Primary Children's

We were now running a little late-- mostly because we didn't know how to get to Primary Children's. We found it, and hurried out of the bus. The kids set up right inside the front doors and the miracles just kept coming. The location inside the door is right by the cafeteria. The reception desk and ER admitting was right there, too. There were a lot of people moving in and out. Right in the beginning and boy in a wheelchair came up with his mom and two brothers. I moved and gave them our seats right in front of the choir. This family sat there the whole time and were SO attentive. They clapped after each song.Shortly after this, I looked over and saw Ellie Wiest talking to a girl. It happened to be Brandy Phillips who is in her ward. Brandy is a 16 yr old and SCHS and has Hodgkins. She had just finished up chemo treatments and was headed home with her mom and dad. Ellie got to talk to her for a few minutes as they listened to the kids sing. What a treat to be able to sing to their friend.
A while later a mom came through with a toddler in a wagon and watched for a few minutes. Then a lady in pajamas and in a wheelchair came and watched.
During the last song, and boy in a wheelchair was pulled up right by me. His mom was next to me and I assume and hospital worker was on the other side. This sweetheart had a shaved head with a big horseshoe shaped cut and stitches on the side of his head. He looked a little down. They had gotten there right at the end of the song. Mr. Reimer had thanked everyone and told them that was our last song. I turned to them and said, "Oh darn! You just got here!" The lady looked disappointed. So I went over to Mr. Reimer and said, "this young man just got here. Can you sing a song for him?" He came over to the boy and asked if he had a favorite song. He shook his head and said "not really." Someone by him said, "sing him something cheerful." So Mr. Reimer went over to the choir and told them that they were going to sing to the boy. The whole choir turned toward him and sang "Joy to the World." Part way through the song, the boy's dad walked in. The mom said to him, pointing at the choir, "they are singing to him!" The dad looked at her, then moved to the side. You know when you catch a moment when no words pass, but you can just feel what they were saying to each other-- an understanding passed between them. I moved to the side to get a picture of the whole scene and as I did, I could see through the camera, this lady next to the mom look at her-- again with no words but something passing between them that said, "this is for you and everything is going to be okay." She put her arm around the mom, and the mom touched her hand on her shoulder. (You'll be proud-- I got that picture.) I was just in tears AGAIN!! Following the song, the kids went up to talk to both boys in a wheelchair. The last boy I found out was Nathan. He had had a seizure and when he got to Primary Children's found out that he had a brain tumor. They had operated and removed it and he was just going home. The other little hispanic boy that was there at the beginning was Jesus. He was 10 years old and his brothers were 11 & 4. The kids talked to him. Jadon asked him if he liked it. He said he did. I'm telling you. It was just SO touching!!

And I forgot to mention, that the Jazz Dancers walked through and so did Memot Okur. I didn't see him because I was busy watching the others. But Jared Radmall saw him and said he wanted to run out and talk to him!

While we were waiting for the bus, the kids just could not refuse a snowball fight! Yep! Here they are in tuxes and dresses and snow! You just can't refuse snow when it is sitting at your feet and you have a little extra time!

Afternoon & Evening with Madrigals

Lunch
We left Primary Children's and while waiting for the bus, the kids had a big snowball fight. Yep, in dresses and tuxes. Quite the scene. We ate lunch at "The Pie" on University Campus. And I have to tell you, it is REALLY good pizza!

Following lunch, the kids had about 45 minutes of free time before reporting to the Assembly Hall for practice. I wandered with Julie Wiest and Kristen Risener. It was chilly, so we walked to the North Visitors center to visit. As we were walking, Kristen was telling us that she was called as the Stake Camp Director and she was having trouble getting a counselor on board with her. She said that she saw this iron rod idea on the internet that had a "Hold On" song with it. I chuckled and said, "that was ours." She said, "What?" I said, "that was the song I wrote when we did the iron rod." Needless to say, she had a lot of questions, so I told her all about it. Another cool thing happened as we were walking to the visitors center. Over the sound system, we heard, "And it came to pass that in those days, there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed......" There was a big nativity between the North Visitors Center and the Tabernacle. Julie hollered, "Hey wait a minute!" We all stopped. She said, "That's my dad!' It turns out that her dad had recorded a lot of things for the church before he passed away. I thought that was a neat tender mercy. Probably just to let her know she was being thought of!

Afternoon & Evening
As we arrived in the Assembly Hall, the kids were practicing some songs. They had ended a song and a gentleman stood up, clapping, and yelled, "BRAVO! BRAVO!" We found out later that this was the composer of the song. He was Clay Christiansen the organist for the tabernacle choir and that was the arrangement he had written. He told the kids that they had sung it so beautifully.

Also seated in the Assembly Hall was B. Murphy who had conducted the choir the night before. He went up the kids when they were done and talked to them and took pictures with them.Following rehearsal, they sang in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Boy is that a pretty place??!!

Then they headed to the South Visitor Center. They had the most beautiful backdrop to sing with. (Actually it was to their side) but it had these HUGE glass windows that looked out at the temple. The temple was lit up and so were all the lights on the trees. It was the most picturesque setting! During the last song, the boys just started laughing. I was trying to figure out what had happened. I later found out that one of the boys sang, "Do you see what I hear?" Mr. Reimer mouthed to them, "For The LOVE!" because he had lectured them earlier on the bus about singing the right words because Jadon had sung the wrong ones earlier in the day.
We had a few minutes to wait until the last concert in the Assembly Hall. Jadon and a few of the kids decided to carol on temple square on their way to the Assembly Hall. People honestly stopped and listened to them. It would have been better if they knew what they were singing.

