*crickets*

My goodness! I just realized how much embracing the social crack of FaceBook has affected my blog. Poor, lonely blog!

Here's a recap of what we've been up to since July: (you can go ahead and imagine the movie montage scene here!)

Travis

Turned 38 yesterday!
Is in "crunch time" at work... meaning he's working 12 - 20 hour days. Bleck!
Has been super supportive of his wife's current mid-life crisis. Has donned his black jeans and colored hair gel to join said wife on many outings involving the old friends and some great shows.
Is as amazing as ever!

Travis at the Ritz Reunion with green hair.

Travis at the Project Pitchfork show with purple spikes.Toni

Has reconnected with friends from the past, which has led to making new friends.
Is busy cooking for sick friends, planning evening parties, going to shows with her awesome husband, and trying to maintain peace in a household full of teenagers while dealing with her own junk!
Is using some of her pent up restlessness on home improvement projects - such as the refinishing of the staircase. Also, Miah's new floor in his bedroom. Oh yeah, and the upstairs hallway. And, yes, the music room too....

The fellas from Project Pitchfork, whom I drove around the city while they were here.

Shots from our evening at the RevCo show. My bloodshot eye, yes. And also yes to my hand that the singer (Josh Bradford) asked about the after party on.The stair project. Not as easy as we thought it would be!

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Miah
Is still dating his girl, Ashlee. They went to the Homecoming dance together.

Is currently a high school sophmore at NUAMES (the Northern Utah Academy for Math, Engineering and Science), as well as a college freshman at Weber State University. Can you believe that? We're both students at the same school! (I think it's cute... him... not so much!)

Is working on putting together a new band, after the dissolution of Depraved Indifference. (We're still not entirely certain what happened, but things change, especially with teenagers.)

Ashlee, Miah, Alex and Demi headed to the Woods Cross Homecoming Dance

Erin

Is experimenting herself with a darker, more Gothic look.  Totally encouraged by her mommy! (It does make it pretty tough to rebel if your mom is buying your clothes for you and helping you figure out what works. Her mom isn't quite as dumb as Erin thinks!)

Is raising a puppy who she got from her aunt.  The girls (Erin and Lazy Dog a.k.a. Ellie) love each other.

Is volunteering at the vetrinarian's office one - and sometimes two - days a week. Erin loves the animals, and has plans of being a vet herself.

Is working very hard toward an early graduation. Her mom is so proud of her hard work and dedication.

Erin hard at work on the drumset, which has grown into a nine peice set with five cymbals, a cowbell, tambourine and chimes!Apparently, a lot of the effort it takes to raising a puppy involves snuggling together...

We're all healthy and happy and busy as always!  I'll work harder at posting.... if FaceBook will release it's hold on me long enough for it to happen. :)

Playing in the Park!

The kids are playing in the park on the 4th. They take the stage at 12:40, after our friend Adam is done. We love company!

Lil' Betty Crocker

I slept in super late this morning (which was quite nice, especially since I normally can't stay asleep) and Erin decided it would be nice to cook some "breakfast in bed". When I finally woke up, she was hard at work in the kitchen.

I think I said something in passing to her like, "Don't wipe your hands on your pants." She said, "I'm not!" Busted!


I made her pose for photos.... and as I drew near for a close up of her face, she said, "I don't have flour on my FACE, do I?" Yes ma'am!

Her scones turned out wonderful, especially since it was her first time baking from scratch. She's going to be a powerhouse in the kitchen one day. Our next task: teaching her to wear an apron!

The Jazz Band Trip: Episode One - Santa Monica Pier

Trav, Erin and I joined the junior high Jazz Band for their annual trip to California. It was really fun to get to know the band teacher more, and to hang out with the kids while we played for three days. I'll be posting a ton of photos (although not as many as I'd like to, but that's another story for another day's episode). These posts won't be in chronological order... they will be in the order of the photos I like the best. That being said, let's start our journey on Day 2 with our visit to Santa Monica Pier.

The Jazz Band is made up of a group of truly talented kids, with an incredible instructor. They played at the end of the pier to a very appreciative audience. There was even a visit from some special guests... which we are claiming came to hear the music!

Miah's best friend joined us on this trip - he loves the roller coasters! (I'm sure him wanting to go with us had NOTHING to do with the fact that his FRIEND GIRL is in the Jazz Band as well.) We loved spending his birthday with him, and it was nice for Erin to have someone to hang out with while Miah and his best friend's friend girl did their band stuff.

My children have merfolk in their ancestry somewhere, I'm sure. They love the water and it is impossible to keep them out of it. The instant they could, they were out up to their ears in the sand and waves. They would have been happy staying there for the remainder of the trip.

Did I mention that the weather was wonderful?!? Not too hot, not too cold, not too wet. We heard it rained at home the entire week we were gone. I'm glad we found a little bit of warm and sunshine!

Graduating, Growing Up, and.... Signalling the Home Planet?!?

My word... how time flies. It doesn't seem like THAT long ago that I was growing out my asymmetrical haircut, forgiving my best friend for kissing the boy I liked, and packing up my circulation-constricting-impossible-to-actually-walk in boots. (As a funny side note here, a few days ago my best friend asked me if I had ever let the BOY know that I liked him. It seems quite silly now, but I never did! My best friend and I didn't speak to each other for SIXTEEN YEARS and the boy never knew why we had a fight!) Now, here I am being the mother of teenagers. Miah graduated from the ninth grade this week. When he goes back to school in the fall, he will not only be a high school sophomore, but he'll also be a student at Weber State University. (He's attending the Northern Utah Academy for Math, Engineering and Science, which is an early college charter high school.) How did I get old enough to be the mother of a college student?!? As if that wasn't bad enough, Erin starts school in the fall as a high school freshman.

