http://www.facebook.com/pages/Vocal-Sport-Competition/155802164515423
My niece Layla Mackey, (Mark and Miriah's daughter won a singing competition at the covey center a couple of weeks ago.  She sung "It's a Wonderful World."  She has an amazing voice. She won lots of money and also for her to be able to sing on the radio. She has had tremendous opportunities to sing all over and has won almost all competitions.  When I have the recording I will put it on here too!!!!

Enjoy general conference this weekend.  It is truly amazing that we have the privilege to hear what the Lord wants us to hear today and tomorrow!!!

Conference Weekend!!!!!! I love it

I love conference weekend.  It is my favorite weekend of the year.  Here are a few pictures from our last session of  general conference.  Coby is in Denver this weekend for a conference that he won a scholarship to; we will miss him.   But everyone else is here and we have some fun traditions that make the weekend even more fun.  We have some favorite food that we serve each year.  For breakfast we have Creme Brulee french toast, a breakfast casserole (got the recipe from my sister in law Suzanne) and on another morning we have monkey bread.   I always make a lot of foods that would be similar to what you might make during super bowl weekend.   We always have  super nice dinner on Sunday evening that I have made ahead.   Yummy, I think we gain a little bit of weight, but my kids love it.   

Jessica is joining us again for General conference and her finance John.   I am excited.  I can't believe she will be married in a little over a month.  Annette and John brought me her wedding announcement when they were here last weekend and it was adorable, John of course will be coming with Jessica.  We  love him and I especially love the kind way he treats Jessica.  It will be fun to talk to her about wedding details.  We will miss you Coby!

March.....

Kara loves to go to plays so we went to a few this month.  If she had her way we would go to at least one a week.  I love going to musicals/plays, but I don't think I love it quite as much as she does.    First we went to Gleek in SLC at the Off Broadway Theater. The drama teacher at her school was in the cast.  It was very well done.  We got half off tickets through groupon.  Gotta love groupon.


 On another night we went and saw another version of Cinderella by a youth group in Riverton.  It was pretty good. Kara had a couple of friends that were in the play and it was a hoot. It is amazing how many different ways they can do the splay Cinderella.

Kara's former piano and voice lesson teacher in Sandy was in charge of her stakes production of "rom Cumorah's Hill."  A few years before I went and saw this with Coby and loved it.    So I was anxious to take Kara to see it.  It is such a spiritual production to go and watch and so well done.  Joanne Andrus is so gifted in capturing the spirit of the Book of Mormon.  They had some powerful videos of youth/adults that were taken that really brought the spirit into the meeting. 

One Saturday this month I held a baby shower for Pam Carter (who I visit teach and work with) daughter in law KayDee who just had a beautiful baby girl.  It all turned out great and it was fun to visit with the sisters in our ward.  I was also so grateful for all of the help from my friends in the neighborhood who didn't know KayDee, but were willing to come and help me decorate, make food and just hang out at my home.  I love you all so much.

We went to the new museum Leonardo that is right across from the Salt Lake City Library.  I love it.  There was an amazing exhibit there called, This Light of Ours."  It exhibited  pictures that were depicting the the Civil Rights Movement  by activist photographers. It was produced by the Center for Documentary  Expression (CDEA).  The exhibit depicts the African-American freedom struggle in the South between 1963 and 1966.  I loved seeing the visceral history lesson about the oppression and courage of the minorities in the United States.  Martin Luther King is truly an inspiration to me.  At the school I work at I spent a month building my curriculum to focus on the sacrifices that Martin Luther King made for us.  I don't know if the children truly got it, but I certainly had several aha moments grasping what he did. As we have learned the teacher is always the one who learns the most and it is so true.  They also have some wonderful exhibits there  involving algae and plastic.  We have an annual pass so I am so grateful.

We also attended Kara's spring concert.  Spring Concerts are always my favorite. It is so cool to see the students perform harder material that is challenging.  They performed  some of the music that they did at the festival.  I am not sure if part of the video will work or not, but, if not it was really amazing. 

John and Annette came for two days to visit.  It was their families school break.  They were heading to Vernal to go visit her Annette's parents and to go to Jackson Hole.   I was teaching the lesson in YW's today.  It was cool to have Annette come and be a part of the lesson.  It felt like the old days when we would sit in young women's together when we were actually the 12-13 year old Beehives.   It was just the two of them as their children were at other relatives.  It is always so fun to be around them.  A couple people thought John was my son Coby.  I guess they do resemble each other a tad, but John is my OLDER brother.  Kind of silly.

On Saturday the 24th it was the General Young women broadcast.  Kara and I had tickets for the event in the Conference Center and we had a free parking pass.  It also happened to be the grand opening of the new mall, City Creek.  So we headed down to SLC a little early to check out the mall.   A lot of people had the same idea.  It was crowded, but so fun to check it out.  Beautiful, to put it mildly.    The YW meeting was amazing.  The spirit at the meeting was incredible and it was so neat to be there with Kara.  She is such an amazing daughter to have. 

