I'm dying to go to Prom with you!

It all started with an upcoming dance.....

which led to an idea......

which led to a crime.....

which led to a crime scene......

which led to the asking of a GIRL to Junior Prom!

by Eric (and his Dad).....I swear I had nothing to do with it.....

Eric made up a crime report and on the bottom it said, "I'm dying to go to prom with you."  Now, that wouldn't have been so bad, except that he had to go to the next level.....

He and a friend went over to the girl's house and drew a chalk body outline by her car to resemble a dead body.....yes, morbid, I know.  (Once again, I plead the 5th)......

and placed crime scene tape (yellow crepe paper with the words "crime scene" written on it) all over her car with the crime report attached......

Okay, I guess it was pretty funny, but I about "died" when I first heard the idea.....no pun intended!

So, Ashleigh (yes, she has a name) and a her friend came over and decorated Eric's room with tons of balloons to answer.  I think they were quite dizzy when they were finished.....

 And on the ceiling, in glow-in-the-dark stars, she spelled the word, "yes."  It was very cute (and much less morbid, if you ask me).....

Now before we get into the pictures of the "couple," let me tell you about the options Eric's group had for the big event. 

1.  Meet as a big group to go ice skating during the day (somewhere in Murray)

OR.....2.  Bowling during the day (somewhere else) 

OR....3. Some girl is paying for them to go in a limo, so Eric won't have to drive (yeah!)

OR.....4.  Picnic at Murray Park (instead of dinner at a nice restaurant....and let's not forget it was the end of February.....and it was freezing!)

AND.....5.  Bring prom clothes and change in restroom of the Capitol (where the dance was)

OR.....6.  Maybe go to Spaghetti Factory downtown for dinner instead

AND.....7.  Pick up friend's date somewhere in Sandy

AND.....8.  Take freeway to the capitol from girl's house in Sandy

AND....9.  Dance a few slow dances together and a lot of FAST dances with a group

THEN.....10.  Take friend's date home back in Sandy

AND.....11.  Drop off friend and Ashleigh

AND.....12.  Be home ASAP (my request)

These ideas were discussed in some detail.....but nothing was really decided until the day before the dance.  And here's what was decided.....

THE LIMO RIDE FELL THROUGH....SO ERIC HAD TO DRIVE (ugh!)

1.  Meet at the ice skating place at noon (some place in Murray)

2.  Be home around 2:30 to get ready for Prom

3. Pick up date at 4:45

4.  Come back to our house so I can take pictures

5.  Pick up Kevin (the friend he was doubling with)

6.  Pick up Kevin's date somewhere in Sandy

5.  Meet at the Spaghetti Factory downtown at 5:30 with group of friends

6.  Get to dance at around 7:30

7.  Enjoy yourselves

8.  Leave dance at 10:00

9.  Drop everyone off at their respective homes

10.  Don't stay and talk forever

11.  Be home ASAP

AND HERE'S HOW IT WENT DOWN.....

1. Estimate WHERE the ice skating place is in Murray....talk about possible routes and depend on Kevin for directions

2.  After picking up Ashleigh and Kevin, meet at ice skating place at noon

3.  Arrive at ice skating place

4.  Go in and discover it isn't public skating time

5.  Weigh options about what to do instead

6.  Decide to go bowling at Fat Cats

7.  Bowl one game

8.  Arive home at 3:30, already tired

THEN......

1.  Draw maps to various locations intended for the evening, such as Kevin's date's home (somewhere in Sandy), freeway entrance for downtown, freeway exit to Spaghetti Factory, and the capitol).  Then repeat for the way home.....

2.  Talk about various routes, but try not to be confusing. 

3.  Write directions down on small paper

4.  Pray that everyone survives the evening!

THEN.....

1.  Have Ashleigh call when she's ready

2.  She calls at 5:00 and Eric goes to pick her up

3.  Comes back to our house for pictures

Take pictures!

