Just Voices

We interrupt this wedding recap for a few concert posts!

On Tuesday, in an act of school-night bedtime defiance, we took our kids to see BYU's a cappella groups Vocal Point and Noteworthy in concert! We drove an hour toward Philadelphia to watch their touring performance. It was such a fun night!

A wonderful bonus was running into my friend Danika from our MBA days.

This is Sterling, the beatboxer for Vocal Point. He was amazing. AMAZING! Topher was really impressed. He talked about doing his own beatboxing and Sterling asked for a demonstration. Topher felt a little overwhelmed at first, but he beatboxed a bit. Sterling was sweet and encouraging and told Topher to keep at it.

Phoebe loved talking to the singers from Noteworthy. She told them that she's auditioning for her school's a cappella group, which is also called Noteworthy. They were so supportive and gave her one of their posters for good luck. Then they made sure that every member of both groups signed it! She said it was the best day of her life.

Peter and Cooper got to meet the director for Vocal Point and Peter shared that Cooper wants to audition for Vocal Point after his mission. In keeping with the pattern that had been established by all our exchanges to that point, the director was kind and encouraging.

It was a great evening!

I've Got Those Happy Feet

We celebrated Valentine's Day early by going to a family dance at our old ward on the 13th. The kids had fun dancing, but they seemed to especially enjoy the father/daughter dance and the mother/son dance, which I think is very sweet.

We were at the dance when Cooper got a text from his friend saying that the BYU decisions were out. He had another friend at the dance that was also waiting to hear. We told his mom that the news should be in his inbox. Cooper, Bryan, and I went to one side of the church, his friend and his parents went to the other side. Cooper wanted to check on his own so Bryan and I stood outside in the hallway while Cooper went into a classroom. He came out a moment later, a grin on his face, showing us the acceptance letter on his phone. Bryan and I cheered and hugged him and cried a little. Then we crossed the church and discovered his friend had gotten in as well! We were a happy, relieved bunch.

Rise and Shout!

Cooper got some very exciting news today!!!

Excused Absence

Our school district gives election day off from school. That means we all slept in this morning. After two late nights in a row, I was very thankful for the additional rest. I got up, took a warm shower, and came downstairs to make breakfast. I was just about to start pouring pancake batter onto the griddle when I had a sudden realization: I didn't post on the blog yesterday.

ACK.

I scurried upstairs, grabbed my computer, and began typing this.

Why did I miss a day after not missing any in nearly thirteen years? Great question. I kept thinking about posting yesterday, but there were more pressing matters on my brain. Mainly, Cooper's BYU application was due at midnight. He and I had been up late on Sunday night editing three of his five essays. Additionally, on Saturday he discovered a problem. His physics teacher had been sent, and subsequently filled out, the wrong recommendation form. That meant that his Freshman year seminary teacher, who was waiting to fill out the "Other" recommendation, couldn't. He also realized the third recommendation still hadn't been filled out, though he was told it would be last week. Cooper sent his physics teacher an email and explained the situation. The teacher graciously filled out the correct form, which solved part of the problem.

Then Cooper had to call the admissions office at BYU to ask them to clear the needed form.

On Monday.

While he was at school.

After getting permission from his teacher, he called BYU. He was number 93 in the waiting list. He opted to enter his phone number to be called back instead of staying on hold.

And then he missed the call.

He got back in line, this time he was number 151. He again chose the call back option. Bryan decided to jump in as a backup option and was number 153. After two and half hours on hold (and handing the phone off to me since he had to go run a meeting for work), Bryan's phone won the race. I chatted with a sweet BYU student and explained the situation. She said she would send the issue to the application team so they could clear the form. She also said they were moving quickly, but it might take up to two business days.

Which meant Cooper might miss the deadline.

I got off the phone and reported to Bryan, Cooper (via text), and Peter. Peter's immediate response was, "Well, all we can do now is pray." And he was right. I said a prayer and felt a quick burst of peace. I sent a few messages asking for additional prayers.

In less than an hour Cooper got the message that the form had been reset and was open again.

Cooper and I were driving home from the high school when he found out. The joy and relief we both felt was tangible. Within minutes of that message he learned that one of the two outstanding recommendations had been submitted.

All that was left was the Other recommendation and his last two short essays. He knocked the first one out in ten minutes. It was the best he had written so far and needed minimal editing. He spent a few hours at the Cross Country Senior dinner, then came back and wrote his final essay. This was his hardest essay. He wrote three totally different versions. Bryan and I both joined him in the editing process.

He finished his essay, the final recommendation came through, and Bryan paid the application fee. At 11:29 pm, Cooper hit submit on the application.

I fell into bed just after midnight, the blog totally absent from my brain.

While I'm sad that I missed posting (as Sophie said, "Welp, looks like you need to restart your streak), I am so thankful for the prayers and tender mercies that took place yesterday. Whatever the outcome of his application, we felt Heavenly Father's love during the application process.

Go Cougars

Peter sent me a first day of school picture! Was it actually taken on the first day of school? No. But it was taken at the end of the first week of school, and I'm just happy to get a picture.

Fresh From the Tree

On the day that we arrived in Utah, after we had slept in until the middle of the morning, we walked to church with Bryan's parents. Living close enough to the church to walk on a regular basis would be really nice. My sister-in-law Falisha went to church with us. She also joined us for Sunday dinner at Bryan's grandma's house. I was originally supposed to drive her the rest of the way home to Idaho Falls on Sunday, but we were so exhausted by the long haul from California that she agreed to hang out and rest an extra day. I was thankful.

I drove her home on Monday morning. I loved getting to talk with her for the drive up. When I got back to Bryan's parents' house at lunch time I saw that the kids had helped Papa Ron harvest the peaches from their tree. We enjoyed the fruits of their labors during the remainder of our stay. Thanks to Phoebe for the picture of the peaches.

Apparently I took very few pictures during those first few days. We had a great visit though, even without photographic proof. Topher and Sophie pulled out all the toys and claimed the basement as their domain. We ate good food and got to see Uncle Dallin and cousins Harmony and Liam. We also tried to buy supplies for Peter's apartment. It turns out he had very few opinions about what bedding and dishes to buy. We ended up ordering a lot of stuff online.