Mesa Bound - Baptisms, Feastings and Music

Our only set of twins in our big family of grandkids turned 8 years old.

The big anticipated event with that significant birthday was finally here - 

Luke and Max were baptized and now are confirmed members

 of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

 Here is an accounting of our five day get-away to Mesa 

so we could take part in this wonderful occasion.

We chose to drive the Las Vegas route on our 7 hour drive to Mesa, and, as luck would have it, 

it was Restaurant Week.

I had fun pulling up all of the menus of participating restaurants (almost 200)

to pick the one we would stop at for lunch.

Years ago, when Roger was in the travel business, we got to stay in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Bangkok, 

then rated the #1 hotel in the world.

There is a Mandarin Oriental in Las Vegas with a great restaurant with Asian fusion food, Mozen Bistro.

When I saw that their RW offering for lunch was served in Bento Boxes, I was in.

Each dish was gourmet tasty. We especially enjoyed the eggplant chicken curry, 

the steak Bulgogi and the coconut pudding with mango-pineapple sauce.

Next year, we plan to make sure we have dinner in Vegas during Restaurant Week. 

They offer 4-course dinners in some of their finest restaurants for much-reduced $s.

We arrived in time for a delicious chicken fajita dinner (mostly prepared by Tom) 

at the Youngs.

After dinner, Luke and Max opened their birthday present from Grandma and Grandpa.

Roger wrapped them up together.

We gave them each their quad-combination scriptures with their names imprinted on the cover.

Grandpa gave them a little tour of how to use and navigate through them.

They are such cute boys. They were excited to get their very own scriptures 

and they loved that their names were on them.

Stacy and I went shopping on Friday, and that night, 

after Tom took us all out to dinner,

we gave the twins their 

Hold to the Iron Rod boxes 

that Roger makes for each grandkid when he or she is baptized.
 He then explained and we talked about its application to our lives.

The baptism and confirmation were at 2 pm on Saturday.

The boys got dressed up in their new suits for pics.

Luke LeGrande

Maxwell Roger

These two really are best buds.

Grandpa Roger gave an outstanding talk on baptism, 

and Maddy played her violin for the opening and the closing songs.

Luke and Max were baptized by their brother, Jake.

While we're talking about Jake, I want to show some of his creations.

Jake took a class in stained glass and he loved it.

He won a recognition for this beautiful mosaic of waves.

Jake used this pic of famous DJ Flume . . .

. . . and made this amazing mosaic in stained glass!

And I love this pretty blue star, hanging in their craft room.

After the baptism at the church, family and friends were invited to the Youngs for refreshments.

We took pics of the twins with: Mom and Dad . . . 

. . . their family, minus Syd and Jake Walker, who are in Hong Kong . .  . 

. . . the Priesthood men who stood in the circle -

Grandpa Grit, Uncle Jimbo, Dad Tom, who ordained the boys, brother Jake, 

Uncle Ryan and Grandpa Roger. . .

. . . Grandma Pam and Grandpa Roger . . .

. . . Grandpa Grit and Grandma Sherry . . .

. . . and all of the cousins who could be there.

The Young girls decorated with banners and pics of Luke and Max.

The two grandmas were happy to see each other.

That morning, we made delicious chocolate oatmeal cookies and brownies 

per Luke and Max's request.

Stacy's friend, Alison Bench, brought over her famous Texas sheet cake.

Grandma Sherry and Londyn share a funny on the iPhone.

Stacy is talking to her next-door neighbor in the background.

It was so fun to chat with Tom's brother, Jimbo and his wife, Sham.

Lucky us!

This trip was no exception from the other times we travel to see kids, 

in that we got a two fer.

Well, actually we got a three fer, because it was Father's Day the next day,

 and we got to spend it with two of our kids and families.

But the two fer was to get to attend a performance with Ryan and Emily's Anna and Ben.

They had attended a musical theatre workshop for a couple of weeks previous to this performance, 

and Ryan got us tickets, too.

