Dancing, Singing, and Art

Daddy Daughter Dance

Bob and Alayna had a very fun date night on Friday night for Activity Days. They learned the foxtrot, got to do the limbo, and danced. She said it was so fun she didn’t want the dance to end! I would like to point out that we went and bought her a beautiful outfit and then last minute she chose not to go with it. How’d I get such a tomboy?

Photography Class

Kayla has been loving her graphics communications class. The last few weeks she has been doing photography and she brought home her final pictures this weekend. I was super impressed! I see some amazing talent!

Opus: Warning Brag Moment

Alayna made the OPUS choir!!! Not only that, but she was the ONLY one to make it from her school!

Tyler made the OPUS choir!!! Not only that, but he was the ONLY one to make it from his school!

Projects

Alayna worked hard on her Indian Pueblo, did it all by herself, and got it turned in 3 weeks early! She did a great job!

I stumbled upon a new project too. Not sure how I get myself into these things. Ever since Bob and I were married, we have made sure to do a family picture every year. Some are crappy quality and they are all housed in hideous crappy frames. I saw a frame I loved at Michael’s, but it was over 5x the cost of the cheap Wal-Mart frames they are currently in. So, I decided I would go back once a week with my stupid 40% off coupon to buy 1 frame a week. The 2^nd week I went (this week), there was a special sale on them “Buy 1, get 1 for a penny”!!! That’s 50% off people! So, I went crazy and got all 20 frames. Don’t tell Bob. Then, I went back and tracked down as many original photos as I could and ordered new modern ones. I’ll show you the finished product when I’m done.

(Can you tell the before and after?)

Tis the Season

Its about that time, when all the illnesses start coming around. Alayna and Tyler came home sick Thursday afternoon. When I say Alayna was sick, I mean it took me 30 minutes to clean up the bathroom. I keep cleaning and lysoling the house like nobody’s business but it seems those germs can be persistent!

(How adorable is this pic???)

Movie Recommendation

Our family watched a sweet movie this past week called “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”. It was a beautiful movie about a boy who lost his father in 9/11. I highly recommend it.

Better Parade Pics

Our Lives in Color and Life-Changing Events

Our Lives in Color

Once I discovered there was a color run, I just KNEW we had to do it. We found one coming to Des Moines so I signed us all up. So, yesterday, we traveled out to DesMoines (its 2 1.2 hours away which kinda sucks). We had NO clue it would be this big of an event. Over 27,000 people ran it!!!

Before Pics:

(real reason we are dancing? To keep warm!!)

We ended up in the 17^th wave. So absolutely crazy!!! We were in the starting line for an hour! It was also a high of 44 degrees so it was way colder than expected and we were freezing!!

(Warming up??)

Anyway, it is a 5K run and we were required to wear white shirts at the start. Then, every kilometer you hit there is a color station where you get all this powdered paint thrown on you which is so awesome! Made the race go so much faster. We danced, twirled, and played in the color zone.

(See that white mass?  All people!!!)

(Zone 1: Orange)

(Zone 2: Blue!)

 

At the end, everyone gathers by the stage which is blasting fun music. We even did the Cupid Shuffle, probably the biggest one ever! Then every 15 minutes they do a count down and everyone throws up the packet of paint we got at the check-in and everyone gets covered!! You couldn’t even see- it was a giant rainbow dust cloud and so very very awesome!! You just don’t get a chance to do this kind of thing everyday.

We already plan to go next year and I think Keri and I will dress up, even if it embarrasses our kids! Its definitely the “Happiest 5K on the Planet”!!

Sidenote: On our way home, we had to cover the car in towels and garbage bags. I asked tyler to take off the headrest so I could get the bag on. We got on the freeway heading home when we hear this awful noise . We look back and Kayla said she saw something but didn’t know what it was. When we stopped for dinner, I asked for the head rest back and Tyler says, “I put it on the back of the….oh, oops”. What the heck??? So now my head rest is a lonely piece of crap on the I-380. Lovely…

Choir concert

Tyler had his 1^st choir concert for high school. He is in the 9^th grade boy’s choir and they sounded so awesome!! He is just flourishing in choir and show choir.

