John Mayer

The last time I went to a concert (not counting MoTab) was a pre-mission outing to what was once called Park West/Wolf Mountain/The Canyons. Some friends and I hiked up the mountain to get a seat on the ground and had a great time listening to Sting outside in a beautiful venue. It was great.

And a funny sidenote...two girls I didn't know came along that night. One of them had just received her mission call to Barcelona Venezuela. I thought that was the funniest thing I had heard. Isn't Barcelona in Spain? Ha Ha. How crazy when about 4 months later I opened my mission call and read, "You have been called to serve in the Barcelona Venezuela mission..." And even crazier still when I entered my first apartment in a little place called Ciudad Bolivar and there was Hermana Newman--the very person I had met almost a year before (I was in the MTC forever). We weren't companions, but we lived in the same apartment for the first few months of the mission. Good times.

So my point....I'm not a huge concert-goer. I never have been. So when my friend April called me a few months ago and asked if I was interested in going to a John Mayer concert, my first impulse was to say no. But I like John Mayer. And actually, it sounded like a lot of fun. So I decided to go.

What a blast we had tonight! April managed to swing 5th row seats right in the middle. (And I am sworn to secrecy on how she managed that ;-)) We were SO CLOSE!! The music was so loud, I could feel the bass drum beating in my chest like another heart beat, the ground literally was thumping under my feet, and my hair felt like it was moving from the sound waves, but it was great. I still can't hear totally.

He was a great performer--even though he was wearing manpris--and is an AMAZING musician and guitar player. Wow.

He took his picture with somebody's camera.

I didn't totally get over the "what is a 34-year-old mom with three little kids and a husband at home doing here", but I had a great time and was glad I went. Especially when he and the band rocked out to "Sweet "Chad" of Mine" as a b-day tribute to the band member named Chad. High school flashback. I have such good memories associated with that song. I'm talking about you guys--Cara, Caroline and Jen!

Thanks April!!

Back to Arizona

Well, 3 1/2 weeks later and we are back in Arizona. I have a lot to blog about, but tonight I just wanted to remember a little of our dinner conversation tonight.

Andrew: "I don't wike cauwifwower." Pause. "What is cauwifwower?"

Andrew using the word "becept" in place of "except".

Natalie asking "Why?" every time (and I mean EVERY time) anybody did or said anything.

Natalie: "James is touching my mooster seat!" (she says mooster instead of booster...I love it! That is one I hope she doesn't grow out of anytime soon.)

Natalie out of the blue: "Daddy, I wuv you." She really missed her daddy.

Supergrandpa!

Faster than a crawling baby, stronger than an angry two-year-old, better than a babysitter. It's...

Supergrandpa!!

My mom, Angela, Sarah and I went to Cedar City last weekend for the Shakespearean Festival and my dad agreed to watch my three little kids while we were gone!! He stayed with my brother Jim so the cousins could play and on Saturday Jim had a golf tournament, so Grandpa was in charge of the FIVE little ones (two 4-year olds, one 2-year-old, one almost 2-year-old, and a 9 month old who is army crawling everywhere) from early morning until 2:00 when we got back.

The kids had a blast. They went to the park a few times, got snow cones, swam in the splash pool. But best of all, they got to spend some quality, uninterrupted time with their grandpa.

Supergrandpa, that is.

Living the high life

My parents are in the middle of a kitchen overhaul. And as if that weren't enough, while they had all their cabinet doors off, and before their new dishwashers (yes, there are now two, to my mom's utter delight) were installed, they had a flood.

I should say they had two floods. The plumber had turned the water off while he was working on the dishwasher installation. My mom had tried to turn the sink on upstairs in her bathroom but no water came out. She then forgot to turn the sink off. Later that day, she remembered that she had forgotten to turn the sink off when water started leaking out of a light in the kitchen. Their bathroom was covered in inches of water that soaked into the closet as well.

But that wasn't the end of it. Later my mom was upstairs and heard a rushing sound. She soon discovered that the noise was water pouring out of a busted water line into the kitchen. The kitchen was flooded, the dining room , the family room, and then of course, the basement was getting its share also.

That happened about a day before they were invaded by me and my family. So, we got to participate in some of the cleanup. The wood floors had taken a lot of water and were pretty warped, so the answer to that is this nifty contraption...


