A Piano and a Visit

Story- In the middle of my junior year of high school, my family moved to Idaho Falls, ID. Due to the move, my parents sold our piano (which I play... not very well, but I do). I am not totally sure on this, but I think they were going to try and buy one used. Well, you would think with so many pianists living there, Idaho Falls would have lots of used pianos. Nope. Not so. Not that we could tell, at least.

So for my 17th birthday, when I opened my birthday card from my parents, there was a piece of paper. On it, it said that I would be able to choose a NEW piano and they would buy it for me. Excuse me? I am pretty sure I was in shock at their generosity for a while. I never thought I'd be able to choose my own BRAND NEW piano. And it would be mine! We started the search, and it was hard. We still tried used, but they were really rare. Finally we stopped in at a piano store and I tested out some pianos. It came down to choosing a Yamaha or a Kawai. I went with the Kawai. And man, do I love that piano.

I always wanted to have my piano be with me, wherever I was. Right before our one-year wedding anniversary, we made the move to Utah for Brad to finish his degree at BYU. Since we thought life would just be grand from thereon out, we brought my piano with me. Well, life did not play out so perfectly (insert at-work accident and major anxiety/weight loss problems) and we had to move back to California just over a year later. We already had our piano at a friend's house due to us living in Colorado for the summer and there it would stay. A while later, my parents brought back my piano to live with them until we were sure we could take the piano with us. There it stayed until now... Now, it is sitting oh so prettily in our living room. Oh, it is so wonderful to have it here.

Once we knew we were buying our house, my parents started planning a piano weekend trip right away. They came up the weekend after General Conference, and we sure loved it! They were our official first guests in our new home!

The produce market/farm is a must when they are here

 Hay maze- James rocked it. Went so many times!

  Jack and this pony were adorable. Instant best friends. He kept giving him hugs through the fence

 Early birthday celebrations- decorate your own cupcake...

 ... and chow down

 Monday came too quickly- time to say goodbye (till Christmas!)