Cultural Celebration

So this post is going to be long. It was such a big event. Months of preparation and practices all led up to the opening and dedication of the temple. Every Saturday kids from all over South Florida (about 1,200) were practicing 2 or more hours for this cultural celebration. They also practiced every Tuesday/Wednesday as well to practice singing. It was a fun experience to choreograph again (I haven't done that in years) and to work with the youth. Sometimes it was frustrating because obviously they're teenagers and would get rowdy (as expected), but in the end they all did a great job and were cooperative. Friendships were established and the stake is a lot more unified.

The day before our cruise, Blaine and I got a day off of work to be ushers at the temple open house. It was a nice experience to see so many members and non-members alike go through the temple and marvel at its beauty. I wish we would've volunteered more. 

We went to the actual open house several times - once with the entire family, another with Michele, with the youth and with my brother. 

At our last meeting - finally.

The week before the show, we had a day-long dress rehearsal practice with ALL of the stakes (6 in total). It was a crazy day. I left my house at 6:45 AM and didn't come back until 11:00 PM. It was hot, sweaty and smelly in the gym. I have never wanted a shower so bad. But it was also a great experience. I think this practice made it all click for the kids - that this truly was a big deal. We also had a surprise visit from Elder Holland who was in the area for a mission training. It was an amazing experience to have him speak to us. He blessed the youth and all in attendance with an apostolic blessing. There were goosebumps on my skin and tears in everybody's eyes. Since he wasn't going to be at the actual cultural celebration, we were able to perform 2 of the numbers for him. And it truly was a miracle that it turned out so well because we had barely practiced it before.

With Missy, one of the choreographers from the Pompano Stake. 

My mom was in charge of the props for our stake. We had the most props out of any number. We were assigned to represent the beautiful ocean of South Florida. She worked endlessly on this while she was moving to her new place. She had great help from other sisters in the stake. Our props made the dance beautiful. 

More leaders who helped! They're lifesavers. 

Close-up of Elder Holland! Love that man. 

Elder Burns (our former Area 70, his wife, Elder Holland and Bro Ellis (head of the cultural celebration committee).

The day of the show was busier and crazier than the dress rehearsal - as expected. There were technical difficulties, kids who hadn't practiced once but decided to show up and learn it all the day of, shortage of food, etc etc. But someway somehow, it all turned out wonderful. We had 2 shows. President Utchdorf and his wife, Elder Christofferson and his wife and a bunch of local leaders came for the evening show. This cultural celebration was the first to be live-streamed online so that anybody who wanted to see it could do so from the comfort of their home. I was so relieved when it was all over. But a little part of me misses seeing the wonderful youth so frequently. 

President Utchdorf addressing us

My mom and sister in front of some props. 

A huge model of the temple was revealed while the kids sang "Faith in Every Footstep"

The mosaic of Christ was made up with tons of pictures of members from the temple district in from of temples. 

My sister was also the choreographer for her stake. Without her, this would've been a lot harder for me. We carpooled together to the weekly 4+ hour long meetings in Plantation. We would brainstorm together and vent together. I don't know what I'd do without her!

All of the stakes singing "As Zion's Youth"

Uli was able to participate in the show. It was a great experience for him! 

My sea creatures ready to perform :) We had coral, sharks, dolphins, jellyfish, crabs, starfish, turtles, a sea monster and everything else you can think of under the sea!

View from Blaine's seat. Blaine barely made it to the show. He went on an install to Alaska that week.
 More on that later! 

The Pompano stake spelled out "LDS" 

I'm sure I'm missing out on a ton of stuff - that's what I get for blogging about it so late. But I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to serve in this capacity. I have been blessed and see how this event has also blessed the youth who participated in it. It has been such a gratifying experience to see the youth serve in the temple and see how much they value it. The cultural celebration was nice, but the real purpose of it all was to draw the kids closer to the temple. And that's exactly what it did!

***A video should be up soon online of the entire show*** I'll post it when it's available! 

Cruise to the Bahamas

Last weekend, we were able to go on a 3-day cruise on the Carnival Ecstasy to the Bahamas. Blaine had accrued too many PTO hours and we were kinda "forced" to take a quick vacation. And I'm so glad we did! It was a much-needed trip. With work being busy recently for both of us and with weekends being consumed with cultural celebration practices and meetings, we haven't had much time together. We ate tons, slept in, and really really relaxed. 

We didn't do much our first day just because we boarded extremely late (barely made it), because I was at practice for the cultural celebration. We had dinner, explored the ship and watched a Motown-themed show. 

Nassau was OK. We had fun but we weren't extremely impressed. It was all very touristy as expected but the tours offered were very similar to things we could do in Miami. I didn't feel like we were exposed to the true culture of the Bahamas. But we did take a nice tour of the city and learned fun facts about the island.

Blaine was excited about this

We visited the Queen's Staircase. It was is a limestone staircase that was built by slaves to honor Queen Victoria's help in the abolition of slavery in the Bahamas. They were surprisingly steep and 102-feet tall. This was my favorite attraction by far.

We also saw several forts but they were all pretty tiny.

It was a pretty overcast and windy day but it was still beautiful. 

Our last stop was at the Atlantis Resort. I've heard amazing things about this place but again, wasn't really impressed. Don't get me wrong, the resort is beautiful but everything was extremely overpriced. Again, maybe if I wasn't a Floridian living in Caribbean-like weather I would see the value in paying for tours/water parks, etc. We paid to see their aquarium. It was nice but nothing amazing. I've been to way better aquariums, like the one in Gatlinburg or the Audubon Aquarium in New Orleans. 

Glass sculptures by Dale Chihuly 

We had to take the typical Atlantis picture :)

Holding my bad :)

In the Predator Tunnel

At night, we had our "gala night." I didn't feel like getting all dressed up in a nice dress and kept it simple. We had lobster and prime rib. It was delicious! And of course, for dessert at every meal, we had the molten lava chocolate cake. After dinner, we went dancing and had fun. We hadn't been dancing in forever. 

Our last day was full of mini golf, Harry Potter, 90s music and Disney trivia (2nd place in the Disney trivia), eating, people watching, tanning, sleeping, and more eating. It was kinda strange to spend Easter on a cruise ship, but there were lots of families having Easter egg hunts around the ship. We got an Easter towel bunny and that was the extent of our Easter celebrations. At dinner, I was coerced into dancing with our server. It was empty and he really begged me and Blaine urged me on. It was fun and we both laughed a lot. 

We had a great time being with just each other for a couple of days without technology. Being alone with Blaine and not having him constantly checking emails or answering phone calls after work hours was amazing. It was just us, yummy food and the sea!