...that dehumidifies the wood. It was so loud we couldn't even hear ourselves think. Luckily they put it in on the Thursday we left for Cedar City and removed it on Monday. So we really only had to deal with it for a day and a half. Thank goodness. That was more than enough time.

But, it also meant that we got to do this...



I felt like I was staying at a fancy resort and was eating breakfast on the patio. The air was cool, the birds were singing, you could feel the slight moisture in the air from freshly watered grass, you could smell the flowers and the grass. It was just lovely. The kids were waving and yelling "Hiiiiii" to all the passing early-morning golfers.

I really am on vacation.

The sound of silence

James enjoying the sound of silence...and a piece of grass.

I have been feeling lately that my life is full of lots and lots of noise. Music in the car (or talk radio when I can sneak it in without an uprising from the back of the car), white noise in my kids' rooms when they sleep, fans, the tv at times, music while I run (ok, for the past two days that I have ran), the phone ringing, the dishwasher running (soooo loud at our house).

And then there are the noises from the kids: the crying, yelling for fun, yelling for anger, whining, laughing, singing, persistent and constant chatter.

It's not that these are bad noises. In fact, I love the sound of singing and laughing and even the persistent and constant chatter. Even if it is very loud and right when the phone rings and I'm trying to hear what someone on the other end is saying.

Apology in advance for the 15 times I ask you to repeat something during our phone conversation.

But as I lay my baby down to sleep tonight and turned on the white noise maker so he wouldn't wake up to all the little noises, I looked at him and wondered if he has experienced many moments of silence. After all, he is the third of three little kids. And little kids make a lot of noise.

And for some reason, I think silence is a good thing. I know that if I am surrounded by constant noise, I miss opportunities for thought and meditation that I really need right now!

Tonight I was wondering if too much noise would cause James to miss out on his own important baby-thoughts. Obviously most of the noise isn't going to disappear. I'm not going to tape my kids' mouths shut, we really do enjoy singing along in the car, and one of my favorite things is hearing my kids enjoying each other...loudly.

And I realized one of the best places for some silence is the out of doors. Even if my kids are loud outside, the volume gets lost in the trees, grass, flowers, and blue skies. Instead, we can hear the leaves rustle in the breeze, and honestly, we hear the sound of silence. I love it.

So, tonight I resolved to get James outside more often. So that he can learn to hear the sound of silence and enjoy it.

James through their eyes

We were driving in the car and James sneezed three times. I said bless you and after the third sneeze Andrew exclaimed with a big smile, “James bwess youd his pacifier out of his mouf!.” And now when Natalie sneezes she says, "I just had a bwess you!"

Natalie saw James in this:
and said, "James is a cow boy!"

Celebrating freedom

Love my mom's flower pots!

I love the 4th of July. Who doesn't like a good red, white and blue combo. Add in the BBQs, watermelon, swimming, and a good fireworks show and you have one great day. Not to mention that I am passionate about what we are celebrating...freedom, independence, sacrifice, founding fathers, divine intervention and inspiration.

In a very prescient comment to his wife in a letter home on July 3, 1776, John Adams wrote:

I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.

And that is exactly what we are doing today!

We were in Utah this 4th of July. My whole family was together except for JB and Chelsee and family (we missed you guys!) and we spent most of the day outside...just the way I like it.

The cousins had a great time drawing on the cement with chalk, playing with trains (Andrew's idea of course), playing with barbies (Grace's idea), and then the center attraction...

the waterslide!!

After a great BBQ complete with corn on the cob and homemade ice cream (thanks mom!), we all gathered around for a fireworks show in the backyard starring...

the Costco package of fireworks.

It was quite the show. Thanks to Jim for risking his fingers and lighting them all.

Andrew was not loving the loudness of the occasion, but gradually worked his way off Dad's lap. His hands didn't leave his ears, but he did keep saying how much he loved the fireworks. Hmmm...

The biggest fan of the backyard show was James. He LOVED it. He jumped and kicked and laughed and smiled the entire time and knew when a new one was about to be lit. Then he would sit and watch and listen as it popped, flared and finally fizzled. And he got to showcase his newly acquired skill...the clap.

Finally, we made our way over to my dad's office to watch Sandy's fireworks extravaganza. It was a great show, perfect view (of about 4 different shows), and watching from inside was just the right volume level for Andrew...low.

You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism. -Erma Bombeck

My God! How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy! -Thomas Jefferson

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. --Abraham Lincoln

God bless America!!