Prom Girl!

Sara is off to her junior prom with her handsome date Devon. Such a lovely couple! They look stunning in my humble opinion. Sara's dress is gorgeous, I especially love that we got it for only $25. Devon selected a beautiful corsage and boutonniere that complimented their outfits smashingly. Sara is wearing sparkly Toms, now that's comfort! Devon (and his Mom) worked really hard to find the perfect matching tie. Have fun tonight!

Ragnar SoCal 2012

I'm doing my second Ragnar SoCal on Friday. Why...I don't know.  Sometimes I think I'm crazy & have a death wish. I'm in Van #1 runner #5. I wish I was runner #4 or #6, those miles would be waaaaay better for me waaaah waaaah. When I picked runner 5 it did NOT have a 7.5 mile distance but Ragnar likes to change the routes around so if you ever do a Ragnar just keep that in mind when picking your route. Plus it will be a great experiment to do a race being 30lbs over weight #Sarcasm #KillMeNow.

On the upside it will be a fun group of ladies and I'm looking forward to meeting all those cool chicas on our team! Plus not to mention two days off of work & cooking! Whoo whoo!

Our Orchid Tree

This picture does not do it justice! It had a blooming wonderful spring! This was from a couple weeks ago, now the tree is on the down side of blooms but it's glorious while it lasts. We always get a couple of people who drive by and stop to ask what kind of tree it is and my kids say their friends parents ask about it when they drop them off infront of our house. It's an Orchid tree and we love it! Thanks to my cousin Joan for planting it :)

Pinewood Derby 2012

Adam and Ryan competed in another Pinewood Derby. That makes two Derby's for us now. This year Adam's car was called Lightning McQueen.Thanks to all the leaders for all their time and effort with my boy in Scouts!

Faith at Teen Elect

Back in February Faith went to Teen Elect. She loved it! Our stake makes it super fun for the kids. I was left asking where did the years go? My baby girl is now 12 & old enough to go to Teen Elect. Wahhhh....Tears!!!! Isn't she beautiful though?! 

Little Pioneer Children

Sara and Ashley were blessed to be able to go on a Pioneer Trek with our stake youth over spring break. It was phenomenal! So much work was put into it! The kids had an incredible experience! They loved the families they were in and learned so much about the pioneers. How thankful and blessed we are because of those dear Saints, including our own ancestors, who bared such difficult hardships to be true to their testimonies and live the Gospel.

When I asked Ashley what her favorite part of the trek was she said, "The whole thing!" She said she liked that her family sang along the way & made it fun, she loved the food, and how everyone was dressed in pioneer clothes. She also liked watching the movie 17 Miracles on the bus on the way up to the Trek especially the part where one of the pioneer women says, "It will all be worth it if my posterity keeps the faith". Ashley said that made her think about our ancestors and how they probably thought the same thing.

Sara said her favorite parts were the Women's hike, helping cook the camp food, stopping at a trading post that had ice cold rootbeer and sleeping.

 

Easter 2012

We had two Super Saturday practices.

Practice on St Patrick's day. Lots of people wore green.

The first night in our costumes.

How lucky are we! Maybe this will be our Christmas card.

Ryan was a Manger Shepherd in this scene. He's kneeling right behind the boy holding the sheep.

The kids love Grandma Slack!

Madison came down from Seattle to visit & watched us preform :)

Easter this year can be summed up in two words...Easter Pageant! We were in the Mesa Easter Pageant! It was a beautiful experience. We've been incredibly spiritually fed for the past three weeks. My personal testimony of the Savior grew from this experience. Being able to feel like I was actually there with Jesus when he walked on the earth, thinking, "What if I was there when this was happening?!" and the witness of the Savior's love for us is something I will never forget.

Even during the practices before we were given our costumes, there were moments when I'd get caught up in the spirit of trying to place myself at the scene and tear up. What a blessing it was to experience this. When else do you get to be a part of something so edifying? Seeing our children being touched by the spirit was another great blessing. Adam would say, "Mom, I started to get tears at that."

