"Oh we're going, to the hukilau Huki huki, huki huki, huki hukilau"- Ray Conniff

Last week was the annual "Staff Appreciation Day" at WorkSource for the Employment Security Department, and Marcia Henkle the sight Admin aka My Boss's Boss asked me to head up the party committee, so me and my squad threw together probably the greatest Luau that place has ever seen! Marcia chose the Hawiian theme, and boy that was a good call, because not only did the dollar store have almost an entire luau party section, but my good buddy Matt Boyce had a reception that was Hawiian themed. So, lucky me! Anway here are some shots from the festivities, there's kind of a lot so I hope they are to your liking!

I was pretty proud of how cute the invites turned out, sometimes pictures don't translate that well, but you get the idea. I didn't want to do a regular old flyer like invitation, so I tried something different, and it was a big hit.

Extreme close up!

I put swedish fish inside of these little tiki cups, because I couldn't think of any other candy that might fit the hawiian theme.

Here's the announcement I hung up for the rest of the WorkSource staff, inviting theme to join us for lunch.


Here's the buffet section, which I dubbed the tiki lounge!

We had fried chicken, coleslaw, potatoe and macaroni salad, and what would have been an awesome looking cake, if it hadn't got banged up and all the frosting smeared, Fortunately that wasn't my fault otherwise I'd probably still feel guilty.

So this might look like some little kids left their floaty things out, but it's actually apart of the decor.

Here's our table decorations, props to Tabitha for putting theme together, I really didn't have much of a plan, but she just kinda took some stuff and ran with it. Nice Job Tab!

Tab was also kind enough to hand out lei's, and I made sure everyone knew lei jokes where old and completely un original, so don't even try!

Here's Tabitha and Mary, with Ida peaking through in the back.

This is Mary, Tatyana, and Ida. Utilizing the picture backdrop! We could not keep Tatyana away from that coconut bra!

This is me and Tab the party planning extrodinare's!

And now for the guests, I don't think i'd be able to name everyone in the pictures, so forgive me for not attempting, also some people where not totally down with having their picture taken, so this isn't everyone.

By the looks of it, you'd think someone was giving a toast, could we have more raised glasses in these pictures.

Sharon pictured here in the purple is wearing a Mumu, so I felt the need to capture a shot of her, because other then me, she was probably the most committed to the dress up day.

I got frosting on my arm, I thought I'd capture the moment, because it's such a rare thing me spilling on my self. . . . NOT!!!

You know I always love a dance party! So when the electric slide came on during my special Luau mix and people actually wanted to do it, I was super excited. We actually ended up doing it twice, who knew I worked with so many dancers!

Even Willie joined in on the fun!

The Electric slide is "old hat" for seasoned line dancers like DaLila and Vicki.

We have the entire Business Services Staff, as well as the Big Dog Marcia in on it this round.

Here's Willie again rockin' to his own groove!

These next few shots prove you don't need alcohol to have a good time!

And I think Monica proves that the best!

Velma's really shredding that Ukalele

Here's Belen and Marivel attempting to stay shayded from the sun!

LOBSTER FACE!!!!!

hey Belen?. . . .there's something in your hair. . . .

Looks like Marivel and Carmen found some sweet dance partners!

Please tell me you get this picture? funny right?

Like I said. . . no alcohol necessary!

Oh yeah, I even got people to do the limbo! Thanks Beka for the Limbo stick, that was a hit as well!

Marivel was our limbo champion, unfortunately she had to go to the doctor the next day because her back was killing her! Way to sacrifice for the team!

I found a cool game online called "Tacky Tourist" that I had us play, and this is how you do it.

You line up several different touristy themed items, mine where

a grass skirt

coconut/sea shell bra

sea shell necklace

Shovel and pail

goggles

and a snorkel with a shark fin on it!

split into two teams and each member has to go to each station and put on every item, run to the picture backdrop take a picture, run back put all the items back in order and tag the next team mate, and the first to complete the task, wins! Here's the pics from that game, I think they turned out nicely!

Marivel was the first one, she was quick!

followed by Belen

Here's Tatyana again in her favorite bra!

we almost missed Irene she was so fast!

Steve and Willie where tied almost the whole way!

And if Willie wouldn't have taken his dear sweet time getting back, it woul be me in this spot instead of Monica!

Who's the big loser. . . . it's me!

These are the nifty paper weights we got, as a gift from the state for all our hard work this last year!

Here's all the staff from ESD

And then of course everyone else, minus Tabitha who was kind enough to take the picture!

I couldn't have been more happy with how the party turned out, everyone told me they had a great time, and told me I have to come back next year and do that for them again!I totally would to because it was so much fun to put together, and I couldn't have done it without Tab of course, or Debi and Vicki who helped blow all that stuff up, and of course much thanks to Betty for taking care of the food. Also as I mentioned before here's to Beka for loaning me some of her luau stuff, as well as Sara Boyce for the leftovers from Matt's reception, It helps to know people that's for sure!

