Bethany had her final Lyceum Philharmonic Orchestra concert for the year (and maybe forever) this past Saturday. It was at the Thanksgiving Point waterfall amphitheater.
Last year at this concert we took the whole family--
It was... shall we say... not pleasant. The children were all remarkably, embarrassingly ill behaved. I swore the next year we would not bring them.
We did bring Faith and Cannon because I felt certain they could keep it together. Elinor decided she would rather stay home, so she was on babysitting duty for George, Peter, Greta.
And oh wow! Did we ever have a great time with just Faith and Cannon. They were delightful and fun and we spoiled them with dinner and treats. The person taking this picture for us said, "Oh, what a cute little family!". Ha ha ha! You have no idea that this is only about a quarter of our children!
Admittedly, it is a challenge to move our big group around (not to mention expensive much of the time). Often times we find it more manageable to go out in public in shifts. Lunch out with one child at time. Outings with just a couple of them. Shopping and running errands with one or two is much more doable. Not that we haven't enjoyed making a scene with giant family selfies in Costco or Walmart from time to time...
We got to the gardens early because Bethany had an early call time. So we had plenty of time to hang out and play. Abe and Cannon enjoyed the giant chess board. Some guy named Daryl came over to help Cannon out (I'm not convinced Cannon needed any help).
Then my favorite part was when Abe had several Asians (young and old) giving him advice. The cute little girl in the pink shirt would yell, "That's illegal!" She was was probably 8 years old. I mean, she was right, but still, it was funny.
Bethany spent the morning with Connor and his family at his mountain bike race and then, they were were so nice to spend the evening with us at the concert. Elinor was so kind to offer to watch their littles one as well so we could all just sit and enjoy and not worry about chasing or quieting kids. The concert was magnificent and I particularly enjoyed when they played Enigma Variations. My high school band played that piece and I love it. It was sort of a life full circle thing.
Bethany is at the age and stage where she is looking to the future and deciding what she wants to do and where to focus her time and energy. I don't know how much music will or won't be a part of her future plans, but it has been beyond a joy to watch her work hard and grow and progress through her music.
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