Hope of America

Those of you who live in my county who have kids (or have had kids) in the fifth grade you know what this is all about. It's a huge program that is actually, supposedly, part of the 4th of July celebration in Provo. I know right?

Anyway this was our first year with a child participating. Actually it was supposed to be two kids but George neglected to remember or bring home any information on what time he was supposed to be there or where he was supposed to meet his group so that he could perform in the "pre-show."

The traffic getting over there was a nightmare, we barely got McKenna there at the time she was supposed to get there. Ty dropped McKenna, George and I off and then went to park the car. Mckenna then went to where she was supposed to be and George and I went in search of his group. Since we had no idea where we he was supposed to meet them we were unable to find them and he missed out. Which bummed both him and me out but there wasn't much I could do about it. Hopefully he'll learn from this the importance of bringing home notes and/or remembering what instructions he is given.

The program is a showcase of the youth and is all about freedom and our country. It is taped and broadcast to the troops who are over seas. Good program....what am I saying? Excellent program!

This year they had two nights because they had so many kids that wanted to participate. (They said somewhere in the 8,000 range!)

Amazingly enough I was able to pick out my girl from where we were sitting in the nose bleed section. Does that make me awesome or what?
George was very observant and said "Mom!! They make up a huge flag!" Yes George is on top of things. He wasn't sure about the yellow and I explained that the yellow was supposed to be a fringe....because some flags have a yellow fringe.

This picture was taken with no flash as kids performed a song called 50 states. They were whirling around in a circle. I thought it turned out cool so I'm going to post it.And they had this dance group that performed called "The Golden girls" It was a group of ladies from 50 - 92. They rocked the house!!! And the 92 year old? She did a solo at the end where she ended up in the splits. Crazy! I wish I had had enough memory on my card to do a video of her but I knew that I didn't so you'll just have to use your imagination.

Here are three videos from the night. My camera isn't that great but you can get the idea.
This first one is "America Rocks." You can't tell in the video but the kids are all wearing sunglasses.



This is a really short one of the kids in the flag doing the wave....a waving flag! HA!




And this is the last song of the program "We can be a Light" the kids sing it in the dark and then use flashlights. It's a very moving song. And of course I didn't have enough memory on my card to get the whole song...*sigh*




The thing I loved most about this song was how it touched my 14 year old. The lights came up and the applause had ended. I looked over to him and he had tears streaming down his face. He was so moved by the message and the presentation. He's an amazing kid. Very soft hearted and loving. He loves his country and I love him.

McKenna and all of the kids did an amazing job. They sang wonderfully and performed beautifully. I'm glad she got to go and participate in this. Hopefully next year will be George's turn.

*And this was actually posted at 1:00 a.m. on May the 7th. (although for some weird reason blooger(yes I know it's misspelled I did it intentionally because this time thing is ticking me off) says that I posted it at 11:40 p.m. on May 6th! Stoopid blooger.) I took some Excedrin at the program because I could feel a headache coming on. I've been off of caffeine now for a couple of weeks so taking those pills at 8:00 p.m. was not a wise decision. I should have just dealt with the headache.