Peace Out!

"Third Times a Charm"- unknown

Alright my dear friends, I'm sending out a red alert right now!!!! I just found out American Idol Auditions are the end of July in Salt Lake City Utah, and obviously I'd really like to hit them up, and scratch getting on a reality show off my life list.

Now my last two experiences with Idol where unsuccessful obviously, so I'm thinking my only in is an automatic audition in front of Paula, Simon, and Randi. . . . .which from what I hear you can get if you win a local contest, for example Jordin Sparks the year she won auditioned for Idol in California and had the same luck I've had, never made it past the 1st round, she then went home won Arizona Idol and got an automatic audition in front of the judges. I think I need that! So I'm asking you all to keep yours ears open (especially my Utah friends!) For any competitions that I could possibly enter that might get me a prize like that.

I just wanna get on TV that's the goal. . . . but I don't wanna pretend to be a reject, and I don't wanna do a gimmick, I just wanna meet the judges as myself and say "Straight Up now tell me I'm not meeting Paula Abdul right now!" and then I believe I could die Happy!

So if anyone has any suggestions or hears anything. . . . please please please let me know!

I still have a lot of things to figure out and a lot of work to do, but you guys all know this has been one of my biggest dreams for a long long time, so I don't wanna regret not giving it another shot, and like they always say. . . . .third time's a charm. . . . .right?

I'll keep my fingers crossed!

"Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match, find me a find, catch me a catch!"- Fiddler on the Roof

For the last couple of years I've determined it ok for me to take credit for certain people hooking up. . . . .for example!

When all my friends went off to college I stayed home and layed some roots in the singles ward. where I met the likes of Steve and Stacey Ashton, Steve was the Elder's quorum president at the time and always had people over for parties after church on Sundays.

So when my good buddies Crystal and Lena came home for the summer and wanted to know where the party was at, I knew right where to take them. So Sunday we all caravaned in my Mom's car over to Othello for the traditional get together at the Ashton's and guess who was their, well they didn't know it then, but Crystal and Lena's future Husbands Scott and Kevin.

We almost left that night, but when we found out Lena had struck up a conversation with Kevin, I turned that car right around, and the next thing I knew Scott and Kevin had asked Crystal and Lena on a date to go 4 wheeling. . . . or atleast I think that's what they did. And the rest as you all know is History! They all have adorable little families now, and I hope they don't mind, but I like to think because I brought them to the party, that means it was because of me they met and fell in love, nevermind that they could have met later that week at FHE or the Saturday Activity. . . .but it's more fun to think you had a part of it right?

Not all my love connections have ended in marriage, when we had the White trash BBQ I talked about in Krystin's special dedication blog, I saw my friend from home Mary at Wal-Mart just before the party and invited her to stop by and check it out, she did and ended up dating my FHE brother Mike for a few months, they broke up, but then she met Danny Payne and now they are married and have a little baby girl named London, I can't claim that one, but thanks to me she got some practice. . . . right?

Then just this last December my friend Jordan came home for the Holidays and I invited him to my "Pajama Jammy Jam" I had for my B-day. Well to make a long story short Amanda Bues another friend from the ward brought her sisters who where home on break from the same school as Jordan and I looked at Terra (One of Amanda's sisters) and said "Hey! Your at BYUI, He's at BYUI, you guys should talk!" A month later Gwenny asks for Jordan's number because Amanda wanted it for her sister, so she could ask Jordan out for this roommate date thing, and I'm sure you all can tell by the picture I posted they got married, just this last Tuesday, and are gonna live Happily Ever After because I hooked them up. . . . kind of!

And also if things go my way I may have another success story coming very soon, that I can add to my list and please believe I will reveal who that is, if it turns out the way I think it will!

Maybe this is a little pathetic, but it kinda fills me with joy sometimes, to see little fairytales unfold before me and knowing that I can share in a little bit of the magic!!!


I wanna give a huge Congrat's to Jordan and Terra, I hope you guys have an amazing good time in New York, and I hope Jordan can un- access his frugal self and take you to see all the cool shows I told you about!!! Thanks for letting me take credit for your marriage, and I expect a little Emily or Katlyn sometime soon. . . . man that joke never gets old!!!!!!

Peace!!

"Thank You For Bein' a Friend!"- Golden Girls Theme Song

So I know it seems we've had quite a few birthdays the last couple of days, but a very special birthday happened on Monday that I need give a shout out too!!





