With Love From New York: Showing Support For Ukraine

Sadie, Jeff and I were in New York over the weekend. It was an amazing trip with the choir and band students from Sadie's high school. We were able to see and do a lot of memorable things, and maybe I'll eventually post a bit more. But I wanted to share what happened at the very end of our trip, just before boarding the buses for the long drive home. 

Our last activity on Sunday night was "Top of The Rock", the observation deck at the top of the Rockefeller Center. The 360º view of the city is said to be stunning. Unfortunately, the weather was wet and freezing and foggy. There was even a guide who met us at the elevators to tell us that there was zero visibility and we were welcome to use our tickets at a later date instead. Since this was our last day in New York, that wasn't an option for us so up we went. 

While the view was somewhat limited, it was still beautiful with the misty fog and the lights on the buildings. The Empire State building was a bright blue with gold lights below. As I looked around the city, I saw a few other buildings with lights across the top - a solid stripe of blue above a stripe of golden yellow - and I realized they were lit up in support of Ukraine. Then, with that realization, I looked back at the Empire State building, saw the blue and gold again, and almost started to cry. Here was this iconic structure making a bold statement for all the world (or at least all of New York) to see. Yes, I felt like bawling, but I really felt proud and happy and in total agreement with the sentiment. It was a beautiful way to end our trip. 

ReMix Revisited

Sterling attended the ReMix Vocal Academy during the summer of 2017 at BYU. It was such an amazing experience that he and Soren were excited to attend together this year.

It didn't disappoint.

Sterling was the first one we saw in the show opener.

A whole week of a cappella instruction and rehearsal, team bonding and workshops makes for a really good time. The teams were super tight and both of my boys loved every minute. They are already saving up for next year. 

Here are the numbers my boys were in:
Show Opener (all teams): Kaleidoscope

Blue Team (Sterling): Home For Me

Green Team (Soren): Pieces

Closing Mashup (all teams)

If you are interested in hearing the other team songs, here's a link to the entire ReMix session B playlist.

Sterling had the opening solo in his team song.

Soren had a solo in his team song, too. 

Sterling's team. Sterling is third in the back row.

Soren's team. Soren is first on the bottom row.

Sterling in the awesome Beatboxing showcase. (Sadly, they didn't post the video on YouTube this year.)

The boys' cousin, Trevor, was at ReMix this year, too. He had a great experience and his team song, Maps, was really cool.

Trevor is second in the back row. 

My boys are sad it's over, but they still listen to the music regularly and are in touch with their team members. It's not something they'll soon forget and was the highlight of their summer! (...especially when you compare it to getting their wisdom teeth out the following week before leaving Utah. They had to drive the 1500-miles home on a liquid/soft food diet and a regular rotation of Tylenol and ibuprofen. lol. But that's another story....)

Sterling at ReMix

In August, I mentioned that Sterling attended ReMix Vocal Academy at BYU during the summer. It's a pretty intense and amazing A Cappella camp, run by the director of BYU's Vocal Point. There were about 120 kids at ReMix that week (session B). They were all divided into 8 different groups. Sterling was on the Blue Team.

The final concert was pretty cool! It started off with all 120 kids for the intro "Unpack Your Heart." You can't see Sterling in this video, but he was there and he was a beatboxer during this number.



That was great, but it wasn't my favorite. After the opener, each group did their own number. Sterling's group sang "There's A Place For Us," by Carrie Underwood. Again, Sterling was the beatboxer. I think he sounds pretty good!!



That was great, but it wasn't my favorite. During the concert, they had a few beatboxers come out for a demo. Sterling (in blue) was selected to participate along with a Red Team member and one of the counselors (in green).


Okay, that was awesome and was definitely one of my favorites! We all loved it and the audience was going crazy. It was pretty cool! :)

The final number was a Mashup and Sterling was the second soloist.


That piece was a favorite as well. There was so much energy and you could tell these kids had worked hard and were having a great time out there!

Sterling loved his experience at ReMix and can't wait to return - along with Soren - next summer. We're all looking forward to it! :)

End of Summer

Oh, why do I procrastinate my blog?? Well, late is better than never so here is a quick recap of our summer.

We started off with four weeks of no major obligations. Those weeks seemed to last forever and we just enjoyed the time together. There was plenty of badminton, progress toward goals (we got a LOT of things accomplished this summer!), and just time together. It was a needed break from the typical demands.

I already blogged about our end-of-June activities, High Adventure and the youth Pioneer Trek.

July was pretty steady with several week-long activities. Jeff and the boys attended a hot and sweaty Scout camp and Sadie attended her first Girls' Camp during the hottest week of the summer. Ugh! We picked her up a day early to head to Utah where we spent the last week of July so Sterling could attend an A Cappella camp - ReMix Vocal Academy - at BYU. I'll post more about that once the videos of the final concert are up on YouTube. It was amazing!! He had a great week and we all loved the final concert.

Sterling and the bros after his awesome concert!

Sterling with Adam, former beatboxer for Vocal Point
(Sterling looks really short here, but Adam is 6'10.)

While in Utah, we were also able to spend time in the temple as a family and we were there when Savannah went through the temple for the first time.

Draper Temple with the cousins! This was Sadie's first time to do baptisms for the dead.

Somehow I didn't get any photos after Savannah went through the temple (rats!!) but here's the whole crew at the Provo City Center Temple after our family did baptisms for the dead.

My mom and all of my siblings were in town so we spent time with cousins as well. We stayed with friends who made us feel like part of the family and, despite our vow NOT to go to Utah this summer, it was definitely worth the drive.

