Flashback Friday: Tabernacle Choir Concert

In February, I had the opportunity to travel to Phoenix to go to a Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert.  They were invited by our governor, Jan Brewer, to help celebrate the centennial of Arizona becoming a state.  This was not a normal tour year for the choir, so they made a special trip just for us.  It was pretty spectacular!

My mom and I made the three hour trip to Phoenix.  We went a little earlier than we needed to because we wanted to try the Cornish Pasty Co.  Kelli and I fell in love with Cornish Pasties when we went to the UK a couple of years ago, and we were excited to see they were in the Phoenix area.  So my mom and I went.  What an experience. The food was incredible, but the ambiance and the heavy (and loud) music really made us uncomfortable.  If we go here again, I probably will do take-out and go eat at a park or somewhere less uncomfortable.

We knew after leaving that restaurant that we would have the complete opposite experience at the concert.  And we definitely did!

We got to the U.S. Airways Center, the home of the Phoenix Suns, early.  We parked at the back of the building, where we found a cheaper parking area.  Then we went to the closest entrance.  They were not letting anyone into the building yet, so we waited and I went to take pictures of the building across the street.

While I was over there, these motorcycle police drove down the street and blocked the cross walk and intersections.  Then seven buses drove down and parked right in front of where we were standing.  I took a few more pictures and then went back to find my mom.

I watched as all of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir members disembarked the buses and walked past us.  I didn't see Mack Wilberg, but I did see his assistant choir director, Ryan Murphy, among all of the face that passed me.  It was a really neat thing and we were in the exact right place at the right time.  That doesn't usually happen to me.

 

This is the only picture I took of the choir members walking away from the buses. I couldn't find my mom in the crowd, so I was preoccupied with looking at all of the choir members and looking for my mom that I forget to use my camera.

We were finally able to enter the arena.  We entered by the door closest to where we parked.  And it turned out that was exactly where our gate entrance was to our seats.  It was perfect!  We couldn't planned it better if we tried.  We were straight back from the choir, which I thought was pretty good seats.

We watched as the 310 member choir took their places in their seats.

Then all of the sudden the house lights turned off and the spot lights turned on and the concert started without any fanfare before. 

The blurb from the choir's official web site reads:  "The Choir regaled the audience with everything from Rossini to Rodgers & Hammerstein with a mix of hymns, classical music, and show tunes including a Nigerian carol. That particular number, entitled “Betelehemu,” suggests to everyone in the hall that this is “not your father’s Mormon Tabernacle Choir.” Organist Richard Elliott played a version of “I Got Rhythm” that brought down the house."

I couldn't have said it more succinctly myself, so I included their remarks.  

I took a picture during intermission of the arena with no zoom to remember where we were sitting.  See it was straight back from the choir.

Of course the choir sang Battle Hymn of the Republic (the song they won an Grammy Award for).  During the last verse, Mack Wilberg turned around and lead the audience to sing with the choir.  Now I can say I sang with the Tabernacle Choir!  It was so awesome!

Sandra Day O’Connor, former U. S. Supreme Court Justice conducted the Choir and Orchestra in an encore performance of “This Land Is Your Land”.  She really got into it and was on the beat through out the song.  It was fun to watch.  The choir sang two other encores, one they learned special for Arizona.  I guess it was the Arizona song, but I had never heard it before.  It was fun they had learned it just for us.


Then they sang God Be With You Til We Meet Again.  So beautiful!  


What a great experience!  I am so glad I was able to come see the Tabernacle Choir in person.  I've seen them before at General Conference, but never with them letting their hair down and having fun with the audience.  


If I ever have the opportunity to see the Tabernacle Choir in concert again, I will jump at the chance.  Wow!  It was such an uplifting experience.

One CRAZY day!

This past Saturday was one DOOZY of a day!

It started out normal enough. I rode my bike the 7 mile round trip to my Weight Watchers meeting. After I returned home, I ate a little breakfast and hopped in the car to help host a Young Women Stake Sports day at our stake center ball field. It was the first time we had a sports day for our young women and it was pretty successful. The activity ended at noon and my mom and I had plans to go see the Lorax that afternoon.

