End of the Year Concert

Darby had her end of the year concert tonight. There was miscommunication about when they were to arrive but I was able to get her there only a little late for rehearsal. I wish the choir officers and director were better at communicating. Anyway, she had to be there early and we went closer to the start time. it was at Coronado High School and was combined with their choir. There were a variety of choirs (mixed, treble, UIL, just seniors, etc). It was quite an amazing concert. The songs were beautiful.

There were also senior spotlights and when the other choir members came out with graduation cords and flowers for the seniors, tears were shed. They sang a parting song called, May the Lord Bless You and Keep You for the seniors. 

There were also gifts given to the choir directors. There was a short awards portion and s senior slideshow. All in all it made for a very long concert but a good one. 

Darby's seminary teacher, Sister Packer, had asked me to tell her when any concert was but previously she had been busy every other concert. This time she was able to come. It was her first high school choir experience (her older kids are in dance and football). She brought Darby a bouquet. it was sweet and Darby was so surprised. 

Darby also said that she signed a retirement card for Mr Reza. If he is retiring that I sincerely hope they get someone really good for a replacement. Franklin, along with Coronado, are the best and biggest choirs in EPISD. They always make it to UIL. It's a lot to live up to plus choir is why Darby wants to stay here until graduation even though Jason will retire in two years. 

Franklin Choir 2024-2025

Memorial Day

We spent part of Memorial Day, as always, going to a military cemetery. Jason played a very nice podcast about remembering the fallen on the drive there. Elder McDaniel works there on Mondays usually but the office was closed for the Federal holiday so we didn't get to meet the people he serves with. 

We tried to go to a different part of the cemetery than we had been before. We weren't able to go to the early ceremony due to Elder M being at the mission office but we saw all the flags and flowers that had been laid out, along with the many coins on the gravestones. One had several quarters on it. If you will remember, quarters mean that you were with them when they died. 

One gravestone even had this inscribed on the back. Usually the only thing on the alternative side of the headstones is a family member. We saw many different symbols of belief including a Buddhist one and also a Native American one. 

It is always interesting to read the headstones and see when they were born and when they died, when  they served, any awards they received and often a short inscription from family. One headstone (her first and middle name was Baby Ruth) said, " We love you Big Mama". She must have been a character. The oldest headstone I saw this trip was someone who had been born in 1866. 

There were also many families there near a loved one's grave. That always touches me. Memorial Day must mean a lot more to them. I hope most people in the USA think of Memorial Day as more than just a day off from school or work and take some time to remember those who have died in the service of their country.

Dance Class

For our combined YW and YW activity this Wednesday we had a dance class. For the first half of the night some of the older YW taught lines dances that were commonly danced at FSY and stake dances. Many of them required quick movement and turns but the youth really seemed to be trying. Most caught on somewhat by the end of the song. It was the most fun to watch the Deacons and YW12 as they had never been to stake dances before. 

Most of the youth participated fully, however, there were a few who just sat there. Funnily enough the Teacher Quorum presidency who had planned this activity weren't participating and believe me the other youth noticed that.  

The second half of the night was social dance taught by Sister Smith. She taught them how to be in hold and how to do rock step instead of just the "deacon shuffle". She also taught them a little bit of swing and reinforced to the boys how to lead. They paired up and switched partners every so often. I was so proud of the youth for being good sports, especially those who aren't "natural born dancers". It was nice to see them be social as I feel like it is becoming a lost art as technology consumes a lot of their attention. Paige had plenty of partners as she is friends with the boys her age and both knew they didn't "like" each other so it wasn't weird. 

Darby had driving class so she missed most of it. I left early to get her and she was able to learn the very last part of Sister Smith's lesson. She and Eva were practicing together as we were a little short on boys. 

All in all it was a great activity and I hope we do it again next year. 

NJHS Induction

Paige was nominated for NJHS (National Junior Honor Society) by one of her teachers. She had to fill out the form and write an essay. We found out a few weeks ago that she was selected. Tonight was her induction ceremony. It was a busy night with the ceremony, Darby's class, and YW but we managed to make it all work. She got dressed up and left a bit early for a rehearsal. 

Jason took Darby to her driving class and Eva and I went to the school to save him a seat. 

The ceremony was fairly short and consisted for some explanation about the expectations of belonging to NJHS, announcing of the names and reciting the pledge. Each student went up to the microphone and said their names. Later Paige said is was nerve-wracking but not that bad. 

Here is our awesome cute honor student. 

An Old Lady

Today Stella turned nine years old. She is officially a senior dog. It's hard to remember a time without her.  She is still full of life but does sleep a bit more than she used to. She is still super smart and recognizes patterns quickly and solves all dog puzzles even faster. She still joins us for family prayer by putting her front paws up on the coffee table as we kneel. She still barks at strangers from the house but is super friendly outside of the house on walks. She still loves treats (carrots is a new favorite) and has no interest in balls. You can see in the picture that ripping apart squeaky toys is still a favorite pastime. These three toys were birthday presents. One is completely ruined already. She is still very vocal and follows me around the house (typical velcro dog). She has sad eyes every day the kids leave for school and welcomes them back every afternoon with tail wags and excitement. We love her so much!

