Zach's Choir Concert Videos

Here's just a couple of short clips from Zach's choir concert. They did lots of traditional and sacred Christmas music, but I filmed the two that were exciting and different. Sorry about the videography in the second one, I was trying to film my friend's son who is standing behind the cute older couple that fill the frame. Also, all of the choirs were joined for the second one and surrounded us in the hall, so that's another reason for the crazy movement. Just close your eyes if it makes you dizzy. ;-)

P.S. Zach is on the right side, middle row, three in.

****** Note: I had to remove the videos because the concert material was copyrighted. :( *****

It's that time of year...

It's that time of year when our community trucks in a couple tons of snow and we pretend it's winter. Winter is just weird when you live in Arizona, but we make the most of it. When we've attended the Winter Wonderland in year's past, we've really bundled up and then got immensely overheated in the bright sunshine. This year we did less bundling then the weather turned colder, we got rain then HAIL and the boys froze! You just never know what you're going to get around here.

Here's some pics of my littles enjoying the white stuff. :)

Jazzy Zach

It seems like it's just been a Zach-fest around here lately. The latest was totally unexpected, but thrilling nonetheless. We attended a Jon Schmidt concert on Saturday night (he's a very popular, funny,  new age pianist and composer) and about half-way through the concert, Jon asks the audience if there are any professional jazz pianists out there. Nobody raises their hand. Any college jazz band players? Nope. Okay, any high school jazz band pianists -- with the caveat that if there are and they want to come up and jam with Jon, they have to yell out the notes in a C blues scale. Well, we were on the VERY back row of the second tier of seats and Zach yells out, then bellows the notes of the scale and Jon tells him to come on down!

I was floored...having no idea that Zach felt confident enough in his skills as a jazz pianist to get on a stage in front of a packed theater and jam with a professional musician. Oh my gosh! He was amazing and the crowd went wild! Curty had followed me down to the front to record it and while everyone was applauding, he yelled, "THAT'S MY BROTHER!!!!" So cute.

Afterward, Jon wryly said, "You didn't give me that much applause on any of my songs." =D Wow, what an experience for all of us. I'm so glad I had a phone with video on it! (Thank you, thank you Ren for buying me an iPhone 4s!) Zach, you are amazing and I was proudly thinking, "That's my boy Billy!"

Here's the video:

Lunar Eclipse

So we had another Byers nerdfest this morning. Six of us woke up at 6:00 am and braved the arctic Arizona temperatures (hey, it was only 39 degrees!) to watch the total lunar eclipse.
We had learned from our research that the moon should become totally red from the shadow of the earth and the refracted light through the dust in our atmosphere, so we were excited to witness the event.

Unfortunately, competing against city lights made the effect much smaller and less impressive than we had hoped. Then the sun rose in the east before the moon was completely covered in the west, making it harder to see.

Still, it was an "experience" and we were there to witness it. My camera couldn't capture it at all...frustrating! So here's what I got, plus the shots I took when I got distracted by the sunrise over the railroad tracks. :)

 

Zach and the East Valley Mormon Choral Organization

I am always thrilled to play the part of proud Mama, so last weekend was a good one for me. Zach is a member of an amazing audition-only adult choir in the valley. We attended their Christmas concert Friday night and loved it. I video taped one number from my seat -- we were up fairly close so it's an odd angle but it was a super cool African piece called "Betelehemu." Zach is in the bass section on the second row, way up back on the right. Way to be awesome Zach!

Life with my Big'uns

Hannah has been making Zach laugh for 17 years -- the more things change the more they stay the same.

Jen says: "Hannah, I don't want a picture of your armpit!"

So Hannah says: "Olé!" and Zach cracks up. 

Okay bigs, just give me some cheese. :D

First Day Back

Curty in his ASU Prep School Uniform -- He's so cute!

Well, I just sent my sweet Curtis back to school after 3 years of
homeschooling. I had no idea two weeks ago that we'd be doing this,
but things have miraculously just fallen into place for him to attend
a small charter school that Ren has been looking at and admiring
since we moved here. I didn't even know he was still on the waiting
list there (I asked that all the boys be taken off last spring when
we made different plans), but they called out of the blue with a spot
for him. Not only that, but the administrative assistant who called
us, Miss Jodie, also worked at the Elementary school he attended in
first grade and she knows and loves him. When she saw his name come
up, she told everyone about him.

I was worried about the gaps in his education over the last 3 years,
but Ren has a colleague whose daughter is dyslexic and she is
thriving at ASU Prep after trying lots of different schools. I prayed
about this decision and asked the Lord to give not only me peace, but
Curtis as well, if it was the right thing for him. You can see by his
face, that he is doing well this morning. :)

When we dropped him off at school, they welcomed him with open arms.
He is in a 5/6 cluster as part of the middle school. His homeroom
teacher, Mr. Nielsen, is the science teacher there and just got back
from serving the country in Afghanistan. He was very excited to meet
Curtis and made him right at home. Curt's schedule today starts with
music class (where they get to compose using Garage Band on the Mac),
PE, and then Science, where they get to visit a science lab on the
ASU East campus (which is where the middle school is located) and do
some cool science-y things (that was very specific I know). Mr.
Nielsen also asked Curtis if he wanted to be part of their lego
robotics club. Cool!

I cried leaving. It was like dropping off a kindergartner again. But
I also feel so good about the school and the people there. Boy,
things can change quickly! Now I just have Gid and Eli at home (oh
yeah, and Zach). Crazy!