When I got home, I jumped in the shower so I could be ready to see the movie. I had just gotten out when I got a phone call from my mom. She had just been in an accident and she was a pretty frantic. I threw on some clothes, jumped in the car, and raced to the scene of the accident (which was near where she lived).

When I got there, her car was already up on the tow truck's flat bed and it was pretty mangled! Luckily my mom was not like her car. She was banged up and bruised, but nothing more serious. Thank goodness! She was standing to the side waiting for the police to make a report. She didn't want to be taken to the ER. The other driver was also banged up, but he opted to be taken to the hospital as a precaution. The police officer assured us he was okay too.

The other car had hit and knocked over a light post and it was amazing how fast the electric company fixed it. Within three hours, it was already upright and out of the tree/bush that had caught it before it hit the nearby house.

I spent a few hours with my mom helping her at the scene of the accident, walking with her to Kelli's house, helping her call the insurance company and open an accident report, taking her to the tow yard to get the rest of the stuff from her car, getting her food for an early dinner, and making sure she was okay at home when I dropped her off. Once the adrenaline started wearing off, she was pretty sore and tired.

I got home and started decompressing from the stress of the day. About an hour later, I received another frantic call. This time from it was from a family friend who was stranded in Benson. They were coming back from The Gila Valley Temple and their car broke down outside of Benson. They were towed into Benson, but they needed help getting home to Sierra Vista. I jumped in the car and headed to Benson; however, I thought it would be faster going through Tombstone, but I added about 20 minutes onto the trip. Whoops!

I found the tow yard by just a few cryptic directions (but almost passed it, so I had to do some 'fancy' driving to make the turn into the parking lot). Luckily, they were okay, but tired from their ordeal. I was happy to be available to help them out.

I got home after 8pm. What a day! It started out normal, and then quickly became very far from normal. But I am glad that no one was seriously hurt and everyone is safe at home.

Faces of Christ

I had the opportunity to attend a Relief Society Meeting last night where a docent from the Phoenix Art Museum came to talk to us about the Faces of Christ through the history of art. It was a very fascinating meeting. Some of the things I learned from this meeting include:

• Christ was born into a society where there were no graven images, so while he was alive on this earth, no one painted, sculpted, or sketched his image. In fact, the first picture of him as a man was on a fresco in a catacomb. It was of a shepherd with short hair and no beard. It was painted 300 years after he died.
• I mentioned the first picture of Christ as a man was on a fresco. Before that, people would paint symbols, like a fish, a sheep, or a cross, to represent Jesus Christ. No one dared paint his image for many centuries later because of the 'no graven images' tradition in his culture.
• Once people started painting or sculpting his image, they would do so in their own perspective. You can really tell when Christ was painted by a German vs a Chinese vs an American, for example, because he looked like someone in those cultures. It was interesting to see each of these paintings and how different they all were. I think it wasn't until 1000 years or more after Christ died that someone finally used a Jew to be a model for a painting of Christ.
  
• After a while, people started painting Christ as what he was known for. So there are pictures of him as a teacher (always with his hand extended with a finger pointing out to symbolize he is teaching something). There are other pictures of him as a merciful person (with a sympathetic face and gestures) or as a judge (with a stern face and hard gestures). He was also painted as a strong physical person to represent a strong holy person. He was also represented in many pictures as the Light of the World, often those around him are illuminated by him, or the light in the picture is radiating from Christ.
  
• We saw pictures of his birth, his life, his Atonement, his Crucifixion, and his Resurrection. Every artist told his story in such a beautiful way.
  
• Most of the images we saw were paintings, but we also saw stained glass, sculptures, mosaics, pencil sketches, and others that I am clearly forgetting. Christ was represented in all mediums.
• Often, when an artist paints someone with his back turned, the artist wants you, as a viewer of the art, to step into the painting and take the place as that person. So the famous painting where Christ is talking to the rich person asking him to give all of his riches to the poor and the follow Him is a great example. The rich man's back is turned to us, so it is inviting us to ask ourselves if we can give up our 'riches' (whatever that may be) for Christ.
  