UIL Competition

Hello everyone, this is Darby. 

On Friday, May 8, Franklin High School Choir went to compete in the UIL singing competition. The whole choir was in the choir room practicing from 8:45am to 1:00pm, when we left.  

When we got to Americas High School to compete, we went to what I think was the band room, and waited for a long while to be let into the theater to hear the other choirs. We were supposed to sing at 4:45 but everything was behind schedule. Finally, our choir began to warm up, and eventually went on stage to perform.  We sang three songs:  one called Sing Unto God, one called Locus Iste, and one called J’entends le Moulin. 

Afterwards, the choir went back  to the band room, and waited for 45-ish minutes before finally doing the sight-reading portion of the competition. Then, after the shortest wait of that day, we finally got our scores and our trophy. We got a 1 for performing, and a 2 for sight-reading. One is the highest score and means "excellent". Two means "great". 

After that, we went back to school, and then Mom and Dad picked me up. We went to get dinner and then went home. I was supposed to go to the Girls Camp meeting but we got back so late that it wasn't worth driving all the way there. Plus, I was pretty tired and just wanted to go home.

High Q City Championships

Hi, this is Eva, and I'm blogging about the regional championship for High Q.

The regional championship (also called city champs) is the big tournament at the end of the year at UTEP. Since it's the final tournament, there are 5 rounds instead of 4 with 18 questions per round instead of 16. We also had to have wristbands to prove we were supposed to be there. We also had a sponsor (Belle AI) for this tournament who paid for the school teams to come, so that was cool!

Olivia's (another team member) family gave me a ride to UTEP, and we started at about 9:00-9:15. For our seed rounds, we were up against all of the tough schools. Despite that, we won more rounds than we lost (3 wins to 2 losses), and I feel like we did a good job. I didn't know any of the questions for the first couple rounds (there were a lot of music and opera questions, which isn't my area of expertise), but I did answer some in the last few rounds. There was one Greek mythology question that I answered within the first sentence, so I was proud of that. 

After our first 5 rounds, we had lunch, then went to our first playoff match. It was against a school I don't think we'd ever played against before and, sadly, we lost. We did get some points though. Olivia's parents gave me a ride back and dropped me off at Franklin, where Mom picked me up and took me home. All in all, I think we did a fine job at the tournament. I'm a little disappointed that we didn't get farther, but we still have next year to prepare for!

Midsummer Night's Dream

Hello! This is Paige. A couple of weeks ago, I had my advanced theatre class play over at Franklin High School theater since Hornedo doesn't have one. We performed A Midsummer Night's Dream and I was one of the fairies. We had to bus over there on Monday and Tuesday. The rehearsals were fun except I had to stay late for it. I also had to get to the theatre right after school for the rest of the week.  Our shows were Wednesday, Thursday and Friday so it was a busy week for me.

For my part I had just a few lines but was on stage a lot more. I also had two short dance routines I had to learn and perform. I got to tease my hair up and wear cool looking makeup! I decided on the first day to keep the hair think a secret from my family because I thought it would be funny to see Mom's reaction. When she picked me up after the first show she already saw my makeup but I combed down my hair. 

I was pretty nervous before the performances but during all the scenes I was in the stage lights were very bright so I couldn't see the audience (which I guess is a good thing). Some of my church leaders and friends came to Wednesday's show. I remembered all my lines and the dance steps for all the shows. 

Friday was my last show and that's the one my family came to. I thought all the performances went pretty well. 

Here are our bows after closing night.

After all of the shows, the whole cast and parents went to Texas Roadhouse as a celebration. However, we were in a very bad dust storm and we were seated outside. The wind was whipping around the sun shades. My parents and I decided it was time to go somewhere else when a cable on and overhead heat light broke due to the wind and would have landed on some kids (who were coincidentally both named Ethan) if both sides had snapped. The bread baskets were also being blown all over the table. And we didn't want dust blowing in our food anyway. So, my parents, my friend Stephanie (also in the cast) and I went to Dave's Hot Chicken! It was delicious except Stephanie started shaking and couldn't handle the food heat. The funny thing is, the spice level was medium.

While we were eating we heard a loud sound. We thought maybe it was thunder. But as we were leaving we saw that the wind had blown a construction outhouse across the parking lot! So yes, I am glad we left Texas Roadhouse and went somewhere to eat that was inside!

Here is a picture my teacher, Mrs Tolliver, took of the whole fairy court cast.

Here are some behind the scenes pictures of me and Stephanie (two of the fairies).