Christmas Sacrament Meeting Program

We had a beautiful Christmas program!! I am the music coordinator for our ward and so I am very invested in the Christmas program, and so I am glad it went so well! Our "temporary" ward Christmas Choir sounded awesome!! I tried to record the song that Jenna, Jaiden, and Emily sang, but the app decided to malfunction at that moment. Sad!! It was beautiful though! Rick and I both sang in the choir (Rick took some convincing, but I am glad that he gave in.) Jaiden also sang in the choir!

1 Opening Song: “Away in a Manger,” with the ward choir. (Congregation come in on the third verse).  

2 “Witness of Christmas,” Sung by the Primary. Accompanied by Reagan Tachiini. Led by Sophie Rees.  (This was absolutely darling! Three little girls sang little solos at the end and it was so cute!)

3  “O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” sung by Alivia Jackson. Accompanied by Brooke Ence (Beautiful!!)

4 “If I was There,” sung by Paige Allred, Ethan Allred, and Chay Gubler, with Drue Ence on the violin and Josh Allred on the cello. Accompanied by Rebecca Gulbranson. (Drue and Paige wrote this song and it was gorgeous!)

5 Youth reciting “The Living Christ” (The Bishopric asked four young men and four young women to each recite a part. It was nice having the youth involved and I liked the variety of having different speakers).

6 “What Child is This,” sung by Jenna & Jaiden Jensen, and Emily Williams. Accompanied by Rebecca Gulbranson. (GORGEOUS!!! Jenna was really worried since she has been sick for the past week, including losing her voice, but the song sounded beautiful!)

7 “Peace, Peace, Peace,” sung by the Ward Choir. Accompanied by Jennie Rowan, led by Rebecca Gulbranson (Beautiful song!)

8 “Oh Holy Night,” sung by the Ward Choir. Soloists Jenna Jensen and Ethan Allred. Congregation join in when indicated. (One of my favorite songs! Jenna and Ethan did a nice job on the solo parts!)  

 
9 Closing Song: “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing,” with Shauntel Anderson on the organ, Rebecca Gulbranson on the piano.
(Such a powerful number!! The piano is extremely fast and complicated. Add the organ and congregation and this song is thrilling! I loved singing to this!! )

I pride myself on planning a program that ends on time (I hate when programs go over!) But we had a last minute addition to the program, which pushed us over by five minutes. But it was a beautiful number and a nice addition!

Jaiden and Emily, Musical Number

 I felt bad missing and Jaiden and Emily's musical number in church today!! But I am SO glad that Jaiden got a recording of their practice to send me!! They sang, "How Great Thou Art," and it was beautiful!! 

How Great Thou Art

Seminary Graduation!

Tonight was Seminary graduation for Jaiden! Jaiden and Emily were asked to do the musical number and they sang Rick's arrangement of "Israel Israel, God is Calling." If I am able to get a video of them singing it some time I will add it to this post. 'They did a nice job and the speakers did a good job also. I am so grateful for Seminary!! 

Jaiden -- Pre-School Graduation and Seminary Graduation! 

(Jaiden and Emily -- 5th grade and 12th grade!) 

Easter!!

Rick wrote a beautiful song for his Caroler girls called "Son of God" years ago and recently decided to write a new SATB arrangement of that song, that included bells, for Easter! We got permission from the Bishopric to sing this for our ward on Easter Sunday and started learning it! We had Rick, me, Jase, Ellen, Jaiden, Josh, Jenna, and Emily! They all did bells and I signed it. We practiced every Sunday for the past six weeks. Last Wednesday we went and sang it for people in the neighborhood and then passed out invitations to the Easter meeting. 

This morning we had everyone meet at our house at 8:00 to run through it a few times and then we sang it in sacrament meeting today! I think it went well and we received SO MANY compliments on it! There were three other musical numbers in our ward besides ours. The primary sang "The Miracle," the Wilde family sang an arrangement of "I Know That My Savior Loves Me/I Know That My Redeemer Lives," and Paige Allred sang "Come, Beautiful Savior," with her son, Josh on the Cello, and Christine France on the piano. All of the musical numbers were lovely! 

Later we prepared the Easter baskets. Rick got the kids food -- brownie mixes, peanuts, popcorn, pop or chocolate milk, and candy. I got the girls make up and I bought Jenna picture frames for her room. I also got the kids' some shorts for summer. The kids dyed Easter eggs and we had a nice meal of ham, baked potatoes, vegies, salad, and fruit salad. Later on we made brownies for Josh's birthday. It was nice to relax and spend time with family! Since it was Easter the missionaries were all given permission to skype home and so we had a great conversation with Janelle tonight also! 

