The Solo Recital

Mark had his solo piano recital on Saturday August 27, 2011. He had several songs he has been working on. He and his teacher settled on six songs for him to play. The recital was at his teacher's house and about 35 people were in attendance.

We wondered if the recital would actually happen since we had an attack of stomach flu the days leading up to the recital. Most of us were over it by showtime, but it was touch and go for a while.

Lauren made the programs for the recital



Mark warming up before the recital



Mark playing Brahms at the recital

 I have uploaded videos of each song to vimeo. The links below will take you to the videos. The times of each piece are listed next to the link. (We also have an audio recording of the recital that is a little better audio quality than the video. If anyone is interested in the audio only, I can make it available to you.)

Mark talked a little bit to start the recital. He played three songs, took a little break and then played the final three songs. He talked briefly before each song. I have added some of his interesting comments. They are direct quotes, so they are in the first person.  Click on the links below and press play on the Vimeo site to watch the videos.

Debussy Arabesque No. 1 (4:05 - Missed the first few seconds of the piece)

"From this point on all of the pieces I'm playing are generally in chronological order. I'm starting with Beethoven. He lived during the 1700s and 1800s"

Beethoven Sonata Op. 10 No. 1 in C Minor (5:16)

"The next piece is Chopin's Ballade No. 1 in G Minor. This is one of the hardest pieces I've learned to date and it's the longest one in the recital."

Chopin Ballade No. 1 in G Minor (8:54)

"Now we're going to take a short break, for my sake mostly."

"An Intermezzo is a lullaby"

Brahms Intermzzo Op. 117 No. 1 in E-Flat (4:16 - Missed the first few seconds of this piece)

"As we get nearer to the present, the composers start to get a little... weirder. It's less regular harmonies than we are used to, so these last two pieces are kind of an acquired taste. This next piece is the most contemporary piece I'm going to be playing."

Ginastera Danza de la Moza Denosa (3:19)

"Yes it's supposed to end like that."

"This last piece is another one of my favorite pieces and hard pieces. It's also really long. It has a lot of different themes so don't applaud until you're sure its over because it sounds like it's over a few times."

Prokofiev Sonata No. 3 in A Minor (7:48)

He got a standing ovation when he was done.

He did awesome. We are proud of him.

The ULCER

For those of you who don't know, I bought a new road bike right at the end of May. I've been thinking about getting one for a while, but finally took the plunge. I found a great deal in the classifieds on ksl.com (beats Craig's List locally hands down.) The bike is a Specialized S-Works Roubaix.

I've been riding two to three times a week with an eye on riding in the Utah Lake Century Epic Ride (ULCER.) This is a 110 mile ride around Utah Lake starting and ending at Thanksgiving Point.

Leading up to the ride I had been going longer and longer distances. My longest ride was a 70 miler the week before the ULCER. I did some rides with Brent Estes (next door neighbor and bishop) and Adam Whitefield - both of whom were also riding in the ULCER. The ride was August 6th (happy anniversary, mom and dad.)




Brent and Derek before the ride



ULCER 2011 route going clockwise around the lake

The ride went pretty well, all things considered. At about the 45 mile mark, I blew out a tire. This wasn't just the normal innertube blowout. Both my innertube and tire blew out. I had a spare tube, but not a spare tire. Just after the blowout, when I was thinking that my ride was over, a nice lady stopped to help. Her name was Wendy. She was around 60 and her husband was riding in the ULCER. She volunteered to drive me to a bike shop to buy a new tire. John Reese, who I was also riding with, volunteered to put up some cash for the tire. I had forgotten my wallet. So with the aid of these Good Samaratins, I was able to continue the ride. Thank John and Wendy!

At around mile 65, Adam started to feel sick ("bonking" or "hitting the wall".) We rode slowly with him for several miles until he got his second wind. We finished strong, but our time wasn't great.

I was pretty tired and a little sore after the ride, but I felt pretty good for having done it. That's the farthest I have ever ridden in one day. It is a fun accomplishment.

The following link is to the professional photos taken of me during the race.

http://www.zazoosh.com/events/searchPhotos/456?evtId=456&query=1586&x=20&y=9

Looking forward to it again next year. Anyone care to join me?

Disneyland

We went to Disneyland! It had been 8 years since we had been. We were expecting Ryan the last time we went. We went with our friends, the Warrens. We decided to go right after school got out because the California schools were still in session and we thought the crowds would be smaller.


