March Moments

Mattress Fundraiser

Our goal is to raise $35,000 to replace the following items:

Ugly chairs, broken stands

Hideous, ancient shell and cumbersome, outdated risers.

Friends like Caytlin and Kelsey came out to support us! Loved the chance to hold Sydney :-).

And ALLIE and CHRIS actually ended up buying a mattress! Wahoo!!

Kids went outside and held signs, some dressed like mattresses.

 We ended up selling 58 mattresses and got $675 in donations. On our own, we raised about $10,000. Our principal was able to come up with the rest of the money we needed to buy our new equipment next year!  We are sooooo grateful.

 Many's Birthday Weekend

We kicked it off with a little shopping...

...followed by our fav restaurant Magelby's (though not the same without Tessa!)...

...followed by visiting Scottums...

...followed by Magelby's fresh the next morning!

I was sad not to get the French toast, but this is a pretty darn good gluten free alternative.

When Many was out getting a tire fixed, my friend Andrew and I went to Zurcher's and decorated the condo as a surprise!

 

We went to the Art City Trolley for dinner, and it was delightful!

We were joined by more of Many's friends!

We headed back to the condo for cake, ice-cream sundaes, and games.

Spot it! (Not my forte).

Cranium

Many's boyfriend decorated the cake himself with Kit-Kats and M&M's!

And then I took selfies with the birthday girl's crown. Shameless.

Munchkins

I want this picture in my blog journal forever.

I love spending time with this little curly-headed cutie. She is getting two little brothers very soon!

Mastering Guitar Hero

And here is the band teacher, pregnant with twins, kicking my trash at guitar hero!

Me and my cousin

We went to the Habit for my cousin's birthday.  So good to catch up.  I'm so lucky to have such a good friend for a cousin! We're the same age and have always been close.

Mattress Fundraiser

Okay, everyone, I'm leading by example.  I've been after the kids to advertise for our music department mattress fundraiser.  It's my turn!

Below is the form letter I told my kids to email to friends and family. If you're interested, email me at ktkarrots@gmail.com and I will send you a coupon for $50 off!

As you may know, I am a member of the Highland High School Choir. We are raising money to buy a new shell, risers, chairs, and stands for the music department. On Saturday, March 1st between 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., we will be having a mattress sale. All sizes, including special sizes, are available. Prices start at $249 and there will be 20 sets to choose from. They can be delivered or picked up at the company's warehouse about 2 weeks after the sale. They accept all forms of payment -- including credit and debit cards, checks or cash. They also provide a LAY A WAY program. They offer savings from 30-60% below retail on quality brands such as Simmons, Restonic and Southerland. If you have a mattress in your home that could be replaced, please come take a look!

If you are not interested in purchasing a mattress right now but would still like to help us buy the equipment we need, you can donate online by copying and pasting the following link in to your browser and following the instructions given.

https://secure2.myschoolfees.com/single_item_link.aspx?sid=125&feeid=884

Thank you! We can't wait to see you at the sale!

Lately...

Babysitting Caroline

I love the things that two year olds do.

Cousins Sleepover

Love hanging out with Nicole! She makes everyone around her feel so loved.

Baby Scotty

His face melts my heart.

Crafting

Over President's Day weekend, we had a sisters sleepover and made Scotty a mobile.  It was so fun and we all did a part of it.  I tied the fabric around the wood frame and cut out the stars.

University of Utah Doctoral Vocal Performance Candidates visit HHS choirs

They sang a quartet from La boheme at the beginning and a jazz quartet at the end to show their versatility.  Each of the women performed incredibly beautiful solos- one an aria and the other a musical theater piece. 

The men performed, "Lily's Eyes" from Secret Garden, which was the majority of my students' favorite number.  Funny connection- the guy on the right did his undergrad work at UCSB and was in my home ward with his wife and kids!

They answered questions for my students, who were quite a captive audience!

Kelly's Baby Shower

We had a "whale" of a time! (The theme of the shower).  It was an absolutely darling shower!

These little yogurt/cool whip parfaits were INCREDIBLE.  I had two.  I am totally using that idea.

Do you know which ones I got right and which ones I got wrong? I think I scored 5 out of 10!

Harder than I expected.  What do you think of number 15? :-)

They gave AMAZING prizes to the game winners! I left that shower with more in my hands than I came in with. I won the game where I had to identify which characters came from which kids' shows.

We all got to take home the goodie bags on the left! They had milk chocolate covered coconut almonds (Kelly's husband is Hawaiian), a mini coke, star-bursts, and skittles.

They are naming their baby Henry.  Kelly and I both lived in Millrace. Love that girl! She has always been such a supportive friend.

