Huge Post - Regional Conference, Quelf, and Cards

I hope you like pictures as much as I do, because I'm uploading a TON today! But before I start, I need to warn a few people to not read this entire post: my mom and dad, my brother, and my nephews Hunter and Marcus. I've been working on cards, and I don't want to spoil the surprise, so stop reading when I tell you!

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This last Sunday was our regional conference, and our ward was lucky enough to specifically be invited to attend - and see President Monson! Unfortunately, his wife was hospitalized after a fall, so he shared his message by broadcast. But someone else just as exciting was able to make it - Elder L. Tom Perry!

After the conference had officially ended, in the traditional Hawaiian spirit, we sang "Aloha Oi" to Elder Perry and his wife. Every time I see this happen, I'm always touched at how loving of a sentiment it is, and especially felt so this time. Poor Sister Perry was a mess lol!

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In the middle of the song, Elder Perry walked over to the man leading us at the pulpit, and gave him a huge hug. I'm not one to use the word 'embrace' often, but I think it was one of the most heartfelt and loving embraces I've ever seen.

Then Sister Perry did the same - Kleenex, tears, and all. :) Such a sweet custom. I'm so glad I got to see this.

Okay. If there are only twelve men on the entire earth designated to travel the planet, bear special witness of Christ, who hold the power to be prophets, seers, revelators, and seal you and your family for time and all eternity, and one of them walks up to you like this...

you did somethin' BAD!

;)

Our ward had a potluck on the BYU-H campus right after the conference. It was such a beautiful, perfect day!

All right. Now all you people who aren't allowed to read the whole post, you need to stop now.

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*Don't ruin the surprise!*

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I'll put up a couple random pictures as a buffer.

I saw this at one of the churches here in Hawaii. (If you can't read it, the sign says, "AC is on. Please keep door closed.")

I'm sorry, but I had to share this. :) We bought a new board game called Quelf, and I think it is the most fun game I have played in a long time. You roll the dice, move to that color, then draw that colored card, and do whatever it tells you to do! I had to repeat myself the whole game and fetch a piece of wood while I panted, Rusty had to keep one hand on the floor when it wasn't his turn, Olivert made up a hula, Lala rapped for us - so much fun! At one point, anyone who landed on the same spot had to hold hands... like Shawn and Breanne! (FYI - they aren't married.)

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I have to explain that they were both SO embarrased and awkward lol! They really weren't as happy as they look here; I only took the picture because they were so humiliated. Shawn's face turned the color of Breanne's shirt, and they both giggled the whole time. I was a little nervous that we might not enforce that rule, but Shawn and Breanne were good sports about it, and gave us all a laugh. Thanks for being such troopers, guys!

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EVERYONE should have this game! (It really doesn't have a lot of rules like this, I promise.) It's so much fun - ask anyone who played!

Okay, seriously now. If you're not supposed to read any more, STOP!

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This is the Christmas card I made for my parents. I try to pull out all the stops when I make these complicated cards for my family... because I know they'll be understanding if it's a train wreck lol. So don't feel jipped if you never get a card like this - they're mostly experiments.

This one's called a waterfall card. (By the by, I hope nobody thinks I'm coming up with these on my own. Everything I do is what I've learned, mostly from 'The Pink Stamper.' You can check out her blog on my 'Friends' list, there on the right. She's kind of like the 'Pioneer Woman' of crafts. She's amazing!)

Pull the tab at the bottom, and watch the waterfall!

Then leave your message on the tab you pulled out. I made this part of a card that opens up, but I've seen it done where this front is the entire card, with whatever message on the pull tab.

Now this one, I'm excited to play around with. It's called a never-ending card. Here's why:

Open it like this...

and it opens up to this...

etc...

Then you're back at the beginning! Cool, huh?

El fin

STOMP!

Guess who's coming to town in December...

Nope, not Santa...

STOMP!

http://shopanthropy.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/stomp-out-loud-1-credit-joan-marcus-compressed.jpg

I've wanted to see these guys for years, and we've decided to go for it! Here's the info:

• We're going on Saturday, December 26th - that's final.
• There are two showings - 3 and 8 PM. We're feelin' the 3 o'clock, because we wouldn't be amidst the weekend traffic in town, and we could go out to eat afterward if we wanted to. But, we're for either one, so that's not final. We want feedback for that one.
• Stipulation - No kids under three are allowed. (Not even "babes in arms.") So, babysitting would have to get lined out.

Now here's where it gets fun! Costs:

• Regular ticket: $32 - $52, depending on seating.
• Group discount: If we have 10+ people, everyone gets $5 off their ticket. If we have 20+, we each get $10 off our tickets.
• And here's the kicker. Military/ Student discount: $25 PER PERSON! (Beautiful!)

So here's what you need to do, Oahu friends:

• Figure out if you're going to go, and let us know BY November 24th at the absolute latest! That's next Tuesday. (Before then would be oh so wonderful.) If you don't let us know by then, we won't be buying tickets together, and won't be getting sweet discounts.
• We'll crunch all the numbers on Tuesday, and figure out how much each ticket will cost... so that before we call to buy the tickets all at once, you can bring us your cut of the cash... ON WEDNESDAY the 25th. (You give us the money, we put it in the bank, then pay by card over the phone, to avoid internet fees.)
• Let us know if you'd rather do the 3 or 8 o'clock show.

Pending Information:

• When we can get a hold of them, we're going to find out if the military discount applies to just the soldier/ military/ officer/ dude or to every ticket he buys. We're hoping it applies to all the tickets he buys... SO! If that's our luck, we're also hoping that we can still have a dear, kind military person/ student buy all the tickets for us, even if he/ she won't be going.
• We're also going to ask if we can get a military discount, PLUS a group discount. How sweet would that be?!

Anyway, yeah. Hash it over with your other half and let us know ASAP. The more the merrier! And I know that not everyone reads our blog - rude - so let everyone else know who might be interested.

Aaaaaand break!

Movie Quotes

"He'll regret it 'til his dyin' day... if ever he lives that long."

-"Oh, uh Michaleen..."
- (salute) "Commandant Forbes!"

-"Ahh, you can forget the 'Commandant.' We're at peace now, man."

-"Still, but I haven't given up hope."

"Easy now, EASY now! ... Have the good manners not to hit the man until he's your husband,

and entitled to hit you back."

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Signs of the Times

While I was in Indiana, my dad and I were on a looooong drive, and we passed this:

Classic.