Nashville

Had a quick little get-away with my Mikey to Nashville (somewhere I've never been) while he had work meetings.  I always feel like I'm getting away with something when we get out of town alone together. :)  He surprised me with an upgrade to 1st Class, which may have spoiled me from ever flying coach again :}.



The heartland of America, for sure.


Very cool hotel ...

Only in the South

We loved wandering around Broadway.  People hanging out everywhere, and fantastic music blaring out of every window.

Had dinner while listening to this amazing talent.

The best part of getting away? Reading my book in bed and ordering room service. :)

Junior Achievement City

The total highlight of the school year for 5th grade is Junior Achievement City.  The program starts in early spring when parents come in once a week and teach the kids lessons about economy, commerce, business, banking, etc.  Then, they choose 3 jobs they would like to have during the full day JA City event, and they have mock job interviews with volunteers in the community for those positions.  There were jobs anywhere from CEO, CFO, Sales Managers and on-air tv hosts to meter readers and bank tellers.  They had to fill out job applications, come to school fully dressed up and interview with people they didn't know.  One of the interviewers was the former CEO of IHC himself.  Pretty legit stuff.

All of this was gearing them up for their day at JA City, an amazing facility downtown that looks like a mini city.  There were store fronts for real local businesses, and the kids ran the city for the day.

There was a mayor ...


a city attorney and town treasurer ….




banks where the kids deposited their paychecks and funded their business loans ….






a tv station which really did broadcast over tv's around the city, complete with anchors and a camera man ….






utility workers …


a Maverick store to buy treats ….


a town DJ, who decided what music would play during the day and would also read commercials for the various business that the kids wrote themselves ….


medical research company lab workers …


health insurance companies ….


and even a School District, which is where Paige acted as Superintendent for the day.




The kids spent the day learning how to do their jobs, run their businesses, trying to sell their stuff to other kids, learning how to use debit cards and checks, getting interviewed on tv to promote their businesses, learning how to work with other employees …. It was such a fun, exhausting day.  It's a lot of work pretending to be adults!

RC Willey even had "hot dogs and a soda" to entice people to come into their store. :)


They had to create invoices for anyone using their services, and the CFO's had to write checks to pay their bills.


Such a fantastic program! And an amazing opportunity for these 5th graders to learn how to work in the "real" world.


Loved being a part of it!

Battle of the Bands 2015

Christian's love for performing in a band was born a couple of years ago when he attended Rock Band Camp for the first time.  During Rock Band Camp, they are grouped together in bands and spend the week learning how to jam together, balance out their sound and ultimately to perform together on stage.  Christian met Max & JJ (far right) and Addie at Camp and they decided to stay together as a band even after Camp.  They found Nate and added him to the band .. and they became Fortune of Error.

Their first big gig was at Bountiful High School (where all of the boys attend) in Battle of the Bands.  They auditioned with 10 or so other bands and were selected to be in the top 3 to compete.  They had to perform one original piece, a song called Thoughts that they wrote together, and then one cover … Sweet Child of Mine. 

They competed against 2 other bands -- one an indie duo and the other a pop band.  Christian said he was completely nervous, and it took them awhile to look like they were enjoying themselves.

But they got into their groove and started to really rock!

And in the end …..  THEY WON!!!

It was so great!  They were obviously completely stoked to win, but then they got straight to work to be ready for Region Battle of the Bands...

Every time they performed, they looked more comfortable on stage and their performance got stronger.  Addie told the crowd to get on their feet and come down to the stage.  Performing for fans right next to them got them all amped up...

That hair!!

When it came time to announce the top 3 bands who would continue on to the State competition, Fortune of Error won again!  They took 3rd place and the Crowd Favorite award.

This was the congratulations hug that he let me give him.  haha

Again, they rehearsed constantly to get ready for the next level of competition.  We recruited Christian's friends to make signs ….

… piled 2 cars full of friends, neighbors and cousins and headed to the competition.  Cousin Emmy gave him a good luck hug and then they were first to perform.

This time, everyone knew to rush the stage …

Their performance that night was their best by far of any other performances!  They played so well and sounded so great.

The competition was pretty stiff with some bands and not so much with others.  There was definitely plenty of hair ….

In the end, they didn't place at State but they all agreed that they had a great time performing and working the crowd.  Fortune of Error!  

Their dedicated fans showed them some love.

The band is excited to play at BHS' Bravestock, open for this year's Rock Band Camp and to try their hand at writing new stuff.  Can't wait to see what they do next!