Christmas Concert

Last night I got to go to the Christmas Concert on Temple Square, featuring the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, singer David Archuleta, and the Orchestra and, of course, the Bells on Temple Square. Having David in the Bells definitely has its perks. :-) We were in the seventh row from the front. I could actually see people's faces on stage!


The performance was amazing. Goosebumps, I tell you. David Archuleta was so fantastic. When he was on American Idol, I wanted him to win (sorry David Cook fans), but hearing him live was even better. That kid has got a fantastic voice. And I’m a bit of a singing snob. But he is so right on with the pitch. All the time. And when he was even doing the pop-sounding slides and whatnot, he even had that under control. I never had to guess what note he was trying to sing. I loved it. 


And he’s just such a cute guy. You could tell that he’s still an inexperienced and young singer, because he didn’t quite know what to do with himself on stage. He did these cute little waves to the audience, and was just in shock and awe that he was singing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the orchestra and the bells. It was endearing.


My David was great too. I love watching him play because he looks like he is having so much fun. He was beaming last night. :-)


But most importantly, the concert really set me in the Christmas spirit. I know, that should’ve happened way before the week before Christmas, but December is such a busy month. It’s easy for me to think of Christmas as only a welcomed vacation, or a day that we’ll finally get to play the Wii game we bought for ourselves on Black Friday. I was grateful to be reminded that Christmas is a time for giving and family and a time to celebrate the birth of the Savior.


I wish I could've recorded the whole thing and could post it for everyone to see, but I don't think it would be the same anyway. I hope you all have found your own way to feel the Spirit of Christmas and hope it's a joyous season for you. If we don't post next week, Merry Christmas. We love you all!

Thanksgiving Point annual pass giveaway

A friend of mine has a fun blog, and she's giving having a Thanksgiving Point annual pass giveaway. It runs through 12/20/2010. If you're interested, here's the link. Good luck!

http://sherbetblossom.blogspot.com/2010/12/giveaway-thanksgiving-point-annual.html

Christmas Impromptu

To fill our time this December Sunday afternoon, Karen and I are going to write a Christmas story, alternating one line at a time. This is a first attempt at such an endeavor, so try not to judge, but you may laugh if you please. Okay, here goes. David (I) will start:

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, every body was scurrying to find the lost blouse.

They thought it'd been laid on the bed with great care. But, oh no! They looked, and the blouse was not there.

The children all looked behind each their beds, but all that they found was hair their cat shed.

But without mamma in her Christmas blouse and me in my sweater, we may as well put St. Nick in fetters.

No problem, said I, and rushed right outside, to snap up the sewing machine, my wares to apply.

Get me some glitter! and it was there in a flash. We need some bangles, buttons, a sash!

The blizzard of fabric blurred like it was snowing, till the machine stopped its humming, it finished its sewing.

When what, to my wondering eyes should appear, but a miniature elf with a helmet and spear!

Hey buddy! he said, Have you seen my girl Cheddar? She wanted to drive, but I wouldn't let her.

And now, I dare say, she's running around, with a splendiferous shirt she claims that she found.

Then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof, the miniscule grunting of a little girl's, "ooph."

And then with a tumble, she fell at our feet in the sparkliest blouse you ever will meet.

The glitter--how it twinkled! The bangles, how merry! The sash curled like roses, the button a cherry.

It's found! cried I. The slippery blouse! And so I invited those rascally elves in the house.

The elf sprang to his feet with helmet and spear, and from our backyard was heard a great cheer:

Merry Christmas to all, let's have some root beer!

Moving and such

So we moved down to Provo last week.

Whew.

I'm just glad all our stuff is in our new apartment now. I can sit down and do things like write this blog and only feel slightly guilty that there are still boxes everywhere.

And it is so nice to be close to BYU so David doesn't have to commute so far. That was the biggest reason behind our move. And it's been fantastic. Cutting the commute down from 45 minutes to 8 minutes is, well, amazing.

