South Carolina 4A State Championships

A week ago, on Saturday October 22nd Robyn's Marching Band attended the South Carolina Upper State Championships.  This included 13 bands from the upper half of South Carolina in the 4A class.  There were several really good bands there and it was a ton of fun.  The top 6 bands from this competition would go to the state finals on the 29th of October and compete against the top bands from the south  half of the state.  Robyn's band, Nation Ford High School, ended up placing 1st in upper state.  Beating 2nd place by almost 4 points, which is a lot in marching band, and qualifying for the state competition.

Saturday October 29th, 2016 was the South Carolina 4A State Championships.  They played next to last and when they did, they played the best we have ever seen them.  It was absolutely fantastic.   But all the other bands also played really well, most out performing any of the other times that we had seen them.  We knew it was going to be a tight fit, but figured we were in the top 3 bands.  It ended up that Blythewood got High Music award and 3rd place, with a score of 91.15.  Then River Bluff got High Overall General Effect and 2nd place, with a score of 93.3.  And Nation Ford High Visual award and barely won 1st place in South Carolina State with a score of 93.6!  It was really amazing.

Here is a video of the state competition performance.  It does go in and out of focus for some reason, but it is still really fun to watch.  Now their next and last competition is November 10-12 in Indianapolis for Grand Nationals!

Jacksonville, AL Bands of America Regional

On Saturday 10/1/2016 Robyn joined the Nation Ford Marching Band and competed in the Bands of American Regional competition in Jacksonville, AL.  This was a really fun experience because there were bands there from at least 6 different states and they were all very good, talented bands.  It was fun watching the variety of shows presented.
Nation Ford ended up receiving the award for Outstanding Music and Outstanding Visual during the Prelim competition earlier in the day, as well as placing first in the AAA category overall.  They took the top 10 bands to finals that evening, and we were part of that.
Then in finals they performed last.  After a very long day, they were set to go on at 10pm central time, and since we are from South Carolina that is 11pm to these kids.  They still did very well, and ended up getting the awards for Outstanding Music, Outstanding Visual, and Outstanding Overall General Effect during the finals.  The also ended up winning Grand Champion for the whole competition regardless of school size.  They did really well.

After their prelim performance, the ladies sitting behind us said, "Now that is how a band that size is suppose to sound." and "The brass section was good, but the woodwinds were just as powerful, they were amazing."  It is quite fun to hear other people say such wonderful things about our kids band.
Here is the video I took of the Prelims (I didn't video the finals, I just wanted to sit and watch).  I have to admit it is a little hard to see.  I videoed it with a wide angle lens to try and get the whole field in.  Also, their show isn't quite finished so they only played 2 1/2 out of 3 sets in this show and they still have more choreography to add, but it is still pretty fantastic.  Our next competition is October 15th at another Bands of American Regional competition in Winston-Salem, NC.

1st Marching Band Competition 2016

This is Robyn's 1st Marching Band Competition of 2016.  Her band wasn't finished with their competition piece so they performed 2 of the 3 sets.  They still received 1st in the 4A Category with a superior rating in Drumline and Music.  Then at finals they received the Grand Champion award.  The first video is of their Prelim performance.  The second is a closeup of Robyn during the Finals performance.  Ryan was falling out of his seat while videotaping the second one so there are parts that are a little shaky.  Robyn is the one kneeling down at the bottom right of the Omega sign at the beginning.

Marching Band

Robyn is now a freshman in high school and has joined the Marching Band.  She is doing really well, and is loving it.  This is their first half time performance at a football game back in August.  This was just a quick piece they put together so they would have something to play at their first football game.

Robyn's First Solo Competition

Today Robyn had her first solo dance competition.  She did really well.  They had 19 dancers in her division and only placed the top 5 and she didn't quite place, but they also rated everyone's dance.  They rated them Excellent, High Excellent, Superior, High Superior, and Ultimate Star.  The girl that got first was the only Ultimate Star and the other 4 that placed got High Superior.  Robyn got a Superior and was one of only two from her dance team to score that high.  The others all scored lower.  I thought that was pretty amazing for her first competition, especially since all the people that placed dance several hours a week and we don't.  I was very happy to watch her dance.  Here is the video of her dancing.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

We Are Family Dance

This video is of the girls dancing at their annual dance recital.  Their dance recital is held every year in June but they perform their new dance team dances that they started learning in April and start competing with next January.  So their dance isn't finished being choreographed yet but it is still pretty good for only having 2 months to work on it and only 5 lessons with their teacher.  I will post more as their dance gets better and finished.

This one is of Robyn's Dance Solo.  This is her first time dancing a solo and I think she does quite well with it.  Again she has only had 2 months and 5 lessons and it is only partially choreographed.  Hope you enjoy.

Severe Thunderstorm!!

Okay, so we have had some crazy weather lately.  I am sure most of us have.  We had a really nice few days a couple of weeks ago and then it has rained almost every day since.  Well, today it was very stormy this morning and then cleared up into such a beautiful day that I took the girls to the beach for an hour to play.  But then this evening the Severe Weather kicked in.  It was really neat watching it actually.  We sat at our patio doors and watched all the lightening and watched the trees blow in the wind.  Some of the wind gusts were bending out big trees behind our house almost sideways.  It was pretty crazy.  Well, Ryan just went out to go to a soccer game and he called and told me to go take a picture of this:

This is a tree across the street and down a little bit, and it is definitely a good size tree.  As you can see, it is completely split.  It was laying across the road and blocking both lanes of traffic.

Here is the crew pushing it out of the road:

This was a crazy storm.  There were a couple tornadoes that touched down, but they weren't near us, so I am glad. We are safe though its still storming!

Oh sorry the pictures aren't that great.  It was still raining and the clean up crew wouldn't let me get very close.

NEW BUSINESS!!!

Okay, I have decided to start my own business.  This is really funny seeing how my brother put a quote on his website about starting a business and I thought it was quite funny.  If you would like to read it go HERE.  But anyway, I am starting a Vinyl Sign, Letter and things business.  I am in the process of coming up with a creative business name.  As many of you know my parents owned a sign business that my siblings and I worked at while growing up, then my brother started a sign business himself.  Well, I am now starting one as well.  I am not going to focus on the selling to other businesses as much as individuals for crafty type things.  I have been using a small vinyl cutter that my mom got several years ago, and have just been doing small projects and crafts for me and my family.  Ryan has been telling me I should really start selling it, so here I go.  I took part of our tax return and bought a bigger plotter and more vinyl.
Now here comes my problem.  I am putting together a website so people can go on, see what I have and buy online, as well as send me custom designs they want done.  I just need a business name.  Any suggestions?  Some of the suggestions I have so far are... Better Letters...Create A Scene... Words of Wisdom... Quicky Stickies... Word Up!...    I am not completely in love with any of these, but I might settle on one if I can't come up with a better suggestion. 

Here are some of the designs I have made so far.

 

What do you think???
This is only a few I did for a neighbor last week. I am working on more, and have done some for family members already too.  Hopefully I will have my website up and running by the end of April. 

If anyone has a creative name, please let me know.

First Day of School!

Posing for a picture together getting ready to head off for their first day of school this year!

Okay, I can't believe yesterday was already the first day of school.  I took the kids and dropped them off yesterday morning and it was the hardest time I have ever had dropping them off.  It was hard when Robyn went to kindergarten, and a little harder when Maegan went.  But today my third beautiful girl started Kindergarten and it was even harder on me.  She was so brave and good.  We went and had Meet the Teacher night last night, so she already new where her desk and cubby were.  She walked right in, put her backpack away, sat at her desk and said "Bye Mom" without any hesitation.  I was so proud of her being so brave and ready to start the new adventure, but I just wasn't ready for it yet.

The girls getting off the bus yesterday afternoon.

Oh, when she was getting ready for school this morning, she was as cute as can be.  She said, "Mom, everybody is going to like me at school today."  I said "Yes they are."  I was so glad that she was that confident going into school.  I think she is going to do great!!  It's just weird having my third one in school already.

This Summer!!

Wow this summer went WAY to fast!  Here are a few things we did these past few months.   

First of all,  in March we moved into a new house.  We are doing a lease to own and it is a pretty sweet deal.  We know the owners pretty well, and they have had the house on the market for over a year and haven't been able to sell it.  They decided to lease it to us for less than their monthly payment and we have the option to buy next February.  It is working out quite well so far.  This is the back of the house.

This is the view from our back porch.  It is quite nice having a huge back yard and no neighbors behind us. 
Isn't the view Beautiful?!?