Here are the kids looking sad because their Easter baskets were empty... just too much going on this morning to worry about filling Easter baskets!! We filled them later though! 

Today is the birthday of my sister, Kellie Sue Westra, who died when she was seven days old. Because of Christ's resurrection, we will see her again someday. I am so grateful for Jesus Christ and His Atonement. Because of Him we are not left to navigate this world alone. Because of Him death is not the end -- we will all live again! Because of Him we can be forgiven of our sins and return to live with Him again someday.  Because of Him our families can be together forever. This truly gives us reason to rejoice -- not only on Easter, but everyday! 

Senior Spotlight: Janelle

Tonight was a combined YW/RS activity to spotlight our Senior girls!  It was held in Robyn Parry's backyard with a nice spread of food. (Only I ate a gluten free cracker that had either almond flour and flax seed in it, which made me really sick. I was kicking myself for not checking the ingredients first!) Thankfully I was able to make it through the program before becoming really sick.  Jaiden, Janelle, and Emily sang their beautiful rendition of "Come Thou Fount" and Jan Broberg sang "I Dreamed A Dream" from Les Miserables. Each of the moms were asked to fill out a questionnaire for their daughter's spotlight. I have included Janelle's below! They also showed a nice slideshow of pictures of the graduating girls. Those graduating were Janelle Jensen, Sophie Smith, and Tayli Morris. 

Senior Spotlight Questions:

Name: Janelle Jensen

Favorite book: The Hunger Games Series

Favorite food: Lasagna

Hobbies/Talents: Singing, Sleeping, Reading

Activities: Madrigals, Seminary Council, Musical Productions, hanging out with friends, hiking, working at Papa Murphy’s Pizza.   

Favorite movie: Doesn’t have one.

Biggest Fear: Isolation

Describe your daughter in 3 words: Pure, Spiritual, Compassionate

Interesting Fact: Janelle has always been very expressive and talkative. In the fifth grade she won first place in district in the Storytelling Festival. She was also a Hands in Harmony Caroler for several years.   

Plans after High school: Janelle plans to serve a mission and then pursue a degree in Occupational Therapy.

What is your favorite thing about your daughter?

Janelle cares about other people. She will often ask me about my day and expresses gratitude freely. One line in her patriarchal blessing states: “You have been blessed with eyes to see the hurt in others and with a heart to heal.” I love this sentiment and it describes Janelle perfectly!

Anything else you want to tell us about your daughter?

Janelle has always had a desire to do what is right. She regularly studies her scriptures and records spiritual insights in her study journal. She is a great teacher and will be an awesome missionary! Janelle is beautiful inside and out! I am so grateful that she is ours!

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qY4gmz5G9-g)

Father's Day!!

We arrived at Scott and Amy's a little before the party started. My sister, Jen, mentioned in our extended family Westra Way blog that this was the 14th annual group gathering for Father's Day. It has been held annual since 2006. Ironically (per the pandemic) this was probably the largest group there has been! There were even two dogs in attendance! (Since Jen had already done the Father's Day post I took some of the information directly from there!)

We enjoyed a delicious BBQ! Blackhams brought Grayson's super cool water balloon filler (that he made himself) where eight balloons can be filled at a time with on/off spouts to keep the H20 in some control. Chris brought a bunch of baby balloons (and Jen brought some big ones). So there was tossing, chasing, throwing and launching, as Chris brought his "launcher" to fling them high in the sky. Cornhole is a favorite and the girls liked the hula hoops and practicing tricks such as handstands!

Then our family sang "Oh My Father" for my dad! We had put this together for a Father's Day gift for him! I think he enjoyed it and sang along! As soon as I introduced the song my mom started crying -- and I did too. I could hardly sing! Whenever we watch the video my kids make fun of me because I look so funny playing the bells. I guess I need more practice so that I don't totally lean forward when playing them!

Derek videotaped our song on his phone and posted it on Facebook and it actually got 2700 views and 24 shares! We got loads of wonderful comments! Derek thought we should do more songs and start a family youtube channel like some others have done. The boys were NOT excited about that prospect! I think they are happy to have their Sundays back (we usually practiced the song every Sunday and then went around the neighborhood sang to several neighbors on Sunday nights).

Click HERE to see the song on Youtube!

We also took our annual photo!! Our family needs to do a little better about making "windows" for this picture now that we have so many people! There are a few people I can barely see!

