Primary Program

Our primary program was today and it was beautiful as usual!! I got a little teary eyed during, "I Will Be What I Believe" and "A Child's Prayer." Our primary chorister, Susan Broberg (who is absolutely fabulous) had all of the Activity Day girls come over to a couple of extra practices at her house so that they could learn the verses to "I Will Be What I Believe."  Jenna already knew the song since she and Morgan had sung it for a musical number at our Father's Day Flee a couple of months ago. It is a neat song! 

Jenna, Clarissa, Audrey Song, and Elle Wilde did the sign language to "When I Am Baptized" (I Like to Look for Rainbows). I had taught it to our primary children for the primary program a couple of years ago and they were re-learning it for this program. But with the ward changes our music director decided that there wasn't enough time for all of the other children to learn the sign language and so she let these four girls do it since they were already familiar with it. I had a couple of little practices with the girls to go over it and they did a great job.

Susan Broberg's father has had a lot of health problems lately and was unable to come to the program and so Jenna's friend, Elle (ten years old) sent out a note to some of the primary children in the ward saying that since he couldn't come to the program, they could bring a part of the program to him! About 15 primary children gathered at his home to sing four songs and do their primary parts. My friend texted me after and said that it was such a spiritual experience. Brother Broberg said it was like angels were singing to him and that he will never ever forget this experience!!

Swiss Days Choir and Madrigal Performances

Josh sang with his Honor's choir at Swiss Days. He also had a small duet. The choir sounded great as usual! However there were a few hiccups! One girl finished her small group part and was trying to hurry back to her spot and accidentally knocked over the entire mic stand sending it crashing to the ground. Later on one girl started swaying a little back and forth like she was about the pass out. The girls next to her helped to support her and Mrs. Harris motioned for her to come out and sit down next to her. Then a little later another girl had to sit down and get some water and then a short time later another girl started acting woozy and had to come down as well. I am sure that the heat played a factor in this and perhaps dehydration and maybe they were locking their knees. We were grateful that the program ended before there were any more casualties!

After the performance I hurried Josh over to his soccer game and watched him play for 30 minutes. They ended up winning so they have won all three games so far! I left the game early to hurry back  over to watch Janelle's Madrigal performance. They did a great job too. She said it was definitely hot though! (More for them than for us). After their performance she went to a Madrigal swimming party at one of the member's grandparent's house and had a great time.

Swiss Days Parade

Swiss Days Parade!! 90 minutes of sweating in the heat!! Something new this year was the Santa Clara Royalty "Past, Present, and Future" with several familiar faces!! So if Janika had been here she could have been in the parade as the 2013 Santa Clara Princess. Here is the current royalty.

 Josh could have been in the parade twice -- with the United FC Soccer kids, or with the student council from his school. But he opted out. Apparently he prefers to receive candy rather than give it!! So much for serving his community...

Swiss Days 5K

This morning Jaiden and Josh ran the Swiss Days 5K. Josh got a slightly better time than last year. Jaiden and Emily ran it together and it was the first year either of them have done it. Way to go, girls! There was a drawing after the race and both Josh and Jaiden won a prize! Jaiden won a t-shirt and Josh won a $10.00 gift card to the Pasta Factory and a t-shirt and hat.

Ky is Home!!

Ky is home!!

Swiss Days Candle Making

The Young Women helped with the candle making at Swiss Days today!! The primary program practice was going on while we were setting up. It was so fun hearing the kids sing. I can't wait to see the program on Sunday!

National Honor Society

Tonight was Janelle's induction to the National Honor Society...

Dangers of Social Media

Tonight we had a special Parent Night at our High School with speaker Collin Kartchner and Katey McPherson on the dangers of social media. Their website is: www.savethekids.us  

I was surprised and pleased to see that the entire large auditorium was packed with parents and there were many who were standing because there were not enough seats. Clearly this is a concern for parents and kids! They also spoke to our kids earlier that day at the intermediate school, middle school, and high school. The presentation was very good and extremely eye-opening. He had passed out 3X5 cards to some of his teen audiences and had them fill out the question, "What is something your parents do not know about social media." He then showed many of the cards on the projector and the answers were so sad and shocking. 

There are so many problems with our youth today with depression, anxiety, and suicide and much of it stems from social media. There are several articles about this on their website that I would recommend reading. Collin is really funny and entertaining and so that really appeals to the kids and Katey has a medical/science background and so she is up on all of the latest statistics and the stories and statistics and downright scary!

My biggest take-away from this meeting, however, was not in tightening up the cell phone policies we have already in place for our kids, but rather in examining my own behavior related to cell phones. They emphasized that one of the best things we can do as parents is to model appropriate behavior by getting off of our own phones and focusing on our children. 

I know I am often distracted by texts and e-mails when I should be focusing on my family relationships. I don't spend a lot of time on social media, but I get SO MANY e-mails and texts a day from work, church, schools, teachers, and so forth that it feels like I am always checking my phone or computer. Many of these texts relate to my kids (arranging rides to various events and entering all of their activities into my calendar) but they don't know that, they just see that I am on my phone all the time!   

Since Jaiden doesn't have a cell phone yet (until she is 15) I am also on all of her group texts for dance company, student council, school announcements and so forth. All of my interpreting jobs come through texts or emails requiring me to be "on" more than I would like.  Janelle has a cell phone, but no social media on her phone. This presentation pretty much convinced me not to let them have Instagram or Snapchat on their phones -- ever!!  

Here is a quote from their website relating to parents and phones: "Smart phones and social media are a drug. They hooked us parents, disconnected us from our kids and our relationships, distracted us from what's truly important, and taught us that "likes" = self worth--and now our kids are modeling us. Kids need our eyes and our love and validation more than ever before. Showing your kids you love them is 2% effort and 98% just putting down your phone."

We as parents are the best APP for our kids! He talked about how our kids need 8 hugs a day (for 8 seconds each) just to maintain! I know I need to do better at this! He even had us hug the person next to us (luckily it was one of my best friends) for 8 seconds just to see how long that actually is. I am trying to do better at focusing on and hugging my kids! 

Anyway, check out the website if you get a chance -- and hug your kids! 

Injured Pinky Toe! Ouch!

This morning I was making my way to the bathroom in the dark and accidentally kicked the door injuring my pinky toe. It hurt all day! Today was my first day interpreting in Cedar City and I had to walk a few blocks to my class and was pretty much limping the whole way! Who knew that such a little thing could make it so painful to walk! Thankfully a few days later I could walk without pain, but three weeks later it still hurts with certain shoes or if I twist it the wrong way! 

Landon and Sol's Wedding

My sister Jeni's son, Landon, married Sol in the Oquirrh Mountain temple this morning! Rick and I drove up to SLC right after school yesterday and stayed over at my mom and dad's and then attended the sealing this morning. It was so beautiful and special! Janika and Brandon also came and met us at the temple. Pictures were taken and then everyone went to the Olive Garden for a yummy luncheon. Congratulations Landon and Sol!!