52 (or so) Blessings

My fablious SIL, Amz, started a project on her blog called, "The 52 Blessings Project". She started at the first of the year and has done one blessing a week. I thought this was a great idea, except we're almost through February, so mine wont quite be 52 blessings, unless I can catch up. So, anyway, here's my first one:

The beauty and majesty of nature
This was the view off our deck last night. Look at how beautiful Timp is. Can you see the moon hovering just above the mountain? I love nature and the outdoors. I have decided that one of the ways I feel Heavenly Father's love for me, as his daughter, is through the beauty, magnificence and grandeur of nature. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for making our world so beautiful!

Trip to Rexburg!

Our little family was so excited to go on a little road trip. My sister, Alyssa, is a sophomore attending BYU-Idaho-- the college formerly known as Ricks College-- my alma mater, in fact. Alyssa was part of a production put on by the music departments. It was a night featuring the student concerto winners and a performance of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6, Pathetique. Earlier in the year, Alyssa competed against 9 other pianists- most of them older than her- and won and got to play a concerto: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37 by Beethoven. For those of you who don't know what a concerto is, it is this: A composition for an orchestra and one or more solo instruments. Alyssa was the solo instrument on the piano. We just had to make the trip up to Rexburg to see her perform. We got all dress up, kids included, and went to see her perform. She did FABULOUS! We were so proud of her! I just wanted to keep saying, "That's my baby sister!" Anyway, we were so glad we got to go and the car trip was fun too! Our family loves road trips! Here are some pictures of us in the car.

Connor taking atvantage of the oh-so scenic drive up to Rexburg!

McKay coloring the drive away

Makenna and her 'map'
Makenna drew this map for us. She said, "There are lots of straight lines on the map because we keep going straight. If we need to turn, I'll draw you another map with turns." *cute*

Close-up of the map

The Concert

Here is Alyssa after a performance well done, with the flowers my parents and some friends brought for her.

Alyssa with my mother dear

Makenna with Grandpa Harmon, who also came up to see Alyssa

There is a funny story behind this picture. The stage crew had moved the piano out of the way for the violinist concerto previous to Alyssa performing. After the violinist was done, the stage crew moved the piano back to center stage. Alyssa came out to a cheering crowd. She went to sit down at the piano and realized there was no bench! The crowd noticed too and Alyssa totally handled it great. She made a joke about it and then we all started clapping. The bench finally came out and it was down to it's lowest point, and she needs it at the highest point. She had to crank that thing up until it was right, which totally would have frazzled me and I would have done it too fast because I was worried about everyone waiting and then it totally would have messed up my performance. But, Alyssa took her time and got it just right. She is such a performer. As one lady put it after the concert, "She has stage presence." I whole-heartedly agree!

The Rexburg Temple

We got to see the Rexburg temple on our way back home. The temple is absolutely beautiful! In the night-time, it is stunning. The temple sits on the south side of campus up on the hill and cannot be missed. I was so thrilled to see a temple go in up here. What a blessing temples are in our lives.




We stopped by Jeff and Brandi's on the way home and got to see the Logan temple too. It boggles my mind at how blessed we are to have so many temples, so close to us. If you think about it, in our 4 hour little drive, we passed 10 temples! Timpanogos, Draper (not operating yet), Oquirrh Mountain (not operating yet), Jordan River, Salt Lake, Bountiful, Ogden, Logan, Idaho Falls and Rexburg. What blesstings the Lord has poured out upon us here in the west. How grateful I am for the temple and the peace and spirit and knowledge it brings into my life.

It's incredible.

Here is a shout-out to one of my all-time favorite movies. This is for you, Amz! Enjoy.

Jon Schmidt concert with Connor

Jon Schmidt playing, "All of Me"

Last night, Brett and I took Connor on a special date to see Jon Schmidt. If any of you do not know who he is, he is a MUST LISTEN TO musician. Seriously, he is so good. But, he is even BETTER in person. He was AWESOME! He is such an entertainer! We laughed most the night! We wanted to take Connor to keep him motivated about playing the piano. Sometimes, well most the time, practicing can be hard and frustrating and we keep telling Connor that all his hard work will pay off. And it already is paying off, but sometimes it's hard for him to see the purpose of practicing. So, by the suggestion of our wonderful piano teacher, we decided to take him to a concert to show him how good he could be someday. Anyway, he LOVED it! He was quoting Jon Schmidt lines all night and all this morning. Jon even talked about growing up and hating to practice, but he stuck with it and I think it did the trick! Connor was so happy to practice this morning! Thank you, Jon Schmidt! Of course, I took my camera, but the batteries ran out. I wish we could have some video of last night, but this Youtube one will have to do. Our fave songs include, "Waterfall", "The Dumb Song", "All of Me", "Pachelbel Meets U2", "Game Day", "North Pole Express" and " I Saw Three Ships." This guy is AMAZING!

Two of the BEST People in the WORLD!

Not only are these two people some of the greatest on the earth, they are two of my favorites! These two people are my Grandma and Grandpa Harmon. These two have been some of my greatest fans since I can remember. Any kind of activity I was involved in growing up, they would be there to support me. If I had a piano recital, they were there. If I had a basketball game, they were there. If I gave a talk in church, they were there. If I needed help with math homework, they were there. My grandpa has taught math for atleast 30 years on a jr. High (Kearns), high school (Taylorsville) and college (BYU) level. If you needed help with math, Grandpa Harmon was the man. Not only did he know how to help you, but he made it fun and he helped you understand it! And he had (and still has) the patience of Job-- and he needed that to help me understand some of my math problems! Grandma was there to help too. She'd always provide loving encouragement and a hearty snack. Always! I am so thankful for my grandparents! I feel so blessed that my children are getting to experience life with these amazing people in it! My grandparents continue to show the same love and support to my children that they showed (and still show) me. It just makes my heart sing to know they have a special relationship with them. The more I am around these two great people, the more I want to be like them. They have left a legacy of love and service, just like that of President Hinckley. They both go out of their way to help others, and love others and be kind to strangers. My grandparents are my greatest heros and I feel so blessed to have them in my life. Thank you grandma and grandpa Harmon! Simply put, you are wonderful!
"To fa, soy fua!"