Lamb of God

We lost our sweet Elder Zemp this week. He was transferred to Flagstaff. I'm sure he will enjoy the cooler weather since it is starting to heat up here. We are glad to still have Elder Ferguson. He is getting a brand new elder from the MTC!

 I sure love the spring time flowers in my yard!

I had rehearsal for The Lamb of God Tuesday night. I was able to slip away for a little while to go to Caiden Cook's mission call opening. I love that kid! He is going to serve in Brazil Santos Mission and reports to the Brazil MTC July 31st.

Camden, Ammon, Caiden and Colton

Thursday was dress rehearsal for The Lamb of God at the Mesa Arts Center. I had to miss the MCO rehearsal to be there, so missed seeing all my choir buddies.

I snapped this pic of the soloist with Rob after rehearsal. There are some pretty amazing singers in that bunch! Daniel Beck, Jordan Bluth, Sharon Hopkins, Michael Sackett, and of course Rob Gardner.

I had a little chat with Daniel Beck, one of our family favorites! He has the voice of an angel and is a super nice guy.

We packed into the green room for Rob's pre-show  powwow. He is always so grateful that we all want to come and sing for him. I LOVE singing for him!!!

Here we are on stage for Make Me Whole.




Rob is so great! My kids told me that love him because he always treats them like family.
We love him!!!

It was great to have Sam and Vivi, Nicholas Summers, Grandpa Alger and Sara MaGill join us. Daniel Beck was fabulous with the kids. They were so star struck! He talked to them for a long time and then hugged them. It was really sweet.

Aren't these guys the cutest!

These sweethearts are adorable!

Saturday afternoon, Jacob came over. He and Laney spent time chasing rabbits in the back yard. They were trying so hard to catch one. It was hopeless, but pretty funny.

Jacob and Sara

Saturday night, Noah and I went together to the Mesa Arts Center. (I hadn't noticed but one of the tickets that I bought was for Saturday night, so even though he came with us on Friday, he couldn't get in. I felt terrible, but he said it was no big deal. He was actually really happy to have a date night with me. I loved it too!) We left at 6:15 pm, just like we had the night before. However, there was a horrible accident on I-10 and it was closed for miles. We got stuck in the traffic and didn't park at the MAC until 7:57 pm, for an 8:00 pm show. I RAN! When I got backstage, they were just walking on to the stage. I handed my binder to a friend, ran to the bathroom really fast and then made it back stage in time to walk on with everyone. I was a little out of breath, but I made it!

The music is incredible and I love singing with such amazingly talented people. My favorite part is being friends with them. Having crazy talented, yet humble and sweet friends is such a blessing. I learn so much from them. They make me a better person and help me stretch and grow. I love them!

Steph, Rebekah Jennings, and Laura Davis

Taylor Earl and Steph

(It was fun to have some west side friends in this show!)

Some of my best school friends came to support me. They are the best!

Hayden Dawson, Lucas Miles, Steph, and Sebastian Damiani

They loved it!

We got and after date picture. It really was wonderful to spend so much time just talking with Noah. It was almost 2 hours on the way there and then an hour on the way back. We just talked and talked. Noah is a doll. I love him with all my heart!

The rest of the family went to see Daniel's play, The Music Man. Pictures for that will be in separate post. Everyone loved his show!

Sunday, Sam and Vivi joined us at church. They had spent the night after the play. Vivi has been listening to the podcast Come Follow Me For Us. Melanie Wellman the host and creator is in our ward. Vivi was over the top excited to meet her.

Vivi shared the sweetest thing in Relief Society. The lesson was on President Eyring's talk from October conference, Try, Try, Try. We were talking about how to know the Savior better. Vivi with tears glistening in her eyes and pleading in her voice (and her adorably cute accent) said, "I know the Savior...I lived with Jesus... He is my brother and friend... Because of Him I have a veil over my memories so I can learn and grow. I just need to remember Him, because I already know Him." I burst into tears, such a beautiful realization. Then I thought of the sacrament prayers and the "remember Him" in them. I always thought of remembering Him throughout the week or throughout my life, not remembering Him from my premortal life. It was a huge ah ha moment and I cried even more. I know Jesus, I just need to remember Him!

Melanie, along with most of the other ladies in the room, was moved as well. She told Vivi that she was going to include it in her podcast. Vivi was beyond thrilled!

Melanie and Vivi

After church we hurried over to Gram and Papa's for a surprise birthday party for Bubba. He turned 40! It was a ton of fun to have Gavin and Dandi and their families up from Tucson. Everyone was there! Tony and Wendy came and Bob's son, Justin and his wife Stephanie were also there. They just moved here from North Dakota.

Vivi joined Daniel at the piano for well over an hour. They sang and sang together. It was the cutest thing ever! Sara joined them for a while too. Daniel is getting really good at sight reading.

Sammy and the birthday boy, Bubba Ben!

