Dear Lacey 2nd. I'm sorry.

Today I messed up royally on the closing hymn in sacrament meeting. hymn #77.

I botched the intro so badly the chorister looked at me and laughed before we started singing. (I couldn't find the last part of the bracketed intro, so I held one note too long, them messed up the timing.)

During the actual song, first verse, I had a hard time keeping time. I actually laughed right out loud it was so bad, and if it wasn't for an awesome soprano singing really loud I wouldn't have been able to keep it going at all. It was that bad.

When it was over the Bishop even told the chorister it wasn't that great. His exact words, 'We kind of messed that one up Frank, didn't we?' I was still laughing.

It was glorious. If glorious means 'worst organ playing ever.'

I'm still not fired.

Apparantly I'm a composer...

Ken called me this morning around 9:40 and asked me if I could play the organ at a funeral today at 2. I asked him what the songs were and he told me there was only one, The Lord's Prayer. I told him  I'd like to see the music before I agreed to doing it because The Lord's Prayer is a HARD song to play on the piano, seems almost impossible on the organ.  Ten minutes later Eric, Ken's coworker called and asked if I could meet the soloist at 10:30. That added more to it,  I'd be accompanying someone...with almost no notice. I went to the practice and the sheet music below is what I was presented with. You can click on it to see it better.

 She asked me if I could bring it down a little lower. I was hesitant. I asked her if she really only wanted the note she was playing and she said it would be fine if I just made up the left hand as I went. HELP! I looked at the paper and luckily since it was 2 sharps, transposing it down 2 steps just means all naturals, one note lower. (Did you know that?) I agreed to play the organ for the funeral and went home and got to work writing a left hand. I'm not great at improv.

Here is a picture of what I turned the song into. You can click on it to make it larger but don't look too closely. I understand the time, anyone else might not.

The funeral was really nice. It was short.  They played Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer.  I cried a lot. I could never work funerals all the time like Ken does.  I mourn right along with the family. The soloist did a nice job on the song and I thought the version of the song was awesome! I think I should copyright it. haha

Practicing the Organ...

I've been practicing the organ everyday.  Am I improving? Maybe. Will I stop ruining Sacrament Meeting? Hopefully. Today I played a hymn using the foot pedals. I've never done that before! You see, mom and I had a deal. When Ken got a job here and we moved back to Washington, she was going to teach me how to play the organ. We talked about that very thing in the middle of February, this year. So, here I am in Washington, trying to learn the organ. I'll get it. I'm just having to go about it a different way than I first hoped.

 Click on this picture below. Don't notice all the dust on the pedals that I didn't clean off. Notice my AWESOME plaid toenails. My niece, Regann painted them. She's a talented girl!

Here's a hymn for you, not using the pedals. Any organists out there that can give me tips, I'm open to them. I'll take all the help I can get in this area.

The Violin

Matthew started playing the violin last month. In Kansas the children don't start playing in a band or orchestra until 6th grade. Here they start in 5th grade.  During his first week of orchestra he came home frustrated everyday because he didn't know how to play and the teacher didn't want to spend time helping him because there was a whole class of kids working on their second book. I spoke with the teacher and asked if he could be moved to the 5th grade orchestra so he could get some instruction and then I told Matthew that he's going to have to practice twice as hard so that he can get caught up, because in 7th grade he has to be at level. The teacher agreed to move him down and Matthew has practiced like crazy. Today his teacher told him he's doing well enough that he can start back with the 6th grade orchestra class on Thursday. He's pretty pleased. Here is a video of him playing Jingle Bells. The end is a little iffy, but he just learned it yesterday, so I'm sure we'll see more improvements as time goes by.

Since he started playing 7 weeks ago he can play:
Ode to Joy
Hot Cross Buns
Jingle Bells
and he's almost got Old McDonald down.

WAY TO GO MATTHEW!

Early Birthday Present

Once upon a time I was a little girl who lived far away from my grandparents and all my cousins. A couple of times a year we would go visit them and the highlights of my visits were:

*Spending the night in my Uncle Steve and Aunt Marla's home

*Playing "Mother May I" in the playroom

*Riding in the mini car

*Sneaking into the 'orange room' when Mom and Grandma went to town so I could play the piano and the organ

*Eating honeycomb cereal for breakfast

*Seeing my aunts and uncles that came to visit at grandma's while we were there visiting.


Grandma died when I was 11 years old. Although there was a huge void in her home when we would visit, many things remained the same. Eventually the mini car died and we got too old to play 'Mother May I' but other than that, it was a lot the same. Grandpa would let us play the piano but we still had to wait for the grown-ups to leave so we could play the organ.


My senior year of high school grandpa gave the organ to my mom. I remember watching them bring it into the house. It was a novelty for a while so we got to play on it a little bit but as time went on and grandbabies started coming over, Mom eventually covered the keys with towels and no one was allowed to use it. (Play on it)


Mom died when my daughter, Nicole, was 11. (It's strange how much Nicole and I have in common...)many things are the same when we go visit mom and dad's house but there are some voids. The organ is still there and no one is allowed to touch it, without permission. I have practiced it a few times when I've gone over to visit.


