Just a FYI

The Savior of the World tickets did not sell out the first day, like in years past. Which is actually good in my opinion. That gives more people an opportunity to buy them! So yes, if you were not available to buy them last week, try soon because there are still some available nights! Thanks to those of you who let me know when you'd be coming! I totally am looking forward to it! :)

Just look at the post below to get the link to ordering tickets! Have a great day!

Savior of the World Tickets Sell out FAST!!!

Hi Friends and Family,

Just letting you all know that John and I are in the performance, "Savior of the World." This performance starts November 20th and goes through the New Year on January 2nd. This production is a musical depiction of Christ's birth and resurrection, and is put on by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I think the play itself has been going for 10 years about now, maybe more . . . not sure.

If you haven't seen this play before, I would recommend it to anyone. LDS member or not. It is the most wonderful way of truly getting into the Christmas spirit, and really has brought the spirit of Christmas into our lives as we are preparing for performances.

Ok, so here's all the info, since it's kind of important since it's really hard to get tickets unless you jump on it.

Tickets go on sale THIS

Tuesday, October 20th at 10am MST

8 years and older are allowed
Tickets are $8 each (+1.50 if you buy them online)
Sunday dress is encouraged
John and I perform on: Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday night

See the following link for more detailed information:

http://www.lds. org/events/ info/0,8197, 726-1-735, 00.html
(at the top of that page on the right, it says, Obtain Tickets Online, and will probably become active at 10am)

Tickets typically sell out in the first hour or so. You'll need to act quick to get them.

The numbers to call for tickets:
801-570-0080 (locally) or toll-free 1-866-537-8457 (1-866-LDS-TIKS) beginning at 10:00 a.m. MST.

Ok, so if you aren't convinced to come see this play because of the amazing spirit and music, maybe you'll come for this reason:

John has 3 roles, 2 of which are speaking roles. He gets to be the Temple Priest in the beginning of the 1st act with Zacharias, His biggest part is probably the Roman Statesman where he orders all citizens to return to their cities of origin in a gruff voice :) and then they just barely assigned him to be in the role of Matthew, one of the 12 apostles. He does have a one liner for that. AND John is growing a nice full beard to go along with all of this!!! All of you who know John, you probably know that he is extremely excited for that reason ;)

Also, my brother Benson, for those of who you know him, is playing the role of Benjamin in the first act, which is also a speaking role. I am happily just in the Ensemble, or in other words, one of the angels on the colonade! But I'm excited to see my brother and husband play in these roles.

PLEASE come! I know tickets are going to be tough to get because you'll have to get them during that exact time, but if you do get tickets, I promise it'll be worth it. Let us know when you're coming, especially if it's on one of our nights, and that way we can make sure to come out and greet you afterwards!

Hope this info helps! Enjoy the wonderful Christmas spirit this year!

Angela

P.S. just comment is you have any other questions!

Happy 2nd Birthday My Caleb!

Yep, that's right! This little squirt is FINALLY 2!!!! And sure acting like it too . . . I have been telling people that he's two for months now (I think), but now it's actually official! We've already completed his two year old session too! So there are LOTS of cute pictures coming up with this little guy!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CALEB!!!!!!

Reflections of the Past and Future

Well to start off this post, John and I will be joining in the production of "Savior of the World," a church produced play about the Savior's Birth and Resurrection.

I have been privileged to have participated in this play 3 years ago for 2 years in a row. I had some wonderful fun memories of those two years: meeting new fun people of all ages, learning beautiful music and being able to perform, flirting with boys (of course . . . I was in high school then), late night performances and some group dinners afterwards, performing with my mom and brother, and driving, driving, driving!

