Month: September 2005 (Page 2 of 2)

As promised, we had a fun trip to St. George over the weekend. We left Friday at 11, but didn’t get on the road until after 12, due to a “broken gas tank evaporative line” or something like that. Thankfully, we realized there was a problem as soon as we filled up with gas and gas splashed all over on the ground. We just had some work done on the van (to the tune of $400) this week, and since they did the repairs, we’ve smelled a faint gasoline smell. We quickly took it over to the repair place, and an hour of magazine reading later, we were on our way again.

We had an uneventful drive down, and as we were getting near St. George, we started talking about the Moai statues on Easter Island, and were in an interesting conversation about theories when I saw a sign that said Welcome to Arizona.

*What?!* How could we have missed St. George? Did we just drive right on by? Apparently, we did. This is why Ryan and I cannot be contestants on our favorite show, the Amazing Race. We had to turn around and drive back about 6 miles to our St. George exit. Duh!

We had a fun weekend, with visits to the Jacob Hamblin Home, the St. George Tabernacle, Brigham Young’s winter home, the St. George temple. It was very interesting and I learned so much about the pioneers who settled St. George.

I enjoyed a wonderful dinner and show at Tuacahn by myself. Ryan came down with unexpected stomache problems, and decided at the last minute not to go. He assured me that it wasn’t just that he didn’t want to watch Joseph and his colored coat, but that he really didn’t feel well enough to go. So I went by myself and really enjoyed the show. They do some fun updates on this classic and it was a lot of fun.

On the way home on Sunday, we decided to stop at Cove Fort, and had a lovely tour. If any of you ever have the chance to stop and tour it, it’s really fascinating! We’re already making plans to take the kids there. It’s only two hours from home and they would really find it great, I’m sure.

We had a lovely time, and really the Thanks go to Ryan’s mom and dad, who were so wonderful to stay with the kids for the weekend. They gave us the glowing report, and the kids were excited to see us when we got home, which tells us we were gone just long enough for them to miss us, but not long enough for Grandma and Grandpa to hate them and never babysit again. Perfect!

Don’t we all love Fridays?! The beginning of the weekend, last day of work or school, two days off, get to sleep in tomorrow. My kids love Fridays because it’s Pizza day at school. Natalie has something called “fun Friday” at school, where they get to play games, and Megan has a “Pop” party at school today because they earned it by good behavior.

I like Friday because it means no lessons after school. No soccer games tonight, either. Sometime Friday is date night, and tonight is actually an especially fun Friday because Grandma and Grandpa Erickson are coming to watch the kids and we are going to go to St. George for the weekend! Nothing extravagant–I won two nights’ hotel stay and tickets to a play at Tuachan, so we’re going to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. I’m sure I’ll love it even without Donny!

So, Happy Friday to y’all, and have a great weekend!

You don’t really think about how much you rely on and need your keys–that is, until you can’t find them. I spent yesterday using my “back up keys” because I couldn’t find my keys. Thankfully I HAVE back up keys. If you don’t have back up keys, may I recommend you get a set, with keys to all the cars you drive and your house. You should also pass out keys to select neighbors and friends, so that if you, say….Go to Disneyland and forget your 5 day passes, someone can get them and mail them (or send them with a neighbor who’s also going to Disneyland the same weekend) to you without having to break into your house. It’s just a thought.

Well, after asking the kids and asking Ryan, and asking myself where those keys were, Cole reminded me that Julene used them to drive the van on Sunday morning, when she was watching the kids. So–call Julene and ask where the keys are, and she told me–in the pink diaper bag! It would have taken me days to look there!

So, now I have my keys and my back up keys, and I feel safe and secure again.

And, in other news, thanks for all the comments on my hair. I just got a perm today, so it doesn’t look like that anymore–but I think it’s still cute!

Wow. I survived the very stressful and busy week!

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights we had rehearsal, then Friday night and Saturday night we had our Bells on Temple Square Inagural Concerts. It went really well and we are so glad it’s over!! Friday as I was playing, I thought, “What would happen if I just passed out? Would they stop? Would they just kick me under the table and go on like nothing ever happened?” Luckily, I did NOT pass out, so I was so relieved! At the end of the performance, we all just felt like giving a big WHOOP of joy that we all had actually made it through. We are not perfect–we all made mistakes (some bigger than others), but we lived through it. Saturday night’s concert also went well. I was pretty much a nervous wreck until after I made it through the song I had had the most trouble with the night before. Once that song was under my belt, I felt a lot better and was pretty confident I would make it through to the end.

Sunday morning we performed with the Tab Choir on Music and the Spoken Word. We did two songs with the choir and one by ourselves. I was about 8 feet from Craig Jessop, and he is amazing. He’s working so hard to get the choir (and orchestra) to stay together and sound their very best, that he’s sweating all over the place. Sweat (and spit) fly from his face! In fact, after the run through the stage manager comes and hands him a towel to wipe his face. He doesn’t put on his tux until after the run through, either. So, as we’re standing there warming up, Maranda (who plays right next to me), says, “Watch out, you’re in the spit zone.” I did not get wet, but my bells did get a few spots on them.

I was calling in on a radio contest (of course I was calling in on a radio contest–what else do I do?), and they said if they guess your weight, then you win tickets to the State Fair. It’s RADIO, right? So, a lady gets through, and he guesses 130. “I used to be, ” she says. She doesn’t win. Another lady gets in. He guesses 129. “No, darn.” She doesn’t win. They remind people that if he guesses CORRECTLY, you win. May I remind you that this is radio? Two more people didn’t win, until one semi smart person (not me, I’m still not getting through at this time) says yes to his guess of 135 or something like that.

Are people just not paying attention? The radio DJs had a good laugh, at least.

Shower, shower, washing my hair. Love the hot water ***Knock knock knock (at least she knocks)***
“What?”
“mumble, mumble something”
“WHAT?”
“mumble mumble”
ok–turn off the water and listen–“What?”
“mumble–drip drip” still can’t hear.
“Say it one more time, please.”
“How do you spell ‘choir’?”
It’s Natalie writing in her home journal. She’s supposed to write every day and I got on her case this morning because she hasn’t written for about a week. She’s probably writing something about how she hasn’t seen mom in 4 or 5 days because Mom’s in some kind of ‘bell choir’. I’ll have to go sneak and read it later.
After my shower.

Well, our rehearsals are starting earlier and going longer. Last night after we ended rehearsal at almost 10:00, we took the bells in to the big auditorium to practice with the choir tonight. Once we got them all set up we had to play a song–just to see. So, I ended up getting home about 11:30. Tonight we need to be there even earlier, and I seem to be having a babysitter problem. I’ve had three flake on me this week. I’ll get right on that.

Well, it’s crunch time. No, not crunches time–although it really should be crunches time. Maybe I’ll do a few crunches just for good measure. Anyway, it’s crunch time for our Bell Choir. Rehearsals all this week, with our concerts on Friday and Saturday and a broadcast with the tab choir on Sunday. I figured with driving time, we’ll be putting in over 30 hours this week. EEK!

Thinking of Hurricane Katrina and all the displaced families leaves me feeling very small. What can I do to help? After donating some $ to the red cross and the church humanitarian fund, I still feel like I need to do more.

So, this is motivating me today to purge a few closets. Our ward is having a DI drive this weekend, and while I would normally have a box or two full of stuff to give (or get rid of), I’m feeling extra motivated today to give a little (hopefully a lot) more. It’s easier to give away those cute baby quilts that each have special memories of who gave them to us, and how darling the little ones were when they were that size. But when there are no more little ones, it doesn’t make sense to clog up the closet with those darling blankets. (I am selfishly keeping the personalized ones and a few of the handmade quilts and afgans–I’m not that motivated!)

So far I’ve gotten one bag of garbage and two large trash bags full of useable items –clothes, blankets and such, and I’ve not hit my closet yet. Wish me luck in my purging, and may these things go to people who need them more than we do.

Happy Birthday John! We had a fun filled day! First we went to the doctor’s office (the picture below is of John and Jenna in the waiting room of the doctor’s office) to have his 2 year check up (complete with shots–ow). After that we decided to go to the mall and try the Kiddie Kandids thing. They had a big wait, so we had to do some shopping, go have lunch, and then have his picture taken. John was great all through the mall and we had a fun time–until we went back to Kiddie Kandids and some strange lady tried to get John to smile. I got a really great grumpy shot and one serious one. The smile attempts did NOT work, no matter what the lady says about those being cute smiles. I know what a cute smile is, and he wasn’t doing it.

Anyway, later last night we had his Birthday dinner of hot dogs and macaroni and cheese, then had his “party” with presents and cake and ice cream (Thanks, Julene, for decorating the cake!). His favorite present was undoubtably the three matchbook cars that Julene had on the cake. He wouldn’t go to bed without them, and he’s been playing with them all day so far. I don’t know why I bother getting him other toys–he’s happy with a couple of little cars (two for each hand, to be more specific).

We’re happy to have such a darling boy in our family, and he had a fun Birthday. For more pictures of his birthday celebration, Click Here