AFHS marching band, the newest champions...

We had such a great weekend. The American Fork High School marching band went to the Western Region Bands of America Competition in Las Vegas. Rick and I went down to Vegas together on Friday while Andrew rode the bus down. They competed in St. George first and then continued on to Vegas on Saturday. Rick and I enjoyed some time alone...eating fabulous food and just plain relaxing. The highlight, however, was attending the competition.

The event was held at the UNLV Sam Boyd Stadium and had schools from all over the Western states, from California to Oklahoma.

They first played in the preliminary competition.




AFHS band won 1st place in their division and made it to the top ten later that evening.

They really rocked that stadium. They were amazing!




The coolest thing... all 10 bands that competed marched into the stadium, all in single file lines. They came from both sides of the end zone, and continued to file in as the UNLV drum line played. It was very impressive.





As they announced that American Fork had won the championship, there was no snapping a photo...the kids where jumping and screaming so much that they were all blurry! This was one I thought was cute, it is when all the other bands came into the celebration to congratulate the band.

It took a while, but the announcers finally cleared the field and turned it over to the AFHS marching band to have one final performance. I don't know if it was just me, but they seemed to be playing a little louder and they looked much more relaxed!

This is Mr. Miller, the band director. I love the way he watched the band as they played one last time. He deserves amazing accolades. He has really done a great job with this band. He works them hard, but they all respect him. He said that in the last 20 years they have competed, this was their first Bands of America win. They are now ranked 3rd in the nation and are onto the National competition in Indianapolis to play on the Colt's football field. They are expected to do very well.

They entire band was given individual medals afterwards.



This is Andrew's friend, Christian.


Andrew & Cameron.

This was the entire pit, enjoying thier moment.

And this is the percussion group, including the drum line. They are with thier fantastic instructor Mike Huestis.

My friend Katrina (an old friend from Moab) now lives in Las Vegas and came for the competition. It was so sweet of her. We had a great time and she even stayed until the end!

I know this picture is blurry, but it is the only one I have of Rick and I with Andrew. I really need to take a point-and-shoot for situations like this. It is way too much to expect someone to be able to use a complicated camera!

We had such a wonderful time. It was fun and exciting to watch this band win this competition, they really deserved it with their hard work and efforts all year.

An interesting turn of events...

Isn't interesting, when you can go from this...

to this, just within a couple of hours?

Janessa was involved in a car accident on Wednesday night while coming home from a Young Women's activity at the church.

We had just been to a choir concert of hers that night at 6:00. She was having a hard day already, her throat hurt and she really wasn't feeling well. Then, we were running about 5 minutes late getting her to the school. She was panicked (as this was her first concert) and started running into the school. She tripped and fell and skinned her knee really bad. I asked her if she was OK, she said she was and ran off. After the concert, it was bleeding pretty bad and her nylons were all torn up. She is such a tough girl.

After the concert, we grabbed a milk shake and then took her home to change. We ran her over to the church for an activity at 7:00. At about 8:45, we got a phone call from Sister Oyler. She said that they had been in an accident, just up the road from our house. As we opened our garage, all I could hear were sirens, which made me really worried, to say the least. Rick and I ran up there and found the road closed and tons of emergency vehicles already there. Janessa and her friends, Elizabeth & Jessie, were sitting on the road just crying. Both cars were a mess.

They had been turning left on a busy road that doesn't have a turn lane. It only has one lane each way. Cars have to stop frequently to wait for other vehicles to make the turns. A lady was coming down the road, going about 50 mph, and hit them while they were stopped...no braking or anything! We still aren't sure what happened, but it was a terrible crash. All of the neighbors, even a couple of blocks away, heard the accident from inside their houses!

The EMTs wanted to take the girls to the ER to be checked out. We thought it would be a good idea, as they were really complaining of severe headaches and their necks and backs were hurting very bad. Janessa hit her head really hard in the accident, both front and back, we still aren't sure what it was on. Janessa & Elizabeth went to the ER in the ambulance. Janessa was extremely nervous about riding in the ambulance, since her car accident 6 years ago. (She and I had to ride in one for about 1 1/2 hours. We almost wrecked twice on that trip.) She was very upset when they strapped her in. She insisted on me riding with her, so I rode in the front seat (a much better spot then laying tied to a bed). I was so grateful that she & Elizabeth were in the same ambulance. The conversations were entertaining. There were questions, in-between the tears, to the EMT guys about mascara running...that was a big concern...right after the horrid pain. They were holding hands. At one point, Janessa said, "This will be a good story to tell our kids." Then Lizzy said, "Ya, if we live to have kids!" Super cute. The EMT guys had a very hard time keeping straight faces!

We ended up staying at the ER for over 4 hours, getting x-rays and making sure they were OK. After a few hours, some laughing and medicine, the girls were back to their normal selves. Although they were still in a lot of pain, they were happy realizing that they would not be at school the next day. We were laughing about the fact that Mr. Brooks, their Creative Writing teacher, wouldn't know what to do...his class would be so quiet without them!



Sister Oyler was in the ER as well, but in a different room. The girls were asking about her so much, and screaming as she would go by for x-rays, that the nurses finally got smart and moved her into our area! They all had their bracelets on and now consider it an exclusive club.

The next couple of days were a bit rough. Waking up wasn't a fun thing. Janessa woke up in the night with a lot of pain. They missed school for a couple of days, but spent the time together recovering. They were showered with gifts, flowers, and lots and lots and lots of treats. The Young Women leaders pampered them with these adorable rice bags with lavendar, they heat them up in the microwave and wrap them around their necks...perfect! They even got together with cute Jessie (she didn't go to the ER, so they were really concerned about her). We took Janessa to the Chiropractor and we are taking her to do some physical therapy and massage tomorrow. She went to church today and is going to go to school in the morning. She is still in a lot of pain, waking up each morning with something else that hurts (today was her jaw and teeth). The headaches haven't really stopped. We hope that she will be better soon.

These girls were so sweet the entire time, always worried about others. They have been so concerned about Sister Oyler, who was so upset by the whole thing. They even asked a couple of times how the other lady, who hit them, was. They are very sweet, compassionate girls. I know that their Heavenly Father was watching over them while they were travelling home. This could have been a very terrible tragedy, but they were protected. We feel very blessed.

Conference Weekend...

We were so blessed this weekend to hear the council of our church leaders during conference. It is always my favorite weekend, for so many reasons. I love having an excuse to stay at home with my family all around me and I love hearing such inspirational talks, they all inspired me to be a better person, mother and wife. I usually have a couple of favorites that stand out each session, but I really loved every single talk! I especially loved the words spoken by our prophet, President Thomas S. Monson. I've always loved hearing him speak. I appreciate the things that are important to him. He always has such a tender heart for the elderly, the sick, and the disabled. I just love that about him.

A couple from Italy were supposed to be coming for conference, but they were unable to make it because they had the wrong kind of passports. We were so disappointed, as we had planned the entire week for them. We ended up with some extra tickets, so Rick and I took the kids. Andrew had a marching band competition, so he was unable to attend. He and Rick were able to go to the Conference Center for the Priesthood session last year, so he wasn't upset. Nathan was too young (you have to be 8 years old to attend), so Rick's mom watched him for us.

Janessa brought her friend Elizabeth with us, as we ended up having one extra ticket. She and Janessa had a wonderful time.

Harrison thought it was so great to actually be there. Before it started, he and Rick took a walk around the hallways of the Conference Center. He loved looking at the paintings from the Book of Mormon. He was very impressed that they were the originals.

Andrew got home late from his competition. His director, John Miller, had made special arrangements for a Stake Center in American Fork to re-broadcast the Priesthood session later Saturday night. So, they came home and got changed and then attended the session with their dads. I thought that was so sweet of Mr. Miller to make those arrangements. Good for him, during this very competitive season, to think of those things that are most important.

