"On the Road Again," Back-to-Back, Part 1

Mesa, Arizona

There's nothing Roger and I enjoy more than having an excuse to visit our kids and grandkids.

They live in three different states, and with 25 grandkids, 

we get lots of excuses to visit them.

Ryan and Emily's son, Ben, sang in one of five East Valley Millennial Choirs in their concert, 

Amazing Grace, Songs of Atonement and Freedom. 

They performed two concerts on April 29 and two on April 30, in Mesa.

Millennial Choirs and Orchestras (MCO) consists of over 3,000 participants 

in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Idaho.

Each locale houses choirs for children youth and adults, and a symphony orchestra. 

There were well over 300 performers in Mesa, 

with similar numbers in the choirs and orchestras in the other locales.

MCO's purpose is to teach and encourage excellence in quality of sacred and classical music and to fulfill the need for more refined music in our communities, with a focus on God and country.

Whew!

That's a mouthful, but oh, how the two founding brothers and professional musicians, 

Brett and Brandon Stewart, 

have achieved that purpose! 

Roger and I attended a Millennial Choirs and Orchestra Christmas concert a couple of years ago, 

and were so impressed that we told Ryan and Emily that we would drive to Mesa again just to hear them.

It worked out for us to come for their Easter concert, and a huge bonus was that our grandson, Ben, 

now sings in one of the choirs (more about the concert later).

We arrived at Ryan and Emily's home the night before the concert,

and I took some quick shots of these three generations of Stratford -  

Roger with his son, Ryan, and grandson, Peter.

I think Pete is as tall as Grandpa!

After dinner, we hurried over to watch Stacy and Tom's twins, 
Max and Luke, play in their baseball game.
They're little jocks, following in the footsteps of their dad!

Next day, Roger, Emily and I met Ryan for lunch at, Flower Child,
a yummy health food restaurant near, The Biltmore, where he had meetings. 
Roger and I browsed around the nearby shops that afternoon, 
and I happened to walk into a dress shop where I saw this display.

Roger was a pilot for Braniff Airlines many years ago, 
and they were famous for their bright-colored airplanes 
and Halston-designed uniforms.
Can you believe that those are all flight attendant uniforms on display?
When I inquired, I learned that the owner of the shop had been a Braniff flight attendant for twenty years. 
I called Roger, who was nearby, on my cell phone to come check out this Blast from the Past!
They had fun reminiscing about Braniff. So fun!

We surprised Anna with these gluten-free cookies that we found in a wonderful food market.

 An employee highly recommended them, saying they fly off the shelves.

Anna was recently diagnosed with Celiac Disease, which is not an easy thing for a teen who loves pizza!

She's really quite a good sport about it.

Roger and I got ready to attend the concert.

Ryan treated all of us to empanadas at a favorite little restaurant 
owned and run by a cute Central American family.
Roger, Ryan and Emily all enjoyed empanadas on their Chilean and Argentine missions.
Maddy met up with Stacy and Tom (who celebrated their anniversary in Scottsdale the night before)
 at the concert, and Pete also met us there.

There really are not adequate words to describe the thrill factor of this concert.
Held in the wonderful Mesa Arts Center, where the choirs rotate in and out 
of double tiers surrounding the audience,
the powerful sound penetrated the soul!
It was Blow-Your-Hair-Back sound!
There were tears and standing ovations.
Jenny Oaks Baker, who is Juliard-trained and has performed as a violin soloist in Carnegie Hall, 
Lincoln Center, Library of Congress, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, etc., 
was the featured violinist.
Rick is her bishop and Jodie is her good friend, and she gave their family tickets 
to attend the MCO concert in SLC at Abravanel Hall the following weekend.
She plays off-the-charts wonderful!

Oh, Ben, it was magnificent!

Best Bud Cousins

Ben had lots of supportive family members there.

Ben's wonderful family

Happy Grandma and Grandpa

Hurry! Group Pic!

As luck would have it, Ryan's girls' dance recital dress rehearsals were on Saturday.

First the morning started with us going to watch Becca at her volley ball game at 8 am.

9 am was Sarah Kate's dance dress rehearsal.

10 am was Becca's dance dress rehearsal.

11 am was Jake's play-off baseball game.
He got two singles and hit in a run.

Mom Emily and Dad Ryan videoed and took pics, too.

1:30 pm was Anna's Group Performance dress rehearsal.

The following Monday, she rehearsed the other eight dances she was in.

Yikes!

All three of these girls are great dancers.

Later that afternoon, Pete did his Saturday yard work.

As luck would have it, it was Prom Night for Pete and Jake.

A group of Pete's friends

 came to his house to take pics.

Pete is a sophomore and has only been to girl ask boy dances.

He found out this pretty junior girl had never been on a date, 

so he quickly remedied that.

Aren't they cute?

Pics were also taken at Stacy's house of Jake's friends with their dates.
Jake is a junior and his date is a sophomore.
Cute couple!

Stacy and Tom met Ryan, Roger and I at a wonderful local restaurant, D'Vine, for a late dinner.
This is the bruschetta appetizer Ryan ordered for us while we were waiting for the Youngs.

Our dinners were so delicious-looking, we had to take pics.

scallop salad

short ribs

As we were finishing our meals, Chyrrl's son, Brad, and his wife, Synda, who live in Mesa 

and are good friends (and cousins) with our kids, showed up for dinner 

after they got their son off to the Prom.

Of all of the places in Mesa to eat, they happened to pick the same one.

It was great to see them.

We went to church with Ryan's family next morning, then were off to St. George.
What a great trip!