Krystin Davies or more commonly K Dizzle and I have known each other since we both danced for Hirz Dance Company back in the day! It wasn't until Singles Ward time rolled around that we actually became pretty good friends, and then when we both got accepted to BYUI at the same time, it really brought us together, and now she's one of my most cherished friends! Even though I could be doing something more productive at work we pretty much email like everyday, and I love getting her advice on things or talking church talk with her, or recapping American Idol and SO You Think You Can Dance! I have so many good times I could share, or characteristics that I admire, but for now I will just do what I usually do and make a top ten list. So without further adu. . . . . . I know present!








Top Ten Favorite K Dizz Moments!





10. stick puppets- Conference weekend like 2 or 3 years ago, Rexburg was like a ghost town because everyone made their bi-annual homage to Utah aka Mecca, so we were bored and decided to have craft time. And Krystin brought over her supplies and we ended up making stick puppets that represented all of my roommates, for example that was the semester Lacey cracked her ribs and got a black eye from Human Bowling, which is a story in itself, and so Lacey's puppet had a huge black eye, and My Roommates Nicole, Gina, and Rachel all lived in a really smelly and messy room, so we put all of them in a garbage can, but the best ever!!!! Was when Krystin for some reason made my roommate Alicia into what looked like a Japanamation character. . . . it was sweet!!!





9. Where's my Valentine?- Over Valentine's day at School K Dizz made everyone special "Love Song" Cd's and I made everyone Valentine's too, but like usual I didn't get them all finished, and I hadn't finished Krystin's, so from February to April she reminded me almost everyday about the Valentine and constantly brought it up! The icing on the cake was when I came home to take a nap, rolled into my bed on the bottom bunk, and to my surprise K Diz had left me a little message, it was a huge picture she drew of a demon (Probably Satan) saying she wants her Valentine!!!! Scrolled all over the piece of cardboard that lay underneath the top bunks mattress (because we lived in a classy establishment) And the worst was she used one of those really strong smelling permanent markers, so every time I went to bed I had to smell the fumes from it!!! Good News though I finally made her Valentine!





8. Dance Jams!!!- So Krystin went on a massive downloading kick once, and made me a ton of CD's with the coolest jamz ever!!! it seemed like whenever I was really wanting to hear a song or really wished I had a cool mix of music to listen to, she'd be there with the latest stuff she downloaded. And because I'm like the hugest Music fan ever, I couldn't think of a nicer thing someone could do for me!





7. Ultimate Prankster- Krystin got her hands on these huge cardboard cutouts, that where a promotion for the movie "Sideways" and it was these Ginormous faces of some of the actor's from the show, and Krystin did some of the best pranks with those things, like she would make her roommates beds and tuck the faces in so they where peering out, and She had them on sticks once and would go and wave them in peoples windows! I got such a kick out of hearing about those little stunts she'd pull, because I thought they where so creative!





6. Book of Well Wishes- I moved to Rexburg almost a month earlier then everyone else so I could find a job and a place to live and yadda yadda yadda, so when Krystin came up finally to settle in, she came to my apartment and gave me a book she had everyone in Singles Ward back home, sign with nice messages about how much they would miss me, and good luck at school. It was seriously so nice, probably one of the most thoughtful things I've received ever! I couldn't believe she went to so much trouble, but she was always doing kind things like that, not just for me, but almost all of her friends and roommates.





5. White Trash BBQ- The last summer I was at BYUI, we had a little party trailer park style, one of many I've been to or put together! And Krystin because when she commits to something she commits, comes rolling to the party in her train conductor overalls, a wife beater, and a trucker hat, and If I recall correctly a root beer bottle that looked like beer. and in like every picture I saw from that party she was like totally in character, unfortunately I don't have those pictures, otherwise I would have posted them, but trust me it was amazing!



4. The most horrible picture of me ever!!- Krystin also had a pretty nice camera, and once she took a close up shot of me that was just my eyes. Let me paint this picture for you. I was wearing my glasses which are crazy thick anyway and make my eyes look small and then I hadn't plucked my eyebrows in like a long while, and I had a little Uni-brow starting to form, so needless to say it was pretty glamorous, well she printed that picture off and showed it to everyone, which then gave birth to the brilliant idea of putting the picture in front of their own face like a mask and seeing what they looked like with my crazy eyes, which paved the way for even more pictures of people looking messed up with my eyes on their face. I didn't love it at the time, but now it's a pretty funny moment!



3. Chicken Fetticini- There's isn't much I can say other then I think Krystin's fetticini is the best homemade fetticini I've ever had, in fact I can't think of anything Krystin's made that wasn't delicious, and every time I read her blog about what she's making for dinner or what not, I always really wish I lived closer so I could eat her food!


