Anthem Video

Hey.  The National Anthem did happen!!!  But the friend I was going to do it with had to cancel at the last minute.  So I asked another friend to sing it with me.  We did not have any notice so we practiced a few times before and then went and did it.  It was the last game of the season so there were a lot of people and it was a great experience!!!

(the beginning was cut off, but this is most of it)

Hope you enjoy it!!!

National Anthem

So, I have got a date confirmed for singing the National Anthem!!  I have finally talked to both of the people that coordinate the singers and they are on the same page so it it (hopefully) going to happen.  I am so excited to finally be able to do this!  It is going to be at the last game of the season so there are going to be a lot of people and it is senior recognition night.  I am so excited to finally do this!!!  Also, there is going to be a video for it so I will post that Friday probably.

Congratulations to all who won Grammy Awards Yesterday!!

Tucson Videos!!

First off, if you did not read my post about the Tucson weekend, it is below on my last post.  I said I was going to get some of the videos up pretty quick so here they are!!

This video is from when we were at dinner.  Jason taught everyone a tag and then we all sang it together and it was a very pretty one. (the sound in the videos is not great, but both groups are on youtube if you want to look them up there)

This video is of the Scottsdale Sweet Adeline Chorus.  They have won four International Championships and hope to win their fifth this October at the International Competition in Hawaii.  These are two of the five or six songs that they performed at the Show of Champions Saturday night.

This video was also taken at the Show of Champions.  This is the Musical Island Boys Quartet.  They are from New Zealand and they won second place in the 2011 International Quartet Competition.  They are amazing and their style is very unique.  It is more like "Popershop" instead of Barbershop.  They put a lot of rhythm and soul into their music and I love it!  I have another video, but it was too big to upload :(

Hope you enjoyed the videos.  There are tons more on youtube if you want to see more.  Remember that my post about the Tucson weekend was the post right before this so check it out.  I put pictures on that post. 

Tucson Performance!

     Hey everybody.  Ok, so I have not posted yet about the Sacramento Sound Youth Chorus performance that we did in Tucson, AZ.  First, last Thursday night after the American River Chorus practice, there were 7 guys from the chorus that came to my house and spent the night so they did not have to get up super early and go to the airport.  We went to the after-glow, Wal-Mart and then we finally got to the house.  We got to bed at about 2 am Friday morning and were on our way at 8 am Friday.
     We left Friday and flew into the Phoenix-Mesa airport.  We rented two vans and drove from Mesa to Tucson.  Once we got there, the Harmony Foundation had ordered pizza for all of the participating choruses.  There was a TON of pizza.  The most I have ever seen in one place in my life.  There were over 350 pizzas.  That is one big order!!  After we ate, we went to the hotel and got settled in.  Then we went to the Friday night show which was awesome.  After the friday night show, we went back to the hotel and rehearsed for about an hour and forty-five minutes until about 1 am.  Then we all got to go to bed. :)
     We had to be up and ready to start rehearsal at 9 a.m. Saturday.  We went straight over to the convention center right after rehearsal.  We were able to watch most of the other choruses perform except for three of them which was really cool!!(because we were backstage warming up)  At intermission, we had some snacks and then went to the first waiting room to get ready to go on stage.  There were three different waiting rooms that we had to transfer to before we went on stage.  We did some last minute practices and then went on stage.
     Our performance went very well.  There were so many things that we could have done better, but there were so many things that we did very well.  I was happy with our performance.  It was a lot of fun.  We also got to see all the rest of the other youth choruses after us.  We were ranked excellent in our overall performance which was very exciting for us.  After all the announcements were made, we went to change, then to our coaching session with one judge from each of the categories; singing, music, and performance.  After we spent an hour with each of them, we sounded great.  It was amazing to hear the huge transformation that we made in such a short period of time.
     After our evaluation session, we went to dinner and then to the show of champions.  The Show of Champions is where they have some special groups perform and then all the champions from the weekend perform.  It was so awesome!!!  The first group was the Scottsdale Sweet Adeline Chorus.  They have won multiple international championships and they were amazing.  I could have watched them the whole time.  All the groups that performed that night were great.  I wish it would have gone on all night.  The next morning we had to be up and ready to be on the road at 8 am because we still had to drive to Mesa.  We got back to CA at about 2 pm and decided that we have to have a chorus party sometime in the near future because of all the fun we had.  We all got to know each other so well and it made it cool cause we were bonded.
     I had such a great time at the Mid-Winter Convention this year.  I hope that I get to go next year also, even though I am going to be in college.  Next year it is in Orlando, Florida.  That is going to be so awesome!!
     Here are some pictures from Tucson!

