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The story starts 6 days ago on Monday morning – I’d been asking them what song they wanted for a few days and at first we thought we were gonna do "Toxic", a classic Britney song right? We even started choreography and spent probably 45 minutes figuring out what to do, but we soon realized that there are other Britney songs with more lip-syncing potential. We then went to "Hit Me Baby, One More Time" (and thank goodness we didn’t choose that cause… that is a SUGGESTIVE song) but almost immediately that was ruled out due to the slow beat. So, we finally decided on "Oops, I Did It Again", and seriously, for almost two hours on Monday, we pounded that choreography OUT! I was seriously in awe of watching the girls work – there were three main front runners that helped get everything organized – Amalie (Musical Theater), Ella (Visual Arts) and Lilah (Dance). The way they just knew what looked cool, what worked, how each move went into the next, they’re seriousl

Back in January, John and I were called as the Stake YSA married advisors in the Farmington Hills Stake.  I was hesitant to accept the calling when we checked the most recent church handbook of instruction and found out that our calling didn't exist anymore, and the stake presidency member who called us told us to reference the older handbook.  And beyond that, I didn't WANT to accept the calling.  John and I get so tired of fulfilling what we call "outlier" callings--callings that nobody wants, and callings that nobody cares about, and callings that are dang hard and thankless.  I have spent much of the last ten years filling callings like this, and I crave a calling where I just do what I'm supposed to do and all is well.  However, something that our bishop texted me stuck with me: we were extended this calling after  I had accepted a calling to serve with the young women in our ward, and the bishop told me that he wasn't sure I should accept both callings,

I've kept meaning to post this, because I figured you all as a family would appreciate it, but I keep forgetting, so here is a talk I gave two weeks ago in Sacrament meeting. I was asked to talk about the Emotional Self-Reliance class that Allison and I have been teaching/running this year, a topic I was NOT actually that excited to talk about initially.  BUT I got excited when I realized I could combine some of my recent reading of "Dune" as the intro to the talk, which got me MUCH more excited about giving it, so here it is: Anyone who knows me knows that I am a huge nerd, and luckily for me, I can usually draw analogies from the stories and books that I read to the Gospel. The Elders quorum can probably attest I have brought up Lord of the Rings a few times already, but today I wanted to start my talk by talking about the story of Dune.                   Dune is a sc-fi epic adventure book series written back in 1965 by Frank Herbert. In the story, a prince named Paul

 Being a Counselor at Interlochen has its ups and downs, but just like a mission, I think I'll mostly remember the great stuff from this summer. And just to make sure I remember a few moments from the past week, I'm gonna write them down here.  My girls are constantly asking me questions about myself. One camper in particular, Tay, tries to get some fun answers out of me. One of her questions at lunch yesterday was, what is something weird about you. Granted, I'm weird to a lot of people, but I pull it off. I say I play DnD with confidence, so instead of it being weird, my girls want to play. And, at Interlochen, pursuing art isn't weird like the world would see it, but valued. So I thought long and hard and was coming up blank. Then, I thought of one weird thing about me especially in a place like Interlochen :) Can you guess?? I'm weird because I go to church, I believe in God, and yesterday I told Tay that. I mean, most of my girls know I go to church, but yester

Looking forward to the 4th of July weekend, Hannah and I didn't have too much scheduled, seeing as John was spending the weekend working in PA.  We were planning on two baseball games, possible fireworks, and me working a temple shift.  However, things got shaken up once I saw that the Blue Angels were coming to Traverse City. Glo is at Interlochen this summer (here's hoping we get a post from her at some point about her experience here).  Going up to see her is such a draw for me.  I don't even mind the four hours it takes to drive north--I just want to be with her and  be at Interlochen.  To stay any night in a hotel around here, it's upwards of $350/night, but Stone Hotel runs about $140/night.  Granted, it's no luxury, but it's a room and a bathroom and it totally works.  So I checked and they had availability! Next, I needed an animal sitter.  Despite the fact that Mark was in town and available, he gave me all kinds of grief about watching the animals for

The memories and feelings from my childhood came and go like waves.  Sometimes I can go weeks without thinking much about any of the details, and other times it feels like the details hit me hourly.  I don't know what brings them on or pushes them away, but it can be overwhelming when they are around. Something that no one in my family appreciates is the sadness of losing a family member.  John has never lost anyone close to him, nor have my children, but losing my dad at a young age and losing my grandparents as an adult is heavy.  In fact, if I could've chosen who I would lose of my few relatives, the three of them would've been the last choices.  Isn't that insane how fate works?  Of the four grandparents my children have, the three living grandparents are manipulative, or narcissists, or have borderline personality disorders.  Not my dad though--he was emotionally stable, good-hearted, and interested in my welfare.  And of the six grandparents I have, my g-parents l