Last Sunday Colton received his Duty to God award at the ward Court of Honor.  We are proud of Colton for the awesome young man he is.  He is beginning to start on his mission papers.  We will see what will happen. 

Today and Yesterday.......

Yesterday my dad would have turned 72.  Today and always I want you to know how grateful I am to be your daughter.   I miss you, but your legacy still lives on as I teach my children what you taught me.  I miss you, but will wait to see you again. 

27 years ago today my mom died. It feels like yesterday, but also it feels like forever since you were alive.  I can picture you perfectly in my mind. I am grateful for all the experiences  that I have been blessed with to still feel your presence in my life, especially when I need it most.  But one thing I do know for sure now is that you both still influences my life and impacts it tremendously.  I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who still allows  me to feel of their presence in any kind of moment.

Happy 24th Birthday Coby!!!!

On March 8th Coby turned 24.  It is hard to believe that he is 24 and that I  have been a mom for 24 years!!!!  I remember the day he was born in such vivid detail.  Matt and I were going to BYU and Matt worked until 12am every day.  My labor started and he asked me to wait to go to the hospital until he was off work.  That seemed like torture to me,  but I did. I had started labor pains on the 6th of March and went to the doctor on the 7th in the am and he stripped my membranes for me to try to hurry up my labor because he said nothing was really happening, but it sure felt like a  lot was happening!!  YIKES I thought a lot was happening, but apparently not enough. Finally, when Matt got off work we went to the hospital and Coby was born on the 8th at 9:38 pm.  It was a very long labor (40+) hours and then he was taken C-section anyways.  I am so glad he came and incidentally he is my only baby born on his due date!

On Coby's birthday, Thursday, March 8th, we went down to Provo to take him out to lunch. He had such a busy day that he didn't have time for a birthday party.  We had fun and took him to an Indian restaurant.  It was yummy, yummy! Then we went to get some famous milkshakes.  We dropped off the cake we brought at his apartment and then took him back on campus so he could get back to class. He was the mediator for an event at his school on his birthday on the death penalty and why it should be changed. I actually learned a lot about that from him that I never considered.  Interesting stuff  he is involved with and I love how he is trying to change the world one small step at a time.

 Since his birthday was such a busy day we  celebrated  it as a family on Saturday, March 10th.  It was fun because I had a baby shower at my home the same day and  so it was a  little crazy. Luckily, I decided to just buy Coby a birthday cake instead of having to make it for him which might have made the day beyond crazy as ice cream cakes (at least he way I make them) are messy and take a long time.

Below and above are pictures of everyone at his birthday party.  We had a Cafe Rio pork recipe for dinner.  Yummy!!  He wanted me to make curry, but I told him there was no way I could do that on that day.  Maybe the next time he comes over for dinner we will try it. 

Opening presents.  It is just not as much fun to open presents when you are 24 compared to when  you are younger, but he made it fun. 

He stood on the couch to show how much he liked his shirt! :)

There are so many things I admire  and want to remember about Coby during this stage of his life.   I love how he doesn't let fear get in his way and tries things that are outright scary (at least to me) and  that test his limits. I love his singing voice; it is amazing.  I love a rich tenor voice on a male; AWESOME!!!!   I love how he loves to learn and how he always searches for knowledge and truth.  If I don't understand something or want someone's educated opinion I love to ask Coby! He reminds me so much of my dad.  It is amazing how some of his traits remind me of my dad.  Matt will often say when Coby does something how strange it is considering Coby was just 2 when my dad died.   I love how hard he works to do well in school; he is very dedicated.  I love that he loves all people and he seeks to understand others and their beliefs.  He is a very understanding and genuine person.   I love how good he is to his friends.  He is an awesome friend to have and he always is inviting people over and getting together with people. He is the party planner.  He is also one amazing son and brother!  I  just love Coby and I love that I have amazing children who have taught me so  much and have given me so many reasons to smile!!!!  I love you Coby! 

All the smoke after lighting 24 candles!!!

Spencer is moving to Fiji!!!!

 Spencer is moving to Fiji to do service.  I am excited for  him and very scared at the same time.  I can't believe how much my children have a desire to live outside the U.S.  It scares me to even think it as I already have one child who plans to live outside the U.S. as soon as he graduates.  YIKES!!!!   I don't remember raising my children to have a desire to explore the world so much.  We haven't traveled that much as a family.   I am excited for him, but I have been researching the program he will be doing and all the info I can get on Fiji., but I will still worry, unfortunately. 

Below is what Spencer wrote in his own words about his new experience.
But without further ado I should probably tell you all about an adventure I will be experiencing this summer that for the pretty much the first time in life has gotten me incredibly nervous. This May on the 10th to be exact I will be moving to Fiji. Yeah Fiji that little island in the Pacific ocean way out by Australia. And unless I am told otherwise I will be staying there till August 22nd. Crazy right?  I am not going to lie it scares the crap out of me a bit to just up and move to a place I have never been to. On top of that I have never left the country in my life. So this will be a completely new experience for me, one that I am told is supposed to change everything about me.

