Dance Festival 2008

Dinner out on a Friday night $40.00. Parking at the Tacoma Dome $8.00. Seeing Jacob in a sailor suit, PRICELESS!

This past weekend our children, Jacob and Michelle had the opportunity to participate in the Tacoma Dance Festival 2008. The festival consisted of a three day event where over 2500 youth from 12 stakes from throughout Washington state gathered together in the Tacoma Dome. The kids have been practicing their dances since January and were very excited to show off what they had learned. The theme of the conference was Phillipians 1: 27. "That ye may stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel,"

Day one of the festival consisted of a youth conference. There were several Especially for Youth speakers including Kenneth Cope and the church general YW President Elaine Dalton. Their message to the youth was to remind them that they were a choice generation and to always stand up for what is right and what they believe in. The spirit in the conference was strong and I know my children were touched by it.

Day two and three were performance days. We along with Valerie and her family (thanks Val for supporting my kids) attended the Friday night performance. It is not easy corraling 2500 kids and the performance had it rough spots but overall I was very impressed and the kids did a fantastic job. Our stake was part of the dances for the 1940's era. They did the swing. Jacob was in a sailor suit (very handsome) and Michelle was in a super cute full skirt polka dot dress. Unfortunately cameras were not allowed so I do not have any pictures of them in costume but they looked great!

My favorite part of the show was the when the youth choir sang the As Sisters In Zion/Army of Helaman medley and of course the final number when all 2500 youth came out together on the floor and danced to "Were All In This Together" from High School Musical. After they danced they all sat down on the floor and the room went dark and on the video screen they showed a map of the world. As a new stake was created it would flash and light up on the map. It went year over year since the church was organized. As the number of stakes grew and grew, the kids on the floor would light a glow stick until they reached 2008 were every glow stick was lit and there were over 2500 stakes. At the end they all threw them up in the air. It was AMAZING!

As I have said many times before, I am so grateful for the youth organization of the church. It is truly awesome. I am also grateful for being a member of our ward. The youth in our ward are all very close. They truly all love each other, watch out for each other, and are each others very best friends. As a parent, this is an true blessing.

For those that missed the performance we will have a copy of it on DVD if you ever want to see it. Maybe movie night on the back porch with a fire sometime.