Somebody to Love

Here's my Rojita, (yes, spelled wrong on the youtube video).  This was from their school concert the other night. 

Together Forever

I swiped these picts off of my sister's blog, and boy what amazing pictures they are.  My dear, sweet, one-and-only brother went through the temple for the first time.  For the first time all my sisters, my mom and dad AND my brother were there together.  I've dreamed of this day for, well, as long as I can remember.  It was even more wonderful than I ever imagined.  This is us after the session.

 The whole gang.  (No the temple hasn't been turned green.  Just what happens when you take picts in the dark.)  :)

 Finally there together (except Tami who had to take off.)

Mike with my bro-in-law and Nephew

Mike with a very happy mom and dad.



How great is our JOY!

I love that my brother just glows with the light of the Gospel.

My Thomas

This week Rojita had to write a short paper on someone or something that has made a big impact on her life.  Thought I'd share...

My Thomas

I see his soft glossy blue eyes, seemingly aware. Yet, his clouded thoughts are intent on swaying in a universe all his own. His beaming face is never forgotten. It shows a precise depiction of his inner thoughts, including all the many emotions he does posses. His uneven smile is a limitless source of compassion being shared to more people than seemingly possible. He is a mystery to those who don’t know him; not easily liked or understood by those who judge too quickly. How mistaken they are to judge this human so wrongly, where as I can only dream of climbing to the great extent of which he is at. This is my brother. He is my friend and hero, as super as they come. How people choose to look at him is not up to me. I cannot stop their insane methods of criticism against a ten year old as innocent as him. His mind is slow, and he can’t keep up with the speeding, rocky ways of life like most people can. But his heart still beats, and is in the right place. He calls me “My Aly”, and to me he is My Thomas.

He was diagnosed with Fragile X Syndrome when he was extremely young. Not knowing what to expect, my family and I could only wait to see the severity of his case as the years would go by. Ten wonderful years have coasted by since that day, and with an unlimited supply of memories with him, I could surely fill the pages of a never ending story book. He paints a colorful masterpiece on my life of black and white. His perfect love leaves no hate for an imperfect world. Thomas knows what most people neglect to find out and he never attempts to find the imperfections that others automatically search for in him.

Life’s ordinary, everyday situations surround him, but he is not ordinary. Even a walk through a store with this boy can result in a comedy routine that will brighten the faces of anyone he crosses paths with. At any given store he will excitedly grab the hand of anyone who walks slow enough for him to catch. He will then introduce himself as best as he can with the few words that he can muddle through his lips. Once their hesitant frames relax, he will include the names of our entire family as he then points us out to the curious stranger. With an awkward pause and moment of slight embarrassment we smile and say hello. It only takes a few short moments for this new found friend to see the giant heart placed into one small boy.

Not only is he friendly and blissfully happy with the world, he also knows how to strike my heart with his slow, innocent words. For simple things is where he makes his biggest impact on me. There is nothing like walking up the stairs after a morning of pinning, fixing, and struggling to fight a bad hair day and hearing Thomas tell me that I look beautiful. With his vast, bright glance up at me and arms open for a giant bear hug, I realize he sees no fault or imperfection. He can only see me, his big sister. His Aly. And as for me, I see the point of perfection. He is My Thomas and he is changing our world one smile at a time.

Sweet Boy

I need to post some sweet moments with Big-T.  After days like today, I have to remind myself that he is a sweetheart and just like the rest of us, he has his off days.

Since the kids are on vacation from school, Big-T doesn't have much of a routine and so it throws him way off.  He does so much better when things are the "same".  These free days make him and then in turn, me, grumpy!

But going through some of these pictures of him and Rojita I remember how our lives would be so boring and much less happy without our sweet boy. 

Reunion

This being the holiday season and all, what better time than to post about...my 20 year reunion!  Here's the whole gang that showed up to the Friday night get together...

It was almost surreal all being together again in the school.  I found myself just staring at everyone that first night thinking how "weird" it all was that it seems like we just left the place and now every one's a bit more gray, wrinkled, bald and/or heavy. 

These are some of my favorite people in the world...

Tracy, me, Mark W., Mark F. and Andy.  

 I seriously had the most wonderful people in my life during that time.  I hear people say how glad they were that that time in their lives is over and how they couldn't wait to graduate, but I had the best time!  I was actually sad when it ended and knew I'd miss these people terribly.

This little picture is of four of us that played on the State Championship Girls' Basketball Team.  (Yes, we were sophomores at the time, but hey, we still can claim it!)  We're pointing at our trophy with the net draped over it from the championship game.  It is fun to walk down the halls and still see my name and poofy '80's hairdo smiling back at me through the glass.  Even more fun to show my kids and have some bragging rights.

  (Tracy, me, Jeanette & Diana)

We had a family picnic Saturday at a park.  I didn't bring my camera much to my annoyance, but trust me it was great!  Then Saturday night we had a formal-ish dinner at Rickenbacher's Restaurant down at the airport.  It was my favorite part of the reunion.  We all talked like we were all best friends at one time.  Even those who may not have been the friendliest were much more...friendly.  There were only two people there that I honestly did not recognize.  One gal was talking with me and another gal that I knew and I finally said, "I think I'm supposed to know you...".  The gal I knew laughed and told me who the other gal was and I about hit the floor.  She was one of those who was once a bit heavy and over the top, but she was amazingly fit and much more quiet.  The other was a boy I knew pretty darn well.  I looked at his name tag at the restaurant and shouted out, "You are NOT so-and-so!!"  He was incredibly more thinner amongst other things and hard as I could stare at him I could not make it look like him. 

