Time flies!

Well, the moment of glory has arrived.

Christopher reports to the MTC tomorrow at 11:30 am.
By my calculations, that is 25 hours and 35 minutes away.

I can't believe it.

He is going to be an amazing missionary.
Tucson will be blessed to have him.
We're going to miss him like crazy,
but our excitement for him overpowers the missing 100 fold.

He has wanted this for so long,
we would be fools to keep any of it from him!

Sunday was his last opportunity to speak,
and we were overwhelmed by the support
shown by friends and family alike.

Thanks to every one of you for your support to our entire family,
but especially Christopher at this time!

Toph, we love you and will pray for you always.
You are an amazing example to each of us,
and we know you will rock•it•up in Arizona!

Love you!



For anyone interested,
we will be keeping a close eye on Christopher throughout the next 2 years.
If things go according to plan,
we'll update this blog at least once a week with a report from him!

Stay tuned...

Toph's last chance to be heard

For anyone interested, 

Christopher will be speaking in church 

Sunday, March 8 at 1:30 pm at the church behind JoAnn's Fabric. :)

It was BIG!!!

Well, dearest BlogStalkers, it has been SO long since I blogged.
Really, I have no excuse except that I had too many pictures to sort through. :)

February 20 we had an amazing opportunity to celebrate with the USU 5th ward.
They had been challenged at their last stake conference to read
the entire Book of Mormon by the time the next stake conference in February rolled around.
My Dad's ward decided that they would celebrate with a Gala...
and it was going to be BIG!
(Everyone involved would put up their hands to emphasize the point that this was BIG!)


The evening was themed entirely around the Book of Mormon.
It began with activities including walking through the Tree of Life and Lehi's Dream,
making rocks that glowed like the Brother of Jared's, stoning Samuel the Lamanite,
walking through the Armor of God, and creating playdough stripling warriors.

Judging the stripling warriors:

After the activities we had a fabulous dinner with
a Middle Eastern theme: pitas and falafel!
It was delicious!

Following dinner our family had the wonderful opportunity to perform
a selection of pieces we felt related to stories found in the Book of Mormon.
We sang and played and had a grand time!

The evening was a huge success.
Many, many, many thanks to EVERYONE involved!
Including those who granted permission and assisted in moving the piano... :)

A few more shots from the evening...
We'll remember this night for years to come!

Celebrity Entourage

Today I was officially sworn in as the Roxanne Carter Celebrity Entourage. It started like this…
1. Get a call from said celebrity, saying, "I'm playing the National Anthem in 30 minutes!" I say, "Your hair looks great, have you run through the piece in the last few months?"
2. I chauffeur Said Celebrity to the Spectrum. Passing all security and parking officers saying, "She's playing the National Anthem!" I am wave through. I drive up to the front doors of the Spectrum. Nice ladies escort celebrity into building.
3. I park far away. (Further than a Chauffeur should) and run my heart out trying to make it to the doors so I can listen. I make it with a few minutes to spare. Kind lady at the door lets me in to listen. I said the magic words, "my Daughter is playing the national anthem." Allowed to pass...
4. I meet up with Celebrity, already embracing many at court side who know and love her. Linda, Craig, Al, Stew is busy....
5. The place the mic center court, out she goes, a hush over the crowd, her name announced, a stirring rendition played with passion, only this time, a new twist, the crowd of blue aggies sing along. It is so cool. Roxanne plays her heart to the spectrum.
The crowd unleashes a wild cheer as the climatic high note is hit. Roxanne hold is forever... And it's done. Cheers and the game.
6. I escort Roxanne back up the stairs. Hands, hands and more hands reach from the seats to shake her hand. Acknowledging smiles and words of thanks as she makes her way up. This wasn't expected. I do my job and carry the violin, giving thumbs up to all who are shaking her hand and thanking her....
7. I take her instrument, exit through the doors thanking the young lady for letting me in, run to my car and move on. It was a great moment. I would gladly be "the entourage" again..

The moral of the story, you never know at six what life will be like at 7. Who'da thought....

What a Week!!!

I feel like it has been AGES since I posted to this blog!
In reality, it has only been 10 days, but in February, that's over 1/3 of the month. Ha ha...

Last weekend our cousins James and Bridgette came down with Grandma Kenna.
Saturday night, James, Bridgette, Toph, and I headed to Provo
to see a concert by newly discovered Chris Merritt.
(One of his songs plays on this blog, if you're interested.)
Anyway, we headed down after some crazy adventures in the morning.