We were in four scenes, 'Healing and Teaching', 'The Rock- Parable of the 10 Virgins', 'Triumphal Entry' and  the 'Finale'. Ryan was also a Manger Shepherd and in the Mob.

'Healing and Teaching' was a powerful scene to be in. We witnessed over and over again each night the miracles Christ preformed & his tremendous love for each one of us individually. We knelt in reverence and awe at the wonders we saw him preform. If I can testify of anything right now, it is that Jesus loves you beyond what you can even comprehend, that is how great his love is for us. He knows you, he knows your name and everything about you, good and not so good and he LOVES you. He is our friend and our Savior! Trust in him!

After the 'Healing and Teaching' scene we were the family that sat on the rock with Jesus during The Parable of the 10 Virgins. What a great scene to be in! Love that parable and we were practically sitting side by side with "Jesus". Tyler or David, who played Jesus (there were two different men for this scene depending what night it was) would say hi and talk to us for a second before the scene started.  It was a little mind blowing to be so close and have them say hi and ask how we were doing  because they looked so much like Jesus. Adam was one of the two boys who sat on each side of Jesus. Adam just beamed and lovingly looked up at him. He loved it when "Jesus" would call him by name. Then the scene starts and Jesus would intro the 10 Virgins parable. We had the best seat in the house for the fabulous dance the 10 Virgins do. Faith was the closest one of us to the dancers. During the first few rehearsals the narrators were blocking her view but then the directors moved them back and she was so happy to be able to see the dancers and their beautiful costumes. Faith had another special thing happen on the last night of this scene. Every night she sat at the very bottom of the rock and didn't really get "attention" from Jesus like those of us closer to the top where the actor playing Jesus sat. As a mom I felt kind of sad that she was way down there but on the last night as "Jesus" was getting ready to head up to the top of the rock he paused and touched Faith on the shoulder and said with a warm smile on his face, "I keep missing you and I'm sorry about that." It made her feel so special that he took time out to talk to her. To me it was so Christlike, concerned with even the one. Our Savior knows the name of every sparrow that falls from the tree and he knows us.

For 'Triumphal Entry' we watched Jesus glorious entry into Jerusalem.  We were the followers of Christ and there to welcome him with shouts of "Hosanna" over and over. This song comes to mind:



As Christ walked by us we would kneel and reach out to him, then rise and give one final "Hosanna" before the soldiers would come and chase us out of there.

Our last scene was the 'Finale'. There are really no words to describe what an honor it was to testify, "I know He lives" every night, especially thru song. Song is a magnificent conduit to the Spirit. Many a night I had goosebumps proclaiming, "I know He lives!" to the audience.

Not only did we have the performances but we had two straight weeks of amazing devotionals as well. Hearing from wonderful speakers and special musical numbers, we were formidably uplifted in both word and song.

The last night of the Pageant was an especially emotional one. The devotional was excellent and Rob Gardner directed the Spire Music Choir in singing, I Am the Resurrection, from The Lamb of God. WOW! Way beyond AWESOME! If you haven't heard that song before click the link and listen! Needless to say, from then on the flood gates were opened for me. I was in tears for all of our scenes that night. Tears of awe, tears of joy, tears of thankfulness, tears of love, tears of humility for all that my Savior has done for me.

If you ever get the opportunity to be in the Easter Pageant, I say go for it! Is it a big time commitment? Yes, but it is beyond worth it. Was it always easy? No, but I wouldn't trade this experience for anything.

Thank you to my family for participating and to Ryan for wanting us all to do it. I'm so glad we did it! Thanks to all the marvelous directors, crew & fellow cast who work fearlessly to put the whole pageant together. What a blessing you all are to our community, that we can have this wonderful Easter Pageant right here in Mesa. Thank you for allowing us the pleasure of associating with you these past few weeks. It was a sacred experience that we will always hold dear.