Thankful ThursdayMy Savior

All month long, I have blogged about things that I'm thankful for.  Today is the last Thursday of the month, so it seemed fitting to end on say how grateful  I am for my Savior.  He came to earth as a baby in humble circumstances and lived a perfect life.  He atoned and died for me, Tami.  He knows my name,  my trials, my feelings, and my inadequacies.  He loves me and knows me personally.  I'm so grateful for this knowledge and the peace it brings me on a daily basis.  

Thanksgiving

Paces

We had 2 Thanksgiving dinners again this year.  

* We started off with Thanksgiving at my parents house at noon.  My sisters, parents, and I talked with Jeff through Skype.  It was fun just to watch Jeff interact with his girls.  Debbie and her family came up for Thanksgiving this year, and it was great to talk to them.  Her boys have grown so much over the years, especially Austin.  Angela and Emily love Briley and wanted to spend some quality time with her.  Emily wanted to show her the rope swing in Grandpa's back yard.  Danni and Britt hung out as usual.  Josh, Zach, Cortney, Jim, and my mom played Skip-Bo.  That's my mom's favorite game and she was thrilled to play it.  I hope she won.  

*Our second dinner was at Mindy's house.  It was great to spend the time with the Paces.  The adults sat around the table chatting while the kids played in the backyard.  Mindy's backyard is amazing with so much to do, especially when her back yard extends to the neighbors,  They have an amazing swing that the kids love.  

It was an amazing Thanksgiving and I'm so sad when it was time to leave both places.  We ate a lot of food and had a great time spent with family.  We really missed Ashley and Devon this year and hope that they are safe and dong well on their missions.

Lisa, Debbie, and I

Josh on Thanksgiving

Danni on Thanksgiving

Angela on Thanksgiving

Emily on Thanksgiving

Memorable MondayThanksgiving 2006

I don't remember Thanksgiving 2006, but I can look back at the pictures to see what we did on Thanksgiving.  It looks like Debbie and her family came up for Thanksgiving.  It also looks like we went down to Jon and Mindy's house too.  The same thing happened this year.  It's fun to look back and see how young the kids look.   

Josh and Austin

Danni and Kaylynn

Angela on the trampoline with Ryan, Alyssa, Kade, and Kaylynn

Emily eating with Cadon, Kenzie, and Briley

Awards Banquet

The MHS Marching Band had their awards banquet  this evening.  It was a great event for the band students and their families.  I helped decorate the room and arranged the food for the evening.  Josh hung out with friends the whole evening and had a great time.  Mr. Brooks and Mr. Quamo spoke about the band program and then the awards were given.  Josh received an award for participating in marching band for 4 years.  I'm so proud of Josh and how hard he has worked these past 4 years.  He played the clarinet for the first 2 years and the sousaphone the last 2 years.  He never played the sousaphone until his junior year and he had to learn how to play it.  Marching with a sousaphone is different than the clarinet, so he had to relearn marching techniques.  He worked hard and never complained.  He loved marching band and will really miss it.  Me too!!!

Josh hanging out with friends before the ceremony

Josh and some of his sousaphone friends. Naise is the newest tuba players and is sad to send off these 3 seniors.

Josh and I

Josh and I wanted to give the sousaphone players a gift to remember this remarkable season.  I made engineering prints of this collage for the kids.  It was a hit among the sousaphone players and hopefully a keepsake.  Three of sousaphone players are seniors and will be missed.

Tuba gift

Mesa High Service Project

We live in an amazing community where students and parents work side by side to improve the local high school. Mesa High hosts a lot of community events too. There was a great turnout and I saw so many MHS students and their younger siblings. I enjoyed spending the morning with Josh an Em cleaning the campus.

Josh, Em, and I

Thankful Thursday Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

Mesa Temple

I'm grateful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  There are so many blessings that come from living the gospel and following our Savior plans.  In the temple we make covenants that will ultimately help us return to live with our Father in Heaven.  I'm so grateful for the knowledge I have that the church is true.  I 'm thankful for the membership of Christ's church.

Evening of Excellence

The girls had their Evening of Excellence tonight.  They each showcased a personal progress project that they are working on.   

Angela is working on her 10 hr Individual Project.  She is writing letters to Julietta, who she considers her grandma.  Julietta is in Utah visiting for an extended time and Angela is really missing her.  They have such a sweet relationship. 

Angela's project

Danni made cookies and delivered them to the Bishopric and their families.  I went with her as she delivered the cookies and took pictures.  She was going to use these pictures to showcase her goal under the  Good Works value.  

Danni's goal

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Memorable MondayFootball Games 2014

The football season of 2014 is over.  It was such a great season and I loved going to the games and seeing the band kids perform on the field and in the stands.  I missed a few games due to my health, but I was able to attend all the home games, except the one during October break.  This season they played some new songs, which makes it even more fun.  Thanks to Joella for sitting with me and having a total blast with me.  She makes the football season so much fun!!!

The tuba players got a little crazy

Performing in the stands

Performing on the field

Fun moments in he stands

Phoenix Temple Dedication

Phoenix Arizona Temple

We attended the Phoenix Temple Dedication today as a family.  We went to our stake center which was an extension of the temple.  It was a sweet experience, especially going as a family.  

