Family History Presentations, Church Lessons, and Seminary Council

Janelle got called to meet with a member of the Stake Presidency this morning along with her parents. So we went and she was called to the Seminary Council for next year! She is very excited! She knows a few of the others who have been called and they all happen to be in her friend group. She has a great group of friends!

Today Rick had the Come Follow Me lesson. He assigned each of the kids a chapter from today's lesson and said that some time today they had to come up with an art project depicting that chapter. He assigned it as follows: Jaiden -- Mosiah 25, Janelle -- Mosiah 26, Jenna -- Mosiah 27, and Josh -- Mosiah 28. They came up with some great work! Here is a picture of each of their art work:

Jaiden (Mosiah 25): 

Janelle (Mosiah 26):

Jenna (Mosiah 27): (The angel appearing to Alma and the four sons of Mosiah)

Alma with his parents...

Josh (Mosiah 28): (The sons of Mosiah refusing the throne and then preaching to the Lamanites)

The other homework they had for today (the kids had a busy day today) was a "Family History Presentation" for Memorial Day. Each of the kids were asked to research an ancestor and present it to the family Sunday night. They looked up pictures and histories on Family Search and put together a Power Point presentation on Google Slides. In between all of this we skyped Janika and Brandon and had a delicious dinner of barbequed salmon, squash, broccoli, beans, rice and salad with ice cream for dessert!

We then had the presentations! Jenna did her presentation on my Grandma, Lucille Erskine Westra Burgener. Josh did his on my grandpa, Joseph Ate Westra. Jaiden did hers on Grandpa Jensen's Grandma and Janelle did hers on Louelle Mcgee, my mom's grandma. We decided to invite Grandma and Grandpa Westra to join us through a zoom call for the presentations. They turned out great and even Grandma and Grandpa learned a few new things about their parents/grandparents! It was also nice that my mom and dad could clarify and correct any missing or ambiguous information. It was a fun activity and nice to be able to see and visit with Grandma and Grandpa!

Then we watched all of the Mother's Day Tea and Father's Day Flee videos through the years since Rick has been working on them all and adding them to our YouTube Channel. So it was really a "family filled" day!

Madrigals Singing at SCHS Graduation 2020

Due to Covid-19 the high schools had a virtual GRADUATION. I know the Seniors and their families were sad about not being able to have a traditional graduation, but the schools really did a lot to still make the graduation special and I think they did a wonderful job. They had the students come at different times during the weeks leading up to graduation so that they could film them walking through the decorated area near the giant letters of their school while their family cheered. They put this together with some amazing musical numbers and talks in a pre-recorded graduation ceremony so that families could watch it together on graduation night. The video turned out really nice! I even heard some parents say that they liked this better than the actual traditional ceremony which is long and crowded! 

The school district had members of the Madrigals who were graduating from all of the high schools in the district record a song together and film it like a zoom call where it shows the heads of each of the students. It turned out really neat -- I even got a little emotional watching it and I don't even have a Senior graduating! It starts on 1.47 in the video. Another number similar to that one was filmed in the canyon with orchestra members from all of the high schools in the district. It was professional recorded and looks and sounds great! This one starts at 10.41 on the video.

The SCHS Madrigals also got to pre-record a song and then it was filmed in various locations in groups. The parents of one of the madrigals It turned out really neat and sounds beautiful! Their song starts at 16.19 on the video if you would like to see it! I would recommend watching the other musical numbers too! Talks were great too! Here is a link to the graduation ceremony! Our school also had some places outside for photos and a drive through graduation where the graduated rode in cars and golf carts through the neighborhood while people came and cheered them on! Congratulations class of 2020!

Final Madrigal Concert and Mr. Moore's Retirement

Last Thursday the guidance system of activity for most areas of Utah changed from "orange" to "yellow" starting on Saturday,  May 16th. This means the Madrigals were able to have a closing concert, which was held at Vernon Worthen Park in St. George. We were still supposed to be practicing "social distancing" with families sitting six feet apart from each other and wearing masks, but almost no one did. I think everyone is getting tired of being isolated and are anxious to get back to normal!

This concert was especially touching because it was Mr. Moore's last concert as the music director of Snow Canyon High School. My girls have loved working with Mr. Moore and are sad that he is retiring this year! The local NEWS station did a story on tonight's Concert in the Park. You can see Janelle a few times since she is in the front and Jaiden once or twice (last one on the left in the front).

When we first heard that they were doing a concert tonight I worried about us sweltering in the heat, but the temperature actually dropped quite a bit today and it ended up being a little chilly! I was glad that I had changed from shorts to long pants and grabbed a jacket and blanket at the last minute! I had picked up Jenna and Anna from dance and gone straight to the park and the girls came with Rick.

