Carolee

My friend Carolee died the end of November, 2013. She had been fighting cancer. I first got to know her as my visiting teacher. She was faithful about coming every month. So generous and kind. She was constantly offering me items from her garden and trees, books to borrow, etc.

I got to know her better through playing the organ. She was one of the ward organists, and had been doing it for years and years. Again, she offered to help me, to give me organ arrangement books, showed me the settings she had put on the organ. Just so kind, and so much energy! Even when she didn't feel well she still carried on in her callings.

Her playing of the organ was amazing to me. Though she didn't keep time very well (“It's always been a struggle of mine”, she confessed), the fact that she played at all was an incredible feat. She couldn't see the notes very well because of her failing sight. She couldn't feel her feet while she played the pedals. She also lost some feeling in her fingers after her back surgery. She basically played the organ from memory. I know I could never do that.

I felt prompted to visit her about two weeks before she died. She had been doing so well with her chemo treatments, and then suddenly wasn't. I visited her at the hospital. I know she recognized me, but could only say “okay…okay”, over and over. In retrospect, I think she was trying to tell me that she was okay, and that it would be okay. I think, in a way, she was trying to comfort me. At the time she had a nurse sitting with her, making sure she kept her oxygen mask on (she kept trying to take it off). She said “pray”. That's the only other word I heard her say besides “okay” and “yes” the last few times I saw her. The nurse offered a prayer of comfort. It was such a lesson to me. She was constantly turning to her Heavenly Father in her time of need. And even though she couldn't say the words, she was praying in her heart.

I’m glad that I got to know Carolee. I hope that I can be as stalwart, as faithful, and as strong as she was. Thank you for blessing my life, Carolee!

Beatle-mania

There it was, in the corner of my newspaper: a headline for one of their articles.  I flipped open to the page, and lo and behold, the article about the band 1964.

And my heart did a little leap of joy, and I went “EEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!”

1964 is a tribute band that plays all Beatles songs.  They dress like them, talk, and act like them.  They even played their instruments the way the Beatles did.

I saw this same band when I was in 9^th grade.  My sister and I went, along with a couple of our friends.  Somehow, we got front row seats at the Civic Auditorium.  When the band started, we jumped up and started dancing.  But the guy behind us didn’t like it.  He poked us, and yelled “Sit down!  We’re trying to watch!”

So we went into the orchestra pit, along with a bunch of other teenagers.  We danced in pure Beatles bliss.

Anyway, when I saw they were performing up at BYU-Idaho, I immediately called my two Beatles-loving sisters.  They were both all over going to the concert like white on rice.  I think they both went “EEEEEEEEEEEE!” too.  I called and got tickets.

And so we went.  First we got burgers from Five Guys (YUM!), and then we headed on up.  I just love spending time with my cute sisters.

We were singing at the top of our lungs, and boogying in our seats.  At one point the band told everyone to jump up and sing and dance to “Twist and Shout”.  After that, my sisters and I couldn’t be contained in our seats any longer.  They had an area in the back where people could dance if they wanted to. 

There was a boy, about 10-ish years old, who was spastically dancing around, and was totally off-beat.  There was an older guy, maybe in his 40s, who had his two little girls dancing with him.  He was dancing exactly the way my dad would dance with us girls when we were little.  There were some couples trying to ballroom dance to the music, and I wanted to kick them in the shins.

And then there was us.

1964 only plays the early Beatles stuff.  There were a few songs with which I was unfamiliar.  But then they played my favorite Beatles song, “In My Life”.  The band told us to pull out our phones and call someone to share the song with, and I called Pete.  I was so excited that it was “In My Life” that I was all, “petethey’replayinginmylife ilovethissongsomuchcanyouhearit listenlistenlisten!!!”  I asked him later if he heard the song at all, or what I had said, and he was all, “Um, yeah, phones don’t really work well at concerts, I couldn’t hear anything.”

After they were done, we all clapped and cheered, and stomped, and yelled for an encore.  They came back out, and played four more songs, just right in a row.  We ran up to the stage, along with most of the audience.  We danced and sang some more.  There was a guy in front of us, that, when they started the third song, he turned to his friend and said, “This is just BLOWING my mind!”  It was funny.

Then it was over.  My cheek bones hurt from smiling and laughing.  (The “Beatles” would joke around in between songs.)  My throat hurt from yelling and singing.  I was a sweaty mess.  But I was also high as a kite from adrenaline.  It had been wwaaaaayyyy too long since I had listened to Beatles music.  I love, love, love the Beatles.