All in all, it was a very interesting and fascinating presentation! I am very glad I took time out from my busy schedule to be there and to learn more about Christ through many different artists' eyes.

Caution: Extreme Winds and Recycling do not mix

Wind is nothing new to Sierra Vista. We often have very windy days and nights. In fact, there has been wind and red flag warnings yesterday and today with gusts up to 50mph.

Today was also recycle day. My neighborhood must be the first on the route, because the trash/recycle man comes before 7:30am. I often miss putting out my trash can or my recycle bin because I am usually getting ready for work at that time and I don't really want to go outside with curlers in my hair. But when I plan correctly, I usually put my can/bin out before I get in the shower on the morning of the pickup. I don't like to put can/bin out the night before because I don't want them to tip over during the night if it's windy.

I don't know what I was thinking last night.

It was windy all day, but about 9pm, the winds calmed down. I didn't want to miss the recycle truck because it only comes once a month, and I missed last month's pickup so I had a pretty full can. I saw my neighbors have their cans out the night before, so I just followed suit. I put out my can and then went to bed. I didn't worry about it because there was no wind at that moment and the news said the red flag warning would return at 10am the next morning.

At about 1am, I woke up because my house was shaking, moaning, and groaning from the extreme winds. I got out of bed and went to the front of the house to look out the window. What I saw was my recycle bin lying on its side and a lot of the contents being blown around the neighborhood. Most of my other neighbors were smart and brought their cans back to their houses before the winds could tip them over. Not me. Well, not until 1am that is...

I threw on a hoodie and shoes and ran outside. I picked up my can and brought it to my house, then I spent the next 30 minutes running around my neighborhood picking up my cardboard, water bottles, cereal boxes, magazines, etc. Well, more than just pick up those things. I was chasing some in circles as they were swirling around in mini cyclones. It was kind of funny...luckily no one else was outside to see.

While I was at it, I noticed one of my neighbors did not put their can away either and it was tipped over as well, so I picked up their trash as well and moved their can to a safe place next to their monster truck (I'm serious, they really do have a monster truck).

Even after picking up everything I could find, I still lost about 1/4 of the contents of the bin. Sorry neighbors! I didn't mean to litter in your yards.

At 7am, I rolled my recycle bin back out. Then I went in the house and found a few more things I needed to put in there, so I gathered them up and went back outside. And again, my recycle can was on its side and boxes and bottles were once again blowing around my front yard. I wasn't even in the house for 5 minutes!

Once again I went on a run around my yard to pick up garbage and return it to the bin. I don't think I lost anything this time. I turned the can so it was harder to knock over and then went back inside the house. I had to check every 5 minutes to see if the can was on its side again, but it did not get tipped over. And then the garbage truck came around at 7:20 and saved the day.

What a night! I could not get back to sleep for an hour after running around at 1am. Note to self, put out the trash can or recycle bin right before the truck comes. And turn the can slightly if it is windy so it won't get knocked down again.

Lesson learn!

Flashback Friday: Construction Zone

Last year I had the tile in my house extended out so my dining area would not be over carpet. I also had my hallway tiled as well. However, as luck would have it, the tile I had already in my house was no longer being made, so I had to get it completely ripped out and start afresh. So for several weeks, my house was a construction zone. Luckily, all of the work was being done while I was out of the house at work, so I just got to come home and see the progress every night.

Here are the before pictures of the construction area:

You can see how my dining set is over carpet. I always hated that!

Here are pictures of the destruction of my house:


Next, on to the construction. I had a couple of very large cracks in my foundation, so the purple stuff is to fill in the cracks and allow some flexibility for the tile.

The blue tape told me where I could and could not step. It got a little fun once he started down the hallway. I felt like I was playing hopscotch on some nights. :)

No cooking for a while week with my stove displaced!

Pausing now to show you my living area during construction. I uncovered the area at nights so I could watch a little TV squished up in my chair, and then I had to cover it back before I went to bed so it would be ready for the next day's construction.



Now back to the construction. While they were already there, I also had them put pull out drawers in some of my cabinets. Oh, do I LOVE those pull out drawers!


The real fun came when they started down the hallways. It was very interesting getting around at nights with so much blue tape telling me where I could and could not walk.


