Joyful Moment from my Daddy

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I had an unexpected bit of joy last weekend. My sweet companion tasted a peach variety at the store and brought back a couple for me. The "Donut" or "Saturn" peach (named because of its shape) was one of the best-tasting fruits I've had in a long time!  

I'm thankful to my sweet wife for wanting to share it with me.

Happy Father's Day

I was so happy to be able to come home for Father's Day this year.

I started out the morning to hear my dad sing with the Tabernacle Choir.

At the broadcast, the message was so beautiful that I thought I would share it with you.

"When we hear the word investment, most of us think of investing our money in hopes that it will grow and yield a large return. Some of us feel lucky to have enough money to meet our daily basic needs, let alone to invest any. But in one way, we are equally rich: We all wake up with 24 hours in each new day. How will we spend those hours? How can we get the largest investment?

The story is told of a boy whose father once gave him a box with a note inside promising the boy one hour of time every day, right after dinner. And it was good for a whole year. For 365 hours, the boy could spend time with his father playing, talking together, whatever the boy chose. And every year, the father renewed that promise. Now a successful attorney, the son looks back on that as the greatest gift he has ever been given--the gift of time from his father.

The wealthiest people in the world cannot buy a gift as valuable as that. But everyone, no matter how wealthy, can make such a wise investment of time. When a parent spends time with a child, together they forge a bond of love that transcends anything that could be purchased. The toys and other things parents buy for their children eventually break down, wear out, and are forgotten. But those precious moments spent together will live forever.

When we invest our time in our relationships, we are building a legacy beyond description, a treasure that will outlast all material gifts. Time is truly the best investment--in our children and in everyone we love. Nothing else even comes close."

-Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Day Nineteen

put away all the clean dishes and wash the dirty ones without being asked

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It was a busy day at the Soules home. We had all gone to church together except for my dad who was singing this morning. When we came back, Kevin and I decided to make German Pancakes for everyone because we were starving. 

While we were baking the pancakes, my mom commented about the dishes. Wouldn't we all like a break from doing the dishes constantly? Well, it was her turn this afternoon. I put away and cleaned but after all that, the kitchen was once again dirty. Thank goodness super Daddy stepped in to finish the job! He just smiled when I claimed he had stolen my work. :)

I love my family.

Thank God for dirty dishes,
they have a tale to tell;
while others may go hungry,
we're eating very well.
~Author Unknown

Day Eighteen

Support my Daddy by going to the Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert

I hate to admit it, but I didn't really want to hear the choir sing this year. Reason being was that they had the largest number of people request tickets this year. Over a million people requested tickets with only eighty-eight thousand people being able to attend each one. We even had neighbors begging my mom for tickets but she didn't receive that many as she did years past. I felt a little bad and had offered to give up our tickets for another family. However, when my dad heard about it, he was really sad and possibly a little disappointed. After that, I knew I needed to go to support him if anything. It really does help to know that your family is cheering you on (plus some 21,997 people because they all came too).

The crowds were enormous and I don't ever remember it being that crazy even for conference. Kevin agreed and we stood in the freezing cold looking up random facts on google from his phone. I'm glad that we didn't try to drive there and just took trax. Parking must have been a nightmare if you could find a spot. Luckily, my mom saved us seats and we were right up front.


Lloyd D. Newell the choir's announcer and gives the spoken word, came on stage and stated, thank you for coming with it being so cold outside and all the crazy parking. We know that all of you made an effort to be here tonight. Let me assure you, you're in for a real treat.


That did it for me, we were in for a treat. The concert began it was FABULOUS! Then again, it's 
always grand.


I tell everyone that Christmas really beings after the Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert for 
several reasons:
1. It puts all of us in the Christmas Spirit.
2. My dad comes home after lots of rehearsals, recordings and concerts.
3. It means that my dad and I will take an evening to go Christmas shopping the next week. 
4. In my family, we start singing Christmas songs everywhere we go.
5. We have long discussions about guests from years past and then re-watch all of the concerts on DVD in the family room with hot chocolate and popcorn.


