Student Recital

I have been meaning to post these cute pictures of my dear sweet students. These are just a few of my students at their recital. Aren't they just adorable?

They are such a joy to teach, and they say the funniest things. One of my students told me that my piano was old fashioned, and that hers was much cooler because it could play all these different sounds (she has an electronic keyboard). Also there was the day that I didn't flat iron my hair and I was convinced it was too poofy. Everyone that I asked assured me that it looked cute. Well I asked my cute student Bella at her lesson if she cut her hair, and she said that she did and that my hair looked different too... that it was frizzier. Finally honesty :-)
My cute student Avery. She played one of my favorite pieces that I played when I was little called Jungle River. My mom leaned over to me during her performance, and was like I remember when you played this. I like this one.

This is one of my newest students Sophia. She is from Canada and speaks French. She hadn't learned how to read notes on the staff yet, and so I taught her piece by rote. It was an experiment on my part, but she did awesome!

My cute student Bella. She always says the funniest things. Apparently she has three different boyfriends right now. When I was asking her if she was talking about Grant one day, she said no my other boyfriend.

Finally my cute student Addy. She is one of my smartest students. I have never had a student fly through the method books the way she does. She could almost teach herself.

Felicity

I buried my cat today. No matter how hard you prepare yourself for that moment, you are never ready to say goodbye. My kitty was no ordinary kitty. She never really went by Felicity. Instead she was lovingly referred to as "kitty", "frito", "freeze" and "fissy"

She loved to sunbathe!

I told my mom when I was little that I wanted a kitty, and with a stroke of luck, a stray cat came to live with my family. One morning, the day that my uncle came home from the gulf war, our stray cat had kittens, and my dear sweet Felicity was born. She was an identical twin. I loved that cat. She has been a part of my life since I was 5 years old. My dogs slept in my parents room, but my kitty always slept with me. Being an only child, my kitty was more of a sibling. I spent hours just hanging out with my kitty. Whenever I was upset my kitty always seemed to know, and countless times I would bury my face in her fur and cry. She always made me feel better. 

She liked to eat plants!

One of the hardest things for me was leaving her at my parents when we got married. (Preston is allergic to cats) However, every time I would practice she would curl up on the orange chair in the living room to listen to me practice. In the past year her health declined. She could no longer eat hard food because of a bad tooth (she was too old to have surgery) And then two weeks ago, she stopped eating and became so thin that she looked like a holocaust cat. Yesterday after trying to force feed her with out any luck, I made an appointment to have her put down so that she would not starve to death. I am grateful however that we did not have to put her to sleep. After giving her a bath yesterday, she went downhill. We wrapped her in a blanket and held her. 

The famous orange chair that she loved to sit in!

She died in my arms last night. As hard as it was to see her that way, I am glad that I was there. A part of me kept thinking that she would wake up. I kept expecting to see her walk up and meow when I got there this morning. We buried her with her favorite toys and an old shirt of mine (she liked anything that smelled like me) My dad and I had a hard time laying the first scoop of dirt on her. It's been a rough day. We planted a flower over her grave. I miss my kitty. 

Blue and White Day

The name for the field day at the elementary that I teach at is called Blue and White Day. It is a fun day in which the students are placed on either the Blue team or the White team (which are the school's colors) and the teams battle out to see who the victor is: the Blue Team or the White Team. The winning team then gets their color put on the plaque in the hall of the school.  It is fun to see all of the teachers and the students in either their blue or white shirts. (Notice the neutral status of some of the teachers above.) The park was so beautiful that day. (It was before we started to have all of this rainy weather.) My favorite moment was when one of the founders of the school (who is in his eighties?) squirt with a hose everyone who participated in the tug of war. We also had delicious popsicles from Paces in Bountiful. (I would highly recommend them.) The white team were the victors. Hooray! It was a great end to a wonderful school year! 

Hike

For our birthdays this last year, Preston and I both got hiking shoes. Hooray! I have been wanting some good ones for quite awhile now. I love to hike and we decided with our friends Mike and Madison that we are going to try and go hiking every other weekend. Madison and Mike have a great book called 60 hikes within 60 miles that lists hikes all around the Salt Lake Valley. It also listed details about what the hike is like: how steep, how long etc. Well it also lists difficulty levels. Since it was our first hike of the season we decided to go for one that was listed as easy. However, I guess we must all be a little out of shape, because none of us thought it was easy. Maybe average....
Check out the view from the top! Isn't it beautiful?
The hike was called the Living Room and it is up by Red Butte at the U. It was really fun. There are sandstone slabs that people have arranged to look like living room furniture with ottomans and couches and chairs :-) This one is my favorite. Note the remote control that someone made with the rocks :-)

Next time I want to hike further and go to a place called the tower. Has anyone been there? It sounds neat.

Night on the Town

This summer has been a blast so far. We went on a double date with my good friend Lindsey and her boyfriend James. We headed downtown for some delicious pizza at Stoneground. After dinner we went shopping at Gateway and then we went to the Off Broadway Theatre for the comedy show Laughing Stock. It was such a fun night.

Lindsey and her boyfriend James

When we turned the flash off on my camera, we were able to capture the lights of downtown. I love the street lights in this picture.

Side note: Linds has been such a great friend and has helped me to clean out my closet. (I am a major pack rat and still cannot seem to part with my old shirts and shoes from high school.) Thanks Linds!

Pres and I before the show