We had Stake Conference today, and we went the extra mile by going in person and not watching it on zoom, go team. I thought it was appropriate to try and step it up for Easter Sunday. It was 2 hours long, and the kids did great sitting through the whole thing. No one even went out for a bathroom break! The teenagers did really well listening too. Elder Clark Gilbert was the visiting authority and he and all the other speakers shared touching and heartbreaking stories about deaths in their lives or their friends and families lives and how Christ helps us through those hard times. They also shared stories about trials and conversion. Jocelyn, a recent convert who is awesome and in our ward, shared some of her story of how she came to know the Church is true. She was baptized 5 months ago. It was all really good. It started at 10, but we got there early at 9:20 to make sure we got a soft bench and weren't on the metal folding chairs. I grabbed some old notebooks for the kids to draw in to keep themselves entertained. Before the meeting started Wes was at work entertaining Peter. He drew some cars, a few faces, and then started doing math.
"I can't just draw anymore... math is more interesting!"
He really likes geometry, which will help him if he does become an architect, which is what he is thinking he'd like to do. He proudly showed me the correct answer he just got.
Abi found this in the notebook she was using, from a time that Natalie was getting ready to play school ~ funny!
We watched a little bit of the Chosen to catch Melodie up, and then we went over to Coreys' parent's house for dinner. Joseph drove up from Provo to join, as well as Corey's siblings and all the cousins. A package that Corey's parents sent to Mel in November was returned - it went to Brazil and back! Impressive. It had Christmas presents and Mel's birthday presents in it, so Mel got to celebrate Easter and Christmas and her birthday today!
Before we ate, the adults visited a little and the kids wrestled with each other - Peter taking on Owen...
And Owen hanging on cousin Seth -
And showing affection to one another too -
Grandma had an old bunny mask that the little kids had fun wearing.
Joseph wore these funny bunny glasses when he was a toddler, as evidenced by this card that Joseph found today as he looked through the scrapbooks in Grandma's room.
That is an Easter card I made many years ago, when I was a bit more creative. We thought Peter looked especially cute in the glasses - it's Peter Rabbit!
After dinner, cousin Rhyan hosted an egg hunt for the little kids.
They enjoyed it, of course.
Finding the last of the eggs -
Showing off their loot.
And then the adults visited some more (Wes had my phone...)
and we made strawberry (and blueberry) shortcake for dessert (that was our family's contribution to the dinner) and watched another episode of the Chosen, and Grandma gave a cute treat to all the kids. Peter holding his carrot full of treats.
It was a nice Easter Sunday. I especially liked watching the Chosen. I thought more about the Savior today than I think I have done during Easters of years past. I am grateful that he conquered death and to know that He Lives today. I believe with all my heart that because of him, I will live again and will be able to be with my family forever. I am so grateful for that knowledge!
Putting the kids to bed recently one night ~ they were finishing up brushing their teeth and then gathering to the top of the stairs for prayer and scriptures. I was in brushing my teeth and I heard quiet little chatter followed by a big laugh, then again quiet talking followed by a big laugh. When I came out I saw the game they were playing with Sophia - Melodie was wearing her 5th grade shirt, where each student drew a self portrait and they were all put on a class shirt together - Mel wears it as her pajama shirt.
They would ask Sophia "Where is Wesley?" and she'd study the shirt and then point at a portrait, then they'd all laugh. Repeat ~"Where is Abi?" Hmm - Sophia quietly pondered the faces then made her choice.
Sophi said Wesley was Isiah in the photo above and Abi was Thomas. It is kinda funny, she always seemed to point at the most odd looking people or choose girl drawings for her brothers. Ethan has a shirt like this too, it's become one of their favorite Sophi games. Simple pleasures. :)
Tonight we went to a fireside with Michelle and Jon Schmidt - Jon of the Piano Guys and his wife Michelle, author of Carried. It was wonderful - It was me, Mel, Abi, Hyrum, Wesley and Peter. Mel and Abi and I stuck around afterward to get a picture with the Michelle and Jon.
I read her book two weeks ago, loved it. And then 10 days ago I was listening to Piano guys all the time as I blogged - catching up on Joseph's blog and other computer work. I thought I'd do all that in preparation for the fireside tonight, and it does just leave me in awe of them and of the good fruit of Latter Day Saints around the world. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ are doing such awesome things, I'm thankful to claim them as my brothers and sisters in the gospel. I love the Piano Guys! (Two others of my gospel peeps - Timothy Ballard and Nathan Pacheco).
I didn't take notes, I just enjoyed the fireside. But here are a few thoughts from what I can remember -
Michelle started the meeting, showing a picture of herself when she was like 10 or so - a cute girl with big front teeth, frizzy hair, and a look that, Michelle said, was probably wondering "Am I going to be okay? What does the future hold for me? Will anyone ever love me? Does God love me?" She showed a picture of Jon too. Then told of how they met and a few stories from their family's history. A lot of what the shared is in her book, like what Jon's mission president told him. Things that have happened to help them learn to know of God's love and to know they can trust Him to help them.