This is our practice in the airport while we were waiting.  Our flight was delayed an hour so we had some time.

In the van driving to Tucson!

This was our late Friday night practice.

We were all very tired.

This is during our Saturday morning practice before the competition.

Inside the Music Hall waiting for the show to start

During intermission eating our snacks!!

This is after the performance right before our evaluations.

We had to wait a little, so we were going over the songs from last year. 

During the evaluations

This is at the mexican restaurant for dinner.  

It was AWESOME!!!  :)

This is at the end of the Show of Champions

Everyone was standing and singing "Keep the Whole World Singing"

Sunday morning at the airport running on "tired" energy.  Some of us did not get to bed until 5 in the morning and we had to be up by 7. 

Our last picture before we all left to go home.  We all had such a good time together. 

These are some of the pictures of the other youth choruses that competed in the Youth Festival.

Here we are at the end of our performance.

Tucson was a ton of fun.  I do have some videos, but I don't have time to put them up how.  They will be up in the near future though. (hopefully sooner rather than later :)

Tucson!

Hey!  We are almost on our way to Arizona for the Midwinter Convention!!  Last minute things are being done and we are getting ready to go.  There are going to be a lot of pictures and videos posted from this convention so keep an eye out.  We are so excited to be able to compete in this competition this weekend!  We have worked hard to be able to make this opportunity to happen and we are going to have a blast!  Can't wait to let you know how everything goes.  It has been a short week with the Monday off, but lost of things going on to make up for it.  It is supposed to be raining which I was really excited about, but it is not for some reason!!  I love the rain.  Maybe it will rain a little before we leave. :)

PS: Did you notice that I changed my picture on the blog?!  I am probably going to use it as my senior picture.  What do you think?

Come Thou Fount

     So, my friend and I did end up singing at the fireside Sunday evening.  It went so well.  Much better than I was thinking because we had sung the song before in church last year, I think it was in August, but we have not practiced together since then.  We only practiced a couple times right before the fireside started and that was it.  My confidence in my singing has gotten better and that has definitely helped improve my overall sound.  I love singing for other people because I get to share the love I have of music with others.  The reactions on their faces makes the experience all worth it for me.  I am so excited for the upcoming events that I will be bale to sing at.
     I have the Youth Chorus that I am singing in this weekend and then at the next home game I get to sing the National Anthem with my friend.  I am so excited to share my experiences with you all and I hope that I am able to have enough opportunities to keep this blog going.

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!!!!

National Anthem

Hey.  So some sad news. :(  So I went to the game on Friday night and was planning on singing with my friend. We were practicing outside and a couple of minutes before we were going to sing, I asked the Athletic Director where we were going to be singing and she said, oh well I told someone else they could sing.  So there were two different people that were told they could sing on Friday night and it ended up being that I was not singing on Friday.  So........ I now get to sing at the next home game that I am going to be in town for, which is going to be in a couple of weeks. :(  It was a little disappointing, but there was nothing I could really do and I still get to sing this season so it is all good.

I am, however still going to be able to sing tonight at the fireside I am going to.  I am excited to be able to sing because I love the song that I am going to be able to share, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.  I am not sure that there is going a video, but I will post about how it went.

