Guess Who's Back?

Our psychotic bird friend from Hades!

Straining At Digital Gnats. Or Swallowing Digital Camels.

There's an appropriate analogy in there somewhere.

I just realized I haven't sent any pictures or updates of Lucy in the musical, or Easter fun, or the Passover feast we did this year, etc.

It all started when Regan asked me to find pictures of Gideon, and I wanted a couple of small video clips. Which led me back to wanting a way to find this info, much of which is on my old NAS box in the furnace room. Which has been dying and having a hard time working, and is really slow. So, my video needs to be saved to Dropbox or some other storage. So I need to collate and correlate all my repositories. Which means I also need to be able to share them. Which leads me to the fact that I don't have enough space on my laptop. So I need to save them to another computer--or another NAS box: (NAS stands for "Network Attached Storage", FYI, BIULA, which I just made up, "Because I Use a Lot of Acronyms"). Which leads to our two home computers that are disastrously slow for some reason.

Andrew Sings at General Conference

On April 6th, Andrew had the privilege to sing during the priesthood session of General Conference, as a member of a choir from the Layton area. It was a good experience for him, and I enjoyed seeing him and others from our ward and stake.

Because of his location, Andrew (and fellow ward member and friend Luke McCune) ended up on camera quite a bit. With the exception of the last two photos, which were taken with my camera, all the photos here are screen shots from the broadcast. Once the singing started, by phone started buzzing with texts from friends and family, recognizing Andrew!

Andrew was near the organ, and there is a cameraman there who alternately records the organists and nearby choir members. I suspect that is why Andrew ended up with so much screen time. I was on the lower level, off to the right, near the wall and on almost the last row. I barely made it, after heading to Central Davis Junior High to help with some last minute work on the set.

Luck O' the Enoch

For St. Patrick's Day, Enoch wrote down four things that make him lucky on a four-leaf clover. Here they, with some spelling errors fixed:

1. I am strong.
2. I have two pianos.
3. I can play the piano.
4. I can move on my back without using hands.

Proof:

Sneak Peek of General Conference. Sort Of.

The video is very shaky. I found David Ellis and some other young men from our stake, but I can't find Andrew in this video. He is in there somewhere, though, with new black suit.

 20190331_200234.mp4

He will be singing during the priesthood session of conference. Watch for him.

2011: Almost There

I hadn't seen this family photo for a while and it made me smile big time. We were all just waiting for Esther to join us.

Sorry. No Bouncing on the Chram-aaling Today

I woke up to this:

Come Bounce

A napkin named Lucy and her pleased parents cordially invite you to watch her sing and dance. Lucy performs on April 11, 13 and 19.

An E-Flat Walks into a Bar ...

... and the bartender says "we don't serve minors in here."

Ba-da, bum.

Saturday was another remarkably busy day, as Joshua had a friend beg him to join a three-on-three tournament, I had set building, Andrew and Miriam had rehearsal, Andrew had work, and I think Jill's husband's viewing was that day, too. I did some home repairs and then Susie and I drove all around trying to get some "tree fingerprints" for her parents 50th wedding anniversary. 

Joshua's team got slaughtered four times. Most three-on-three teams are comprised of the "Comp Team" kids who pay $3000+ to play competitively all year. I only watched one game, but it wasn't pretty. However, one of the parents said he was really proud of Joshua, especially during the last game. He even scored a few points on these mini-pros!

Happy 50th Wedding Anniversary!

To celebrate Grandma & Grandpa Nielson's 50th wedding anniversary, the Benge Family made this super sober video. (At the time of this sending, the video was only 5% loaded. But I trust it will be there tomorrow.)

Today

Today:

• Miriam and Andrew had their first rehearsal for Les Miserable this morning. I was surprised they even had one, as the owner of Jaks Youth Theatre Company and the show director's husband died of a heart attack Friday.
• Lucy went to Draper to attend a percussion festival. She played timpani, and saw some great performances.

The Arts

Tonight was Lucy's band concert. Here she is getting ready (one day you'd think Susie or I would remember our camera so we could get a decent picture):

Esther's Art

A panda bear. Miriam drew the bamboo stalk.

Sam and Isaac Sitting in a Tree ...

Yesterday:

Ew!

Right Here in River City

That's a dumb title. I am addressing nothing that starts with "T" and that rhymes with "P" and that stands for "Pool".

This made me happy. We live in a good place. Good Morning America wasn't the only place that showed the video.

Also, I have forgotten to report on Rachel's latest adventure and accomplishment, and thought you should know:

Home Ownership Update

Our roof leak is prospering:

Right now, it is going at a rate of about 4 drips per second into the bucket. Some water is also dripping on the ledge, so I have pan and towel up there. Lots of roof pieces are joining the cascade.

"A Guy with Jumper Cables Walks into a Bar ..."

... and the bartender says "Hey, buddy, don't you try to start anything in here!"

I bet you thought I was done with bartender jokes.

I am sending this to let you know I finally added some pictures of our June Benge family reunion, the April Nielson family reunion, and a few pictures of Andrew and Lucy and weird things me with a bionic arm during practice and performance of Once Upon a Mattress.

Just in case you are interested.

I also thought I would share a few photos.

I Don't Know How This Will Affect You ...

... but it will affect me a great deal in the coming days. We have received the official announcement that the domain name for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will be changing from "lds.org" and "ldschurch.org" to "ChurchofJesusChrist.org".

For me, many links and work products will be moving, as will my work email address. I bet there are website disruptions and some pain as we reset much of what we do. But, I am glad we are doing it!

On the announcement I received this morning, this reminder of promised blessings from President Nelson's recent conference address was shared:  

"If we will be patient and do our part well, the Lord will lead us through this important task… I promise you that if we will do our best to restore the correct name of the Lord's Church, He whose Church this is will pour down His power and blessings…, the likes of which we have never seen."

Benge Family Reunion (June 2018)

The view from our lodge.

Nielson Reunion at Bear Lake (March 2018)

I didn't post any pictures of our Nielson family reunion last year either. I want some of the photos on the blog. Good times!

At Beck Locey's cabin rental.