With only a couple of months of rehearsals the 9th grade band did well. These are all first year students and many from middle school band did not continue into high school, thus leaving this band smaller than it might have been. The new band teacher this year is exceptional and is doing really good things with the kids. Spencer is enjoying the band and wants to continue his participation all four years of his high school education.

Spencer plays in Jazz Band II this year. This is first year jazz band students and they really did a great job for only a couple of months of rehearsals. Spencer has a short trumpet solo in one of the pieces. We're trading out his trumpet this year for a better quality one since he's doing so well. He's taking private lessons once a week and hopefully will continue to make good progress.

Taking up the clarinet this year, Amanda played in the 7th grade band in her local middle school band concert. This is her first year playing clarinet, so the teacher started her in 6th grade band requiring her to meet all the tests before she could move to the 7th grade band. She is now almost through the 7th grade band requirements and will soon move up to the 8th grade band and participate in jazz band the 4th quarter. I may be the last generation to play piano, but so thankful music continues to be an interest with our kids.

Amanda began voice lessons this past September,held only twice a month. She missed a couple of the six lessons due to illness, so she has not really had much formal training yet. Despite the amount of lessons she decided to participate in the voice recital presented by her teacher. She did great and showed such poise and confidence. She can't wait to begin again in January and we're looking forward to seeing what she might do with what seems to be a talent given to her by God. Enjoy.

This spring the kids decided to participate in track at the local middle school. Almost 50 kids turned out for the sport. No prior experience except the form of p.e. we do at home, including 2 mile runs almost every day. They cannot wait to get to practice in the afternoons and seem to be doing well at some events, but most of all enjoying the sport. Spencer chose the discus, javeling, high jump, and the 50m dash as his competing events. Amanda started off with the high jump, the tripple jump, the 50m and 100m dashes; however, she changed out the tripple jumpt for the long jump and feels she does better at that event. They participated in their first meet against three other schools on April 22, 2010 and will travel to Wentachee, 70 miles away to participate in their second one April 29, 2010. They enjoy every minute of it and it is fun for us to experience this with them. Spencer threw discus 58.9 his first meet, and the javelin 79 feet, both just above the average scores for the day. Amanda placed third and fourth we think in her running events. She came in with a personal best in the 50m dash at 8.9 seconds and she hopes to beat that in her second meet. Such is the beginnings in the sport of track for the Lance family.

MISCELLANEOUS EVENTS

This year has been full of events, most of which revolves around the childrens' activiites. Spencer completed several more merit badges at an awards ceremony earlier in March. They both are required to give presentation and create a poster board of information for 4-H to enter into the fair. Spencer performed at his first solo/ensemble festival this spring, playing the trumpet. He is involved in band and they recently gave their first formal concert. We are very proud of the kids and hope you enjoy seeing some of the pictures of these events.

THE HOPKINS CLAN

The Hopkins clan and their families are all represented in the above slideshow. My brother and his family flew out from Wisconsin and enjoyed being here for over a week. My sister and her family drove up from California the Sunday before Christmas. Our family drove down from Moses Lake, Washington the Saturday before Christmas, giving Dale a day or so to visit with everyone before returning to work due to schedule conflicts at work. Sixteen of us enjoyed close quarters for a week, visiting, playing, laughing, eating, and creating memories. Thanks to mom and dad who literally planned and saved their pennies to help make this all happen. It will be a memory to cherish for the rest of our lives.