"The Moral of the Story Is..."

Our Stake Roadshow went so well. Better than we could hope. Friday night was our Technical rehearsal where the wards got to use the microphones for the first time. We planned on, were prepared for, and expected emotions to be high, maybe have some frustration by the wards, tears, etc. Nothing like that even came close to happening. Each ward was there and prepared and did a great job. It was great to see all of the youth enjoying themselves.

Saturday was a very, very busy day. Our ward had building clean up at the Tucson Stake Center (which is where we meet for services on Sunday and where part of the Roadshow would take place). I met Josh there a little later. He helped me get all of the lights changed out and finalized things for the stage. I quickly got all of our signs/assignments posted around the building. Kimberly met me and brought me the last of the things needed for the Tucson Stake Center. Then we were set for Dress Rehearsal.

This is how our Roadshow went: It was a true Roadshow. We had eight performances with a ninth group doing "Roadshow Idol" in between the acts. We had two different stake centers being used. Kimberly was running everything at our stake center, Tucson East Stake, and I was running everything at the Tucson Stake Center (where we meet for church). Four wards started at each building. Once the ward had performed they packed up all of their stuff, and went to the other building to perform there.

The dress rehearsal went smoothly, only a couple of hiccups involved. Then once the true dress rehearsal was completed all of the wards remaining at my building went to the other and they did a run through so each group could see the others. After that, we served pizza to all the casts and crews involved.

I headed back to the Tucson Stake center. The wards were all arriving on time and coming ready to go. Then suddenly I was faced with an ENORMOUS PROBLEM!!!!! Eight missionaries came in holding cakes and asking about where the convert baptism was going to be. Ya, what a shock. Somehow when the building coordinator for the Tucson Stake changed and with the change in year our reservation of the building (that had been there for four months!!!!!!!) got overlooked, misplaced, or ignored. So when these Elders called to schedule the baptism they were told that it was good.

So, what do I do? I excuse myself for a moment, go where no one else can hear, scream very quickly and start praying that I will know how to make it work. I knew in my heart that the most important thing was the baptism. However, I was still frustrated over the whole situation and the fact that many of the Elder's were being rude about it. Some didn't even give me a chance to figure things out - we in every respect had every right not to let them use the building, however - I knew that was not the correct decision to make and needed to make it all work out.

I went out of my way to move wards "green room" assignments around so they could have the room with the baptismal font. I spoke with each ward individually so they would know what was going on and requested that they keep their noise levels at a zero when they weren't in their assigned room. All of the wards cooperated wonderfully. I can't express enough gratitude and appreciation to all of the wards for their following through on my request.

Once that was resolved and further preparations could continue it was count down time. We started at 7pm sharp. And everything moved like clock work. Wards left & arrived with plenty of time to make it to the next building. The University Ward was hilarious and I can't give them near enough compliments to justify how well they kept everything moving along.

Even the clean up went well. I had many people stay and help me with take down. I was home before 10 o'clock. It was great.

Program Cover

Inside Left

Inside Right

I am even being brave and posting a picture of myself - don't do that often. This is me welcoming everyone to the Roadshow.

This is my own ward, Valencia Ward, doing their "Bling Thing". They did a fabulous job!!!!

More of my ward, this is when they were "Swinging"This is the Young Men's President, Tyler Shumway, singing "It don't mean a thing, that Material Bling! Doo Wah, Doo Wah, Doo Wah, Doo Wah, Doo Waaaaa" while the kids were swinging (in the above picture)
Carrie Perrine, playing the piano for our ward. You totally rocked it Carrie - just one word - FABULOUS!!!!!!!!

After each ward, our Roadshow Idol host, Clif Bennet aka "Flyin' Southwest" interviewed one member of the ward's cast. He interviewed Ragan from our ward. Great job Ragan!

Back in April our ward was divided, this is the group that is in the "other" ward now. This is Moral Man, Lying Lass, and Doug. This one was just plain hilarious. Every single time I watched them perform this over the last week they added things, it improved, and it got even more funny! The performance was an absolute riot!

All in all it was wonderful. It was a great experience and something that I learned a tremendous amount in doing it. Thank you Kimberly for all of the guidance and letting me help. I did have fun!