Newsflash: I like running!

If only my junior high and high school gym teachers could see me now. I find enjoyment in running. Who knew? I believe that none of them were runners, they were the basketball coaches. (The track coaches were English teachers.) No wonder I didn't learn how to run without getting side cramps. I dreaded the mile run each Friday. I wanted to perform well, and get a good grade, but every time I got side cramps, painful side cramps that left me walking and talking with a big posse of girls.

Two months ago, I was talking to my sister, Keturah, on the phone about stuff. She mentioned that she had been running for a while and was liking it. I was skeptical. We had the same gym teachers, you know. She told me about the beginners running training program on runnersworld.com and told me to go check it out. I did. AND, I've completed it. I can now run jog really slow for 30 consecutive minutes - about 2.5 miles, while pushing my boys in a double stroller! And hooray for mp3 players! I had a different soundtrack for each run. By the end, I was running jogging to General Conference addresses.

Now I'm looking for a 5k race to enter. And, I'm going to try to run jog a little faster.

Violin Camp, day 5

No, your eyes aren't deceiving you. This stage is full of cellos. They call it a cello band. I'm putting a video of them playing Eleanor Rigby for you, Noelle (since you're the first person I saw play the Beatles on a cello).

Orchestra recap: On the first day of orchestra, the conductor split the violins into boys and girls. Boys sat to the conductor's right and girls sat to the conductor's left. Then she assigned the 2 violas and 3 cellos to sit in the middle. Sabrina got to challenge herself and learn the 2nd Violin part. The concert they gave today sounded really nice. They played Tropical Serenade, Rock Candy and Adios Amigos. I'll put Tropical Serenade on the blog at a later time.

After eating lunch, we went to the musical theatre class performance. They performed 3 songs from Suessical. Sabrina and I would now like to see the whole thing.

Sabrina with her Scandinavian Fiddling Instructor, Goran Berg. He's about to sign her Fiddle book!

Sabrina with her Master Class teacher, Pat D'Ercole from Stevens Point, Wisconsin.

Violin Camp, day 4

The highlight from today was Sabrina performing with the 60 other students in the Scandinavian Fiddling classes. This song is called Zorro's Mark. It has been fun to go to a class each day where the teacher doesn't speak English as his first language. He gets to the same meaning, but uses different words to get there. During class, after playing each song, he asks if anyone made a mistake. When hands are raised, he cheers them on saying how wonderful it is that they made mistakes. True fiddlers make mistakes and call them improvisation.

Sabrina said that her favorite class is Theory. She loves the games that she is learning to play. I really should purchase the Music Mind Games and play them with her. Perhaps I'll even offer to teach music theory to my friends' children.

As part of the fiddling concert, we heard the Aaron Ashton Band. One of the band members played "Amazing Grace" on the dobro, which is a souped up guitar (it has a cone on the inside and a 'hubcap' on the outside).

Violin Camp, day 3

Would you just look at that hand position! That is what she's been working on in her master class this week. Beautiful!

Sabrina says her favorite part of the day was when she got to play Suspense! in her Theory class. It looks like fun to me too.

My favorite part of the day was when we played "Tackle Twinkle" in her Repetoire class. The parents were involved in pushing their chlid to see if they had a good playing position with their feet. She did fine when she had warning, but I got her during her Technique class when she least expected it.

The following song has been in my head ever since Monday when Goran Berg taught it to the Scandinavian Fiddling class. It's called "Beware of the Girls."

Yesterday, Shanda took her children and my boys to Ogden to see a Disney train tour promoting an upcoming movie. My boys have yet to stop talking about their awesome time there (2.5 hour wait). Shanda has pictures posted here.

Violin Camp, day 2

The traffic to drive to and from Draper has not been bad so far. In fact, this morning we left the Ludlow's at 7:35 am and arrived at the school at 8:25. Tomorrow we'll leave even later. The first class is at 9 am.

The first class of the day was Repetoire. Mr. Hutchins from Maryland is letting everyone in the class take turns being the leader of their master class song, going in order of birthdays. The first student is played a song that Sabrina hasn't learned yet. Instead of being asked to sit down and listen he had her (and everyone else who hadn't learned it) to play the first part and the last part because it's the same as in another song she does know.

Next up was Technique. Mr. Van Reeth from Ohio involved the students right at tuning by having them play a rhythm and then he asked them what song they know how to play has that rhythm. Sabrina gave the correct answer, "Theme from Witches Dance" by Paganini. He gave them homework of learning the composers names of several songs they played. And he told them a cool story about a bowline fish under the dock, dangling feet into the water almost being tickled by the fish, a baby cousin who came along with two bumps and another cousin who is scared of putting their feet into the water. The kids made some great bowholds after that.

I have been working on binding a quilt for my mom during the classes. When I first had the idea to work on it this week, I thought it would take me quite some time. But, I guess since it is a lap quilt (and I sew fast?) it didn't take me long. I finished the last stitches during her Master class. [My mom bought the quilt at a scout auction. The top was pieced and the batting and backing were attached with pins. When we were down over Memorial Day weekend, she gave me the quilt and asked me to finish it. I quilted it using Angie's awesome quilting sewing machine last Thursday and then made a bias binding on Saturday.]

The Student Honor Recital today featured Rocky Mountain Strings, a group of 34 violinists. They played 4 pieces, each one directed by a different violinist from the group. Millionaire Hoedown is a crowd pleaser, especially when there are actions involoved.

Violin Camp, day 1

Sabrina is attending ISSI this week in Draper, UT while Roderic and Hyrum are playing with cousins (the Ludlow's today and tomorrow -- THANKS SHANDA!!!!!) It is going to be a week of fun and learning (for her and me). This afternoon she started the classes: Orchestra, Theory, Scandinavian Fiddling, and Master Lesson. Tomorrow morning she adds Repetoire and Technique.

Tonight we were favored with a concert by Jenny Oaks Baker. This is just a little clip of "Souvenir d'Amerique" by Henri Vieuxtemps. Wow.

You are invited to attend the Fiddling concert on Thursday evening at 5 pm and/or the final group concert (there is nothing like hearing 300 children playing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" in unison) on Saturday morning at 11 am.

He's 5!

Ryan put this photo collage together.

Piglets Seal the Deal: Bert Keeps his Promise

Over Memorial Day weekend, while visiting with family, we took the opportunity to visit the graves of my grandma, and both sets of Ryan's grandparents. While driving to the West Point Cemetery, my mom mentioned that in the 9.5 years of visiting her mother's grave, she had never been there when any of her siblings or father were visiting. Well, there is always a first. Her father came a few minutes after we arrived. We were talking about a myriad of topics, when he brought up the fact that he would take flowers to his sister's grave in New York. I told him that I didn't realize that he had a sister who died in New York and he replied that she died at age 6 months. That really surprised me. I didn't know that he had lived in New York as a child. Well, that started him into telling stories from his childhood. This one is my favorite:

When Pansy Owens Clay agreed to marry Hyrum Adelbert "Bert" Bateman in March of 1936, she asked for him to promise to take her and her children (from a previous marriage) to the temple to be sealed together as a family for time and all eternity. Bert had to work hard for that to happen. He had to quit smoking. He had to attend church. He had to be ordained to the Melchizedek Priesthood. And he needed to save enough money for the family to travel from Pocatello, Idaho to Logan, Utah, where the closest temple was.

During their first two years of marriage, Bert overcame his addiction to smoking, attended church with the family and was ordained to the Melchizedek Priesthood. Money, however, was hard to come by. The family was poor. It was during the Great Depression. They lived in a log house with a sod roof. One day, the only bread in the house was moldy, and so it was put in the pig slop bucket. Mother took that moldy bread out of the bucket, washed it off with water and served it for supper.

After having a discussion with Mother, about when they'd go to the temple, which left her crying, Bert left the house. He couldn't stand to see Pansy cry. He prayed to find a way to earn the money needed to get to the temple and all of a sudden, their sow and her piglets came running around the side of the house. As they ran by, Bert saw dollar signs on the side of each piglet. If he would sell the piglets, they would have enough money to travel to the Logan Utah Temple.

And so Bert sold the piglets and had enough money to take the family to the temple. They were sealed on March 9, 1938 in the Logan Utah Temple.

The best part about this story was that my grandpa got teary eyed during the retelling. He choked up at the part where the piglets come running around the side of the house. I can tell that it meant a lot to him as a 12 year old boy to go to the temple to be sealed to his mom and step-dad.