March MADNESS!!

Ok so I'm not really into the March Madness all that much, but John sure is :)  He's been keeping track of all the wins, stats, buzzer beaters, Jimmer show's and all that jazz....but not the Jazz. But yeah, these past couple weeks have been pretty crazy.  Last weekend we had the opportunity to go on a little Southwick family trip up in Heber.  While we were up there we played lots of games like pit, imagine if, and racko.  We watched the BYU games when the cable would cooperate.  We even did a missionary activity with all the returned missionaries in the family (and John's little brother who is leaving for Mexico at the end of the month) who did little presentations about unique aspects of their mission.  For food we took turns preparing meals.  John and I were so excited to make waffles for the family with our new waffle iron that we got for the wedding.  However, as soon as we got to the cabin we realized we totally left it at home :(  Luckily John's sister remembered to bring hers!!  Last but not least we also participated in a 5K.  Which was the first 5K John and I have ever done.

The Rex Lee run was located in Provo and we won... Just Kidding I mostly did interval running (walk a little run a little) and John was kind enough to stay with me.  We also ran with John's niece, so a lot of the time we let her set the pace.

 The run was supporting BYU's Cancer Awareness group.  So we ran in remembrance of John's Mom and wore pictures of her on the back of our shirts.

For the past two weeks John and I also spent some time working up at This Is the Place for their 2 week relief society program.  I had the opportunity to present on a sister named Emily Hill Woodmansee.  She wrote the lyrics to "As Sisters in Zion."  I would talk about her life and conversion to the gospel for about 10-15 minutes 2 to 4 times a night.  John helped by leading different wards of Relief Society ladies to the different presentations.  It was a good short term job, but it took up our evening time, so I'm glad it's over.  Life has also been busy with wrapping up my internship.  Luckily I have an ending date (April 8th).  Now I just need to be able to finish a couple case studies, an assessment, and a couple more sessions and I'll be home free with a degree :)

This last Friday we were able to hang out with some friends and eat good food, play smurf, play apples to apples, and meet my friend's fiance!  We also played ROCK BAND!!!  It had been so long since I played that game.  I was so excited to feel the smooth plastic keys of the guitar under my fingers.

We had a good time rockin' out in the basement.

Saturday was our last work day at This is the Place.  Along with work we watched some of the Jimmer Show with the family and attended our Finance class.  In class they talked about different marketing techniques, companies use to sell you stuff.  I'll be honest, I had heard of most of the techniques they talked about, but here are a couple things that did surprise me:

1. Did you know that they use cameras in the grocery store to analyze people's shopping routines so that they can design the store in a maze of sorts to keep you in there as long as possible?  Example: Food staples like milk, eggs, meat, and bread are usually located in the back of the store so you have to walk through the aisles in order to get there.  
2. The average American gets advertised to over 3,000 times a day (If I'm remembering right).  Examples: TV, Radio, Billboards, Newspaper, Magazines, Internet, etc.
3. There is a direct correlation between the amount of TV you watch and the amount of money you spend.  I can't remember the exact figures on this one, but it was something about you'll spend $200 more a year if you watch a lot of TV!  (It may not seem like a lot to some, but just think about 10 years of that.)

Sunday was John's little brother's farewell talk at church.  He gave an awesome talk about listening to the spirit.  After his talk, him and his friends plus John sang a musical number, "The Spirit of God."  It was a 6 part arrangement, so it was a pretty difficult song to master.  They've probably been practicing for around a month though, so it sounded really good, and John sounded the best.  After the song, John's dad was the next speaker.  That was funny because usually family members don't speak the same day at farewells anymore, but his dad is on High Council now and it just so happened that he was assigned to speak in his home ward ;)
After church we went over to the Southwick's for lunch.  John and I made Muddy Buddy's and fruit salad for the occasion and they both turned out alright.  However, next time I definitely need to either add more fruit to the salad (or less whip cream) because it seemed really coated.  Other than that there aren't any complaints from me.  We had a good time hanging out with the family and John spent most of the afternoon discussing March Madness brackets and games with everyone.  It was an excellent weekend.

Peace Out, Girl Scouts