So a few things Jon said - he talked about how he and Michelle, and then he and the Piano Guys, often use "Prayer Lists". Like sometimes they just have so many things they need help with, that they can't remember it all, so they write it down. Then they pray and go over each thing. Jon shared that God is our Personal Assistant!! He loves us! He wants to help us! He is aware of what we need more than we are! He can help us! I had thought before that that was a bad thing, to treat God like he was my secretary - I got that idea from a talk that I loved, called "Return of the King" by Larry Wilson - here's the quote:
Each of us faces a choice. We can choose to see ourselves as the Lord’s servants and humbly seek to know what He wants us to be doing with the talents and time He has given us. As such, we can seek to enlarge His kingdom and prepare it for His return. Or we may imagine that the story is all about us. Too many fall into this trap. They forget that they are His servants and begin to imagine that He is theirs. They think erroneously that Christ came to make all their dreams come true. For those in such a trap, prayer becomes like dropping memos on a desk in a heavenly office: “Could you please take care of this as soon as possible?”
So maybe there is a difference between those two things: We can't treat God like a servant, but we can counsel with him and tell him what we think, then ask him for his assistance if that will work or if there is something more we should think of or be aware of. Anyway, I loved that thought that God is our Personal Assistant and to make Prayer Lists. It will give me a little more courage to come to him with my useless cares. I know there are such bigger problems in the world, but he still loves me, is aware of my struggles, and he will help me goo. So Jon said that when they were filming Fight Song, there were so many things that needed to happen. They had originally tried to film in Utah, but it wasn't great, and then an opportunity came to film at their dream location - the Eilean Donan Castle in Dornie, Scotland!! But - they were so many conflicts on their calendar, they didn't know how could they get over there to film it? They figured out that they could do it on a certain Monday and Tuesday in October. Then they found out that the weather there in Scotland in October was horrible - like horizontal rain all the time. Should they buy the airfare? Should they go forward with it? They wrote down all the things they would need, like good weather on that Monday and Tuesday. They would need to find a few other locations to film in a forest that would have proper lighting, etc etc. Oh, and they would need to be able to find a bagpipe band shortly after they landed. And they would need the people in that bagpipe band to all be available on that Monday and Tuesday for shooting. And they would all need to be able to learn the music in like an hour. Jon said it was kinda ridiculous all the things they needed. And for them to now ever to deny the miracles that happened would just be ingratitude on their part. But at the time, they didn't know if it would work out? Still, they felt okay about going forward, even with all the unknowns and uncertain details not figured out. So they bought tickets to fly and out. When they got there, they thought "It will be okay with God if we just go to the first hour of church and then leave to go find locations to film." So they decided that, said a prayer for confirmation, they all got up and then looked at each other with the same impression... "Nope, we're going to all three hours of church...." So off they went to church. In the 3rd hour, a sister came up and said "Do you guys need a bagpipe band? I am the president of a band. I could have them all there tomorrow...." (Miracle!) The weather was a little rainy on and off the first day, but was perfect on the Tuesday. Some people that helped them move the piano said told them about a place to film that would be perfect, a little place that only the locals knew about. It all came together bit by bit as they went forward with Trust in God. Then we watched this video at the fireside.
It was so funny, cause after it was over, Michelle stood and said "Doesn't that all look wonderful and beautiful!? But even after all the miracles that got us there, then the drone's battery died and people were jumping off the bridge into the water to save the footage!" So moral of the story - even an amazing song and video like that has a big messy story behind it! Life is messy, but we can still do beautiful and amazing things with God's help. Here is a little behind the scenes write up of Fight Song on the Piano Guys blog.
It was so great, and I was just so full of admiration of love for him and his wife. At the end he played "I Can't Help Falling in Love With You" by Elvis Presley. We were sitting on the 2nd row in the front by the piano, so we had a good seat. At the end Peter got a little fussy, so I was going to take him out but stood by the back door so I wouldn't miss the final song. I loved it.
Before he began to play that final number, he said that was just how he felt about all of us. And that is what the gospel and the spirit of Christ does for us, it turns our hearts to one another and we're full of love, we can't help falling in love with each other! Wherever you find the Church of Jesus Christ, you will find a little corner of heaven, ZION!
It was great. And just a few more Piano Guys things - Beethoven's 5 Secrets is one of my favorites to listen to, especially when walking in nature or in the mornings.
When Stars and Salt Collide is beautiful! Their videos are as amazing as their music!! I wonder if each of these videos has a messy story behind it? Here is one more that was on their channel - a song Jon's son Spencer wrote, with Annie singing it in. They really didn't share that much about the hard trial they faced when Annie went missing, so go read MIchelle's book for that. One thing Jon said though, was that as they were praying to find her, and getting a little frustrated with what seemed like silence from heaven, they had to help each other trust God. Jon said a prayer, "God, we know that you know exactly where Annie is and that you could take us to her within 3 hours. But even if you don't answer our prayer right away today, please help us remember all the times that you have." And it still took several weeks, but he said that that prayer felt good, felt connected. And they went forward in faith. Now looking back, Michelle said, it was probably merciful that it took so long to find her and that there was so much rain calling off the search so many times, cause it helped Annie's body decompose. They said it would have been hard to find her body and have it look like her, but when they found it, it was really just bones, and that made it easier. They had impressions she had passed away early on, so they felt they were just looking for her body. Again, for more on that part of the story, read Michelle's book "Carried"
They will see her again. We will all see and be with our loved ones again, thanks to Jesus Christ. O Come, O Come Emmanuel (I hope Piano Guys get played on loud speaker during the second coming!)
Hi. I'm going back in time to give the full report of Christmas Eve. If I actually wrote this all on Christmas Eve, it would have been written after 3:30 am on Christmas Day, cause that's when the day officially ended with this final photo -
So, this is how our Christmas Eve went. Corey told me the night before that he wanted to take the kids out to lunch and then to a movie. He told the children of his plans also, because it would require just a bit of planning/effort on their part. aka- they would need to get up earlier than usual for a "winter break" morning because of my one pre-condition to their outing - that the house be clean. So they started to wake up at 9 and most were alive and moving by 9:30 and they went to work tidying things up. They were done shortly after 11:30. The movie tickets were for 12:30, so they hurried out the door. They didn't have a lot of time at Chuck a Rama, but they still went and hurried and stuffed their faces for 30 minutes.
Then over to the theater where they were a little late to the movie "Wreck It Ralph Breaks the Internet". They said it was weird. They didn't get back until like 2:30, and we were supposed to be up in Layton at 3, so I thought they'd want to hurry out the door for that, but Hyrum had to do his shopping for his sibling secret Santa, so he and Corey left and were gone for another hour. So we were late to the Wride family Christmas Eve party, but got there around 5:20. Everyone was waiting for us and was ready to eat.
Taco bar.
Natalie went straight for the hot cocoa.
She stirred it with the peppermint candy cane and was delighted to see it get skinnier and pokey-er
After dinner we had the annual Talent Show.
I took videos of their performances but won't put them all here except for the link - First Abi played her piano numbers - same from her piano recital a week ago.
Oh, and of course Daniel wanted a turn with the microphone!! His back up singers were going crazy with energy, egging him on, and he finally caught the vibe 4 minutes into his performance and gave them the dancing moves they were hoping for.
Corey put a saxophone neck strap on Owen and everyone was pressuring him to go sing, at which time his body went limp and he layed on Corey's lap unable to function. Going limp was something Mel used to do when she was a toddler. Looks like Owen won't be performing after all. He stayed limp until Corey took off the neck strap, funny kid.
The kids signed up Corey, so he did a number, and Ethan joined him for a few measures.
And then next in the program was a nativity narration of Luke 2. Lily started off dressed to be a shepherd, but jumped in to the Mary role when the opportunity presented itself. Cousin Isaac is Joseph. A stuffed bear was Baby Jesus
Abi as a wise man.
After the nativity, the kids were quiet so Corey's parents shared a few words as well as him and his siblings, then a family prayer, and then the kids were ready to get crazy with the Saran Wrap game.
Uncle Mark had prepared two balls and we divided the kids into two groups.
Group 1 finished unwrapping their ball first, and Wesley won the coveted center of the ball - a $5 bill
Lily won the $5 of the second group
Pretty exciting! Money!! They all scored some pretty sweet holiday gear and treats.
Hyrum modeling his new scarf.
Ethan had Owen hold all the things he unwrapped, and then Owen wouldn't share with him. So sad, but Eth took the injustice like a champ.
Group pic!
We had a good time and were headed home around 8:30. Got home around 9:30. Corey went to pick up presents from the North Pole, the kids stayed up late watching Home Alone, Corey and I put Owen and Daniel to bed and then we went to bed around 12:30. Everyone else was still up. I set my alarm to wake up at 2:25 to get the gifts out of the car.
I peeked out down the stairs. Lights were out except for the tree, no one was stirring. Kids were all asleep around the tree, their tradition.
My first action was to take phones away and unplug Hyrum's alarm clock. I didn't know what time his alarm was set for, I only knew that it was set. And I didn't want it to go off at 3 or anything while I was at work, so yeah, that had to go. Then I got rid of the carrots, cookies and ricemilk (didn't eat them, just put stuff back in the fridge). 2:45 am and I started to bring in the presents. I had them all in the house by 3, all under the tree at 3:10, and then I did the stockings. Those were done at 3:30. Then took pictures. That means I'm able to to to back to bed at 3:40. Yay. I let Corey sleep, cause he had done almost all the shopping this year and did all the wrapping too. So I was glad to do a little bit to pull my share.
The lights at the top of the tree burned out this year. Time for a new tree? I is pre-strung, so I might try to fix it on top, but will do that next year.
