state finalists!

in case you didn't hear, the seneca high school band (which matt is the band director of) made it to state finals for the first time since 1996. i am so proud of all the kids, matt, and everyone else who worked to make it happen, and so happy to say i had a small part too! it was a successful season all around. they finished first in their class at their first competition, 3rd at the 2nd, 2nd at the 3rd. here are some pictures from their first competition.

to qualify for state, you have to finish in the top half at upperstate. there were 19 bands participating, so they took the top ten and seneca managed to solidly grab spot number ten and a superior rating! upperstate was down the road at byrnes high school so my mom, dad, grandmother, evan and i all made the trip to see the show. here is evan being cute, and yes he is wearing a monkey leash. don't judge- they're awesome.

so the final competition was state finals down in batesburg-leesville. it's about a 3 hour trip from here so my mom agreed to keep evan and i traveled with the band for the day. we had a great day! the band did well, their show wasn't the best it could have been, but out of 17 bands they finished number 15 and were only .3 points behind 13! (which made the lackluster performance that much more depressing) but the kids were thrilled and so were we! next year, we plan to be there again and do even better! after the awards, the guard attacked matt with 5 bottles of glitter spray and used them up on him! he was literally COVERED in glitter. it was awesome. but i just couldn't get a good picture of it. so here is a picture of us with his drum major at state finals. we will miss this girl a lot next year!

also on this day were kentucky state finals. and i have to give a shout out to my alma mater, lafayette, who won their 17th state title since 1990! so proud of to be an alum of that band and to have worked for them for 3 years. and thanks to the lafayette band, i'm married to matt! wish i could have been at wku that day too cheering them on.

their opening set. i miss this band!