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.

Ballet

I just snapped these photos of Lubby in the front yard! She has her first ballet dance recital tomorrow night and today was the dress rehearsal. A year ago Lubby let us know she wanted to be a ballerina. So we enrolled her in a Classical Ballet class. She then let us know that that wasn't necessary because she already knew how to dance ballet but, OK she'd go to class anyway. She was thrilled with the all pink, all girly dance studio, but then class started. She was a bit disillusioned when dance class consisted of 75% stretching, 25% dancing. It was all of a sudden "hard". She patiently made it through the year of stretching with the end "prize" of getting to wear a beautiful tutu!  Yes, all worth it!

Yes, There Really Was a Baptism

I'm a bit late in writing, but I don't want to pass over the wonderful day it was a few weeks ago when my Lubby was baptised.  It was such a sweet day.  There have been other days that rank up there in the "sweet" category, and this definitely qualifies. 

Unfortunately, we were running late that afternoon.  We had a bunch of yard projects we were working on and cut it pretty close to baptism time!  We rushed to the church, had Lubby and CK change into their whites then slid into the chapel.  There were 5 other kids being baptised that day, which is pretty unusual for our Stake.  The meeting was nice and when it was our turn we were so thrilled to see how many loved ones were there.  Nearly half of the audience was there for Lubby.  

Big T is a hoot when it comes to things like this.  He gets so excited!  When Lubby was down in the water Big T was right there on the floor by the glass just a squeelin'!   When it was done he shouted, "Good job, Lubby!"  (He actually does call her Lubby, which is how she got her nickname!)  Not the most reverent boy, but you just have to love him!

Before her confirmation, my good Bishop had a few members of our family say a few words.  My cute dad got up and bore his sweet testimony with us.  It was very powerful and one that many of us will always remember.

Here's pictures from the dinner after.  Sadly, being in such a rush I didn't get a picture of CK and Lubby in their whites.  I know, I know... terrible!  One of these Sundays after church, when I can actually remember, I'm going to have them "re-enact" the day (well, put their whites on again) so I can get pictures. :)

Uncle Bill and boys!

Yes, pretty cool mom, not one picture of Lubby.  :( 

Prom (Again)

Last Saturday was Rojita's school's Accolade (aka Sr. Prom).  She had such a great time and had a fun group to go with.  Here's some of the picts. 

Ready to go!  She was most nervous about the pinning on of the flower bit.  But with a little coaching she did it!

Since I had to be her chauffeur (they both haven't had their licences for 6 months yet), I got to also be the paparazzi mamma! Yes, I followed her into his house to get some great shots.

So, being the smart kids that they are, they had a gal who lives in a couple of the girls' ward who is also a photographer meet them at a beautiful spot and had her take their "dance pictures".  First of all this saved them lots of moola and they got better pictures.  Since I was the paparazzi mamma I was able to get some pictures with my own camera while there.

This is whole gang.  Such good kids!

Promise Seen in Drug for Fragile X Syndrome - NYTimes.com

Interested about Fragile X Syndrome and advancements on a cure? It's hard to even hope, but here's hoping!


Promise Seen in Drug for Fragile X Syndrome - NYTimes.com

Dance Fever

One bonus (if you ask Rojita) for living in one school's boundaries and going to another school is knowing more kids and possibly going to more dances.  (Not so great for the pocketbook though!)  Last Saturday Rojita went to BL's dance with a fun boy from our stake.  LOVED his suit! (What a Redhead!)

She had a great time! 

A few days ago Rojita had asked a different boy to OHS's dance which is coming up in a few weeks.  She asked him with a couple of stuffed frogs with a note that said, "I've looked through all the frogs in the lake and you're the prince that I'd like to take!"  So...this boy arranged with me on Friday to help him answer Rojita.  The only time we could arrange it was 45 minutes before her BL dance.  So 45 min. before the BL date came to pick her up, the OHS boy had me and CK tie Rojita up to a chair in our basement and put a crown on her head.  Yes, she thought we had completely lost it and had suddenly turned into psycho parents who were tying her up to the chair so she couldn't go to the dance.  Anyway, OHS boy brought pirate costumes for our three littles to wear. (We couldn't talk Big T into putting it on, so good ol' mom was a pirate too!)  We then went downstairs to surround the prisoner.  Our "prisoner" was so confused!  After a minute, "Prince Charming", AKA OHS boy, came bounding down the stairs, fought off the pirates then rescued his princess.  He then had a scroll made up with the sweetest poem stating he'd be her prince for the dance!  Also, a jar full of gummy frogs with a tag that said, "So many frogs, but just one Prince!"  It was the cutest stinkin' thing!

So here's Rojita with "Prince Charming" AKA OHS boy, dressed and ready for the dance with BL boy.   

Good times!

The BL boy asked Rojita by putting toilet paper, paper plates and forks all over our yard with a note that said, "Now that your house is as trashed as your school, going with you to Prom would be cool!"

Sooooo.... Rojita and friends made a bunch of signs that said, "OHS #1", "Go Tigers", "OHS #1 Fan lives here!"  and so forth.  They then plastered his front yard with the signs and orange and black crepe paper a day before he was coming home from a school competition so the neighbors could all see.

(Rojita's friends helping to make signs.)

All this with a note that said, "Seeing how you LOVE my school, going with you would be cool!"

Good Times!

I had the sweetest experience last Saturday while I was shopping. It was such a simple thing but it was so sweet.  My next door neighbor just had her 94 year old mother pass away this past week so I was picking out a flower and a card to take over to her.  As I was staring at the flowers in the display I picked up an Easter lily thinking that would be nice to take her, it being Easter weekend and all.  An older man came up and also started looking at the flowers.  He saw my Easter lily and said, “Do you think one of those would stay alive very long on a grave?" The question was so sincere.  I said, "Probably not too long."  He then commented that maybe he shouldn't look for live flowers to place on his wife's grave anyway.  After a second the words came to me.  I looked at him and said, "Ya know, she'd sure enjoy them while they lasted." He said, "You think she'd know they were there?"  What a sweet question.  I told him I was sure she'd know.  He shrugged and said, "Well maybe she would like them as long as they lasted, and especially since it is Easter."  I told him I thought it was a good idea and smiled at him. He then picked one up and off he went.

It was so sweet because here was this cute old man, probably not having been without his sweetheart for very long and not really knowing what to do or what was appropriate to do, but wanting to do something for her.  It almost breaks my heart to have felt of his sadness that she was gone, yet what a sweet feeling to sense his dear love for her.

I hope she loves the Easter lily.