Last night my dad gave me the organ. Ken and Dad worked together to surprise me as close to my birthday as possible. Last night as it was being unloaded I had many memories rush through my head. Playing it at grandma's, learning how to play 'Jesus Once Was a Little Child' for a video we sent to Ryan on his mission, and practicing it after mom has died. I thought about watching it being brought into the house and I spotted Nicole watching the same thing. More memories were born last night.


I'm excited to have an organ in my home. Two nights a week at the church practicing isn't enough to make me feel calm on many Sunday mornings, so now I get to practice everyday. I'm also sad to have this specific organ in my home. It truly means my mom had passed away. I have tangible proof in my home. I'm more grateful than sad that it's here. Thank you Ken and Dad for a wonderful birthday surprise!



The orange room. Looking at this picture makes me miss grandama right now. The only thing you can't see if the organ. On the right hand side you can see a small corner of the couch and the organ was right next to it. As a side note, the person who took this picture was standing in the entry way. It was a tile entry way and we used to put on our church shoes and 'tap' for grandma. I have cousins and an aunt who really can tap so she probably thought we were silly, but it was fun.

The organ at Mom and Dad's home. (Dad and I were working on funeral arrangements.) If you click on this picture, you will notice right behind my head the willow tree statue is standing there with her back to us. hahaha
The corner where the organ will go in my home.

The organ in the back of the van.

The bench and the stops in my front room

Ken and our friend James getting it out of the van.

It's in the doorway.

James, Yoshki and Ken got it down 'the stair' and into the front room.

Almost done

Ahhh, all done.

Here it is...in my front room. Ironically an orange (ish) one.

The view from the front window.

Good Eats and Entertainment

Who doesn't love a little entertainment while you're eating?

Amazing Talent

My AWESOME nephew turning his face red. What TALENT! As great as it is the Brandan can turn his face red, the BEST PART of this video is when Devon proclaims that I am his FAVORITE AUNT! HOORAY! It was better than Christmas!

My AWESOME nephew playing Follow the Prophet on the TUBA!

Things on my mind at 7:10 a.m.

After watching the show Hoarders I feel the need to clean my house...NOT because it even remotely resembles a Hoarders house, but because I am GROSSED OUT!

I think we're going to take Matthew to the Dr. for his eye. It's not going down...at all.

I love the sound of sqeaky clarinets and screachy violins in the morning. It's 'music' to my ears.

I love homeschooling!!

I need to vacuum.

General Conference starts in TWO DAYS!!! HOORAY!

I just learned about this group...

They're called the Cactus Cuties. I'm sure some of you have already heard of them and if you have, thanks a lot for telling me about them! Here are a couple of YouTube videos of them. It's totally worth your time to listen! (Dad, log onto my blog to listen to these. )

I'm not sure if they have any CDs, if they do any original songs or if they are just performers of traditional music. Whichever it is, I like them! Enjoy





This last one is just 2 of the girls.

I LOVE music!!

I learned about this guy from my cousin. He reminds me a little bit of Yanni. His name is Maksim Mrvica. He is a Croatian pianist. Enjoy!

To My Family, Watch this!!

This post is for my family. Of course you are all invited to listen/watch it too. It just happens to be the BEST CHRISTMAS SONG EVER played in our home...if you ask my humble opinion. We only listened to it hundred of times growing up.

6th Grade Band Concert

Today was Nicole's first band concert. She has now been playing the clarinet for 4 months. It was fun to see all the children in the band play. The concert lasted 19 minutes. That was good too.

I know this last picture isn't centered and it's not the clearest. I LOVE IT though!

10-08-2009

Ken has H1N1
Dedra needs a nap
Matthew was pneumonia
Nicole is doing AWESOME playing the clarinet

Piano Lessons...

Sometimes they don't go as well as I want them to.

Matthew: I can't get this fixed! (referring to the corner of his sheet that is not on his bed.)
Me: You have to get off the bed to do it.
Matthew: Will you help me do it? (He's just laying on his bed.)
Me: You want me to do it. (letting him know I knew he wouldn't be helping.)
Matthew: Sure! Thanks for offering.
Right now he's in bed, serenading us with his recorder. He plays a mean Mary Had a Little Lamb.

Danny Boy

I LOVE the group 'Celtic Thunder' and my favorite song they sing is Danny Boy. Here is a clip of them singing it on YouTube.



I also LOVE the muppets and their ability to ruin anything beautiful. Here is a clip of them singing it on YouTube.

Our Little Band...

Nicole has just started to play the trumpet. Matthew just got a guitar for his birthday. The other day while my friend and I were waiting for some people from work to come over for a little get together, Nicole and Matthew put on a show for us. Try to notice Nicole tapping her toes. I love that part! I hope your ears enjoy it as much as ours did!

A few minutes later, they traded instruments. That was when Matthew showed off his vast trumpet skills! I never knew that elephants lived inside trumpets!