Memorable MondayBritt and Danni

Britt and Danni went to prom with their dates last weekend.  Danni just turned 16 and this is the first time that they could go to a dance with each other.  They took all Saturday to prepare for the dance.  They needed time to do their hair, makeup, and just hang out.  They spend a lot of time together and have such a blast.  They are best friends!!

Danni and Britt - Don't they look stunning!!!!

Danni and Britt with their dates - Jacob and Calli

Britt met Danni on March 10th, 1998, the day Danni was born.  They are 18 months apart, but they act like they are twins.  They have done so much in common, that they have become inseparable.   This is the day it all began.

Emily's Primary Talk,

Marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and … the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children”.  This statement is found in “The Family: A Proclamation to the World”. Every member in our family has an important part in the family. I have a family on Earth that I love. We help each other and have fun together. Families are an important part of the Gospel and we learn at a young age that “Families Can Be Together Forever”. I know that my family loves me and I love them. 

PROM 2014

Both Josh and Danni went to Prom this year.  It was an amazing experience for both of them.  I loved hearing about how to ask, how to answer, what to plan, where to ear, and most importantly what to wear.   

Josh and Danni before their dates arrived.  They both look amazing!!

Danni left for her date first and they headed off to Civic Center Mall in Scottsdale for pictures, then off to Oregano's for dinner, and finally to Prom in Phoenix.

Danni and her date Cali

More pics of Danni and Cali

LOVE this background

Danni's Group

Fun group shots

Josh's date was Aubrey Merkley to prom this year.  Jacob picked up Josh and Mitchell and they left to pick up their dates.  They went to Nickel Park for pictures, to Jacob's house for dinner, and then off to Prom.  

Josh and Aubrey

Josh's group 

Fun shots

Chamber Concert

The band had a chamber concert, with smaller groups performing.  All the clarinets in Wind Ensemble played a song.  It was great to see Josh and Jacob playing clarinets together.  That's a sight I haven't seen since they played in the State Championship in 2012.

Clarinets in Wind Ensemble

Jacob, Josh, and Midori

Throw Back ThursdayGrandma and Grandpa Wall

My sister and I with Grandma and Grandpa Wall

My kids had a mutual activity last night where they talked about ancestors.  I wanted to share a pic with my grandparents.  I miss them a lot.

Ancestors

For mutual, my kids were asked to find 3 ancestors stories.  With 3 kids, that makes 9 stories.  Here they are:

Francis Pomeroy - He memorized the small dictionary so he could go see the circus.  He went on a whaling trip for several years.  He became 2nd in command and was shipwrecked off the coast of Peru (some accounts say Chile).  He stayed around 3 years with the family that rescued him.  He learned Spanish very fluently.  He was able to use this skill later in his life.  He eventually founded the city Mesa. This story has helped Josh in that he put in the effort that he really wanted.  He worked really hard and never gave up, especially when he was shipwrecked.

James Pace - He was baptized in April 1839 along with his wife.  He moved to Nauvoo and the was called to be a member of the Seventy in 1840.  In 1943, he was a chosen policeman by Joseph Smith  and later was selected as captain of the first infantry organized in Nauvoo.  He was apart of the Nauvoo Sentinals.  In 1846, he was called by Brigham Young to join the Mormon Battalion.  He was elected 1st Lieutenant of Company E.  After serving in the Mormon Battalion, he formed a company and brought his family west.  He is the founder of the city of Payson, UT and helped settle the Gila Valley in Arizona.

James Pace

James Pace visits James Pace's grave

Joseph Josephson Wall -  When he was a young man in Swed, he joined the army where he served for several years.  Being a commissioned officer, he lived in government-owned house (these houses being names after the first person living in them).  Joseph live in "Wall's Place," thus making his name Joseph Josephson Wall.  Upon leaving the army, Joseph retained the army name "Wall".

Joseph Josephson Wall

John Alden was a crew member on the historic 1620 voyage of the Pilgrim ship Mayflower.  Rather than return to England with the ship, he stayed at Plymouth, and can be considered a passenger. He was hired in Southampton, England, as the ship's cooper, responsible for maintaining the ship's barrels. He was a signatory to the Mayflower Compact.  he married fellow Mayflower passenger Prsicilla Mullins, who entire family perished in the first winter. 

Mayflower Voyage

In honor of John and Priscilla

^{Jacob Johannes Martin Bohn was an artist and wrot hymns for the the Saints.  The Hymns were written in Danish.}

Yeteve Pace - She lived near QT and had goats and chickens in her yard.  She had a chicken named Cockroach.  She lived with Ray Pace for many years in Gilbert.  Every Christmas, until her death, we would get pictures with us and we received our traditional stuffed animals.  We loved Grandma Pace and it was sad when she diedl.