But more important than that, I desperately needed that spiritual strengthening during that time in my life. Between personal problems at school and church, things I couldn't control, I needed the peaceful spiritual experience found through singing about our Savior. Those two years (Junior and Senior year), I thrived during that semester, and got exceptional grades even though I was pulling late nights 3 times a week for several months. The Lord knew my needs at the time, and knew the sacrifice it was to be in this performance, and somehow everything worked out. Those couple of years in that performance were some of my best memories yet in my life.
When I met John the next year, I knew that it just wouldn't be possible to be in it that year. And then the following two Christmas seasons, same thing . . .as much as I wanted to, I just knew that it wasn't something that we could do that year.
This year, things have been a little different. . . life has been wonderful, and I've been very blessed, but more than ever I need this experience. So much change has happened to me in the past 3 years, things are starting to catch up to me, and I need to rediscover who I am. The weeks leading up to the try-outs, I kept having things come to me where I knew I should at least try-out. My mom offered (before I even starting considering trying-out) to be the full-time babysitter if we did Savior of the World. That is a huge commitment on her part, and very graciously offered. Once in Relief Society, we sang the song, "The Spirit of God." and I felt like crying, because I felt this strong desire and need to be apart of this performance again. It wasn't just a desire. . . it was a need.

Only problem. . . John wasn't convinced about trying out. It is a huge sacrifice! It's not a decision to be made lightly. For a couple weeks, I kept trying to get an answer out of him if he'd do it with me or not. I knew I was supposed to do it with him. It would not be the same without John. I knew it would be a wonderful spiritual experience to have together . . . bring us closer together spiritually.

After praying much, the day of auditions (auditions went on for a week), I was blow-drying my hair singing, "Lead Kindly Light," which he knew would be the audition song for us if we did it. And suddenly he said, " Ok, honey. You can make the appointment." I could tell that he was sincere. He just had to make the decision on his own.

We auditioned with my brother, Benson. The audition went well, I wasn't nervous, we even got to read lines. Benson got to go to call-backs for a part. Then we just waited . . .

The weird thing is that I felt really strongly to try-out, but not necessarily a strong impression like we'd make it. I actually was quite indifferent. I would be OK if we made it, and OK if we didn't . . . I knew the Lord knew best.

It's great though because photography is actually what I consider "slow" right now. Maybe that's because I've been constantly busy for 2 years . . . but I wasn't upset or worried about that, which I would usually be. I knew there had to be a reason. Now I know . . . and I'm grateful.

We got the call last night about being apart of the production. Benson was given the speaking part of Benjamin - which is a big deal! especially for him.
John is excited to be able to continue growing his beard (it's already 2 weeks of growth), and just today I've started to really get excited about it!

For the next month or so, the practices are only about once a week and are just singing rehearsals, learning the music. After that it gets busy, up to 3 times a week, but that's also when you start feeling more apart of the cast and getting to know your new cast "family."

It will be a sacrifice to leave Caleb each night, but I know he will be watched over with care by my mom, and that the Lord will bless our family. I'm excited to be focused more on the Savior this coming Christmas season. How could you not after singing and focusing on his birth and resurrection 3 times a week?

Because I feel like reminicing about the past 2 times I was apart of this, I thought I'd post some pictures of some of my friends whom I was close to. I am sad though because I somehow seem to have lost the snap shots that I took with my own camera. I am so grateful to the man who went around with his nice camera getting pictures of everyone and really capturing the feel of this performance. Maybe they'll let me do that too . . . :) Hopefully!

So these are the pictures he shared with all of us (and I feel so bad that I forgot his name! He was just the camera guy to me!)


Oh my little Benson!! He's so big now! That year, he played the little brother to Mary, mother of Jesus.

Ron & Sandy!!!! Oh I totally love them! Ron made the perfect "Santa Claus" with his snowy white beard! Ron always treated me like a treasured granddaughter.

David & Kara Zabriski. David wrote all of the music to SOTW.

Lynn!!! and Joseph (far right)!!! I miss you . . . !!!

It's really neat because once a season, an Apostle of the 12, will come and speak to the cast. M. Russell Ballard came to visit us. It was such a neat experience!

Here's our Director, David Warner. The neatest guy . . .

Cole!!! He was the neatest shepherd. Whenever he would start to sing, I would bawl. He had the spirit in his life on and off stage. He also had two girls whom I totally loved!Mike, oh Mike . . . He seriously was one of my first friends when I first was in the performance. I remember us joking about the "grey" in his beard after I commented about it. Luckily, he was still my friend after that . . .

