The Diamond

It has been so fun for me to watch as the marching band season has progressed.  Each time I saw them do their show they had made it better.  New moves, new sound effects, new props, new style!  I'm a total fan.  Being in marching band has been so demanding on Spencer and all the kids: early mornings, late nights, football games, competitions all day every Saturday.  I'm so proud of all the hard work they put into being a team.  Just wanted to share a few photos from this season.  Football games were fun for us to support Spencer as a family.  This is the Mountain View game.  If you can see the signs in the background on the Mesa side, I love the one that said "Occupy Mt. View."

Marching in the Mesa Veteran's Day Parade was really cool, too.  Since Spencer plays in the "pit" he doesn't have a portable instrument.  He was happy to march holding the school banner.  Again, if you look closely, you can see what a "man" he is.  A crazy Mesa High tradition is No-Shave November, with both boys and girls participating.  Spencer is so proud to be in the running competing against Senior guys.  Don't they look amazing in their uniforms?

After so many weeks of intense practices and competitions, the pressure increased as they qualified to enter the State finals.  This is the band boosters helping Spencer set up his area just before the State performance.

I was seriously so proud to be a band mom while they were doing their show at the State competition.  It was absolutely, purely, awesomely amazing!!  Artistically I really thought they could have taken first place.  It was beautiful.  They just played their hearts out!  "The Diamond" was such an appropriate commentary on how the time, heat, and pressure had formed these kids into precious diamonds themselves.  At one point in the show, they hold up a huge piece of "coal" and then later it has transformed into a diamond.  Sweet.

In the end, they placed fifth in State.  Being their first year in Division II, I'd say that is something to brag about.  They were all so pleased with how they performed and got so much positive feedback from those in the crowd.  They are just such a classy group.

Spencer and Kylie are never far apart.

Mr. Brooks congratulated them and said Mesa had never had such a great show.  It's been an exciting ride!

This is my favorite photo of the year.  Thumbs up!

Junior High Night

Every year, Mesa High hosts a Junior High Night at a Friday football game.  The feeder Junior Highs participate as band members and cheerleaders and perform during the game and at halftime.  It was fun for us this year to watch Noah as a TJH band member play on the field with Spencer and the MHS marching band.

Noah enjoyed his time sitting in the stands...

...because during the performance he was a big bass drum player.

Those things are heavy!  But he did a great job and had a super time out on the field.  He's still debating whether he wants to be in marching band next year.  We'll see what he chooses!

He Eats, Sleeps, and Breathes It

Football.  Jacob loves the game, any time, anywhere.  He was on an awesome flag football team the last couple of months and they had their last game this morning.  Jacob was, as usual, a star of the team.  He made multiple touchdowns in all of the games and is just an all-around great player!  Jeremy took dozens of photos at the games.  Here are some of the best shots:

Look at this face.  Would you want to play against him?  I think not.

At the end-of-season party, Coach Cunningham said to watch for Jacob because he'd have a great future in the game.  We've really loved him as a coach.  He's been such a positive influence.  What a super season!

Jog-a-Thon

The major fundraiser for the Music Department at Taylor this year was a Jog-a-Thon.  Band, Choir, and Orchestra students collected pledges and then ran or walked laps to earn money for their respective organization.  I was the Band parent representative and was so blessed by the many willing hands that helped out.  Parents provided high-carb snacks and water for the kids, as well as being cheerleaders.  They also marked each lap on wristbands the students were wearing as they came around the track.  Between all of Noah's pledges, he was going to earn $6 a lap, so he set his goal high.  He thought he could run between 4-5 miles (16-20 laps) in the time allotted.  I was so proud of him: he completed 21 laps!  I told him he'd better try out for the cross-country team next year and forget about Band (ha!).

Dia de los Muertos

Spencer is taking Spanish at school this year.  In their class this week they were assigned to build altares (altars) to honor a deceased loved one for the Mexican holiday Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).  I didn't even know Spencer was working on this until he brought it home and I just thought it was beautiful.  He built this altar to honor his Grampy Trujillo and was able to tell about Grampy's life and his memories of him.  Later that night, I bought some pan de muerto (bread of death) to eat at dinner.  The kids loved it, just like they love everything at the mexican market.

Trick-or-Treat

Happy Halloween!  This year we had some fun costumes.  Jacob was Napoleon Dynamite.  Note the pose.

Isaac wavered between a king and a knight and ended up choosing knight/king.  I love the face!

We picked up a boy in our ward to take him with us to the Trunk-or-Treat and he didn't have a costume on.  He loved Jacob's costume, though, and decided to be Napoleon's friend Pedro.  All he would have needed is a moustache.  Jacob, Richy, and Joseph (Pedro):

Spencer's costume was amazing.  He found the robe at Goodwill and then built the hands using garden gloves, folded paper claws, black spray paint, and hot glue!  He duct taped a sword and painted it black, too.  Any guesses?  A Nazgul from Lord of the Rings.

We went trick-or-treating around the neighborhood with our next-door friends Carol and Richy.  I love this set-up done by our neighbors Zee and Blaise.  The kids had to reach in the bubbling cauldron to get their treats.  We ended up with so much candy!  The next day I took Jacob and Isaac to the candy buy-back for the troops.  They made $1 a pound on all the candy they decided they didn't want to keep.

Isaac's second costume: Spidey!

Noah's is clever, too.  He got lots of guesses: lawyer? FBI? businessman?  Nope.  He's one of the Men in Black.  Cool.

Carving Pumpkins

Last Tuesday night I had Stake Auxiliary Training so sweet Jeremy took on the task of carving pumpkins with the boys.  He even remembered to save the seeds so I could roast them!

Jacob and Isaac had fun drawing their designs on the pumpkins and carving them (with adult supervision).

They are so proud!

The night before Halloween, Noah finally got around to carving his own and Jacob did Spencer's for him.  Spooky!