From Cumorah's Hill

I'm finally starting to catch up --This is about a month overdue.

I was priveledged to be a part of our Stake's Youth Conference this year, in preparing the youth choir and conducting the choir and orchestra in their performance of From Cumorah's Hill.  From Cumorah's Hill is a Musical Fireside Presentation by Steven Kapp Perry, about the truths of the Book of Mormon and how they apply to our lives.  It is presented by a choir and speakers, and if you ask for the orchestral score, (like we did) you can have a live orchestra as well.  

(Only a handful of stakes ever use a live orchestra, so the score isn't  professionally pulished, and has lots of mistakes in it that need correcting.  So just a little tip,  in case you are thinking about using a live orchestra, be prepared to spend some time fixing a bunch of stuff in the music!)

For the first 6 weeks, the choir and orchestra reahearsed separately, and in the 7th week, we put it all together, with the speaking parts, and costumes and lighting, concluding with performances on Saturday and Sunday nights.  After all that time learning notes and repeating things over and over, it was so gratifying when it came together.

Here are the prophets in their costumes.  Lookin' good, boys!

The choir was comprised of 177 youth, and their leaders brought the numbers up to about 230 voices.  Many of those youth were not musical, didn't like to sing, or thought they couldn't sing, but they came and sang anyway, (some under severe duress from their parents) and I think in the end most of them had a really great experience.  There was a particular young man who I knew didn't want to do it.  I was really surprised when he randomly showed up to try out for a solo.  And who do you think got the "I Never Stand Alone" solo?  You guessed it.  Another young man who came kicking and screaming, got a speaking part and on the way home from Sunday's performance was asking his mom why the Stake didn't do stuff like this more often?

I had the best seat in the house of course, and got to stand in front of this awesome group and feel of their testimonies and their goodness.

 I feel so blessed to have had that opportunity. 

The handsome lighting guy.  Hands off, ladies, he's mine.

Okay, this is me telling the cast about my wand.  I mean, my baton.  It was a gift from Rob Sorensen from the Cherry Hills ward who handmade it.  The handle is made of leftover cherry wood trimming from the  Albuquerque Temple, and the stick part is holly wood.  (And I threatened to stupify any of the youth who were talking during someone else's speaking part.)

Arthur took this shot of the choir the night of the last performance.  It's hard to see, but they looked amazing.  They are up on the stage and spilled over onto risers on the floor as well.  What a sight!

Since our ward has church in this building from 2-5, and call for the cast was 5:30, we all had a picnic dinner together in the YW room in between church and the performance.   It was kind of cool to see lots of families who would be staying for the performance, just make the best of it and eating together in various spots around the building.  It was some pretty good ward bonding, I thought.  :) Emma, Dallin & Daphne got to stay after church on Sunday and eat with me quickly before finding seats in the cultural hall.  Thanks to the Carters for taking our other little guys home from church and tending them until we got home.

Dallin & Daphne with the Gold Plates after Sunday's performance.

Arthur and I after the first peformance--the youth committe gave me these flowers at the cast party afterward.  :)  

I felt truly uplifted and edified through this experience, and felt the Lord teaching me and sustaining me through some very long days.  I love the goodness and energy of the youth, and am so grateful I got to work with them in this.  I am so proud of them for what they accomplished!

My hope and prayer is that those youth will remember the spirit they felt as they sang this beautiful music together.  I hope they will remember the feeling of love and unity and comraderie that followed the rehearsals and especially the performances.  And I hope that they will remember the spirit's witness of truth as they sang the words, "Great things and small things, I can do all things, all that Lord may require,"  "The power of God is plain to see, there are wonders on every hand"  and "I Never Stand Alone when I Stand with God!"  I hope they find themselves humming the tunes and have those songs going through their minds as they walk to their classes at school to uplift them when they feel discouraged.  (The cool thing about music is that it acts as a memory aid.  People remember words set to music much easier than just spoken words.)  