Joseph!! He was another surrogate grandpa for me! One of the happiest men!

Merrill & Christy Humberg. It was wonderful being with them in the performance!

Gerry!!!! My "Cousin" or "Cuz!" Really . . . somehow through some distant marriage, we figured out we are related. He is one of the funniest people I know! He's going to be in the other cast this year :( but at least I can maybe see him sometimes.

The Burns' family!!! Jill, Doug, Eleena, and their boys were great friends to me! I love their friendship!

And seriously . . . so many more friends who I lost pictures with, but whom I loved so dearly!

If you can think of an experience you've had in your life that even after several years, you still get teary eyed thinking about the strong spirit or love that you had for the people involved, then you can have an idea of how I still feel about my experiences in Savior of the World.

I'm so excited and humbled to be able to have this experience again, and to share it with my husband! I'm sure we'll meet lots of new friends and have new experiences.

I know that the experience will be different. . . I'm different now. I've changed a lot since then, but I know that even through the change, it will be a wonderful spiritual experience.

"Come, Lord Jesus, Come . . . ."

Caleb's Hour: Graduated

Well guess what surprise I had Thursday afternoon after Caleb's nap . . .

He walked out of his room.

By himself.

Surprised? You may say, "Well so what? He's old enough to open the door by now, right?"

Well yes, but he still sleeps in a crib . . .

Or so we thought . . .


Yep, Caleb officially graduated himself from the crib.

Yippee . . . . I think . . .

What does this mean for me? No more sleeping in. Yes, I am one of those fortunate mothers where I can just let Caleb hang out in his crib for a couple hours in the morning while I sleep in (usually until only 9:30am, but it could be later) and he never complains.

Not anymore . . .

So this is how Thursday night panned out:

Bedtime comes. We stick him in the crib. Hoping he'll forget about his graduated success.

Nope. He comes out smiling. We stick him back in the crib. Will he stay there?

Nope. He comes out smiling again.

So I decide to finally try the spare bed we have in the room. I knew he'd feel like a big boy sleeping in a big bed. He was pretty excited about that. He still decided to come out again. But after explaining to him what he needed to do, he finally consented and fell asleep.

Phew! That wasn't so bad . . .

We finally go to bed. I'm sleeping soundly. Until I see Caleb's face staring me down. I look at the clock: 1:30am. Oh dear . . . without any fussing, Caleb allows me to put him back in the bed.

The house is quiet, and everyone is asleep again. Or so I thought . . .

My bedroom door closes.

Well it's usually open. I reach over and find John still in bed and the house dark.

So I roll out of bed to see if Caleb in fact was just outside our door.

He was.

And sitting very quietly on his bike.

Yeah. . . it's 3:30am!!!

Not quite the time for riding bike and playing, is my guess.

So luckily, he allowed me to put him in his crib for the rest of the night where he stayed.

Since then, we are going back and forth between the crib and the bed. Naptimes are interesting. . . I am not sure how much sleep he is actually getting. Not enough for me though.

And this morning, Saturday, his bright shining face graced our bedroom at 7:30am. I guess even after those 2 years of training him to sleep in a bit for my benefit, didn't quite work. We really do have an early bird baby. Now he's going to have to train his Night-Owl parents . . .


We are posing for these pictures in his bed. It was so funny because I kept telling Caleb, "Close your eyes, and pretend you're asleep."

But he's just like his mother. . . he can only act for a few seconds before cracking down to that adorable, irresitible toothless smile!

And for good measure, I'll share another adorable picture of my sweet Bubbies! (or bunny in this case!)

Happy weekend! (oh yeah and happy birthday to my daddy who is 50 today!! Pictures of that to come soon . . . !!!)

We Love to See the Temple

Last Sunday, the Oquirrh Mountain Temple was dedicated. Our Bishopric encouraged us to go to that since our Sacrament services were canceled due to the dedication. They also encouraged us to have our own little family meeting where we talked about the temple and felt the spirit. Well after John and I went to the dedication, we decided that we wanted to bring Caleb to the temple, and let him walk around the temple grounds. During the dedication, I felt the impression to have more pictures of the temple around my house. Even though I'd taken several pictures of the Timpanogos Temple, I wanted to find the perfect one to print big in my home.