This is Anna's fifth year of going to this workshop and Ben's second.

They are totally naturals on stage!

This program was front and back listing 30 numbers from Broadway musicals, 

all played by the musical director on the keyboard, with 3 other keyboard artists and a percussionist.

I was amazed what those kids learned, and so fast!

They all had been taught to project and sell their number.

Ben's favorite number, where he was featured as a cat, was Party Hat by J. Iconis.

What A Game from Ragtime was a fun number.

Anna's favorite number where she was featured was Adolpho from Drowsy Chaperone.

What an entertaining and wonderful show! I loved to see this opportunity for kids, 

ages 8 through high school.

They each have a chance to shine and they are learning and keeping alive great theater music.

The Grande Finale, Be The Hero, from Big Fish

Anna  and Ben were standouts in the 7 numbers they were each in!

Ryan took us to dinner afterwards, which was a little before 9:30,

(Mesa rolls up its sidewalks even before St. George does) 

and almost every restaurant 

in the area where Ryan and Emily live was closed. 

But, lucky for us, we all discovered a great little restaurant, Belagio, with yummy food 

and the friendliest waitress!

Father's Day, in Mesa, where it was forecast to be 120 degrees that day,

 began with Stacy and I preparing a breakfast/brunch.

The two grandpas in their glory days - 

Air Force Pilot Roger and BYU football player, Grit

We had scrambled eggs, candy turkey bacon, fruit, toast and hash browns.

Then it was present time for the dad and granddad.

The kids each made darling cards for their dad and Grandpa.

This is Maxwell Roger's for Grandpa Roger.

Grandpa Roger sure loves these Young kids!

Stacy gave Tom a big Father's Day hug!

Tom loved his hydraulic jack to change flats.

Every teenage driver family needs one of those!

Happy Father's Day to the fabulous father of our five children!

No father could have done it better!

After church, Stacy hosted a Father's Day dinner for 25, 

with Ryan's family, 

Jimbo's family, Grit and Sherry and Roger and I.

Everyone brought something and we had grilled salmon, hot dogs, chicken, mashed potatoes, 

Tom's favorite mustard carrots, corn on the cob, cut up watermelon, fresh cherries, fresh pineapple,

 Caprice salad and multi-layered jello for the kids. 

For dessert, we had a mango sorbet, ice cream sandwich and sour cream and whipped cream 

ice cream dessert featured in Missy's HowDoesShe, 

An Oreo, caramel, hot fudge ice cream dessert 

and a Key lime pie ice cream dessert.

They hit the spot on that brutal Mesa weather weekend!

Two great fathers!

The kids all built the most amazing, creative Lego creations after dinner, 

while the adults talked.

The original plan was that on Monday, we were going to drive to Tucson to see the Air Museum, 

which is, in part, the boneyard for Air Force aircraft.

Record-high temperatures were raging - the forecast for Tucson was 115 degrees - 

so we went to Plan B.

All of us met at the movie theater to see Finding Dory.

It was a hit with the little and the big kids!

We had dinner together at Portillo's, a kid-friendly, Chicago-based restaurant chain 

famous for their yummy hot dogs,

 but they have a big menu.

Ryan and Emily had fond memories of it from when they lived in Chicago.

Darling Sarah Kate with mommy's sunglasses

Cute cousins

The boys were pretty bummed that we didn't go to see the airplanes in Tucson.

Grandpa Roger has been talking about it for a couple of years, 

and he had even printed off copies 

at home of the info and layout of the large museum. 

So the plan is to go next time, when the weather is better.

In the meantime, the boys dragged out their model airplanes to have a little pilot session 

with their grandpa.

Max, wearing Roger's old Braniff captain's hat, 
 made this airplane out of a cardboard box.

Love this creative kid!

This container in Stacy's craft room caught my eye.

I thought it appropriate to represent to finish off my post about

Luke and Max's Big 8 Weekend.

We left for home Tuesday morning, reminiscing as we drove about the great weekend we spent 

and about our much-loved kids and grandkids.