Jazzed with Neighbors

Jazz Game with our new neighbors Micol and Brett

(best seats to date!...row 8, packed game)

Jazz won!!...Finals here we come :)

Allergies

I never took a picture of Chase during an allergy attack, but his eyes basically swell shut.  It's hard for him to breathe, especially at night.  Total congestion the entire allergy season.  He started getting them last year, but since we moved to our new house (across from the forest), they have flared and become unbearable, so we decided to take him to an allergist to get tested.

As you can see his back progression over 10 minutes, he has allergies.  Pretty much every kind of tree, grass, and week.  As well as a few pet allegies.  We decided shots are our best option to get rid of this for good.  Chase wasn't too sold on the idea (he's always been deathly afraid of shots).  I took him to the dollar store and let him pick out 30 things.  We put them in a bin, and after every shot, he could pick out a prize.  The shots are 3 times per week for about 3-5 months, then weekly for about 3-5 months then monthly for 4-5 years.  He's been pretty tough, hopefully this is worth it!

Baby baaaaa

When Frank was young, he always loved to take the new baby animals to school for show and tell.  He talks about it with the kids, so of course, Carly wanted to take grandma Lancasters new baby lamb to school.  A little difficult since the lamb is in West Jordan, and we're in Kaysville.  BUT...super grandma made it happen.  She and Franks brother Randy threw a bunch of straw in the back of the Ford pick up, and took the new little baby on a road trip!

That's Carly's cousin Hannah with the glasses in the background.  She god that huge shiner when she and Carly were jumping on the trampoline, and her knee popped up and hit her in the eye!  It was even grosser a week ago :)

THANKS ANITA....that meant the WORLD to Carly :) :)

P.S.  That grody snaggle tooth came out this same day during story time at library!  Thank goodness.

Bragging Rights

Okay, I'm just going to do it.  This post is dedicated to my baby brother Kevin.  He's amazing.  He's always been into music, and we all just kind of ignored it.  The first time I remember thinking he was crazy was when he got in a car accident in high school, and when he got the insurance money, instead of buying a car or anything else he desperately needed, he bought a euphonium for some ridiculous amount of money.  I had never even heard the word before...weird.

Anyway, he was recruited by BYU while he was on his mission in Denmark, and attended there when he came home and was in the orchestra at BYU playing the trombone. 

I'm sure a lot of other things took place, but I was having babies and stuff so I never paid much attention.  He also started being a professor of Danish there while he was a student.  He also switched over to a smaller group at BYU called Syntheis which is a jazz group.  I know he has traveled to several countries performing with them, and has even had opportunities to compose music for them to perform. 

Their new album is called Flying High.  Kevin wrote, composed, made up the lyrics, sang blah blah blah everything for the song

#1 Det har ikke vaeret nemt (It's Been Rough to Say the Least) 

When I first heard this performed a year or two ago, I was totally taken by surprise.  I didn't know he could write music for all the different instruments like that, and I certainly didn't know he even sang!  I mean, he used to sing "Hey Jude" as a baby, but that's all I knew.

The other song he composed on the album was his version of "Send in the Clowns" track #2

And the last one is "Jalouise" track #4.  He served his mission in Denmark, so he took a classical Danish piece and changed it all up into a jazz number.  This was printed in the Deseret News:

"Smith is the director of jazz studies and professor of saxophone, working with talent such as Kevin Jenson, who was named the outstanding college arranger nationally by DownBeat magazine for his arrangement of “Jalousie,” a famous Danish tune on the album that many will recognize."

Click here to read the entire article

Anyway, I'm pretty proud of the kid.  Me, Stacy, and my mom and dad went to his last concert last week and it was awesome.  He's graduating, so he's off for more adventures.  Congratulations Kevi!

Minute to Win it

Logan's 11th Birthday started off with all of us dancing to "They say it's your Birthday" by the Beatles while Frank made him his favorite breakfast...Omelettes.

Since we moved into a new neighborhood, I told the kids they could each have a friend party this year.  Logan decided on a minute to win in party.  He took care of the guest list, and also found all the games he wanted to play.  He even helped me with the invitation...

None of my kids are that into traditional cakes, so Logan said he wanted a TWINKIE CAKE???  Here's what I came up with...

The kids got here (15 smelly boys), and they played a little basketball in the front yard for about a half hour.

After that it was to the backyard for some lunch.  The menu:

Sub Sandwiches

Chips

Gatorade

Strawberries

Pickles

While they ate lunch, my cute sister stacy helped me set up the games in the front yard.  It was so helpful to have her there.  I'm pretty sure I would have been in tears had she not been there...thanks Stacy!

