitive than he is used to. I wish we had some pictures of him to share but he doesn't really have internet access to send them to us. We recently heard from his wife that he is doing well and she said that sometimes as a doctor he has had to help heal some children there in Kandahar. That part made me sad but also happy that he is there to help them.

Eagleview Camping

We went on one last camping trip for the year with some friends a few weeks ago. It was a beautiful, clean camping area with the river within walking distance. It was cool to walk around on the rock that used to be under water and find all kinds of treasures. Richard and Mark found some tadpoles which he used to fish with. Yucky!!