We're a lot cozier than we were in our other apartment, but somehow all our furniture and stuff fits. Or will fit. Once I find a place for it. Not-so-modestly put, I'm an organization goddess, so it shouldn't be too difficult. :)

Let's see...David got to go to a Jazz game last week with these super sweet tickets that got him this view of the court:

Yeah, that's right. He could see the players faces.
Awesome, huh?

Halloween was fun. If you didn't check out our Halloween post, scroll down and look at it because our costumes were fun. I found an owl costume template on Martha Stewart's website and was able to make it. I was very proud of myself. :) In retrospect, it was a lot of work for something that Lois didn't really care about wearing, but she sure looked dang cute!

We're getting into the holiday months and I'm so excited. I loved the holidays last year because I was pregnant and had all that yumminess to eat, and this year I'm going to love it with cute Lois getting to have her first everything. :) Thanksgiving we'll be going down to Arizona to stay with my Aunt Cathy and my mom, sister, and brother are coming too. I love this time of year!

Lois 9 months pictures

Back in September, we went to the farm at Thanksgiving Point with David's sister and her family. I wasn't sure Lois would know what was going on, but she was fearless!

This horse was huge! If you look, you can see that my head is about
level with his back. I think he was a Clydesdale. Beautiful horse.

And Lois was so brave that she would even touch him.
Even after he sneezed on us. Ick.

Help! Stuck in the Utah County Jail.

And again, brave little Lois pets an animal.
She even let him eat corn out of her hand!

Somehow we end up getting lots of hairdo pictures of this little girl. I think it's because she's got so much of it that we have a little fun making it funny. Enjoy!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from Harry Potter, Luna Lovegood, and little Hedwig! :)

How pumpkin pies are made

Latest goings-on

So I realized recently that unless there are some other posts, all you'll really be able to know about us is that our little girl is growing and exploring more. Granted, that's probably the most exciting thing in our lives, but believe it or not, every now and then there are other things happening in our life.

For example, I recently talked with my boss at Boeing, who told me there will be a job for me there if I want it. Hearing that was super exciting and a huge stress relief. He told me to look around and check out my options, but if I want to work at Boeing in Seattle, I can. Also, he said he has an interest in my career whatever happens. News like that feels good. That I'm not just a way to further his career, but his interest is primarily in my and mine. It's a good example to me of the type of administrator I'd like to be. So, very soon I will be looking for jobs in Utah. I'd like to stay near family and within 100 miles of downtown SLC (so I can stay in the Bells on Temple Square), but if I don't find anything, there is a great option up in Seattle.

Also, Karen is getting ever closer to finishing her book. Lois demands a lot of time these days, but when she can, Karen writes as much as she can.

Speaking of Bells, we've got a concert next month on November 19th in the Tabernacle on Temple Square in Salt Lake City. Everyone 8 years and older is invited to attend. Concert starts at 7:30pm. I'd love to see you there. You can get tickets either through me or at lds.org.

That's about it for now.

-David

Lois 7- & 8-month-old pictures

Ok, so I'm way behind. But here are some great ones. :) Can you believe she's 8 months old? AAAH!

The Many Hair-do's of Lois

In which she mimics a piggie

In which she mimics Elvis

In which she mimics Pebbles

  

 The Many Explorations of Lois

In which she scales Mount Coffee Table

In which she rafts in a box top boat

 The Many Faces of Lois

In which she's excited

In which she's curious

In which she's flirty

In which she's adorable

 The Many Hats of Lois

In which she's trendy

In which she's fishy

In which she's sporty

In which she's artsy

The Many Friends of Lois

In which she captures ducks with triplet cousins

In which she captures hearts with her betrothed

And finally....

The Many Meals of Lois

In which she communicates her initial dislike of peas

In which she shows Mom who's boss

In which she steals an entire piece of bread from Mom

In which she expresses her love for spaghetti and green beans

In which she...well, I'm not sure

Lois is 6 months!

