Arise! Youth Spectacular

A couple of years ago, President Monson made the comment that the youth of the church should be involved in worthwhile activities. He proposed they have something similar to the dance festivals and pageants of long ago. The call went out for the young men and young women of Utah North Area of the church to present a Youth Spectacular. A committee was organized. They settled on a theme. Youth and leaders were recruited and the production was on it's way. Practices began early in the year. When the practices began, there were 3,000 youth involved. Practices were long, and sometimes very unorganized. Some were outside in very cold weather, and some were outside in extreme heat! The leaders figured that over the course of months of practice, they would probably lose 1/3 of the youth participants. But, just the opposite happened. When the production was presented at Stewart Stadium the 16th and 17th of July, over 3500 young people participated! It was truly a spectacular! Although President Monson was not able to attend, his daughter, Sister Ann Dibb, was there, along with several general and area authorities. I know that the prophet was aware of what the youth accomplished and I know that he was pleased. I also know that the Spirit was present in abundance on both occasions. I am thankful that four of my grandchildren had the opportunity to participate in this landmark event! The North Council began the production with a scene depicting the pre-existence. Over 1000 pre-mortal souls - shouting for joy when Christ's plan of salvation was announced. Janna sent me this photo of Nathan that she took during North Council's presentation.
When we chose Christ's plan, we were excited to cross through the veil, leave the presence of the Father, and enter our next estate - earth life. We will be tried and tested along the way, but we will not be left alone!
When we come to earth, it is important for us to remember who we are! When we look in the mirror, do we see what God sees?
He sees His royal child!
The prophet Joseph Smith was a tool in the Lord's hands to restore His gospel to the earth.
God has given us prophet throughout time - including these latter days! Thank God for His prophets! The North Council ended with I Am a Child of God. That's an important thing to remember! The West Council's presentation was the era of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It began with pioneers, pushing handcarts and showing the trials they faced whilst crossing the plains. Also portrayed were the guardian angels that accompanied them along the way.
They also showed, through song and dance, the people in the early generations of the church - the roaring 20s, the fabulous 50s right up until today! They had a big banner than read, "It's Our Time."
Janna sent me this picture she got of Justin and Connan performing with the West Council.
I ran onto the picture that was on the Arise FB page. It seemed to just spotlight our Justin. And Connan is right next to him. This photo was taken in the field house, during a devotional right before the presentation.I snapped this picture and got Alexis and London dancing the jitter bug. Members of the South Council showed a world-wide church. They had cultural dances from each of the continents - a very colorful presentation. They also had testimonies of young people from each of the continents.
Some Utah missionaries, who happen to be from the Islands, taught the youth some of their traditional dances, and participated along with the South Council.
Scottish bag pipers represented the European Continent. I liked that segment!




This was the first part of the finale. Every participant was on the field, walking in single file, singing and holding small lights. It was so impressive!

Heartbound came out and took center field. All of the youth sang with them...



At the end of the program, all 3500 young men and young women gathered at the end of the field, near a big screen picture of the Savior, Jesus Christ. They were still holding their lights, still singing, and spontaneously went down on their knees. May God bless the youth of this church!

FHE at the Amphitheater

Becky reminded us a few days ago that the Nashville Tribute Band and Due West were going to do a family home evening at the Amphitheater. The local group, Heartbound was also coming. So, we called Dad and picked him up and went down to the show. Sharon and Gus and Bryan and Becky and their families were also there - along with a ton of other people. The show was GREAT! We had seen Tribute to the Prophet at the tabernacle a few years ago - and we bought the album. Monday night there were a lot of songs from the Tribute album - as well and song from their latest album, Trek.Dad really enjoyed the program. When the band got a little loud, he just turned down his hearing aids!When Heartbound sang, they invited all the youth in the audience who were participating in Arise to come up and sing the theme song with them. One of the members of Heartbound wrote this song. London and Alexis were among about 60 kids who went up front and sang along with Heartbound. I think Justin sang too - but didn't come up to the front of the stage.

Dinner with Danny and Dalena

My FIRST Bountiful Basket! (07/11/09)

I had to get a picture of all these wonderful fruits and vegetables! Ann's been picking up baskets for a few weeks now, and told me about it. $15 for six kinds of fresh veggies and 6 kinds of fresh fruits! Very tasty! And....healthy!

Tommy Lasorda! (07/10/09)

Tommy Lasorda came to visit Lindquist Field Friday night. I didn't realize it, but he actually used to coach in Ogden - he coached the Ogden Pioneer League baseball team when Jack was a kid.