Homecoming parade

Alayna is in a cool club at school called STOMP. They do choreographed routines with basketballs. They have been practicing hard and were in the Linn-Mar Homecoming parade this week.

(Shes in the middle waving)

Life-Changing News

As most of you know, there was a huge announcement in General Conference regarding the age kids can go on missions. Marisa was attending the actual conference in the Conference center when it was announced. She said there were audible gasps and everyone was in shock. She called me so excited as soon as she got out. This could be life-changing for her if she chooses to go because she could leave on her golden birthday- 19 on May 19.

This was great news for Tyler for Tyler as well. He would have had to wait a year and ½ after high school. Now he can go as soon as he graduates. Only 4 years away. So crazy!

Master Class

I had a tough week as far as classes go. First of all, we were swamped at work. Totally swamped. Then I had several assignments due for my Master class. (I would like to add that I KILLED it and currently carry and 98% in this class and a 4.0 overall for my Master’s degree!!)

This week, on top of it all, I was required to attend a professional conference. I chose the Library 2.0 global conference. What a fascinating event!!! I attended 6 live webcasts with people literally from all over the world. The ideas were fantastic and I learned so much! I was also able to chat with people from all over the world. Amazing!

I also found out all I need is one more class (ill take in January) and I can get 2 endorsements: elementary library (K-5) and secondary library (5-12). Now lets all pray hard I can secure a full time kick-butt library job!!!

Marisa- Oct 2

October 2, 2012

Sorry I’ve had a couple crazy days, so this update is a little late, but better late than never! This past week was pretty normal as far as classes and everything. I did have a midterm for Spanish and got 92%! Today I took my first test in the testing center (for American Heritage :P ) and I got 90%! I’m so happy! I’m really learning a lot in my classes and I really love all my teachers. And more importantly, I’m getting closer and closer to being done with American Heritage haha. I just found out that I’ll be able to sign up for classes for next semester on Halloween, so I’ve already planned out kind of a loose schedule of classes I want to take. I’m really hoping I can get into Polynesian or Irish dance! Most of the other classes are just extensions of classes I’m taking now. It’s crazy to think that I’m almost halfway done with my first semester of college already. Time flies when you’re having fun!

Well, our football team played Hawaii last week and creamed them. They actually had 2 players in the first 8 minutes of play that had to be taken out in an ambulance. If the first one could have waited, they could have carpooled! Haha, anyway, that game was really fun because Grandma and Grandpa Hart were in town and let Jared and me sit by them! It was great to see them! On Saturday they took us to lunch and dinner and shopping. It was a pretty fun day and it was awesome to spend time with them since we haven’t seen them for a while!

On Saturday night I had to go to “Rec Night”, which is like a big dance night for anyone involved in folk dance (I had to go for my folk dance class). It was actually really fun, and Jared was there with me so I didn’t feel totally alone :) Because it was a special rec night, I got to see the International Folk Dance Ensemble (the best team in our school) perform, and it was incredible. I wish I could dance like that!

So that was a really fun night, but I was pretty exhausted the next morning. Unfortunately I had a ton of meetings and things to go to on Sunday so I didn’t get to take a nap :( , but I will probably survive.

Adjusting to living on my own really hasn’t been as bad as I thought it would be. I’ve actually been eating really well, in fact I have way too much food squished into the fridge and freezer haha. I guess that’s better than the other way around… My roommates are still awesome and we all get along so well! They are all so fun to be around. I definitely am very blessed to have them. As I’ve met other girls I have become more and more grateful for the roommates I have haha. We actually have a really fun FHE group, even though there are only 4 weird guys, but they are pretty funny and like to hang out with us, so we’ll take it.

