Ashlyn and Tanner Youth Cultural Celebration

Tanner and Ashlyn had the experience of a lifetime and participated in the Idaho Falls Youth Temple Cultural Celebration along with 12,000 other youth from the South East Idaho area!  And OH was it ever so AMAZING!!!

We're not going to lie, it was HARD!  There were months upon months of practices learning the dances and songs, rounding up costumes, signing up chaperones, and working through the logistics of meals, rides, etc. for long Friday and Saturday practices.

Not to mention that these kids were PACKED in that stadium like sardines.  It sounds like those over the program were a little too optimistic on the amount of space that each youth would have to dance in.  Instead of the estimated 3 feet radius, they had a little less than 18 inches.  And they had to stay in that space packed in tight, hungry, thirsty, and hot all day Friday from about 2pm-10pm and Saturday they arrived to the church at 6am and got home at 11:30pm.  Bathrooms were a joke and food and drinks were challenging to get to.  It was craziness.

Ian and I had tickets to the dress rehearsal and I couldn't get over the sheer magnitude of the amount of kids in the stadium all good kids and all there for a common purpose, uniting their movements in harmony with one another.  It was overwhelmingly powerful.  It was hard to watch without shedding a tear.

To add to the challenges of the already difficult situation, I think it needs to be noted that the director had absolutely no patience or compassion for the youth.  She yelled and screamed at them all week.  She was slow to give a compliment and became the common enemy of the kids.  For the past week or so since the celebration memes have gone around the Internet and t-shirts and posters have been made in behalf of Brad, a behind the scenes technician that became her whipping boy #Bradslifematters, #Bradforpresident, #Cuethemusicbrad.

The second I walked into the building as a guest for the 3pm dress rehearsal I could hear this woman screaming at the kids.  She sat up on the props scanning the field of kids finding anything she could to criticize and yell at.  I felt upset and I wondered if this is what the visiting authorities would hear when they arrived (thankfully they cut her mic after the dress rehearsal).  Ironically, this brought me to much reflection on the compassion and love I have for these youth and brought me to tears as the Spirit overwhelmingly bore to me as I watched these kids how good and how special they are.  To see 12,000 kids all together living high standards, strengthening each other, standing as witnesses of God was an experience line none I have ever had before.  I am so overcome with emotion on the blessing of getting to raise my kids in Zion and live and worship among these Saints.

I understand that being the director came with an unfathomable amount of stress and that she needed to be strong to keep control of all those youth, but surely there could have been a little more compassion shown.  It is a great reminder to me to check my temper and think about how I sound and make others feel when I am leading my family or performing my church callings.

We watched the final performance at home with Bronson, Charlotte, and Whitlee.  Bronson could not BELIEVE that there were actual "Indians" in the building.  He was worried that Ashlyn and Tanner might get to close to them and that the "Indians" were just laying a trap and would tie all the kids up.  He may have watched a little too much Peter Pan.

It was incredible to watch these Native Americans who are our neighbors on the Ft. Hall Reservation perform these special dances.

I loved this story about a trumpet quartet that was performed on the roof of the LDS Hospital at the original dedication of the Idaho Falls Temple.

This was one of my favorite dances and one that our stake got to have a solo dance number in to perform at the front of the arena.

A few of these cute Young Men are in our ward.

These two had the experience of a lifetime.  I hope that it is ingrained in their memories forever.  Zac was able to be a chaperone on Saturday all day and he said that with every performance, he couldn't keep his eyes dry, the Spirit was so strong.

This is what Tanner did about the second they got home.  He crashed hard on the couch and that is how and where he slept for the rest of the night.

These kids prove over and over that they can do hard things.  They are so special.