Can you believe it? My little baby is six months old. I was looking at some of her first pictures and thinking, "Wow, she was that little?"
We love our little girl so much. She's our constant entertainment. Right now, we're working on getting her to sit up on her own. She does pretty well, but if she moves too much, she'll teeter right over. The other day I had her sitting up and moved out of arms reach for just a sec and WHAM, she fell backwards and bonked her head. (She was no worse for wear. The WHAM was an exaggeration. :)
Her favorite toy is actually a book! I know, music to my ears. :) She devours her Crayola First Book of Colors...literally. Though yesterday I may have given the book a run for its money. I gave her a pot and spoon and taught her how to bang on it. She loved it--though she got frustrated when her aim wasn't so good. :)
She's also a little singer--definitely a soprano. She'll sing in high pitched squeals to herself. It's so fun to listen to...even when she competes with the TV for volume.
Oh, and she loves playing with Mommy's hair and will touch anybody's face if they get it within her reach. The hair thing is cute, I just have to be ready for a good yank at any moment.
And she's all over the place now. She's a roller. The scooting forwards thing still eludes her (and frustrates her to no end), but she can put some rug behind her when she's rolling. The funniest thing to watch is when she wants the toy that's just out of her reach right in front of her. Something tells me she'll be scooting like a pro in no time.

Lois loves her green beans

We were outside and the wind blew the blankets like this. SO cute!

Mommy was being silly and put some pants on her head. 

I didn't expect it to be so adorable. :)

I went in to check on Lois and this is how she was sleeping--
butt WAY up, arms tucked under, and she was pushed up into the corner of her crib. :)

Hi!!!!

My sweet grandma

At the age of 96, my dear grandma Reva Nelson passed away today. I love her very much and she will be dearly missed. She's been a glue for our extended family, always providing a welcome place for us to gather and have a good time. My immediate family even got to live with her for a couple years when we first moved back to Utah in 1995. She was always happy and would often repeat some of her favorite quotes, like "My family is my riches" and "You sure are doing good things with your life, aren't you?" and "I always say busy people are the happiest people."

This little post won't do her life justice, but I feel the need to express myself and write about my love for this great woman. While I shed a few tears when I heard she had passed, I find great solace in knowing our Heavenly Father has a plan for us, and that plan includes us having the chance to be reunited with our families and loved ones when we leave this mortal life. Right now, my sweet grandma is reunited with her husband, who has been gone for 24 and 1/2 years. What a reunion that must be.

The funeral will be this Saturday morning. How I love my dear grandma. I'll miss you. But we haven't said good bye forever. I'll see you and Grandpa again, someday.

My journal article is now published!

My journal article got published online last week. Per the journal's instructions, there's some copyright stuff that I need to include in order to post the link. Take a look-see.

Copyright 2010 Acoustical Society of America. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the Acoustical Society of America.

The following article appeared in J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 128 1 , July 2010 and may be found athttp://link.aip.org/link/?JAS/128/EL8.

If that link doesn't work, I'll just email it to you.

Bells concert in November

So I've got great news! I get to play in the Bells on Temple Square concert in November! For some reason, someone can't make it, so I get to play in his stead! Yes, I'm very excited. We start rehearsing for the concert tomorrow. So the concert is on November 19th in the tabernacle on Temple Square in Salt Lake City. I'm not sure the time it starts, but it's probably 7:30 or so. The Bells website www.mormontabernaclechoir.org will have more info, especially as the concert gets nearer. That's also the place to go for tickets if I don't have any left. So save the date! Please come! It'll be a great show.

5 months!

Playing deer in the headlights

Playing sleepy

Playing with Poppa Skaines

Really playing with Poppa Skaines & Karo
(What kid doesn't want to play with that beard? :)

Playing with her cousin Kippling

Playing up the camera

And playing coy

4-month pictures

In my defense, it's been a crazy month. Still is, in fact. But my guilt for not posting pictures was wearing on me. :) So here are Lois's 4-month pics.

 Her token sleeping picture :)

An attempt at rolling over.

Success! Her first time to roll over!

Sneaky thing did it when I wasn't watching. I came back to this.

And her first time to eat solids. (The doc gave us the go ahead.)
She wasn't all that interested in the rice cereal, so we didn't give her anything else for a while.

  She did, however, love Daddy's finger.

And she loved the Bumbo and hanging out with her cousins. :)

(Don't mind Ellis's scary face.)