The rest of the weekend was nice. We ended up still having a big dinner at our house (which was originally for the Italians). All of Rick's family came, the Acersons came, and some returned sister missionaries from Rome. We celebrated the wonderful news of the temple. The missionaries even got to visit with Sister Acerson on the webcam. I got some costumes out for Halloween and the kids went crazy trying them on. It's like it was a costume store. We had a great night, and it was the perfect ending to the conference weekend.

A temple in Rome...

Did I just hear that right? An LDS temple, in Rome, Italy? Oh my goodness, my screams frightened the kids. My tears were those of joy (although Nathan was wondering). I can't even believe it. What's weird is that I was listening for it. Even though I didn't think it was possible still for a while. I thought a lot of things had to happen first, but I was still listening. Five temples announced, as each city was announced I waited and waited, until they got to number five. Rome, Italy. I can't even believe it.

I was saving this post for the end of my Italy pictures, but now I guess I will have to just put it at the top of the pile. The last night that I was in Italy, Karen and I went for a Sunday drive. We went to the temple property and walked around. It is so beautiful. They have been praying and praying for a temple to be built here for years.

It's in a beautiful area of Rome, up on a hill. There is an olive grove that is on the property. There are also a lot of old pine trees; they call them 'umbrella pines'. Karen told me a story about when the church bought the property. In Rome, you have to have people come and dig up a grid of trenches on the new property. They have to check to make sure there aren't any ancient artifacts buried there. The entire stake had prayed that they wouldn't find anything, as they so badly wanted this property for their temple.

We are so happy for the wonderful members in Italy. President gave us a statistic while we were there. I can't remember the number exactly, but it was around 80% of the temple work in the Swiss temple was done by the Italians. We met so many amazing people that saved all of their money and vacation days to travel to Switzerland. This will be such a blessing for those faithful members. I only wish I were in Rome today to see the celebrations.

P.S. After reading this Deseret News article, in which President Acerson was interviewed, I realized that I should not say that this is the official site of the new temple. It is property that the church purchased a few years ago and everyone assumes that it is the temple site; they call it their temple property. But, I'm not an official representative of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. So, please take whatever I say with a grain of salt and realize that I often start rumors (but they are usually true!).

Thinking of the Bleyls...

One week ago today my friend, Traci Bleyl, had a son that passed away. Tyler was a senior in high school, and from what I know of him he was a great young man. They lived just up the street from us, and I am sad that I didn't know him better. We carpooled with his three sisters to and from school for a few years. We love their family very much. His mom Traci is really a great person, one of those people you just instantly like. My heart has been breaking for her all week long. As a mother, I can't imagine losing a child. Our family's thoughts and prayers have been with their family as well.

Yesterday afternoon was the funeral for Tyler. Janessa went because Kennedi (his sister) had asked her if she was going…she felt like she needed to be there for her. Our friends, the Banks, were gracious enough to take Janessa, as I was helping with a nursery for their ward. I was sad to miss the funeral; I heard from everyone that it was wonderful. His dad, Rob, spoke and apparently it was beautiful. I don’t think I could never speak at my child's funeral; it takes someone special to be able to do that. His sisters, Kennedi and Taylor, sang and I would have loved to have been able to hear them. They are such special girls in my heart (along with their sister Maddy).

After the funeral dinner, the Bleyl family came home to a neighborhood full of luminaries. I had heard that they were lit Friday night, the night after he passed away. I was disappointed that I had missed them. As I was talking to my friend Deon last night, she told me that the luminaries were lit again. Rick and I drove up to see them and I took my camera. There was no way to capture the peace and feeling there, or the magnitude of of the hundreds of luminaries lighting the way to their home. What a wonderful way for their neighborhood to come together and show their love and support for this family.

As I was leaving the church yesterday, they were setting up for the family dinner. There was a beautiful picture of Tyler, with this saying on it (as I remembered it), "The best way to have a piece of heaven in your home is to have someone you love in heaven." Our thoughts and prayers will continue to be with our friends, the Bleyls.