Fourth 100 K month

Did it again!! 

We bought another car yesterday. Now I will be able to walk to school less often because I will have to drive kids more often. This is where the challenge really starts! Must stay focused!

Storybook Theatre: Willy Wonka

I could go on and on about how I love Storybook Theatre. Being involved with Storybook Theatre has been a wonderful opportunity to help our kids develop a love for theatre. Peirce, especially, loves it. Tonight was Willy Wonka the musical. It was amazing!!

Storybook Theatre did something brilliant. They teamed up with Bernard Callebault (er, Papa Chocolate) and made Wonka Bars. You could buy a Wonka bar for $10. You got them at the end of the intermission when everyone was in the theatre and everyone opened them at the same time. Inside five of the bars were golden tickets. With a golden ticket you could get two tickets to another play. Marketing genius!! I couldn't believe how many they sold. It was brilliant.

Peirce'so frind, Gabe, was in the play. Here they are with Mr. Wonka himself as well as Gabe's very cute little sister.

Gabe's brother, Zachary, was Augustus Gloop. He was hilarious!! The grey haired man in the background is the Grandpa who went with Charlie to the factory. When they sneak some treats they are able to fly....it is hilarious. This shot also has a bit of Charlie himself. The actor they had was so amazing. A very cute boy!!

The Oompa Loompas were hilarious. 

Violet Beauregard was a hick from the southern states.

Mike Tevee was a spoiled California kid.

Veruca Salt was a brat extraordinaire.

It was truly an amazing job. One of Storybook Theatre's best, I'd say!!

Swim Meet/Track Meet Weekend

This weekend our club hosted a swim meet - which means more time/commitment from Allen and I as well as our kids. We volunteered at three of the sessions. Allen did timing and I did stroke and turn.

Note to self: Don't wear flip flops for the first time when doing stroke and turn. Oh my toes!!!

I calculated the metres I walked that day. It was 13,800 metres!! That's a lot of distance in flip flops!

Peirce did really well. He just aged up so now he has to re-qualify for his B time. He is getting closer though. He took 5 seconds off his 200 IM. Only 5 more seconds to go.

Jill missed the Saturday portion of the meet as she had the City Finals for track and field. She has done really well this year in track. She ran the 400 and 800 today and placed 6th in one and 4th in another.

Jill basically got talked into doing track. I was telling her how proud I was for her for working so hard at it and doing so well when it wasn't something she really had set as a goal to do. She said, "Well, I think the best thing about it all is that I learned how to tie my shoe laces well."

So Jill!

Jill - Youth Conference

Today Jill was one of the speakers in Sacrament Meeting. She spoke about the youth conference held a couple weeks ago. There were over 1000 youth that attended. Needless to say, she loved it. It was great to hear her take from the conference.

A friend of mine, Alysha, blogged about the conference here: http://sladekfamily.blogspot.com/2015/05/share-goodness-calgary-youth-conference.html

I am so grateful there are good things like this for our kids to do!

Worship with Music

I taught Relief Society today. I decided to teach a lesson on worship through music. 

I heard a story in the news recently. It was about a little boy in the states somewhere who was kidnapped. He sang Amazing Grace non-stop. The kidnappers told him to stop and he just wouldn't. Eventually they freed him because they couldn't stand it anymore. Is that one of the powers of music?

I also takes about the baptism yesterday.  Mechac and one of the Sister missionaries sang I Stand All

Amazed while Mechac's played it on the guitar. The Bishop said it was like when you wallk into a room and see your child praying....so touching. It moves you. I totally agreed.

I have had some really good experiences with music. I took piano lessons for years and really enjoyed it (strange....I know). I also got to sing in the Keith Wood chorus at institute. That was a life changing experience for me. I loved it.

Singing in the MTC was also amazing. The power of hundreds of missionaries singing together leaves an indelible impression on one's mind and heart.

So why is it such a big part of our services? Sometimes it seems like it is a filler. I don't think so though. It is much more than that. We had a good discussion in the class today about the ways that music can touch your heart and help you.

We talked about the power of music. In my mission, Gene R Cook gave a talk about drawing on the powers of heaven. One of the ways to do that is through music. As a result, we were a singing mission - and sing we did....no matter how bad we were! It was a beautiful thing.

After the discussion I asked for volunteers to share their favorite hymn and why it was their favorite, and then we sang it. We ended up singing almost 10 hymns. I loved it. I hope the others there did too.

Zie's Baptism

Last night we went to a baptism for Mechac's friend, Zie. Today he was confirmed in sacrament meeting.

I was so impressed with this young man. He is very quiet. The feelings I had at the baptism and listening to his confirmation today were unique. My heart felt like it was glowing. I have no understanding of why I would feel this way. It was just a strong feeling of peace and admiration. I hope that he felt the same thing.

That Girl Can Run!

Jill has been a one sport girl for quite a while. Recently, she has been expanding her talents by taking up track. I have been so impressed with her! She has done really well.

She qualified for the city track meet (you have to be in the top six in your events). We will be cheering for her!

Highway Clean Up

The highways in Alberta are a lot cleaner today thanks to this guy (and a few other extraordinaire people!)

Sister Hogg

Today was the funeral for Joanne Hogg. I always will appreciate the things I learned from her. I was the activities chair for well over 6 years and she served on that committee with me for most of that time. I learned so much from her! She always took charge of the food - something I was so grateful for! After working with her for that long, I now can head up a committee in charge of food for 50 - 200! Took me about 6 years to get that brave though!!

I helped in the kitchen after the funeral. I knew it would be important to do things just the way she'd want them!

One thing I learned today was that she loved purple pansies. Purple pansies will now adorn my flower beds in honor of her.

Love you, Joann Hogg!