Bo helps Grandpa Jack

Had to capture this moment! Bo came to help his grandpa on a front door project. Just so happened that he was wearing a pair of the girls' purple Barbie pumps! It takes a real man...

Colors of the Tartan

I had picked out the colors for the Swedish Weave blanket I was going to make, but changed my mind after we visited our cousin Carol Ann and she gave us a copy of the Rosevear Tartan. I'm planning to make the fringe on the ends a little wider - but I love the color combo! (I also trimmed the yarn on the sides. Haha!)

Country View's 5K (05/07/10)

Jack and Lisa joined five of the Boli in this year's Colt Stampede. London finished 1st in her division. Jack finished and took 2nd place in his. (There was only one other guy over 60. Haha - But, good on him, for getting out there!)Congratulations, London!Lisa, Jackson, Kendrick, Kate and Reagan came in - all with great times.Hooray for Jack! It was the first time he'd run since his surgeries - and he made it!

Plain City Softball Tournament

Mike got together a team for the PC Softball Tournament again this year. All but two players were family - ranging in age from 15 yrs (Tyler) to 67 yrs (Jack) Besides Tyler, I think Justin is youngest at probably 32 or 33 yrs. We call the team the Old Fogeys. Last year and this - play started around 6-7 PM and ended shortly before midnight. Last year and this - we took second place - not too bad, considering the guys (except for Ty) only pick up their bats this one time a year! Jack grabbed Dad's walker and headed out on the field to play. That got a laugh from everyone! By the time the four games came to an end - Jack wasn't the only one who could have used a walker!Here's a pic of some of the fans. Angie and Sharon were on the bleachers and Becky was taking photos. We had quite a fan base again this year!During the final game, the field next door was empty - so the grandkids got up their own team...

June Rafting Trip

Because we thought we might be going to Switzerland in August, we decided to schedule our first rafting trip early. It was great! It was not as cold as we thought it might be, and we had beautiful weather! Several families weren't able to make this trip, but we had plenty of help. Last minute, we recruited Aimee Barber and her three sons to help with the paddling. Some of the Koford family was also there for the runs on Friday.

Our three oldest grandsons were in hog heaven - they got to go on every run! We needed them, and it is very nice that they are old enough (and strong enough) to be great paddlers!

Ready for the 1st run of the year.

This was Lisa's only run, but the first of FIVE for Tyler, Justin and Nathan!

Had to snap a pic of Justin in his cute bonnet!

The second run.

"Here we are!"

Rachel and Bo were ready to head to Elbow for a kid run. We try to take a run on the upper river just for the younger kids every year. There isn't much white water up there, but it's a good 15-20 minute run for them. Last year, Bo and Rachel screamed the whole way, but this year? No tears!

Some of the kids that were crammed into the Yukon for the trip up to the put-in.

The kid run crew.

Thanks to Tyler, Justin, Baylee, Amberly, Austin and Nathan for going along to paddle. It's not a very exciting ride for them, but we couldn't do it without them!

Little Rachel at the end of the ride.

Baylee, Grace, Amberly and Ashtyn - taking care of business.

Making s'mores

Playing games Justin brought back from scout camp

Jeff visits with ClaireK

Chris and Debbie Koford adopted a daughter from Russia. Her name is Claire. On her cup, she wrote C L A I R E K. So, of course, Jeff and Mike started calling her Clairek. She protested, and tried to explain, but they didn't listen - they never do!

Crew of Saturday's first run.

Little Bo uses all his strength to push Dean in the Tonka truck.

Back at camp, the big Tonka Truck is star attraction! It was mostly the bigger kids, pushing each other and the smaller kids around the camp ground. But once in a while, one of the little ones gave the big ones a ride. There were tons of roots in the ground, which made for a bumpy ride - but that made it all the more fun!

Cousin Camp Collage

Tyler and Justin wanted to see who was taller. I'm thinking they are about the same height, but with Tyler's curls... Alli and Audrey snuggle in a camp chair by the fire pit. Three silly cousin faces, Allison, Marianne and Audrey. Cousin buddies, Dunc and Bo.

Nate shows off the bruises he got from Mike's game of BINGO!

The crew of Saturday's 2nd run.

Fathers' Day Collage

I think it was Dena's idea to have everyone send her their best photos from the England/Scotland trip so she could put together a collage for Dad. She also decided to wrap it in brown paper, decorated with travel/UK stickers, and personal messages from all of the family.Some of the great-grandkids gathered around Dad as he checked out his Fathers' Day gift. They were anxious for him to open it and started to help - thank goodness for Scotch Tape.Once he had started to open it, and realized what it was, he started to choke up.I think Dad LOVED his gift! He shows it off to everyone who comes to visit.