Merry Christmas!

Mike and I were asked to participate in our ward Christmas program this year. It was such a good experience for us! I wanted to share it with my dad this Christmas, so I am adding it to our blog. (When we presented it to our ward, we had a large screen that we projected pictures onto. Mike and I took turns talking as the pictures were displayed.)

1-Linda

When Kristin asked us if we would participate in the program tonight, she mentioned that she wanted to show a short Youtube video; and wondered if I had seen it.

It was a nativity production, featuring the Piano Guys, David Archuleta,  and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, with a Christmas ornament at the end.  

I excitedly told her,

“We are in that video!  Mike and I are a part of the nativity ornament!”

2-Mike

We thought it would be fun to share with you some behind-the-scenes stories about our experience.

We first became aware of this video project through our friends, Ray and Jill Eves, a couple we met while on our mission to Samoa. Their son Derral, was the associate producer of the video, so we have a lot of insider information!

3-Linda

For instance, from start to finish, the video was conceived, funded and produced in just 6 weeks, which was nothing short of miraculous!

4-Mike

This was the brainchild of the organization known as RADIANT- a nondenominational interfaith foundation established to promote Christ in the world.  

Their idea was to break the Guinness world record for number of people in a live nativity.  

5-Linda

Filming took place at Rock Canyon Park in Provo, Utah.  Most of us were angels who came together at the end of the video to create a living ornament.

To accomplish that, we were assigned individual places on the field which had been mapped into a grid. Here I am, pointing to my spot on the grid.

6-Mike

Here’s a better view of the grid.

The grid covered over 42,000 square feet.

It took a crew of 3 people 2 full days to mark it out on the field

Over 800 people were needed to fill the spaces on the grid. Here are a few people looking for their spots.

7-Linda

The "angel costumes we wore were made from a lightweight fabric, like you find on box springs.

There was a circular tube at the bottom  and battery powered lights.

It slipped over your head and was really ugly and awkward to wear,

but so effective when it got dark!

It took an army of 50 families to sew all those costumes.  

8-Mike

A camera was suspended up in the sky to shoot the final nativity scene picture.

Weather balloons were attached to the stabilized camera.

They had to tether the balloons together.

The weather had to be perfect for this to work.  

9-Linda

One of the many miracles that took place on the day we filmed was that the Lord tempered the weather, which was really important, because we had to be there all day long, even though the actual filming could not take place until it got dark.

Mike-

Originally, a storm was forecast for that day. But, as you can see, we had blue skies and sunshine! 

Once the sun went down, however, it got very cold! Every one of us was shivering as we waited for the filming of the ornament scene.  Had it been stormy weather, we would have become so chilled during the day that  many of us would not have lasted.

10-Linda

At one point, we needed to be counted, to see if there were enough of us to set a new world record. (If you look really close, you can see Mike and I in this picture!)

 They corralled us all into a central spot where we nervously waited as the last few stragglers trickled in.

Suddenly, a large group of people arrived, all dressed in white.  They belonged to one of the local Christian churches, had heard about the event, and had come to join with the many others, all celebrating the birth of Christ.  That was one of my favorite memories of the day.

11-Mike

The ornament scene at the end was actually produced backwards.

We all started out on our designated square and then dispersed into the outer fields.  When the video was produced, it was played in reverse.

Linda

I was so excited to see this video! But,  I’ll never forget my initial disappointment!  After having spent an entire day, and nearly freezing to death before  we were finished, our part  was reduced to a second or two at the very end and my tiny little light was indistinguishable from all the others!  

  

Well, I watched it again, got over myself, and began to understand just what an honor it was to have been even a tiny part of that great whole.

Several years ago, I received an oil painting from a dear friend. One morning, as I was admiring the fine details of the painting, it suddenly occurred to me that this beautiful rose bouquet had started out as an empty canvas.  My artist friend had added every detail- every single speck of paint had been thoughtfully and purposely placed.  

Heavenly Father has created in the human race, his masterpiece.  Each one of us is just a tiny part of the great whole, but He knows where we are because He put us in the picture!  

Mike

We did set a new  Guinness world record for number of people in a live nativity, but it is important to note that the original record still stands. Each one of us here tonight was there that night over 2 millennia ago, when our Savior and King was born in a stable and laid in a manger.

"... and 38 others like this."

According to my daughter's blog, it's been nine months since I last posted.  That's too long for a catch-up post.  Way too many things to leave out.  Way too many pictures to put a caption to.  Not enough time to do a proper job of it.  So, I will begin with last week and move forward.  That's a much more attainable goal.  To begin, I want to share a life lesson from a recent facebook post.