Nothing fills a mother with as much pride as realizing

it's her child and his friends gathering up the balloons

to suck the helium out of after the graduation ceremony.

So, we are embarking on the dramatic, tumultuous times that are being a teen. And my children - just like all of us that went before them, and all of those who will follow after them - are up to their elbows in angst-filled theatrics. It is really difficult as an adult to remember just how overwhelmingly important and significant every little word spoken or gesture made can be. It's even harder as a parent to let them struggle through and find their way, instead of just solving their problems for them. Luckily, our "problems" right now revolve around the big group of friends and their entertainment choices, (Erin doesn't like to just sit and watch movies, and Erin has never been known to be tactful and quiet about what she thinks, so she complained, which hurt one friend's feelings, who said something that hurt Erin's feelings, which brought out the big brother in Miah, who said something else that re-hurt already tender feelings, and then something else got said, someone else didn't want to do something else.....) but to the children, this is a huge life-altering problem. All I can think as the texts are whizzing back and forth are two things: 1 - This too shall pass, and you can all stay friends and it's really not as big a deal as it has turned into. Keep your chins up and put your smiles back on! There is a reason you are all friends, and if you keep that reason in sight, the rest becomes trivial. 2 - I am SO glad I'm not a teenager anymore!

As you can see, Miah just adores having his photo taken. Luckily his (not yet, as neither of them are sixteen yet, but they are soon-to-be)girlfriend finally smiled so we could get an almost decent shot of them together at the ice cream party at the friend's house after graduation!

With the approach of the summer, Erin is going through a restless time herself. One thing that has always filled that need for change in her is to change her hair. We have a great friend named Nicole that does hair, who is willing to come over to our house and indulge Erin's whim. I have to confess that this month she indulged mine as well. I was shopping at the local Shopko not very long ago, when the cashier - who was an older dame - asked me if I had my AARP card with me. When I informed her that I am "ONLY 35!" she replied with, "When my daughter finally got her card, she was so excited to get the discount, she didn't even lie about her age or anything." So, not only did she think I looked like a senior citizen... she also thought I was a liar to boot! Hrmph! Needless to say, I decided it was time to say goodbye to my grey hair, despite claiming through the entirety of my twenties that I was never going to be "one of THOSE people who can't accept their aging with grace." Oh, to remain so idealistic!

Erin has so much hair! By the time Nicole got done weaving and foiling, it looked like Erin had twelve pounds of aluminum on her dome! I, of course, informed her that it would help with the reception to her home world. Either that, or it would keep her head insulated if there were a supernova or nuclear attack eminent. Yeah, she thinks I'm funny.

Park City Concert

The band would like to thank the Academy.... oh, wait...
They really would like to thank the folks at McPolin Elementary School who invited them to come perform last Saturday. They also want to thank Steve from musicgarage for hooking us up with the show. What a fun fundraiser event! The kids played two sets - swapping time with some of the kids from The Paul Green School of Rock. Alex the guitarist's mom invited them to join us. It worked out wonderfully! Our kids don't QUITE have four hours worth of music to play.... yet!

The girls came with us. They hit the stage to sing back-ups and do a little "hair flinging" during the kid's cover of Bonzo Goes to Bitburg. The kids talked Andres (their Roadie) into singing the Spanish backup vocals on Should I Stay or Should I go. The stage is getting fuller!

Keenan sang, Alex sang, Erin sang, Andres sang... and Miah took the mic for his first performance on vocals. He did a great job! He was extra nervous having Ashlee there, but he did it anyway. Good job Miah!

The weather was gorgeous - sunburns excluded! We had a fun day, with great music, and good people. Here's hoping we do it again soon!

The Best Raccoon Photo!

Two posts in one day... a new record for me! I was tickled to discover this morning that my husband finds his way here to read my blog sometimes. (Hi Honey!) He asked me why I didn't post "the best raccoon picture. The one where it's hanging out of the ceiling?" So, here is the BEST raccoon picture!

Wedding Details

My cousin Colby is married to his beautiful bride, Nakita. The wedding was beautiful. My uncle's backyard is wonderful.... with a lovely stream running through it. The weather was perfect, and the day ran very smoothly with very few things going not as planned. I took a TON of photos, and Erin took a bunch as well. We ended up with some pretty decent shots, I think! These are some of the "detail" shots:

Band T-Shirts

What a fun toy! We bought a personal screen printing press to make t-shirts for the band. It is so fun! Of course... there is quite a large learning curve I'm working through right now, but I feel like I'm getting better with each try.

We gave shirts to the kid's friends when they came to Discount Music to see Depraved Indifference play at the end of the drum student recital. (Erin has been a student there since the fifth grade!)

We just adore the fans! We hope everyone can sport their band tees with us in Park City next weekend. Assuming, of course, we get a time from the concert promoters soon!

ROCK ON!

Wedding Day

Colby and Nakita are married! It was a beautiful wedding... the weather was fabulous, the line was beautiful, everything worked pretty much as planned. Erin was my diligent helper... she shot 9 rolls of film! I can't wait to see her shots. She is a very creative girl, and she has an eye for interesting compositions. What did Erin think about putting in a 13 hour day on her first "shoot"? Sometimes, a picture really is worth a thousand words: