Jazzercise with McKenna and Jackson

The other night, McKenna and Jackson did some sweatin' to the oldies (Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger").

Musical Workshop

Over the years, one of my favorite things about performing improv with the Improvables is that something new, unexpected, and fun is always around the corner---both at our shows and during our workshops.

Such was the case this past week, when Lorin led a musical workshop that emphasized the importance for us all to be more willing to support each other during musical numbers. I snapped the above photo as Rickey performed a peppy musical piece, accompanied in the background by Erica, Ryan, and Lorin.

Day 365: Gangnam Style

I'm basically speechless about - and somewhat in awe of - this one:

Only one more day! Join me tomorrow for the exciting conclusion of Project 366!

Day 299: Gary's Dance Break

Following last night's weekly mid-singles Institute class, Ben joined Cathy, Gary, Jon, Julie, and me at Yogurt Stop for . . . well, frozen yogurt. As it turns out, when Gary gets a little bit of sugar in his body, he begins to dance:

Well, the photo doesn't capture it all that well, now that I look at it. I guess you'll have to take my word for it. But it was very funny watching him bust a move.

Day 277: Party Down! 2012

Yes, there was a presidential debate tonight, and Romney mopped the floor with Obama. But even better than that, today I had another birthday. It's one of those annual events that, you know, I'm finding keeps on happening whether I'm ready for it or not.

At any rate, family and friends were good enough to treat me very well for this occasion. Mom, Dad, and Biz treated me to a delicious lunch, while Mike, Jana, and the kids decorated the kitchen in my honor:

In what has now turned into a birthday tradition, Ben, Steve, Summer, and a handful of our mutual friends accompanied me to the Karaoke Cafe for an evening of great music and singing. Among the highlights were Ben's, Gary's, Steve's "Bust a Move," complete with some sweet dance moves of their own:

Pepe's many Beatles covers:

Steve's and Summer's duets:

and Jared's rendition of "Little Red Riding Hood":

I also sang to my heart's content but did not take photos of myself. Good times were had by all.

Day 276: Mr. Roboto

In addition to last night's Halloween decorations, the kids pulled out the dress-up box and tried on several different costumes. One of my favorites was Jackson in this robot suit:

In the shot, he is also, appropriately enough, dancing "The Robot."

Day 227: Dance, Fireman! Dance!

At last Sunday's family dinner, one of my favorite moments occurrred when Dallin and Jackson were horsing around together, playing with both Dallin's Nerf gun and a plastic fireman's hat. Dallin pointed the gun at Jackson and, imitating the villain in many a Western film, ordered him to "Dance, fireman! Dance!" or be "shot."

Jackson then proceeded to put on both the helmet, as well as a rather adept series of dance steps for a four-year-old - or for a kid of any age, I might add.

Day 143: Daisies

Today, I brought a girl some flowers. For the first time. Ever. No, corsages for high school dances - both of the ones I went to - do not count when it comes to bringing girls flowers.

What was the special occasion? you ask? Suffice me to say that I was unkind to this female friend not that long ago, and I fortunately am able to still call her a friend after today's visit. I learned from the movie You've Got Mail that daisies are "the friendliest flower," and they seemed like a good choice. It turns out that my instincts were, surprisingly, correct.

Let's say that, perhaps, you are a girl and are reading this, perhaps asking yourself, Why won't he bring me flowers? Well, the answer is simple: Give me a reason to do so, and I just might appear on your doorstep out of the blue.

Day 94: Putting It Together

One of the things that I love about Improv - and there are many of them - is that sometimes there are moments in our Tuesday night workshops that are just as comical and brilliant, if not more so, than our Friday night performances. Unfortunately, our audience never gets to see these. Fortunately, though, we troupe member get to enjoy them together.

I felt like tonight's workshop, a musically oriented one, was one of our most solid in quite a while, and since I've gotten into the habit of carrying my camera with me everywhere, I was there to take this photo of Biz, Jordan, Aivan, and Ricky performing an improvised musical fairy tale (and group dance number) based on "The Prince and the Pauper."


As you can tell, they are having a great time doing so, and their efforts contributed to a most enjoyable workshop experience.

Day 84: Bellydance like an Egyptian

Ben and I were among the family members in the audience earlier this afternoon to watch our 14-year-old niece Kylee perform in her school musical, Aida, up at Fairfield Jr. High in Kaysville (Layton?).

Kylee played the role of one the Egyptian slaves and, in addition, I must say, made quite a convincing bellydancer. I don't have all that much experience watching bellydancers, and I'm a bit biased as her uncle, but there you go.

At any rate, I had previously heard the music from Aida but had never seen the show performed live, and we enjoyed the show a great deal. The kids were not perfect performers, as many of them are still finding out who they are at that age, but they obviously had fun and gave it their all. After the show, our little thespian, still in her Egyptian makeup, posed for this picture with Uncle Ben:

Day 25: Spontaneous Breakdancing Lesson

After the conclusion of last night's weekly Improv workshop at the theater, Jordan invited us all to his other troupe's (Play Theory) Friday night performance and mentioned in passing that breakdancing would be involved but that he really didn't know that much about it. Guy then suggested he could teach us a few moves, and before I knew it, a bona fide breakdancing lesson had gotten underway in our rehearsal room.

Yeah, we're white and nerdy, but we don't hide that fact.

Going Out with a Bang

Last night's "Big Event" family home evening marked our final activity together in the Millstream Ward. As "last hurrah"s go with groups I've been a part of, it was a very good one and a fitting farewell for a place I've been connected to for . . . well, for a very long time.

The dress code for the evening was formal, as in the most formal (black tie and all) we wished to adhere to. I was impressed with the number of people who showed up in tuxedos and fancy dresses, including the members of our bishopric.

We started off the night with a delicious Dutch oven dinner provided by Zak and Kirk Davis, who worked very hard to feed our motley crew. Ryan also slaved for an untold number of hours to make us a tasty cake, which was the highlight of the dessert table. Here he is, posing with his creation and with Adria in what I can only assume is a mock wedding photo (unless those two know something I don't know):

After dinner, each member of the bishopric took a few minutes to address us and to share some final counsel and thoughts as we prepare to go our separate ways.

That was followed by about three hours of dancing, and most of the die-hards stayed and participated in everything until the very end.

Yours truly was among that group, dancing the cha-cha with Stephanie and, after that, joining with Bishop Lake and others in an old favorite, "Y.MC.A.":

We were plumb tuckered out by the end of the night, but it was a good kind of tired; we enjoyed every minute of it.

And, for many of us, "enjoying every minute of it" pretty much sums up our whole experience with the Millstream Ward.

"Do the Scarn"

"The Office" has been somewhat hit-and-miss the last few years, but tonight's episode, in which Michael shows off his film Threat Level Midnight to the Dunder Mifflin staff, was absolutely hilarious. It honestly kind of reminded me of some of my own filmmaking efforts over the years.

cough cough Software Wars cough cough anyone? (It can still be viewed on YouTube, wink wink.)

The dance sequence "Do the Scarn," which I hope to take part in the next time I go out line dancing, was hands down my favorite moment. If you didn't see it, here it is:

FHE Dance Party '10

It had been more than a year since our ward's last dance, but fortunately that drought came to an end last night.

For our FHE activity, a brave group of souls and I gathered in the gym for a Christmas-time (though not necessarily Christmas-themed) dance. And it was a blast.

Brian, MaryAnne, and I took turns as the evening's D.J., playing everything from "The Electric Slide" to Kenny Loggins's "Footloose" (a must-have at any dance held in Utah). One of my favorite moments of the evening was Steve and Brian's interpretive dance to Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'," of which I managed to capture a photo:


The photo doesn't really do it justice, but suffice me to say that it was quite entertaining.

Good times were had by all.

A Valentine to My Ward (and One from My Niece)

Hey! It's Valentine's (aka Singles-Awareness) Day.

I just wanted to get that out of the way.

The people in my ward are truly amazing. Many of them are among my closest friends and associates. They never cease to amaze me, to entertain me (just visit one of our fast and testimony meetings, and you will quickly see what I mean), and to inspire me to be a better person.

Last night, I attended our stake's annual Valentine's dance along with a few dozen of my fellow Millstreamers. It's the fourth year in a row that I have been to the dance, and it is always an enjoyable evening.

Every year, the people in my ward by far represent the largest portion of those in attendance. When it comes to doing the "Electric Slide," no ward is better represented (or has better moves!) on the dance floor. Add to that the fact that once the dance ended, I would have to say that easily two-thirds of those who stayed to help clean up were Millstreamers.

In addition to this, one other note: My parents were recently called to be in charge of the stake's volunteer tutoring program at Hannah Holbrook (my alma mater) and Meadowbrook elementary schools, and they have been enlisting the aid of people in the stake to help out. Today, I glanced at the list of all those who have signed up to assist, and of the 48 names collected from the stake, 21 were from the Millstream Ward alone. That's 21 names just from my ward, and 27 names from the eight other wards.

These are the kind of people I associate with on a weekly and basis, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

By the way, since that Valentine's word came up earlier, I should state for the record that I did receive a Valentine today, and it came in a great package.

I was sitting at home when a tiny pair of six-year-old arms threw themselves around the back of my neck and kissed me on the cheek.

I turned around to see my niece McKenna standing there, along with a Valentine's card and a package of Sweettarts.

All in all, I'd say today was a great day. Happy S.A.D. to all, and to all a good night.

FHE Dance Party '09, Take Two

It was another great family home evening and another enjoyable ward dance tonight.

There was no theme this time, although cha-cha, waltz, and Lindy hop instruction was included, and new ward member Kyle handled the D.J. duties very capably. That left me free to "Y.M.C.A.," "Electric Slide," disco hustle, and otherwise boogie to my heart's content for basically the entire three hours.


Heck, we even ended the evening by doing the "Macarena" together. It had been several years. I found that the rumor is true - you can perform the actions to "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" in tune with the song.

I am already aching and sore from tonight's festivities, but it was well worth it. Good times were had by all.

The Improvables' Halloween Extravaganza

This week's Halloween festivities continued with last night's first-ever Improvables Halloween show, which took place in our usual venue at Rodgers Memorial Theatre in Centerville. I got to perform alongside seven talented people, including Biz, Bryan, Ian, Michael, and Parker, with Grant accompanying us on the keyboard and Steve as the evening's M.C.

We kicked off the show with all of the members of the troupe in attendance coming out on the stage to dance to a portion of Michael Jackson's "Thriller." Under the red lights, and without red-eye reduction, I think we looked rather creepy indeed:



It was fun to learn the "Thriller" dance; it also required a lot of work and a lot of rehearsing.

As for the show itself, I think it was one of the better and more enjoyable ones I have been lucky enough to take part in. The place was packed with many enthusiastic and regular attendees as well as a few new faces.

We introduced three new games, including "Campfire Tale," "Movie Pitch Meeting" (an Improvables original!), and "Oxygen Deprivation," which has long been one of my favorite Improv games.


Ian, Parker, and I were soaked after playing "Oxygen Deprivation," as was the stage, but that is the price you pay for Improv at its finest.

Among the other games, we also played another one of my favorites, "Greatest Hits," during which we make up songs on the spot. The theme for this "Greatest Hits" was trick-or-treating.





A handful of those in attendance dressed up for the costume contest. The audience favorite was the guy in the white shirt, wearing the fanny pack:


After the show, several members of the Improvables dressed up in their own Halloween costumes: Scott (Arthur Dent, from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, including the Babel Fish in his ear); Parker (Little Mac, from Nintendo's Punch-Out); Bryan (the Riddler); Johnny (King Leonidas, from 300); Keenan (the creepy-looking one with the bag on his head, a costume which he claims is based on some Cartoon Network program); and easily my favorite costume of the evening, Ryan (Hello Kitty Darth Vader).

And it ain't over yet! Today is Halloween, the Big Day itself. I am looking forward to even-more festivities here in the next little while.

FHE Dance Party '09

For tonight's FHE activity, our ward held a dance in the gym. The theme was "Black and White" dance, meaning that those who came were invited to wear black and/or white clothing. (A mime, for example, would have been right at home.) At the planning meeting, I lobbied for "Enchantment under the Sea" but was voted down.

If I need to explain that reference, I would invite you to rent Back to the Future and watch it again.

In this neck of the woods, we don't hold dances very often. It's just not something we do as frequently as YSA groups in other parts of the country and the rest of the world. I was worried that attendance would be quite sparse. Surprisingly, somewhere from 50 to 60 people attended, filling up our gym and contributing to an enjoyable evening for all who came.

When I mentioned that I was part of the planning meeting, that was not a fluke. I have not belonged to the FHE Committee for a few years now, but I was asked to help play music for the dance, as someone who has experience as a DJ - something I do once a month at ComedySportz down in Provo. Josh Ferrer and I took a tag-team approach to playing songs, and I think we were able to play a wide variety of Top 40, ballroom, swing, Latin, line dances, and such to keep the gang happy.

Even the members of the bishopric and their wives were out on the floor dancing alongside us. At one point, Bishop Jensen requested - and who was I to refuse to play it? - Billy Joel's "She's Always a Woman." Really.

Of course, you can't go to a dance in Utah without playing or dancing to the theme song to the movie Footloose. During that high-energy Kenny Loggins number that we all love, most of the group out on the floor formed a circle in the middle of the gym as individuals stepped into the middle to perform solo dance moves. The highlight for me may have been watching Dave Fallon doing "The Worm."

You can really learn a lot about people by observing their behavior at a dance, with the chance to see another side of them. Tonight was one of those times when I was truly proud to be a Millstreamer. My only regret is that I didn't bring my camera along to snap shots of my friends and me out on the dance floor.