Last week, I posted this picture of Mike and I at the Payson Utah Temple open house.    I debated posting it because...well, look at me!   After getting 3 hours of sleep the night before and unsuccessfully trying to sleep in the car on the way up, I was a wrinkled mess.  Not only that, but the wind was blowing and it was raining outside which wrecked havoc with my uncontrollable hair (which was waiting to be cut by Sasha the minute we got to Vernal the next day).  It's an okay picture of Mike; he has always been handsome and can pull off a good look most of the time. And the Payson Temple is truly one of the most gorgeous temples I have ever seen.

So, even though I really did not want to post such an unflattering picture of me,  I was brave and did it anyway.

I had so many nice comments, saying things like, "beautiful" "still looking good..." "I like it!" "Oh so cute, luv you".  There was a comment from an old college roommate who I hadn't seen in 40 years who said I looked the same. (I loved that one!)  Perhaps my favorite comment was the one that said, "This photo just makes me happy."

The "likes" kept coming in for days.  I was so surprised.  It made me feel so good.  I learned a couple of lessons from the experience.

First, with a good looking man by your side, and a temple as your backdrop, you really can't go wrong.  

Second, going out of your comfort zone takes courage, but it is worth it.

Famous!

I have one of those counters on my blog that lets me see when someone has looked at my blog, as well as which post they looked at.  For the longest time I could not figure out why my post about  a Samoan funeral  was always being viewed.  In the 35 months since I made that post, it has been viewed  1933 times! That's an average of not quite once a day.  Then, once day, I did an Internet search on Samoan funerals, and  Mike and Linda: Samoan Funeral popped up.  My blog is famous!  I always wanted to be a published author.  Well, this is pretty darn close! 

Some Catching Up

The next few posts are going to be ancient, as far as when the events actually happened.  They will also be out of sequence from the last two or three posts. But, I still want to include them in my blog.   Years from now, all of my posts will be ancient.  So, it's not really going to matter much exactly when they were posted. I'm just glad I finally got them finished.

Nervous Excitement!

We went to Olive Garden the night before these three left to spend a month with their dad, in Arkansas.

 

I want to say it was the glasses that was making Sadie so silly, but I've seen too many other pictures of her without glasses.  Sadie is just a fun-loving, girl.

Do you think they look excited?!

 

Taylor's Visit

We got to have Taylor all to ourselves for a few days this last spring.  She doesn't remember it, but for the first year of her life,  I tended her while Sasha was attending beauty school.  Taylor was such an easy baby.  She was always healthy and happy, and the two of us did some pretty serious bonding during that time.  Two weeks after she turned one, Mike and I moved to St. George.  (I have worried a little about what that sudden separation might have done to Taylor's sense of security.  The first time I saw her after the move was in Logan.  I remember we clung to each other pretty tightly for those first few minutes.) 

 

Fast forward almost five years and our adorable granddaughter is still making my heart sing.  Here are a few pictures Grandpa took to record the visit.

 

Love this sweet angel. 

 

She picked out the balloon and flowers for Kris's grave.
 

 

I don't know how she does it, but she can always spot a butterfly!

 

Adding the butterfly to the flowers,

 

Bath time means the monkey blanket! for this cute little monkey!



Decorating cupcakes!



She fell asleep on the way to Tuacahn!



Riding the carousel with her cousins



Eating a delicious meal with Sadie and Brynlie!  Fun lunch trays!



Hot tubbing!



Cousins!



The Easter Bunny came!



So excited to see what's inside!



She borrowed a princess dress from Brynlie.



Grandma thinks she's beautiful!

Love you, Taylor! 

 

Thanksgiving Dinner and Pomegranates



Here are the South girls, hungrily waiting for Thanksgiving dinner, 2013.  Mike and I were invited to their home last year, and were told that we were not expected to bring a thing.



Aspen prepared the entire meal, clear down to those delicious rolls you see proofing in the pan.

 



Thanksgiving dinner is one of my favorite meals of the year.  I love the turkey, the mashed potatoes and gravy, and the rolls.   This year, Aspen added two new foods that were quite a hit.  For Dad, there was fresh asparagus cooked to perfection.  For me, I loved the pomegranate seeds. 

And, just so that the story is forever recorded...I will include an experience that happened nearly 30 years ago, during our first, brief stay in St. George.  We had a tiny pomegranate tree that had produced maybe six little pomegranates. I was watching and waiting with great anticipation for the day when we could harvest our small crop.  (You have to understand that this was a time in our lives when every penny was carefully budgeted and there were no shopping sprees that involved the purchase of gourmet foods like pomegranates)  Each day, I would check the progress of my fruit.  Because the tree was tucked away in a spot of the yard that was not visible to any windows, I always had to go outside for my inspection. 

 

You can probably guess where this story is going.  You might even be able to imagine the emotion I felt when I discovered the dastardly deed...complete with broken, empty pomegranate shells littering the ground.  And you might have figured out it was the kids--Aspen(5) and Vince(3) who were the thieves.  I wanted to wring their little necks! Being fat and pregnant no doubt intensified that emotion. 

 

For some reason, I never blamed Vince.  He was the little brother who didn't know any better.  Aspen was the one who bore the brunt of my anger-for years.  The two of us could never be in the same room with a pomegranate without me making a comment about her early childhood crime spree. One Christmas I made arrangements with Santa to put a pomegranate in her Christmas stocking, so I could bring up the story once again.  I was still telling it when she had kids of her own.  And then, one day, Aspen looked me straight in the eye and said this, "Mom, I have never regretted picking those pomegranates.  They were absolutely delicious, they did not give me the stomach ache you felt I deserved, and to this day I love pomegranates!" 

 

Well, that comment stopped me short.  I think a part of me was secretly happy for the delicious treat my two oldest kids got way back in the early days when money and treats were so much more rare than they are today.   I realized that the closest to an apology I'm ever going to get from Aspen was that large bowl of pomegranate seeds for Thanksgiving dinner, with instructions to her kids to make sure I got all I wanted before they finished them off.  I'll take it. 

 

By the way, after this past hard winter killed off several of our trees, I am happy to report we have now planted a pomegranate tree!  I wonder if I should install surveillance equipment?!

Lots of lessons this Sunday...

Something happened today at church that doesn’t happen too often. When it does occur, I generally sit up and take note, because I have come to realize that it is Heavenly Father's way of getting our attention.   Two people used the same quote in their Sacrament meeting talks. What made this even more unusual was that the quote was from a General Conference talk given 14 years ago!  (When I looked it up after I got home, I was amazed that it had been 14 years...it seems like it was yesterday.)  Here's the quote, again...

The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity.--The Joy of Womanhood, Margaret D.Nadauld, October 2000 General Conference

Our high councilman (one of the two speakers today) told us an interesting story about Sister Nadauld’s talk.  She had been instructed to speak for 12 minutes.  When she practiced it, the talk lasted 14 minutes.  So, she cut out two minutes and practiced again.  This time the talk was only 10 minutes!  

At this point, the obvious move for most of us would have been to reinsert the two minutes that had been cut from the earlier version of the talk.  But Sister Nadauld did not do that.  Instead, she wrote two new minutes and added them to the original talk.  The above quote was taken from the two new minutes.  It has been quoted from again and again and again in the last 14 years.

What a great lesson this is for me!  Sometimes the obvious solution to a problem is not the best solution.  I'm going to work harder at listening to the Spirit.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! "84"

Today is a pretty big day.  84 years ago,  my dad was born. 

  Then and now pictures...

 

I so wish that I could be there, celebrating with a lemon pie and 4th of July sparkler on top. 

Dad has always loved history, and has instilled in his daughters that same love.  In honor of your birthday, Dad, here is a little story I recorded in my journal awhile back.

In July of 2008, at one of our bi-annual Frank Park family reunions, I mentioned to Mike how much I had enjoyed being able to visit one-on-one with just me and my dad earlier in the day. Mike-who has always been a great observer-made a comment to me…"Have you noticed how Dad has gone around to each of us at this reunion and spent one-on-one time? I hadn’t noticed, but I started to watch him and realized that it was true. I also realized that he has always been that way…

Four years later, at the 2012 Reunion, something happened that I thought was so precious, I recorded it in my journal. Although  I wasn’t there when it happened, both Babz and Sasha told me about it, later. Several family members were playing BINGO. Someone shouted out that they had a BINGO. Immediately afterwards, 4-year old Taylor began to cry, loudly. In fact, it was more of a scream. Everyone thought she was mad that she hadn’t won-except dad. He quickly realized that Taylor had gotten her tiny little foot stuck in the back of the chair she was kneeling on. The harder she tried to get it unstuck, the more tightly it became wedged. Several people tried to help before AJ was finally able to free her foot. As soon as Taylor was free, she threw herself into Grandpa Park’s arms and sobbed her little heart out. He was the one she wanted. Dad has always been the one we wanted when we were sick or hurt or sad.

 

Taylor, as a babe with her great-grandpa...

 

 

...and on her first day of kindergarten

And, here's a p.s. to the story.  I had a sweet experience at the 2014 Reunion, held at Antelope Island just a few weeks ago.  As so often happens when all the relatives gather that haven't seen each other for a long time, the younger children become a bit frightened when confronted with all the strangers wanting hugs and kisses.  Taylor was clinging to me, trying to avoid those strange faces she hadn't seen for nearly a third of her life. Each time someone new came up, she buried her face in my shoulder and clung to me tighter.  Then, all of a sudden, she straightened up, smiled brightly and  was genuinely thrilled as she recognized her great-grandpa Park standing before her.  Gave me a bit of a lump in my throat...

Happy Birthday, Dad, you truly are salt-of-the-earth!