2. Jamba Juice Employee of the Year- At one point Krystin had 2 jobs when she was going to school, but the one that was the coolest I thought was when she worked at Jamba Juice. We would go visit her often, and test out the Karaoke machine they had in the lobby, or she would make us a special concoction that wasn't on the menu, or when she would close the store, she'd stop by our house and give us all the messed up smoothies or day old pretzels and pastries they where just gonna throw out anyway, and I was always impressed by how well she did her job, I think they even made her a shift lead pretty soon after she started working there. Every time I see a Jamba Juice it makes me think of Krystin!



1. Cheer Squad VS Drill Team- So my all time favorite moment that I will cherish forever and ever, was in the height of our Dance Battle Wednesdays endeavor. We came up with the brilliant idea as a theme to do Cheer leading VS Drill Team. We had this kid in our ward named Tommy Two? Was that his name? Alicia or Krystin, if you remember you should remind me!!! Any who Tommy was on the spirit team at BYUI and he was like this completely ridiculous flipper, that kid had some amazing acrobatics you don't even know, and then I knew Krystin had been on the Drill Team in High School, so I thought why not, that'd be cool right? So anyway the battle was crazy, Krystin was not rusty she whipped out that signature fall back move the drill team here in Moses is pretty famous for, and kept eye contact with Tommy all the way to the ground, and Tommy of course had no rhythm what so ever, but managed to impress with a large amount of tricks, but the best part was when they where going head to head and Krystin had this red spandex unitard with crazy sequins, and orange shorts on well she started doing this like floor routine and when she stood up her pants fell right down. . . . all of a sudden Krystin paused looked down saw her shorts and ran out of the room! It was like the funniest thing, can you picture it? Just the look on her face was so priceless! I swear we watched that video over and over again. . . .it was good. . . . I promise! K Dizz won the battle by the way!


I just really love my good buddy Krystin, I love how caring and supportive she is of her husband, I love how grateful she is for her blessings, I love how she always puts her foot down when somethings not right, but love how she'll still gossip with me about crazy people! I love our Church talks, our " I'm really bugged about this" talks, and wish I could be as reliable, creative, and hard working as she is!

So. . . . . . HAPPY BIRTHDAY K DIZZLE NIZZLE!

and be watching the mail sometime around October for your B-day present. . . ha ha ha!






PEACE!!!!!!

"There is still no cure for the common birthday."- John Glenn

Gwen's 20th birthday was Saturday and she came up with the brilliant plan of ordering sumo suits and making it the ward activity! And while like usual some of our Single Adults have not quite figured out how awesome our Saturday activities are, we still had a good crop of cool kids (all the important ones anyway) and had a gay old time knocking each other over and laughing at the way we all looked, here are some shots from the fight!



In Corner Number One we have Clinton the "Scategories Snob"



Going against Garret aka "Canada"






OK Boys lets make this a good clean fight!!!!




Here's Gwen assisting with the Socker Boppers







Ready. . . . Set. . . .Sumo!!!!!!




OOOHHHHH And Clinton takes the first fall!!!



But it's not too long before Canada follows suit!





Uh. . . .a little assistance please!



. . . . . .and we're spent!





Next up was a super Smack Down between me and Gwenny, this is me practicing my voodoo tricks!



Hello!!!! How intimidating am I right now!!!




OK. . . . .ready. . . .set. . . .Sumo!



This is right before Gwenny knocked me over and I did the famous Pez dispenser move!!! Also later on Gwenny really commited and ran at me full boar and caused me to fly into the air and land head first on the ground, yeah so that didn't feel super awesome, but that was probably the closest thing to an "Injury" we had all night!







This is where I spent the majority of my time in this suit, on the ground!



This is Gwenny punching me in the Ovaries!



"Mama Said Knock You Out!"



I can't get up, I can't get up!!!!



Now. . . . on to the duel of the sisters! Amber VS Brinn Berguson!



and Brinn gets the first knock down



Amber's not gonna take this lying down!!!!



Take That!!!!

Here's "Old School" aka Robert Peterson, practicing his Robot moves

Here's me trying to psych myself up for what looks to be a fight I can't lose!!

Ready. . . . Set. . . . .Sumo!!!!

Oh what a shock! It's me falling again

STEAMROLLER!!!!!

Let me at em'

Gwen. . . . .I'm gonna talk, and I just want you to listen. . . . .You Seriously

. . . . Need to lose some weight!!!!!

I'm sorry, I'm sorry it was a joke!!!!!!! I take it back!!!

Diedra getting "Pumped up" for her match!

Gwen gearing up to Pounce!

Oh and Deidra's out in one shot!!!!

SO needless to say, that party ROCKED!!!! Best idea ever!!!!!! and even though I realized I'm not made for contact sports, and my brain got shaken up like a martini, I had a blast and have the pictures to prove it!

Thanks Gwenny for always having awesome ideas, I hope now that your getting old you never lose your youthful zest for life! Happy Birthday!!!!

Peace!