Busy weekend

Last Friday, this was my Facebook status:

"Busy weekend ahead: Donating blood, extra demo team practice for State next weekend, date night with my husband, endurance class, practicing ward choir accompaniment, Space Center test flight, breaking boards at the ward talent show, speaking in Sacrament meeting, and celebrating St. Patrick's Day. Make it so!"

Donating blood:
Turned into a fail for me--my iron was too low, so I wasn't allowed to donate. James donated, and as it turned out, the gal who drew his blood was the same who drew him last time he was there, over a year ago. We also met the mother of one of our students, who recognized James from her visits to our studio.

Practices:
We are competing this coming Saturday at the Utah State Championships for taekwondo, so our demonstration team has been having regular and extra practices in preparation. Always an adventure.

Date Night:
James and I went to Salt Lake on Friday night and had dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant called Eva. The food was delicious, but the portions were absurdly small, even knowing it was a "small plate" style of eating. The atmosphere was also not to our taste. So while we enjoyed ourselves, we will not be eating there again.

Endurance class:
We didn't actually make it. James hurt his shoulder last Tuesday, and still is recuperating. I have been having trouble sleeping for the last several days, and Friday night was particularly bad. I'm still having some difficulty with sleep, though it seems to be getting better.

Ward choir:
Last week was my first time as the ward choir pianist, and my choir director handed me the music at that first practice, so I got to sight-read through my first practice. Somewhat less than fun. So I spend the week (and now this week too!) practicing daily in the hopes of not embarrassing myself quite so much. This Sunday wasn't as bad. I have down the accompaniment for one of the songs. The other is still challenging me quite a bit, so fervent practice continues.

Space Center:
James had never been to the old space center in PG, so when I asked him if we could join some friends on a test flight for the new Discovery Space Center, he had no idea what to expect. He told me later that he'd thought it was going to be some educational (aka boring) thing. Little did he know that we would be play-acting a diplomatic-turned-battle mission aboard a spaceship. James was the "right wing officer" in charge of navigation, and I was the ship's ambassador. We had a blast!

Ward Talent Show:
Saturday night was our ward talent show. When they very first announced the talent show in our ward, about a month ago, James and I immediately decided that we wanted to participate. (We sat and planned out a board breaking routine during that Sacrament Meeting...) Our plans had to be altered when James hurt his shoulder last Tuesday, to take out the hand techniques James had been planning. So while our performance was not quite as epic as we had originally planned, we were nevertheless a huge hit with our ward. (For interested parties, James broke with a split kick, then I with a nadabon, then he with a nada-crescent, then I with a thrown ridge hand.)

Talks:
James and I spoke in our ward's Sacrament Meeting on Sunday. We were the only speakers. And we will admit to you that we prepared our talks on Saturday, as is typical. I spoke on "Our Journey on Earth" and used the metaphor of a roller-coaster ride that apparently stuck. James spoke on "The Influence of Angels" and used some very personal experiences to illustrate his points. Needless to say, after breaking boards at the ward talent show and then speaking on Sunday, we felt like celebrities in our ward!

St. Patty's:
Sunday night we spent at the Holley's to celebrate our sister Victoria's birthday as well as St. Patrick's Day. James' mother made corned beef and lamb for the occasion, both of which were amazing, along with all the accoutrements. Most of us then played "Dictionary" (what I understand to be a simplified version of Balderdash) and had a great time.



Now we are in major preparation mode for the State Championships this week. I'm not going to lie, it will be a relief once this tournament is over. James and I are both competing: both of us on the demo team, and both of us in our individual poomsae (forms) divisions. James will also be competing in weapons, with his nunchuku. We have also decided to compete together in a pairs poomsae division, which I am very excited about. We're hoping his shoulder will be in working shape by Saturday!