Milestones

This last Saturday my oldest granddaughter, Natasha, was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She was so happy to be eight and to have her dad baptize her.

It was a full day. I went up to Hillary and Marc's to get the hams started. Between Gingell's and Moseley's, it took two hams and my turkey roaster came in handy! There wasn't even that much left over, just enough for a few sandwiches but the bonus is that both Hillary and I have a ham-bone for soup. I'll be making beans and ham.

Back to the baptism... due to some miscommunication, we were late to the service. It turned out ok but we were kind of running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying get everyone in the car, figure everything out, and get everyone to where they needed to be. That didn't end once we got to the church. Then it was go here, go there and oh, Tasha and Marc need to change! It's obvioiusly been too long since I've been involved in a baptism and it didn't help that they do the service a bit different up north. Once the baptisms were done, we moved back to Hillary and Marc's for dinner.

The hams were perfect and to them we added rolls, veggies, salads and eclair cake. Mmmmm. While everyone was enjoying their dinners, Sonia was surrounded with little ones waiting their turn to have bunnies painted on their toenails. The Moseley siblings took the opportunity to pose for serious and fun photos. My favorite is the James Bond-ish style poses.

Before long Sonia, Shawn and I were the only guests left so we gave Addie presents (since her birthday was the week before) and she was so happy getting her favorite things, a horse and a dog (stuffed of course!). By then Tasha and Emma were getting ready to go see the Hannah Montana movie with Sonia and Shawn so I bugged out leaving Hillary with my few Easter things to dole out Easter morning. Dad, James and I had a quiet and very different Easter meal... grilled steak and baked potato! Mmmmm.

Domestic Divas Unite!

Man, have I been busy! Since my last post, I met with Sarah Marcrum who is the Magna Central's Stake Wardrobe Director. Our stakes were to combine for the three dances but our stake has almost twice the amount if youth as theirs. We decided just to divide the responsibilities so we have the German and Scottish dances and Magna Central has the Irish dance. It was fun to meet with Sarah and show her everything. A few days later we met with our Dance Coordinators, Kim and Melanee, and together we decided what the costuming should look like. Getting other people's inputs keeps making my job easier and easier!

I've managed to get a ward wardrobe coordinator for each ward and was able to have a nice meeting with about half of them. The other half I've had to rush through their duties which wasn't my preference. Last night we all went to the dance practices and measured our kids. Having each ward there made it go really fast because each ward only had 10-15 kids. Much better than trying to measure almost 120 kids by myself!!! There are still a few to track down.

We're going to begin sewing soon because the costumes need to be finished by May 9th. Flyers are going out Sunday to tell the youth what they need to provide for their costumes (everyone should have their own shoes, socks, etc.) and to ask for supply donations. I am hoping we have lots of material donated within the week because that is the most expensive part. (I can only imagine what was spent on the costumes we borrowed!) Everything has been going so smoothly and I'm excited about all the help I'm getting for this great project.

You're Gonna Be Hearing A Lot About This!

You see, about a month ago I was asked to be the Stake Wardrobe Coordinator. Since then, I've changed my title to Stake Wardobe Director because I'm having Ward Wardrobe Coordinators called (that means someone else figures out who can help and asks them for me) and it just seems more fitting that I direct them instead of coordinate them.

And why would I be asked to do such a thing? And beyond that, what would I do? And not really having a clue about this, why did I say 'yes'? I was really wondering that myself when I was asked! I was like, 'you've gotta be kidding!' Then, just a couple days later I was at a fireside (spiritual meeting in the evening, usually on Sunday) and afterward this lady comes up to me and says she's a costume designer and that she would be willing to help me with whatever I need. Wow... cool. Now the trick is to figure out what I need.

Through a series of meetings which seemed to make me more and more confused and overwhelmed, I eventually got a clue. This production is not as huge as the 'Day of Celebration' I was a little involved with about 4 years ago but it's pretty big. We anticipate having 3000 kids just in the choir and probably twice that in the different dances. With two LDS temples being built in the Salt Lake valley, it was decided just a few short months ago to involve the youth (ages 12-18) in a celebration of song and dance. Now, this isn't any random song and dance. Each dance segment tells a portion of a story from when the pioneers first arrived here and found the indians who populated this region, to present day. That's a lot of ground to cover. There are about 15 different dances to tell the story. Our little 3-4 minute segment is a re-creation of a town social where a few of the immigrants who came here get together and show off their 'skills'. We have Scottish, Irish and German costuming for our number and that is where I come in. I've been swimming in costumes since last Friday when I picked up the costumes we have been blessed to borrow. I've been counting and measuring and sorting. These pictures show a few of the costumes. Here is the German costume from the back. The tie you see is from an apron that we have to shorten a bit because it totally takes over the front of the costume and you can't see the pretty skirt fabric. We may or may not use the wreath... I haven't decided that yet.