So I am going with this organization that is called HELP International you can learn more about them http://fiji.help-international.org/. Basically they are an organization that does not just throw money at a problem in a different country like so many non profits do. Historically speaking western society has this habit of finding a problem and throwing money at it which actually has lead to a lot of dictators taking control of countries. The history of modern Africa is a good place to start looking if you want to see how many western NGO's have utterly failed. HELP is quite a bit different though. The mission of HELP is more about fighting poverty by empowering individuals that are natives to various countries. HELP wants to provide self sustaining solutions to the problems that have plagued countries for decades. It wants to solve a problem through local organizations that once solved will stay solved long after participants have left and finished projects. So that is where I come into this, I signed up to go as what they call a social entrepreneur. My job is simple I go to the country and integrate myself with the locals there and find out what they need. From there it gets a lot harder, myself with quite a few others will create from start to finish the projects that we believe to help the local population. From that point I will direct a lot of the other volunteers in how they can help and making sure the projects get completed on a day to day basis. So basically I get to see what the community needs then try to implement that over a period of 4 months. Suffice to say my blog will pretty much be devoted to his as I probably won't find much else to talking about.   

Hunger Banquet

"If we are to reach real peace in this world, we shall have to begin with children."

--Ghandi

We went to the Hunger Banquet at BYU on March 3rd. Our son Coby was on the committee for it and helped plan and arrange it.  It was an eye opening experience. When we first got there they educated everyone about the needs of others around the world.  Coby said the opening prayer for the event in Arabic.  It was pretty cool to watch.  He also had on some Arabic clothes.   They divided everyone in groups like the world is divided.  70% of the people who are in extreme poverty ate rice and beans on the ground. 20% of the people were middle class and ate hot dogs and chips on metal chairs. and then 10% ate a very nice meal on fine linen.  It was amazing to see the people sitting on the ground. 

The entertainment was so awesome.  They had singing and dancing and Kara and Coby danced together. 

Believe or not Matt and I got the tickets for fine dining.  I felt weird eating that way when everyone else wasn't.  They watched us when the food went right in front of them.   There were some amazing speakers.  I took great notes, but they were on my old cell phone which I no longer have.  So I can't give details.  I guess the one thing that is so hard for me is to see people suffer so  much and to be powerless to truly help them.  It seems like no matter how often I hear the statistics about developing countries that they seem to always be the same.  I wish there weren't so many unrighteous dictators who allow so many people to starve.    I hate suffering.  One thing that I think is amazing about the LDS church is that they respond to tsunami's, famine and any natural disaster every 3 days.  I am grateful that we are helping others through out the world.  The LDS church provided 120 tons of relief supplies and 50,000 hours of service from more than 7,000 church volunteers and missionaries.  I am grateful for all my blessings and I am grateful that I can do my part no matter how small it is, we all can make a difference.

Happy Birthday Kara!!!!

Kara turned 15 on February 28th!!!!!!!!  The night before her birthday she started feeling sick.  We hoped it would just go away, but it  wasn't meant to be. Kara woke up on her birthday with a sore throat and cough.  She said she didn't feel well, but felt like she should go to school. I agreed as she didn't have a fever.   Matt picked her up from school at lunch time and took her out to eat.  Then he took her back. If I had gone I would have had her come home immediately.  When I went to pick her up from school she looked so MISERABLE!!!  She had a fever.  She told me that the hardest part of the day was having people wish her Happy Birthday  and then acting like she was having a wonderful day.   So sad!!!!  She came home from school and fell asleep on the couch.  She still seemed to be able to smile though. 

She is a trooper and still wanted to celebrate, even though she didn't eat very much.  For dinner she wanted  French Dip sandwiches,  salad, and corn. A pretty easy meal to make.  Everybody came to celebrate!

Matt taking a picture of me without my knowledge.  Since there isn't any other pictures of me this will have to do.

For Kara's birthday she wanted a Red Velvet cake bundt cake with cream cheese frosting. 

For her birthday she wanted Febreeze, isn't that so silly?  For gifts she also got,  A LOT of clothes, a hula hoop, jewelry, Rio, A Walk to Remember,   and Hunger games stuff !

The day after her birthday I took her to instant care as she looked and sounded horrible.  She had a fever of 102,  strep throat,  pink eye an a ear infection.  I can't remember the last time she was sick like this at all.  She started feeling better five days after it all started.  I am grateful for that as I hate seeing my children sick

 

 

The things I want to remember the most about Kara at this age is what a fun, peaceful girl she is.  She has always been such a peacemaker in our home.  She gets very upset if there is any contention in our home.  I don't think I can remember the last time she had a fight with anyone in our family.  She loves everyone and treats them very kindly.   She is a very spiritual girl and always tries to do what is right and good.  She tries to be kind to everyone.  She doesn't let a day go by when she doesn't read her scriptures and say her prayers.  I think Kara is an amazing girl and I am so grateful to be her mom!!!! I love you Kara!!!