Band Competition and Birthday Celebrations

The very next day (September 25th) was the band's first competition at Caldwell High School. Nikki was home to watch the girls so I could volunteer to be a bus chaperone. It was a fun experience as our band sat and cheered on the much smaller bands that performed in the first half of the day. Homedale's band is so small that they had only 12 band members plus 1 drill team/color guard. I had never seen such a small team but they did good considering. Our performance wasn't until about 4:45 I think. We watched other bands until they had an intermission and it was our lunch break. The nice thing about being a chaperone is that I get free entrance and a free meal. After lunch there was a lot of waiting around for our turn to warm up, etc. When the time finally came I was able to help pull the drum major stand out on the track for their performance while other parents also helped with other items. So I had a front row ticket to the see the show up close. Unfortunately, it's not the greatest view though.

There was a mix up on the awards later on but I do know that in the end our drill team one 1st place in our division and I think we got 1st overall. It's sounds great but there were actually only two schools competing in our division. I think the main thing they are concerned with though is how many points they receive and trying to improve the next competition.

And even after that long day Garrett still wanted to go to the stake dance that night. Needless to say, he and I were both exhausted by the end of the night. Thankfully, Curtis drove him out to the dance for me.

Garrett's birthday lands on a Wednesday this year and it's easier for us to celebrate on the weekend so that more family can be there. Nikki works on Wednesdays and my in laws are at the temple all day and would be exhausted. So we decided to celebrate his birthday early this year, doing it on Sunday the 26th. Fortunately Garrett wanted donuts and ice cream for his birthday dessert so it made things easy. I picked up the ice cream at the store on Friday and then Saturday morning before the competition he and I drove to Albertsons to get the donuts.  We ate Zuppa Toscana for dinner on Sunday and then the grandparents came over at 6pm.  

His donut musical notes. I love that he loves music!

Since Grandma Vernie's birthday was just a few days ago we decided to sing to both of them.

Grandma Vernie got the musical candle and Garrett got numbers.

Star Wars puzzle and card from Grandma Vernie and Grandpa Tony.

Drum brushes from G & G Butterfield.

Reese's are his favorite candy bar!

Two new belts for church or concerts. One black and one brown. His other was worn out.

His own nice set of scriptures with his name printed on them and a leather cover.

Curtis picked these Halloween shirts out for him.

He's collecting Harry Potter Lego sets.

This is a fun game we learned years ago with my sister in law Jeanie. Curtis also picked this one out.

With Great Grandma Norton "GG"

My in laws left before this picture was taken because they were tired from traveling home from Pocatello that same day.

Had to get a silly picture!

Our growing family.

It was a good birthday for Garrett even though he was probably disappointed that he didn't get his own cell phone for a gift. The boys are still sharing our old phone that has a cracked screen. We really need to get a better phone but it just hasn't happened yet. 

A couple days later I told Garrett we need to trim up his hair and that we should do it before his actual birthday. He still wanted it long on top so we only trimmed the sides.

Looking good!

On his actual birthday he requested waffles for breakfast so I obliged.  I also decided to try making a new recipe I saw posted by a friend on Facebook for Apple Cider Doughnut Cake for dessert after dinner. It was SO good! Garrett doesn't really like cake but he loved this cake so much that he asked for it again for his friends' party on Friday night. Two cakes in one week but it was good!

It's covered with butter, cinnamon and sugar. The inside is dense and moist. Loved it!

And to finish up the birthday celebrating Garrett had 4 friends come over on Friday October 1st. They ate pizza, played games, had some cake and ice cream and watched a movie called "The House With a Clock in its Walls". He also opened a few gifts from his friends which consisted mostly of candy but he also received video game gift cards, another Harry Potter Lego set and I think something BSU related but I can't remember! They all had a good time.

This is the first time we have shrunk our table down this small. They wanted it small for playing the card game Golf.

Charlotte had her blue microphone and was singing the birthday song loudly. It was funny and made it hard for the rest of us to sing.

Vera, Kayla, Garrett, Ryan, Austin

Happy birthday Garrett! I can't believe you're 15 years old now and soon will be getting a driving permit. Yikes! I'm not sure I'm ready for that yet.