Adventures in Mesa

Tending Ryan and Emily's Kids; A Piano Recital; Swimming; Maddy's B-Day Party; more Swimming; Sunday at the Young's Ward; Memorial Day Cookout; More Swimming . . 

Ryan was invited to place some of his research in the International Urogynecology Association at their meetings in Dublin, so he and Emily planned a wonderful trip. 

They toured Ireland for a week with Peter, Ben and Anna, then ending up in Dublin for the meetings.

Roger and I traveled to Mesa to tend Becca and Sarah.

Roger took this pic of their darling family on the morning they were ready to leave for the airport.

Saturday morning, Londyn and Maddy performed in a piano recital. 

Each piece was familiar, from a Disney musical or other popular songs, and some of the kids dressed in a costume to fit their piece.  It was actually an entertaining piano recital!

Their teacher is enthusiastic and helps the kids love music.

The students got little treats at the end - popcorn and a can of root beer.

Mom and Dad were proud!

And the girls had other Groupies there, too.

Then it was over to Stacy and Tom's.

I was invited to go to Maddy's Birthday Party at, Girlie Girls.

Maddy's friends got to pick a fancy hair-do and make-up, and a team of teen-agers went to work.

Londyn got to get in on the action, too!

While we were at the party, Roger, Tom and the kids swam in Stacy and Tom's pool.

Go, Becca Sue!

Becca and Sarah love to play in the "beach" sand.

When we returned from the party, Maddy was opening presents and Tom handed me an essay written by Sydney entitled, "A Hero In My Life." 
She wrote about me!

Roger was snapping away on his camera, but I didn't even notice. 
 I was too shocked that I would be anyone's hero,
 and my eyes were so blurry with tears, I was having difficulty reading.

Grandpa with his little Hawaiian Girl (she chose that hair-do at the party - most of the others chose The Princess!)

Grandma and Grandpa with our cute granddaughters
(Roger wanted me to note that he has been swimming!)

On Sunday, we attended the Youngs' ward where Sydney spoke in Sacrament meeting 
and it was a wonderful talk about being valiant.

Stacy is the Primary president, so Roger and I went in to Sharing Time.   

Maddy said the prayer and Londyn was spotlighted that week and shared some objects and examples
 that help tell about her.

And I must mention that, hands down, it was the most fun I have ever had in Primary!

Not only because of the afore-mentioned, but because of their chorister.

Dave Johnson is a 30ish guy who used to be BYU's Student Body President and he was in musicals.

I have never seen anyone engage children like he does.

For instance, he had them sing Follow the Prophets, and when the accompaniment began, he said,

 "This song always reminds me of Fiddler on the Roof."

 Then he proceeded to kick his legs with his arms up in the air in humorous fashion
and sing a line of, Tradition.  

We all sang a couple of the verses, 
then he had them call out other prophets, 
like Gordon B. Hinckley, Thomas S. Monson, etc.

He would put his hand on his chin, 
turn to the side for a few seconds, then say, 

"Wait, I've got this!"

Then he would come up with rhyming verses, 
made up right on the spot.  
Then the kids would sing the chorus.

He led them with grand gestures, interacting one on one with many.

This was the Senior Primary, mind you, and they sang their hearts out!

Now you would think that they would get out of control and rowdy, 
but he skillfully brought them back down to reverence.

That guy has a gift, I tell you, a beautiful gift!

Stacy had had a hard time covering with teachers in all of the classes, because it was Memorial Day weekend.  One of the subs said to her during singing time, 

"Why would I want to be in there (pointing toward the Relief Society room), when I can be in here"!

After church, Stacy and Tom served a yummy dinner of grilled marinated flank steak and veggies, salted baked potatoes, Sydney's homemade bread and homemade angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream. 

Tom is another son-in-law who knows his way around the grill!

Monday was Memorial Day, and the Youngs had us over for swimming and a barbecue cookout.

Mother/Daughter chat

Boy, did we see some great performances on the diving board!

Each kid took his turn showing his/her stuff!

After watching her girls, Stacy was determined that she was going to do a back flip off the board.

She did backflips all of the time as a cheerleader at OHS and BYU, 

but she had never done one off of the diving board.

After much coaching from her girls . . .

she did it!

Grandma, who could never even do a decent cartwheel, loved watching it all in the shade!

Tom showed his barbecue skills again and grilled hamburgers, hot dogs and teriyaki chicken.

We also had corn on the cob, baked beans, watermelon and I made a broccoli/cauliflower salad.

A little later, Stacy made homemade hot fudge sauce for sundaes and she brought out some yummy Key lime pie.

It's never too dark to go down the slide!

Chatting around Stacy's craft room table

The other cute teen is Sydney's best friend, Noel.

Roger and I had fun with some one-on-one time with Becca and Sarah. 

They play so cute together and it was fun listening in on their fantasy worlds as they played.

I tried to cook things that they liked . . .

. . . but my cooking skills are no match for this little Master Chef!

I wrote down some of the cute things the girls did and said 
so Ryan and Emily could know about their cute daughters.

My hand-writing is atrocious, but hopefully I will be able to read it, as this is for my personal history.

These little cuties loved a story each night, then a few songs as they were tucked in.

One night Roger came downstairs, having put them in bed, and I asked him if they went down easily.

  He said, "Sure, I just sang them a few songs."

I asked, "What did you sing?"

"A few lullabyes and The Blakey Song."

"What's The Blakey Song?"

"Oh, it's a song I made up and I sing it to Blake when I put him down when we're at Rick's.  

It's different every time."

"Sing it for me."

It went something like - Blakey is s-o-o-o special; 
Grandpa loves Blakey;
Grandma loves Blakey;
Blakey is s-o-o-o special;
Mommy loves Blakey;
Daddy loves Blakey;
Blakey is so-o-o-o special;
Everybody loves Blakey;
Blakey is a special Spirit;

 Heavenly Father loves Blakey;

Blakey makes us all so happy; 

Blakey is so-o-o-o special; etc. etc.

The next night, after I sang the girls some lullabyes, they said,

"Sing The Blakey Song."

So I called Grandpa and he came up to sing it to them.

We loved being with our Mesa grandkids.
We feel so very blessed that they are so healthy and happy 
and that they are being raised by such wonderful moms and dads.