We got to hear the song the Madrigals sang for graduation and also a few favorites -- they even did a couple of Christmas Songs! He said since things were so mixed up right now we might as well! The group sang "The Hallelujah Chorus" and all of the former Madrigals were invited to come up and join them. There were quite a few former Madrigals who had come out to support Mr. Moore's final concert and it was neat to see them all join in! It reminded me of when I was in the LD Singers and we would invite all former member to come up and sing "Oh, That I Were An Angel!"

It was a really neat night filled with great music and the opportunity to visit with some friends after the concert -- something we don't get much of during these days of quarantine!

Church At Home

Janelle gave the lesson today. Since we already had a tent set up in the basement we thought it might be neat to have our lesson there since the lesson was on Mosiah 1-3 covering King Benjamin's sermon to his people gathered in tents. We had Janika and Brandon join in with us through a zoom call. Rick said that he LOVES having church at home and hopes that they continue having church at home once the social distancing mandates are lifted. I told him there was no way that was going to happen! After the lesson we went upstairs for the sacrament and then had a song practice. Later on tonight we all went and played soccer at the park (for Josh's birthday which was last Thurday). It was fun! 

  

Jaiden Jensen's "Corona Talent" Video

I happened to open up a message from Janika that Collin Kartchner (popular youth speaker on the dangers of Social Media) was having a "Quarantine Kids Got Talent" contest and Janika suggested the kids join in! She sent the message a few days ago, but I missed it somehow and just saw it on Friday afternoon and the cut off to send in a video was Saturday at noon -- which didn't leave much time! Jaiden said that she wanted to do it and so she chose a song and recorded herself singing it in the studio, along with a couple of video clips of her singing it. Then she had me video her doing some improve dance moves the the song and then edited it to a clip under 60 seconds. It was pretty stressful due to technology glitches, but in the end it turned out nice! She sure is a talented girl! Click the link below to see her video!!

Jaiden's Corona Talent Video

I told Josh he should enter in the ping pong trick shots he has been working on. So at 11:45 on Saturday he and Jaiden were hurriedly putting together some of his clips and adding music and sending it to Collin Kartcher on Instagram. They were stressing out because it wasn't uploading to my phone, but finally at 11:59 a.m. it uploaded and sent! Whew! Just in time! I wanted to include his video here also but he said it isn't finished yet and he doesn't want me to show anyone his masterpiece (my words, not his) until it is finished!!  So stay tuned!!

Janelle and Jenna could have totally entered a video too -- Jenna's clay creations, a song, one of their paintings...  I have been going through the videos entered and there are hundreds of them!! I don't know how he will choose winners -- they are so many that are amazing!!

Camping Inside

Jase and Ellen and the kids were going to sleep outside in a tent but then it started to rain and so they set up the tent in the basement instead! I had the kids clean out our window wells outside and then they started playing in them!

Happy Birthday, Josh!!

Josh is 14 years old today! He was born on Easter Sunday just 7 minutes after I arrived at the hospital! Josh loves soccer and is anxiously awaiting the re-opening of the soccer season so that he can both play -- and ref!! Josh independently keeps up on all of his school work and is a 4.0 student. 

He loves to play pickle-ball and was disappointed that we had to cancel his "Pickle-ball Party" this year due to the social distancing mandates. However he has been learning new skills with ping pong and has been making an AWESOME video of ping pong trick shots. I can't wait to see the finished project! He misses his wood shop class but has been making his own cool projects in our shed -- even though we don't have many tools to work with. Josh is an awesome kid and we sure love him!

This morning we had Josh open his presents. He had actually gotten his presents early (shoes and couple pair of soccer shorts and a whistle and timer since he was planning on becoming a ref for Ivins soccer this year). So the only thing he had to open was a soccer ball. Since we couldn't have his friend party Jaiden had the idea for all of the brothers and sisters to pitch in $5.00 each and rent an "in-theater movie." Since no one can currently go to the movie theaters Amazon and other companies are renting out new movies for $20.00. It is expensive, but less money than taking your whole family to the movie theater. Jaiden said that Josh really wanted to see "Trolls World Tour," and so she headed this up and it was a nice surprise for him.

So tonight we had a nice dinner of Crock-pot chicken and salad and veggies, along with a pizza that Janelle got him from Papa Murphy's. The kids and I watched the first Trolls movie, since I had never seen it and then after brownies and singing "Happy Birthday," we all went to our basement theater to watch "Trolls World Tour." It was cute, but different. I liked the first one better. Josh also wanted us to play soccer for his birthday, but we didn't have time and so we made plans to do that in a few days.

Happy Easter!!