I hope they learned a little bit more about what the spirit feels like and learned to better recognize it's still small voice.  (I know I learned a lot about that through those couple of months!) And I hope their testimonies of the Book of Mormon and of the reality of the prophet Joseph Smith were strengthened.  I hope they came away with a renewed desire to be better disciples of Christ, and better friends to each other as together, they seek after every good thing.  

Spring Break Plans

Tonight in family home evening we were discussing our plans for Spring Break. A few weeks ago, we had planned (rather impulsively) to go visit Natalie and Brian and do Disneyland again and this time hit California Adventure as well.  Emma hasn't been to D-land since she was 14, and when we were just there in October, I left definitely wanting more!

Well, last night Arthur and I took a hard look at our checkbook and decided it wouldn't be prudent of us to go again.  So this morning during breakfast I broke it to the kids, who actually took it really well.  And so tonight during Family Home Evening we discussed a little more about how we didn't have enough money to go to Disneyland during Spring Break, but we could do other fun stuff, like see Tangled at the dollar theater, or maybe visit White Sands & Carlsbad Caverns . . . Well the kids started quoting, "Despicable Me," (their favorite movie right now,) and this is sort of how it went:

(you have to read these with a Mr. Gru voice.)

Dallin:  "In terms of money . . .  we have no money."

Daphne:  "So how, you ask, will we get to Disneyland?  The answer is clear.  We won't.  But instead we will go . . . wait for it . . . WE WILL GO . . .  pause for effect . . ."

Dallin:  "TO THE DOLLAR THEATER!"

We were all laughing and laughing, and I'm so grateful for kids who just made the best of a disappointing situation.  I was pretty depressed today with our change of plans, but I don't feel so bad about it anymore.  After all, for Spring Break, we are going to the dollar theater.  :)

El Malpais

When I told Arthur that we were coming with him to see him start and finish the race, he said, "Well what are you going to do for all the hours in between?"  I said, "I'm sure we can find something to do."  He said, "I don't think there IS anything to do in Grants."  Well as it turns out, you can find something to do even in a little town like Grants.

First on the agenda, a stop at Walmart, (yes, there is a Walmart in Grants) to pick up an umbrella stroller for Sydney since I'd forgotten to bring hers, and also, with Arthur's bike in the back, I don't think we had room for it even if I had remembered.

 Since I wasn't sure what we'd find to do  in Grants, I printed off a list of photo scavenger hunt ideas as a last resort.   A team could earn 250 pts for a picture of the whole team under a picnic table.  Since Jewels and Eric are missing, and Lilly wasn't 100% cooperative,  we'll call it 200 pts.

To kill some time while Arthur was doing his Quadrathalon, we went out to check out El Malpais, just a few miles outside of Grants. El Malpais means "The Badlands" in Spanish.  People tried to settle here back in the 30's during the Depression.  But as the name indicates, not many people stuck it out.  There are some cool things to see there, including a natural arch, great views from the sandstone bluffs, and some ice caves and lava tubes you can explore.  Most of those take some hiking and since we weren't prepared for lots of hiking, and because it was SUPER WINDY!!!  We spent some time exploring the easiest spot to get to, which is the Sandstone Bluffs.

 On the way there, we stopped on the side of the road where we saw the remains of an old stone house.  Since there wasn't anything preventing us from exploring, or signs that told us not to touch, we made ourselves at home.

Poor Hayden fell into a cactus on the way out to the house.

I picked a prickle out of his leg, and it was really hard to get out!

Poor little guy!

What's left of a fireplace--perfect for climbing in.

Here we are at the bluffs:  

It was really quite beautiful up there and we could have stayed much longer were it not for that blasted wind!

A View of Mt. Taylor from El Malpais.  That is what Arthur was climbing while we were hanging out taking pictures.  Mt. Taylor is a 3.5 million year-old dormant volcano, and there is a lot of black lava rock in this area.

  

Emma, Daphne and Jewels looking over the cliff.

