"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!

A Relief Society Garden Walk and A Mindy/Jeff & Friends Stop-Over

Our RS April mid-week activity was a field trip to Red Hills Dessert Garden.

The morning was perfect for a garden walk in the sun, with temperatures in the low 70's.

Truthfully, this wimpy shade-seeker may not have gone if it had been much hotter.

 Also, my cute next-door neighbor and friend, Lilian, who is a member of the church but doesn't attend, 

wanted to go.

She likes to go to the Relief Society activities with me.

The desert has its own brand of beauty, 

and since moving to St. George, I have really come to appreciate it.

We walked on a stair path below the stream 

where we could view the Santa Clara River's native fish.

So many water-conserving plants were in bloom.

I love prickly pear jelly and marinade for chicken,

so I was interested to see this cactus.

After our tour, we enjoyed a picnic together. I enjoyed being with the sisters 

and am glad to know about this place 

so I can tell tourists when they come into the Chamber of Commerce, 

looking for fun things to do.

Thursday night, late, Mindy and Jeff, with friends, Jay and Nachele, arrived to stay overnight 

on their way for a weekend get-away to Las Vegas.

Next morning, while Roger was reporting for possible jury duty, I fixed them brunch.

Jeff and Mindy did their 9 mile run down Snow Canyon Parkway, in preparation 

for their half marathon that they will run in May with several of our family members.; 

Roger was going to run with them until he got that jury letter. 

He was sad.

I had fixed a veggie egg strata the night before, then baked it that morning.

I discovered a new yummy at Trader Joe's.
It's called Kringle, and it is a Danish pastry (there is NO PASTRY that rivals Danish pastry).
The instructions say how you can freeze it, thaw it out the night before and serve it the next morning, 
so I saved it until we had house guests.
Divine!

I always fix candy bacon when Mindy comes. . . 

. . . and fresh strawberries.

Roger got home just in time to eat.

He might have gotten just a little carried away when I said, "Smile!"

It's been a great spring!

Leno, A Lind Visit and Jack's Baptism

Our good friends, Kathy and Jim Jensen, treated us to a fun evening the end of April.

Jay Leno performed at Tuacahn to a sold-out crowd, 

and he delivered his stand-up comedy for almost two hours, non-stop.

Through all of those years he hosted the Tonight show,

we would watch once in awhile, 

enough to know that he is good, his comic timing and delivery natural and funny.

But we didn't realize, really, how good he is.

No cue cards or tele-prompters on stage, he flowed seamlessly, and mostly, 

he read his southern Utah, largely-Mormon audience.

He didn't rely on bad language to be funny,

 and when the show crept toward off-color, 

he quickly switched gears.

We had a fun evening laughing together.

Roger took a couple of quick shots right before the show.

Oh, brother, aren't selfies kind of crazy?

The first of April, Mindy, Jeff and kids stopped overnight 

on their way to spend Spring Break at Stacy and Tom's in Mesa. 

We realized we hadn't taken any pics, 

so Roger clicked a couple inside their car as they were leaving the next morning.

The Linds spent the week in Mesa, then drove back home to Highland Friday, April 8, 

so Jack could be baptized on Saturday morning.

Roger and I drove up north on Friday in time to do some shopping at Traverse Mountain, 

then were waiting in their home for the Linds to return.

Jack was excited to open his birthday present from us - 

his new set of scriptures, engraved with his name on the cover.

He was tickled, and wanted instructions on how to use the tabs.

Next morning, father and son were ready for the happy event.

Mom was pretty excited, too!

Jack had many well-wishers present.

The program was per Jack's requests:

Cousin Sadie's thoughts on baptism were beautifully expressed,

and Uncle Rick eloquently talked directly to Jack about the blessings and importance of the Holy Ghost 

and ways to have him with us always. 

And, oh my goodness, his little sister, five-year-old Adelaide, brought tears to our eyes 

when she sang, "Gethsemane."

We all drove to Jack's home afterwards to celebrate and enjoy a delicious brunch.

Of course, we had to take various pics to mark the special occasion.

The Jeff Linds

Jack with his proud Grandmas and Grandpas

Cute cousins and siblings

Jeff's brother, Scott, and family with Grandma Rosemary and Grandpa Brent

Mindy, Jeff and family with Rick, Jodie and kids (Katie was taking her first ACT test and Josh is in Hong Kong) and Grandma Pam and Grandpa Roger

The freshly-baked scones were yummy, and the granola/yogurt/berries parfaits 

and Rosemary's breakfast casserole were delicious.

Jack's Mandarin tutor accepted the invitation to come to the happy event.

After the brunch, we presented Jack with his Iron Rod shadow box Grandpa Roger made for him.

He listened attentively as Grandpa explained and talked about always holding to the iron rod.

Before we left to drive back home, Charlie opened his birthday present early 

so we could be there to see him open it.

He loved the books - he had to "read" them right then -

and the Spider Man light.

He's such a cute little guy!

We had to be home for Roger's High Council meetings on Sunday and I had our first big rehearsal 

of our choir for Stake Conference.

What a delightful Saturday we spent with the Linds,

and how grateful we are for our special grandson, Jack, 

and the important choice he made.

Renewal - A Baptism and Easter

Roger and I had a beautiful experience on Easter weekend.

Holly and Bob Laird, a wonderful couple who moved into the French Quarter of Sunbrook just over a year ago,

accepted the gospel and were baptized on Saturday, 

and confirmed in church on Easter Sunday.

There were almost 100 of our branch members/friends who attended the baptism.

There probably would have been more, but many went out of town for the holiday.

We could barely fit into the room with the baptismal font.

A lovely luncheon was held at their neighbor's home afterwards.

Easter is all about rebirth, renewal and our gratitude to Chris for his Atonement. 

What an appropriate, lovely and poignant predecessor to this beloved holiday!

Roger and I had our traditional grilled lamb chops and mint jelly, chives mashed potatoes, 

green salad, spring asparagus. . . 

. . .  and lemon strawberry shortcake for dessert.

Even without the baskets, jelly beans and colored eggs of our Easters Past, 

I love Easter!