We didn't make it to Idaho this year, but Idaho came to us! Sadie and cousin Ana are BFF's. Little Sawyer is a cutie!

My dad's headstone was installed while we were in Utah.
I'm glad I got to see it. We visited dad a few times.

We hiked the Bonneville Shoreline Trail one morning with our friends and hosts, the Afflecks.
It was a beautiful hike and morning!

The cool, new suspension bridge on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail.

Bridal Veil Falls

A motley crew. :)

A rare photo of Jeff and me.

We saw a full rainbow in Wyoming on the drive home. So pretty!

Rebecca Burdick Winters

Jeff's fourth great grandma was Rebecca Burdick Winters. She passed away in 1852 during her westward journey with the Mormon pioneers. The historical marker shown below tells a little bit about her, including how the railroad was rerouted so that this pioneer mother's grave wouldn't be disturbed. 

We stopped to see the tribute marker last summer on our way through Nebraska. It's located on a little sort-of-street off the beaten path, appropriately named "Rebecca Winters Drive." 

In front of the granite marker is the original iron wagon tire
that marked Rebecca's initial resting place. 

Rebecca's father, Gideon Burdick, was a 14-year old drummer boy in George Washington's Army during the American Revolution. Gideon also joined the Mormon church and settled in Illinois, but he passed away a few years before Rebecca and her family began their trek west. 

 

We've driven across Nebraska so many times, just plowing through on our way to Utah or Idaho. I'm glad we finally took the time to visit Rebecca's resting place. It was worth the trip.

Cosmo - The Coolest Mascot

Jeff and the boys were in Utah last weekend. Spencer went on a BYU tour which got him pretty excited to fill out his application in a couple weeks. They were also able to spend time with Sam and enjoy several campus activities as well as time in the mountains. The main reason for their trip was to attend the Priesthood session of General Conference, which was a great experience!

One of the highlights of their trip was the BYU vs. Toledo game on Friday night. It was a close one from start to finish! BYU squeaked out the win, 55-53, with a field goal in the last 2 seconds of the game. It was definitely a nail biter, but we couldn't be happier with the results!

This video is from the halftime show. Our Cougarettes are the best, literally. They have won the Hip Hop National Championship 16 times! Throw in Cosmo, BYU's school mascot, and you're in for a real treat! This cougar can dance!! At the time of this posting, this video has over 1,300,000 views. I'm not surprised. If you're anything like me, you'll be watching it more than once! :)

Nauvoo and Vocal Point

One of the highlights of our week at the lake house was an afternoon and evening in Nauvoo (August 2). It worked out well because it was a rainy day so we couldn't be out on the water anyway. 

We started out at the Visitors' Center where we walked around the beautiful grounds. The kids had fun posing like several of the statues. (The first one cracks me up...)

We were lucky enough to be there for a showing of "The Promise" which is a short musical put on by the young performing church-service missionaries who come to Nauvoo for the summer. It was excellent! Afterward, we got to meet some of the cast and one of them, Elder DeWitt, was from Mesa which made our newbie RM pretty happy! :)

Following the performance, Jeff took the older kids to the Nauvoo temple. They had a great experience there while Sadie and I drove around and visited some of the historical sites.

Sadie found out at the Pioneer Pastimes Center that stilt walking is a lot harder than it looks...

Once we were reunited with the rest of the family, we drove across the river to Fort Madison, Iowa for some dinner then right back to Nauvoo for the highlight of our day -- BYU Vocal Point!! We were so excited when we realized that our lake house trip coincided with Vocal Point's Nauvoo tour. We are huge fans!

Waiting for the concert to start

 

Vocal Point sang several songs we know and love plus a couple we hadn't heard before. My two favorite songs of the night were "Nearer My God to Thee," and "Newsies Medley." Ah, I love those!! The concert was so, so good!! One of the kids' favorite parts was when Matt, the beatboxer, showed off his skills. It was very cool!  Another favorite part was meeting the group after the performance. They are just all around nice guys who put on a pretty great show!

Sam with Spencer. Spencer also served a mission in Mesa.

Jordan is Soren's favorite member of the group!

Spencer with Spencer!

Matt, the amazing beatboxer! 

It was an all-around great day in Nauvoo. :)

The Lake House Revisited

Remember the lake house where we spent Spring Break? When we were deciding where to go for a family vacation with Sam, I wanted somewhere that we could really be together without the pull of outside distractions (like facebook, e-mail, instagram, etc...).

The lake house had all that and more because 1) there is no internet and 2) no cell reception. While that may sound like a teenagers nightmare, it is this mother's dream!! :) Fortunately, my kids were good sports and our friends were very generous in allowing us to use their lake house again. So we spent the first week of August - five relaxing days - truly together. 

We enjoyed eight kayaks, one dock, a trip to Nauvoo (more on that later), loads of good food, plenty of games, music, movies (we got to share Kung Fu Panda 3 and Star Wars VII with Sam!), books, swimming, and laughing. 

My dream of having my little family all to myself (all to ourselves) was realized and it was awesome! I hope we can do it again soon.

Sadie loved this swing. The older kids were totally afraid of it. :)

Even during meals we had a beautiful view, but no bugs on the fully screened deck.

Savannah and Sterling put together some really cool guitar/violin duets.

Not a great picture, but one of my favorite parts was kayaking. I loved it when all eight of us were out together.

Savannah loved doing yoga on the dock, especially the day she was up with the sun.

Diving lessons.

1...  2...  3...

...jump!

(the end.)