Cultural Celebration and Atlanta Temple Re-Dedication

The past two weeks have been a whirlwind and now things are calming down. I am enjoying doing my laundry, believe it or not, baking bread (in my breadmaker, don't be too impressed), organizing closets, and planning meals. These are things I have not done in months! All because of this wonderful celebration. It was worth it! The day of the performance, I had the pleasure of curling ringlets into my girls hair to prepare them for the Waltz they were to perform that evening after hours of waiting in their holding area, a dress rehearsal that day, and rehearsing in the theater the night before until the wee hours. They were troupers!

Having been heavily involved in the planning of this event, I prioritized sneaking away between the dress rehearsal and performance to find my kids and take their pictures. They looked beautiful!!!

You can see the line up top as it is wrapping around the Civic Center. People were anxious to get in and get their seats. Only a special few were able to attend the actual performance as the Civic Center only seats 4,600 and the celebration included 15 stakes with 2,700 kids performing! Many people watched from their church buildings via satellite all throughout the area. With Randy working the sound and I working backstage with the cast, Eliza needed someone to take her to the show. Luckily, she was able to go with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Steve, Aunt Debbie, and Tanner.

Kathie and Rene were the co-chairs for this event. I was so lucky to be able to work with them. The sewing crew decided to make costumes for them too. They were thrilled and went to find all the waltz kids and show them.

Although, extremely tired and running on adrenalin, we headed 45 minutes to the beautiful newly renovated temple the next morning. We rushed from the church building over to the temple so that Randy could get ready. He was one of the few who were able to sing in the

Temple Choir They sang right behind Pres. Monson and he told them how wonderful they sounded.

I ran into old friends that I had not seen in years! This is Bishop Day. He married Randy and I right here at the temple 21 years ago!!!! I was soooo excited to see them both.

The Temple Choir

They sounded amazing!

It was an extremely busy, but an extremely uplifting event. We are still recovering, but so happy to have been a part of it all. :)