So frustrated, I don't even know what to say...

I just followed a link to an article in The Daily Beast about Mitt Romney and his religious background. I have to admit, I am so frustrated and angry right now, I'm near tears and shaking. It's not that the article lambasted my church or spread blatant lies about Mormonism; rather, it was that every statement was written with an insidious bias which definitely spoke silent volumes of: "This church is full of controlling fanatics and brainwashed lemings who are not Christians."

After rehearsing Mitt's upbringing in a family who lived their religion every day, allowed others to do the same, and strived to teach their children to do hard things and value HARD work, the following statement undercut any positive impressions the reader might have felt about Mitt's father and family.

"If Mitt chafed under the demands of his idiosyncratic father and his faith, he didn't show it." Idiosyncratic? For teaching his children to work in the garden on Saturday and pray daily? Really?

The article accused Mitt of being conflicted about his faith...giving examples of teenage pranks as the evidence. His LDS mission was dissected into bits and pieces that really just illustrate that at 19, Mitt was very much like any other 19 year-old boy, trying his best to do a good thing but still human and learning to be an adult.

Anyway, I couldn't finish the article. It just went on and on, subtly twisting facts to create a picture of mormons that got weirder and more fanatical as it progressed. I realize that my "mormon" faith has many people up in arms, but the fact that people will read THAT article and fully believe that I would knowingly not only be a part of, but LOVE a religion like that false picture created, highly, HIGHLY offends and saddens me.

I don't so much care that Mitt Romney comes off sounding pathetic and manipulated by his mormon heritage, as I care that people will believe The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints resembles anything close to that portrayal. Or that mormons, any of us, would be a part of an institution fitting that description.

If you want to know about the church that Mitt Romney belongs to, please learn about it from a Mormon. Get to know a Mormon that loves being Mormon. Go to mormon.org. Or follow my link to why I am a Mormon. Wouldn't you want me to do the same for you and your beliefs?

My Mormon.org profile

Our Family: An Improv Sketch

So Cody was in a troup of actors performing an "Improviganza" last week and our family ended up being the subject of the big finale sketch. (How do these things always happen?) Anyway, they asked for volunteers from the audience to share their marriage stories and Cody prepped me ahead of time that I HAD to raise my hand. They then proceeded to ask Ren and I how we met, how we got engaged and how life was after marriage. I couldn't really tell them the WHOLE story (how we dated, he got fresh with me on his couch and then got the "just friends" talk, etc.) that might have ended up not-so-family-friendly in the hands of high schoolers, so I took a little artistic license with the fact that we've known each other since he was 13 and I was 12. I told them we met at a church dance, then again at BYU where I gave him the "just friends" talk, then magically fell in love, got married and had seven kids. Ren told them life ever since has been a roller coaster, tornado and hurricane all mixed together.

Well, since these kids actually know a few members of our family, they got things scarily accurate! They also incorporated a funny comment Curtis had made earlier in the show when they ask the audience to yell out suggestions for an awkward moment they could act out. Right at a moment when things were totally quiet, Curtis yells out from the second row, "That awkward moment when you're holding hands with someone and get punched in the face!" The host wanted to know how often that had happened to him. ;D

So thanks to Higley High School's Improviganza, you get to enjoy our life condensed to 5 minutes of chaos on a stage!

Zach's Choir Concert Videos

Here's just a couple of short clips from Zach's choir concert. They did lots of traditional and sacred Christmas music, but I filmed the two that were exciting and different. Sorry about the videography in the second one, I was trying to film my friend's son who is standing behind the cute older couple that fill the frame. Also, all of the choirs were joined for the second one and surrounded us in the hall, so that's another reason for the crazy movement. Just close your eyes if it makes you dizzy. ;-)

P.S. Zach is on the right side, middle row, three in.

****** Note: I had to remove the videos because the concert material was copyrighted. :( *****

It's that time of year...

It's that time of year when our community trucks in a couple tons of snow and we pretend it's winter. Winter is just weird when you live in Arizona, but we make the most of it. When we've attended the Winter Wonderland in year's past, we've really bundled up and then got immensely overheated in the bright sunshine. This year we did less bundling then the weather turned colder, we got rain then HAIL and the boys froze! You just never know what you're going to get around here.

Here's some pics of my littles enjoying the white stuff. :)

Jazzy Zach

It seems like it's just been a Zach-fest around here lately. The latest was totally unexpected, but thrilling nonetheless. We attended a Jon Schmidt concert on Saturday night (he's a very popular, funny,  new age pianist and composer) and about half-way through the concert, Jon asks the audience if there are any professional jazz pianists out there. Nobody raises their hand. Any college jazz band players? Nope. Okay, any high school jazz band pianists -- with the caveat that if there are and they want to come up and jam with Jon, they have to yell out the notes in a C blues scale. Well, we were on the VERY back row of the second tier of seats and Zach yells out, then bellows the notes of the scale and Jon tells him to come on down!

I was floored...having no idea that Zach felt confident enough in his skills as a jazz pianist to get on a stage in front of a packed theater and jam with a professional musician. Oh my gosh! He was amazing and the crowd went wild! Curty had followed me down to the front to record it and while everyone was applauding, he yelled, "THAT'S MY BROTHER!!!!" So cute.

Afterward, Jon wryly said, "You didn't give me that much applause on any of my songs." =D Wow, what an experience for all of us. I'm so glad I had a phone with video on it! (Thank you, thank you Ren for buying me an iPhone 4s!) Zach, you are amazing and I was proudly thinking, "That's my boy Billy!"

Here's the video:

Lunar Eclipse

So we had another Byers nerdfest this morning. Six of us woke up at 6:00 am and braved the arctic Arizona temperatures (hey, it was only 39 degrees!) to watch the total lunar eclipse.
We had learned from our research that the moon should become totally red from the shadow of the earth and the refracted light through the dust in our atmosphere, so we were excited to witness the event.

Unfortunately, competing against city lights made the effect much smaller and less impressive than we had hoped. Then the sun rose in the east before the moon was completely covered in the west, making it harder to see.

Still, it was an "experience" and we were there to witness it. My camera couldn't capture it at all...frustrating! So here's what I got, plus the shots I took when I got distracted by the sunrise over the railroad tracks. :)

 

Zach and the East Valley Mormon Choral Organization

I am always thrilled to play the part of proud Mama, so last weekend was a good one for me. Zach is a member of an amazing audition-only adult choir in the valley. We attended their Christmas concert Friday night and loved it. I video taped one number from my seat -- we were up fairly close so it's an odd angle but it was a super cool African piece called "Betelehemu." Zach is in the bass section on the second row, way up back on the right. Way to be awesome Zach!