We had the privilege of working with several talented folks to produce the music and videos you see in the 2011 display.  If you are blessed by what you see please share it with your friends and send us your feedback. We will pass it on to all of those that worked so hard to bring the show you see this year.  If you purchase "Joy to the World" or "O Holy Night" (look to the right), we will donate 100% of the proceeds to OK Foster Wishes. 

Though we haven't met most of you, we do care about you and your family and pray that your Christmas season is a special one.  Thank you for letting us share part of it with you. 

The Stone Family

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We are well under way setting up for our 2011 Christmas light show.  Last year was our first year to automate the display and this year we are even more excited to share with you and your family a celebration of Jesus' birth.  The music used in last years display came from a Christmas service I played in at Lifechurch in 2009 led by Trent Austin and Marcy Priest. While it was running one evening I thought "Wouldn't it be cool to create our own videos from local worship leaders?".  So that is what we did!  I'm excited to announce that this year's music will be led by Dameon Aranda, Jami Smith, and Larry Harrison.  We have finished recording in the studio, have shot 2 of 3 videos, and are putting the final touches on everything for you to enjoy this December.  

Joy to the World - Video Shoot

O Holy Night - Video Shoot

This year we are so excited to partner with OK Foster Wishes to help raise funding to provide Christmas gifts to the over 8,000 children in the Oklahoma Foster Care program.  You will have the opportunity to donate while viewing the show and in return will receive some Christmas music that will brighten your holiday. 

We will launch to the public on Saturday, December 3rd at 6pm and run through December. Please spread the word to your family and friends.  Add us to your Christmas light viewing destinations.  Be sure to let us know what you think on our Facebook page too!  We love hearing from each of you. Directions and times are posted on our Stone Christmas light web page. 

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For those of you that know me, (and for those that don't) you know I'm pretty much a big kid. There have always been things I've been interested in but am just now in the part of life where I have the time and resources to experience some of these hobbies. The 4th of July and Fireworks was always a fun holiday for me as a kid. I remember traveling to the big town of Kingfisher, Oklahoma to spend the day with my dad's family. I had an uncle that would always go a bit overboard on the fireworks investment but we the kids loved it. This year I decided to take my fireworks to the next level and attempt to put on a show that was technically more challenging and also one that families would enjoy and look forward to attending each year. I really had two purposes that drove me this year. One was recognizing my neighbors that serve in the armed forces past and present. Without people like this there would be no show, no celebration, no freedom. My fireworks show started with a 10 minute tribute to my neighbors which you can watch below. Second, family is so important to me and creating opportunities for families to make memories with each other is something my wife and I love doing.  

I will spare you all the technical details behind this years firework show but will say we did invest in technology that allowed us to remotely fire everything and sync it with music and video. There is one thing I learned this year and that is you can never plan for everything. 20 minutes before our showtime, we experience a downpour that had not been forecasted. This resulted in several fireworks and controllers getting wet which meant that once we went live 40% of the show didn't fire. Everyone still had a great time and now I have a new plan to circumvent the rain for 2011. ;)  

I've also included a few videos from other 4th of July festivities in our neighborhood. Each year keeps getting better. 

Up next for the Stone family is Halloween. Though we typically don't do much for this holiday, we have a few surprises for this year that you will want to check out. And of course Christmas planning is in full swing. Can't share any details yet but you will want to find a way to get to Oklahoma in December to see it!

2011 Stone Fireworks Show

4th of July Highland Trails Neighborhood Celebration

Military Tribute Video
 

2011 Lawn Mower Races
 

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So it was our 3rd year to attend Pine Cove Family camp in Tyler, TX.  I have to say the first year I totally didn't know what to expect and to be honest was not looking forward to it.  To me it sounded weird.  Family camp....really?  Camping with 6 people for 7 days sounds totally relaxing right?  Much to my surprise my perceptions were way off.  We arrive at the camp to meet 30-40 college counselors at the front gate jumping up and down cheering and chanting.  They had us park our van right there and whisked us into the main camp building to register for the weekly activities.  All while 4 to 5 guys parked our van and delivered all of our luggage to our cabin.  Now the first year we attended we signed up for everything...and I mean everything.  Horse back riding, wave runners, water skiing, ropes course, bikes, tennis, and the list goes on.  Once Wednesday of that week came we quickly realized our rookie mistake....this is vacation, not a race to see how many activities we can cram into a 7 day stretch.  But the point is, there are so many things to do that there is something for everyone.  Here are a few pics from our trip last week.  This was our 3rd year to attend and we've already registered for year 4.  If you can't tell.....we highly recommend this place!