This is the front of the house.  I didn't get the whole front in the picture, but at least you can see the beautiful landscaping there is.  I won't show you a more recent picture though, because I have a little bit of weed pulling to do.  Getting to it in this humidity is a little tough for me to do.  But it will get done eventually! 






 One of the first things we did was get some of our toys out that we haven't been able to play with for a long time.

Lauren Playing with Marbleworks!

Alyson Playing with Marbleworks!

We also went to Florida a couple of times.  Here is a picture of the girls at the beach!

The second time we went to Florida, my sister and her two kids and my Mom and Dad met us there.  We had so much fun, even though it rained a lot and there was oil on the beaches.

Here's Grandpa playing with his grand kids!!  He always has some fun game for them to play.

While in Florida we also went to the Air and Space Museum.  The girls loved climbing into all the planes and pretending they were flying.
We did a lot more this summer, but hopefully I will make another post for that.  Happy Summer!!!

Our Makeshift Christmas!

As many of you know, our lives got turned upside down this last year, and we are temporarily living with family until we can get a better paying job or find something cheap enough to rent.  So, lots of our stuff is in storage, including all of our Christmas decorations and supplies. 

We had decided to just not have a tree this year, since we couldn't get to it in the storage unit and we tried really hard to find the stockings, but didn't succeed.  Plus, even if we could get to them, we didn't have room to set the tree up anyway.  Well, the girls kept begging for a tree and kept saying "Santa can't come and leave presents if we don't have a tree!"  So, we improvised and made ourselves a tree.  And for stocking the girls each colored a picture and put their names on it, then set it on they couch where they wanted Santa to leave their stocking items.

Here is a picture of the tree the girls made an decorated.  As ornaments they have some they made at school, and received as gifts as well as some made out of paper and glued on.  I thought it turned out quite nicely.

Here is how our tree looked after Santa arrived.  Looks like the girls got a little spoiled this year.  Thanks Santa!

Maegan and Alyson's Dance!

Okay, I know I am behind on my posting, but better late than never right???  Anyway, here are a couple of pictures from Alyson and Maegan's Christmas dance recital.

Aren't they beautiful.  They danced at a bake sale, half time during a high school basketball game, and a recital at the Community Center.  They both did really good in all the recitals, and they both had a ton of fun too.

It's Been A While!!

Hello Everybody!!  It sure has been a while.  I have really been preoccupied and haven't gotten around to updating either of my blogs.  I really enjoy blogging and seeing the comments people leave and everything, I just keep saying to myself, "I will post tomorrow, when I have more time."  Well, I have time enough, I just keep wasting it doing nothing.  So, I have decided that I am going to do better and keep my family updated on what is going on in my family.

After outdoor Soccer, Robyn played indoor soccer and did very well.  Her coach told us a couple of times that they needed to clone her so they could have a couple more of her on the field at the same time.  She is a very good defender and hardly anything gets past her.  Her indoor season is now over and she is playing basketball.  This is her first year and I have to say she is doing great!!   Her first game was last Saturday and after she had been in the game for just a minute or two she stole the ball from a girl, dribbled back down the court and made a basket.  She ended up with about 6 or 7 steals that game.  She is very fast and loves it.

Maegan is still doing dance and is on a competition team.  Their first competition is next Saturday, so I will let everyone know how that goes.  She is also starting to take tumbling.  She was suppose to start last week, but it was canceled because of snow.  (I will explain that later!)  So, her first day of tumbling will be tonight.  She is really excited.  She has been working on her splits and is almost all the way down on both sides AND in the middle.  She is amazing.  She really loves her dance and works really hard at it.  She catches on the the routines and everything quite quickly and does really well.

Alyson started taking dance a couple of months ago and is doing quite well.  She did a Christmas concert and danced to Jingle Bell Rock.  She now is always dancing all over the house singing Jingle Bell Rock and dancing the dance.  The only thing is though, that she uses the wrong words, because her dance teacher would tell the the moves to do instead of singing the actual words while they were practicing.  SO... for instance, she sings, "Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell Rock, Contract, X up, Contract, Grab your Knees" and then continues with the next part.  It is as cute as can be.

Lauren is finally starting to talk.  She will talk in one or two word sentences and then use motions for the rest, but the words she does say are quite clear and you know exactly what she is saying.  She will walk over the the fridge and say, "ilk peas" or "dink"  when she wants a glass of milk.

