Back to School Prior Style

This year I only have two kids in public school.  I decided, however, to keep all of my kids on the same schedule and so everyone went back to school this year on July 27th.

The boys are at GEA, Carlee is in Ms. Amy's Preschool (A to Z Learning Tree) and the girls are homeschooling with their cousin Shannon.  

I am still directing the Musical at GEA, and auditions were held the 2nd Week in August.  So, my life has been crazy, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

I love spending all day with my teenagers.  I love that they are learning so much and having fun together.  I love that I get to see them at their best, instead of at the end of a long day when all they want to do is sleep.  I love the boy's K-8 charter and how fun the teachers and staff make learning.  I love that Carlee and Talia have each other and are growing and learning together.  I am so blessed to live near so many family members.  Life is good.

Going to the Temple with Anna

This is a copy of the article I wrote for our Ward History.  It's a neat story and so I wanted to include it in my blog.  

On Saturday, August 8^th 2015, Sister Anna Heald went to the Gilbert, AZ Temple to receive her 

endowment.  Sister Heald has been a member of the Sahuarita 1^st Ward for 5 years.  Anna is originally 

from Germany, but came to America with her husband who was an American Solider.  Anna has one 

son who now lives in Missouri. 

Anna had been living on her own for several years when the Sister missionaries came into her neighborhood.  She felt an immediate connection with the gospel and desired to be baptized, however, 

after Sister Heald joined the church she continued to struggle with an addiction to smoking.  About six months before her 83^rd birthday she met with Bishop Dan Bezzant to discuss receiving a patriarchal blessing.  She had to quit smoking before the blessing could be given and so she committed herself to 

the task.  With some help and encouragement from ward members, she was worthy to receive her 

blessing on her 83^rd birthday. 

A year later, Sister Heald began to enquire as to, “what was next,” in the church.  I, Diana Prior, told 

her that if she wanted to attend the temple, that would be her next step.  She said, “Yes.” And so the 

bishop recommended she receive the temple preparation lessons.

Anna experiences a great deal of pain and is not able to stand after sitting for long periods of time, so 

she began temple preparation lessons on Fridays at our home.  On July 8^th 2015 she went in to meet 

with the Bishop and Stake President for a temple recommend.  Before going inside she whispered to 

me, “I’m going to pass this with flying colors,” and she did.  She had never before prayed vocally in 

public and was asked to do so by both the Bishop and Stake President.  Anna was uncertain that she 

would do it right, but all anyone heard were the beautiful, sincere thoughts of a pure heart. 

With the help of a wheelchair, and many wonderful temple workers, Anna was able to receive her endowment on Saturday, August 8^th.  I was her escort, and that experience was a true delight.  She 

was probably the cutest and most excited sister to ever receive her endowment.  In the temple, 

everyone loved her.  Several missionaries that have impacted Anna’s life were in attendance as well 

as, Chad and Diana Prior, Ryan and Karen Huber and Jim and Lara Smith from the Sahuarita 1^st Ward.

  Anna’s ability to hear and retain information is fading and so I am grateful that she was able to have 

this experience at this time in her life. Anna is a truly remarkable lady.  

Summer Playtime

Summer comes and I fail to stay on top of our family history.  So here are a few of the highlights.

Girl's Camp at Mt. Lemon.

 I wasn't there this year, but the girls had a blast.  Chad surprised them when he showed up on Friday night as the Bishopric member joining the girls for dinner and testimonies.

Madera Springs Hike

 Carlee was the only one excited about this particular hike.  Chad woke everyone up before six so that we could go hiking, unfortunately, the spring we were hiking to ended up consisting of this box we are standing in front of and so the kids felt a little jipped.

4th of July

For the first time ever, our town had a fourth of July fireworks show.  However, because it was on the third of July, we kept with tradition and had friends and family over for a BBQ and fireworks on the fourth.

Prior Family Reunion in St. George

 After the 4th of July, we packed our bags and drove up to Utah for a family reunion.  The weekend was spent at Zion's national park, playing games, participating in service projects and putting on a talent show.  Most of us stayed in a historic home right next to Brigham Young's winter mansion.  The house we stayed in had 8 bedrooms and bathrooms so it ended up being a perfect place to visit rest and relax in between all of the outdoor fun.

Young Ambassador Singing Entertainer's Workshop or (YASE)

 The girls flew up to Utah a week before our family reunion to attend YASE.  On Day two of our family reunion I drove from St. George to Provo to watch the girls perform and bring them back to the reunion.  The performances were incredible and the girls had a blast.  I think we have a new favorite summer program.

 The Final Day of our Family Reunion

 All three girls sang the Fiona song from "Shrek the Musical" for our family talent show.  They were super cute.  Carlee is in love with Shrek the Musical and so we listened to the soundtrack most of the drive up to Utah.  The good news is, by the time Carlee had to sing, she knew all the words.

Be the Best You / And Time with Grandma and Grandpa

After the reunion, we drove from St. George to Sandy and stayed with Chad's parents while the girls attended Be the Best You.  Cathy and her kids stayed with us for a few days and so we went up to the mountains for a dutch oven cookout.  We also attended the Pioneer Day concert at the Conference Center, and spent time bowling and having fun with Chad's parents.

Back Home!

After a crazy summer there is nothing quite like enjoying an evening at home with family. Since Talia was gone the entire time we were gone, these two cuties were happy to see each other again.  