Well I think that’s about it. This coming weekend I’m going to the Utah State game and then I’ll be going to Conference on Saturday morning and watching the rest at my roommates house. I’m really excited because I’ve never been to Conference live! It should be pretty awesome. Hope everyone is doing well!

Can you play football while jumping on a trampoline?

Another busy yet somewhat uneventful week. We always have a ton going on and are surprised that it will be October this week!!

Bob proved once again that he is an awesome dad!! He was out with the kids a ton playing and one day he was jumping on the trampoline with Alayna, throwing the football while jumping. It was such an adorable sight.

Sorry the blogs have been so small and short lately. I have a hard time keeping up with everything while working full time as well as doing school courses and working out to train for the upcoming races. I covet sleep, therefore it takes precedence. I finish most of my class up this week and then I will hopefully have more time.

The Uneventful Week

The Uneventful Week

Its not often we get a pretty uneventful week, but I will take it! We have all gotten back into the swing of things with seminary, school, and work.

We did get a practice 5k in. I’ve been working out every day but no one else has. So, we went to the track and it was freezing! Almost literally! We all survived, and since no one died I figured we are in better shape than I thought. Merrit came too and ran the whole things in socks!

(see Kayla in the back?)

Alayna came running through the house with a king-size sheet flying like a cape behind her. When I asked her what she doing she said, “Mom! I’m creating memories!” Then Tyler saw and said, “Oh my gosh!!! I used to love doing that!!!” Pretty soon they were both running around the house with giant sheets attached. I loved it!

Bob and I had a fun date yesterday. I LOVE being able to do that! 

Marisa- Sept 23

September 23, 2012

What did Marisa do this week? Nothing too exciting really… On Monday our FHE went up the canyon and had a little barbeque, which was really fun. On Tuesday Missy and Clark and family came down from Salt Lake to take Jared and me to dinner, which was really fun. It was great to see them. Also, on Tuesday I tried one of Jamba Juice’s secret flavors for the first time: white gummy bear. It was really, really good and actually tasted like a white gummy bear! If you haven’t tried any secret flavors, you should look up the secret menu online and try some. It’s pretty cool :)

Wednesday I got to meet up with my Spanish “study buddy” for the first time. She’s from Bolivia, and basically we just get together and practice speaking each other’s languages, so I get practice speaking Spanish and she gets practice with English. It’s pretty cool. Thursday was just a hectic day of homework-doing, which wasn’t really fun :P Friday was also pretty busy, and I got to go to BYU’s International Cinema to see a movie about Mexican and Central American immigrants trying to get to the United States. It was really sad but it was great to watch a movie in Spanish!

Yesterday my roommates and I were busy cleaning and catching up on homework and sleep. 4 of my roommates had dates last night and I, this must be surprising, didn’t haha. I know this will happen eventually. I can’t go the whole year without getting a single date, right? Right? Haha oh well. This morning I was able to be part of the Brigham City Temple Dedication, which was really cool.

It’s been pretty interesting to see people I know from back home. For a lot of my roommates it’s totally normal to see people to know because they’re from Provo, but not many of us Iowan’s make the trek all the way out here for school. This week though, I met up with Spencer Mitchell for the first time in several years and got to kind of catch up with him, which was cool. I also saw (elder) Cody Bringham this morning but didn’t get to talk to him. I’ve also seen quite a few kids from our stake on campus, which is always fun.

(Marisa studying and roomate on netflix)

I’m sad to report our football team isn’t doing so hot right now, but I’ll be there to support them next week against Hawaii! We should hopefully win that one… fingers crossed…Anyway, life is good and I’m really enjoying college. I feel like this University was made for me. It’s everything I want and need all in one fun little Mormon bubble. I’m kind of craving chocolate covered cinnamon bears right now…if any of you come through Provo, make sure to stop by the BYU bookstore and try some of those. They are so good…I hope all is going well back home and with all my family! :)