Fiddlin' Kids

Kiersten and Hunter decided to participate in their first fiddling contest held at the Graham County Fair Grounds.Kiersten was so very nervous. I felt so bad for her because she inherited my genes in the department. I kept telling her she didn't have to be in the fiddle contest, but that is where she differs from me as a child. She pushes herself to do things she is uncomfortable with. I couldn't have been prouder of her.

You can see the fear and nerves in her eyes. But she did it anyway.

Kiersten played her three songs from memory. She was accompanied by Beth on the guitar . All three pieces were beautiful! She did an amazing job!

Once she was actually playing the songs on the stage she was good. She was smiling with Beth and seemed to be more relaxed. She was very happy with her performance and I couldn't have been prouder. I was sad that Justin had missed seeing her play as he went to the office this Saturday.

Hunter is the complete opposite.............he has little to no nerves. He is just happy as a lark before he played on stage.

He was accompanied by Beth as well. He played his three songs wonderful! I was so proud of him!

A little story about Hunter and Beth. The night before this competition was a Friday and the Old Time Fiddler Association put on a potluck as well as letting people get up and play on stage. So we went so the kids could play on the stage in front of an audience before the competition. After the kids played then bands would get up and play their set. People started dancing to the music so I got Hunter and took him out for some Country dancing. He LOVED it! Then I let Logan have a turn dancing with me. The next thing I know Hunter is dancing with Beth............country swinging! It was the cutest thing ever. I thought....how sweet of Beth to ask Hunter to dance. When we sat down I told Hunter, "that was nice of Beth to ask you to dance." Hunter said, "What? She didn't ask me....I asked her!" Now that's even cuter!

The outcome was a little hard to take especially considering this was our first fiddling contest. Kiersten got 9th place............I know I am her mom but she honestly out played at least five more kids. She was devastated and it took all her courage to not cry up there on stage. I felt so bad for her. Come to find out they did not score one of her songs because it was not "old time fiddle" enough. Which really upset me because it was her teacher who picked her music. SO why punish a 10 year old. I swore we would NEVER do another fiddle contest again!!! Hunter was thrilled with his outcome.....he took second! They both got a little bit of money and a metal so it wasn't all bad. But I was sure this would be our first and last fiddling contest! I just felt so bad for Kiersten. I had other parents even coming up to me after the awards telling me they couldn't believe Kiersten didn't place higher because she played better then the other kids. One parent even said her daughter didn't deserve to get a better place then Kiersten. So it wasn't just me by any means. We didn't find out about the one song not being scored until a week later. It was frustrating to say the least.

This is the kids violin group playing at the Arizona's 100th birthday celebration at EAC. The kids played in the foyer while people were entering the building. They did a fabulous job and they sounded great together!

What a great looking AND sounded group of musicians!

Much to my shock we went to another fiddle competition. This time it was in Tucson. I would have never thought Kiersten would compete on stage again with the violin. But she never wants to let people down (her teacher Mrs. Skinner) and she has so much determination it's admirable! This is Jacob, Samantha, Hanna and Kiersten before they performed. We took the Yukon and piled all the girls in it............these three and Mrs. Kim Skinner and myself. It was fun to visit with Kim.........she is just a hoot! The boys car was Mr. Kevin DeRusha, Samantha's dad, Hunter, Jacob and Justice. I do have to say that the girls car beat the boys by a good 25 minutes.............not bragging....just saying for the record!!

What gorgeous kids these are!

I was so proud of all of them!

Samantha's dad, Mr. McMahan, accompanied both Hunter and Kiersten. I was so grateful to him to do this last minute. Hunter played his three songs great and looked stylish in the process. He wanted to look AWESOME he said so this was the outfit we came up with. He had many people tell him how cool he looked.........so that was a success! You might notice his foot in a ace bandage.....well what can I say if someone in our house hold doesn't have something broken, bandaged, stitched or burnt I just start randomly hitting kids! Totally kidding! Hunter had dropped a 24 inch tile on his foot the night before and his foot swelled up so much we couldn't get it in his shoe. I thought for sure he broke it the way it looked, but much to my surprise by the end of the weekend his foot felt much better.

Hunter and his best bud Justice Nelson.

I couldn't be prouder of my kids! They push themselves to be their best and they succeeded! I loved the way this competition was ran and the awards given. Only the top five kids were singled out....all the others got the same amount of money and never knew if they got 5th or last place. They all got to go up on stage and receive their money and applause. It was great I thought. Kiersten changed one of her songs due to the last experience. This time she placed 5th!!! She was so happy with herself and it helped her see that she is an amazing violinist. She learned never to give up due to a technicality. It was a great experience and tons of fun for all the kids.

We were so grateful for Mr. McMahan. The kids sounded so good with him and he makes them feel so good about themselves. Kiersten was a little nervous this time as well but when she came off the stage she told me, "Mom, it was actually fun this time!"

She was so excited when she took 4th place! I was so happy for her especially considering she still felt like a failure from the first contest. Which that whole situation was out of her hands. I was glad this experience was much better.

Not that it matters what place they get but not having your song scored was very traumatizing!

The warn up room at this school was a dance room.....Kiersten was so excited! She did all kinds of dance moves. It was fun for her and helped calm her nerves for sure. I had to take a picture of her doing what she loves most....DANCE!!!

She even tried talking her girlfriends in to trying out the bar. These girls were so fun.....they just kept me laughing.

By the time all the kids competed as well as Kim and Kevin it was like 4:00 and we had been there since 9:00. I just could not put these kids back in the car and go back to Safford. They deserved to have some fun......they had to be quite during the performances so it was a long day (for me too I must say). So Mr. DeRusha and Mr. McMahan went back to Safford and we kept all the kids....

I decided a little fun at Funtastics was just what we all needed!

All the kids were crazy excited to find out where we were taking them!

They more then earned it!

This is Hunter and Justice on the race cars.

Kiersten tore up Jacob and Hanna.....just the luck of the draw her car was faster.

The kids loved the water bumper cars............they got soaked!! They went on all the rides and had so much fun! We all played a round of goofy golf and then had dinner at the Olive Garden before heading home. We didn't get back until 12:30 p.m.

It was a really fun day!