Final Christmas Concert at St. Thomas More!

Tonight we had our final concert of the season, held at the St. Thomas More catholic parish. It was a wonderful experience! I was really happy with it, especially since today, I FINALLY got my voice back well enough to sing some of the notes I've been mouthing for so long!! This pregnancy thing--gives me a drawn out cold, sinus problems, etc... glad for it to be over soon!!

At the last minute, I think we pulled it off--and I'm referring to the fact that we didn't really have our songs memorized--well, the lyrics memorized--very well even in rehearsal...oops :) But I remembered them a lot more during the concert. Pheww!

Thank you to all of you who came! I hope you enjoyed it!

Singing Some More... Beneficial Life Christmas Party

On Tuesday night, my choir, again, had the priveledge to sing for some pretty amazing people--the employees of Beneficial Life. (their Chistmas Party at the Marriott downtown) Makes me want to get a job there! And some or all (not sure which) of the board members were in attendance, and include some familiar faces! (again, not sure if all of these gentleman are on the board, but I didn't care-they were there!)

So, we sang about 6 or 7 songs from our Christmas music repertoire (including "Baby," Mainha!) and they were a very generous audience. I have to say, I looked down (we were on risers) at the table in the front, right at President Monson, and he TOTALLY made eye contact with me and smiled! It was very nice :) Hopefully I wasn't hallucinating and it really did happen.

After the performance, we got to stick around and listen to President Monson speak. It was great--he just has such a great spirit about him, and he mostly told stories about Christmas service and good will. One thing I really liked that he said was that each of us should be showing and telling our Heavenly Father that we are willing to "be on His errand" and help others... especially during this season. President Monson also has a big soft spot for the widows--he talked of delivering small chickens to each of the 8o+ widows in his ward each Christmas Eve, his wife Francis spending a lot of Christmas Eve without him, but fully supporting him. What a great man. He said it is a miracle, but he has been able to speak at ALL of these widows' funerals over the years...some 3 a day!

Anyway, it was a wonderful experience, as usual, and nice to sing for such a great group. I have had a bad cough lately, can't hit anything higher than an A, and just have had the worst breath support, but was able to sing my descant solo to "Little Road to Bethlehem" and I guess (at least they told me) it turned out good. Pheww... :)

No pictures of the night, but you'd just see what you see in the last post anyway--our lovely red dresses!!

Off to St. George to Sing...

Apart from the fact that I COULDN'T sing all weekend, and since then really, it was a GREAT trip! :)

So...the choir all piled into one of those big travel buses and headed to St. George Friday morning--BUT, since WE, (Juliann, John, Ariel, and me) are so...cool? we got to ride with our choir director, Michael, and amazing accompanist, Natalie. It was so fun, and we just talked the whole time, making the drive SO short. I don't think I've ever traveled to St. George in such a short time...psychologically :) AND, we only stopped ONCE for a potty break! And Ariel and I are both pregnant. I was very proud.

From left to right: John, Ariel, Juliann, and me, of course!

So, our little group is known as the "Davis County" group by other choir members... which is funny because only 2 of us are even from there. BUT, the reason we have this "clique" is because we were all in the former "Utah Master Chorale" together. The funny thing is, that EACH of us have been accosted by other choir members and asked questions about our relationship with each other... I've been asked, "Is Juliann your sister?" or "Are Juliann and Ariel sisters?" "Is Juliann married to John?" or "Are you married to John?" Juliann has been asked, "Is Janessa your sister?" "Is Ariel your sister?" "Is Janessa married to John?" It's so funny... Neither of our spouses are in the choir or sisters :)

So, Friday night, we got to sing at the Cox Auditorium of Dixie State for people from St. George, I guess, and the Rotary Club--so a lot of...mature...audience members :) AND, we were so privileged to sing with the Utah National Guard 23rd Army Band! They were amazing...and I was so impressed, not only with their "band skills," but they had some REALLY talented singers! It was so great to perform with them, and feel how much honor and pride they have for their country--that's something that seems more scarce these days, so it was refreshing!

