Famous?

About a month ago, Cardiff, Sawyer and I got to be part of a new commercial for Chopstix.

Cardiff was so excited to be in a commercial, but he was a little unclear of how it all worked. When we got to the restaurant, the tvs in the dining area were on and he looked at them for a minute. Then he tugged on my jacket and said, "Mommy, I'm not on there yet!?" I had to explain to him that they had to make a movie of us first and then we would see in on tv in a few days. It was pretty cute!

Dad had asked a few of their friends to be in the commercial, but felt they needed some "younger" faces too. I tried to recruit some friends, but no one replied back, so in a last minute effort, I called Wayne's office assistant and asked if she could see if her daughter-in-law was busy and if they wanted to be a commercial. Chad and Shannon Leavitt packed up 2 of their kids and headed right over.

It was a 10am commercial shoot, which meant we had to (or were privileged) to eat Chinese food for breakfast. I'm not a fan of chinese food to begin with and eating it first thing in the morning was a sacrifice I was willing to make.

Did you see the nice close up of Cardiff? Did you see SoyaBean sitting on my lap? It was a lot of fun! Sadly, Parker, Azia and Emmy were all in school and didn't get to participate. Maybe for the next one... .

Lethbridge? Windy??

Lethbridge is notorious for windy weather. There are some days that are just down right blustery and miserable! I think the only time that I welcome our Southern Alberta winds are in the winter when the chinook winds come and melt all of our snow away in a day! However, today was not a day that I welcomed the wind.

We were eating our supper tonight and we were talking about something outside. I glanced out of the window and noticed our patio chair cushions flailing wildly in the gusts. Then all of the sudden, I noticed our patio table wasn't there! Where did it go? The kids looked out on the deck and didn't see it.

Could it have gotten blown off the deck? Well, that would be crazy...especially since we have a 4 foot glass railing around our deck and it seemed perfectly unharmed. Wayne went out to see what had become of our table. Sure enough, there it was - smashed into a bizillion pieces on the lawn BELOW the deck.

Wayne and I braved the wind with our jackets and touques on and began the tedious task of picking up as much broken glass as possible. Thankfully, it landed just inches from the kids' sandbox!

The question still remains? How could the wind pick up our table, throw it over the railing, not smash the glass panes on the railing and yet the chairs still sit on the deck with the cushions flapping like crazy? That's the Lethbridge winds for you....!

Relief Society Spring Social

Last night was amazing. It was our Stake Relief Society Spring Social. We enjoyed a wonderful meal followed by an evening of music and spoken word. They asked Wayne to be the guest speaker this year and he did an amazing job. The theme of the night was "Look Again-Your Infinite Worth". He shared some great thoughts and some of his incredible music.

"I scored with this gig!" he joked as he prepared to share his testimony through some of his songs to an audience of more than 300 sisters of our stake.

There were many great moments; incredible performances from Chris Evanson and Jenny Olson, but the highlight for most was the debut performance of a song that he wrote about a little boy that was in our previous ward. He was born with a rare pituitary disfunction that left him blind. Wayne wrote a song based on a talk that this little boy's mom gave in a Stake Conference about a year ago. She spoke of her trials with raising this little boy and how she took comfort in the thought that even though he will never see her face, the first face he will see is Christ's face. I don't think there was a dry eye in the chapel as he sang this beautiful song.

He also performed his song "In Your Hands" with a slideshow presentation. There is something about the images of Christ set to music that really tugs at the emotions. Such a beautiful song with a simple message.



How lucky am I that I get to listen to all of this amazing music flow out of my incredible husband. He is so talented and really has a way of touching everyone with his songs. I truly think he is getting better and better and the songs are getting more meaningful and touching. Of all the music out there in the world, we are so blessed that our home is filled with this kind!

Easter in Utah

We had a whirlwind week-long trip to Utah. It was filled with Easter egg hunts, dinner with friends, making new friends, playdates with old friends and yes, Wayne even managed to record 2 new songs.

The kids had a blast playing with Rhome and Rhett. Rhome was Parker's little shadow for the week, always calling out his name. The girls had fun reading books to Rhome and Rhett and Cardiff enjoyed the vast array of new toys! Sawyer and Rhett chummed around and drooled toghether.

We celebrated Jade, Rhome and Rhett's birthdays. Jade is now 30 with an extra year of experience, Rhome turned 3 and Rhett celebrated his 1st.

We played with our long-time friends from the village (the university housing when we attended the U of Utah) and met some new friends.

Much fun was had. Much shopping was done. Much rest is now needed.

I Love these Ladies!