More of my favorite people...

Tracy and Ericka. I went all the way through kindergarten with Ericka.  Yep, one of my favorites!

Jason (what a sweetie!), Jeanette and Tracy

Jean, me and Angela

Mark W. in the background being so mature and giving me bunny ears. :)

We had such a great time!  Most of my favorites live in other states so it's not like we can just get together often, which made it that much harder that night to say goodbye...again.  Good times!

Volleyball

Since the beginning of school this Fall time has just seemed to kick in to warp speed!  Around here Fall means a whole lot of volleyball!  These last 3 years Rojita's school has been bumped up to the 4A ranking when they are MUCH closer in size to the other 3A schools.  They are barely over the mark to join in on the 4A "fun".  So for the last three years they've been competing against much larger schools with much bigger programs.  For example, our varsity team has SEVEN players!  Yes, seven.  The teams they play have enough girls on their varsity team to fill three separate teams with a few girls left over to rotate in!   (After the first few region games our bench looked awful bare compared to other teams, so he started sitting some our the JV girls on the bench to look like we actually had depth!) Our girls did very well in the pre-season games against other 3A and 2A schools, but struggled through the regular season!  They held their own though and I'm so proud that they gave their all each game!  Happily we've been informed that next year they will be once again put in the 3A bracket!  Yahoo!!

The Varsity Stud Muffins

Varsity and some JV gals...

Spectacular Youth Spectacular!

Last Friday and Saturday 3400+ youth in our area, which consisted of 30 Stakes put on this amazing "Spectacular".  The 30 Stakes were divided into three "councils" of 10 Stakes each.  We were part of the North Council.  My small part was helping to teach the youth in our stake the songs that they sung.  Then my part ended and 7-ish months later....Walah!  For two nights of crowded, standing room only crowds at WSU's football field, we were entertained, uplifted, edified and filled with Heavenly Father's spirit! 

This whole thing came about because of a special request from President Thomas S. Monson, I think, two years ago.  Elder Keyes, our regional representative then took the bull by the horns and pulled this thing together.  It has consumed every combined youth activity since January and almost every weekly activity for the past two months.  Three weeks ago Elder Keyes through in a few more practices at the end because he was a bit concerned, so the youth spent the last couple of weeks practicing at least three times each week. 

Our Council had the job of representing the pre-Earth life and showing how we are children of our Heavenly Father who rejoiced at the thought of coming to Earth.  Then they portrayed coming to Earth and how we need to remember who we are!  Children of God!  And that we need to Shine!  Then we are reminded that we Never Walk Alone.

So here's some of what happened!  I took these with my digital camera's video button, so they're not very long or good quality, but it gives you a taste.

This is the opening scene of the North Council's program...

This is just one of the cool parts of the song, "Power in Purity".

This was Rojita's 5 seconds of fame.  She had a solo part in the song, "Shine".

This was the ultimate, every one's favorite part of the North Council's program.  At this point the angel's in the pre-existence are slowly crossing through the "veil" and coming down to Earth.  To create this there are people holding the light blue flags, representing the veil, that walk slowly across the field.  The angels pass through the veil and remove there angel whites to reveal their bright colors underneath then off to Earth they go.  You don't notice them taking off their robes, just them appearing out the other end in these bright shirts.  It was amazing!

It truly was amazing.  Not a lot of dry eyes in the crowd.  Here are some of the pictures from those nights...

At the very beginning we have Angel Moroni!    We found Rojita ready to start! (bottom, center)

And here's all our Angels!

They used these neat fabric square "things" which were gold on one side and white on the other to do some cool ripple things.

"Power in the Heavens, Power in the Plan! Power in Discovery, Learning who I am!  There's Power in Obedience, the Truth that sets us Free. To find a sense of confidence with Power in Purity!"

Here they are running through the veil.  AWESOME!

They're holding "mirrors".  "When you look in the mirror do you see who He sees?"

Then they got down to "Shine!"

"Shine! Don't let them take your sun away, don't listen to a word they say. Don't let anybody take away your SHINE!"

At the end they sang, "I Never Stand Alone, when I stand with God.  And I stand with his prophets.  Where ever I may go, If I stand with God I never stand alone."

Joseph Smith Jr. and Hyrum

I stand with Moroni!

The North Council's finale.

During one of the other Council's programs they talked about the Gospel spreading throughout the world.  So they showed dances from other countries.  When they did the Polynesian Hakka we have six full time Elders from Polynesian countries that came down and danced with them.  They were fabulous.  I love the war face that I caught on this Elder!

During the Grand Finale the Full time Missionaries serving in our area ALL came down on the field singing "Called to Serve" with our youth.  In this picture you only see half of the Elders.  The other half and the Sister Missionaries are on the other side.  The Mission President (he's facing the other direction) and his wife are on the top.  Yep, AWESOME!  Each of the Missionaries and the youth had a bag over their shoulders at the end which had a Book of Mormon in it that at one point they all held up.

 

At the very end all the youth and Elders held up lights and faced towards the big picture of Christ, then knelt.  Wow. 

This was truly a once in a lifetime event that I hope they/we never forget. 

I kept thinking how amazing this must have been especially for the missionaries who most likely come from areas where there aren't many members of the Church.  This probably blew their minds and will truly be a once in a lifetime event for them that they can share with their families and friends back home.