The speakers talked about the importance of going to the temple.  When we are young, we can walk the grounds of the temples.  When we turn 12, we have the opportunity to go inside and do temple work for the dead.  As adults, we can go to the temple to receive our own endowments and help our ancestors receive theirs.  They talked about making the temple a priority, going once a month or even once a week.  Temple pictures should be displayed in our homes, especially pictures of us standing near the temple. It was a great reminder of the importance of temples.

President Uctdorf said the dedicatory prayer for the second session.  Before the prayer, he said a few words.  He lived in Phoenix for a while and received his endowments in the Mesa Temple.  He even went to visit the Mesa Temple with his wife.  I loved his words and how he tied the Mesa Temple into the dedication.  We live in the Mesa Temple district and it was great reminder that even though the Mesa Temple is not new, it's a beautiful temple and a House of the Lord.

Throughout the dedication, the Jordan River Temple, Mesa Temple, Phoenix Temple, and Salt Lake Temple were mentioned.  These temples have a special meaning to me and it made this dedication more meaningful to me.  I sat in the temple at the Jordan River Temple dedication as a 13 year old and sitting in the chapel for the Phoenix Temple, reminded me of how fortune I am to be here at this dedication.

State Competition

The Mesa High Marching Band went to defend their second consecutive Division 2 Marching Band State Championship.  They were just a couple points shy and came in 2nd Place  with a score of 82.49.  Their show was amazing and was the only show that received a standing ovation from the crowd.  It was a difficult show and the band students rose to the occasion.  I heard a senior student says this season and show was the hardest out of her four years in marching band.  They are an amazing group of students who have made a name for themselves. Those in the marching band world are talking about Mesa High.

These students have been working long hours since the end of July for this day. Some students have been working months before August. I've been privileged to have the opportunity to watch them progress throughout the season. I'm so impressed with their hard work, discipline, and dedication to their show. They have worked tirelessly and have kept their grades up too.  This was the last time Josh competed in the Marching Band, and I watched the show with a great sense of pride in their show.

MHS Marching Band Show

2nd Place Celebration

The 6 tubas

The trophy

Thankful Thursday My Family

I'm so thankful for my family. They have blessed my life in so many ways. I'm so lucky to have the opportunity to spend time with them. I love each one of them so much!!!

Memorable MondayBerlin Wall

25 years ago on Sunday, the Berlin Wall fell and the East Germans were allowed to head west.  I remember in high school learning about East Germany and West Germany and they were 2 different countries.  I remember watching Night Crossing about East Germans escaping by using a hot air balloon.  I remember hearing President Uchtdorf as he and his family fled East Germany.  I couldn't imagine living in a country where I couldn't leave.  Two years after I graduated from high school, I watched as the Berlin Wall fell overnight.  The whole world seemed shocked and pleased as we watched it happen.  The communist government fell in East German and soon afterwards in fell in the Soviet Union.  The cold war was over.  East Germany and West Germany is just one country now - Germany.  My kids will learn about East / West Germany from their history book, while I watched it happen.  This is one historical moment that I will remember.  

Bands of America Trip

The Marching Band went to compete in Bands of America.  The Band Boosters arranged for the kids to spend a day at Knott's Berry Farm.  The Boosters even paid for them to play and have fun before they competed.   Here are some pictures of Josh and his group at Knott's.

Josh and Pablo

Josh at Knotts

Josh with friends

Josh with friends

Josh and his penguin - check out the shades

Josh and friends

The Marching Band kids had a day to play,  The next day, they were to perform their show on the California circuit.  They competed against Division 1 schools such as Desert Vista, Corona Del Sol, and Mountain View from Arizona.  They came in 16th place which made them extremely happy, especially since Mountain View came in 18th place.    They didn't make into the finals, but they didn't plan on it.  Desert Vista was the only band tfrom Arizona to make it into the finals.

The staduim where they will perform their 2014 "Fearless" Show

Performing at Bands of America

There were a lot of people on Instagram commenting on the show.  Here are some pics from people outside of Mesa High of their "Fearless" show.  I didn't get to chaperon this trip due to my health and Danni's Seussical performances.  It was great to see pics of them on Insagram.

Seussical the Musical

Mesa High has amazing musicals and this year was no exception.  Seussical the Musical was AMAZING!!!  Danni was one of the bird girls, narrators of the musical, and Brittany was one of the jungle animals.  The kids worked super hard and did such a fabulous job.  The costumes and scenery added so much to the show.  Mrs. Stones, Mrs. Turley and Calli Overstreet worked so hard to make this show a success.  Danni will always remember Seussical and the memories she made.  She really enjoyed performing with Brittany.  It was great to see them perform together.  In the past fall seasons, they did colorguard.  Well, this year, they did  Seussical.  Here are some pictures of the musical.

The Bird Girls

Danni and Britt

Danni and some friends in the musical

Danni had so many people come to see the show

Josh came to see Danni and Aubrey
Angela came to see JoJo and Danni
I came to see Danni 6 times

I'm so glad that Danni had the opportunity to be in the musical and I know she had an amazing time.  I videoed a lot of  different scenes, so I will watch it often,  LOVED it!!!!  I'm so proud of Danni and Britt!!!