Piano Recital

Well, it's over! I am officially finished teaching piano lessons in Richmond (unless we ever move back here)! I held a recital for my students on Saturday. It was at The Hermitage at Cedarfield, a retirement center, in their fellowship hall. They have this awesome Yamaha grand piano to play on.

I've had my recitals there every spring (this was my 4th one). All my students did great! None of them had any huge mess-ups. I was so proud of them. I have taught a few of my students for almost the whole 4 years that we've been here. So I was a little emotional at the end saying goodbye and taking pictures with everyone. After my students performed, I also played a song: Nessun Dorma from Turandot by Giacomo Puccinni. It's not really a piano song (Pavarotti sang it), but I had an arrangement of it that is beautiful. Sorry, we didn't take any video of me playing. Maybe another time. As I got up to say thank-you to everyone, one my students came up and gave me flowers and a card that all my students had signed. Her cute mom had collected money from all the families to help us on our move! I got several other bouquets of flowers as well. Everyone was so generous and kind. I felt so loved! I have the best students! I hope I can find students just as good with families as nice in Idaho!

My student Emma with her mom Kim who put together my awesome gift

Jacob was a big help- he comes every year and pours drinks and helps me clean up afterward. What a great husband I have!

fellowship hall at Cedarfield-isn't it pretty?

At home with all my flowers and piano card

I am relieved to be finished teaching here but also a little sad. I have grown close to several of the families I taught and will miss them. I want to say thank you to all my students and their parents for their hard work and kindness!

Fishing Trip

Jacob went fishing on Saturday for an elder's quorum activity. Some of the guys in our ward are big-time fishermen and helped the ones who never fish (like Jacob). He was excited to catch a large-mouth bass using a fly rod. Fortunately, he threw it back in the lake, as I was not looking forward to preparing it. :) Here are some pictures from Jacob's time at the lake, courtesy of our friend Trevor. (Jacob forgot to take the camera, so thanks Trevor!)

Board Scores Are In!

After much anticipation, anxiety, and stress, Jacob finally found out how he did on his board exam...

HE PASSED!!!

He got a score of 86.5 and needed at least a 75 to pass. It is kind of a funny story (now that it is over) how he finally found out. On Friday all of his classmates received their letters, except for Jacob. So he couldn't sleep that night. It didn't come on Saturday either. More sleepless nights and worrying all through conference weekend. He thought it meant that he had failed-that they had sent the fail letters out later. On Monday he asked the secretary in the dean's office if the school had their scores, and they did, so that's how he learned he had passed. The WREB headquarters cannot resend his letter until 10 business days have passed since they sent the first one. No one knows why he never got it. Hopefully he will get it the second time!
We are very relieved that he does not have to go through this again. He is pretty much home-free now until graduation. I am so proud of Jacob for all of his hard work. The end is in sight!! Again, I want to say thank you to anyone who thought about or prayed for Jacob to do well on his test. I know it helped!

Cherry Blossom Festival

We finally decided to go up to D.C. and see the cherry blossoms since this is our last year to do that. We rode the metro into the city and I had never seen it so crowded. (Jacob said it was like a normal day in Paris on the metro.) The weather was a little chilly-mostly for Jacob b/c he forgot his jacket. But it was beautiful seeing all the trees in bloom around the tidal basin by the Jefferson Memorial. There was also a kite festival going on around the Washington Monument which was fun to see. There were tons of people but we had a great time.