And here is my favorite Beatles song.  (Pete, when I die, you need to play this at my funeral, k?)

Dynamite!

This song makes me want to shake my booty. Whenever I hear it in the car I turn it way up and start drive boogy-ing.

I throw my hands up in the air sometimes, sayin' ay-oh, gotta let go!
I wanna celebrate and live my life, sayin' ay-oh, baby let's go...

New to Me

I got some new Sunday clothes for my kids. Some of their stuff was really craptastic. Now they look so very dapper!


I earned my Young Women medallion. And it has a new design, FYI. Cool, huh?

Saturday I accidentally washed Pete's wallet. Good times with that. Hey, at least it wasn't his phone, too. So he's going to need a new one of those.

I tried a new recipe last night for dinner. I think it turned out pretty good. And it's super easy. Here it is:


CREAMY CHICKEN BROCCOLI SKILLET

½ cup Miracle Whip
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed
2 cups water
1 16-oz. package frozen broccoli florets, thawed and drained
½ pound Velveeta cheese spread, cubed
2 cups Minute rice, uncooked

Cook chicken in Miracle Whip in skillet, about 8 minutes, until done. Add water, broccoli, and Velveeta. Bring to a boil. Stir in rice; cover. Remove from heat. Let stand 5 minutes.


I am in love with this new song, by The Script, called Breakeven. It's one of those songs that I could listen to over and over and over right now. Truth be told, I think it came out a long time ago, but I've just barely heard it on the radio this last week.


And finally, a new site, that I think is so awesome, and I wish I'd thought of it first. But I could never write the commentary like she does. Sadly, I think my uterus was the body organ that held my sense of humor, and when that got taken out my amazing wit left with it. I used to be so funny. (Well, to me, anyway. But I am my own best audience.) The site is called Promtacular! ; I've been a long-time blog stalker of the personal blog of the chick that put it together. Hi-larious. I think we all have doozies of prom/dance pictures; she has endless material to work with.

Also, I decided I need to re-new my zeal for projects. I keep looking at all these things that I'd like to do "someday", and go "eh" about 'em. I'd like to do them, but right now I keep not having time. I don't think my life is going to settle down any time soon, though, so I need to integrate them (somehow) into my life. Now.

So, since I've been gone a while, what's new with you?

Hurt Feelings

Our ward had a talent show on Tuesday. So, because Pete and I are sooo talented, we signed up to sing a song by Flight of the Conchords, "Hurt Feelings". My amazingly talented sister (but she has actual talent) Lex, and her amazingly talented friend Mark (him too) recorded the song for us, so that it was kind of like us doing karaoke, except fancier. I don't know how it's fancier, but it IS.

In case you didn't get to see it the first time around, it's your lucky day, because my sister recorded it for us. Or if you did get to see it the first time, and are dying to watch it again, here it is, for your viewing pleasure. (Oh, and I totally know I'm a nerd. It just goes without saying, really.)

So without further ado...

Things We Said Today

My sister did this tag, and I thought it would be fun. You pick ONE band or artist, and answer the questions using ONLY song titles. She picked the Beatles, and since I love them as well, I decided to do Beatles, but tried to pick different songs than she did. (Oh, my title is also a Beatles song.)

1. Are you a male or female: Another Girl
2. Describe yourself: I Am the Walrus
3. How do you feel about yourself: Free as a Bird
4. Describe your ex boyfriend/girlfriend: I Should Have Known Better
5. Describe your current boy/girl situation: I'm In Love
6. Describe your current location: When I Get Home
7. Describe where you want to be: Strawberry Fields Forever
8. Your best friend is: Baby It's You
9. Your favorite color is: Blue Jay Way
10. You know that: Tomorrow Never Knows
11. What's the weather like: Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!
12. If your life was a television show what would it be called?: In My Life (that's my favorite Beatles song, by the way)
13. What is life to you: A Taste of Honey
14. What is the best advice you have to give: All You Need is Love
15. If you could change your name what would you change it to: Penny Lane

I tag Pete and Lex and Mike!

The Joker

Some lame jokes and a sweet video to kick off Monday:
Pete and Repeat were in a boat. Pete fell out. Who was left in the boat?
Repeat.
Pete and Repeat were in a boat...

What did the cat who had no money say?
I'm paw.