We found this little pool of water up on the sandstone.  Here's Dallin jumping over it.

And here is everyone else jumping over.  
Sean fell in the first time.  I knew someone would.
That's half the fun, I guess.

Sydney enjoying the view and some keys.

With my sister and my children in mortal peril, what could I do, but grab the camera?

Sean thought he'd found some snipe tracks, until Daphne burst his bubble by informing him that there is no such thing as a snipe.

Back in Grants, we stayed out of the wind and killed some time letting the kids watch a movie.  

Their current favorite is Despicable Me.

Some of the Grants Scenery.

The boys waited and cheered other racers as they came into the finish line.

Daphne entertained herself by taking portraits of her siblings.

Still waiting.

and waiting.

and waiting.

We were so happy when Arthur finally crossed that finish line!
I'm so proud of him for finishing that race.  It was such a hard thing to do, and I love that he worked so hard to accomplish that goal!  Way to go, Arthur.  
You. Are.  A. Mazing. 

p.s. I don't know what is going on with the formatting in this post. 
It's like one giant caption.
whatever.

February quotes

Hayden:  Thindy is thnucking on her pathifier.

About our tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner

Sean: Oh, not again!  We just had this dinner.

Me:  no we didn't--it's been a long time since we had this dinner.

Sean:  I hate this dinner. (Just for the record, that comment lost him five beads, which is the equivalent of 1 screen-time session).

Daphne:  Don't worry Sean, it's not the home-made kind. It's the kind from a can.  (looks at me apprehensively and starts back-peddling) I mean, the home made kind is good, but Sean just likes the soup from a can better.

Me:  It's okay, Daphne, I didn't like my homemade soup either.

Daphne:  Okay, mom.  I just didn't want to hurt your feelings.

Daphne while making her lunch:

I'm taking a bite from each of these so when my friends ask me for them, I'll tell them, 

"Sorry, I already took a bite."

While Folding Laundry

Dallin: Yesterday was my 2nd worst nightmare of this entire school year.

Mom:  Oh yeah?  What was it?

Dallin:  I had to dance with a girl in music class.  Like one of those old fashioned dances!

Mom: Well, what was your 1st worst nightmare?

Dallin:  when I had to run through the cheerleader tunnel at basketball.  I couldn't breathe because they were short and all of their pompoms were in my face.

Sean:  Stop it Hayden.  I'm getting annoyed at you.

Pottytraining:

Not sure what made me start potty-training Hayden in the middle of everything else I have going on, except the fear that maybe things won't ever settle down to a point when I actually feel like potty-training.  Well, Hayden has been doing pretty good at 1/2 of the potty-training business.  But he's having a very hard time with the other half which is the more disgusting to clean up.

So I showed him a very big toy that had been waiting in my closet for just such an occasion, and told him that if he went poop in the toilet five times, he could earn that big toy.  After a week of pooping his pants once a day, we finally had a breakthrough and he started counting down to earning the big toy.

So yesterday morning, I gave Hayden his daily potty pep-talk and told him that he was so close!  All he had to do was poop in the toilet once more to earn . . .  the BIG TOY.  So Hayden decided he'd head to the bathroom and try to knock that last one out.

Well, Sean has been waiting with baited breath for Hayden to earn that toy. As he set out, Sean patted him on the shoulder and said, "I really hope you go poop, Hayden!"  It made me smile.  And sure enough, Hayden earned his big toy!  He got to play with it for half the day but then got it taken away when he pooped his pants that afternoon.  He's now in process of re-earning it.  It's sitting in my closet where it is occasionally visited by Hayden and Sean who look at it longingly and count on their fingers how many more successes Hayden needs to play with it again.

Hayden: (examing the bottle of vanilla extract)  I think I mutht drink this.

After Dallin's Basketball game:

Mom:  So what color star did you get?

Dallin:  The blue star.

Mom:  What does that one stand for?

Dallin:  effort.

