Pretty Violinist

The White Mountain Symphony Orchestra held another concert on Saturday. Danielle, Chris, and I attended. It was a wonderful concert, featuring music by composers from many different countries.

My favorite part, though, was opening the program and finding professional photos of all members of the orchestra. This was something new.

And my favorite violinist was smack dab in the center of the left page! I was so pleased to see my beautiful daughter Sarah smiling at us from the pages of the program.I love this portrait of her. It shows her sweet smile and glowing beauty. I wish she had copies of this, with an extra to give to me!

Now that you've seen her up close, can you find her in in the midst of the whole orchestra?

There she is, just left of the conductor's music stand. My lovely girl!

March Madness

I have a particular fondness for all things Indiana Jones,

even cheesy posters featuring our school mascot, Buzz the Yellow Jacket.

This week (March 3-6) is March Madness Spirit Week at Blue Ridge High School, where I teach.The week will culminate in a formal dance on Saturday, called Morp. In case you didn't notice, it's Prom spelled backwards. Girls ask guys. 

I think Student Council did an incredible job decorating the campus. These particular pictures were taken in my building, East Campus. (I didn't get a chance to have a look at how they dressed up the main campus.) I especially adore the monkeys playing overhead in the halls!

Wild animals roamed the tall grasses of the savanna along the walls, while monkeys played among the vines on the display cases.

Trees, vines, and huge leaves sprouted everywhere, seemingly spontaneously. I can't even imagine the hours spent cutting out all these items! 

 I love many things about teaching high school, especially my students. Working with teens is a never-a-dull-moment, never-watch-the-clock profession. And spirit weeks are another huge favorite. That's when the creativity of high schoolers seems to reach its pinnacle.

We'll enjoy dress-up days all week. Today was "Twins Day" (wear matching clothes with a friend or two), tomorrow will be ""Wild Animals Day" (dress like African animals, don't act like them!), Wednesday will be "Safari day" (wear khakis and a pith helmet, or whatever), and Thursday will be "Natural Habitat Day" (wear our school colors, purple and gold). We have no school on Fridays, so that's the end of the school week.

There will also be crazy lunchtime activities every day, like pie eating contests and other competitive games. Tomorrow between 3rd and 4th periods will be "Stuff'd," where the students get an extended break between classes so they can enjoy student council-provided sweet treats. It all culminates with a pep assembly on Thursday, and then the big dance on Saturday night.

I think it would be fair to say that I enjoy high school more today than I did when I was a high school student, oh, so many years ago!

Motley Crew

Left-to-right: Jacob, Ryan, Shera, Chris, Sarah, and Dylan.

On Tuesday night we all went out to dinner at China Wok. Partly to celebrate Ryan and Shera's new jobs, partly because we all love China Wok, and maybe mostly because everyone was too tired to do any cooking, now that we're all working!

Taking us all out to eat is to risk humiliation. Note Dylan's intelligent expression and Jacob's toothy grin made up of chewed food. During the course of the meal, Dylan put salt in Sarah's soda (she didn't notice) and followed Ryan into the bathroom to snap a picture of him in front of the urinal. (No, I'm not posting it, so don't ask.) Shera passed one of her peel-and-eat shrimps to Jacob across my plate, and one of the little critter's legs fell into my food. I never found it, and I still cringe to think I may have ingested it. Sarah got to giggling and couldn't stop, which made us all laugh uproariously. Many good-natured insults were flung back and forth across the table. I spent a lot of time saying, "That's not appropriate" and "Put that salt shaker down." It was a typical night out for the Carter/Reynolds brood!

We are a group of assorted oddities. And I make no apologies for us. Well, except maybe to the demure little Chinese employee who handed us our check with a polite expression that plainly said, "Please get out of our restaurant."

This is my family, and I love each and every unique one of them! I'm so grateful they are mine!

All Roads Lead to the Temple

At the Snowflake Temple on 22 Feb 2014: In front, Sarah and Chris. 

In back, Danielle and Jacob, and Shera and Ryan.

