Arise & Shine Forth!

New Beginnings

Gabby Phillips planned our whole New Beginnings program for a ten hour project for Personal Progress. She did an amazing job! The 2012 theme is Arise and Shine Forth, so she had an early morning breakfast. Then she had a great surprise for us....she is friends with Ali and Christina Christiansen (top ten finalist from America's Got Talent), so Ali came and spoke to the girls, and sang for us. She is a beautiful young lady, and shared a great message with the Young Women. She told them 3 things:

Be true to your beliefs
Believe in yourself
Seek for opportunities to serve other

She shared personal stories with us about each of these points. My favorite part was when she told us about a man in her neighborhood that has cancer, and is around 70 years old. He wasn't doing very well. Her mom looked out their window and saw someone in this man's front yard. On closer inspection she realized it was his 90 year old friend raking his leaves! How sweet is that! Service isn't always convenient, but it's important.

Here's our cute girls with Ali right in the middle.

Bailey and Ali

Thanks for all your work Gabby! It was a great morning!

There Are No Words!

I heard Mark and Bailey practicing for their guitar gig in my bedroom. I started coming up the stairs so I could listen to them, and on my way up, this is what I found Sawyer doing in his room (while folding laundry-which for some reason makes it ten times funnier). The video quality isn't great, because I filmed it with my phone, but it's still good enough for a laugh! I love this guy! He is so much like his Dad! My friend summed it up best on face book when she wrote, "Hilarious with a side of disturbing!" Yep, pretty much!

Elk Creek Performance

Mark and Bailey had a guitar gig last night at the Elk Creek Apartments. She played there at Christmas time too. There is one lady that we think is so cute! She talks to all the performers when they are done and tells them how good they are. She pointed at Bailey when she was done, and told her to never stop singing because she has a beautiful voice. It was so sweet. I wish I would have kept the camera rolling and gotten it on film. She gets so touched when some of the kids are playing and always has to wipe a few tears. It makes Bailey feel good to know that she's sharing her talent with people who really appreciate it.

Mark, Bailey, and Mars

I usually have Mark or Sawyer film. Mark was playing with Bailey, and Sawyer wouldn't come (because he's scared of old people), so that left the filming to me! Could I be any more incompetent with the camera?!? I thought I was filming the whole first song, only to find out that I wasn't! Ugh...I was so mad at myself, because they did so good. Then I was all flustered for the second song, so my filming leaves much to be desired. Anyways, here they are doing American Honey.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I love Valentine's Day! Actually, I love all the holidays, but Valentines day was especially fun this year. Here's a recap of our fun...

Dinner Party
The Larsons hosted a Valentine's Day dinner party for a few friends. We had so much fun! Dinner was delicious! I was in charge of games, and I picked a few silly ones :)! First we had a 'Pairs Word Scramble' game. Bret and Suzanne dominated! Then we did an 'All Things Red' game. Those 2 were just to get us warmed up for the silly ones. Next we played the Candy Bar game. Each couple had to sit facing each other. They were given a candy bar that had to be unwrapped and eaten. The fastest couple won. Here's the kicker, you couldn't use your hands. It was a mouths only game :)!

Neal and Esther working on the word scramble.

Neil and Heather trying to get their candy bar open.

This picture cracks me up. It totally looks like Bret and Suzanne are playing the game, and Niel and Heather took a break to make out ;)!

Bret must have missed the part about opening the candy bar first. I think his competitive side kicked in, because he was eating it through the wrapper!

Me and Mark
Neal and Esther were the winners!

After that game, we played one called Stacks. It was so funny, and a little awkward :)! Everyone sits in a circle. When I read a statement that applies to you, you have to move a certain number of places to the right or left (move 4 places to the right if you have ever been pulled over). Some people move, and others don't, so you end up stacked on top of each other...hence the awkward part!

All stacked up!

gettin' cozy!

Thanks for the night of fun Larsons!

7 Days of Love
I did the 7 Days of Love for Mark's Valentine gift this year. It was really fun! I left him a note and a small gift each day for the 7 days leading up to Valentine's Day.