It must have been God's tender mercy, but when we went to the Temple, the clouds were incredibly gorgeous! I was able to capture a better picture than I had expected.

This picture brings peace to my soul. I still need to figure out which edit I like best, so I can print it up canvas size in my home. Which do you like the best? The first or second?In my mom's stake, they have encouraged each family to have a picture of themselves out in front of the temple: a family picture, and individual pictures of each person in front of the temple. I enjoyed getting a few candid shots of my family just enjoying being at the temple.

This next one will probably go in Caleb's room, so he can remember to make it a goal in his life to go to the temple.

Love this next one: (compliments of John)

(Some tricky camera skills . . .)

This next one was a second favorite. I would call it "Refuge from the Storm"

We love to see the Temple. We're going there someday. To feel the Holy Spirit, to Listen and to Pray. For the Temple is the House of God, a place of Love and Beauty. We'll prepare ourselves, while we are young. This is our Sacred Duty.

New Smile - Pictures & Thoughts

Well here's our little Caleb's new smile that he might be keeping for quite a while! It's definitely going to take some time for it to grow on me. I can't help but laugh or sigh each time I see it. I'm not going to lie to you all and pretend that this didn't come as a blow to me. When the dentist told me that pulling the tooth would be the "last resort" I figured that'd mean there was a good possibility that he could fix it. But after he took a look at it for less than five minutes and told me he'd have to pull it, I was shocked. I couldn't help but think that if the medicine had worked to knock Caleb out for the procedure or that the Dentist had made more of an effort to get Caleb in on Monday when we first went in, that we could have fixed it. It hadn't been an "emergency situation" on Monday and he said that "it wouldn't change much in the next couple days," I took that as he thought he could fix it and that it really wouldn't change. But it did. And I can't help but feel the loss of that beautiful baby tooth.

I guess I can't blame the dentist. I'd like to, just because I'm a mom, and gave trust to the dentist that he'd do everything he could to fix it and he'd treat my child as though it were his own. And maybe he did do everything he could, I guess it just feels that after only 5 minutes, he got to the last resort. It was not comforting to hear "Well at least his teeth have a second chance." Because with the technology today, it's fine if you lose your permanent teeth. That's what implants are for, and I even have a fake tooth. At least you typically don't have to live without your missing front tooth. But for baby's teeth, they don't have a solution besides, "you'll just have to wait till the permanents come in." Well that's in like 6 years . . .

So this is kind of what I understood of what the problem was: the tooth had cracked in a way that it was almost right down the tooth which damaged the nerve. It definitely wasn't that cracked when it first happened, but I guess over a matter of a couple days the crack got worse. So because the nerve was damaged, the tooth wouldn't really be able to last for long anyways even if they tried to patch it.

Caleb was a trooper even though he was awake. Luckily he was a little bit drowsy. He wore the pink laughing gas nose very well, but sometimes took it off and said happily to the assistant, "Hi!" They had to hold down his arms a little bit, and near the end he was pretty squirmy. The medicine didn't really knock him out until later on that morning when I put him down for a nap, and he slept for 5 hours! I even snuck a nap while I could . . .

Caleb hasn't shown any discomfort when it comes to pain. He was quite grumpy yesterday (and a little today), but other than that, he's done pretty well!

But yes this is Caleb's new look for a while! He is definitely still a cute kid, just a different kind of cute. I'm trying to be more positive about the situation, since I'm the one who took it the hardest. It could have been worse I guess. And I'm thankful that Caleb doesn't care about the way he looks. It definitely gives him personality (not that he doesn't have enough of that already!).

I really love my Caleb! I appreciate his happy and loving spirit. He's helping me to be a better person. I absolutely love his cuddles when he'll give them to me, and I love hearing him say "Hold you, Mommy." We're rounding on his 2 year old birthday soon, and I just can't believe time is going this fast! Yet I feel like Caleb has been apart of our family for forever! He makes our lives full of sweet happiness!

Thanks for letting me share my true feelings for better or for worse, and to share Caleb's new smile with you all :)