Choir Tour Day 4

So Sunday we went to church at 11 AM in the Singles Ward in Manhattan--the meeting house is located in the same area as the temple. A very ingenious design. Some of the young men from the choir prepared, blessed and passed the sacrament. They were having fast and testimony meeting since they were having Ward Conference today. It was great. Some of the parents of choir members and some kids bore their testimonies. Taran was feeling better by now. One of the dad chaperons gave him a blessing Saturday. Part of the meeting was a confirmation of a newly baptized young man. It gave a great feel to the meeting. After sacrament meeting we went to Rockefeller Square and took photos and then the choir director wanted the kids to go to the hotel to rest. I had gotten Taran some food but forgotten to bring it with so I decided to take it to him after we got back to our hotel. We had planned to rest then go listen to the choir practice with the other choirs. No one else needed to go so I went alone--if you know my sense of direction this was a little risky! I was fine but did get lost and I had forgotten my map. Even though I had ridden the subway a gazillion times thus far some of the lines run different on the weekends and they were announcing the changes but I didn't have my map so I got off after at the first stop. I walked the wrong way coming out of the subway but once I realized I headed back the right way and got there just fine! Taran wouldn't answer his phone so I waited in the lobby until I finally got one of his roommates to take the food up to him. I called my roommates to let them know I made it--they were worried about me, with reason as you can see! I told them I was just going to hang in the lobby because now it would mean I would get back in time to come back! So I rested in the lobby chair, not too bad. All the choirs were staying in that hotel so they could practice there for the performance. We listened to their practice. This was it before Carnegie. The choir president and president elect had gotten the kids pizza to eat after the practice. They let us join in. It was yummy. Then they returned to their hotel to dress and get ready to go to Carnegie. We returned to our hotel to rest since we had a couple of hours until we needed to be at Carnegie. We rested and talked--it was just a slumber party of fun and also good gospel conversation. Julie H and felt so lucky to have these great moms to be our roommates. We all got along great. Carnegie was pricey and they didn't let you take any photos or recordings. But a lot of parents were doing it all over! I did sneak a photo of Julie H in front the staircase. It's such a beautiful old building! Thanks to Isaac Perlman they didn't tear it down. The concert was great. All the songs were religious so I am thinking this festival catered to religious groups may also explain why the concert was on Sunday. There was a childrens choir of combined choirs and a featured choir. They sounded like angels. Then Lone Peak's Chamber Choir--Taran's choir went on after. We were sitting in a box seat with a family from Atlanta whose younger son was in the childrens choir. They let us up front when they were trading places on stage. They were a great family--apparently their son was in this children's choir and came to Carnegie 2 times as a kid. He still sings and was going on choir tour to England this week! (And we thought this trip was expensive!) Also I forgot to mention that the composer of a compilation of songs the childrens choir sang was sitting next to us--in the next box. Taran's choir was incredible, his director said that they were perfect in every way. They stunned everyone! The spirit was so strong as they sang. We got lots of compliments and heard people commenting. Apparently the composer came to Ms J the choir director on the plan and let her know how amazing he thought they were and that they should be the standard for all high school choirs! I think most of the schools were private so I think they would have been surprised to know we are a public school! Anyway, I was able to give the family from Atlanta the Book of Mormon I had prepared with our family photo in it and our testimony. They were so awesome I felt strongly this is who I needed to give it to. After the concert the kids were elated! They had had an amazing experience. Taran says that it was his highlight of the tour! Me too! What a great end to an amazing experience. I guess it's tradition they go to Carnegie deli after the concert so we met up with them there. It's the same place we got the 'melo'. Ms J treated the kids to whatever they wanted. Taran and his friends got the melo and cheesecake! We saw that family from Atlanta and their group there too. It was a special evening.

Choir Tour Day 3

Saturday the kids had practice all day with a few breaks. We went to the New York Public Library to an exhibit called 3 Faiths about Christianity, Judaism and Islam and how they are similar in their having Abraham as part of their religion. That is it in a nutshell but they also had cool artifacts, old scrolls and books hundreds of years old. We went to the temple after that but missed the endowment session--they only do 1 an hour so we did initiatory. Julie H. was feeling bad so she went and laid down in the church which is accessible from the temple. After we went to a bakery then back to the hotel and rested. That night our other roommate Julie went with her daughter and others to see Phantom of the Opera. We took 12 kids sightseeing and shopping. Taran was sick so I got him dinner and he stayed in his hotel. It was a cold night so that was smart. I found some great deals shopping. We stopped at the Toys R Us in Times Square it was huge it had 3 levels and a ferris wheel inside it! We ended with a trip to the Brooklyn Bridge. We saw Alexander Hamilton's grave on our way. I wish my camera could have done it justice!