Mom:  Well, great job, Dallin!

Dallin: (sighs) I don't like getting the blue star because it basically means I tried really hard and accomplished nothing.

At Stake Conference in a very loud whisper

Sean:  Aunt Emma, you said this is going to be shorter than church, but it is taking FOR-E-VER!

After "From Cumorah's Hill," we brought all the stake's lighting equipment back to be stored in our garage until the building is fixed.  So when Sean was getting into the car this morning, he noticed the big spotlight, and said in amazement,  "We have a CANNON now?"

Waiting for Dad to finish his Quadrathalon:

Sean:  Dad is NEVER COMING BACK!

Sean:  I think you're right, Mom.  I think Dad has a "black" tire. 

 (I wondered aloud if he'd gotten a flat tire.)

Emma:  I wish I could sing like black lady.

A lunch-time conversation:

Sean:  Hayden, "bad-guy-girls" show their boobies.

Hayden:  yeah, "bad-guy-girls" show their boobies.

Mom:  You mean, they are immodest?

Sean:  Yep. They show their boobies with the line and the fat parts.

Mom:  Well, you're right-that is not modest.

Sean:  And that is what bad-guy-girls do.

Mom:  So, where did you see these bad-guy-girls?

Sean:  Oh, on Three Amigos.

Hayden:  Yeah, they show their boobies like this . . . (pulls down his shirt and says, "BOING")

So . . . obviously, we need to be a little more careful about what these guys are watching.  We watched "Three Amigos" a few weeks ago, which, I think, is a pretty funny movie.  I hadn't seen it in years, so I had forgotten about some of its crude humor (which went over the kids' heads) but I had also forgotten about El Guapo's women and that random girl at the end who comes and kisses Ned Nederlander who is showing quite a lot of cleavage.  Evidently it made a pretty big impression on Sean.  I'm glad that Sean knows it's a bad choice for girls to show that much cleavage, (or as he describes it, "the line and the fat parts.")  So if you are a girl who is showing your line and fat parts, you should think twice about being such a "bad-guy-girl."

blessings

Friday night Sydney was up for most of the night.  She was really warm and upon taking her temperature, we found she was at 103.  We gave her some tylenol, and spent the rest of the night taking turns with her, as she would not sleep.  I think we each accumulated about 2 hours of sleep.  (That was worrisome for me because that night I would be leading about 250 people--choir and orchestra--in our first performance of From Cumorah's Hill.)  By morning, Sydney was still really warm, and completely lethargic.  You could just see in her eyes that she was absolutely miserable.  Dallin said, "Mom, all the happiness is out of her eyes."

So as soon as it was open, I took her down to MD Urgent Care where she was burning up with a temperature of 104.2.  They quickly got me into the doctor and she was tested for influenza.  They told me that's what she had, and that her oxygen level was a bit low.  She was flushed and breathing rapidly, and if her oxygen level went down, they would recommend taking her to the hospital to receive oxygen and be monitored.  When they  re-checked her oxygen before leaving, it was looking a little better, so they sent me home, instructed me to keep her temperature down, keep her hydrated and to watch her breathing carefully, as it could develop into RSV or a number of other horrible things.

Julianne and Eric were over to watch the BYU-San Diego Game when I got back from Urgent Care, so we had Arthur and Eric give her a blessing.  As I watched their grown hands placed on her tiny little head, I felt so grateful for these men who have lived worthy to hold the priesthood, and grateful to have that priesthood power present in my home.  I felt a peace that she would be alright.

She spent the rest of the day just lying on people.  She didn't want to be alone ever and wouldn't nap in her crib.  She would doze on and off if she was snuggling with a person, but as soon as we laid her down, she'd cry.   That continued through the night, but I'm happy to report that she has perked up this morning, and is moving around and even smiling!  We're so grateful she's on the mend--it's scary to have someone so small get that sick.

Also, I had a lot of heavenly help in directing the performance of "From Cumorah's Hill."  Even though I am one who does not function well on little sleep, during the performance, my mind felt clear, alert, and peaceful. I felt truly sustained by the hand of the Lord.  More on that whole experience soon.

Mt Taylor Quadrathalon...Hardest thing I've ever done!

by Arthur:
What's the hardest thing you've ever done in your life?  Well, I just discovered my answer to that question...the Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathalon.

Quad-a-who-uh...you ask?  Think triathalon but with 4 events instead of 3, held during the winter time, and at high altitide.  The race starts in Grants, NM at the base of Mt. Taylor at an altitude of 6500 ft.  You race 21 miles to the top of Mt. Taylor reaching an altitude of 11,300 ft.  (For you math majors thats a climb of 4,800 ft!) The 21 mile climb is split between biking, running, cross-country skiing, and snowshoeing. Once you reach the top, you turn around doing all the events in reverse back to the start/finish line.  It's a round trip of 42 miles.  Here's how the race breaks down:

Bike:
Racers begin at an elevation of 6,500 ft. with a 13 mile road race through the streets of Grants and then begin the 1,700 foot climb from desert cactus to ponderosa pine.
Run:
At the end of the paved road, bikes are parked and racers must run the next five miles on gravel roads. The road generally starts out dry but usually turns to snow pack. This part of the course will climb 1,250 feet in elevation.
Cross County Ski:
Runners then turn to cross-country skis to challenge the next 1,200 foot climb of the mountaineering ski course that covers two miles. During the final yards of this course you must face the notorious "Heart Break Hill" that lies waiting for weary racers.
Snowshoe:
The remaining one mile climb on snowshoes gains 600 feet to reach the 11,301 foot summit of Mt. Taylor where a person can see for over one hundred miles on a clear day.

and then...
The race is only half over. You must reverse the four events and race the 21 miles back to the Start/Finish line.

I'm not really sure why I wanted to do it...but for some reason I was driven to accomplish this.  My time diddn't break any records...wait, maybe I broke the longest time record...my goal was simply to be able to finish the race.  So if I were to sum up the race in one word...BRUTAL!  But now here I am one day later thinking of what I need to do for next year to improve my time.  What kind of wack-job am I anyway?  I should add that this race is very professional, well organized and had many, many helpful and freindly volunteers.  So a big thanks out to all who put on this amazing and affordable "race"

Unloading the equipment

Getting ready to start

#271

At the Starting Line

The cheering crew

The last few yards!

Under 9 hours, baby!

So glad to be done

Time to head home!

Only the very interested reader needs to read on.  But here's my thoughts on each leg so I can remember next year what my fresh impressions were. 

Bike Up:  I knew I was with some serious athletes in this race when I hit the 3 mile mark of the bike portion and I noticed that people were no longer passing me.  So I peeked behind me and noticed only the police escort...great, I was in dead last!  It was at that point that I cemented in my brain to forget about everyone else, that I was racing against myself, and to simply finish the race...which was my real goal in the first place.  The road kept getting steadily steeper and steeper until the 13 mile mark.  I did actually pass two people on the climb which restored a little dignity.  But, by the time I hit the bike/run transition I was ready to stop peddling.  (Note to self:  the closest preparation ride is probably Sandia Casino to La Luz trailhead in Albuquerque since it is a steady continuous climb with a very steep ending)

Run Up:  Wow!  What a gruel.  This was my weakest event of the four.  The gravel road here was even steeper than the end of the bike run.  I ran as much as I could, but had to alternate running with walking until I could catch my breath.  The 8000 ft altitude affected me more than I thought.  It was at this time that I noticed the race leaders running the opposite way down hill.  They had already reached the summit and were coming down on their 7th of 8 events, while I was still on my 2nd of 8 events.  I was very impressed with these athletes.  The last mile up was very steep and I quickly realized that I was wasting energy trying to run (it seemed like running in place), so I ended up walking the last mile focusing on taking long, efficient, hiking-like strides.