Once the tile was laid, they started grouting. My one regret of this whole project is I chose too light of a shade of grout. But once he started applying the grout, I couldn't change my mind. Oh well. It still is a job well done. I love how the tile is on the diagonal. And how it curves around to my hallway.



There were some areas where I didn't want to change the tile, like in the bathroom and laundry closet. To transition between the bathroom and the hallway, they put this decorative tile threshold. I think it turned out really nice.


After the grout was completed, the carpet guy came in to lay the carpet back down.


I was then able to put my furniture back to appropriate places.


However, this didn't last long because my house was FILTHY from all of the construction dust. I spent the next several weeks pulling everything out of my cupboards and washing them inside and out. My dishwasher was very busy washing every dish in the house.

I also had the carpet cleaners come and give my carpets a good scrubbing, including my bedrooms.


And of course my furniture was displaced again.



But in the end, it turned out SO GOOD! I am very pleased with the results!

Flashback Friday: Meeting the Captain

In July of 2011, I was sent to San Diego on a TDY trip (business trip). On my return trip, I had a layover in the Phoenix Airport. I found my gate, and sat down near the terminal.

A few minutes later, a man sat next to me. I didn't want to stare, so I took a couple of sly pictures with my phone and studied those pictures to make sure the person I thought it was really was sitting next to me.


The people on the other side of me looked at me VERY STRANGELY wondering why I was taking pictures of a random man. Haha!

Let me pause here to tell you about my complete obsession. I am COMPLETELY 100% obsessed with The Deadliest Catch. I own every season on DVD and I watch it religiously when the new TV seasons start. I also follow the boats on blogs to make sure everyone returned home safely after their fishing season. This obsession is so weird for me because I am completely opposite from these crab fishermen. But the stories are so compelling and the danger is so real, that I cannot get enough of this show!

Now the rest of the story...

I texted Kelli that she would NEVER believe who I was sitting next to at the PHOENIX airport! Johnathan Hillstrand! She was like "NO WAY!" I can't find our text conversation, or I would transcribe it for you, but it was pretty funny.

Then my flight began boarding and I knew it was now or never for me to talk to him. I was SO NERVOUS!! I could barely breath and my hands were shaking SO HARD! I felt like I was going to faint, but I somehow got up the nerve to ask:

Me: In a very weak voice because for some reason I couldn't talk louder than that, I was so nervous, "Are you Johnathan Hillstrand?"

Him: Very politely, "No..."

Me: I almost passed out from embarrassment

Him: "... I'm his brother Andy."

Me: Wide eyed and embarrassed..."Oh my goodness. I'm so sorry I mixed up your names. I am such a huge fan of the show, though it probably doesn't show because I called you your brother's name. I just love the Time Bandit and all the fun you guys have."

When I mentioned his boat, his eyes lit up and he finally knew I was a fan of the show. I asked if I could take a picture with him and he seemed very pleased to do so. I gave my camera to a guy sitting across from us, and he took a picture, but it seemed like he was having trouble. After a little while, he gave the camera back to me to see if he got a picture. I saw on the little screen what seemed to be a picture, so I thanked the picture taker, and I thanked Captain Andy, said goodbye and boarded my plane.

It took me HOURS to calm down from that experience. My heart would NOT slow down. And I felt very light headed. I still think it's weird I reacted to that experience the way I did. So funny. So odd.

Many months later I finally took the pictures off my camera and the picture with Captain Andy and I was NOT ON MY CAMERA! I was so upset! Then I realized, it is possible that the man was struggling to take the picture because he was actually taking a video instead.

Yep, that's what happened! Here is my very own Harry Potter-style photo with Captain Andy:

Hahah! Anyone have a program to be able to take a frame from this video so I can have a picture?

Holy Cow!

I was on my way to work one morning when I passed a little ditch right behind my house and saw this:



This is NOT a typical scene around my neighborhood. I was very confused how three cows could be anywhere near my house, but there they were.


And of course I had to stop and take pictures.

And talk to the cows because they looked very concerned with me standing so near them taking pictures with my phone. It was pretty funny and I had to laugh at myself for talking to cows.