Saturday, we performed again in Richfield for....I dunno, Richfield residents :) Here we are there: (the 4 musketeers...) PS-for those of you who thought my dress "wasn't that bad" in the past photo of it--it was CLEARLY the photo. NOW do you see how awful it is?

OK, and I also have to admit to the world how apparently my head wasn't screwed on that whole weekend, because I lost it...

1. Getting in the car with Jordan to get to the carpool meeting place...totally forgot my overnight bag. Fortunately, Jordan was thinking.

2. After practice at the Cox Auditorium in the afternoon (we were returning again at night)...left my purse on the stage.

3. Friday night after the concert in St. George--Ruby River for dinner. My cell phone dropped below us in the booth. I couldn't pick it up right away because, hello, my belly really does get in the way, and we were all like sardines in that booth. Totally forgot it. Next morning, go to pick it up, and they can't find it. We have to leave. So, we go, and later I find out they HAVE found it!! They are mailing it to me tomorrow morning.

I wish I could just blame this on pregnancy. Not sure that would be accurate though...

Christmas on Temple Square Concert

This past Saturday, my choir, "The Salt Lake Symphonic Choir" joined "The Sterling Singers" for the first concert in the "Christmas on Temple Square Concert Series." They have all kinds of concerts going on at the tabernacle, and we got to be one of them!

Was great, I think we sounded good, but couldn't really tell, since from the stage, the acoustics don't really allow for...hearing yourself, it's weird. But, I heard that we sounded good from the audience's position. We sang some great songs like Mac Wilberg's "The First Nowell," which I LOVE, "Baby What You Goin' to Be," that my Mom loves (sorry you couldn't be there!), the "Hallelujah Chorus," "Some Children See Him," and "Come Thou Long Expected Savior" (Which is to the same tune as "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing")....to mention a few.

DON'T WORRY...if I didn't invite you, that's because we're doing pretty much the same concert on December 21st at the St. Thoma More Catholic church in Sandy, and that'll be JUST my choir...and I'm planning on inviting everyone to that one...let me know if you want to come!

My good friends Wendy and Michael came to this one, and said it was great, so there you have it...a good first review :) Thanks for coming you guys!!

P.S. This lovely picture above is of me with my good friend, Juliann, in our HIDEOUS...I mean, GORGEOUS choir garb... BOTH of ours had to be pinned in the back because the lady that sewed them made just look like whales--actually, Juliann, I'm sure you didn't look like a whale pre-pinning, but I sure did :) I need to go in this week and get mine altered. It was totally HUGE. I think she made me a "fat" person's top, rather than a "pregnant" person's top. That's what it was. Juliann and I REALLY would like to replace the ladies that have been on the choir dress committee for the past 30 years...It's time for a change, don't ya think?? Jordan summed it up perfectly--he said "You look like you're a guest on Oprah, but in the 60's." :) haha

At least the flyer looked good (above)... yes, Juliann and I are on the marketing committee.

Salt Lake Symphonic Choir

So..... I auditioned for a new choir. Some friends from Utah Master Chorale told me about it (thanks!) and now I get to sing with Ariel, Juliann, Kathryn, and John again! Yay! They totally need men, so I pretty much told John that he HAD to audition so that I could be assured a spot :) It worked!

So far so good. Last week's practice was great! They are really organized, and though I'm one of the "young ones" it isn't toooo MOTAB :) We are singing the Hallelujah Chorus, Baby What You Goin' to Be? (Mom's excited about that!), and some others I can't remember. All I know is the best part of singing in a choir in the fall is that you get to sing Christmas Carols WAAAAYYY before Christmas! It's awesome!!

The choir sounds REALLY good. I'm totally impressed. Especially the men's section--very full and rich sounding. That's quite a change from UMC--we just didn't have as many men! So, I think this choir will be awesome! I'll let you all know about our concert schedule!!