At the entrance of Disneyland on the first day


We drove down on Saturday. We stayed in the Desert Palms hotel which is on the same block as Disneyland on the south side.

We went to the church Sunday morning in the "Disneyland ward." We then went to Uncle Dennis' house for a waffle breakfast. It was great to see Dennis and Susan again. Andy and his family came as well. Dennis and I discovered a mutual enthusiasm for bicycling. We even have the same model bike, but mine is a bit older.

After Dennis' house, we headed down to New Port Beach. We LOVE the beach. We wish we could go more often.

Mark, Lauren, Melissa and Steven at New Port Beach

 

Joe, Arianna and Sam at New Port Beach

 Some of our favorite rides at Disneyland were:

The Matterhorn, Ryan and Joseph's favorite (I was reminded of the story of going to Disneyland when I was 5. I refused to get on the matterhorn, so mom and dad had the people behind us in line watch me while they went. Could you imagine that happening today?)
 

Mark and Lauren on the Matterhorn



Ryan and Joseph just after riding the Matterhorn


Splash Mountain, Derek's favorite


Lauren and Marsha riding Splash Mountain

 

Marsha, Joe, Lauren, Derek and Mark on Splash Mountain

Space Mountain, Mark and Lauren's favorite


Lauren and Mark excited to ride Space Mountain

 Star Tours, Marsha's favorite. This ride was newly refurbished with new scenarios and in 3D. It was really fun. For those familiar with fast passes, we would get a fast pass at around 9:00 AM with a return time of around 6:00 PM. The fast passes for the day were gone by 9:30. The standby line for the ride was as long as 210 minutes (3.5 hours)
 

Derek, Lauren, Marsha and Mark prepare to board Star Tours. Love the lightning flashing from Marsha's eyes

 

C3PO welcomes us to Star Tours



Ryan and Joseph shot the wad on a dual-bladed light saber

Other fun rides:

The Go Coaster in Toon Town (Joseph loved this one)


Joseph on the Go Coaster

 We also went on Soarin' Over California and Grizzly Rapids in California adventure. Mark and I went on the California Screamin' roller coaster. I thought this picture on the Roger Rabbit ride was pretty funny:



Joe, Lauren and Marsha try not to crash on Roger Rabbit

 Lauren took some fun pictures that she wanted to add to the blog as well:

Joseph and Derek on Autopia

Joseph holding a sucker

Derek looking comtemplative while watching Chip and Dale

How cute is that face?

We met Marsha's cousin, Adam, in Downtown Disney for lunch one day. It was fun to see him.

A good time was had by all. The kids are asking when we can go again. Lindsey reunion in 2013 anyone?

Teenager at last (and stuff)

This post is a little late, but Lauren turned 13 years-old on April 10th. She is officially a teenager. As usual, she wanted to organize a party. She loves that type of thing. She had several friends over. They did a scavenger hunt at the mall. They ate pizza and they watched "Tangled" which Lauren got for her b-day.

Here are some pictures of the happy day.

Lauren with her loot



Cupcakes with curly candles

The Easter Bunny also put in an appearance at our house recently.

A couple of eggs in the easter baskets

Lauren also recently had a piano recital. She played "Baby Elephant Walk" by Henry Mancini. She did great! Check it out for yourself below. (Sorry about the shakey-cam.)


Lauren Recital - Baby Elephant Walk from Derek Lindsey on Vimeo.

You are awesome, Lauren!

Happy Birthday Mr. Bowling

Joseph's obsession with bowling started at an early age. Just before his second birthday, he came across two tiny plastic bowling pins. He found out he could set them up and roll a tennis ball to knock them down. He entertained himself for hours with this sport and his love of bowling took off.

About six months later we got him six foam bowling pins with a big foam bowling ball. He played it constantly. He called them "color pins."

For christmas the next year he got his "big ginormus bowling pins."

Joseph turned five on April 8th. He had some friends over for a bowling party. He had a bowling cake.

They then went bowling.

Most of the kids were done by about the seventh frame. Joseph and Andrew (the one to the right of Joseph in the picture) stuck it out to the bitter end. Joseph ended up getting two spares and a strike during the game.

We were happy that Grandpa and Grandma Sorenson were here for his birthday as well.

Happy Birthday, Joseph. We love you.

Addendum:

Shannon reminded me that I forgot to mention that Joseph was a bowling ball for Halloween. I had meant to include that, but forgot. Here is a picture of Joseph as a bowling ball.

Glass Blowing

A few months ago we went to Thanksgiving Point (a place about 2 miles from our house that has a dinosaur museum, movie theater, petting zoo, out door amphitheater, gardens, shops, etc.) At one of the buildings, the Art Institute of Utah teaches art classes, does glass blowing and other things. We went to watch the glass blowing one day. We found out that you can pay $25 and create your own glass flower with help from the glass blowers at the art institute. Ryan watched for a minute and was obsessed. He wanted to create his own glass flower really bad. We told him that he needed to save up his own money to do it. As time went on and he had his money saved up, he would constantly badger us to take him glass blowing. Last Saturday was finally the day to take him. He was so excited.

The guy in the background of this picture is the glass blower who helped Ryan with his flower. He has just pulled the molten glass from the furnace and is starting to shape it into a cone that will become the flower.


Glass Blowing from Derek Lindsey on Vimeo.

This video shows Ryan actually pulling the glass into a flower shape.

He couldn't take his flower home that day because it had to cure. We picked it up on Monday. The following pictures show Ryan with the flower and just a picture of the flower.

The Tophams came for Spring Break and actually accompanied us to Thanksgiving Point. While they were here we went to the Carl Bloch exhibit at the BYU museum of art. For those who don't know who Carl Bloch is, look him up. He was pretty impressive.

While we were at BYU, we also stopped by The Brick Oven for pizza.

We had a great time with the Tophams while they were here. The kids played a lot of video games and watched some movies. The cousins had lots of fun playing together. We are glad the Tophams live close enough to see them occasionally.

The Quiet Extrovert

People who know Mark, you know that he is a man of few words. His worst nightmare involves talking on the telephone. Those that don't know him well may think that he is shy and introverted.

We have a different term for him - the quiet extrovert. He is involved in so many activities it makes my head spin some times. He keeps surprising us with other things that he has signed up to do. He likes to be involved in groups, but likes to stay on the fringes of the groups - as little talking as possible.

Many people are aware of Mark's great skills on the piano. He rivals that on the violin. He is first chair violin in his chamber orchestra at school. The following clip is from a concert the orchestra put on last week. Close your eyes and pretend you are driving a sports car through the Swiss Alps or in a diamond commercial. The piece is called Paladio.


Paladio from Derek Lindsey on Vimeo.

He has early morning orchestra starting at 6 AM every other day. With that and his heavy class load this year, you might think that he would have enough on his plate. He's just getting started.

• Weekly piano lesson
• Weekly violin lesson
• Marching band in the fall - someone talked him into playing the synthesizer for the band. It was a time committment similar to playing a sport.
• Technology club - someone asked him to help program a game for a programming competition. (It appears that he is no longer doing that.)
• Chinese club
• Jazz Christmas ensemble - He was going to play the piano for them. It didn't work out, but he was ready if it went ahead.
• Piano festival - played a Bach Prelude and Fugue and a Rachmaninoff piece for a judge. We call them his Bach and Rach pieces.
• Prepared pieces for orchestra solo and ensemble competition and is going to state for his solo piece.
• Accompanied three people on the piano for their solo pieces for the same competition.
• Is on the tennis team. (The piano and violin lessons stop while tennis is going on because he has no time.)
• Took the American College Test (ACT) for the second time.
• Is studying for three AP exams.
• During summer "vacation" he plans on attending as many of the following as he can: Summer Music Festival at BYU (week long music camp), Priest Quorum High Adventure Camp, Disneyland, Family Reunion, Especially For Youth (EFY), state technology camp.

Wow, I'm tired just typing it.

In addition, and much to his dismay, Lehi High School has large number of girls choice dances. He usually manages to get asked to them. (He hasn't actually managed to ask any one out yet. See comment about the telephone above.) This picture is of him just before going to the valentines dance. His date's name is Jessa Bates.

Kind of a funny story about one of the invitations. We were sitting at the dinner table when there was a knock at the door. Joseph loves to answer the door so he thundered in there to answer it. He came back and said, "Mark there is a fairy at the door for you." The girl had her younger sister dress up like a fairy and deliver a pumpkin to Mark with the invitation inside. Mark knew what it was for and did NOT want to talk about it. Lauren and Ryan could not figure out why there was a little girl delivering a pumpkin to Mark and could not leave it alone. Finally we had to tell them to cool it and we would tell them what it was about later.

Another girl (Jessa) asked him by creating a code and then creating some matricies that Mark had to solve in order to get the right number combination to find out what the message said. The way to a man's heart is through his mathmatical equations.

We are glad Mark is part of our family.