You are all so Awesome!  I love doing this blog and it is fun to have the interaction with you through the comments.  Have a wonderful three day weekend.  Spend time with your families and relax!! :)

Another Event!

Guess What?  I have the opportunity to sing with a youth chorus that is from the Sacramento area.  This is the second year it has been around.  It is called Sacramento Sound.  It is a youth barbershop chorus and I get to sing with them in Tucson, Arizona next weekend.  We have three different songs we get to compete with and It is going to be an exciting performance.  I know there is going to be a live video feed through the Barbershop Harmony Society website podcast, but you do have to pay for that I believe.  I am not sure if we are going to to be able to get video for that, but there is a good chance we will, hopefully.

The Basketball game is tomorrow and we have been practicing for the National Anthem.  It is going to be so cool.  I have never sung the National Anthem and an event like this and I am very excited.

Hope you are all having a great week.  It has been a crazy one back to school for me.  Good Luck to you all!!!

Continuing the Blog

Hey guys!!  I am still on a super hype from New York.  It was so awesome!!!  I was thinking earlier about the blog and what my plans are going to be for it.  I have decided that I want to continue it to let everyone know of different singing opportunities that I have.  I am not sure how long I am going to keep it going, but I thought this is a great way to share my talent with others.  I have a couple different things that I get to do very soon!!

This weekend I have the opportunity to sing the National Anthem at my high school's varsity basketball game.  I am going to be singing it as a duet with a friend from another school and I am very excited to be able to have this experience.  Hopefully I will be able to get a video of it and maybe some pics to share with you all so you can see how I did!!

The next cool thing that I get to do that is also this weekend is that I get to sing at a fireside for my church, "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing."  I am also singing this as a duet with the same person I am singing with at the basketball game.  I am excited to be able to sing at the fireside because I love this song and I get to share that love with others through music.  AWESOME!!!!  I am not sure if I will be able to get a video of that.

I am going to keep you all up to date with other opportunities that I have as they come up!  Singing is so much fun!!  I am so blessed to be able to have this talent and I hope that the messages I share with others through music inspire them to do good.  Thank you all for your generous support!!!

Come'on Get Happy - No Borders Youth Chorus

Check out one of our favorite performances of the evening!

The Big Day!

     Wednesday was probably the most packed day we had while we were on our trip.  It was so amazing.  Wednesday we were in Palmyra doing church history things.  The first thing we did was go to the Smith Farm and tour it.  It was so cool to be there where the Smiths lived and to walk where they did.  I think it was especially a good experience for our family because we were there during winter.  They lived there during winter and did not have heaters or the clothing that we have now.  They are truly the first pioneers of the church and they worked so hard to earn what they had.  The tour was given by one of the couple missionaries there and they did a great job.  The road that goes down the middle of the 100 acres of the Smith farm is the original Stafford Road.  On the road is the Smith Home, the Frame House, the Brigham Young Barn, the Cooper Shop, and of course, the entrance into the Sacred Grove.

This is the Smith Home on the Smith Farm

This is the main room in the Smith Home, dining and kitchen.

This is the original Stafford Road that runs through the Smith Farm.  

This is the Frame Home that Alvin built.  He died before it was completed, so Joseph finished it and he and Emma lived in it.

This is inside the main room in the Frame Home.  It is 80% original from when the Smiths lived in it.

Inside the Frame Home.

This tree was planed by Joseph Smith Senior when Alvin died.  It is near the Frame Home.

This is the Brigham Young Barn across the street from the Frame Home.  This is where they prepared and stored the wheat and oats for selling.

This is the Cooper Shop in the same lot as the Brigham Young Barn.  This is where barrels were made. 

This was the beginning of our walk through the Sacred Grove.  It was so pretty.  Different from the summer time when it is all green, but it was a peaceful and beautiful area.

This was in the Sacred Grove

This is on the Sacred Grove plaque as you walk in.

