Random February-ness

Our "Ten Virgins" cast

Dear ones,

We had a calm, good week-- my favorite part was being in the Ten Virgins musical! :-) I'm afraid I will subject you to several pictures on that subject! ;-)

Monday I took Lliam, Gavin, and Ronan to get haircuts. Yes, even Lliam was ready for a trim. I stopped in the McDonald's drive-thru for ice cream cones afterwards. It was nice to spoil them a bit. :-)

Haircuts make us happy!

On Tuesday I ran Morganne to Institute Choir at CGCC (Chandler-Gilbert Community College), and then Daddy took her back for Institute that evening. We need to get that girl driving soon!

Wednesday evening was New Beginnings for the Young Women. They had a fun "Cruise" theme and Dierdre brought home one of the decorations; a tiny goldfish she named "Goldilocks."

Our lovely "Goldilocks" (a.k.a. Dierdre)

We spent Thursday cleaning the house in preparation for feeding the missionaries that evening. Morganne made her famous chili and served it with tortilla chips, cheese and sour cream. They couldn't stay long, but it was so nice to have them join us to eat. It sure makes us think of our missionary!

Friday morning's Biology class that's usually at our house was cancelled, so I gathered some props and stage decorations for the Ten Virgins play and after almost getting in a car accident on the way, (WHEW!) I headed over to the church to help decorate the stage. Even though I had my class to plan for later that afternoon, I decided to stay and help. It was so fun! I was draping fabric, pinning trim, and arranging decorations and props. I had a BLAST!

Our stage, all dressed up

About the play: It felt soooo wonderful to be using my talents to build up the Lord's kingdom. I had been praying for an opportunity to do so for a LONG time, and the Lord answered my prayers in a wonderful way! :-)

Cast members getting direction in between performances

We had our final dress rehearsal Friday night, where we also performed for our families. It was a little rocky, but overall, it went really well.

Saturday morning we had our first performance at 9am. President D--, our stake president, came and talked to us briefly after our warm up. It was so neat! He reminded us of how much the sisters in our stake needed to hear the message to prepare spiritually. We also performed at 11am and then again at 1pm. We really felt that the Lord used us to bring His daughters closer to Him that day. It was the BEST experience I have ever had being onstage. I loved every second!!!

Our director and pianist discuss song speed with our one dancer.

Being in this presentation has been such a blessing in my everyday life, too! It has helped me feel close to the Savior every day, and taught me lesson after lesson about staying in tune with the Spirit, and being prepared to meet the Lord. I have had some very sacred, personal experiences because of my preparation for the performances. I hope I remember them all! (Yes, I am recording them in my journal...)

Me, backstage

Last night, after choir practice, Daddy and I attended the Priesthood Preview meeting with RONAN! Can you believe it?! Yes, he turns 12 this year. He and all the boys in his group are so fun. There's a LOT of them! Most of the boys sat together on the front row, but even though they invited him to come and sit with them, Ronan wanted to sit with Daddy and I. That was sweet!

At the end of the inspiring meeting, Ronan and all the boys stood up at the front and sang "Armies of Helaman." I'm pretty sure there wasn't a dry eye among the parents. (The sound cuts out in the middle when I accidently covered the mike, and you get subjected to my soprano voice at the end when the sound comes back up. I tried to sing quietly-- I really did! LOL!)



During the meeting, Brother--, who is in the stake YM presidency, said that only 35% of young men in the stake are going on missions! OUCH. Satan is really working hard to distract the young men in our area from serving. Yes, I cried.

We we miss you all, and we want you all to know how important you are to us. We pray for each of you daily, and love each one of you sooo much. May the Lord continue to bless and teach and heal us all!!!

Lots of love,
Mama Rachel

Happy Groundhog Day!

Dear sweet peoples,

Well, it has been an in-ter-est-ing week. We have had a house full of sickies, beginning with Davy puking on Monday night, and then most of the rest barfing on Tuesday, with a few stragglers (Dad and Lliam) getting sick later in the week-- just in time for Granna and Pa to come! (Granna and Pa got here on Wednesday morning and just left last night.) Poor Granna did end up sick, but was well enough to go to church with us on Sunday, and to fly home that afternoon.

Goofy me and gorgeous Granna

The laundry room has officially been declared a disaster area. YIKES.

Granna and Pa brought down a moving truck full of things from them and from Grandma Nielsen.
​Wasn't that so sweet of them? We had a great time with them! ​It was like Christmas all over again, but this time with some tears. (From me.) It still doesn't feel like she's gone, but she was such a HUGE part of my life, that I know she will be with me-- and IN me-- always. She set such a wonderful example for me, and I want to be just like her. I want to make her proud of me!

Dierdre and friend serving at the temple.

Dierdre went to the temple to perform baptisms for the dead with her sweet little friend, C---. She got over her sickness just in time to go! She has some great friends in this ward. We are doing all we can to stay!

The stake presentation of "The Ten Virgins" that I'm in runs for three performances THIS SATURDAY!!! I am super, SUPER excited! I am hoping to take lots of pictures and take a video of the show so that I can send it to loved ones, like yourselves. It has been such a huge blessing in my life-- I just don't want it to end! I hope I remember the lessons I am learning from this experience. I want to be one of the WISE!

The kids loved having Granna and Pa here-- Fiona loved them, too, though she does take a while to warm up to people at first. She is such a mama's girl! 

Fiona warmed up to Pa pretty quickly.

She is sooo cute! Her newest thing is to smack her lips after someone kisses her. She is really good at mimicking sounds. And she is standing up and holding on to anything that will stay still. She crawls and babbles-- though she also likes to whisper-- so adorable! 

The kids are running around, playing, fighting, drawing, crafting, reading, some are even studying, and after a week of illness, the house is a disaster. SIGH. Hopefully, I can get them to clean up soon enough to take them all to the library this afternoon. (After the older boys all get HAIRCUTS.)

*They DID earn their library trip last week, in case you were wondering... ;-) )

We love you all!!!
~Mama Rachel