Ray and Yeteve Pace

Christmas Eve Tradition with Grandma Pace

Visiting her grave

John Pack – He traveled with Brigham Young across the plains.  He was a pioneer scout and entered the Salt Lake Valley two days before the group led by Brigham Young.  There is a statue of him on the “This is the Place” monument in Salt Lake City

John Pack

Angela and her cousins at the "This is the Place" Monument

Benjamin Mitchell – He cut the first sunstone for the Nauvoo Temple.  He also worked with Brigham Young to decide to use sandstone or granite for the Salt Lake Temple.  He was in charge of the stone cutting for the Salt Lake Temple for a while.  Temples were important to him.

Benjamin T. Mitchell

The Nauvoo Sunstone

Angela at the Salt Lake Temple

Selma Wall – She met Conrad Wall on his mission to Sweden.  She didn’t get to know him well, she just met him.  She joined the church after hearing it the missionaries.  She planned a trip to Norway, Denmark, and the United States before returning to Sweden in 1919.  She never returned to Sweden.  She took the train from New York and moved to Salt Lake City.  She was a modern day pioneer.   She met Conrad Wall again and she married him.  

Selma Wall

Selma, Arlene, and Tami

Memorable MondayKid's 4th Easter

Easter Sunday

Here are my kids on their 4th Easter.  Danni and Angela are wearing dresses worn at weddings.  Angela's dress was the dress that she worn at Steve's wedding.  Danni's dress was the one Cortney wore at my wedding reception.  I bought Emily's dress just for her.  Since Josh was the oldest son and grandson, His outfit was bought for him too. 

Easter 2014

Easter Pageant - I love going to the Easter Pageant and hearing and seeing the life of Christ portrayed by members of our community. One of Josh's friends was an angel and a member of the mob.  We were able to see him and take a picture with him.  We went to the Pageant the same day as Grandma and Grandpa Pace.  It was so fun to sit with them and hang out with them before the Pageant started.

Zach and Josh with Jacob

City of Mesa Easter Egg Hunt - We went to the MAC for an Easter Egg hunt.  There were so many kids and so little eggs that the hunt for over in 2 minutes.  My girls got some coupons to the local stores.  We visited a local watering hole before returning home for some more Easter traditions.

Dyeing Easter Eggs - We always make time to dye eggs during Easter time.  We tried a new method of painting colors after the eggs were dyed.  It was fun to do something different than just dyeing the eggs.  We had a great time dyeing eggs and eating Peeps.  Our family loves stale Peeps - call us crazy!!

Temple Service - My sister Debbie came into town and we went to do a session at the Gilbert Temple.  It was so fun to go to the temple with my sisters.  It was amazing to go through the Gilbert Temple.  

Easter Sunday - I love Easter Sunday and make a big deal about Easter Dresses and pictures.  I love the message that Easter brings that we can live again because of our Savior.  That we can live again as a family unit.  I love my family and I love having the knowledge that my Savior died for me so that I can be resurrected and live with my family if I live worthy and endure to the end.

My family on Easter Sunday

My kids plus a couple more

My Kids on Easter Sunday

Easter Celebration with Grandparents - We had a yummy Easter dinner with Grandma Wall - Ham and Scalloped Potatoes.  Grandma Wall had cute little Easter bags for  the kids.  We used to hide Easter Eggs, but that tradition has died.  We need someone to revive that one.  Maybe some of the teenagers can get that going again.  The day after Easter, the Paces get together for pizza and an egg hunt.  The teenagers hide the eggs and the little ones go and find them.  The teenagers received chocolate bunnies for hiding the eggs.  The adults spend the time catching up and discussing the latest news.   I love spending time with my extended families. 

Fun time with the grandparents!!!

Josh's Talk

 Gratitude

Good morning brothers and sisters! My name is Josh Pace and I will be talking about gratitude. I know most of us are already thankful towards God for what he has done, as we should be, but are we thankful for everything? D&C 78:19 states that, “He who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious”.  Do we “receive ALL THINGS with thankfulness? Or are we only thankful for the few blessings we actually see as blessings? As D&C 59:7 states, “Thou shalt ^athank the Lord thy God in all things.”

  We should be thankful for all things that come into our lives, regardless if they are good or bad, because no matter how bad things may seem, there is always at least some good in it. Even in the midst of our trials, we should praise and thank God, because trials bring us strength “For it must needs be, that there is an ^aopposition in all things” according to 2nephi 2:11

So instead of taking challenges and adversity with sadness and despair, let’s be happy and grateful! And take life’s daily hardships with a spring in our step, whistling a tune! Because we all have many wonderful things to be grateful for.

