preparation's my middle name

so...me and my man josiah are playing a good ol' show tomorrow. it's for the kids. impoverished kids around the world. a benefit show for compassion canada...to be exact.

we practiced once or twice. we'll see how it goes. i also have a stupid cold. perfect timing. oh, and to make the timing even worse...i leave for hawaii in a few days. traveling with a cold..fun times. oh wait, did i say i'm going to hawaii? i guess that's pretty sweet. i just bought a ticket, to go see my bro and sis in law, and my man presley. but i've got NO plans as far as what i'm going to do once i get there.

good ol' mark preparation friesen.
wish me luck!

best picture ever

Nathan...when he was a young man in the 60's

about a certain lovely lady

so yesterday was a good and hard day; the celebration of the life of a certain lovely lady...my mother. it was her birthday, and she would have turned 56 if it had not been for that scallywag we call cancer. it's been six and a half years she's been gone. yikes.

so i'm just talking about her a bit cuz i like talking about her. i guess i'm pretty proud that she was my mom. what i would like to be doing with her right now is....dancing in the kitchen. this was her dancing hub, and i've come to realize that there's nothing like dancing in the kitchen. it's got a smooth floor, perfect for smooth movement, and one can accomplish many important and/or menial tasks whilst busting some sweet moves. one of her favorite musical groups to aid her in this endeavor was...SILVERWIND! i suggest you give 'em a listen if you don't know who they are.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dUKOK_--8c

so yeah...i do miss her.
i wrote a song about her once, and made an attempt at recording (a feable attempt with feable recording equipment) so if anyone wants to brave a listen...be my guest! i posted it on our YFC myspace, cuz i don't know how to do it here :)

http://www.myspace.com/nivervilleyfc

the summer of chicken disguises

i helped with a kids camp last summer, and looking through the pictures i couldn't help but long for the summer days once again. even with all those crazy kids all day, i couldn't complain. i mean, they're friggen cute, too. and i'm not complaining right now with temperatures ABOVE ZERO!!! (the psychotic winds didn't even dampen my spirits). but i couldn't help but feel all warm inside from the thoughts of summer kids camp. i think one of these pictures made the carillon (if anyone noticed a chicken disguised man with a bunch of kids in the paper...that was me).

in the pic above, i'm beginning the week trying to figure out what i'm going to be doing with these kids

the girls seem content with a tea party

some of us dudes hit up the pool. rad times.

it was story time, and so we opted to do a crab walk to get to the story tent.

i think the story was robinhood, one of my all-time favorites.

yes...that's a chicken mask on my face.

chicken dancing.

you can still be manly and do art.

concrete games

some of the fine folk i worked with!