Cross Country Ski Up
This was my strength event in the race as I cross country ski on my own for fun.  I even passed several people.  The ski was a nice steady uphill through the forest that got slightly steeper near the end...but then I hit heartbreak hill. The uphill slope doubled for the last 200 yards just as I thought I was as tired as I could be.  I had to rest at several points up this hill  (Note to self:  My homemade rope ski "skins" worked well.  There was only one small downhill area in the ascent where sliding would have been useful but even those in skins weren't sliding anyway.  The rope even worked well on heartbreak hill.  But if REI rents skins it might be worth trying that next time.)

Snowshoe Up:
The first half of the snoeshoe was on a nice wooded trail with a gradual uphill.  Then you hit the fully exposed ridgeline where you climb to the summit on a much steeper slope.  I felt like I was climbing Mt. Everest.  I would take 20 steps, then have to stop to take 10 breaths.  Near the top it was more like 10 steps and 20 breaths, Add to that the temperature was below freezing, and the winds were howling at a steady 40mph with heavier wind gusts.  It was quite the experiance.  At this point I was about 5 1/2 hours into the race.

Snowshoe Down:
...or should I call it chaos down.  The separate trail down was steeper than the climb with softer snow.  It felt more like jumping down while semi-skiing on snowshoes.  I fell once and found it difficult to get back up in the powder snow.  When we merged down to the main snowshoe train the aid station not only had water, but were offering shots of hard liquor.  I saw several half empty bottles on their tables.  I wish I had my camera as that would have made an awsome photo.  It was definitely un-expected.  And yes...I did have a single shot of...water!

Ski Down:
Now I could fly.  The ski down was actually 3 miles using a different route than the climb up for safety reasons.  The first and last quarter of this section were a nice gentle down slope where it was easy to stay in control.  The middle half was another story as it got very steep by XC standards.  My XC skis do not have metal edges and doing a very wide awkard snow plow on a narrow trail for 1.5 miles can make you cramp quickly in awkard places.  But I was happy with how fast I did it given my equipment.  I even passed several people on the way down.  If I ever do this again, metal edges are a must and I could ski even faster while in better control.  (Note to self:  XC ski up and then down the Sandia Peak ski area is very good preparation for the climb and the speed of the downhill)

Run Down:
I actually got a nice second wind at the start of this section.  What was the steepest section on the way up became a breeze on the way down.  I only seldom had to walk to catch my breath.  But by the time I hit the halfway mark, the road flattened out and I really had to dig deep to keep going.  This section is a very lonely road because the race is so spread out at this point.  I didn't see a single other racer during this 5 miles.  And who put those uphill sections near the end of the 5 mile downhill anyway?  Funny how I didn't remember them on the run up.  It did start to rain a bit in the last mile but didn't get me too wet. 

Bike Down:
I was so happy when I hit this last transisition.  I could nearly taste my victory of finishing the race since I thought gravity would do the rest from here.  I was in for a surprise.  The first 3 miles were the steepest and I really could have a nice rest here as I came flying down the mountain.  It then got to be a bit more rolling in spots and I had to work a bit to get up hills.  Then I realized that some idiot put a half mile STEEP uphill in the middle of the way down.  I had to gear down as far as I could and even had to stop 2 or 3 times to simply catch my breath.  I didn't eat much after I passed the summit.  Next time I'll have to focus on eating more during the ski and run so I have more energy to end the race.  Once past this uphill there was a nice downhill again until you hit the outskirts of Grants.  Then the road got very flat with a wicked, sustained headwind.  So the last 3 miles became a gruel as I tried to find the energy to finish.  Sharee and the kids along with Julianne and Eric were there to cheer me on as I crossed the finish line at the 8 hr. 57 min. mark.

Final Thoughts to self:
If you ever do this again, don't carry around a 40 lb backpack during the entire race.  (i.e. lose 40 lbs before attempting this race again)