Crazy, Busy Weekend!

This was a crazy, busy weekend!  Saturday morning, Hailey and I woke up early and planted a bunch of flowers and plants in our backyard all before 7:30 a.m.  (it gets way too hot by then!)  Afterwards, we cleaned up and headed over to her "Let's Play Music" Recital.  

 Hailey is really coming along with her piano and I was super proud of her!  She LOVED getting a trophy!!

Tom couldn't make it to the recital because we are in the throws of our stake pioneer trek preparation.  Tom spent over 7 hours recording kids on Saturday.  He recorded piano accompaniments, voice narrations, guitar, and vocals.  We want everything pre-recorded so the sound will be nice and clear up in the mountains during the trek.  It will also be fun for the youth to be able to download their friends songs.  

 On a side note----one of the best things that happened last week was my new little niece was born!  She is beautiful!  Her name is "Noel Goldie Davis."  Isn't that the cutest name?  Golden is a family name but to make it more feminine they added the "ie" to make it Goldie.  I also love the name Noel!  Suzanne said the delivery was amazingly easy compared to other deliveries and they are both doing so well!

 After Hailey's recital, we headed up to Scottsdale for my other niece, Rylie's, 9th Birthday Party.  I  love this little girl so much.  She has a special place in my heart because she is one of the sweetest, kindest, and most thoughtful people I have ever met.  But I also feel especially close to her because her little face reminds me of my sister, Melanie (Rylie's mom).  When Rylie is swimming and her little head pokes up out of the water, she is the spitting image of my little sister, Melanie when she was that age.  I immediately am taken back to my childhood and the days that Melanie and I would swim and play together.  It's almost surreal when I look at her---as if I'm looking at my little sister . . . only with much darker hair!

After the party and trek recordings, Tom headed right over to the Stake Priesthood leadership meeting from 4-6, then I had a rehearsal with a family who was singing in stake conference right at 6:00.  I came up with a pretty arrangement of "Teach Me To Walk in the Light" for them to sing.  They have 11 children and many of them are married.  All three generations were there to sing which was really cool!  Then, from 7-8:30 Tom and I went to the adult session of conference which was AMAZING.  I learned so much, especially from the mission president's wife of the Arizona Tempe Mission.  She gave some great advice on preparing our boys for missions.  By 8:30, Tom and I were starving!  So, we headed over to Pita Jungle for our favorite salmon, mango, strawberry salad.  We hadn't seen each other all day so we had a lot to talk about.  We took the "long" way home so we could continue our conversation.  I love just being with him and talking . . . those are some of the best times for me.  


Then, the next day was Stake Conference.  I had an early morning rehearsal with the family who sang the special musical number, then a choir rehearsal with our stake youth choir for our upcoming trek.  I arranged and wrote two pieces that our choir is going to sing and I was really nervous that nobody would show up because everyone is super busy.  OVER 60 KIDS CAME!  I couldn't believe it!  They sounded so good and my heart was filled with gratitude at their sacrifice to stay after conference for an extra hour, just to be in the choir. 


We came home and had an great dinner and played games with our kids.  It was a great way to end such a crazy, busy weekend!!!