Then Let Us All With One Accord Sing Praises To Our Heavenly Lord

I flew back!

To Portland, that is.

Isn't that view gorgeous!?

It's right outside the back window of my host, Carrie's home!

Anyway, I came back for a very special reason.

To sing as a member of the Portland Ensign Choir and Orchestra one last time.

Why?

Not only to see and sing with these lovely talented ladies again...

Emily, Carrie, Betsy, me

...but to be able to sing again, period.

I lost my twin girls right before the final June performance earlier this year.

During the concert they were dancing to the music inside me.

It was very hard to even think about singing without them being with me.

I needed to sing in the same setting one more time, this time without them, so I could have an assurance that I would be able to sing ever again.

With a goal in sight, I overcame my vocal trial.

I'm happy to say.

I felt my girls cheering me on during all three performances.

I can even say I'm positive they joined in with the audience on our encore.

Thank you so much Dave, Emily, Patrice and especially Carrie!

Love you all.

O Beautiful for Spacious Skies

Seth, Porter, and I returned from Casper just before the Fourth.

We wanted to make sure we made it to the Banks fireworks!

We went last year and really enjoyed the optional karaoke, booths, races, and pre-show entertainment.

We most especially enjoyed the three firework 'finales' during the show!

This year only had two, so I think they're running low on their budget.

Surprise, surprise...

Anyway, this year, Seth and Porter squeezed in a barrel so they could do this:

We were joined by a bunch of friends before the show, and enjoyed ourselves :)

My favorite part of Independence Day this year was done a couple weeks before...

We sang tributes to our military, and the reactions of the military members in the audience were priceless and even made me tear up.

My seat in the concert made it slightly more entertaining since I sat behind the tuba and the babies were kept awake throughout the performance.

It was fun to feel their little surprised jumps.

Maybe they were dancing.

Sadly, I only got to perform once because of what happened between the two performance dates, but I enjoyed every bit of my involvement in the Portland Mormon Choir and Orchestra.

I will miss that group.

Concert in the Grotto

One of my concerts with Beati this season was at the Grotto.

I believe it was our best one.

Not only because we did well...heehee...but because of the setting we peformed with.

Gorgeous.

Jenn came to see me peform!

I'm so glad she came! It was a lot of fun seeing someone I knew out in the audience!

Seth had studies, so didn't come to this one.

I know I don't need to say this, but...

SO PRETTY!

I love Christmas.

Beati Concert

Beati Chorum had its first concert of the season last Friday that went really well! I can't wait to continue with more in the next few weeks! If you're in the area, come see!

I Miss...

I'm having one of those reminiscing days where I'm thinking about all the people and things I miss...so I thought I'd blog about it.

I miss...

...my family....

...especially my cute mom.

Even if it's only been a little over a week since I saw her.

Twin Falls

I love the Perrine Bridge. It's my place of solitude. I like to walk the canyon rim and just sit under the bridge while all the cars go overhead.

Shoshone Falls is the prettiest falls I've ever seen. I miss picnics down there.

Old friends


BYUI friends

Collegiate Singers




Getting to hang out with my cute sister all the time.


Vocal Union

Heck, I just miss PERFORMING!...well, mostly singing-related performing.

Watching Seth play, and dancing along.
...which brings up dancing...



I miss these girls...A LOT.

I have no pictures of my artwork at the moment, but I miss taking the time to work on my art...

And most everyone is going to roll their eyes at this one

I miss being this skinny.

That's pretty much it.

FIVE

On Wednesday, We performed the play we've been preparing for for a few months now, Five by Michael McClean. It was written in the 80s. Here's a little view of the activities of the night! We had a lot of fun and were even a little nervous! What?

Pre-show bathroom scene...(no worries, nothing inappropriate)





...and backstage fun...




Our cute choreographers were sweet enough to take the pictures for me since I couldn't ;)



Taunya and Jenny

Shaille is an amazing pianist, and was so great at all our practices and at our performance! We love you, girl! Couldn't have done it without you!

Kathy was our narrator, and isn't she a beautiful one at that!?

We begin our play as teenagers drooling over "Jack" or Mr. Perfect ;)

"I've Only Kissed him Goodnight"

"I'm gonna be a star!"



"Use your brain...cuz you may not catch a man"

Being "kids" for Joan's (Cori's) dream of being a mother.

"You and I aren't half as good as we"

And then they're grown!



"You're not Alone"

I'm sure everyone's heard the last song...that is if you're LDS anyway.

The play went really well from all accounts. It was a lot of fun to perform and I can't wait until we get to see the video! I loved being with all the girls and already miss hanging out with them twice a week! We'll have to do more together some other time.

SO, now what do I do? I have all this free time! ;)