This cute green skirt with the shawl is our Irish outfit. We have a few costumes of another style that we have borrowed but I'm not sure if they will get used or not, or if the two styles will clash. The good news is I was able to pick up a lot of green material to make what we need, FREE! I sure hope we have enough.

The German guys will be in knickers with suspenders to simulate lederhosen like these fine men. Our Scottish guys get to wear kilts and I've been surprised by the number of young men who are willing to wear them. We have about 15! Making the plaid skirts for the girls and the kilts is going to be a fairly big job. I've got about 48 yards of plaid material for the skirts and am hoping for lots of donations (or dollar fabric) for the kilts.

Doesn't this sound like a lot of work? It is but it's so fun! I wouldn't have thought I'd be having this much fun a month ago. I think it's because I remember the other celebration so well and how much fun it was that I'm so excited for this group of kids to have this opportunity to celebrate having these new temples. It helps that James gets a second opportunity to participate in this kind of production. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and it's rare that he gets this second chance.

March's Rockin' Birthday Party!

This last Sunday we celebrated Marc's birthday (1-1/2 weeks late) and Tasha's birthday (2 weeks early). We had quite the interesting birthday dinner with hamburgers and cheddar & sour cream potato chips for Marc and Cafe Rio style taco salad for Tash. We also had other great chips and so much food we all could have eaten twice! OK, well, maybe once and a half. It was a nice day so most of the adults were allowed to veg on the couch... er, I mean let their dinners settle... while the kids ran around outside. They loved just being outside and watching James work on his garden.

Marc and Tash got some fun and/or useful presents. One that Marc bought for himself was an Ipod Touch. Here he's showing me how cool it is and I don't know where he came up with them but he was showing me all these different fart sounds he had saved on there... wet & juicy, lawn mower, classic... he had about a dozen and it was so funny. He also had a light saber application where when you swing the Ipod like Luke Skywalker, it makes all the appropriate sounds. I could use one of those!

For dessert we had Oreo pie, because Marc had requested pie and then Tasha said we should have pie because that is what her dad likes. Tasha is a very considerate girl. Sonia surprised us with a special cake for Tash... total chocolate decadence and made from scratch. I totally want this cake for my next birthday so I don't feel so bad for getting another year older! Head on over to Sonia's blog to see this wonderful piece of edible art.

Beth's Party

Let's see... this happened clear back on March 8th. Hmmm... I'm not as far behind as I thought! Yay!

So back on the 8th my nephew Mark was in town for his son's ordination. The ordination took place at his ex-wife's new ward and then there was a big family get together at the ex-wife's new house with her new hubby, new step-kids, new relatives and probably new dog. It was mildly chaotic at the church and quite chaotic and noisy at her home so you may wonder why on earth I would go to such an event. Especially if you knew that they'd always lived a long distance away and that I only know the kids by name and they have no clue their dad has a totally awesome Aunt Leslie. Let me explain, I wanted to see Mark... simple as that. Plus I wanted to meet his new wife Lori and her daughter Hannah and I'm so glad I did. Hannah is a delightful young lady and her mom is awesome! Because of the chaos and the time restraints, my visiting time with Mark and Lori was short but worth it.

I also had wonderful short but sweet visits with Teresa, her son Matthew, Robyn and Diana. Most of the rest of my family were visited with in group discussions. I didn't see Matthew and Nadine playing the piano but I did see them working on some dance moves at the church. They seem to get along pretty well for the most part.

Kendall (12), pictured here in a white hoodie with his new step-brother, was ordained by his older brother Brian(16). It was fun to see Brian get to use his priesthood, even if he had to be coached all the way like you do with little ones giving talks in Primary. Later I caught Mark discussing it with Brian, asking if he was scared, how it felt and so on. What a great dad! I wouldn't have missed that moment for anything.