Ice Bucket Challenge #2

Last weekend, I completed not one but TWO ALS Ice Bucket Challenges. Friday night's troupe challenge was posted here on The Gobblewonker already, and today, I'm sharing my individual Ice Bucket Challenge, given to me by my friend Lauri Brown in my ward.

Ice Bucket Challenge #1

Unless you've been living in a cave for the past couple of weeks, then by now you've probably heard of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. It is a way to both raise funds for and awareness of ALS, aka Lou Gehrig's Disease. It's also one of those bandwagoning things to do that you do, by dumping ice water over your head, and then challenge at least three of your friends to then go and do.

Like you do.

Last week, my improv troupe—not certain members of the troupe, but the entire troupe—was challenged to do the Ice Bucket Challenge by one of our fans, and we responded by tweaking our "Oxygen Deprivation" game and using ice water instead of regular water.

It's a lot harder than it looks. Trust me.

See the result here, with yours truly, Keenan, Ryan, and Scott taking the challenge live on stage:

Ogden Temple Open House

The Ogden LDS temple has been renovated, and it looks absolutely beautiful (not that it was "ugly," per se, before). Last Wednesday night, some friends from my singles ward and I ventured up to take a tour of the building.

Following our tour, we snapped this photo outside, by the fountain on the east side:

Good times were had by all.

Shakespearean Festival 2014

Last weekend, Mom and Dad; Ben, Adi, and Christian; Steve and Summer; and Biz and Jeff, along with yours truly, traveled down to Cedar City to attend the Shakespearean Festival, which has been a family tradition for many summers now. We saw two very entertaining plays: The Comedy of Errors and Twelfth Night.

We also spent part of the day Saturday at the Cedar City Park on Main Street, which is where I snapped this photo of Ben and one-year-old Christian enjoying a piggy-back ride together:

The Neverending Tree

 

Yours truly didn't appear in this show, but I had a front-row seat for last week's Friday-night Improvables performance in Centerville. It featured the musical "The Neverending Tree," as suggested by an audience member.

Ricky donned a unique-looking costume for a game of "Oscar-Winning Moment":

. . . and later belted out the title tune in the musical:

Keenan also chimed in with a bittersweet lament to wrap up the night's presentation:

Sometimes, we even amaze ourselves.

"Saints and Soldiers: The Void"

Last week, I had the opportunity to travel down to Jordan Commons with some people in my ward to catch a pre-screening of the new Saints and Soldiers movie, subtitled The Void. Like the other two films in the series, it is a compelling, thought-provoking tale about those who sacrificed so much during World War II.

Afterward, we had the opportunity to meet several cast members who were in attendance at the screening. Among them was my family's friend and LDS singer Alex Boyé, who graciously posed for this picture with me.

Thomas the Cake Engine

In this video from Christian's recent first birthday party, he looks in amazement at his Thomas the Tank Engine birthday cake . . . and isn't quite sure how to react.

Strangers in the Night

At Chantel's and Jordan's wedding last Friday, I was able to capture this video of cousins McKenna and Jake slow dancing:

This one pretty well speaks for itself.

Chantel's and Jordan's Wedding

There's a whole lot of Jordans in the family: my first cousin Jared's boy Jordan, who is currently serving a mission in Hermosillo, Mexico; my second cousin Sydney's husband, Jordan; and even my one-year-old nephew, Christian Jordan. Well, another Jordan was added Friday when my second cousin Chantel married a Jordan of her own.

I was rather sick the night before and the morning of the wedding, which was held at the Draper LDS temple. Later that afternoon, however, I was feeling somewhat better, and I ventured down to Provo for the reception. It was good to finally meet my new cousin Jordan, who is a great guy and is obviously well loved by Scott and Claudia and the rest of their family.

I was able to snap a photo of Chantel and Jordan cutting their cake:

Jenna and McKenna, often seen hanging out together at our various family functions, enjoyed some of the refreshments:

. . . while Dave entertained everyone with a story: