A Taste of Mexico in a border town

This past Saturday our church held its annual Stake Women's Conference.




I sang in the choir along with my daughter-in-law, and our oldest daughter played the flute to accompany one of the songs. It was beautiful. I'm sorry I don't have a picture of that. An amazing woman, Arizona's Young Mother of the Year, spoke to us. Then there were a couple of classes about making our home a more beautiful place both physically and spiritually. Finally, there was lunch and while we ate we were entertained by different people: a group who did Tai Chi, a mother/daughter duet on piano and violin, a young woman who sang a beautiful solo and finally, my favorite, Folklorico Dancers.

On Wikipedia it says:"folkloric dance" in Spanish, is a collective term for traditional dances that emphasize local folk culture with ballet characteristics - pointed toes, exaggerated movements, highly choreographed.

I love the beautiful, colorful dresses, the ribbons in the women's hair and the way they swirl and hold their dresses out. The music is geat, too. These were all older women, I've seen young children do it as well, but they were all very energetic. I love that we get to experience the Mexican culture even though we live in America. Here are some of the pictures I took that day:

The Last Three Days

I'd like to say the last three days were a blur, but unfortunately I remember them in vivid detail. I love the smell of chlorine in the morning. Or, at least, I'm very used to it. I spent most of the time here:
I left the house at 7:30am on Friday and Saturday. I didn't get home until 9pm on Friday and 7pm on Saturday. You know I wouldn't do this if I didn't enjoy it. I complain, because it does get tiring (especially after three days), but I love the people I associate with. There are so many great people involved in swimming. One of the parents wrapped my foot with kinesiology tape so it wouldn't hurt to stand on the deck for so many hours, one of the girl high school swimmers gave me a hug and thanked me for all that I did that weekend and another girl gave me a rose from her bouquet to thank me. I think the cream of the crop are the officials I work with. It makes sense, I guess, that people who are willing to volunteer years of their lives for others have more elevated natures. Whatever the reason, these are people of high calibre and it is an honor to work with them.


Friday morning it snowed! I love it when it does that. I know it's not so nice for those who have it everyday for months, but for us it's like..um..Christmas. I only got to take a couple of pictures before I had to leave.
















I was so very tired when I got home Saturday. I immediately got into my pajamas and ate my JC supper. Fortunately, I opened Facebook to show Mike something and noticed that we were missing the wedding reception of some dear friends of ours. So, Bill and I hurriedly dressed and wrapped a present (I keep all kinds of presents on hand so we aren't caught without a present to a wedding or baby shower or birthday.)and drove to the Stake Center. It was a lovely reception and I was glad we hadn't missed it. But, afterwards we had to go grocery shopping and by the time we left the store I could barely walk. I got a text that I was supposed to be teaching the next morning. I thought someone else was doing it this Sunday. Luckily, it wasn't a tough lesson, so I got it prepared before I went to bed.

When I awoke this morning, though, I wasn't very cheerful about getting up. I groaned a lot and when Bill tried to kiss me good morning, I grouchily said, "Don't touch me, I don't want to talk." Poor guy. After my shower I was much nicer. But, because I didn't get up early, neither did the kids. We got to church late and sat in the foyer. I hate doing that, but Bill and I enjoyed watching our kids across from us.