We had a terrific Halloween Season...class parties, trunk-or-treats, costumes all went well. It is always a lot of work, but it is so much fun! We hosted a party with fam and friends here at the house too! I'm all about excuses to get together and have fun!
Shaylie and I took a field trip with her class to the Southwest Symphony. We had such a great time! Shaylie loves classical music.
I may have told this story before, but I often listen to BYU radio in my car and they often play classical or instrumental music, soft religious ballads, hymns, etc. From the time Shaylie was little, I either listened to that or to the Sunny 106 Today's Music, Pop music style radio. Well, one day I was listening to Sunny to a top-40 upbeat rock & roll hit and Shaylie calls to me from the way-back of the van. "Mom, can we listen to the GOOD music?" I said, "This is good music. I like this song." She said, "No, the Good music." I was sincerely confused, but I started hitting stations and asking, "Is this a good song?" "No, the good kind." Okay, I tried a kids tape, country, whatever. Finally, hit BYU with a classical song playing and she literally sighed, "Aaahhhh, that's better!" This was when she was about 5 or 6...so you can imagine that a trip to the symphony was very exciting. 
They did a terrific job of playing to the 2500 3rd graders that came that day. They explained how music can make you imagine and feel emotions. They played "Night on Bald Mountain" (appropriate for the day before Halloween) and the first movement from Beethoven's 5th (Dum, Dum, Dum, Bum). Then Phantom of the Opera, which elicited much excitement when the emcee announced it. He explained about the Phantom living in the Opera House and causing trouble. The piece started out pretty intense and then in the middle it switched to a softer lighter tune, and Shaylie leaned over to me and said, "Why would they put that music in a song about a Phantom?" And, I explained to her that there is a girl in the story who the Phantom falls in love with and this music is her song. She totally got it and loved it! Then they closed with a medley of American Music: O Susannah, Shennandoah, My Country Tis of Thee. I was so impressed with the way they presented everything and with the kids interest. I guess my Shaylie is not the only child who appreciates GOOD music.
On Saturday, Taylor played her last soccer game with the AYSO team. They won 7-0, were undefeated for the season, and are the undisputed champions of their league. Well, maybe undisputed is the wrong word. They have a BYE next week so the season is not quite over yet, but they are the Champions.
After the game, she went on to a tryout for the Olympic Development Program (ODP) which is not a team perse, but it is the organization from which they choose any athletes that represent teams at the state, regional or national level, including the Olympics US National Team. She spent 3 hours going through drills, exercises and scrimmaging. If she is selected to be part of the program, she has the opportunity to travel, train with professional coaches and trainers, and maybe be part of teams that compete at a region or national level. (Oh wait, I already said that.) She was quite discouraged after the tryout, she wanted to do so well, but they didn't really do anything that showcased her skill as a goalie! She is sure that she didn't "make it." But in reality, there's no way to know that at this point. They encourage girls to come to more than one tryout so the staff can get to know the kids better, but this was the only Southern Utah session. The others are up north (Layton, Sandy and Orem) and I would like to take her to one more, but we'll have to see. We won't find out if she "made it" until the week before Thanksgiving. But it's been a good experience for her at any rate.
Part of the reason she felt so sad about it was that she was up super late the night before with our Halloween Party, Trick-or-Treating, then she went to the "Corpse Nightmare" with her friends, then she had a sleepover, then she woke up and played a 90-minute game and then 3 hours of intense soccer workout....she was pooped and melancholy. It was a very intense 24-hours.
Scott's super excited because he found some module kits for train layouts that are 12 X 12 inch squares (or something like that) and they fit together to make any size configuration. He is dreaming up ways to teach classes, get the kids involved and make train modeling accessible to people who can't necessarily invest the time, space or money on a bigger layout. He'll be able to tell you more about it...
I am also doing okay. I can't believe that November is here and in 3 short weeks we'll be putting up Christmas decorations and getting ready for the Holidays. I am not really enjoying my job, but I enjoy the money especially with the holidays coming, so I'll probably put up with it for a while longer, until I can figure out how to get the money without the job! I figured out my problem with it...I'm so used to being in charge of my life, big projects, and organizations (PTA, Primary) that I am not thrilled to be the low-man on the totum with someone else making the rules and looking over my shoulder every second. I think I need to have my hands in creating, inventing, making it happen. Whatever IT is. I'm pretty fed up with it all so I'm finding motivation for finding out what IT is.
My next project is making appointments. I'm using this coming week to make appointments with the Eye Doctor for Scott, the orthodontist for Shaylie and Taylor, the Dermatologist for all three of us girls, and for a doctor for me. I'm 80 percent committed to following through with it too, so that's good. Plus, I already have a dentist appointment this week and it's elections. So that's enough to go forward with, I'm sure.
Thanks for reading our blog! I guess I need to post sooner so I'm not writing a book when I get around to it. Remember to check out our individual blogs too! Sometimes they're updated a bit sooner than this one! Love to all!
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