(Thanks Molly, I borrowed this group shot from you!)

I feel like I have 2 lives. I have my regular, everyday life. Then I have my 'Utah Life'. These wonderful ladies are some of my best friends and they are all a big part of my 'Utah life'. We lived there for 4 years (2000-2004). It was truly some of the best years of my life. We were poorer than dirt, we lived in apartments with fuzzy cement floors and cinder block walls, we laughed a lot and cried a lot. They were my babysitters, my teachers, my neighbours, my family. I look back on all of it with much fondness.

Most everyone still lives around the Salt Lake or Utah valley areas, so we've managed to get together a couple of times in the past 6 months. As one of my dear sisters pointed out, it is only when I happen to come into town that we try to line up a visit. I wish I was in town every month!

We moved away from our Utah life 4 1/2 years ago, but getting together with these ladies was just like old times. Everyone looked FANTASTIC and we laughed until it hurt.



I love these ladies!

Answered Prayers

The kids are off school for Easter break. We decided to take a family trip to Utah. It has probably been a year since we brought all of the kids down with us and they were all itching to make the voyage to see their cousins.

As usual, it has been a jam-packed holiday so far. I thought that before I forget the details or run out of free time, that I should do a quick update. (I'll try to add some pictures after we return home.)

I should have known that it was going to be a crazy drive on Thursday (April 9), when Wayne called and told me that he had a patient in labour and he was heading down after work to break her water. We had planned on leaving as soon as he got home from work and drive part of the way to Utah. He was obviously late getting home and then we rushed around to get the topper on the van, the bags and kids loaded up and on the road. Just as we were loading everything in the van, the hospital called saying his patient was ready to push. Wayne had arranged to have another doctor cover him for the week and told the maternity ward that they needed to call him as we were ready to head out of town.

For the most part, the drive through Montana was uneventful, as usual...until.... It was already dark; the sun had set and the full moon was clouded over. We were just north of Helena, approaching a small incline on the I-15. I noticed some hazard lights of a vehicle blinking off in the right shoulder of the road. Then it looked like the vehicle was merging back into the regular lanes of the freeway. Before we knew it, the blinking hazard lights were gone! Where did they go? Where was that car? Then in a split second, it appeared. Dark, in the shadows, silhouettes of people standing NEXT to the car and it was PERPENDICULAR across both lanes of traffic!!! We were only a very short distance from it, travelling 125 km/h (80 mi/h) when Wayne made the split second decision and swerved to the right. Miraculously, we did not hit the car that was stalled in the middle of the interstate, in the dark and miraculously, we did not loose control and flip our van into the ditch! We cannot deny that we were being watched over.

Spooked, we were left to wonder what had just happened. We reversed a bit down the hill to make sure no other cars hit them. I'm sure any cars behind us saw us swerve wildly and slowed down. We did see the stalled car being pushed back into the shoulder of the road.

So what happened? This is my theory...the car experienced some sort of problem. They pulled into the shoulder and put on their hazard lights. They must have lost all power and started rolling back down the hill. The steering wheel must of froze up so that instead of rolling toward the guard rail along the ditch on the right, it rolled back into the lanes of traffic. The passengers of the car obviously saw us coming and must have tried to get their car out of the way.

We are so incredibly blessed (and lucky) that we didn't broadside that car or that we didn't roll our van. There surely would've been a fatality or more if we hadn't been watched over and if our prayers of a safe trip weren't heard and answered. Then today, I came to find out that the boys of our good friends, the Madsens, prayed every night for the last few nights that we would arrive safe and wouldn't get in a crash! Thank you everyone for all of your prayers of safe travel!

Science Fair and Violins

Azia participated in her first Science Fair. Actually, they didn't have a choice. Her teacher thought it would be good for the entire class to participate so Azia and her friend chose to do a research project on some of the world's most amazing archeticural structures. They both researched 4 structures and then did a mini report on each using the 5 W's as their guideline. They were not formally judged, but did have to present to the judges. They received very positive comments and gave us all a good idea of what we can do next year!

Emmy and Azia also had their first violin concert this month. They have only been playing the violin since October. It is one lesson a week at lunch time for about a 1/2 hour. It is really amazing how much they have learned in such a short period of time. Both of the girls performed their solos amazingly well. (In my opinion, I thought they were the best out of the group...but that is only my opinion.) They both had a crisp, clean sound and they both played in tune! (This truly is a feat for beginner violinists!) Their versions of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" in mississippi hotdog rythm was SPECTACULAR! I hope they will choose to continue taking violin lessons because I really do think there is some great potential there!