Happy Easter Bunny Day!

Christmas Gift: Outing #4!

Dan surprised me with tickets to this Broadway musical performed here in Sacramento!

Sister Act is a musical based on the hit 1992 film comedy of the same name.  None of the songs from the film are included in the stage adaptation--it has all new songs and the dialogue is quite different as well.  Same basic story though--a nightclub singer who witnessed a murder is hiding in a convent and she becomes the choir director.

It was lots of fun!

Smiles All Around!

We all enjoyed having Reid, Kathy and Claire visiting us!

And we all enjoyed the lovely Open House in Walnut Creek!

Happy times make for lots of smiles!

Easter Concert!

We attended this event last night!

Congratulations to Kathryn and Amelia who were asked to sing in an 18-voice Children's Choir.  They were fantastic!

They performed on the stage of our high school auditorium before a large audience!

We got this shot of Amanda after the concert.  She played in the viola section of the orchestra.  

There was also a large choir with many members from our stake.  And Dan gave the Welcome.  I was an outstanding member of the audience!

Once Upon A Lily Pad With An Amazing Star!

We went to Amelia's First Grade program yesterday at noon!

She was Papa Frog:

Here are all the performers:

And here all all the frogs!

What was so amazing about one of the stars of the show?

Some of the children were absent due to illness, some even that morning became sick.  Amelia had originally been assigned to be a narrator and she had been memorizing her part for weeks.  The morning of the performance she was asked to be Papa Frog and she proceeded to memorize all of her lines and delivered them perfectly during the show.  No one would have guessed she hadn't been working on them for weeks.  Amazing!

We are so proud of her!!

P.S. to March Wrap-Up:

Penny's birthday is December 29th--a hard time to pull a party together.  So on March 29th she celebrated her 5th birthday with a friend party and it was lots of fun.  Suzie made this Hello Kitty pinata and it was a big "hit!"

March Wrap-Up!

A couple of things I wanted to remember from last month.

A lot of fun was had with perler beads in Clinton:

(Happy 13th Birthday to Emma!)

A cute baby shower idea for twins: Diaper Drop Off!

A couple in our ward are having twins soon.  As a surprise, some friends organized a Diaper Drop Off.  From 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. on a Saturday people showed up with boxes of diapers at random times.  Some just left them on the porch while others knocked.  The couple were very surprised and loved it!  They said it was extra fun to see all their friends.  Although this isn't an actual photo from the event, it gives you an idea of what their living room looked like!

Worked on a fun puzzle called: World Traveler:

Christmas Gift: Outing #3!

Another Art Museum Exhibit and this time at BYU!

"Inspired by the words found in Doctrine and Covenants 6:10--"thy gift...is sacred and cometh from above"--"Sacred Gifts" features nearly two dozen paintings from the life of Christ created by Carl Bloch and two other 19th century European masters, Heinrich Hofmann and Frans Schwartz."
Some of my favorites by Hofmann were:
"Christ and the Rich Young Ruler"

"Christ in Gethsemane"

"Jesus in the Temple"

(This one was especially interesting because they had the original painting next to a reproduction made by students of Hofmann with him filling in the faces.)

 Carl Bloch was the featured artist.

 "The paintings of Carl Heinrich Bloch [1834-1890] are familiar images to members of The Church of Jesus of Latter-day Saints. Selections of his paintings first appeared in the Improvement Era in 1962 and have been published many times since in multiple issues of the Ensign. They have appeared in numerous Church manuals and publications. Reproductions of his paintings are seen in ward and stake meetinghouses, temples, and visitors centers."

  BYU already has on permanent display this painting by 

Carl Bloch:

"Christ Healing by the Well of Bethesda"

But here are some of the others we got to see.  

There were four on loan from Frederiksborg Castle in Denmark.

"Cleansing of the Temple"

 "The Denial of Peter"

 "Christ on the Cross"

 "The Burial"

We were told that these paintings have never left the castle since they were placed there in the 1870's and it was very difficult to get permission for the loan of them.  "But out of respect for the love that many people in Utah have for this Danish artist," BYU was able to acquire them for a few months.  The Danish curator said: "I don't believe it will ever happen again."

I also enjoyed these other paintings by Carl Bloch:

"The Resurrection"

(Especially interesting because of the pair of dice at the bottom of the picture, one on the rock and another in the fire!)

"Christ at Emmaus"

(An all time favorite story and now a painting to help picture it!)

"Christus Consolator"

(This painting and the one above have permanent homes in small Lutheran churches in Sweden)

The best part of our visit to the Museum was this app!

I was able to download it ahead of time on my Ipad or you could rent an Ipad and headphones at the Museum.  It was amazing!  We have been to lots of art museums with docents and/or audio tours but this took it to a whole new level.  We could visit the paintings in any sequence and learn interesting information about each painting and each artist.  You could see a 360 degree picture of where the painting usually hangs, listen to commentary by the European curators, there were audio quotes from Apostles about the scene the painting was depicting, and you could also listen to specially chosen musical selections for many of the paintings.  A favorite was "How Great Thou Art" (Swedish Folk Melody) as a guitar solo with this painting of Christ, a favorite of President Monson's:

I still have the app on my Ipad and was able to watch again the Introductory film as well as see all the paintings. 
Wow, BYU has set the standard again!

Trying to get a selfie with the "Y" on the mountain:

(It's between us but you have to look hard!)

Dan is surely on a roll with these monthly outings!

Can't wait until next month!!