State Marching Festival

What a crazy week and weekend we had. On Monday Evan found out that the football team (who made it into the State playoffs) was playing Northwest Christian High School (Phoenix) in their first playoff game on Friday night. The school administration had already informed Evan that they wanted the band to attend the game. Evan talked with the administrators more and they came to the conclusion that if it was not too expensive the band could rent hotel rooms and be only 20 minutes away from the site of the State Marching Festival, which took place on Saturday.

Evan spent time researching the many different hotels in the area to get the best price and the best location. He also wanted hotels that had breakfast served in the morning. Finally he found one that fit all the criteria needed. The price was low enough and the location was great. We then had to plan what we were going to do with the dogs for those two days we would be gone. Our only solution was to take them to my parents house. I am so grateful to have that option. Our dogs love my parents. We packed the dogs into the Santa Fe and headed to Globe on Thursday night.

Evan packed when we got back from Globe but I wanted to wait until Friday. I got off early and barely had everything done by the time we left Kearny at 4:00 and headed to the football game. The game was great. It had us on our toes the entire time. The officials were some of the worst so far this season. I am not just saying that for calls against our team but for the other team too. The game ran into overtime. In the end we had a heartbreaking loss of 27-28, with a missed kick for the extra point.

We had to wait for one of the football players because he was our electric bass guitar player. We didn't get to stop for dinner before the game and everyone needed to eat. Evan had promised the band a trip to In N Out burger. Not my favorite meal but it satisfied my hunger. Now it was on to the hotel for the night.

After realizing the storage compartments under the bus did not have locks we knew we would have to take all the instruments and the bass guitar's huge amp into the rooms with us. NOBODY liked that idea but there was absolutely nothing better to do. Evan went to check in while everyone else stayed on the bus to wait. Finally twenty minutes later (at about 12:45 a.m.) we were able to get the kids off the bus and unloading. Evan and I had a room to ourselves but before we could get into the room the front desk clerk said there was a problem. We waited while she spoke to the manager. She had a very worried look on her face and I was starting to get worried. I thought maybe they had given out our room and there were not rooms left. I was thinking "Oh, great I am going to sleep on floor". She finally got off the phone and informed us that something had happened to the room we were assigned. She looked very worried now. She said they could give us another room but she was afraid there was only one room left and it only had a king size bed in it. I laughed out loud. I then informed the clerk that Evan and I were married and one bed was fine. She looked soooo relieved. We taped the kids in their rooms and finally got to bed at about two in the morning. This is getting to be a long blog but bear with me a little bit longer.

I did not want to get up when the alarm went off at 6:30 a.m. Evan and I had to get up and dress so we could make sure all the kids were attempting to get out of bed. Our phone rang at 6:45; it was one of the flag sponsors. She had gone to get breakfast and was informed that they did not have a breakfast but they did have a coffee machine if she would like some coffee. We then had to scramble to get the kids ready, the bus loaded, and check out of the hotel in time to take the kids to breakfast.

We made it to the State Marching Festival site with moments to spare. The band and flags put on a great show. We were very pleased with the final performance of the year. When the results were announced we were excited to have received a score of EXCELLENT. This only being Evan's second year with the band I was very proud of what he has done with it. Everyone was exhausted so needless to say the ride home was a very quiet one. Below are pictures I took after I woke up. All in all a great weekend.