4.  Send them off on their merry way....and pray some more.

5.  Pick up Kevin

6.  Get lost on the way to Kevin's date's house and call to get directions (from date's parents)

7.  Finally arrive to pick up date

8.  Get on wrong freeway and take it completely around the valley (I-215)

9.  Arrive at Spaghetti Factory at roughly 6:30

10.  Eat

11.  Leave for the capitol and arrive at about 8:30

12.  Wait in line for pictures

13.  Dance a few dances

14.  Leave at roughly 10:00 to take everyone back home

15.  Eric calls at 10:45 and tells me he just dropped off Kevin's date and he's headed home.....(what a good son)

16.  Arrives home at 11:45

17.  Uses up a half a tank of gas!

Okay, seriously though, I know all of that sounded confusing and somewhat disjointed.  BUT, I know they had tons of fun.  The plans were not exactly the way I would have done them, but I'm not a boy.  And boys are different than girls, just so you know!  Eric was exhausted when he got home because he had driven so much during the evening.  He also was recovering from a terrible cold and wasn't completely up to par, but I know he enjoyed himself and was glad he went.

As for me, I wasn't as stressed as I thought I was going to be, which was good.  And Eric got TONS of driving experience all over the valley.....all in one night!  And he did okay.

Good job son!  I'm glad you had fun.  Now since you don't have a job, you owe us big time!  :) 


Happy 69th birthday MOM!

My mom just had her 69th birthday.  Yep, I'm telling everyone your age.....sorry mom.  :)  She wanted to go to Leatherby's, so that's where we went.

My mom and dad

  Of course, Eric had to make his famous face!

    Brandon and Dallin

  Jacob and his cousin, Caleb.  They are such cuties! (Except they were making a huge mess at the time dipping their napkins in the water.  If I'm being honest though, I'm pretty sure Jacob was the leader of the activity).....hard to believe, isn't it?  :)

Kyle and his cousin, Joshie!  What sweethearts!  (except Kyle was teaching Joshie a few things too.....like how to dip his napkin in the water.  What's up with those Jones boys?)

                 Me and Todd (we were not dipping our napkins, just so you know)....

                                                   Michelle (my brother's wife) and their sweet little daughter, Moriah! 

                 This is my brother Brad and his oldest, Josiah.  BRAD.....why won't you smile?  :)

    Are you seriously related to me?

That's a little better!  We look the most alike in our family, don't you think?  The two red-headed demons!  :)

The birthday girl!  We brought her some balloons and of course, we made the staff sing to my mom.  There's simply no getting around it if you go with me......

It was a fun evening with family.  Happy Birthday Mom!  We love you!

Choose the Right

On Valentine's evening (after our traditional heart-shaped pizza and Marie Callendars pie),  we went as a family to pick out CTR rings at Deseret Book.  I had brought home a brochure showing all the cool rings they have to offer.  And all the kids showed great interest.  So we decided to let them each pick out their own style. 

Here's a picture of all their rings together.....

 Eric chose a ring with a music staff and the first few notes of the song "Choose the Right."  It looks really cool and he loves it.

Brandon's is called "signature reverse."  It's black with silver CTR letters running through it.  Unfortunately the silver piece came out the first day and we had to reorder.  But we got a new one, and life is good once again.

 Dallin's is just the opposiite of Brandon's.  It is silver with black CTR letters running through it.  It's pretty awesome.

Kyle picked out ring after ring, but unfortunately his fingers were too little to order one of the "cool" rings,  So after what seemed like forever, he finally picked out a "dog-tag style" chain that has a gold shield on it with the words "Armour of God."  It's cool.  He also got a blue rubber CTR ring because it was only $1. 

Jacob got a basic silver "mini" CTR ring.  He loves it.  He also got a chain that says CTR on it too.  (not pictured). 

For family home evening, we talked about what it means to choose the right and how we always have a choice.  And that sometimes the right choice is the hardest one.  We also talked about Kyle's chain "Armour of God."  The kids didn't know what it all meant, so we pulled out our scriptures and talked about the armour and how each piece of that armour represents a spiritual protection for us. Then we watched the really old seminary movie "The Whole Armour of God."  It was a really good night and hopefully it's something they'll remember. 

I love the thought of my kids wearing a CTR ring.  I love that they are proud to wear it at school.  I hope they realize its importance and that this simple action "Choose the Right" can seriously save them a lot of grief in their lives and bring them closer to our Heavenly Father.  Life is all about choices.  It sounds so simple, doesn't it?  Simple or not, it's a great principle to learn!