Creche Festival

Today we spent the morning and into the afternoon decorating the stake center for the 16th Annual Christmas Nativity Art and Music Festival (that is a mouthful - it originally was called the Creche Festival but so many people said "What's a Creche?" that it got changed). I have the dubious honor of being the Festival Chairperson this year. It's actually a two year calling - the first year you get to be the assistant, which I did last year and then you get to do the whole thing. Wednesday, everyone will bring their nativities (hundreds of them!) and then the Festival will be open Thursday, Friday and Saturday. My favorite part is the music - they have performances on Thursday and Friday nights and pretty much all day long on Saturday - ending with a community sing of the Hallelujah Chorus. The other part I love is when people come up to us and say, "Thank you so much for doing this." It was amazing last year - it just seemed to me that people were so hungry to be part of a Christmas celebration that entirely focused on the Savior. It's a LOT of work but also a wonderful way to begin the Christmas season.

Seth's Concert

Last night we went to Seth's Vocal Jazz Concert at Mt San Antonio College. He sings in an award winning group called Singcopation. Seth had a solo last night in the old Bobby Darin song, 'Beyond the Sea". Usually, when the performers solo, they just get a small part but Seth did the whole song. His talents amaze me. He has the most smooth, mellow voice. It was a wonderful performance. It should be out in CD next year so put your orders in now!

Washington, September 2008

I'm a little late in getting this posted but thought it was better late than never. We had a great trip up there and really nice visit with Grandpa. The weather was sunny & gorgeous. Thought you might enjoy these images.

Washington

Dad and I are off to Washington tomorrow to visit Grandpa. It will be nice to visit with Grandpa and a welcome respite from the weather we're having. It is supposed to be 101 here tomorrow and the forecast there is 60 and rainy!!! But I love rain. I was hoping it would rain at least one day while we were up there. I think it will be a nice break for Dad - he has been working so hard - but then he always does. We'll be back Tuesday evening. If I remember to take my camera, I may even post some pictures next week.

Free Date

Okay, for everyone on a budget, we've got a great idea for a free date. We went to the Temple today - that's always wonderful. But we ended up at Montclair Plaza shopping for a wedding ring for Dad. Just in case anyone ever wondered he did have one when we got married almost 36 years ago but lost it after about the first six months. He took it off to play basketball and it dissappeared...........and he wasn't too sad about it because he just couldn't get used to wearing a ring. That never bothered me but he got to feeling that it was time to get another ring. So, we've been looking for a while and we finally found one tonight - so check out Dad's hand when you see him next.
But now to get to the free part - we were both getting pretty tired and were heading back to the car when we saw Brookstone. They have a $4,000.00 Massage chair - that first scans and measures your back and then gives you the smoothest, most incredibe massage. It was amazing! We both felt totally rejuvenated when we were through. It was hard to make ourselves believe that we didn't NEED that chair instead of just wanting it. It definitely goes to the top of my priority list as soon as we get our house paid off.
Dad's going on a bike ride to the Beach tomorrow with the youth. He's hoping he makes it. But I guess anyone who can climb Half Dome can do that too.

Free Date

We're Blogging!!!

We're Blogging! Can you believe it? (Thanks Amy, for getting us started.)

This picture was taken when Ben and Merrilee were here in June and we spent an afternoon at the Huntington Library. This is one of my favorite pictures of Ben & Merrilee -taken at Claim Jumper later the same day.