Video Extraveganza

I recently received calling #4 in our ward, that's right #4! Is there a record for this kind of thing? In case you don't believe me, here are my current callings:

1. Visiting Teacher

2. Relief Society Chorister

3. Ward Missionary

4. Ward Videographer

You read that right, I am the ward videographer- that's how it was read over the pulpit. 

Basically I am in charge of helping the youth to make a video. You may have heard of roadshows, well this is very similar except we present videos instead of actual plays at a night that is being called the 'Video Extraveganza!'. 

We had less than 2 months to pull this off, so we got to work right away. We brainstormed, wrote a script, and this week I finished the costumes. Our plan is to film this week, edit the next, and then we submit the video. I think I am going crazy! I have never edited a video, but I am learning a lot and hopefully this is not a total disaster. 

One thing I knew I could do was costumes. It is in my blood- my mom sewed all of our Halloween and ballet costumes, my sister is studying Costume Design and I like to be crafty at times :) As part of the video all of the characters are flowers. We decided to create flower headpieces for everyone to wear and I finished them this afternoon! I was so proud of my accomplishment that I took pictures and am going to show them to you now. Please be amazed! 

This is what I started with- some paper plates and a pile of cardboard cut into petal shapes.

Next, I used my handy, dandy stapler to attach the petals.

I then painted one side yellow.

The other side was painted blue, pink, or purple. I then finished them off with some acrylic so they look shiny. 

 

Overall it was a success! I can't wait to see how they look on camera!

RIP Molly

A few weeks ago the family cat, Molly, passed away. She had dropped to four pounds and the vet thought she had cancer and was blind in one eye. 

Molly joined our family in the fall of 1999. She was a wild cat that had been caught by the humane society. I still can't imagine how they caught her because she was so fast. She was nicknamed 'spit fire' at the shelter because she hissed at anyone that came near her cage. We brought her home and loved her, and she hissed and bit in return unless we caught her right after a nap, then she purred and loved us. She may have been a mean old cat, but she was our mean old cat. 

I have many memories of Molly: One time she jumped out of my lap and her back claw cut my face from my chin to my eye. She may have been mean a lot, but when I was sick she would come lay by me. She used to run from the top of the stairs to the window in the living room and back. She hissed whenever she saw Ryan and one time he gave her some treats and she wanted to eat them but also needed to growl/hiss and she ended up sounding like she was saying 'yum, yum, yum'. If you were holding her while she heard bath water she would cling on and yelp because she didn't like the water. 

It's crazy to think that we had her for more than half of my life. Cody says that she is probably hissing and biting Heavenly Father's hand right now- that's probably true :)

Bowling and Site Seeing

Cody has made it half way through the semester! And his Monday and Tuesday night classes are over! And he has the next week off for spring break! Unfortunately, I still have a full week of work next week :( So we decided to make the most out of our weekend and do things after I get off work next week. 

 

Cody's spring break started with a trip to the Mall of America to see the cast of the Hunger Games. Sadly I was at work :( There was a book signing and a Q&A session, but Cody said the line was too long for him to make it up to the front. Instead, he found out that the book signing was in the Microsoft store and pretended that he was shopping so that he could get a look at the cast. It was a success and I am successfully jealous. 

 

Friday night we went bowling with our friends Michael and Vanessa (Michael is in the program with Cody).

Cody and I did not plan to match. I wore my outfit to work and when Cody came to pick me up he was wearing a blue and white stripe shirt too!

We are obviously true blue BYU cougs :)

 

Saturday was gorgeous outside so we decided to visit the Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis. There was a guy playing the accordion and walking across the bridge made me feel like I was in Paris.  

Our next stop was the ruins of an mill that are on one end of the Stone Arch Bridge.

 

I can picture the Phantom of the Opera behind those doors.

 

 We have officially arrived in Minnesota. Since we weren't able to stop and take a picture at the 'Welcome to Minnesota' sign, we thought this could take its place :)

Our last stop was the famous spoonbridge and cherry

On a side note... we ordered a phone part from China and received this card along with our purchase. 

Cody read it to me in his Chinese voice- made my day :)

Como Zoo

Thanks to a snow day and parent-teacher conferences I did not have to work on Wednesday or Friday of this week. Hooray! I was able to get a lot of things done around the house that I have been meaning to do for a while. Cody had a ridiculous amount of homework this week, but he was able to finish by Saturday afternoon so we headed off to Como Zoo. 

The Polar Bear

Cody's Buffalo

Zebra

Giraffe

Cody and the BYU Cougar

Katie and the Brighton Bengal (high school mascot)

Cody playing with a monkey. Cody would move his head one way and the monkey would do the same. 

 These were my favorite animals of the day. It was strange to see these monkeys walk around, they have some human mannerisms. I was mesmerized and we spent quite a while watching these monkeys. 

The Como Zoo is close to our house and the biggest perk is that it is free! We were really impressed by this zoo; I'm not going to lie, my expectations were pretty low when I heard it was free. They also have a conservatory that Cody and I plan on visiting soon. Can't have enough free, indoor activities in the winter!

On a side note, Cody told me that we need to buy bigger steaks...

I think he's crazy :)