Potty Humor

This was a shoulder shaking, suppressed laughter for at least thirty solid seconds moment in piano class today. Two of my students were giving a presentation on Liszt, a very well known pianist from the 19th century. It became increasingly clear that these students had done some copying and pasting for "research." My first clue was the phrase that said Liszt's parents "recognized his precocity." First of all, they could not pronounce the word; second, they didn't know what it meant. I gave them a little lecture about knowing the material in their presentations, shook my head, and we moved on. Then came the slide talking about one of Liszt's compositions being a "noteworthy even in the annals of music history." The presenter read it out loud, but pronounced it in all seriousness as "the anals of music history." I decided not to make any more comments about their lack of understanding of the words on their PowerPoint but instead laughed and laughed and laughed some more. When the slide was over, a smart-alec student sitting near me said, "Wait, what are the anals of music history again?"

Valentine's Week 2014

New Beginnings

Because there are so few young women in each of the wards in my stake, we do New Beginnings on a stake level.  It was two days before Valentine's Day.  This was our first activity as a new stake young women's presidency.  We went with a crossword design for the theme this year, "Come Unto Christ."

We each spoke about one of these things. I was assigned to talk about how attending the temple has helped me draw closer to God.  We had YW help us in our talks. 

On each table were these crossword puzzles with questions about YW.

Whoever finished the puzzle first got to take home the flowers in the middle of the table, wrapped in cellophane and a bow.

Traci did all the BEAUTIFUL flower arrangements!

 

Janeen coordinated all the food efforts. She is an amazing president. 

 

The chocolate fountain was an ENORMOUS hit!

My Valentine

  

He just keeps getting cuter and cuter.  All the non-delicate lipstick marks are mine. I couldn't figure out how to make them look cute like Tina's.

 

Valentine's Day

I'm all about making Valentines from things I find in my house.  This year, the only thing I went out and bought were the little chocolates. I used scrapbook paper I've collected over the years, heart paperclips my mom sent me in a Valentine's Day package one year, and musical note ribbon given to me by my grandma a few years ago. Focusing on making Valentine's for people I loved really helped me to have a great day instead of feeling wistful.  I wish I could have given one to every single person I love.  Please know how much I love you!

My students did singing Valentines to several classes around school this year and handed out handmade Valentines with funny pickup lines. One of my favorites was, "People say Disneyland is the happiest place on earth. They have obviously never been in your arms."  My favorite song performed by my choirs was "You're the Inspiration", sung by my Ladies Ensemble. I adore Chicago.  We then came back to the classroom and shared romantic stories of things students had received or given on Valentine's Day.  I have always LOVED this day of LOVE.

Flashback Thursday

 I couldn't wait for flashback Friday because I have already waited a year and a half.

I never posted pictures from when I was in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat during the summer of 2012.  My mom just sent me some for a project I'm working on.  Photo cred to my dad!

Jacob and Sons (and their wives!)

Joseph is such a kiss-up!

There's one more angel in heaven (yee haw!)

Go, go, go Joseph, you know what they say!

So dreamy!

Give me my colored coat, my amazing colored coat to wear! (Fun fact- Joseph and the girl in the right corner are now married. She was our choreographer! They met doing a show before this one).

I miss my husband.

What a great experience.  I hope I can be in a show again this summer!

Coconut Almonds

Katie, spending the night in Provo with her parents, wakes up at 6:30 in the morning.  She can't get the Costco coconut almonds from the night before out of her head.  She goes in to her parents room and starts looking around for the bag.  Her mom wakes up from the sound of her daughter rummaging around.

Mom: Katie?
Katie: Mom, where are the coconut almonds?
Mom: I don't know, I was looking for them at midnight!  I think they are all gone.
Katie: No! I want some so bad!!

After looking in the trash for evidence of the consumed delicacies and finding none, Katie goes back to bed, stumped but empty handed.  She wakes again at 8:30 a.m. and goes on a second search for the bag of chocolate covered treats.

Mom: Did you find the coconut almonds?
Katie: No, but there is no empty bag in the trash so they can't be all gone.
Mom: I think they got eaten last night when Jer and Tina were over.

Katie begins suspecting that maybe her sister and brother-in-law took off with the bag, but quickly dismisses the thought, ashamed of the suspicion.  Again disappointed, she goes back to her room to start preparing a talk.  Later, her mother comes in, singing a little song she wrote herself. 

Mom: I have a surprise for Katie, the sweetest I could find! I think they are mostly eaten, I hope that you won't mind!
Katie: Oh my gosh, where were they?!
Mom: Your dad HID them last night in his bedside table!
Katie: What?!
Mom: He said to me, "Well, I ate one. And then I ate another.  And then I couldn't stop.  So I had to get them out of my sight." I told him, "I have to go take these to Katie!" He immediately countered, "No!"  I asked him why not and he replied, "What about us?"