Sunday, April 21, 2019

Family Easter Pictures!

I got most of these from Facebook. I just love to see how all the families are growing. I didn't get everyone, not even close, but there are still lots of Easter cuties!

Leigh and Josh, waiting on their sweet baby boy to be born. He just doesn't want to come yet!



Sam and Vivi



Dandi and Aaron's crew



Gavin and Cadie's babies




Ben and Nan's cuties



Steve and Natalie's gang



Jon and Leilani's family



Paxton and baby Reagan



Talon and Reagan




Daniel and Leah with Jett and Aurora




Seth and Ariana's baby Josiah





Without Wisdom

Sara's self portrait won 3rd place in the Spring Art Show! Hooray for Sara!!!!



Monday was Zanna's birthday. She is now 11 years old. How did that happen? We got her some cute clothes and shoes on the previous Saturday, for her birthday. These were a few little surprises that she opened on her actual birthday. 

She is such an incredible girl, so smart and hard working at school, and super fun and wonderful to be with. She has always been my game buddy. We play games together every chance we get. She has gotten to the point where we are equally matched in most games. It is fun to be challenged. I sure do love this girl!




We celebrated with homemade mac n cheese and homemade salsa. Then she topped it off with mint chocolate chip ice cream cake. 
  



Papa and Gram surprised us and dropped by to wish Zanna a happy birthday.



Thursday, we had MCO rehearsal at the Mesa Arts Center. It was LONG!!! 5 hours of beautiful singing and really tired kids. We finished at about 10:40 pm. We didn't get home until almost midnight, but they did such a great job, we don't have rehearsal next week, just 6 concerts over 3 days! I'm already tired just thinking about it, but so excited! It will be incredibly awesome!!!


Sending their love to our MCO missionary buddies, Tim, Josh, Rebekah and Makaila,
 all over the world!


Sara and Daniel were asked to be models for what the Concert Choir kids should look like in their concert attire. That's why they are dressed up in these photos and the rest of the kids are not. 

My tenors! I love these guys!



Concert Choir singing Rob Gardner's "I am the Resurrection"




It sounds AMAZING!!! Can't wait for the concerts!



My sister-in-law, Leilani, took these shots from the top balcony. 
What you can't see is that the balcony and mezzanine are also full of singing children. 
It is quite a house full with both casts singing.



Miles sending his love for Elder Josh! 



More love!
Isabelle Jensen, Andrew, Noah and Sara



Friday morning, I took Sara to get her wisdom teeth removed. Luckily, she only had the 2 upper ones. They are the easiest to remove. When she was finished she told me that the doctor said she did great. Then she was confused and emotional and said, "I didn't even do anything."

Here she is still high on the anesthesia. She wasn't very crazy, mostly just sweet and tenderhearted. She would get teary talking about people that she loves, and then she would wipe her tears away with her hair. It was pretty funny. I have never seen her use her hair that way before.



In this one, I told her to show me how she was feeling. I think it describes it pretty well!



We went to the grocery store on the way home to get her some cold, soft things to eat. She was not clear minded enough to walk on her own, so we put her in the cart. We got some pretty funny looks from the other shoppers and employees. She explained why she was in the cart and they giggled a little and then told her they would ride in the cart in her condition as well.




She wanted to smell the Easter lilies. At this point she was more alert and feeling silly.
I love this girl!


You can see her post-op videos here:
True Confessions https://youtu.be/nYbKonlW2rE
Who do you love? https://youtu.be/3R45zYKD3uI
Happy at the pharmacy https://youtu.be/k7eBAqZZj0c 

Friday evening, we went to East Mesa for the annual Good Friday party with Drex and Laura Davis's family. We always have a wonderful time eating, talking and playing. The kids played volleyball and chair soccer for hours. Sam and Vivi joined us this year. Vivi had fun talking to one of the other guests, John. He served his mission in Brazil and the two of them spoke in Portuguese for a long time. I think they both enjoyed every second. 





Zanna asked me to take this picture of her. She had a hard time getting down. Sammy rescued her.



Saturday, Daniel performed in the district honor choir. They did a great job.
 It looked like a ton of fun!

Kensie Summers, Laney, Daniel, Kyli Summers, and Brylee Cuthbertson



Sara was trying to smile, but it hurts. 



She is pretty swollen today. It's strange that she is so swollen with only two teeth being pulled and the 5 boys, I think all but 1 of them had 4 wisdom teeth, were almost not swollen at all.
She's just special.



She can barely open her mouth and when she talks it sounds like she's choking on her cheeks.



She was trying to smile in this one.



Saturday night was game night at the Alger's.

Sara, Lilly, Laney, Zanna, Andrew, Noah, Lauryn and Jacob



Happy Easter!!! Christ lives, and because He lives we can be together with our families forever. This is the most precious gift. My family is my favorite!



Sunday, April 14, 2019

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!