View of the Grove from the plaque

Right after we left the Sacred Grove, I had the idea to picture the story about the footprints in the sand, except in the snow.  It is a great poem and I suggest you look it up and read it.  This is the jist of it. "Why, when I needed you the most, have you not been there for me?"  The Lord replied, "The times when you see only one set of footprints, is when I carried you."  (search "footprints in the sand poem" in google)

This was inside the visitors center at the Smith Farm, the family Bible.

I have got some serious hat hair!!  

     After we left the Smith Farm and the Sacred Grove, we went to the Temple and walked around the outside during the day so we could see.  It is a very beautiful Temple and I loved being able to see it during the winter with all the snow.

The words etched into the stone on the Temple read, 

HOLINESS TO THE LORD

 THE HOUSE OF THE LORD

These were three trees on the West end of the Temple that reminded us of the story of the three trees.  If you have not read it, I would also suggest you do that also.  It is a very good story and I do not think it is any coincidence that these trees were planted here by the Temple. (search "the story of the three trees christian story" in google)

This was from the south lawn of the Temple.  It was such a nice day!

This is on the west side of the Temple with the Sacred Grove in the background.

At the gate entrance to the Temple.  You can actually see the sign!! :)

     After we were at the Temple, we went to the Book of Mormon Historic Publication Site and took a tour there.  It was very cool.  Oh, and on our way there, we passed by the Four Corners Churches where at this certain intersection, there are four different churches on every corner.  It is the original book store and then the visitors center is built in an "L" shape around it.

This is where the first copies of the Book of Mormon were sold.

One of the first original 5,000 Books of Mormon printed in 1830.

This was a Bible that was printed at the same time, about 1830.

This was an interactive map of all the languages the Book of Mormon is translated into and where those countries are located on the map. I did not know this, but there is a Book of Mormon in Braille!! 

This is inside the original book store on the first floor. (it is three floors)

This is the original manuscript that Oliver Cowdery wrote while Joseph Smith translated.

This is the actual printing press that made the original 5,000 Books of Mormon.

     After we were done with our tour at the book store, we went to visit Cumorah's Hill.  It was so awesome because we were there during sunset!!

This is at the top of the hill with the monument sticking out of Hyrum's head.

At the base of the Monument on each side were different bronze carvings of significant events.

This side is representing The Three Witnesses

This is The Eight Witnesses

The Exhortation of Moroni

Joseph Receives The Plates

This is looking up at the monument

Looking at the sunset from the top of the hill

This painting was inside the Cumorah's Hill visitors center of the whole Smith Family

This was an amazing stained glass display of Joseph receiving the Golden Plates.

     Once we were done at the visitors center, we had to drive back to Newark, NJ.  it was about five hours after our amazing day we had just had.  On our way home, we stopped at Tim Hortons.  It is kind of like fast food, but it was super amazing.  I recommend the while hot chocolate.  This place was recommended to us and I pass it on to you.  They are all over the place there.

     Once we got back to the hotel on Wednesday night, we were super tired and we all just crashed and went to bed.  

     On Thursday, we got up and packed everything and went and returned our rental car, :( and went to the airport to go home :(  

Dropping off our car

We are home!!  leaving the Sacramento Airport after getting home from New York

(Tuesday's post and a repost about Carnegie Hall Performance videos is below)

     This trip was so much fun!!!!  We were able to do so much because of all of you who supported my family and I to be able to go to New York.  At the concert, just from passing the hat after our performance, we were able to earn over $7,000 for the victims of the tsunami in Japan.  That is so awesome!!  Then we were able to spend a week in the city and visit all the great places there, go to Times Square for New Years, go to Niagara Falls, and go visit church history sites in Palmyra.  

     THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!  This was a life changing trip for me.  I was able to sing in Carnegie Hall!!!  I was able to go to tour one of the largest cities in the world, which I absolutely loved!!!  I was able to go see the second largest falls in the world!!  I was able to go see all the awesome church history sites in Palmyra!  Thank You for helping make this trip possible.  I had such an awesome time and tons of amazing experiences!!