. . . a birthday treat for me . . .

. . . of all the good things 

that happened today . . .

. . . this was definitely 

one of the best . . .

. . . first thing this morning, 

this group rehearsed 

at our house . . .

. . . included are our bishop, 

his counselors, 

all of our ward clerks, 

and what our stake president 

would later call 

"a couple of ringers" . . . 

. . . i like to call them 

the ward mission leader 

and the director's husband . . . 

. . . first thing this morning 

they made me cry . . .

. . . in a good way . . . 

. . . the thing is ~ 

some members of this group 

were pretty darn reluctant . . .

. . . and when i say 

"pretty darn reluctant" 

what i mean is ~ 

they would have done 

just about anything 

to get out of singing . . .

. . . but you know what? . . .

. . . the special musical number 

in today's service 

was amazing . . . 

. . . there's just something 

about men's voices . . . 

. . . so rich . . .

. . . so mellow . . . 

{no screeching}

. . . they worked really hard . . . 

. . . the part we worked on 

the hardest and the very most 

~ the ending of the first verse ~ 

was my very favorite part 

of the song . . . 

. . . they nailed it . . . 

. . . i had goosebumps and tears . . . 

. . . i'll end with a direct quote 

from one of the singers: 

"if you take a picture, 

will you put it on steph's stuff?" . . . 

. . . and the answer is: 

yes. yes i will . . .