Day 1 was this 'I Love You Because' frame. We set it on our dresser, and when either of us feels like it, we can use the dry erase marker to write our 'I love you because' message on it for the other to find.

Day 2 was this 'Jar of Hearts'. When he got it there was only 2 hearts in the jar. The rest were hidden. Every time he found a heart, it was supposed to remind him that I love him. Eventually he will have a whole jar full of my love (sigh)! I was pretty funny with the hearts. He was in the shower, and his clothes were out on the counter. I put a heart at the bottom of his sock. I was busting up when he couldn't figure out why his foot wouldn't go all the way in his sock :)!

Day 3 was the 'Hint Box'. We each write down about 10 things we would like at any given time (some free, some inexpensive, and even a few big ones). Then if one of us feels like doing something nice for the other, we can just "take a hint" right from the box.

Day 4 was our fun night out with friends!

Day 5 may have been my favorite. It was called 'Tied to You'. Me and Bailey cracked ourselves up! Mark gets home from church about an hour after us. I taped this sign to the door coming in from the garage. He knew he was going to have to follow the string to find his surprise. What he didn't realize is that me and Bailey ran string EVERYWHERE through the house!

It's really hard to tell in the pictures, but there is string everywhere! I'm only showing pictures of a couple rooms, but it went through just about every room of the house :)!

Here's our bedroom. He was almost to the end by this point.

The string led him to the shower in our bathroom, where he found his note and surprises. He got a couple ties, pistachio nuts, and a white chocolate candy bar.

Day 6 was a Wild Wild West adventure. I left him a bunch of cowboy snacks and a note telling him that we had reservations in Jackson Hole to see the Bar J Wranglers on their opening night in May.

Day 7 was a silly Candy Graham that I made up. I left them through out the house so he would find them all in order before he went to work.

Valentine's Day
The kids found some candy and a stack of envelopes on the counter when they came down for breakfast in the morning.

There were 11 envelopes each. Each one gave a very small clue to what their present was. Here's what it said in each envelope:
1. Your Valentine adventure begins on...
2. Friday, March 30, 2012
3. at 8:00 pm
4. At the Jensen Grand Concert Hall
5. In Pocatello, Idaho
6. Center Section
7. Row Z
8. Seat 109/110
9. for....
10. Are you excited?

Their last envelope had Brian Regan tickets in it! They were pretty excited!

I had a present sitting in my spot too :)! There was a box of chocolates with a note on top. The note said he decided to go a little more traditional this year (but with a hitch). It told me that this was not just a normal box of chocolates, and said I had to follow the directions and I couldn't cheat.

I opened the box of chocolates, and the directions inside told me I had to pick a piece of candy without touching it first. Then I could pick it up, shut my eyes, and take a bite. I bit into a candy and found a small laminated piece of paper inside. It was a coupon for a romantic dinner prepared by him. All my chocolates have surprises inside! I was so excited that I wanted to eat them all right then, but decided it would be better to pace myself :)! One of two a day will be way more fun. I can't wait to see what's in them.

Funny thing about this...I thought he got online and ordered it. I assumed he could just type in what he wanted the coupons or messages to say, and that's how it showed up in the mail. The box of chocolates was sealed in plastic after all, and looked so professional. It wasn't until we were talking about it later that night that I found out he did it all himself! He burned a knife so it would be hot enough to melt a clean slit in the bottom of the chocolate, then put the message in, and smoothed it over. then he actually re wrapped the box of chocolates! How cool is that!?! I must say I was WAY impressed!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Deja Vu