A Programmer and an Engineer were sitting next to each other on an airplane. The Programmer leans over to the Engineer and asks if he wants to play a game.
The Engineer just wants to sleep so he politely declines, turns away and tries to sleep. The Programmer persists and explains that it's an easy game: "I ask a question and if you don't know the answer you pay me $5. Then you ask a question and if I don't know the answer I'll pay you $5."
Again the Engineer politely declines and tries to sleep. The Programmer, now somewhat agitated, says, "O.K., if you don't know the answer you pay me $5 and if I don't know the answer I pay you $50!" That gets the Engineer's attention, and he agrees.
The Programmer asks the first question, "What's the distance from the earth to the moon?" Without saying a word, the Engineer hands the Programmer $5, and then asks, "What goes up a hill on three legs and comes down on four?"
The Programmer looks at him with a puzzled look, takes out his laptop computer, looks through all his references and after about an hour, wakes the Engineer and hands him $50. The Engineer politely takes the $50, turns away, and tries to get back to sleep.
The Programmer, a little miffed, asks, "Well what's the answer to your question?" Without a word, the Engineer hands $5 to the Programmer, and goes back to sleep.

What do you get when you mix a great song with another great song?

A great song mix!

(I know, it's like "Who was buried in Grant's tomb?")

I just noticed that my pictures and my music are all about sleeping, and dreaming... must be my subconscious telling me something...

The Von Trapp Family Rock Band

The other day Jakob made us all instruments out of paper. (He is constantly drawing things on paper, coloring them, then cutting them out. One day he made a computer, complete with headphones. He was pretending to play a game with his cousin, Dylan, called-get this-World of Ironman. Such a creative little bugger.)

Anyway, here we are with our instruments, singing a Flight of the Conchords song called "Robots".

Brock is rocking the "drums".

Troy with his "guitar". (Yep, the same day as the great tanning lotion extravaganza.)

Here are my boys, getting ready to be the next Jackson 5, or Hanson, or Partridge family:

They're singing "We Will Rock You", if you couldn't tell. Troy used to sing "We will rock it". Jakob is pretty good at doing the pound pound clap part. They first heard the song on this fine movie:

You know you wanna hear the real thing now, right? I'll happily oblige.



Better look out, Jonas Brothers!

Stuff N Nonsense

Troy was sick last week. One day he slept till 12:30, got up, had some juice, then fell asleep again...on the stairs.


This is a rendering of our family by Artist Jakob. From left: me, holding Ivy, then Pete, Brock, and Troy; Jakob is flying above us with an Ironman heart, of course. I love that we're all so very robotic. Or Ironman-ish.


Here's an Ironman that Jakob made for Aunt Lex. (Lex, haven't mailed it yet; we're working on writing a letter, too.)


My cute Brocky. He's fully potty trained! It really didn't take very long. His last poop accident was on my birthday. He didn't have any accidents from then until a month later, at my sister's house where he had a pee accident. I think he didn't know where the bathroom was, so he just held it till he couldn't any longer. But that's the last time. He's like a ninja bathroom goer; he doesn't ever tell me, he just goes. I love it.


Pete and Troy on our new toy. This is the awesomest purchase we've made in a long time. It's so flippin' fast! Pete's all, "WHY didn't we get this sooner?" The boys love to ride on Pete's lap while he's mowing. And Pete loves to mow now. A win-win. (Brock calls it the "mow lawner".)


Ivy's just so cute and fat! She's so patient, too. The boys will wake her up in the morning, which I hate, but she just goo's at them and smiles and kicks around. She looks SOOO much like Brock did when he was a baby.


Here's Pete new favorite song, which I also love. This video has clips from one of our guilty pleasures, "One Tree Hill". The song is called "No One's Gonna Love You" by Band of Horses.

Cheese-tastic Mormon Musicals and My Overactive Tear Ducts

So. Been having a rough...week. Or so. I'm pretty sure it started last Tuesday, which coincidentally or not, that's when I started potty training Brock. And come to find out it fell right into my body's womanly schedule (a lovely TMI tidbit), even though I didn't know that until today. So I could blame it on PMS, too. But I think it's been, like, the perfect storm of happenings to make me turn into the demon wife/mother that I've been lately.

Also, I hate World of Warcraft. That's all I'm going to say about that. Anyway...

My sister Lex called me up, and invited me and my sister and my Grandpa to "The White Star", which is the sequel to "Saturday's Warrior". It's 35 years later, and now Jimmy, the main guy from "Saturday's Warrior", is a dad. The first part of the show they basically sing snippets of all the songs from "Saturday's Warrior", and then segue into "The White Star" after that. When Jimmy started singing "Brace Me Up", the tears started flowing.