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I finally have the videos posted for those of you that couldn't make it by this year.  And to those of you that did....thank you!  We loved getting to see several of you and meeting so many new faces.  We hope 2011 is filled with blessing for you and your family and we will see you again next December!

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We have a website setup for our Christmas light display this year.  We also have a Facebook page if you want to check that out as well.  I hope to have pictures and HD video posted soon.  The response since our December 3rd launch has been amazing.  Thank you to everyone for your kind comments and support.  We love sharing the message of Christmas with others. The picture displayed here is our display from last year.  Come see us and check out this years display. 

http://www.stonechristmaslights.com

http://www.facebook.com/stonechristmaslights

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We are full steam ahead on plans for Christmas 2010 decorating plans.  For 2010 we have decided to go full commercial LED on the entire display.   I won't have a final bulb count until the first of December but it should be in the 8-10k range.  I've also added 64 channels of computer control this year so my lights will be in sync with the music.  We made significant progress this past weekend but there is much left to be done before our Friday, December 3rd launch. If you are near Edmond, OK in December please stop by and check it out. 

10 ft PVC with 30 C9 bulbs.  Each color will be independantly controlled via computer. 

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We have two 3ft. wreaths and one 5ft wreath that have been re-wrapped with red, green, and white.  They each hang on the front of the house.

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Our neighborhood really knows how to throw a party.  This was our 2nd annual 4th of July celebration.  One of the many things we love about our neighborhood is the sense of community we are surrounded with.   The weekend was packed with a parade, kids games, a cookout, lawn mower races, and of course a few fireworks. 

Here are some of the fireworks I purchased this year.  We have found a source that makes our dollar go a little further than the local stands.  If you haven't experienced 4th of July in Logan County you are missing out.

It rained all weekend but we had enough breaks throughout that all of our activities went off without a hitch and everyone had a blast.  I'm already looking forward to next year.  But first.....Christmas lights!

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Have you heard of the Ignite events that are sweeping the nation?  The speaker basically gets 5 minutes to elaborate on a topic they are passionate about.  Accompanied by 20 slides that auto-advance every 15 seconds, the goal is to entertain the audience while hopefully sharing some insight and knowledge as well.  I had the opportunity to speak at the recent IgniteOKC event and thoroughly enjoyed it.  You can view my presentation below.  Who knows, maybe I will see you presenting at the next one. 

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This is the second year I have ordered my fireworks from a wholesaler.  Needless to say, this year is going to be a blast.  I was able to include a few neighbors on the order and they did not disappoint.  We rented a truck to pickup our goods (roughly 80 cases).  This picture is part of the warehouse we did business with.  If you don't have anywhere to be on the 4th please come join us.  Here is a short video from last year.  Lawn mower races and all. 

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Recently I was tasked with creating a persuasive artifact for my Persuasion and Social influence class this semester.  For those of you that don't know, I returned to school last Fall to finish my Bachelors degree in Interpersonal Communication.  I've thoroughly enjoyed the college experience so much more this time around.  It is amazing how a few years and kids can change one's perspective.  Back to my project.  I decided to create a video for an organization that my friend Ken Surritte runs called Water is Life.  This wonderful charity provides clean drinking water to third world countries through the use of filtered straws.  Each straw lasts a year and filters out 99.999% of bacteria and water born diseases. We look forward to becoming more involved with the life changing work they are doing globally.

The Idea

Since most ideas are borrowed and rarely original I decided to take the look of the popular "I Am Second" video series and duplicate it for my project. I shot it over a weekend in my dining room and spent two more days encoding and editing.  I haven't worked on a serious video project in several years so jumping back into the tools was challenging and refreshing at the same time.  

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I shot these different sequences over a period of a week during November in Oklahoma. I used a Canon Rebel XTi with the DSLR remote software for the iPhone. Primary lens was a 24-70mm, 2.8. I threw the music together (very quickly) in Garage Band.

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See the full gallery on Posterous

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See the full gallery on Posterous

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Your Love Never Fails by Lifechurch Edmond Listen on Posterous

Here is a rough recording from the monitor console from our Sunday night experience at Lifechurch.tv Edmond.  This song was written by Jesus Culture

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9 Audio Track. Aiff Listen on Posterous

We recorded this in the Fall of 2008 on a Sunday afternoon in the worship center.  Everything was done in one take with no overdubs. Hopefully it doesn't show too much in this recording.  I sang vocals, BGV's and played keys.

Mitch Bell - Electric
Fred Hanradt - Bass
Brent Burgess - Drums
Trent Austin - Rhythm Electric
Marcy Priest - BGV's
Brad Stone - Lead Vocal, BGV's, Keys

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Brad Stone - Follow me at http://www.twitter.com/bestone

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