A Rare Glimpse. . .

This post contains very rare pictures of my back yard. I used to have a lovely, green back yard. When I watched kids in my home for a living, it was essential to have a fun, safe place for them to play. We had a beautiful two-story playhouse, a three-story fort, a HUGE truck tire buried in the sand, 2 slides and a tree house. My kids claim that the neighbor kids think we have the best backyard on the street. I'm pretty sure they believe that only because it is shrouded in mystery. Like a Ghost Town. No one is allowed to go back there. Ever. It has become a very scary, dry waste land. With all of my other responsibilities (work, school, laundry, dishes, sleep, etc), I have had to put on my blinders where the back yard is concerned.

When Rob started talking about building a shop in the backyard, I was somewhat opposed but realized that if he actually spent time back there, he might be inspired to fix it up a little bit. I can always hope, right? Rob and the kids spent the better part of two days laying the foundation this week. Even his dad took pity on us and spent an entire day shoveling sand. I admit, I didn't pick up the shovel even one time. All I could do, considering how I feel about the yard thing, was to step outside, snap a quick pic, and scurry back in. I can't have my blinders falling off!! Here is what they accomplished with all of their hard work:

It would be nice to get this project done before the snow falls but, if not, at least the snow will cover it all up!!

Emma and Lucy. . .

I could list plenty of reasons why I dislike having dogs. Besides all the dog hair they generate that finds it's way into every nook and cranny of my home, they also bring in mud and all kinds of things I don't want to think about from the backyard. Lucy's favorite toy is the dismembered head of an old baby doll that she chewed up when she was a pup. She carries that disgusting thing everywhere and even manages to sneak it into the house when I'm not looking. Ewww. Lucy also likes to get a mouthful of food out of her dish in the kitchen only to drop it onto the living room floor in order to slowly enjoy every morsel. Inevitably, several morsels get left behind. Emma, on the other hand, wolfs her food down as quickly as possible and then throws her dish until someone (usually me) takes pity and fills it up again. Between the two of them, it seems like one of them needs to go out every 10 minutes, their water dish is in constant need of a refill and they instinctively know that if they need something in the night, even if it's only a bit of attention, I'm the only one who will wake up when they nudge. They drive me crazy.


But I wouldn't trade them for anything. . .

Happy Birthday, Matt!!

It Looks Like I'll Get To Be In A Band After All. . .

. . . when I'm 80.

Seriously! The motto of this band is, "If you keep moving, you'll keep moving"!! I can get on board with that! The Prime Time Swingers all seem to really enjoy making music and living. I hope I can say the same when I'm their age!

And then there was Elvis. . .

And the Dean Martin impersonator. . .

But I think this is the group I'll audition for . . .

. . . in about 40 years. . .

More Horses. . .

Fun. . .

So, I know I don't have to post every picture I ever take and, just for the record, I delete at least 10% of them and another 10% never make it out of my photo editing software but I just can't seem to NOT post about every little thing I do IF I have a picture of it. Plus I think these are cute pictures! (notice I didn't say QUALITY pictures, just cute. . . )


We kinda-sorta watched the BSU game at my in-laws with the Sacketts on Wednesday night. . .


By "kinda-sorta" I mean it was mostly Rob and Kurt since the rest of us had church but we were all together for the last few minutes so that kinda-sorta counts. . .


I'm coming to the conclusion that I need more fun and less work in my life. . .

I'll let you know how that goes. . . (of course I will because I'll be taking pictures!!!)

Quizzing. . .

The quiz meet in Metolius this weekend was cancelled due to a serious outbreak of the Swine Flu. My team was disappointed, to say the least, but they understood why it had to happen that way. It did make our regular practice a little difficult. OK, it made our regular practice impossible so I took out my camera and just kept pointing and shooting. Shooting and pointing. We accomplished absolutely nothing but we sure had a good time. . .

Next meet: December 5th at Twin Rocks. . . Hopefully we can get back on track by then. . .

Riders and a Preview. . .

Concerts at The Egyptian and The Civic Center make up the bulk of our shows in the "off-season" which is great but can cause me a little stress since they usually come with very specific contracts and riders. An artist rider is a long list of requests that the incoming artist needs in order to perform. Our job is to come as close as possible to providing what they ask for and also to communicate with them to find out what is absolutely necessary and what they will settle for if their first choice just isn't available anywhere in Idaho. Everyone we have worked with so far has been pretty accommodating and willing to settle when necessary so it really shouldn't be as stressful as I make it!! (Thankfully, Rob and Kurt are cool about the whole thing, so I let them handle it!!) The show at The Civic Center on Tuesday required a mark tree (set of percussion chimes) for the drum set that we provided. Rob and Kurt looked around and couldn't find an affordable one anywhere so Rob did what Rob does and he built one. He bought the brass and cut them into the correct lengths and then attached them with embroidery thread to the piece of cherry wood that he had cut and sanded. It took him 4 or 5 hours but we now own our very own mark tree and it looks and sounds amazing!:


The show was 100 Years of Broadway and, even though the group came in 2 1/2 hours late, we still pulled it off and started right on time. . .

The mark tree fit right in and came through loud and clear.

On a side note, these are some of the concerts we have coming up in November:

SWELL SEASON:

THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS:


CHERRYHOLMES:


EMMY LOU HARRIS:


It's shaping up to be our best November. Ever.