When we got in the Assembly Hall, we came in just as another group was finishing. They were singing the "Hallelujah Chorus" and didn't sound very good. When we started the guy who opened asked the congregation to not take photos or videos. The kids began singing. Adam Hansen played the Organ. The kids sang their hearts out. It was a flawless performance. I thought it sounded like a mini MoTab. At the end of the performance, the gentleman who conducted went to Mr. Reimer and asked him if he knew anyone who had a camera. Mr Reimer was thinking that I was out there taking pictures and we were in trouble. Finally, after asking a couple of times, he said that someone needed to take a picture of the group. He came to the microphone and said what a great performance this was. I'll bet there's some parents out there who are proud. I think you need to get a picture of these kids." So we were able to get some pictures. (Well, I didn't because I didn't get my camera out quick enough.) As we were leaving two different people that were working there told Mr. Reimer that they weren't supposed to say anything to the groups, but said that this was the best performance they have had all year. Bear in mind they said that there were over 500 performances on Temple Square between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Isn't that cool???

Saturday
It was snowing when I left Salt Lake. I tried to hurry and get ahead of the storm. It actually snowed until just after point of the mountain, then it was clear all the way home. Very windy, though. The choir didn't leave until 1:00 pm. They stopped at SouthTowne Mall for lunch, then got back on the road at around 2:30 pm. The roads were so bad that they had to drive really slow and I think actually got stopped at one point. Jadon said there were cars off the road all the way down to Nephi. I think they were in snow until past Cedar. They didn't get home until 10:30 pm. That is 8 hours from SLC to home. Crazy!

Jadon's gift

Jadon texted me Saturday on the way home from SLC and said that he has been feeling like he needed to go sing to Bro. Ence (Kenny). He was talking to kids on the bus and because Sis. Dalton had told them to share their gift, they decided that they wanted to keep singing. So I called Susan and asked if they could come and sing. We went over this afternoon and had another great experience. The gal on the violin and the guy on the cello also came. They had a small group of them come. They sang beautifully and Susan was crying and so was Kenny. The kids had tears in their eyes, too. So did Paul, Mom and I. It was pretty neat. Susan had actually asked if they could give him the Sacrament since no one had come after church. Jadon and David Allred administered to him, then they sang. Susan's daughter was crying, too. It was such a neat experience. I realized that the kids were trying to keep creating the feeling they felt that weekend. How blessed I feel to be a part of it! My camera wasn't working, so I didn't get any pictures. I wish I had some because it was so sweet.

Kameron's Concert

Thursday morning before I left, Kameron mentioned that he may have a concert that night. It ended up being true and I was in SLC. Mykelle & Kallan went in support. Mykelle has some great video footage. We have been laughing so hard. Since I'm not sure if I can load the video, I will just post a picture. This picture tells you what the video was like.

Big Bang Theory and Fireplaces

So I'm sitting at the computer the other night and I hear this loud BANG! I turn around and Britton is standing by the fireplace and the fireplace doors have blown open and Britton is looking a little funny. I yell, "What is going on?" Jadon walks over yelling, too, and we realize that Britton has thrown an old bic lighter (dollar store version) into the fireplace.

Now it really is funny except for the fact that I walk over there and see this huge log in there and realize that the wood could have blown out, the doors could have blown off, and the whole fireplace could have blown to bits. So I am mixed with this 'gratitude it wasn't worse,' 'I'm gonna beat this kid', and 'this is hysterical' emotional roller coaster going on. I mean really, does our family have to test EVERYTHING so we can pass on "what not to do when raising children" information for all of you??!!

A Discussion in White Teeth

The other day Mykelle, Whitnee, and I picked up Kallan from school. We were waiting for Amanda to come out and somehow there began a discussion about teeth whitening. Kallan made some comment about the Chinese not having white teeth, then he said, "what are they smoking over there? Cabbage?"

I thought we were going to die laughing. Really! Cabbage?? Where in the world did that come from? So now we all say, "What're you smoking, cabbage?"

Now you can all share the phrase with us.

Thanksgiving

We had such a fun Thanksgiving! It has been a long time since we have been all together with the Whipple's. We were able to have a great dinner and get to visit. I think I had more fun looking at all the kids and just marveling at how they were so close in resemblance to this parent or that. It was just so enjoyable and joyful!

Believe it or not, I was so on top of things that I got to go watch the "Turkey Bowl" for a few minutes and shoot some pictures. They had a lot of fun. Misi was running for touchdowns. Wes had a couple of interceptions (this was all during the time that I saw so I don't know about the second half stuff). Brady had a nice reception and ran backwards for a few yards until he realized that no one had pulled his flags. Even Jadon and Kallan had a couple of nice plays. Paul was right in the thick of things as usual. What fun!

We also had fun with the basketball game at the church that night. Let me just tell you there were a lot of sore people by the next morning! Enjoy some pictures from each of the events of the day.

Beauty & The Beast

If you missed this play, you missed a GREAT one! The kids did such an amazing job. Everyone we talked thought this was the best play they have done at Snow Canyon. Each character did such a great job-- they were ALL stars!! Enjoy some pictures.