I love when the Ely gang gets together. We always have tons of fun and everyone gets along so well. Gavin and I squeezed in a little bit singing at the very end. He helped me work on my songs for school a bit. It was magical! He makes wonderful things come out of my mouth!

It was another fabulous and crazy busy week!

The Music Man

Daniel got to play Jacey Squires, a member of the school board and the barber shop quartet. He did a fabulous job! He was super animated and adorable. He has a beautiful voice as well!

 Daniel and Hailey Hudgins

The colorful glasses were part of the final show pranks.

Kyler Burson, Will McVey, Austin Adelman, Daniel

Kyler, Will, Austin and Daniel, singing their hearts out.

"Ice cream... Ice cream... Ice cream... Ice cream..."

John (the mayor) and Daniel

Seventy-six trombones

Some of his best friends came out to support him.
Rhett, Ammon, Mia, Coby, Daniel, Lucy and Averi

Nick, Daniel, Kensie, Kyli

Isabelle, Daniel and Megan

 
Tommy, Chelsea, Dad, Freddy, Madi, Daniel, Josh, Zanna, Laney, Andrew, Vivi, Sammy, Sara and Jacob (Grammy was there too, she took the picture. I was at my Lamb of God performance with Noah.)

Kailyn, Daniel, Maddie

Daniel and Devonee

Destiny, Daniel and Matthew

You can never have too many pictures with Isabelle. She is one of the sweetest gals ever!

Grace (the director) and Daniel

Daniel and Hailey

Daniel and Kailyn (the mayor's wife)

Daniel had a great time working on this show and made lots of awesome friends. He loved singing with his quartet. As wonderful as it was, he is glad that it's over now and can have some time to relax. Great job Daniel! We are so proud of you!!!

Happy Birthday Grandpa Alger!!!

Sara's art project for this week was to paint a symmetrical scene. She chose to paint a sunset with a pier reflecting on the water. She started earlier than usual and worked on it for several days, but she still managed to stay up nearly all night painting, only 2 hours of sleep. 

She got 2nd place on this one, only one vote behind 1st.

 Tuesday, we stopped by Grandpa's house after school to wish him a happy birthday. It was wonderful to get to sit and visit with him for a while. He is delightful to be with. We both loved to listen to his stories and share the latest news from our family. He is lots of fun and we shared some good laughs and a few tears. We love you Grandpa!

Wednesday night, Sara, Daniel and I went to Symphony Hall to see the opera, Le nozze di Figaro or The Marriage of Figaro. It was a great show! Sara and Daniel did a little snoozing on and off during the second half. They didn't want to fall asleep, they both loved the show, they were just sleep deprived. It also was a really long opera, over 3 hours long. It went very quickly. It was a ridiculously hilarious. Lots of sneaking and spying and scandalous surprises. It was tons of fun!

Brigham and Callie Fish sat with us.

My irises are blooming!!!

I love how many yellow ones I have now. They are like sunshine!

Cute Leigh is busy cooking our grandson. They are both so cute!

She has also been baking bread. It looks delicious!

Josh was hoping her water would break while they were in the temple. Silly boy! Leigh was glad that it didn't, and so were all the temple workers, I'm sure.

Thursday at MCO rehearsal, Cory Mendenhall was conducting. We love Cory! He is such a sweet man and a wonderful conductor. 

Friday night, Daniel, Sara, Jacob and I went to the final Phoenix Chorale concert of the season. It was amazing as always. The guest conductor this time was Brian Schmidt. He loves jazz. After the concert he shared with us about how much Bach's compositions and his improvisational skills relate to jazz. It was pretty cool. Lucas Miles was there too!

Saturday morning, Sara and Jacob served at Surprise Pride Day.

They did a little bit of everything, they got lost, smelled lots of weed and weeds, visited little Mexico and worked hard while a bunch of the other "workers" sat and stared at them.

They prayed that they would be able to actually be able to serve someone and they were!

Laney went hiking in the White Tank Mountains with Jessi and Tori. They were unable to go very far on the trail because of a big rattle snake blocking the way. They were warned to stay back, so they didn't get to actually see it. They still had a great time and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

They did see a cool lizard with a turquoise tail.

These two girls are such great buddies. They spend a ton of time together.

Our beautiful desert home!

Beautiful ladies!!!

Saturday, we also watched conference. It is one of my favorite weekends of the year. I love being together as a family and hearing the words and testimonies of our prophet and church leaders. Sam and Vivi came over after the priesthood session and stayed the night. 

Laney and Vivi had fun dancing together.

Sunday morning, we all settled in to enjoy conference. 

Everyone mostly stayed awake and lots of notes were taken. 

In between sessions, we made scrambled eggs, French toast and bacon for lunch, and chopped up tons of veggies and shredded pork so it could cook during the second session, as a big batch of Thai green curry. 

Freddy and  Noah are such sweet brothers. Lots of love.

After conference we played Things and ate curry. It has been a beautiful Sabbath Day!