"This has been the best weekend!"

I apologize in advance for the poor quality of the photos in this post; I don't know how to get good photos with my iPhone in low-light situations (someone teach me!), and it seems like whenever I am using my phone for photos (as opposed to my DSLR) we are either in a hurry because we don't want to hold up a line of people (we try to be polite), it's dark, or people are crowded around bumping me.  So, most of them are blurry and/or dark.  Sorry.

In the middle of February, we had a particularly fun weekend.  It went like this:

FRIDAY:  We took our kids to watch the Harlem Globetrotters "play" at the US Airways Center.  We ate dinner downtown before hand, walked around and enjoyed the great weather, had a blast laughing at the "game" (Mary was really concerned that the Globetrotters might not win... it was cute.  I assured her they always do!), got our ball autographed afterward, and got ice cream on the way home.  It was really fun.

SATURDAY:  Jay and I attended a wonderful concert by the Phoenix Symphony.  We have had season tickets for years, and we always love it, but this concert was particularly amazing.  (We purchased our tickets for next season, the last with our favorite conductor!  We are sad he is leaving.)  It was a tribute to Arizona during the week of it's centennial, and featured the Grand Canyon Suite (Grofe) combined with a photochoreography presentation by James Westwater, which was commissioned just for this event.  It was spectacular.  The rest of the concert was fantastic as well, with Dvorak's "New World" Symphony (one of our favorites) and Copland's Lincoln Portrait narrated by Hugh Downs.  We were both overcome by how great the concert was.

SUNDAY:  Jay said, "This has been such a great weekend!"  Thinking of all the great events we had attended I said, "I know!"  Then Jay continued, "Yeah, I got a great FREE parking spot right in front of the arena on Friday night, and again right in front of Symphony Hall on Saturday!  AND I made the best lemonade on yesterday!"  I had to laugh.  That is SO Jay.  :P   I love that he always makes me laugh.

And yes, he also loved all the REAL great things we did.  :)

SOME OTHER FUN THINGS IN FEBRUARY:

- I chaperoned Jack's school class field trip to the IMAX to see Deep Sea 3D (fantastic),

 and then to the Sea Life Aquarium (eh, it was OK).

- Jay and I attended the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Concert in celebration of Arizona's Centennial Birthday.  It was wonderful and so much fun, especially to have them sing "I Love You, Arizona" and see Sandra Day O'Connor conduct a piece.

- Jay and I attended a gardening class, learned a lot, and finally got our spring garden planted!

- Jack finished a season playing on a basketball team.

Sweaty and tired after his last game.

- I got released from jury duty at the last minute. (It seems like I get summoned really frequently, like every 18 months, which is as soon as I'm eligible after the last time!)

- We attended another Phoenix Symphony concert that we weren't that excited about but left saying, "That was fantastic!"  We were very pleasantly surprised. 

- Mary took a cheerleading class (for fun) with some of her friends and really enjoyed it.

OTHER:

- In January we took Collin with us to the symphony to hear them perform Dvorak's Cello Concerto with soloist Zuill Bailey.  It was fantastic (do you see a pattern here?).  We got to meet the cellist during intermission, which was fun.  He is very funny, and quite the storyteller.  It was interesting to see such a different personality in person (funny and casual) than on stage (serious/dramatic and formal).

Collin also plays the cello (and is getting quite good), which is the reason we took him to this particular concert.  He loved it!  I enjoyed watching Collin mimic some of Bailey's movements during his next Jr. high school orchestra concert a few weeks later.  :)



Remember, they are only 7th and 8th graders.  :)  But they get to play in an awesome venue.... the Mesa Arts Center (Collin thought it was cool they performed there shortly after the presidential debate).