After the dance ended, the feedback from those who attended was nothing but positive - especially from those who claimed initially to have gone to the dance not expecting to enjoy themselves too much. Sooner or later, most everyone was able to let loose and have a blast.

Dave Barry once wrote, "Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance." That was definitely the feeling at tonight's activity.

Good Things Come in Threes

As I write this (Monday night), it is at the conclusion of a very enjoyable three-day weekend. I'm sad to see it end. We got to celebrate not one but two holidays over the past three days. Actually, if you take into account that Friday was a Friday the 13th, then I guess we had three holidays - of sorts.

Friday night, I attended the stake Valentine's dance. It is an annual tradition in our stake and is one of the highlights of the year. I have gone to each of the last three and have had a great time at each. One of my favorite parts of the night was getting on the dance floor along with most of the gang from the ward to dance the "Electric Slide."

The girl I asked to the dance was under the weather and couldn't go with me, but instead she was nice enough to invite me over for pizza, even though she wasn't feeling well, and to play Blokus. It was my first time playing this game, and I actually won - somehow. I have always claimed that I would rather be lucky than good, and I think that may apply here.

Good things come in threes, and I got to take part in three Improv shows over the weekend. Our Improvables troupe put on another great show Friday night at Rodgers Memorial Theatre, and Biz and I participated in both shows (featuring the annual "Battle of the Sexes" Valentine's matchups) Saturday night at ComedySportz in Provo. Between shows, I had to go out to my car to retrieve something, I while I was walking along Center Street in Provo, by happenstance, I witnessed a marriage proposal take place through the window of one of the restaurants along that street. Apparently, she said yes, because all of the other patrons in the restaurant applauded.

Then again, maybe that is an all-too common occurrence in Provo, with BYU being so near and all.

On Sunday, I attended our biannual stake conference at the Turtle (aka the Bountiful Regional Center in Woods Cross). All of the talks were great, but Pres. Mabey's (our stake president) message was particuarly memorable. He essentially bore his testimony by singing several Primary songs (yes, he sang them). After church, I got to take part in a dinner group at my friend Steph's place. This is a new thing that we're doing in the ward, and I like the idea. I got to share a good meal with friends and meet three new ward members, too.

For Presidents' Day (today), I got to spend most of the afternoon and evening with my family. My nephews Dallin and Luke helped to keep me occupied for a large portion of the time, playing with Dallin's Lego Star Wars toys and Luke's cars from (what else?) the movie Cars. Toward the end of the evening, most of my nieces and nephews and I watched a couple of episodes of "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" together, and they were captivated the whole time.

Yes, my nieces and nephews, it turns out, are even bigger Star Wars fans than I am.

Green Eggs and Comfort Zones

As I came into sacrament meeting today, I found a copy of Green Eggs and Ham that had been left on the bench.

I had a few minutes to kill before the meeting began, so I picked it up and flipped through its pages. One of the members of the bishopric gave me a funny look from the stand. A couple of the girls seated across the aisle giggled in my direction, too.


You can really learn a lot from Dr. Seuss if you're in the right mindset. On its surface, Green Eggs and Ham is a story that teaches rhyming and shows children how fun reading can be. A deeper meaning - at least one that I get from it - is that it is okay for us to come out of our comfort zones every now and then and try something new. You never know what you will end up enjoying once you have tried it.

In high school, I went to just two school dances. Generally speaking, I pooh-poohed the idea. It wasn't that I didn't want to go; I had just never learned to dance and felt like an idiot when I was out there on the dance floor.

Time passed. I went on a mission to Peru. Missionaries obviously don't - and shouldn't - dance, but with awe I would occasionally observe Peruvians at their parties. The concept of having a party and not dancing does not compute in their minds. They are practically born knowing how to salsa. Little kids would blow me away with their ability to cumbia.

More time passed. I returned home and got back into school. On a whim, I decided to sign up for a Latin dance class. To my own surprise, I was able to (eventually) pick up the cha-cha. Then, I learned rumba, merengue, samba, and tango. I took another dance class, and then another. When I graduated, I had taken five semesters of ballroom/Latin dance.

What had once been a weakness had become a strength and a favorite pasttime. It is fun, and it is great exercise, too. It has helped my social life more than any other course I took in college, I might add.

So, you think you can't dance? If I can learn, then anyone can.

It's nice to sit in the hot tub for a while. We like the feel of it and the temperature of the water. But there is warmth to be found in other places, too.

Incidentally, I have tried green eggs and ham. And I liked them. All it takes is a little bit of food coloring . . . and some will power.