Two weeks, eh??

As some of you know Evan and I were able to go on a two week Dance Alliance tour to Canada.  Our tour began at 4 am Wednesday July 24^th.  I had just finished putting in my last final and my final grades for my dance classes and then it was Dance Alliance time!  We went into Walmart to prepare for our trip and got: dried fruit, jello cups, a large bag of fruit loops, an easy crossword puzzle book, a Sudoku book, and then I made Evan stop into Porters and came out with a crochet book, a crochet needle, and yellow yarn. We were set to begin our trip!  We left 4 am for Eureka Montana.  We had a lot of trouble loading the bus with an Indian metal ring 7 feet tall with flames, a fern, a black bench, speakers, Marley, and 37 blues costume bags, and 37 bags of luggage. 

     We had heard some interesting things about Eureka being a small town on the outskirts of Montana just a few miles from the Canadian border but that’s where the stake sent us.  They said that a few months earlier they had an apostle visit them and encourage their little branch to become a ward.  A lot of people ended up coming to the show and they couldn’t be more enthusiastic!  The show felt great many people saying they had never seen anything like it because our show includes a lot, from a South African gumboot dance to a modern Indian piece.  We also had an AfroCuban number with big skirts!  Here is the link to a video online with the whole show, usually don't have this but as Brother Larsen put it. "the camera guys liked it so much that they decided to post it online for everyone to watch!"  :-) 
https://video.byui.edu/media/Extravadance+Spring+2013/0_k8s9lsnu
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 This is the Regina temple!  It is so small that they are only open for a couple of sessions a week.  They opened up just for us so that we could do baptisms . . . the largest group to ever come through.  It was very special.

 This was the state building in Saskatoon Saskatchewan.  We mimicked the runners as they went by.

These are some first nation dancers that did some native dances for us.  It was a great cultural exchange and we learned a lot.  They had a unique ritual of passing around some burning incense for all of the audience members to cleanse themselves before the performance.  We each wafted the incense in turn over our faces and hearts and then over our whole bodies so that we would be purified in preparation for the performance.  When the man reached the LDS missionaries who were present, they were not very interested in participating . . . but we thought it was great! We thought the little girl in pink looked like Becca when she was little and the boy in blue was our favorite traditional dancer!

 Welcome to Canada!!  We all got free canadian flags to take home.  We also got fun stickers everyday, we usally ended up finding them in our hair before the performance..they liked to travel ;-P

 This was Crater lake National Park.  We all hopped off the bus and walked around the beautiful Canadian countryside in southern British Columbia.  We definitely got sick on the huge bus as we went up and down hills though.  I was used to Robinson family car trips so I was fine.

This was actually a couple we stayed with who was definitely one of our favorite homestays.  We had so much fun talking with them after the show we didn't even realize that it was like 12 oclock at night.  They had at least 7 children all with children of their own and they were sure to tell us about every one of them.  I kept telling him that he reminded me of you dad.  He was just one of those no nonsense logic type but funny as well!  He said he wanted to meet dad sometime. :-)  They also made fun of my "no-ahs" they for some reason thought it was hilarious.  Guess its not a canadian thing, eh?

 Here is a man and woman in Winnipeg who we learned a lot from.  She is a nonmember but was very kind and fun.  She is from Croatia but moved here for school and they are both working in the medical profession.  He took us to famous Daves at about 11 at night.  We thought of you Peter : )  They actually had driven through La Crosse because he was originally from Minnesota. 

 Evan's face remind me of Whats eating gilbert Grape...hahaha this was in Winnipeg and was one of the few days we had to tour the area!  We actually walked tot eh French quarter where the main language of course is French.  We went into a french pastry shop and had the most delicious chocolate croissant of my life! we also bought a huge Baguette :-)  I kinda shared.

This was in Fargo North Dakota.  This was our absolute favorite family ever!! The Wests! Dan, Becca, Sam, and Michael.  The funny things was Evan tried to talk to the kids after the show, they didn't know they would be our host family and they kids woulnd't talk to him.  They acted so shy and hid, but then once we got in the car to go to their house they exploded!! At church the next day Evan sat next to Dan the littlest (the one I'm holding) and got all the dance alliance girls to wave at him and told him that all the girls thought he was cute and wanted to talk to him.  He was soooo embarrassed and blushed the whole time.

Later that night, with the same family, we had a Sunday night nerf war . . . it was CRAZY!  The whole family, including mom and dad, put on their armor, eye protection, and they got out two huge storage bins full of guns and ammunition.  Then as we played, forts were built from chairs and blankets and the whole house became a war zone.  We felt bad for the poor neighbor lady who came to visit, but the war continued!  We are definitely getting us some of those for Christmas:)

Overall the trip was absolutely wonderful!  We gained weight from long bus rides and amazing stakes that fed us but our spirits were full as well!  One of the last days we did a morningside in front of the Billings Montana temple.  Evan was in charge of organizing the songs for the morningside and Brother Larsen selected a few of us to bear their testimonies about the themes.  I got to bear my testimony about how sacrifice make you holy.  I got to bear my testimony about families and how one of the most important thing for the youth to prepare for is not church callings but being a father or mother. I talked about the temple and the blessings there.  The youth were so attentive and sweet!  Best youth group I have ever seen! We learned a lot about the importance of families and of relying on the spirit  We witnessed so many miracles on our trip that just bore testimony that God was in the tour.  We had inspired leaders especially with Brother Larsen.  He worked harder than all of us for the success of his tour and yet hated taking any of the credit.  Amazing amazing man!