Who am I, where am I going?

Here I sit all alone not knowing why.

Brace me up, I'm so discouraged.

Help, I think I'm gonna die.

How it hurts to be a no one.

How I wish I was someone really loved.

Brace me up, I'm such a failure.

Heaven, help me, up above.

Isn't there someone with a hand to spare?

Who can share what they have for my hunger?

Isn't there someone who will take me as I am?

Brace me up, not put me down.

Make me feel like I'm as good as another...

Um, yeah. My thoughts and feelings as of late EXACTLY. Basically, I've just felt...all worn out. Just tired of being a mom right now, and dealing with the kids and the laundry and the cooking. And the cleaning, the endless cleaning... Kind of emotionally drained, if you will. I think as moms we just give and give and give, and don't get much in return. Well, that's how it is for me, anyway. Lately I've just felt like a slave, and I've kind of lost me. I've been doing my job so much that I've become my job.

Does any of that make sense? Well, even if it doesn't, it does to me. So there!

Back to the musical: I liked the overall story, though some (most) of the songs were cheesy. But that's kind of to be expected. After all, the person that wrote the songs in the sequel was Janice "Crap" Perry. (I don't hate all her songs. I love "Love is Spoken Here" and "A Child's Prayer". But "As Sisters in Zion"? Gag.) The singers were amazing. I'll admit, though, some of the story line was crazy. Like, Jimmy's son gets visited by his dead brother that he never knew he had. And his Mormon Scottish ancestors had a girl that never got sealed to them. (Sounds kinda soap-opera-ey, huh? But it's not.) And it's this huge big mystery about why Jimmy fell away from the church again. Then he ends up seeing his dead sister at the end, after his son has head trauma. Yes, now you're all intrigued, aren't you?

Anyway, feeling better today, though the potty training is still very much an issue, and will be for some time, I fear. But at least I can be cleaning up bodily fluids while new crazy songs run through my head.

A-Ha!

Finally caught it!

These are a little blurry and off-center, because Ivy was lying on my lap. I was trying to get her to smile, so I wasn't looking at the camera screen to see what the pictures actually looked like. But I'll take 'em.

And a little shout-out here. I loved this video when I was little... (A-ha's "Take On Me")

The Symphony

My cute grandpa took my sister and me to the symphony on Friday. It was so fun! My grandpa has been hard of hearing as long as I've known him. But he got some new hearing aids recently, and so now he can actually hear music again! He's taken advantage of programs here and in St. George in the winters.

I love music, but it's been so long since I've been to a program like this. I love watching the conductor; I've always thought that would be fun job. My grandpa kind of conducted along with his hands. And my sister dozed off for a minute-it was so beautiful and soothing! And hey, she's pregnant-you sit down for a second to relax and you're OUT!

I loved watching the feature pianist. We were sitting on the side so we could see her hands. I used to be pretty good at playing the piano, but I've lost a lot of technique. It was fun to see someone that's really good again.

When we left to go home, we got in the car, and Grandpa had accidentally left his lights on, so the battery died! Luckily my awesome Uncle Kurt was able to come jump us in no time. Thanks, Grandpa, for a fabulous night out!

Livin' on a Prayer

1987. It was the time of the big permed hair, the shoulder pads, and the butt rockers. I was all of 8 years old and living it large in 3rd grade. The cover-half-your-face eyeglasses were in, and yes, I had a pair. I got baptized in 1987; my youngest sister was also born that year. Black Monday hit that year, as well as the movie "Dirty Dancing". The big musicians were Madonna, Motley Crue, Whitney Houston, and of course Bon Jovi. "Livin on a Prayer" was the biggest hit that year, and for good reason.

1997. I was a senior in high school. My friend Than was the band president, and one of the songs they played was "Livin’ on a Prayer". Man, that song gets me pumped up! Even though in my high school any amount of prayers wouldn’t help the basketball team, or the football team, etc. But I would always make Than make the band play that song. Ah, the nostalgia. *sniff*

Present day. I was on the way over to pick Jakob up from preschool, and "Livin’ on a Prayer" came on the radio. I turned it way up and started singing at the top of my lungs. Brock and Troy looked at me like I had just gotten possessed. Over 20 years later that song still makes me boogie.

So here’s to you, Bon Jovi. Here’s to bad fashion and good tunes. Please enjoy the following video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUSDS9pkA2Y

And if you don't like the song, at least you can laugh at the hair.