What's new?

Instead of doing regular dance class this year (because let's face it, Molly didn't really like it and neither did mom), we are trying new things. I just signed Molly up for two 6 week classes through community ed. First we'll do dance at Hunter, then we'll do karate at Taylorsville. So far it is going well!

 By this time of the year, my yard is really pretty.

We've decided to tease Willie a little. This is now the second picture we have sent him to show him that Parker is tall.  Parker is tall, but not quite that tall. We cropped the picture so you don't see everyone else's bent knees. 

We went to The Fair. The kids had fun. Molly went down the giant yellow slide with James and giggled forever afterwards. She thought it was the coolest thing ever! Also, a clown made Jack a minion balloon (beedo beedo). 

Oh.... and I've decided my son is a ninja.

I Just Wanna Be A Rockstar

A couple of Sunday's ago my sister told me that I made four cd's that were played as the background music at her wedding reception.  She said they were great and she thanked me for putting them together.  She said she wished she still had them.  I only vaguely remember making them.

I remembered that I (with Annie's help) compiled a Christmas Album of my favorite Christmas songs and we gave it out to neighbors, co-workers, and family members for Christmas one year.  I still think it is probably the best Christmas compilation EVER!  

A couple of weeks ago, I clicked something in my e-mail that made my messages reorder themselves from oldest to newest.  I've had my hotmail address for at least 100 years and I had fun reading some weird e-mails of days gone by.  I read several that were about "tape trading" which meant that I collected bootleg live recordings of some of my favorite bands and then I traded them to other random people all over the country.

I once played in a band with a Hispanic man in our ward and his two sons.  We practiced for several months.  We played one gig - a ward Christmas party.  We played "Tequila," some Beatles songs, and a few Christmas songs (including a rewriting of "My Green Tambourine" into "My Green Christmas Tree.")  I named us "Three Mexicans and a White Girl."  It sounds lame, but it was totally fun.  

I had a few other small events where I had the opportunity to play instruments in front of people, many with a younger kid in our ward at that time - Dan Riggs - who is an amazing fiddle player.  I practiced a few times with the Clog America touring band (and a learned a TON with them).  We also got to play the hoedown scene of "Oklahoma" during our stake's production.  Quite impressive.  I wore overalls that I picked up at the Tooele D.I.

There are few things more exhilarating that playing live music with other people!

Don't forget the years and years of my parents taking me to piano lessons on Friday nights at Al Weight Studios near 9th and 9th.  Who knows how many recitals, different competitions, and Saturday classes they took me to.  I used to be able to play just about anything you set in front of me.  Now I play Hymns and primary songs when no one else is there to do it, with the occasional musical number in sacrament meeting at Christmas time (while giving my arthritic pinky a pep talk to please finish the song without locking up and being stupid).

After that Sunday conversation with my sister, I got a little melancholy that perhaps a part of me had disappeared and I was no longer utilizing this talent that I'd like to think I had at one point.  

So what did I do about it?  Not much.  Just a little.  

I decided to make it my personal goal this week to spend at least 30 minutes a day doing something musical.  Yesterday I downloaded some new music and reorganized the songs on our car ipod.  The kids listened to some of the new stuff with me on the way to school this morning and they liked it!

Tonight I am reading up on Guster's latest album and looking into a new band I like called A Great Big World.  They have one radio hit, "Say Something," but a lot of other really cool songs full of beautiful melodies and fun gusto.  I love the complimentary tones in the voices of the duo and of course, a good piano band doesn't come around all that often.  I also like that they are kind of nerdy looking and were former business students at NYU.

For the rest of the week, I also plan to not only sit at the computer late at night with headphones on, but I plan to dust off my piano, guitar, and maybe (just maybe) I will even dig out the banjo that hasn't seen daylight (or a nightlight) since finding a cozy corner in a closet of our house almost three years ago.

