the Smiths: 01.2011

January 25, 2011

tick tock

My blog life has been slightly lacking. For now, some more disneyland pictures...I'm sure you're sick of them, but we just keep going and there keep being more to share!

January 13, 2011

'twas the season

One of the coolest things we did during the holidays was Singing for Rita.

As a four year old I was in a singing group called Children's Chorus (owned and run by Rita Schroeder). Three years later we moved and ended up in the same ward as the Schroeders. My other sisters were in Children's Chorus on and off while growing up, so we knew Rita and the Schroeders through that and church. Later on Rita was one of the parents in my high school carpool, and she was always the funnest mom to ride with. She was an amazing mom, always bringing breakfast for her girls to eat on the way to school. I was always jealous!

For a while now she has been struggling with health/cancer/etc., and her girls (I believe) arranged for as many as were willing and heard about it to come caroling for Rita at her home a few weeks before Christmas. It was very powerful, and I was choked up and couldn't sing for some of it as we all stood and shared the gift of song...a gift that Rita had either shared or taught to so many of us. There were hundreds of people standing with umbrellas in the pouring rain singing as Rita looked on from her porch. It was definitely the coolest thing we did during the Christmas season. From where we stood it was impossible to see Rita over the sea of umbrellas. Beckett was none too thrilled to be woken from his nap in his warm carseat on the ride over to be freezing and wet, but oh well. It was awesome.