Just for fun

Corinne wanted me to take her picture today for a friend at school. We just went and sat her outside and took some great pictures right in our front flower bed. So cute!

Dad, get your gun!

Beautiful baby girl! 

It's 6th grade maturation class today. 

I'm nervous, and my baby is old. 

What do you do when.....

What do you do when you plan to go to Arches National Park for Spring Break but....

Dad has lots of work to do and can't leave......

But the trailer is already loaded.....

And the kids are really excited........

But all the camp sites close are full because its Easter and Spring break.....

You find the best camp site ever......

IN Your own driveway!

We hiked to flag rock and went fishing and roasting marshmellows at Farmington Pond.

And had a camping trip we will never forget!

View of the valley from Flag Rock!

Spring Break '09 part 1

The beginning of spring break is off to a great start. Saturday we decided to head out for a little adventure. So we loaded up the kids after lunch and headed to Golden Spike National Monument. We drove through a town named after Corinne so we stopped and took her picture with the town sign. There is probably a whole 50 people that live there. 

She thought she was pretty special.

Then we got to see the trains. That is all Will could talk about was seeing the trains. Then when we got to see them he thought they were scary. A train to him should fit in your hand or between the keys on the piano.

On the way to the see the trains we saw small signs that said, "spiral jetty". Whit wanted to go and see it, after all they had been talking about it in school.

Why not? We are exploring, it'll be fun. 

After driving over some pretty rough roads we found the great Salt lake. The kids had fun running out in the dried lake bed. That big round thing is a metal buoy in the sand. 

Finally we made it to the Jetty. If you look really close to the picture above you will see three small dots. That's Ben, Whitney, and Corinne. They couldn't wait to walk around the whole thing and stand in the middle.

Sadie was quite the trooper and loved every minute of the trip. Whitney got a hold of my camera and took this sweet picture of Sadie. She is getting so big.

We ended our fun with an Easter Egg hunt at Grandmas. Will had lots of fun hunting for eggs. Thanks to the awesome Aunt Cinda, Aunt Carrie, and Grandma. The kids had a great time.

How Was Indianapolis?

I have been getting this questions a lot about how Ben and his band did in Indianapolis. I wanted to share the email that was sent to us by his teacher. It's long but well worth it. When we get the picture I will post it here.

Many have asked how the kids did. That can best be described by one of our judges. Below I have copied an email sent by one of our judges to the composer of the piece "A Longford Legend" which we performed. This judge is the conductor of the New Jersey Symphony. What you can't see from this email is that this man was not supposed to do our clinic but he was so excited about our performance that he came over to the hotel and joined the clinic anyway. He then went straight to his hotel and sent the email you will read below. These students had an amazing impact on everyone they came in contact with while on the trip. Thank you for allowing me to work with them.

Mr. Wolf

Hello Bob Sheldon!


I hope you are having a wonderful beginning to the spring! I have been working with many groups lately who are playing "Sheldon" but none more passionately than the ensemble I heard today.....and here's the kicker....ITS A JR. HIGH!!!! Their clinic just concluded and I've come back to my hotel room for a short break and couldn't wait to write you. And hey, you're a "living composer," you need to know about this!


I'm in Indianapolis as an evaluator for "Music for All" (the artist formerly known as Bands of America). This is a WONDERFUL festival where students and ensembles come from all over the US to experience an enriching weekend of performance in great halls and clinics. Bob, I almost lost it at the end of the evaluation tape because I was so elated to hear such passion and energy in music making in the public schools. Many of the students were actually MOVING to the music during the concert!! Their clinic with me and Doug Droste (Director of Orchestras at Oklahoma State University) was one of my most favorite in a long time because the students were so responsive and sensitive, just soaking it up and giving it their all. The directors are just terrific, infusing a sense of music that really "speaks" and has meaning. You would have been so happy with Longford Legend. The DID NOT play safely, it was "art on the edge." They took chances like great artists, and occasionally it caused a little problem here or there, but the safety belts were off and music, passionate music, was being made. It does my heart good to know that this group of young people will leave a program and REALLY LOVE MUSIC, hopefully to become life long lovers of the art. Wow......couldn't get enough of these guys.


Heath Wolf, copied on this email, is the Director of Bands at Farmington Junior High in Utah. I encouraged him to send you a copy of the recording they made in Indianapolis Symphony's Hilbert Circle Theater, so you could at least get a sense of what I'm trying to explain with words that don't do it justice.


I can't wait for you to hear it, I wish you could have been here, and I hope I get to see you soon.


Warm wishes,


Jeff Grogan