Choir Tour Day 2

Friday we woke up to a lot of rain. Julie stayed at the hotel to get rush tickets for that night and sleep in! So the three of us met up with the rest of our group to go to the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and 9/11 Tribute Museum. The Festival organizers had arranged tour guides to help us take the subway all the way to the dock. It was a great experience despite the rain. The guides were darling. I am mad I did not get a picture of them! They led the kids in the Lone Peak fight song and the national anthem at the steps of Ellis Island. It was stirring! From there we took the subway over to the 9/11 Tribute Museum which is across the street from the area the towers resided--now they are rebuilding some but the twin towers will have a water fountain in their spot with the names of the victims engraved in the stone. The museum was touching as footage and stories were told and artifacts displayed--an air plane window, high heels, id...It was real, it was tragic the heroes were the amazing part of the story. They had a lady tell her story of that fateful day and that of her daughter who worked in Tower 7 which came down after the Twin Towers. So much that I did not know about what happened that day! It was amazing and we must not forget it. From there we went a few stores down to a deli and they served up in 15 minutes (40 of us!) and then one of the main workers told his story, he was a teenager when it happened! It was a great time. From there the kids headed back to the hotel to change out of wet clothes and get ready to go to the Lion King. We went on our own and saw some of the sights. Then we went back to our hotel and met up with Julie. I guess I should say we had 2 Julies: Julie Hallsted who works for Jetblue and Julie Fonbuena another mom who joined us. Julie H. had gotten us tickets to Memphis which had won the Tony in 2010 for best musical. We checked the kids to see if they were hungry and since we had a big lunch. They weren't allowed to go out on the subway without a chaperon and they had to go in groups of 5 and had to have some boys in it if they went without a chaperon. By now Taran wasn't feeling well but he sucked it up with meds and went to Lino King which was part of their tour cost. He loved it, he said that it was life changing! LOL! We enjoyed our show too. But we did a little sightseeing and came to Saks 5th Avenue for a little stop to see the $200 hats! Robin got a hand massage and ended up buying some expensive stuff. The saleman was so cute how could she resist? He gave us all samples and gave Robin and Julie H each a free bag! I got hungry just before the show so I bought a peanut butter brownie at a bakery by the theater. Julie H was getting sick and bought some meds while I was in the bakery. As I said we enjoyed the musical but just a heads up if you go there are c couple bad words, not a ton. I would have left and I think my friends would have also had it been that bad. Otherwise it was very entertaining. I did notice some people were enjoying it a bit much, they were drunk. Really it was good enough without being drunk!

Choir Tour Day 1

So after we got over to Delta from the Jetblue terminal we took bus shuttles to the kids' hotel the Sheraton Manhattan. From there our kids helped us to our hotel via subway The Marriott Residence Inn at Times Square--the staff there were amazing! They stored our luggage for us (it was 8 AM) and told us to enjoy breakfast! That was so nice. Then we went back to the kids' hotel. Taran was feeling lousy since he didn't sleep at all on the flight but I doubt I slept more than 20 minute stretches! I was living on adrenalin. We split into groups one group was touring museums, one went sightseeing until they got to the temple to do baptisms. Our group was to join up at the temple but we had time to run to a couple of theaters to see if we could get rush tickets--discounted Broadway tickets for different shows. We ended up getting tickets to Spiderman the musical--which was super fun and the music was by U2 and I loved it! The temple was a great experience. The kids were exhausted but it was a nice contrast to the busyness outside. After the temple the choir was to meet back soon to sing at an Assisted Living Center. So we took them to Central Park for a little look and had gyros from a street vendor--Taran ate them all the time after! We stopped outside of the Museum of Natural History from Night at the Museum. But alas not enough time to see it all. The weather was a bit chilly that day so we used coats, scarves and hats. After we dropped the kids off at their hotel we went back to our hotel to check in and rest. One of our roommates and I were going to use the fold out bed so we opened it up to check it out--it was terrible so Julie called to get a roll-away bed mattress to put on top of it. They upgraded us for free! So we moved there and unpacked and it was great--2 queens this time! One of our roommates and her daughter went with a group to see Wicked. Our other roommate Robin, Julie, her son Breton and Taran and I went to Spiderman the musical. But before we went to the theater we got a giant sandwich the 'melo' named for Carmelo Anthony who was just traded to NY Knicks! It was $24 but we all split it and were full. When we got out of Spiderman it was raining.