And did I mention again that we get our dad back? :)


We love having him sing in the choir and it has blessed our lives. However, it does take a lot of time and effort for a 360 member choir, an orchestra, a bell choir, Michael York and David Archuleta to put on such a big performance. Thank you.


I was touched by the story shared this year. It was about how the choir started and those early pioneers who never lost hope. I had no idea that the choir started as a Welsh choir who came all the way from England on a ship and then crossed the plains to Utah. They sang beautiful songs to guide them such as this one, "Guide us O Thou Great Jehovah, guide us to the Promise Land." 


I will make sure to post a video of it next year when comes out. In the meantime, look for Christmas with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir with Natalie Cole that just came out. You'll love it and want to listen to it every year.


For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads.
~Doctrine and Covenants 25:12

Day Five

Support my Daddy by going to the First Presidency Christmas Devotional

If you've ever performed in front of an audience, you might know how hard it is and how much it can help to have someone in the audience cheer you on. That's what I did tonight and not just for anyone.

My Daddy, Jonathan Soules has been singing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for over 15 years now. It has been quite the adventure and amazing experience for all of us. I can't express how grateful everyone is for the service he has given. I love listening to the choir and it will be forever my tradition to listen to Music and the Spoken Word every Sunday. 

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It was so nice to hear the Prophet, Thomas S. Monson speak. I will do a later post about the messages that were shared. They were so special and important to me. It kept me in the Christmas Spirit even though the craziness of finals are this week.

I will miss going to the devotional and concert next year when we move to Tucson.

Thank you Daddy for sharing the gift of music with us all. I love you.

"Silent Night, Holy Night.

All is calm, all is bright."

Convergence Video

Today started out a little rough. As usual, I was pretty tired when I woke up and hit the snooze button. Kevin kept trying to keep waking me up but I wouldn't. I ended up missing my first class and threw on clothes for next class. Luckily, I did make it on time for my convergence class.

Convergence Journalism is simply this: You learn how to make news videos.

For journalism students, we all know how to write and for the most part, take a decent picture. We've learned the very basics of layout enough to squeeze by. Oh but what about that thing we call the evening news? Nada. Zip. Zero. Zilch. Don't ask on how to use a video camera and let alone edit the it.

For this reason alone, I'm glad that this class was added on to the curriculum.

On this particular day we talked about sound and how we can use it. We talked about how sound can be very effective and why natural sound is the strongest. Our teacher introduced us to media storm and now I am hooked. The images are powerful, I want to learn how to take better pictures like that.

At the end of class, came the big let down. This teacher gave us a huge "required" extra credit assignment when I thought my group was ahead (note the word required). It may not seem like a lot when you read what it is, but trying to fit it in the busy schedule of three students in one day, almost impossible. I was pretty upset.

The list: Film and notice the sound in these places.

1. interview someone at a trax (train) station

2. interview someone at the union building

3. interview someone in an office

4. interview someone in an ideal place for sound, that you are not allowed to ever use in this class

The time to go to all these places, ugh, oh boy. We made it though.

Started with the ideal place for sound, in a studio. It included me without any makeup on and last minute thrown on clothes.

We then went to that particular teacher's office and he wouldn't let us interview him. So I did the next best thing. I called daddy, who of course let us come in to his office (not dressed as I should have been) and film him. It changed my whole entire mood, as he said, "This is cool." He even gave us his business card to prove that we worked on the assignment.

The next steps weren't that burden some anymore and my team member Ryan seeing how tired I was, agreed to the film his friend at the Union. The video didn't turn out that bad and we made our point about sound.

Thanks to daddy who saved the day. As a side note, I did eventually end up going home and showering that day.

My teammates think I have the coolest dad ever and I know that I do. I'm glad my dad thinks that I'm important. Maybe that's why that even though I'm grown up, I still call him daddy.