We spent Good Friday fasting as encouraged by our prophet in General Conference this past weekend. This past week for our family scripture study we have been studying the last week of Christ's life. As we studied about Friday's events I thought, "I can't even imagine being Mary, the mother of Jesus, and watching her son be tortured and murdered right in front of her!" What a sacrifice her sacred calling was to be the mother of Jesus, the Christ.  

Saturday: I spent three hours in the yard -- pulling weeds and cleaning up the ward (with help from the kids) in order to get things cleaned up for Easter. Rick was blessed with the inspiration to write a new song and decided to give it to all of the kids for Easter. So he spent all day in the studio writing it! It is a bell arrangement to "Oh My Father." He is really excited for the the kids to learn it! 

He and I went for a walk in the afternoon and it was pleasant, but getting a little too warm by that time. We had an Easter egg hunt with the kids. The kids filled their own eggs -- half for the hunt and half left out for their Easter baskets. I fixed a meatloaf dinner and then Rick and Janelle hid the eggs for Jaiden, Josh and Jenna to find. Then the kids and I delivered Easter eggs and bubble wands to the young women in my class with a cute note. The kids scattered the eggs on their lawns and had fun ringing the door bell and making a mad dash for the car!  

Sunday: This morning we did a quick clean up from last night's activities and prepared the food for our Easter lunch. Then we had the kids get their Easter baskets, which was really simple this year -- just stax potato chips, hot chocolate, candy filled eggs, clay, and Rick's new song.

Jase and Ellen gave the Easter lesson and did a great job! We had Janika and Brandon join us for the lesson over a Zoom call.

A couple of Janelle's work buddies stopped by the house and dropped off a little Easter basket filled with goodies for her! One of her friends also dropped off some flower seeds and a sweet note. 

Then we had a delicious lunch of ham, cheesy potatoes, asparagus, beans, and salad. Then everyone dyed Easter eggs!!

Then it was the traditional Egg Bash!! Jaiden's "Chick-Fil-Egg" won the tournament!! 

 

The girls were really excited about the song (Josh, not so much!) Our family gathered together in chairs around the piano to have our first practice today! I even felt a little emotional as we started to sing together and imagined where we might perform this beautiful tribute. Tonight the kids and I watched the movie, "The Fighting Preacher." It was good! What a wonderful opportunity to reflect on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and His glorious resurrection! What a wonderful opportunity to spend time with my family! What a precious gift!! 

Day of Fasting and Prayer

Today we all joined in fasting and prayer for relief from the devastating effects of Covid-19. I have a strong testimony of both fasting and prayer and was honored to have our family participate in such a cause! It is awe inspiring to see not only members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints participating in a day of fasting and prayer, but people from all denominations joining together.

Today was our third Sunday of "Stay-at-Home Church." It was my turn to give the lesson and with General Conference coming up this weekend I decided to focus on the restoration and how we can receive personal revelation like Joseph Smith did. We had a wonderful spirit filled discussion. We then had sacrament meeting with our family. Again, I am so grateful for a Prophet of God and am grateful for the Priesthood in my home!

After church we skyped with Janika and Brandon to catch up with them. Janika and Brandon are now working from home. They are grateful that they still have their jobs! Brandon will be graduating  from USU in May, but the graduation ceremony is being postponed until August. However, Janika and Brandon have a cruise to Europe planned that week and so Brandon won't be able to "walk" for graduation. 

The Relief Society Presidency stopped by and dropped off some cupcakes and we visited outside -- six feet apart. I was happy to update them on the wedding and on Jared's missionary service. Our RS President's missionary is still in Peru on lock down. They are hoping he can return home in a couple of weeks.

Seeing all of the missionaries returning this week has brought mixed feelings of sadness and joy -- sadness that their service is being cut short and that God's work seems to be temporarily halted, but joy in seeing so many glorious reunions posted all over social media as family members are finally able to see and hug their missionaries! Here is a picture that was posted on social media of a flight filled with missionaries. There were also many awe inspiring pictures and videos of missionaries flying home and singing "Called to Serve" in different languages. God is in charge and has a plan for all of us -- including these amazing missionaries!

After fasting today we had a delicious feast of marinated chicken, steak, green salad, fruit salad, tater tots (just for fun), cottage cheese, tomato salad and apple crisp and vanilla ice-cream for dessert! Jenna and Josh played soccer and made chalk drawings outside and then we all played "Balderdash" (I won, ha ha!) and the girls and I watched "I Can Only Imagine," a movie I have been wanting to see for ages! It was a glorious day!

Arrowhead Teacher Parade!!

Today the teachers and staff at Arrowhead had a car parade around the local neighborhoods. They decorated their cars and hocked their horns while students and families cheered them on. It was so fun!!

Arrowhead Principal, Mrs. Heki