An Almost Perfect Weekend

 We had such a nice weekend with the Princes on the weekend before Christmas.  We were assigned to work the 11-2 shift at the temple on Friday, December 20th.  We hurried out to the car after and left from there to go to SLC.  I had made sandwiches that we ate in the car on the way.  We had a nice trip until about Payson where we hit slow down traffic clear until SLC.  We were sweating it because we were trying to make it to Gabbi's show choir concert.  We were blessed to make it in time.

It was hard to get good photos as we were behind people.  But it was such a good show.  Gabbi loves being a part of this fun group.  

Gabbi's solo was perfect.  You could hear her well, her diction was great, and she sounded beautiful!

We were so glad we were able to be there.

The next morning we attended Kenny's basketball game.  We have wanted to see the Prince boys play and we were glad to see Kenny's game and later, William's game.  Brian coaches both teams and is an excellent coach.

Warming up.

Ken played basketball all growing up and in high school.  He was especially glad to be there.

Ken squared.

At 2:00 that afternoon was William's game.

These kids were so cute.

💋

Later, Gabbi gave me a manicure.

Brian had scored tickets to the Tabernacle Christmas concert later that evening.  It was a dream of a lifetime for me to be there.

How we love these two.

The processional marching in.

The whole thing was so beautiful and inspiring.

It was so fun to walk through temple square after.  There were nativities from around the world.  We especially loved this one from Japan.  We hunted the whole time we were in Japan for a nativity.  Because they are not a Christian nation, you can't find one.  After we got home, our niece, Jana, who was living there as her husband was in the military sent me one that I cherish.

As lovely as the concert was, it was not the highlight of the weekend.  The highlight came on Sunday morning when we got to attend Michelle and Brian's ward and witness their Christmas program.  Brian had written the most beautiful program and he directed the excellent choir.  Michelle sang a beautiful solo all about how Mary felt.  Her voice is so beautiful.  Afterward, a Juliard trained pianist complimented her, telling her she belongs on Broadway.  He compared her to Idina Mendez.  I know she got lots of other compliments, but that is the one I heard.  Anyway, I just tell you that so you don't think it is just our parental prejudice that it was beautiful.  We were so uplifted by that beautiful program.  We then had a nice dinner of spaghetti, then we had a little Christmas, exchanging and opening gifts.

We gave everyone a copy of "Grandma's Stories" the book I had published this year.  We then left for home.

Later, Michelle sent up pictures of William reading the book.  That really touched me that he was that interested.

Why was it just "almost perfect?"  Because William had a little cold.  Ken is very susceptible to colds, so we wore masks and couldn't be with them as much as we would have liked.  But other than that, it was absolutely perfect.  Thank you Princes.  We love you! 

PS:  We didn't get sick!