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Oliver has a good friend Jacob who lives around the corner from us. Oliver and Jacob play together almost every day. Jacob's dad is a philosophy professor at BYU. Here is a conversation between them that I overheard the other day:

Jacob: My dad's at work right now.

Oliver: My dad's at work too.

Jacob: What does your dad teach?

Oliver: Nothing. He plays music.

Jacob: Oh. My dad plays philosophy.

goosebumps

I just got home from seriously one of the best shows I've ever seen. It looked great, sounded incredible, and was comfortable and fun. It was obvious that the people on stage were having a great time and it was so fun to watch Scott play again and to have George there and the drum kit was crazy and the organ was loud enough and the pedal steel -- well what can I say -- there was pedal steel, and paul was funny and danced and dominic and sarah were awesome. I got chills and was just struck by how mature and professional they all looked and sounded and how wonderful it is to watch people excel at their craft. Inspirational.

Plus, as an added bonus Paul organized a raffle to benefit Stephanie & Christian and not only did they raise over $500, which is awesome, but my numbers got called 3 times! No, it wasn't rigged, and no, I didn't take all the prizes, but I did get this adorable Leia Bell print which will go great upstairs.

So too bad for all of you who didn't get to soak in all the good music vibes and win a raffle. Now go buy Paul's CD to make up for it.

You won't regret it - this is going to be a good show!

Paul Jacobsen and the Madison Arm will be playing their CD release show at the Post Theater at the University of Utah in Salt Lake on Saturday. This is going to be a great show. Scott will be playing and even George flew in for the event to join them on the bass. Dominic Moore and Sarah Sample are opening who are also fantastic.

You get a free CD with your $10 admission (and in spite of my bias I can honestly say this is a fantastic album - so this is a great deal). And there will be a raffle held at intermission to benefit Nienie. Some great music and a good cause -- what could be better?! Really - you should come. You won't be sorry.

a good referral

So we're getting ready to remodelate our basement and as luck would have it we found this business card on our front door just today. We've decided to hire them since they seem to get what we're going for. Also due to Scott's line of work it will be important to do some good accustical treatments, and looks like these guys can help. Anyway just thought I should spread the word in case you're ready for some remodelation too.

Happy Birthday Brenden!

The day is almost over, but I wanted to send a heartfelt shout-out to my firstborn, Brenden, who turned 9 today. What a fine young man he's turning into. He still has those perfectly piercing blue eyes and now has a few more crooked teeth but most of all he's just nice and thoughtful and smart and accommodating and a nice friend. In the past week a few things happened that made my heart swell a bit with pride.

First: A kid came by the other day looking for Brenden's friend Chandler, and accusing him of stealing his PSP. Brenden, instead of saying "I don't know where he is" or "you should just talk to him about that" immediately jumped to Chandler's defense saying "I know Chandler wouldn't do that. It wasn't him. Maybe you just lost it." I thought that was significant because my first instinct was to just stay out of it and tell him to try looking for Chandler at his own house, but Brenden cared about his friend's reputation and wanted to defend him.

Then the next day Chandler came over to ride Brenden's motorcycle in our cul-de-sac. Another neighbor offered to take Brenden & Oliver on a motorcycle ride up in the mountains behind the neighborhood, which is something the boys love to do, and Brenden decided to let Chandler go in his place. I watched this and right away wanted to stop them and let Brenden go and tell Chandler sorry, but when I mentioned it to Brenden he said, "No, I've gotten to go lots of times already and will get to go again and Chandler's never gotten to go, so I think he should get to go." How thoughtful!

I have a lot to learn from this kid. In both cases he did the opposite of what I would have done, but he was right on.

I love you so much, Brenden, and am honored to be your Mom. Happy 9th Birthday!

finally a year later...

I finally got our Jon Canlas pictures printed out and framed and hung on the wall. I'm not sure why I dreaded and avoided the project so much. I'm excited about the results. Thanks to Rachel for helping me conceptualize, measure, mark, and hang.

we love packages! but please don't take my picture anymore

We got a fun surprise in the mail from seamstress extraordinaire Aunt Annee. She made some delicious treasures for June. Check out this dress. Awesome fabric and great forgiving Muumuu style. June and I went shopping and she found some accessories that really pull together the ensemble.


Then there's this apron with all the pockets around it. What a cute idea and June had a great time storing her treasures.

And finally a shirt to go with everyone's favorite skirt. Perfect outfit for eating donuts.

Thank you so much, Annee. You are so generous and talented.