 ... and let's not forget Scott's poetic invitation to the party! 

 On Father’s Day, the place to be 

 Is at our home, Covid free 

 We’ll gather and greet 

 And of course we will eat 

 And games we will play 

 To round out the day. 

 We’ll begin at 6 so it’s not too hot 

 And see how decrepit Scott has got 

 We will see how the Westra clan had grown 

 And allow for friendships to be sown 

 We hope to see you safe and sound 

 It will be fun to gather ‘round 

 And honor those who’ve done so much

 And pledge to better keep in touch 

 And since you all are dying to ask 

 No we won’t require a mask.

Jen has more videos and pictures from this party on The Westra Way blog!! 

After the party Rick and Jared went to stay with his mom (Grandma Jensen hadn't seen Jared since his mission) and the other kids and I went to stay with Shane and Alicia. We had originally planned on Rick and me and the kids staying at my mom and dad's but I had a little sore throat and with this whole Covid-19 thing going on I was worried about staying at my parents just in case it turned into something more! A day or so later I felt perfectly fine, so pretty sure it was "just a cold!" Rick and Jared went to Ogden since Jared needed to buy a car and they saw some on sale in Centerville. 

Rick and I had also discussed going to Lagoon the Monday after Father's Day with the cousins, but then the park was requiring everyone to wear masks while in line for the rides and there was so much on the news about spikes in Covid cases that we decided to err on the side of caution and cancel our plans. So we just stayed over at Shane and Alicia's and the kids played together and then we headed back to St. George! 

Fall Break and Janelle's 16th Birthday!!

This week we had our Fall Break (Thursday and Friday). It was really nice to have a break from school, work, and other commitments. Janika babysat for our neighbors. I spent part of Thursday morning in the rain wedding the flower beds because they were starting to look really bad. Rick  decided to go to Vegas all day Thursday to interpret and I had an interpreting job Friday morning.

Janika and Brandon came for the weekend and it was great spending time with them. Grandma Jensen also came for the weekend. Julie was helping with a family wedding and so Grandma came with her and stayed with us. Friday Janika and Brandon and I took the kids to the all abilities park and then Rick grilled hamburgers and hotdogs for dinner. Julie dropped off Jhi and Neko to play with our kids for a little bit and they all loved that! We all watched a movie tonight.  

Saturday we pretty much just hung out. Jhi and Neko came over to play for a couple of hours while her mom and grandma were helping at the wedding. Our kids had a great time playing with them. They are so cute! Saturday Rick gave Janelle a dozen white roses for her birthday and this sweet note asking her out on her first date!!

Saturday night Janika and Brandon went out to dinner with Rick and I and Jase. We went to Kai'li's -- the Basso's restaurant. I was impressed -- it was really good! They had given Janika and Brandon a gift certificate for two free meals for their wedding. 

We then all celebrated Janelle's birthday with cheesecake and then stayed up and played Mafia and Tellestrations. 

Sunday was Janelle's birthday. I can't believe she is 16!!!! We had her open her presents in the morning. She even let me take her picture in her pajamas with her bed-head hair, no make on, and her retainer still in her mouth. Love this beautiful girl! Our family then played a game of Kahoot "How well do you know Janelle?" that she put together for her party this Friday. We also had a little lesson. 

We went to church and Janika, Janelle, Jaiden, and Jenna sang, "The Miracle" in sacrament meeting for the musical number. It was beautiful! Janika and Brandon left after sacrament meeting to pack up and head home. Grandma left this morning before church.  

Father's Day

I sent our dads a card and the new photos we got taken of each of the kids for Father's Day. We weren't able to attend the celebrations up North but we had our own family party here and it was a lot of fun.

I thought it was really sweet that Janika got up early and made Rick breakfast in bed -- especially since she had been out late last night for the Stake Dance. Rick cancelled his morning meetings and so we actually got him home for once!  Our kids all decorated posterboard ties for their Dads during Primary and so Rick got to wear four of them during Sacrament meeting.  Our kids sang, "I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home," as a musical number.

We stayed after church so that Janika and Jase could renew their temple recommends before Youth Conference. Then we all pitched in to make a delicious Father's Day meal of barbecued Salmon and Steak, rice, corn on the cob, salad, and vegies.  Everything tasted so delicious. After naps Rick taught a family home evening lesson on "Fathers" from our past.  He showed pictures from our Jensen history book and told stories about his Grandpa Jensen.  The kids were very inquisitive and had a lot to share.