This all seems so familiar. Didn't we just do this? On Sunday evening, Sawyer got another kidney stone. We were watching a movie when it started, but he said it wasn't nearly as bad as the last one he had. We finished the movie, and he was doing pretty good. He thought he'd just be able to suffer through this one at home. He took a pain pill that was left over from the last time, and went up to bed. Katie and Lisa came over to bring him treats. We were all up in his room chatting with him, when he started getting worse and worse. He told Bailey to get him a bucket, and his face got really pale. The girls left, he took another pain pill, and settled in on the couch for a long night. At 1:00 in the morning he came in our room and said he needed to go to the hospital. He couldn't stop throwing up, and he couldn't stand the pain any longer. He was sickly white (just like last time). It didn't take very long before they got meds in him, because they knew what it was from the last time. Once the pain was under control, and the test were done, we were sent home. We were back in bed by 4:00. They told Sawyer that he picked the wrong parents, because the stones are hereditary, and there is nothing they can do about them. It has me really nervous that he had 2 so close together. I hope this isn't going to be a regular occurrence for the poor guy. He stayed home from school on Monday to rest up and hope it passed. We kept him pretty drugged up, so he wasn't in anymore pain. He left for school this morning, so hopefully he'll do fine, and this will be behind us.

I got kind of bored at the hospital, so while Mark played Angry Birds, I took pictures :)!

Sweethearts

Sweethearts is a girl's choice dance, and Sawyer got asked by Lisa Hiecke. She's a dArLiNg foreign exchange student, from Germany, that lives in our neighborhood. She asked him by getting his seminary teacher involved. During seminary, the teacher asked all the boys to stand up. He would say a statement, and the boys would sit down if it didn't apply to them. More and more boys sat down, until Sawyer was the only one standing. The teacher handed him this note, and a bowl of gold fish!

The note

Her name was written on the rocks at the bottom of the fish bowl.

Sawyer enlisted Zakk and Sam to help him answer her. They painted Y E S on themselves, and rang her doorbell at midnight. When she answered, they were standing out in front of her house, in the snow, freezing their butts off. She thought it was pretty funny.

Sawyer, Zakk, and Sam ready to go answer Lisa.

Here's a picture she took of them freezing!

They had a great time the night of the dance. When the boys got picked up, they went down to the river and had their pictures taken. Then they met for dinner at a clubhouse, where Texas Roadhouse catered the meal. Dessert was at Katie's house, and then it was off for a night of fun and dancing.

Sawyer and Lisa

Here are the pictures by the river:

Lisa and Sawyer

Of course they had to be goofy.

The beautiful girls

The handsome guys

The whole group

Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah

Bailey performed in her last Falls Valley Talent Show last night. She played Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah, with Mark on base, and Seth on guitar. They did awesome! I was so proud of Bailey.....this was the first time she has performed standing up, she didn't have to use music, and this was the most confident she's ever been in a performance! I loved it! I especially loved her outfit. Hello 80's flashback! I think I had that same outfit in 5th grade.

Meet the band: Mark, Bailey, and Seth

On stage

I don't care if it is Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah at an elementary school talent show, he's still a hot rock star ;)!

Click below to watch the video:

BHS Choir Clinic

Bailey, Annie, and Marlee spent a Saturday at the BHS Bel Cantos Choir Clinic. They divided up into groups and the high school students taught them singing techniques. Then on Monday night, they got to perform the two songs they learned during the Bonneville Choir Concert. The girls were so cute, and did a great job. We know a lot of the high school kids in the choir, so it was a fun show to watch.

Bailey, Annie, and Mars

Progressive Dinner

We organized a progressive dinner with a group of friends. We had tons of fun, and ate WAY too much yummy food! We all met at the Harris' house for delicious appetizers. Michelle and Kinie set us up with sushi, mini chimichangas, and egg rolls. Our next stop was the Beck's house. Becky made a tasty potato soup. We were already full by this point, but we kept going. The main dish was at my house. Me and Lesa did pulled pork burritos. Our final stop was the Perk's house for dessert. Misty made the best mint brownies I've ever had! I want to do it again, but maybe with just appetizers and desserts. Otherwise it's hard to pace yourself, and you get full by the second house :)! The pictures in this post make me laugh. I have very few of people (because they kept complaining when I tried to take them), so I settled on pictures of food :)!

Triple shrimp roll

Egg rolls

Mini chimis

Mark, Jason, Brian, Misty

Pulled pork burritos

The girls

Thanks gang for such a fun night!