We first stopped to see Alana. She was getting ready for a dance with her adorable BF Phil.
Check out how cute they are!
After she was ready to go, we met up with a few of James' old companions
and another friend of his for dinner at this great Chinese buffet.
Shortly after that, we headed to The Velour,
a little hole-in-the-wall venue on University Avenue.
There were 3 acts that night. The first two were anything but memorable.
Chris Merritt was last and was FABULOUS!

Waiting for Chris Merritt to start:

Toph and I shouldn't be allowed to go places together. :)
We have 80+ pictures from our waiting... Here's the best one!

Chris Merritt and his bass player...
I accidentally cut off their drummer, but he was... well...
Let's just say you're not missing much!

Us with Chris Merritt!
Right before this picture he said "Is it OK if I awkward smile?"
I'm really glad he did! Ha ha ha...

Right outside the Velour there is this random piece of modern art.
James and Bridgette were big fans... ;)


~

The last 2 weekends I've been snowshoeing a few times as well.
Friday night, I went with my friend Dayton for an "evening snowshoe adventure"
and what an adventure it was!
We climbed around on what was never a trail for about 30 minutes
until we hit the turning point of the mountain.
It was nearly straight up!
We climbed to the top and witnessed an amazing view!
We decided we'd be irresponsible adults and NOT take the smart way down.
(Translation: We're heading straight down the cliff. :D )
You can get an idea of the steep-ness from the following pictures:

We're hardcore.

Dayton is standing straight up in this picture.
Yeah, we survived.
It was an avalanche waiting to happen! Ha ha ha...

Here's another angle. Yep, I'm standing straight up!
We decided we're pretty much the most hardcore snowshoers in existence. EVER. :D


Until next time...

And we're back...

Welcome back to our show, "Living With Wildlife!"

Our show today features what appears to be a baked potato...
Open it up with the provided gloves and "teaser," however,
and you will discover not a potato, but... drumroll please...
an OWL PELLET!!!!

Ok, stepping away from the announcer platform, let me tell you about my class today.
For blog-frequenters, this is the same class in which we discussed Sea Turtles.
Today, after our quiz on Sea Turtle anatomy, we were informed 

that we would be digging for bones in owl pellets.
Our professor told us he purchased them so he could ensure they had been heat sterilized.
(Translation: instead of a baked potato, it was a baked poop.)

Owls don't really chew. They swallow. This being the case, they poop out whole bones.
Perfect opportunity for a science project!

We were equipped with a piece of paper to determine
what kind of animal bones we were looking through.
Halfway through breaking apart my piece of poop,
the kid next to me leaned over and said,
"So, what are we supposed to do... just... play?"
Classic.

Here's my paper plate before I started...
(No, I wasn't shooting heroin. ;) Its not a needle, its a "teaser," whatever that means.)


My prize after 75 minutes of CSI:
3 skulls, several dozen little leg bones, a mandible, a clavicle, and a rib cage!

Stay tuned for more of the documentary... :D

Southern Weekends

Toph and I had another great weekend!
We snuck down to Provo to chill with the Finlay clan!
Friday night we met them in Park City for the aerial ski jump competition at Deer Valley...
We were a little late, so we watched them from the comfort of my Jetta. :D
That night, Toph stayed with our dear friend Jordan, and I stayed with Alana.

Saturday morning, Alana had a soccer game. We made an awesome cheering section!
From left to right: Toph, Jordan, Evan, Alana, Ian, Erin, and Roxy.

Saturday afternoon we had the "blessing" to go to a BYU basketball game against Wyoming...

This is how we felt (although we were extremely grateful for the tickets!):

Toph said it felt like he walked into a girls bathroom and got locked in. :) I laughed.

We couldn't figure out why the refs weren't calling obvious fouls when the players would hit the opposing teams arms.
Then Toph was struck with a brilliant thought: at BYU, its called the "Ammon Amendment"...
as long as you are hitting your enemies on the arms, you're a-ok!

After the game we went to see Thoroughly Modern Millie, which was being played at BYU.
It was wonderful! The production was unreal!
My favorite charater was Muzzy... she could belt the songs like you wouldn't believe!
Before the show, we grabbed a bite to eat at the West Café in the hospital... ha ha...
It was pretty tasty!

We had a great weekend! Thanks again to the Finlays and Jordan for having us! Love you guys!