Happy 14th Birthday to Tyler!

Happy 14^th Birthday to Tyler!

Tyler turned 14 this week and FINALLY gets to attend stake dances! His actual birthday was solidly busy, so we spread the celebration out all week.

Alayna and Kayla decorated his cookie. Alayna apparently chose her own method which involves looking like a white-pasted weirdo afterwards and running out of frosting so it only said, “Happ”. It’s the thought that counts though right?

Viola

Alayna had her very 1^st viola concert in the big high school auditorium. She was nervous but so excited. She did a wonderful job!

Odds and Ends

*We finally got Bob his reading glasses this week and I think he looks awesome!

*I finally finished what Bob calls my “Hall of Fame”. It reminds me of Monk’s house and I love it!!

* Yesterday we voted early. It’s nice to get it over with and avoid the crowds on the actual election day.

*Alayna made me a beautiful gift this week. She made a “Mom Put Up” jar (instead of put downs). She spent so much time decorating it and then she put sweet things in it about me. She said if I ever feel sad, I can pull one out and it will make me feel better. How sweet is that???

“you are very interested in super heros which I like about you”

Photoblog of our week

Tylers Early Birthday Present

 

YM/YW Etiquette Dinner

Alayna’s Special Spaghetti Bagel…

Tyler’s Band Concert

(We thought we were on time, but clearly had no idea how crowded it would be.  We watched from the hall.  Thanks to Patty for the pics!!)

(Tyler in the middleish)

Facetiming with marisa…awwww!

Part of 1st Humanitarian Box sent to Ghana

Recommended Book for the week: She Said Yes: The Unlikely Martyrdom of Cassie Bernall

Such a beautiful and touching true story about one of the victims of Columbine written by her mother. It's about the question she was asked minutes before she was killed, her answer, and why it should matter. I cried. I was touched. It's a quick read and I think it's well worth your time!

Marisa- Oct 14

 

October 14, 2012

So yeah, I have so much to say...where to even begin...I guess I'll just start with the biggest thing. I'M GOING ON A MISSION! This is all just so crazy. Before conference I tried to think of some questions I had or whatever, like I always do, and for whatever reason I kept thinking about a mission. I just kept trying to tell myself "Marisa, stop worrying about this. You have several years to decide if you need to go." But for whatever reason, I couldn't stop thinking about it. And then, lo and behold, Monson dropped the bomb. I was so not expecting an answer to a question that I've always kept in the back of my mind. And it was my first time every going to conference at the conference center, so I was freaking out anyway. Inside the conference center there was like the biggest gasp/ freak out ever haha. My roommates and I were seriously like hyperventilating the rest of that session and we couldn't focus at all on the rest of the talks. The poor people around us had to listen to us freak out for 2 hours haha. This whole thing is just so UNREAL. The thing is, I always felt like I maybe should serve a mission, but I always thought "well I'll see what happens, but I'll probably get married first", but now I can leave before I get married, and get back before I end up being and old maid...at 23 haha.

So yeah this week I filled out some of my mission papers! I'm still kind of in shock that this is actually happening. I'm planning on turning in my papers in like April-ish to be able to leave around August. This is just all happening so suddenly and my life has just been so changed around. Like I could be sent to China or something, and then that will totally change my major and everything. I’m really hoping to go Spanish-speaking *fingers crossed*. I'm so, so, so excited though. Every time I think about going I like almost start crying!

Anyway, enough of that. General Conference was super amazing, as usual. Hopefully you all got to watch it! Well everything else I have to say is like nothing compared to that news…haha. It’s been getting kind of cold around here and I'm kind of dreading winter because now I have to walk everywhere. I miss my car so much :'( Never thought I would say that, but I totally do. Sad. I went to see divine comedy this week (one of the comedy clubs at BYU) and it was so funny :) Our football team isn’t doing so great right now, but it’s still really fun to go to the games and be a part of the crowd.

Well, we’re having my cousin, Jared, and his roommates over soon for dinner, but I’m having lots of fun out here and I feel so, so lucky to be here! Love you all!

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!