Following in his family tradition, we all had rootbeer floats for dessert.  Rick and the kids took advantage of the beautiful and unseasonably cool June weather to play outside on the tramp. We also watched a Hallmark Father's Day movie. I should have taken some pictures of Rick with all of the kids.  I have been working busily on my blog book from January to June of this year and so I have slacked off on blogging and picture taking! But it was a lovely day and I feel so grateful for my own wonderful Dad and also to be married to such an incredible Dad to our children.  I feel very blessed indeed! 

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I borrowed Jen's post on the annual Father's Day Party and will include it here (even though we weren't there!) 

It was out to Scott and Amy's for the annual Westra Father's Day BBQ.  There was rain, which continued all through the day keeping us mostly indoors or under the canopy. That was perfect for paracord projects, and Gray had brought a handy portable paracord kit. The rain did stop enough for the kids to peek at the toads under the tramp. 

The paracord was a bit hit, and the cousins all ended up with new bracelets. 

Looks like we tired some of the guys out!

Then it was TOAD time ...

WHO let the toads out? 

According to this video, Callahan grabbed one of them ...

Some never before seen (before this blog post) footage of the family party!

EFY Part 2 (EFY 2011 )

Thursday was the Young Men/Young Women's morning sides and activities.  There is just something about seeing all of these youth looking so radiant and beautiful that make me emotional.  Especially when we sing the EFY medley of Sisters in Zion/Armies of Helamen.  I can never quite get through that without tearing up.   

Thursday afternoon was the variety show filled with some terrific talent!  This group did a dance and lipsync to a Justin Bieber song.  They were known as "Bieber and the Boys."  It was so hilarious and the young women all screamed and cheered as if it were the real thing. 

Janika also participated in the Variety Show and her song was darling.  You can listen to it here:

"Modesty"

Brother Jensen and I were very fortunate that we were often able to go back to our hotel and take a nap during free time.  We needed it after staying up late visiting group devotionals.  Thursday evening was the musical program and Brother Jensen's fireside.  Then we each went to different testimony meetings.  The testimony meeting were awesome.  You really get a feel for how much the youth have learned and been touched by the spirit when you listen to their testimonies on Thursday night.  We heard that Janika bore her testimony in her company in sign language!  Brother Jensen said, "She doesn't even do that for the deaf branch!"  She had her counselor (who knows some sign language) interpret for her.  She said that she couldn't cry and talk at the same time and so she decided to sign her testimony!  I hope she will do that for our branch now!

Friday was an awesome morningside by Brother Jensen and then the service activity and Strength of Youth Activities.  Friday night included the slide show, final instruction on "Taking it Home," the final dance, and the medley again.  No one wanted to leave the room.  Everyone was hugging each other and crying.  I am so grateful I get this opportunity to participate in EFY.  It is such a spiritual experience and also a wonderful bonding experience for my husband and I.  I know the gospel is true and am grateful for the opportunity to be instructed and edified and hopefully help some others in the process!

Jase's Sacrament Meeting Talk (Age 6)

                                         

I like to serve my family

There always kind to me.

And so I’ve made serving them

Somewhat my specialty.

 

I served my Daddy by shoveling snow,

When we got stuck in a storm.

And because of my tremendous help,

We were able to leave the next morn.

 

I serve my Mommy by cleaning up,

My games and clothes and toys.

She tells us all quite often

She’s happy to have such good boys.

 

I serve Janika on our computer game

She seems to get stuck quite a lot.

But with my help, she can succeed

And make it all the way to the top!

 

I like to serve Jared, with little treats

That I always earn from school.

I save them in order to give them away,

He thinks I’m pretty cool.

 

Janelle is really easy to serve.

I just smile at her and she giggles.

Sometimes I like to tickle her,

And watch her laugh and wiggle.

 

So that’s how I serve my family,

I love them all quite a lot.

I want to be with them forever,

Tied in one eternal knot!!

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Sun. February 8: 

Well we are all done with our talks and they went well. Janika and Jase both gave talks and they both did a great job. Rick and I also spoke. We sang Rick's arrangement of "Because I Have Been Given Much." Jani and Jase sang the first verse and did a good job. I sang the second verse and Rick sang the third verse and then we did the last part in Harmony. We got a lot of compliments on the program. Rick made up Jase’s talk on our way home from swimming at the condo pool while I wrote it down on a scratch paper. Rick held up a family picture and then pictures of each family member while he gave the part about them. Everybody laughed when Jase said the "shoveling snow" part, but I clarified that he really did help do that in Salt Lake over Christmas vacation!