Okay, I suppose that's not strictly true, but lately it seems that our road keeps leading us to a temple. Last night we ended a great day with a sweet visit to our local temple, the Snowflake Temple.

Shera, Mary, and Sarah at the Women's Conference

We ladies started our day at the church, attending workshops at a Women's Conference put on by the Pinetop-Lakeside Stake. We enjoyed workshops on "Marriage is a Battlefield" (and how to defend it), "The Eden model of Parenting," "Receiving Personal Revelation," and "Keeping Our Spiritual Reserves Full."

We'd have invited Danielle to join us, but she and Jacob both had the day off from their jobs, so they spent the day in Snowflake, working on their wedding plans.

Beautifully decorated tables for the luncheon.

Our Stake Presidency (Presidents Shumway, Jensen, and Beeler) and the brethren of the Stake High Council prepared a wonderful lunch for all the ladies and served us. We enjoyed delicious pulled pork barbecue with baked potatoes, salad, and chocolate chip cookies.

Chris and Sarah at Red Onion in Heber-Overgaard.

Later that evening, the three couples in our family decided to have a group date, making the 45-minute drive to the tiny town of Heber-Overgaard to eat at a popular restaurant there, the Red Onion. Jacob and Danielle drove there from Snowflake to meet the rest of the group. It was only a 30-minute drive for them.

Danielle and Jacob at Red Onion in Heber-Overgaard.

Since Dylan and I were going to be left home alone, I thought the two of us could go out to dinner someplace closer to home. But then, at the last minute, he got invited to a party for a friend's girlfriend's sister's friend. (!!!) 

Shera and Ryan at Red Onion in Heber-Overgaard.

So Dylan left, and I figured I'd just go out to dinner by myself. I was single until I was 34, so eating out alone doesn't bother me. But my kids insisted that I join them on their date, saying they couldn't bear to think of me eating out alone. Almost made me cry!  

Jacob, Ryan, and Shera play some pool at the Red Onion after dinner.

Thus I got to join in on the fun, and get some great pictures of my six kids (all but #7 Dylan), to boot. We had a yummy meal with good company at the Red Onion, and after dinner Jacob, Ryan, and Shera decided to play a game of pool.

Ryan and Chris watch Shera play some pool at the Red Onion after dinner.

They were surprised when they all had to show ID before they were allowed to play, since the pool table is located in the bar. Everyone was legal to be in the bar area: Chris is 35, Shera is 30, Ryan is 29, Sarah is 24, Jacob is 22, and I am . . . well, never mind about that! So everyone was legal. Everyone, that is, except the baby of the group, Danielle, who's only 20! So Sarah and Danielle waited at our table while the oldsters made it a quick game and I took pictures.

Shera, Ryan, Danielle, and Jacob walk around the grounds of the Snowflake Temple.

Jacob and Danielle suggested that we all drive back to Snowflake to visit the temple there. We were all willing, especially Ryan and Shera, who had only seen the Snowflake Temple from a distance once when we drove by on the highway through town.

Angel Moroni atop the Snowflake Temple.

This particular temple is special to me, because this is where Ed and I were sealed to each other on May 21, 2011, and where we were sealed to all three of my children on November 24, 2012, soon after Jacob came home from his mission in California. Despite the pending divorce, I'll always love my husband and hope we'll be companions in the eternities when all is said and done. 

Ryan and Shera in the fountain at the Snowflake Temple.

The Snowflake Temple will become even more sacred to us as the place where all my children were sealed to their eternal companions. Sarah and Chris were married there on July 30, 2011. Jacob and Danielle will be married there this coming June. And Ryan and Shera plan to be sealed there in January 2015.

Sarah and Chris in the fountain at the Snowflake Temple.

Jacob and Danielle in the fountain at the Snowflake Temple.

It was the most wonderful ending to an amazing day!

Young lovers!

Temple Road Trip

The new Gilbert Temple lit up at night on

February 10, 2014.

My last post about our road trip to tour the new temple in Gilbert was focused mostly on the two new couples in our entourage, what with Jacob and Danielle getting engaged and it being Ryan and Shera's first time to visit an LDS temple and travel to the Valley and all.

