Oh say can you see....

Brianne's choir from her elementary school was invited to sing the Star Spangled Banner at a Utah Flash Game down in Orem, so the boys and I headed down there to watch! Chan wanted to come along, but he was pretty sure with his knee still recovering it would be hard on him, so he was there in spirit!
They all walked out on the floor and got into position as they set the microphones.
And then it was time!
They did such a great job! And they didn't forget ONE word! They made Christina Aguliera look BAD!!! It really was a beautiful rendition!
After they finished singing they were able to get into the line along with the dancers and welcome the mascot and the players as they came out on the floor! It was funny to see the basketball players have to lean over to reach their hands! It was cute!
Such a fantastic experience for her and it was cute to see her brothers cheer her on! We yelled her name REALLY loud when she was out there and made her smile!
Then we stayed for the first half of the game and enjoyed being silly and cheering on the players!
It was a great time- thanks Brianne for inviting us to watch you sing! We love you!

Surgery #7

No you are not reading the title of the post wrong! When I took this picture of Chan I thought this was going to be surgery #6, but after taking the photo we re-counted and in reality this was surgery #7 on the same knee! Now, most of you are now asking yourselves WHY??? Well, it's been a series of problems being fixed from a VERY old high school football injury! He injured it his Sophomore year and NEVER went to get it looked at let alone FIXED, so needless to say it got MUCH worse before it got BETTER!
Here's a before surgery shot of the nice scars he has acquired! He's had all kinds of procedures done from breaking his leg to shift his weight to "good" cartilage, ACL repair, staple removal, scopes and a knee replacement in 2009. The replacement has been awesome, but his knee has healed SOOOOO well that it eventually got a little loose and he needed a new pad inserted into the joint to tighten things up. I call it a "re-tread"!
We were getting a little silly in the Pre-op room! Whatever you do don't press the RED button!!!
All things considered the surgery went VERY well! He was in the hospital for 2 days and came home feeling great! He was sore of course, but able to walk really well! It's been about 3 weeks now and he got his stitches out and is doing fantastic! Brianne and Will created some "welcome home" signs for Chan- this one was on the sliding glass door.


This was on the door as well.
This was the one Brianne worked hardest on and it was on the fireplace.
Here's all the ones that were there.
It wasn't long before this is what Chan looked like- on the couch working on his laptop computers! One was his and the other he was getting all set up for his sister Annie. His knee looks really swollen there, but there's actually an ice bag under that wrap! And you just gotta love the "tights" they have to wear post-surgery! So sexy! Anyway, way to go babe- glad you are doing well! :)

UPDATE!

We finally heard the news and Brianne and her fellow primary friends are going to be in the Stake Talent Show! Yay! I am so glad! It was such an incredibly cute thing they did and I had a feeling they would make it! I'll have to get more pictures of the big night when it comes in April! SOOOO excited for her! Way to go Brianne! :)

Talent Show

This past Friday our Ward did a talent show and our family represented! Carter and a couple of other boys from the teachers quorum did a "dance"! Here is a shot of Carter busting a move!
I was impressed that Carter rallied the boys and threw together this dance just a few minutes before the show started. It was pretty funny! They danced to "everybody dance now" by C&C Music Factory.
The highlight was the chest bumps! Gotta love those!
After they were done he took the microphone and said that was it and that they had threw it together- but I thought it was great! Teens are fun! There were all kinds of acts from dance to fart songs and it was a really good time!
Brianne and some kids from Primary did a lip sync to a funky version of "once there was a snowman"! One of the Primary leaders put it all together and it was darling!!
They had several costume changes so Will helped out by helping everyone make their changes backstage.
You can tell by these pictures how much Brianne likes performing!
Look at that smile! She is soooooooo in her element! I am almost positive she'll be in theater someday!
Then it was my turn! I was asked to sing with some other ladies in my Ward. I LOVE these ladies- they are so fun and I really had a blast practicing AND performing!
That night one of the ladies got sick and couldn't be there, but we dedicated the song to her and sang out hearts out! We sang "Happiness" from A Good Man Charlie Brown.
We had so much fun and we named our group "Sister Act"! I would do that again in a heartbeat! There were 2 mystery judges in the audience that night and they have to choose 2 acts to go on to the Stake Talent show next month! Keep your fingers crossed!! Hopefully there's a Crismon there!! :)

Here's a link to the video of Brianne's group doing their lip sync:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4348JWgMoc

Dr Suess Night!

This past Wednesday it was Dr Suess' birthday and our elementary school does a big celebration! The choir was asked to perform to get the party started and my cute Brianne was right there in the mix! She LOVES choir and loves to sing and I am so glad because she's got a great voice!
Will came along with me to support his sister, and he and Brianne also took full advantage of the fun things they had going on including a book exchange and a BIG slide!
The choir sang a song from Suessical the musical and did great! And as usual I could hear Brianne over everyone else! I love that! Once the song was over I was called on to the stage along with some other women who are my friends to be voted in to next years PTA officers! I was asked to be Treasurer next year and of course I couldn't say NO! Truthfully the women I will be working with are my friends and it will be fun, but I have to admit I am nervous!! Wish me luck!!

Pizza Night!

One of our favorite dinners is "make your own pizza night"! We buy some french bread cut it in half lengthwise and again in the middle and the kids can add their own sauce/toppings and cook it! Here's Brianne with her masterpiece!
This time we kept the topping simple, but we've done fresh mozzarella, fresh basil, pineapple or whatever else! Here is Will with his!
Carter was really into making his! He must have been pretty hungry! But it does look yummy!
Here's Chan getting ready to put them into the oven! They turn out so good! And the best part is being in the kitchen together and watching everyone make their own masterpiece! I love Pizza Night!!

Sledding fun!

A week or so ago we got a fairly decent snowstorm and it was a Saturday and we didn't have much going on, so I told Will and Brianne if they finished their chores I would take them sledding! Carter is kinda "over" sledding now but Will and Brianne jumped right on it!
It was actually still snowing when we went and very fluffy powder so it was a bit tough to get going, but once they had a trail blazed it was all good!
I got such a kick out of watching them go up and down!
I get the same joy they get just watching their faces! This one of Brianne's is priceless!
I think this pictures funny because Will has his goggles on his head but is making a scrunchy face about the snow blowing on him! Hilarious!
Aren't they stinkin' cute!! Sledding is fun!! And the video below is pretty funny! I gave Will the camera and he kept it going as they went down! If you watch closely you can see me in the background in my red sweats! :)