Here is a picture of the girls in the beautiful dresses that Grandma gave them for Christmas.  They are so happy, and their eyes are all so sparkly.  They are growing up way too fast.

Robyn's Baptism

As many of you know Robyn, my oldest daughter, turned eight last week.  Then last Saturday she was able to get Baptized.  She was so beautiful and glowing from ear to ear. 
Her baptism was combined with two other girls and they were all so cute.  All my girls sang "When I am Baptized" during the program and they sounded beautiful.

Here are a few pictures of Robyn on her Special Day.

Robyn in her White Jump Suit right before her Baptism.

Ryan and Robyn together.  Aren't they cute all in White?  Look how happy Robyn is!

She's Still Smiling!!  Here is Robyn after her baptism in her new Dress that Grandma and Grandpa Corbridge got her for her baptism.  She is also wearing a new necklace that Mom and Dad got her.  It is a butterfly with CTR engraved on the body of the butterfly.  

Here are all my girls together after Robyn's Baptism.  They are all so beautiful.

CONGRATULATIONS ROBYN ON BECOMING THE NEWEST MEMBER OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS!!

Lauren Dancing

Here is a really cute video of Lauren with her new piano she got for her birthday. She really likes a couple of the demo songs on there and likes to dance to them, but what I think is also cute is that she wants to dance to specific songs, so she sits there and searches through the songs until she finds the one she wants to dance to. I hope you enjoy.

I tried editing the video so that it wouldn't be quite so long, but I couldn't figure out how to do that, so it is a little longer than I wanted, but it is still cute.

Folding Clothes!

I asked Alyson and Maegan to help me fold clothes.  They didn't want to so I told them that they could stay up and not have to go to bed as long as they were constantly folding clothes.  They decided to help me out with the job.  They folded the clothes and were in the process of folding the socks when they decided to be done and go to bed.  After they had gone to bed, I went downstairs to see how well they had done on the clothes.  I was welcomed by a big surprise.    This is what they had done so they could find matches to the socks easier.

Birthday Girl!

This weekend we had a birthday in the house!

Lauren Turned TWO years old!!!

Wow it is crazy to think that my youngest little girl is two already. Time sure does fly. It seems like yesterday that I was laying on the couch in our Trailer on Campus of Utah State doing everything I could to go into labor with our first precious little girl. Now that little girl is turning 8 next month and getting excited to be baptized and my 4th little girl is 2 and getting into everything. It is just weird to think how fast things really do happen.

Anyway, back on the subject of the birthday girl. She got lots of fun presents for her birthday.

She got a Book from Great Grandma,  
A Soccer Ball

A New Baby
and A Piano


She also got a mug with her name on it and an Apron that aren't pictured yet.









We made her a birthday cake and had cake and ice cream.  Watching her eat it was quite funny.  She started out trying to use a fork and then eventually gave up on it.  Here is a series of pictures that show her eating her cake and ice cream.  I thought it was quite funny.

Happy Birthday Lauren!!

Mommy Maegan

Maegan loves to help out and be a little mommy to her younger sisters. Here is a great example. We went to take Robyn to soccer practice and there is a playground there. When I got tired from pushing the girls on the swing, I told them I couldn't push anymore because I needed to rest. Maegan immediately jumped up and said she would push them. She takes just good care of her sisters. Can you hear Alyson talking the whole time? That is pretty normal. Alyson has a lot to say and it is fun hearing all she has to talk about.

Growing up TOO FAST!

I was heading to the store the other day and as we were walking out the door, I asked the girls to hurry and get in the car.  I turned around and Alyson and Lauren came running out of their room with their purses on their arms and ready to go.  When we got to the store they insisted on carrying their purses and help me put things in the cart.  I thought it was the cutest thing ever, these two little girls running around the store with their purses throwing things in the cart.  What a fun day!

Alyson at the Doctor

For the past few days Alyson has been complaining about an earache.  We finally took her to the doctor on Tuesday and found out she had a pretty bad ear infection.  She was put on anibiotics and sent home.  She is feeling so much better now and I think the ear is clearing up great.  She has only been on the medicine for about 3 days, but at least she isn't waking us screaming anymore and she is no longer complaining that her ear hurts all day long. 

This is a picture of her at the doctor's office waiting for the doctor to come in.