Full into Fall

 

We are fully into Falltime!   I'm going to include pictures of fall around our home throughout this post.

Libby has started a ballet and tap dancing class.  Her teacher is Wayne Ellis' wife, Shayna.  She told me after the class that Libby is really good; that she has a lot of natural talent and flexibility, and she learns fast.  Hmmm.  That sounds familiar!  That is just what the gymnastics teacher told me two years ago!  Well, we'll see what happens with that.

 Madrigals got invited to go to an Invitational at ISU, along with twelve other choirs from eastern Idaho.  So Jesse and Mary left Friday morning for Pocatello.  They had a rehearsal with Dr. Craig Jessop, the guest conductor, who was formerly the conductor of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, on Friday afternoon.  Then they went bowling that night and stayed in a hotel.  The next day, they had rehearsal from 9 am to 5 pm, with only an hour break for lunch!  And then they had 50 minutes to eat, get dressed and be back on stage for the concert.  For the concert, three choirs from ISU sang, then each of the twelve choirs sang one number, and then they all sang four songs together.  The last number was Come Thou Fount, the same arrangement that the Tabernacle Choir did in conference last April.  According to all accounts it was spectacular.  There were 450+ members of the choir, so it was something else!  Joseph got to come down and be there!  After the concert, they got on the buses and rode home.  Mary slept the whole way, but Jesse was really cold and couldn't get warm, so she had a rough go of it.  Mary said it was like a fantasy, it was so much fun!  Ha ha  It's fantastic for Mads to have a fun experience like this, combined with singing really hard music, this early in the year.  It will shape their experience for the better for the rest of the year.

 The Cider Festival was fun!  It was a bit strange this year because you and Joseph are gone, of course, but also Jesse and Mary were at ISU also, so we just had Peter and Libby here at home!  They had to work hard to get everything ready, but that's good for them!  We had fewer numbers because of the choir being gone, but we still had a lot of people come, and all had a good time.  The only flop was the square dancing - I tried to get people up and dancing, but got no takers!  At the end of the night, I realized that I had taken no pictures!  Duh!  I was so disappointed about that, because I had my phone right in my pocket the whole time, but to no avail.  The doughnuts were a great success.  Libby and I made all the dough and refrigerated it ahead of time, so all we had to do was roll it out and fry it.  That worked great.  And the apple cider was delicious, of course!  I think we have 6 or 7 gallons out in the fridge.  After most everyone had left, Bruce and I sat around talking with Matt and Chantel, Rachelle, Heidi and Nikki.  That was one of the most fun parts of the night.  We have such good friends - great people that are fun to talk to.

On Sunday night, we had the Stake Young Women's Standards Night.  Jesse conducted the meeting, and as part of that, the Stake President asked her to bear her testimony.  It's hard to describe in words how powerful her testimony was.  Shelly told Jesse afterwards that it made her gasp.  She fits the description in Alma 17:3, "they had given themselves to much prayer, and fasting; therefore they had the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of revelation, and when they taught, they taught with power and authority of God."  She spoke of how much the Lord loved each of the young women, and she quoted Elder Bednar in saying, "The Lord desires through His Atonement and by the power of the Holy Ghost, to live in you and empower you.  He wants to transform you into the person He knows you can be."  But it wasn't so much the words, as the Spirit she spoke with.  It was wonderful.  Then Victor was asked to speak, and he did a great job.  He quoted the thirteenth article of faith, in reference to young women, and said that this article of faith described the kind of young woman that righteous priesthood holders find attractive.

 At BYU-Idaho, there was one stake that had over 500 applications for starting their mission papers just in this past week alone.  Poor Joseph is waiting for a temple recommend from his bishop and stake president and hasn't heard back from them for when he can even get an appointment.  Ha ha!  It struck me this morning, though, what a miracle it was that he got his papers in when he did, because now it would have been backed up for a long time.

I have had many experiences lately that have led me to understand the Savior in much better ways.  I want to follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost that I receive, and be a servant every day to my Heavenly Father.  Elder Bednar says that if we have a question about whether we are haring the voice of the Spirit or our own voice, we can act on the guidance and then we will know which one it was.  I am going to work on that more this week.

Bruce's birthday was this week!  We had a fun singing Las Mañanitas and making Bruce breakfast.  In the evening, Grandma and Grandpa H took Bruce and I out to dinner at Red Lobster with Michelle and Natalie, who were down visiting from Washington.  We ate shrimp to our heart's content.

Happy Birthday Bruce!  You light up our lives - we love to "love, love, love" you!