 Moving on to the next part of my talk, one thing that I have seen in my own life, is a confusion between trials, and blessings! For example, teenaged kids complaining, “I don’t want to eat that for dinner!” while kids in much poorer areas would say to that “you get 3 meals a DAY?!?!” Kids would also complain, saying “I don’t want to clean my room!” again, children in poorer areas would say, “you have your own room?!?!”

 Really quick I would like all of you to think, are there any blessings you aren’t counting as blessings? And hardships you should be really thankful for?

 The main part I wanted to address in this talk, was how thankful are we?  How thankful are we that the Lord atoned for our sins? And made repentance possible?  

There was a Korean War veteran who came to my school one day, and shared his experiences. He, at one point in the war, got captured by the enemy. And was marched northward. Now, at this time, it was winter, and it was terribly cold. Now, there were many countries participating in the Korean war, and one such country, was Turkey. There was one Turkish soldier who was also captured, and because of the extreme cold, his feet had swelled. They swelled up to the point where his feet didn’t fit in his boots. Now, the vet who came to our school had some over boots on. These are boots that fit over a regular pair of boots. The Turkish soldier came over to him, and asked for the over boots. The vet gave up these boots, and the Turkish soldier bent down and kissed this man’s feet out of gratitude. Being so grateful that the pain and suffering in his feet were over.

 I felt that this story demonstrates our relationship with the savoir. He suffered for us, so our pain might be avoided.  How grateful are we for this? If you feel that you could be more grateful for anything, learn more about it! Study it! Ponder and pray about it.

During Jesus’ ministry, there were 10 lepers who were healed by him, and only one returned to Jesus to thank him.

We must always be giving thanks to God, for daily are we healed by him and are indebted to him and not to forget our lord as the 9 other lepers had done. Because as we learn from the nephrites of old, we tend to be slow to remember our God when times are good for us. Because sometimes, we get so caught up in life and what we need to be doing, that we forget all the Lord has done for us.

I know that the Lord has given all of us so much, and have so much to be thankful for, and what better time to thank him than today being Easter? And so, I have a challenge for you all. Throughout the day, be thinking of things you are thankful for. And try to find things you are not usually thankful for! And then include your thanks for these items in your next prayer. I know as we give thanks to God, we will be uplifted! And that we have so much to be thankful for! And I say these things, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. 

Throw Back ThursdayMy Viola

My Viola

This week, I went to an orchestra concert to watch Josh perform.  It was a great concert and reminded me of my days in orchestra.  I played the violin during high school and picked up the viola my senior year.

Orchestra Concert

This is Josh's second orchestra concert.  This was the first orchestra concert that I was able to hear each of the different orchestras.  Full Orchestra was the only Mesa High Orchestra to play during the feeder concert, so it was great to see and hear them.  One orchestra had 5 basses - I couldn't believe it.  I was in awe and then I took a pictures to prove it.  Kaylynn and Maybree are in the same orchestra, so I had to take pictures of them performing.  It was a fun concert and I really enjoyed it.  I really love to listen to strings.  It takes me back to my high school days. 

Spring Orchestra Concert

Memorable Monday"Because of Him"

The church had a media campaign during the week before Easter where they asked the members to consider all that was possible in their lives because of Jesus Christ.  Facebook users did an invite to write these thoughts down and share them.  These are my response along with pictures.  

Because of Him, I can be a better daughter - Because of the example that the Savior treated his mother, I can be a better daughter.  He loved his mother so much that he made sure that she was taken care of, even after His death.  He respected Joseph and did His Father's work on this earth.  Family is important to him and because he set a good example, I can be a better daughter.

Because of Him, I an serve others - Our Savior's life was dedicated to service.  We are our Savior's hands while we are on this earth.  When we help others. we are serving doing what the Savior would do himself.

Because of Him, I can love more fully - Our Savior loves each one of us more than we understand.  Knowing that you are loved, truly loved, fills you bucket and allows you to show your love more fully.  Because my Savior loves me, than I in return can show my love to others.

Because of Him, I can be a better me - My Savior atoned for my sins, so if I repent I can learn from my mistakes and become a better person.  Every day, I can be a better person by following his example and repent when I make a mistake.  

Because of Him, I live in this beautiful world - Our Savior created this beautiful world.  I am in awe of how beautiful it is.  Not only for the breathtaking landscape, but also for the animals living on the earth.  The animals are amazing to watch.  I'm grateful to live on this beautiful earth.

Because of Him, I am inspired - Many things that inspire me have been created by our Savior.  The items that I use for my creations have come from the earth.  I'm inspired by by his acts of love, kindness, and forgiveness.  He lived such a humble life which gives me the inspiration to make my day more meaningful.  Spending time with my family in one of the meaningful things that I can do with my time.

Because of Him, I can get answers to prayers - My Savior is the advocate to His Father and he answers my prayers.  Some of my prayers get answered fast and some don't.  Because of my Savior, I know that one day all my prayers will be answered according to his will.