PEACE, LOVE, AND SPARKLES.: Peace, Love, & Jenny Oaks Baker

For those of you who recognize the last name Oaks... yes, she is Elder Dallin H. Oaks daughter. She was incredible. Not only was she ridiculously talented- I mean she is a Grammy Nominated Artist- she was so kind and caring. She was all around just awesome to work with!

Saturday at noon I picked her up from the Airport in Idaho Falls (half hour from Rexburg). I drove her straight to the concert hall where she was having sound check at 1. It was at this point that we found out her cellist thought the shows were at BYU-PROVO our campus' are about 5 hours away! She had two shows first one was at 4:30 and the second was at 7:30. We knew he wasn't going to make it for the first show so, we started looking for someone local who was a cellist. As we found someone Jenny realized that the her cellist player- Warren- had all of her merchandise and he was the only one with the music for the cellist parts. So, we called him and told him to keep driving towards Rexburg and whenever he got there he would just start playing. So the whole time they sound checked he was on speaker phone trying to listen and in his head see where his part fits in. Safe, right? It only gets better. He's cruising to Rexburg- and changing while driving!

We waited for him to start the first show- He pulled up at 4:35 and was on stage at 4:40. I ran on stage announced the show and ran off stage and quickly collapsed in a seat of pure stress exhaustion.

The shows were wonderful and everything else was smooth sailing.

I picked Jenny up from the hotel at 6:30 sunday morning to take her back to the airport! I was so tired! But we got her to the airport and everything was good. I returned the rental car and was able to get a nap in before I had to go back to the school and let the harpist into the room she left her harp in overnight. I went to the concert hall in sweats to meet her and when I got there I realized people were at church right now and in that building. Classy. I didn't even care I just got in and got what she needed and went home.

It was a full packed couple days and I LOVED IT! The stories that come from these things will always remain with me. This is what I want to continue to do! Jenny was such a sweetheart and talked to me on the way to the airport Sunday morning. She gave me words of encouragement and really told me to pursue my dreams and goals because she knew I could accomplish them! I am not sure she will ever realize how life impacting that half hour drive really was!

All in all, if you haven't listened to any of Jenny's music... DO IT! It's beautiful and inspiring.