Here are the games we played:

Spare Me

Ping Tac Toe

Hanky Panky

Play it by Ear

Junk in the Trunk

Face the Cookie

Say Cheese

This Blows

Wrap it Up

Dress a Statue

Tennis Ball Toss

Foul Play

Blowing Bubbles

Defying Gravity

I put each boys name in a balloon and had logan pop one for the red team, and one for the blue team for each game to see who would be competing.  I also put the games in balloons for him to pop.  The boys had a lot of fun...good games for this age of competitive boys! 

And of course I couldn't let them leave without a "party favor"!  I decided on a 3 pack of gum with instructions for their own minute to win it game to play at home.

And I ignored him the rest of the day :)

Lava

Last week we took a short over night trip to Lava Hot Springs where we met our friends from Boise who had never been before.  They got there a little before us, and Ted texted Frank, "What the crap?  Norman Bates says hello."  Frank laughed about that for a good hour.  It's a funny little town, but oddly comforting :) 

We hit the Hot Springs right when we got there

After that, we were off to dinner at the usual pizza place...The Royal.  Then headed over to the Hot Springs for one last dip.

The adults and Emma played some NERTS (card game), then called it a night.

The next morning we headed to our usual Johnny's for breakfast, but it has closed down.  So here's to new adventures!  We decided to try out Chuckwagon....YUMS!

And while we were experiencing new adventures, we found this cute little trail right behind the springs...

There was also this little park with the cutest painted picnic benches, merry-go-round, and pavillion.

P.S.  I just got a new camera hence all the wanna be "artsy" photos like this little cutie of Ted and Tessa!

In all my heart

So, the other night, Carly came into my room to tell me she was scared and couldn't sleep.  I was so tired that instead of getting her back in bed, I just switched her places.  I slept in her bed.  In the morning, I got up to get back in my bed.  Frank was up so just Carly was in there.  I didn't say anything.  Just laid down with my back to her to try to fall back asleep.  A minute later, Carly leans over and brushes my hair behind my ear then kisses me on the cheek and whispers in my ear, "I LOVE YOU IN ALL MY HEART".  Then she kissed my cheek again and quietly left the room and closed the door behind her.  I love seeing her be so nurturing.  I thought I would document this moment to prove to her that she loved me.  I have a feeling it might come in handy when she's in her teens and decides to hate me :)

A few weeks later, her teacher wrote this comment on her report card...

She's a sweet girl, and I am lucky to have her in my life :)

Suzi's 35 :(

Seriously?  35?  Just give me a minute...I'll be okay.

To make me feel a little better, my mom and sister took me to breakfast at KNEADERS.

Later that night, we went to California Pizza Kitchen with Stacy and Cade, then hit THE HUNGER GAMES.  It was fun.  I just feel OLD!

City Creek

To celebrate my birthday, my sweet friend Natalie took me to lunch at Sixth and Pine in Nordstrom at the new City Creek.  A swanky little place...so much fun!  Thanks Natalie :)



Arsenic and Old Lace

My mom and dad wanted to take all us kids and our spouses to the play Arsenic and Old Lace, and make us dinner for our birthdays.  We went to my moms where she made us a very nice Chicken Cordon Bleu dinner, then headed off to the play. 

We left Logan home to babysit as we usually do.  We bought them three movies, and drew out of a hat to decide what order they would be watched.  Logan is a fabulous babysitter.  Its just his personality.  Very responsible, and good with the other kids.  Even come home to a pretty clean house!  This time however, we received this text as soon as the play started...

Ya, spent most of the play out in the hall trying to convince three scaredy cats that no one was in the house!  It was going to be a late night too because we were in Sandy and the kids were in Kaysville.  They were all passed out in the family room when we got home.  None of them dared go upstairs to go to bed...

Yellow Submarine

Logan was chosen  to be one of the Beatles in his fith grade program.  He was pretty excited!  I even got a call from my mom the day of asking me where the school was so she could come.  I'm a lousy daughter, and forgot to invite anyone, but Logan took care of it.  I guess he send her an e-mail asking her to come.  I didn't even know!  Of course, I loved having her there :)

Frank was even able to make it.  He had a conference call so he had his earphones in for some of the time.  Just looked like some antisocial punk teenager who can't part with his earphones!  But, we were glad he made it!

Late Nights & Daddy Daughter

Chase for some reason was dead set on having a few of his friends over to watch Jaws 2.  I tried to talk him into a more contemporary, age appropriate show, but he'd have none of it.  He had been talking about it for weeks, so I finally let him do it.  We ordered some pizza, and treats, played games, and watched JAWS 2!

Carly got all dolled up for a little daddy-daughter date.  She was worried I would miss her so she drew me a picture on her magna doodle, and put it on my bed with some candy and fake flowers!

Carly wanted me to paint her nails, curl her hair, wear some of my perfume and lipgloss.  This is serious stuff for her!  They went to dinner and a movie... :)