Family is Everything!

What was I thinking?

Remember the sad beginnings of our garden earlier this summer?

It was looking pretty good by the end of June after a late start due to weather and delay in the building of planter boxes.

I told Greg to plant lots of green beans this year to make sure we actually got some.  In years past our green bean crop did not fare well, and I like green beans!

Greg is obedient.

He planted lots and lots of green beans.

Holy cow look at it now!!

We have a bumper crop of green beans!

And I let these two:

go to EFY this week.  What was I thinking?!?!?  I need my teenaged darlings home to pick green beans.

Because we have lots and lots of green beans!

Canning begins tomorrow!

Hill Cumorah - visitors

While at the Hill, some of our favorite people came to visit and watch the pageant.

Matt and Dana and family - love, love, love our relatives! We were even able to celebrate Matt's and Dana's birthdays (same day!) while they were in New York!

Then came John and Linda Chaston. They drove all the way from New Hampshire just to see us! They make us feel uber loved and special! And we uber love them back!

 

Last but certainly not least, came our very own children - Nicole & Talon and Chelsea & Brigham. Are they pretty much the cutest married couples you've ever seen? We felt soooo lucky, loved and blessed to have our kids come and support us in this adventure!

Hill Cumorah - roles and costumes

Sadly, for Greg, Dustin, and I, we were cast in wicked roles.  Melanie, true to her nature, was the only righteous one among us!

Greg was cast as a wicked priest at the time of Samuel the Lamanite.  He, in his bling, helped to incite the crowd, of which I was a part, to anger against Samuel.  Greg even threw a rock at him!

Greg had hair like this in high school!  Brigham called my outfit my hawaiian hippie look! It was very comfortable.  I've never been a brunette before!

Melanie was an Alma convert.  We thought her circa 1990's slate blue and mauve rug poncho was darling! Dustin was a Lamanite battleman and died in two different battles! This is what I fondly call his Mogli from the Jungle Book look. Definitely not "For the Strength of Youth" approved!  He wore this in the final battle at Cumorah when Mormon and the rest of the Nephite nation were killed, leaving Moroni to roam alone.

I was also a member of the Lehi mob that ran Lehi and his family out of Jerusalem in 600 AD.  Love the head wrap!

I thought I had a photo of Dustin in his first Lamanite battleman costume.  Alas, no.  I'll hope Dana got a good one she can send me:)

Melanie and Gentry Nielson (our new BFFs son who was in Melanie's cast team and a righteous Nephite battleman).

And a parting shot of our new BFFs, aka Cast Team leaders to whom we were assistants - Craig and Tina Nielson (Craig was Alma and Tina was a spoils of war slave given to wicked King Noah).

Hill Cumorah - the rest of the story!

Saturday we began rehearsing.  There was lots and lots and lots of rehearsing.

(Dustin is in that crowd of fighting Nephite and Lamanite battlemen somewhere.)

(Our Samuel Rabble group.  Do you see Greg?  He was a wicked priest inciting the rest of the crowd to anger.)

(Two of our fearless directors:  John Huntington of Rigaletto fame, and Kim Yandow.)

(Dustin with his weapon which sadly did not work.  He died twice every performance.  And our family practicing kneeling together during the descension of Christ.  Good thing we've had lots of practice kneeling.)

When we weren't rehearsing, we spent our time in our Cast Team tent, our home away from home!

We, along with Tina and Craig Nielson, were team leaders of 13 adorable young adults ages 17-18.

With these "kids" we did service:

 

(Pulled weeds, cleaned out all of the beds, and washed windows at the local library.)

We napped:

We served dinner:

(Melanie's team served too - who wouldn't want mayonnaise and mustard if offered it by this cutie?)

We practiced our synchronized swimming act for the talent show:

We chilled at the Chill & Grill:

Made pyramids:

Toured church history sites (Smith Farm, Sacred Grove, Palmyra Temple, E.B. Grandin Book printing shop):

And we laughed and played together and fell in love with all 13 of our gang!

Hill Cumorah - Day 1

Or should I say "a day, a night, and a day in which there was no sleep."  Ya gotta love those overnight flights.

And then casting:

And eating. We got used to just getting our name tag scanned and food magically appearing on our tray.  Why doesn't it happen that way at home?

To Do --- Done

Yakima carrier off top of van.

Van washed.

Mail sorted.

Bills paid.

E-mail read and replies sent.

Groceries purchased.

Barkley groomed.

Suitcases unpacked and stored.

Checkbooks balanced.

Flowers tended.

Dead flowers mourned.

Photos downloaded.

Prints ordered.

Pedicure on sore, swollen feet.

New Harry Potter movie viewed.

Laundry done - from the trip, at least.

Still have about 100 hours of ironing to do, and days and days to document via the blog, but we are now back and ready to roll on the home front!

He continues to Grow!

I don't know if it was the New England air or not, but we measured just before we left Utah, and this is what happened while we were away:

Next conquest = Chase!

Home from "the Hill"

We're home.

My list of things to do is   l - o - n - g!  The first and most important of which is to go and fetch Barkley from his birth mother's home!  

So many special thoughts and feelings and experiences.  I will post the whole thing as best as I can, when I can.  So stay tuned for more detail!

Hill Cumorah Here We Come ...

In a mere 15 minutes Greg and I and the homies are leaving for the airport to participate in the 2009 Hill Cumorah Pageant!  

It won't be long before we are one of the many in the crowd of pageant participants!

Be home in seventeen days!