Saying Goodbye

 Summers in our area are often filled with young families moving in or out as they start or complete schooling, dental programs, or medical residencies.  This year I lost two of my favorite people, but not because they had graduated from a university program.  Robin and Susan have been more than just friends to me and my family, they have been family.  I miss them both tremendously and can only think the Lord has big plans for them, since they both moved to Utah.  I hope someday our paths will cross again, but until then. . . thank you for blessing my life and making me better then I ever could have been without you.

New York City!!!

Three years ago my kid's school started offering class trips back east.  I told the girls that if they had 6 quarters of straight A's in middle school I would pay for them to go on the trip in 8th grade.  Rebecca went with her class to Washington DC, but Sara's class trip got cancelled because not enough students signed up.  She had earned the trip so I asked her where she wanted to go and she choose New York City.  So we started making plans and were lucky enough to have Jaime and Grandma join us.  

Here we are, waiting to get on the plane.  We were both super excited.

After a day of flying, and finally getting settled into our condo, we decided to get something to eat.  Sara wanted New York Pizza.  We went to this great little place just down the street from where we were staying and it was REALLY good.  I didn't think you could make a better pizza than the ones I had already tried, but this one beat them all.

On day two we decided to conquer the subways.  My mom woke up about an hour and a half before the rest of us so that she could map out our entire day.  She's awesome.  We left after a quick muffin from the corner store and went to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

I loved the way this picture of the flag turned out.  It reminds me of the song, "America the Beautiful" where the words, "God shed His grace on thee" are sung.  The morning had been a little drizzly but when we reached the island, the clouds had begun to part and we enjoyed a beautiful sunny day.

 Stop number two was Ellis Island.  Its amazing to think that people made such incredible sacrifices to come to our country and have freedoms they lacked in their own.  Their stories are humbling.

Inside the museum we took the citizenship test.  I took the test and got 9/10, Sara took it and got 9/10, Jaime took it and got 9/10, and then Grandma took it and got 10/10.  So, the good news is, we could all be citizens.

The New York City Skyline from Ellis Island.

 After our busy day, we went to a wonderful Mexican Restaurant for dinner (Rosa Mexicano) and then to Phantom of the Opera.  The show was amazing and the perfect ending to an incredible day.

 On day three we went to the Museum of Natural History.  Its HUGE!  Sara had fun pointing out all the exhibits that were used in the "Night at the Museum" movie, but three hours later we had only skimmed the surface.

After a quick sandwich, we took a walk through one of Central Park's Botanical Gardens.  The park is beautiful right now.  I think it was about 65 degrees outside and GREEN!  When you live in the desert, you learn not to take greenery for granted.

Then Jaime led us to one spot on her bucket list, "Serendipity" for our dessert dinner.

Serendipity happened to be down the street from Dillon's Candy Bar, a place Sara was hoping we'd discover on our journey around the city.  We had to stop in and ended up getting some chocolate bars with pop rocks in them for the kiddos back home.  Imagine three stories of every type of candy you can imagine, plus a dessert bar where they sell Mocktails and ice cream.  Not to bad!

 We thought we were doing good with our time but when we arrived back at our condo, we realized that we were seeing Aladdin not Wicked Thursday night and that it started at 7 not 8.  It was 7 when we discovered our mistake, so we ran to the subway, ran to show and ended up only missing the first 4 songs.  The show was INCREDIBLE!  We were lucky enough to catch the show with its original cast and so that made it even more fun.

After the show it was off to the Empire State Building and Wow, what a view.  I think my mom enjoyed the walk down time Square almost as much as the view of the city.  Looking at the same thing from two different perspectives was a lot of fun.  

Day Four began with an exploration of downtown NYC.

 We visited a rather famous cathedral and the Federal Building.  We walked down wall street and past the NYC Stock Exchange.  Then we spent the afternoon at the 9/11 memorial museum.

 I don't think anyone who is old enough to remember 9/11 will ever forget where they were or what they were doing when they heard the news about the planes crashing through the twin towers.  Re-living that moment brought back a lot of the feelings I had on that fateful day.  Our country changed, and for a time people came together in a way I don't think I've ever seen.

 After a somber afternoon it was time for some FUN! So we went and checked out the Stardust Diner.

The waiters and waitresses all sang and danced while we ate.  Most had been in Broadway shows and were trying to get into new ones, so they were crazy talented.  The meal definitely lightened the mood and got us ready to go see our final show, "Wicked." SOOOOOOO FUN!!!

 Day Five was to be our last day in the City and so we spent the morning at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Not only were the exhibits incredible, but you couldn't even begin to see everything so we will have to plan a trip back in the future.

I had to take a picture of mom asking for directions, because she would ask for directions any chance she got.  We didn't do a really good job of blending in and NOT looking like tourists, but that's okay, at least we never got really lost.  (Every so often Jaime just had to pretend like she didn't know us.)

 Its hard to believe that the trip we'd spent the last several months preparing for is over.  What a fun way to start our summer break.  Me, Sara, Mom, and Jaime.  I'm so glad we were able to go.

 Just in case you are feeling bad for Chad and the other kids we left behind, DON'T!  They went to Disneyland while we were gone, so everyone had a little summer fun last week.  (And Carlee has officially survived the Tower of Terror or as she says, the ride with the Green Missionaries.)