Also on the trip were Mary, Sarah, and Dylan.

Dylan and I are single, but Sarah's husband, my son-in-law Chris, 

missed out on the trip due to his work schedule.

There were three more of us along for the ride, though, and there are many more pictures to be shared. Lots, lots more.

A view of the Salt River at the bottom of Salt River Canyon.

From this height it looked more like a stream, but when we were quiet

we could hear the roar of the river's rushing waters.

This shot shows more clearly how far down it is to the floor of the canyon.

The river would be much deeper if we weren't under drought conditions.

My three boys--Jacob, Dylan, and Ryan--explored the side of the highway

while we were stuck for 30 minutes due to roadwork ahead.

Shera and Ryan posed with the Christus when we stopped by

the Visitors Center at the Mesa Arizona Temple.

Sarah and Danielle hammed it up while we took a break in the

Visitors Center restroom.

Shera and Ryan by a pool between the Visitors Center and

the Mesa Temple in the background.

Sarah wanders the beautiful Mesa Temple grounds while

Dylan, Jacob, and Danielle check out a plaque.

The temple is closed on Monday, so Shera and Ryan

have the steps to the Mesa Temple's entrance all to themselves.

Shera is pleased to have two new brothers in Jacob and Dylan.

Ryan and Shera had never seen saguaro cactus until 

we drove through the desert that morning.

They decided they must have their picture taken with one.

This cactus garden is located on the grounds of the Mesa Temple.

They were loving the 80+ degree temperatures in the Valley.

Their friends and family in Missouri are enduring temps in the teens.

(At home in the White Mountains it's been in the 60s and low 70s.)

Jacob and Ryan took a break at Deseret Bookstore near the Mesa Temple 

while the rest of us explored the delights to be found inside.

I asked Ryan, "Isn't that Jacob's shirt you're wearing?" He said it was.

I knew then that I'd truly gained another son. They're wearing each other's clothes!

My youngest, Dylan, checks out the tie selection at Deseret Bookstore.

Dylan, Jacob, Mary, and Sarah outside the Gilbert Temple after our tour.

Just me and my original 3 children. These days our family is exploding with growth!

Danielle, Jacob, and Dylan share a moment on the Gilbert Temple grounds.

Plenty of shady spots, benches, and fountains abound.

Ryan and Shera are feeling amorous as Jacob and Danielle watch from the left.

We were still anxiously waiting for Jacob to pop the question at this point . . .

What are Dylan, Danielle, Jacob, Shera, and Ryan pointing at?

They were pointing up at the Angel Moroni atop the Gilbert Temple!

Ryan saw this shot, grabbed my camera out of my hand,

and captured the moment!

The Gilbert Temple is huge and amazing. Utterly gorgeous.

The last time a temple of this size was built was 17 years ago!

Ryan and Shera plan to be sealed for eternity in January 2015, 

one year after their baptism. They were so impressed with the beauty of this temple,

they're considering coming here to be sealed.

Shera photographs Danielle, Jacob, and Dylan while Ryan stands by.

After our tour, and after the proposal, we went to my sister Karla's house in Mesa. After briefly visiting there, we all went to Mi Amigos for a delicious dinner of Mexican food. Our group included the 7 of us; my sister Karla; her daughter Genevieve with husband Scott and their 4 kids; her daughter Celesta with husband Riley; her daughter Brianna with husband Bryce and their baby son Carson; and her youngest daughters Mariah, Gabby, and Addison.

I wish I'd remembered to take pictures of everyone at dinner, but I was too busy quizzing Karla about her love life! However, all those dinner photos would have required another post!

Riley and Celesta met us at the Gilbert Temple after dinner.

These are my newlywed niece and nephew whose wedding we attended in November.

They were thrilled to announce that they are expecting their first baby next summer!

Ryan, still on the Gilbert Temple grounds.

It had been a long, full day. We didn't leave for home till about 10 pm.

One final picture of Shera and Ryan before heading back up the mountain toward home.