At the beginning of the school year a friend of mine passed on some information about a gospel-oriented youth choir that her daughter had been a part of the year before and was planning on being in during the upcoming year. September and Kya LOVE to sing and it sounded like a great opportunity and it was quite inexpensive compared to most extracurricular things. But money was really tight at the time and I just didn't think we could do it. But they had scholarships available and so I applied for one. They granted us a partial one with the agreement that I would be the "roll taker" for class every week. So we decided to do it and we passed the word around to other friends and September's best friend, Ariel, ended up wanting to do it as well. But they didn't end up getting to be together after all. When I originally called the director to see if it would even be possible for Kya to be in it because she was only 7 and the age requirement was 8, he said he wanted them both to come in and audition so he could hear them and help make the decision whether or not he felt she would be "mature" enough to be a part of it. There are two different choirs: a "prep" choir for kids 8-12, and an auditioned "concert" choir for kids 8-18. Well, their auditions went so well that not only did they make an exception for Kya, but September was invited to be in the concert choir! She was actually a little bummed originally because she wasn't going to be able to be with Ariel, but after reminding her that this wasn't going to be anything that they were really going to be able to interact at anyway and it was such a great opportunity, she was o.k. with it.....nervous but o.k. The first day we went September felt really out of place. She wasn't the youngest, but she was the smallest, especially considering the director had placed her in the Alto section as well which was pretty much entirely teenage girls. At first I didn't know how I felt about this and either did September. Sure, she has a pretty low voice, but just because you sing lower doesn't necessarily mean you're an Alto. But then my mother-in-law had a talk with September about it and suddenly her attitude was, "ANYONE can sing the melody!" Ha ha, I loved it. But it really is true, anyone can pick out the melody, but if you can learn alto then you can obviously sing both parts. So in the end it actually turned out to be something she was very excited about.
I have to admit, I am not one who necessarily "loves" listening to choirs and after enrolling them and looking at their schedule and all of the dates they'd be performing, I suddenly wasn't so excited anymore of having to attend concert after concert. But my mind was quickly changed as soon as I heard them singing. From the very first rehearsal I was absolutely blown away! Not only did they just jump right in with some pretty difficult songs (within the first 10 minutes of being there they were singing Handel's "Messiah"!), but they also sounded amazing! Even the prep choir sounded great. I was actually looking forward to their concerts!
The first opportunity the Concert Choir had to perform was at an Interfaith Celebration at a church here in Lehi. They did really well and afterward the kids enjoyed interacting with the LIVE nativity they had set up outside. I've never seen a live nativity before and at first we didn't think it WAS real, but suddenly the animals started moving! The kids had a blast getting to touch the animals!
Their next performance (and the one and only one for the prep choir) was held at the Alpine Tabernacle. For their grand entrance they all came walking up through the aisles and from the sides of the stage carrying these fake little candle things. It looked so cool. Logan and Peyton were being very obnoxious and hard to deal with (it had been a long day and Pey had not had a nap), but you could still feel the spirit very strongly from these sweet little spirits!
Here's Kya!
Here's September.....and proof of our "oops"! She got a little confused about what they were supposed to wear. She told me that they were supposed to wear red or black or white. I asked her if she was sure and that it wasn't just for the prep choir who didn't have uniform attire like the concert choir. She was pretty insistent that it was everyone. So she wore her black dress and we arrived to find the rest of the concert choir in their uniform blue skirts and white shirts! Oops! No big deal, right? We didn't think so until the very end when the director had them all stay up on the stage to take a few pictures......that they were going to use to promote their "tour" in the Spring. So now as if she didn't already stand out enough because of how tiny she is, she'll stand out even more. What do you do? ;)
The final opportunity we had to watch September perform (for the season) was at a benefit concert with Michael Ballam as the main performer! I completely forgot my camera and was so bummed!! The choir rehearsals are at the American Heritage school, which is a private LDS school (it's across the street from the Mt. Timp temple). Because it's a private school they do different things throughout the year to raise money for the school. Every Christmas they do a big concert thing as one of the means of raising money and for the past couple years they have been fortunate enough to have Michael Ballam come and be the main performer. The choir is an extracurricular thing and is separate from the one at the school, but they were invited to join the school choir, as well as the orchestra, in being a part of this event. Originally we didn't plan on going because it was pretty expensive, but then their director announced that they were going to be going on "tour" in the Spring and would need to raise money for it. The kids were given the opportunity to sell tickets to the concert to raise money and all but $5 of the tickets was going to go straight into their account. So we figured that we were going to either have to pay later or pay the extra $5 per ticket and go to the concert. I'm so glad we ended up going! It was an amazing night!! Basically, Michael Ballam gave the history behind many well-known, yet little known about (as far as the meanings and stories behind them), Christmas songs. It was incredible to hear the stories and it gave me a completely different respect and understanding for these beautiful Christmas songs that we nonchalantly sing every year without having a clue what they're about or where they came from. Stephen R. Covey also did some narration throughout the night, and President Uchtdorf and Elder Oaks and their wives were in attendance! The orchestra and the combined choirs sang some songs separately, and some right along with Michael Ballam. So now I can say that my daughter has performed WITH Michael Ballam!!
One more cool thing.....at one point during the night the choir had left for a while and would be back at the end. When they came back though, September was missing! I was so scared that something had happened and that she was either sick or hurt. I almost got up to go find out what had happened. But then they did some presentations of some special thank you gifts to the key performers and participants. Suddenly there was MY tiny little daughter up on the stage handing out some of the gifts!
The spirit was so strong that night and it is a night I won't soon forget! It definitely put me in the Christmas spirit!!
For Christmas this year we did things a little differently. We put in a request with the big guy and he came through. Each member of the family got 4 different gifts: something they WANT, something they NEED, something to WEAR, something to READ. Plus, they got a few things in their stocking....some fun, some traditional. I definitely think we've found ourselves a tradition!
Here's the annual "right before we open gifts" picture!
The kids with their stockings.
Q got so excited about all of the wrapping paper! It was like, well....Christmas morning! ;)
Logan had a very Wii Christmas. All of his gifts had something to do with the Wii and more specifically the new Super Mario Bros. game. The nunchuk was a bit of a stretch....it fit into his "need" category, but technically he did need one since the first one we had Logan decided to cut in two with a pair of scissors. In his defense, he was only 2 at the time, but we were still very upset.
September and Kya wearing their new puffer vests.
Rock out, Kya!
My new camcorder/camera.....but somehow Matthew spent the majority of the day "playing" with it. Hmmmm......
We thought Pey was just snuggling under the tree with Q.....
Nope! The little thief had taken Logan's hot tamales and was trying to hide somewhere so we couldn't see her!
Q loved getting in on all the action.
Here's the fam playing the new Super Mario Bros. game. It is sooo much fun!
While the rest of the family was playing, Peyton was in the kitchen with me helping to make breakfast. She was so cute!
