Shen Yun

On Wednesday night, dad, Carole, and I went to see Shen Yun, a Chinese performance.  It was at the Orpheum Theater- a beautiful place in downtown Phoenix.  This performance is a set of dances and music about China's 5000 years of civilization.  The dancers are young men and women who perform for 6 months and then go back to school for 6 months and are based in New York.




One of the dances was "Sleeves of the Tang Palace" and the women dancers used their long, silky sleeves in the dance.  The costumes were wonderful- very flowing and in authentic styles and colors.



The men and women dancers were very agile and talented with lots of flips and spins and tumbling.  It is a very athletic dance form and is the classical Chinese dance.  What amazing talent!



There was digital 3D projection for the backdrop which has been patented.  It appeared to create an interaction with the dancers- they would drop down behind a wall and then appear on the screen as if they were in that screen.




It was a fun night- something very different.

Temple Day With the Missionaries

Today we went to the Phoenix Temple since it was time again for all the full-time missionaries to go. The best part for me was that Pres. Robinson, the mission president, has okayed dad bringing in Temple names for the missionaries to do! These 3 days was a new record- I had 50 Endowments done!!! YAHOO! I know that these people are so ready for their work to be done, and things keep opening up to allow that to happen. I told dad that for me it is like Christmas to see all this work done!

Brenley and Ballet!

We were invited to watch Brenley's last ballet class. She got this as her birthday present, and we could tell that she was a serious student. She knew just when to point her toes, knew what all the positions and directions meant, and did not goof off. Ruth brought her roses for her final class. I love living close to these girls!

What a Great Family!!!

A very special Sunday. Don was called as Bishop of his Mesa Ward. Dad went to Parowan with Evie on Friday for the twins' baptisms.  After the baptisms and after cutting meat at the grocery store, Mike drove dad and Evie back to  Phoenix so he could also be here for this special time.  What a great guy since their family is coming the next week for the marathon!  It was fun because Don knew dad was going to Parowan and didn't expect him to be back for Sunday (the original plans called for a flight home on Monday).  We stopped at Don's house before Church, and Don was surprised to see dad but then really surprised to see Mike.  What a special family we have- we now have 3 Bishops (Mike, Don, and Tyler), a counselor in the Bishopric (Mark), a stake president (Tim Taylor), and a YM Pres. (Ben Smith).  I think about this and cannot believe the blessings we have been given as parents to have such a family!  How humbling.  I know that each of our children is special.