ARISE & SHINE

On Thursday I got a call from the Bubs at work asking me if I wanted to go to a "musical extravaganza." A what? He said he really didn't know too much more about it but we had some friends that had a couple of extra tickets and wanted to know if we wanted to double with them on Friday. Okay. Then, of course, I forgot! Friday rolls around and again the Bubs calls me at work asking if we were still on for the "musical extravaganza." No, he still didn't have any other further information on it, other than it was at Weber State and started at 7:30pm. So, I said sure, let's go. We get up to Weber State University (along with half the population of Utah) and I find out that this thing is being held outside in the football stadium. Um, okay? Keep in mind I'm still in my work clothes which consists of a gray blouse with a blank tank top underneath, a black pencil skirt with little mobiility (think stairs here people!) and 5 inch heels. Now, also keep in mind it's 100+ degree weather and we half to hike halfway across campus (all uphill) to get to the stadium. So, needless to say, by the time we join the Utah population in the stadium, I'm not super happy and pretty much want to go home and shower because I feel pretty nasty. But, once we got seated and found our friends, it's ended up being a really fun night. Every so many years the Church puts on a production of Arise and Shine Forth. The productions travels the globe and uses kids in the different stakes from the ages of 14-18. They practice for months before, provide all of their own costuming and I think create their own performances (but I'm not sure). When it came to our area, there were 33 stakes of youth involved. We went to the Friday night dress rehearsal but it would have been great to go on Saturday night because President Monson was there! Anyway, it was pretty amazing to watch these kids (and their leaders and supporters) pull everything together and do such a great job of it. We also happened to see a lot of friends walking around during the performances!
The kids getting ready to perform.....

They split the stakes into different councils.....this was the North council which would have been in our old wards. The Bubs said watching the kids made him miss being in Young Men's and the boys. He was in the Presidency in one of our old wards and LOVED it! Of course, it helps when you have such a great group of boys. I miss that ward. Actually, come to think of it, I bet a lot of my old primary kids were in the production. I was in the Primary Presidency in that ward which would put a lot of my kids in that age group. The Bubs being sexy! He wanted to make this the desktop background on our computer. Vain much? Thanks Bryon and Keri for inviting us. It was fun to hang out with you guys since we haven't seen you in forever!