Bye Bye Birdie - Opening Night

Here's a little glimpse into our high school spring musical, Bye Bye Birdie, which opens TONIGHT! Savannah plays Kim MacAfee, the lucky girl chosen to receive "one last kiss" from heartthrob Conrad Birdie before he joins the Army. Spencer, a sophomore, is in a quartet and he's a teenager in the big chorus numbers and Soren, 6th grade, was brought in to play Randolph, Kim's little brother.

I have fond memories of being in this play my junior year of high school. I was in the chorus (Bye Bye Birdie has lots of fun chorus numbers), my older sister was a cheerleader, and my freshman brother was Randolph.

It's a fun play! We can't wait to see it tonight.

Break a leg! :)

Prom

Where I went to school, we had dances galore. The date dances were Homecoming, Hawk Hoedown, the Christmas Dance, MORP, Valentine's Dance, Junior Prom, and Senior Dinner Dance. I may have even missed one. Plus we had Stomps throughout the year where everyone went and just danced with whoever happened to be there. 

But here, in Smalltown, USA, there are two dances - Homecoming and Prom. So you can bet those two dances are a really big deal! 

Savannah prepared for Prom for longer than I prepared for my wedding. I am not exaggerating. She and her girlfriends did facials last night. They painted their nails and swapped shoes and jewelry. Savannah got her hair done and spent hours getting ready for the dance, most of that time was spent freaking out that the long awaited day was finally here! She has been looking forward to this night for a long time. 

She looked like a Princess. 

Savannah and Dillon

Her first dance of the night was with her dad. She made him dance with her to "I Danced With Cinderella" before her date came to pick her up. 

Psychology According to Sterling

I have no words... :)

A Few Conference Favorites

It's been a couple of weeks, but when I think back to General Conference, three talks immediately come to mind. Don't get me wrong, there were many amazing talks and I can't wait to read them and take time to ponder their messages, but the following three were my initial favorites and I wanted to share them here.  

An April Sky

The sunrise this morning was so pretty with the sun streams pouring out of the clouds.

Within an hour, the clouds turned mean as a thunderstorm rolled in. The progression of the storm was pretty amazing. I could literally see the storm rolling across the sky.

For the record, we don't have any mountains here. That dark layer above the horizon on the left is more storm clouds pushing their way through.

You can still see a few sun streams on the right half of the picture. They were soon overtaken by the black clouds on the left.

We got some heavy rain and a few roars of thunder, but the storm didn't last very long. It left behind huge fluffy white clouds and a beautiful sunny day.

I love Spring!

Signs of Spring

Finally. After what felt like the longest and coldest winter ever (...didn't I just say that last year?) we are finally starting to see signs of spring around here. What a gorgeous spring it's turning out to be.

There aren't really any leaves on the trees yet, but I can tell that will be happening any minute. The grass is perfectly green, though. It's even been mowed a couple of times. Tulips, daffodils and hyacinths are in bloom. Our fruit and decorative trees are full of blossoms.

You know that "Start Seeing Motorcycles" campaign? Here's a little midwest spin on that idea...

We even saw some big farm equipment working the fields while we were out yesterday. I love this time of year.

Welcome, Spring! I've missed you.

The Best Easter Egg Award Goes To...

Soren's adorable and creative Penguin egg.

So we're a little slow when it comes to coloring Easter Eggs around here. Last year we never got around to it at all which makes me feel a little better about coloring eggs late in the afternoon on Easter Sunday!

We had a fairly limited color palette - blue, green, orange, and purple. Other than that, the kids were free to do whatever they wanted.

Soren easily won the "competition" with his penguin. It definitely has the "Awww" factor. Isn't it adorable?

And here are a few honorable mentions:

Sadie's cute happy face egg.

Spencer's creative drip dye technique.

Savannah's Ninja Turtle Egg

A shout out to our favorite school. Go BYU!

He Lives!

Happy Easter!

I am so thankful for Jesus Christ, for His life, His teachings, His sacrifice, and His resurrection. He lives! I am thankful for the knowledge that not only was He resurrected on the third day following his crucifixion, but that He lives still. He overcame death and has provided that gift freely for all mankind. What a blessing it is to know that because of His atonement, I can overcome the effects of sin as well. Because of Him, I can be made clean through repentance. Because of Jesus Christ, I have hope.




#Helives

General Conference

We're enjoying General Conference together at home this weekend. What a blessing it is to know that God continues to speak to us through His chosen prophet and apostles. It's my favorite weekend!

Triathl On

I was reminiscing about the family triathlon the extended Stowell family participated in last summer. It was great motivation for me to get in shape and most everyone enjoyed it. I don't know that there are plans to have another, but just for fun, I came up with the perfect t-shirt design...

Some people don't really get it. Maybe it's my weird sense of humor, but I love it and might have one made just for me...triathlon or not. :)

{You can create your own "Keep Calm" poster here.}

One Man Band

I stumbled on this video the other day and, Wow! We are fans! Savannah was freaking out! (Major understatement.)




Here are a couple of other videos by Nick Pitera we watched and enjoyed. (There are plenty more!)
Newsies
Disney Medley

Good stuff! :)

Happy Birthday, Sam!

We're wishing our favorite missionary a happy nineteenth birthday today! 

From some of the experiences he's shared, it sounds like Sam is setting his little corner of the world on fire! We miss him so much, but wouldn't want him to be anywhere else. :)

Happy Birthday, Sam. I hope nineteen is your best year so far!

Love,

Mum

xo

Reclaim Your Life: Google Dial-Up Mode

This "new" technology from Google is just what is needed around here. Love it!




Good one, Google!

Happy April Fools Day. :)