Catching UP!

You may not want to read all these posts but hey it's our family story so here it goes!
I didn't have time to write about our Valentine's Day or Micah's birthday. Highlights of that time:

Valentine's Day Tim sent me chocolate covered strawberries, YUMMY, from Shari's berries. We had our date the Friday before so we had a family dinner of pizza--the kids' favorite! We also one of the Costco Red Velvet cakes for dessert. We gave the kids a valentine bag of their favorite candy. I had scouts that day--we took them swimming to pass off the rescues and out for ice cream after. I also helped at Izak's Valentine class party. Forgot we made heart shaped pancakes for breakfast...It was a fun busy day!

Zane earned his 100 books t-shirt. The goal for all of first grade is to read 100 books by the end of March (that was starting in January). At first Zane did 5 books a day but then got up to 10 as he got closer. So proud of him!

The Saturday before Micah's birthday we took him and some friends to see Tangled in honor of it. He and our other boys were not interested when we went in November. They loved it! Taran and Timo have never seen it, they are missing out!

Sunday was Micah's birthday so my family came over for his dinner and dessert. It was a lot of fun and he liked all his presents. Monday Granny took him out for lunch and shopping. He had a great time. Then he went to a birthday party for a girl in his class at Jump On It--a place that has a warehouse full of trampolines. He had a blast. Meanwhile, since it was President's Day I was trying to get ready for my trip to NYC. But I had some bored sad kids so I took them to the dinosaur museum. That was fun and it all turned out fine. Tim had to work so he missed out and I am not sure what my older boys did...

Tuesday I went to the temple then I went shopping for stuff for the family for while I was going to be gone. That night was the Blue & Gold banquet and it was great. Izak got his Arrow of Light award and crossed the bridge to be a Boy Scout! That night my friend Julie who works for Jetblue, Robin another mom going on choir tour and I went to the airport to make an appearance so our chances of getting on Stand By would increase. We got home at 12:30 PM!

Wednesday I packed what I needed still. Julie who works for Jetblue was watching the flight load and saw that we were not going to get on the red eye that night--we found out that New York had the week off so lots of them were flying home that week!
This meant we had to leave by 4 PM to get to SLC airport by 5 PM to catch a flight to Long Beach and then from there go to New York! I kind of got a little panicked but Tim, my mom and the kids helped me out so I could be ready to go. I swear I went to Walmart 3 times that day! Anyway, we got to New York the same time as the kids and they flew Delta-red eye! They caught a tail wind so they made time!

Happy 11th Birthday Izak!

Wow, didn't I just post about Micah's birthday???? Yes, it's birthday time around here. Tim's is next Wednesday! But today it's about Izak! He was born just 2 weeks after we moved into to our house in Cedar Hills. It was crazy and I still feel like I never got properly organized! He has been a delight most of the time. I remember thinking he was the funnest baby we ever had, he was just so happy all the time once the colic wore off. Maybe the contrast had something to do with it! :) He is a great thinker, athletically talented and musically talented. It is fun to see these children come to their talents. He is very tenderhearted and tends to befriend those with no friends. He has become a social bug this year and has spent time in the hall for chatting! I was shocked, our shy guy no longer! He's been doing better with that since I offered to come to school and sit with him. Hopefully the teen years won't break his tender heart, hopefully he'll weather that time well. He is off to the BYU Spring Merit Badge Pow Wow today with some friends. Hopefully he will enjoy the rest of the day celebrating! Happy Birthday to our Mr. Izak!

Freedom Friday

What to Do About High Oil Prices This is an excellent article about how we need to get rid of so much dependence on others for our oil supply. Please read it and let our representatives know we want independence from other countries. Thanks!