Jesus the Christ Mesa Temple Easter Pageant

 Mike and I decided to drive down to the Phoenix area On Monday afternoon/ evening, stay with Lesa and John Nuccio, see the pageant Tuesday night, drive home the next day. And we missed a huge snowstorm at home in the meantime. 12 inches!

There was a LOT of wind, and a LOT of dust on the drive south.  Definitely desert lands. We enjoyed our audio book, and Mike packed us a good dinner and snacks for our drive. 7 hours and 45 minutes. Not bad. UNeventful, which is just the way we like it. Lesa and John live in the San Tan Valley area.

Mike's niece and her husband are so hospitable. Lovely home. Tons of good food to eat while we are here all on our own while they are at work/classes. John is taking some CAD/CAM courses. Lesa works at a school as a reading intervention teacher. Since John was near downtown Mesa, he got some great seats saved for us earlier in the day for the evenings pageant. They just lay out blankets over the folding chairs  and hope they stay put! It's worked before.  Third row from the front. Amazingly good seats. 

Andre Michel managed to get a picture of most of our group. Andre, Massiel, Avery Michel. They Live in the area, Massiel is Lesa's oldest child. Then me, Mike..John and Lesa Nuccio are standing behind Mike. Lesa is Mike's sister Jannnae's oldest daughter .  Lesa's next-to-youngest daughter Dahlia was also there, along with Dahlia's husband Clayton Dean. And their one year old baby boy, Micah.

Fun group!

Mike has been spending his day perusing his Mom's diaries and journals from the time span he's doing for his personal history that he is writing/recording at home. We were hoping for photos, but they aren't here. We'll have to find those.

*I* have been resting and icing my lower back. I strained it Monday morning before we left Cedar. I attempted to lift a big board that had blown over next to our garage. It was  water- logged and much heavier than I'd expected, it shifted while I lifted, and so did I-- the wrong way! Ouch. Ironically, I was taking Mom to her follow up appointment at the Dr for HER back pain later that day, and I think my back pain was much more severe than hers on that visit. I figure I can rest, ice it, take ibuprofen for a few days and hope for the best in a week or so. At least it is  usually okay while I'm sitting.  Thankfully!! And, Mike's truck is very comfy to sit in.

I just hope we will not have to walk a long way to our seats at the pageant this evening. Walking is a bit painful.

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The pageant

Actors came around before the performance began to chat and welcome us.

Mike and Lesa. Mike, John and I went out to eat before the pageant. Lesa was supposed to come, too, but saving seats had new rules they weren't aware of. John had dropped off blankets way early, took a photo of them and their location. Lesa came with us, we parked, she walked in to check on them and add a small cooler of water ... But ended up staying to guard the stuff because someone  had rearranged their blankets!  And newly posted rules stated the seats could only be saved by a person who was present . She was kind enough to stay and we brought her a sandwich and drink later.

Cute Massiel and Andre and  Avery. Their other daughter stayed home doing homework.

We were three rows from the front!

The stage was lovely, the moon was full.

I think Clayton could have reached out and touched Jesus!

Really colorful production.