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Wednesday, August 6, 2014

The great catch-up {Part 2}

We covered June in the last post, and now we will catch up on July.  July was full of visitors and books and music and family holidays.  I posted a while ago about the 4th and the Nichols visit, so that's covered.  The same day the the Nichols left our house (a very sad day indeed), another guest arrived!  Our new friend spent a week with us, building bookshelves for our living room and learning about The Virtual Controller with Dad.

FYI: I had planned on uploading my camera card and using the pictures from that, but I have misplaced it, so I'm using mostly pictures from our iPhones.  So the quality is not going to be excellent, but at least I have pictures.  Anyway...

Phase 1 of bookshelf project.

Bookshelves installed!!

The finished product: all the family's books in one place.  Such satisfaction :).

The next big event in July was a two-week trip to Nashville.  The first night in town, we treated ourselves to dinner at Culver's!

In early June, Delaney and I registered for the Fine Arts Summer Academy, a two-week music intensive put on by the Annie Moses Band out of Nashville.  Delaney was accepted into the orchestra and I into the chorus.  We got our family a couple of dorm rooms on the college campus where FASA was being held, and on July 13 we arrived at Lipscomb University.

I saw this driving around town one day.

Bennet Campus Center was the main hub for events during the two weeks of the academy.

Orchestra practice.  See if you can find Delaney in the first violin section!


On July 19, the Younger Division put on their musical, BookEndless.  They had only begun rehearsing together 5 days before, and they simply blew us away!  It was a fabulous show.


Impromptu soccer game~ 

Weekend showcases, a time when smaller groups of various genres got a chance to perform what they had practiced the week before.


Sunday night swing dance!  Pardon the blurry photo, but nobody would hold still for the picture ;).

New friends are such a blessing!!  Even though it was only two weeks, we made some special bonds with people. :)

This is the building where the orchestra rehearsed and many private lessons were held.

By the end of week two, we were all pretty exhausted.  My friend Angela here caught a few minutes of sleep before the next rehearsal began.

During week two, the orchestra and chorus came together and worked through the whole program.  The orchestra is only pictured here.

When we weren't singing, we were doing this.  I promise you that we sang A LOT though.

July 24...Grand Ole Opry, here we come!  After two weeks of intense rehearsals, everyone was ready for the big performance at the Opry House.

We're slightly excited.

I still can't believe that we got to perform HERE.


Backstage, where we all gathered and hung out before rehearsal.

I walked around and peaked inside most of the dressing rooms.  This was the Glitz & Glam room.  And properly named it was.

This was the designated children's playroom, mostly used by the Annie Moses Band kiddos.

There was one dressing room for these guys.

And two dressing rooms for female soloists.

This is what the room looked like in it's clean state.  By the end of the night, it looked like a department store had imploded.

Onstage before the show.


THE CIRCLE.  The very next night, July 25, Carrie Underwood and The Band Perry performed on this circle.  My friend and I had a mild heart attack standing here with this knowledge.

Austin and Nathaniel getting their class on.

It was incredible to be on this stage with such talented singers!  I loved every minute of it.
(These next few concert pictures were not taken with an iPhone)

"To everything, turn, turn, turn..."

The Andy Griffith Theme Song

Motown Medley

Patriot Medley (play with freedom!!)

This is a rather dismal photo of us packing up on Friday morning, July 25.  We hope and pray that next year we can return to FASA, it was a huge blessing to our family.

To ease the sadness of leaving, we consoled ourselves with delicious cupcakes in the Opry Mills mall.


Back to the present: National Cheesecake Day was July 30........how do you suppose we celebrated?!  Thank heavens we have a Cheesecake Factory only 25 minutes from our house. :)

~There's no place like home~

Thanks for stopping by Pure Reflections!  Drop a comment below if you want...I always love hearing from y'all!  Have a lovely day...

4 comments:

  1. Wow!!!! Such an amazing week! I can't wait to talk to you about it! You two are so talented.

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  2. Great pictures! I read Delaney's writing, and enjoyed your pics too. You keep us all updated, which is great!
    Love,
    Auntie Didar

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  3. Haley-
    That sounds like you had fun at the Grand Ole Opry!
    Melissa N. sent me the link to your blog and I know I met you once when you and your family came to our church. So I feel like I know you. ;)
    Anyway I nominated your blog for "the Liebster Award" on my blog, so check it out:
    http://joyfullyhisblog.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-liebster-award.html​ !
    Blessings, Anne S.

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  4. This was great! It took me back to some really good memories.

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