Here is my motivation - "I Just Wanna Be A Rockstar"

Desperation

I mentioned that James and I went a whole week without grains. James was able to make it without the corn and rice. I gave in on those, but was able to finish with no other grains ..... no croutons, no bread, no cereal, no rolls, no flour tortillas, no pretzels, no crackers, no granola bars, no pancakes, etc. I never did eat any rice, but corn tortillas saved me from dying and I did eat popcorn once, too.  I've never even really like corn tortillas, but they became quite scrumptious.  I ate close to my regular calories all week, but found I was just starving all day.  Wednesday and Thursday were the hardest, but it did get a little easier by Saturday and Sunday.

We both got a little desperate. James wouldn't admit that he did, but he did. He ate heaping plates of fruit. We even ran out and had to go to the store midweek for more. I watched him eat a mug of bread 'n butter pickles. (I've known James for a while now and I have never seen him eat more than a pickle on a hamburger or maybe one on the side)

What did I do in desperation? I found myself eating plain honey.  I started buttering the corn tortillas. 

We both ate more string cheese and bacon than we ever have gone through in a week.

To celebrate making it through the week, we decided to indulge in some mega breakfast foods on Labor Day morning.  We headed up Emmigration Canyon to Ruth's Diner.  I have never been there and it was great!  It was super crowded, but moved quickly.  The biscuits were delicious and my pancakes were good.  I couldn't eat the whole stack.  I could feel my stomach stretching in pain and had to stop before I may have really gotten sick.

This is a random picture of the kids running down the hill at Sugar House Park after the Rae of Light 5k last Saturday.  The picture was cute, but I didn't really take any others to constitute a whole post.  My sister was on the organizing committee for the 5K so we signed up, got there late after cleaning the church, then walked half of the 5K around the park.  We tried.  The kids had fun running around afterwards.  I honestly lost Jack for a good 15 minutes.  I had no idea where he was.  When I found him he was over at the nearby playground going down the slide.  Idiot parent moment.  Fast kid.

Some things are so hard

I found this Coke calling my name at Harmons tonight. Because I have been doing the Healthy Living Challenge, I honestly can't remember the last time I drank a real Coke. It was probably at least in June sometime.  I did have a diet Dr. Pepper last Wednesday, but I only drank half the can, lost interest and threw it away. 

This week's food challenge is no grains, including extra credit points if you can stay away from rice and corn, too. This has been the hardest challenge yet! It is only Wednesday and I think I might die. I caved on the extra credit and I've eaten a couple of corn tortillas (which I don't really even like, but they tasted pretty good).

I can do it! ...... I think.

Since I can't eat a donut or cookie or anything like that for my sugar day this week, I thought maybe I would treat myself to this Coke ..... Or not. I may just save it for a rainy day.

Talofa

My cousin Eddie got married on Saturday to the beautiful Nina Malufau.  They were sealed in the Oquirrh Mountain Temple and then had a true Samoan wedding party with dancers, tons of crazy food, and about 20 cakes.  I can't say I was a big fan of the food, but otherwise, it was a great day!

Here is the short bullet point version:

• Sealing in the Oquirrh Mountain Temple.  Parker and Natalie had kid duty outside.  The sealing was very nice.  James had to work and there were a few moments when Molly and Jack were stinkers, but mostly they were really good the whole day.
• Sandwiches and chips out of the back of the Ottowear Van in the temple parking lot
• Home for a quick nap (for Jack)
• 3:00-4:00 p.m. Reception line for a quick hour with some delicious hors d'oeuvres.  4:00-later p.m. was a dinner and program. 
• The bride, groom, and wedding party went out into the hall and were announced two at a time to enter and sit at the head table.
• Everyone was told by the MC to sit down and enormous plates of very strange food were served to all of the old people.  The rest of us grabbed our plates (styrofoam to go boxes) and stood in line for very strange food to be dished to us.  The food included giant sausage, corned beef, pork, fried chicken, weird root potato thing, potato salad, traditional island noodle stuff, and spring rolls.  I have had Polynesian meals before, but this was not quite what I would have expected
• Next was a program that even included the "wedding haka."  Parker said the program felt like a HHS multi-cultural assembly.  It was fun, though.
• Then the MC continued . . . he danced, made Eddie and Nina dance, had all of the groomsman dance, it went on for quite a while and then it was over.