"It's Still Rock and Roll to Me"

I have been a Billy Joel fan for a long time. It started when I was in third grade and my teacher held an auction to reward us for our good behavior. Throughout the year we were given points for following the rules, completing homework, and things like that. At the end of the year an auction was held and our points were used as currency. The prizes we bid on were a variety of used items that we as member’s of Mrs. Day’s third grade class had donated to the cause (basically it was a bunch of junk that our parents wanted to get rid of…kind of what you might find at a garage sale.) I can’t remember any of what I bought except for a cassette tape of Billy Joel’s album Glass Houses. I think I had one of my older brothers in mind when I bid on it, but ended up keeping it for myself. I can remember feeling very proud of myself for owning my own cassette tape! I have vivid memories of borrowing the portable tape player from my mom (the old kind like they had in the church library for check out), bringing it to my room and belting out “You may be right, I may be crazy…” along with Billy!

Much later when I was a student at Ricks College in snowy Idaho, I came close to my dream of going to a Billy Joel concert. I was extremely excited when I found out he was coming to Salt Lake City. In fact, I remember that when I found out about the concert I was dying to tell someone about it, so I walked all the to my roommate Chelsea’s boyfriend’s apartment to find her and tell her the good news! I bought the tickets and made arrangements to drive a few hours to Utah to stay with my cousin and go with her to the concert. It was all planned out…until a couple weeks before the concert I found out that I had a mandatory choir performance the very same night. I tried to get out of the commitment, but my choir director assured me I had to be there. So, I sold my tickets to a friend. Needless to say I was disappointed. Around this same time was when I met Aaron. In addition to being in my statistics class, he was in the Rick’s College Men’s choir and I was in the Women’s choir. All of the college choirs were working on an Oratorio together which was what we were performing the night of the Billy Joel concert. It was this same day/night I spent getting to know Aaron better at the performance. And at the very moment when Billy was on stage singing and playing his heart out, I was on a chartered bus sitting next to my future husband holding his hand for the very first time! At that moment there was no other place in the world I would have rather been than on that bus driving home from a choir performance, and I could have cared less that I was missing Billy!

Fast forward nine years and I got exactly what I wanted...Last night, my wonderful husband brought me to see Billy Joel in concert! It was so awesome…I loved it! It was so much fun to be there in the huge arena and listen to my favorite songs performed by my favorite musician. We were in total “nose-bleed” seats, but it didn’t matter…it was still great. It sure didn’t stop me from singing along almost the whole time and occasionally letting out a wooohooo! (As you can see I didn't even notice Aaron take this picture of me singing along!) Aaron was getting a real kick out of my reaction to being there. He genuinely loves to see me happy. I am so grateful that even though he doesn’t “get” Billy Joel the way I do (Aaron's words, not mine), he was still thrilled to make this happen for me. Thanks Sweetie!

Every Picture Has a Story

I love this picture because it is so telling. It's not very flattering, just accurate...and it makes me smile (actually more like laugh out loud!) The story behind it is that the girls had been sloshing around outside in the mud. As you can see Grace is covered up to her knees. Eve had already fallen in the mud twice, in two different pairs of pants before deciding to change into this lovely outfit and stay inside where it was warm and dry. As you can see she picked out the outfit on her own...from head to toe (including the too-small dress, the Halloween socks, and sparkly flip-flops! I just wanted to share this moment from my Saturday afternoon.

Interesting Perspective

Yesterday I turned on Sesame Street for the girls so I could enjoy a peaceful shower. After I finished and returned to the family room, this is how I found Eve watching the TV! I laughed and she didn't move or even act as if anything was different. Who knows how long she had been watching like that!

Kids have a way of looking at things differently... that's for sure!

Mommy's Little Helpers

Grace and Eve love to help in the kitchen... sometimes a little too much! I know it sounds awful , but sometimes while they are playing in the other room I'll try to start dinner as quietly as possible just to avoid "help" from them. But somehow they always sense when I'm about to cook, clean, or carry out any other task and come running to my rescue! It is actually really sweet that they want to help me so much, and I'm glad that they have this desire...I just never knew how much work it would be to have help from little hands!

I've really had to get creative in the jobs I give them. The other night I was making vegetable enchiladas and Eve was my designated "olive organizer." As you can see, she's doing an excellent job!

Just Like Dad

I snapped this cute one of Eve reading the newspaper with her daddy yesterday. You gotta love it when they copy what you do!

Snow What a Beautiful Day!

Saturday was my birthday, so Aaron took the day off and we headed up to the mountains for a fun day in the snow! It was about a two hour (maybe a little less) drive to get up to where there was snow...and boy did we find a lot of it! The last time the girls saw snow was two Thanksgivings ago which Grace hardly remembered, and Eve had no recollection of at all. It was so much fun to see their delight in this new winter world. Aaron's youngest sister Sarah came along with us too...she definitely added to the fun!

We found a great snow-covered hill which we had fun sledding down. Eve had a ball sledding down the hill with her dad and sister her first time, but even though she smiled the whole way down..she wouldn't do it again. I think it was the long climb up the hill she was trying to avoid, so she spent the rest of her time content to sit at the bottom of the hill watching the rest of us take turns sledding down. Grace was quite brave, and after sledding down different times with her dad, me, and Sarah, she did a solo run partway down the hill!

Later we had a "picnic" lunch in the snow (it was actually snowing) and built a snowman (more like "formed" a snow mountain...the snow wasn't exactly cooperating) we called Mt. Snowman. Thanks to some snow gear we borrowed from friends, we stayed warm for the most part (Aaron's toes were the exception...his boots weren't insulated.) Overall, a very, very fun day! What a great birthday present it was to be with my adorable family and to see their plentiful smiles and hear their infectious laughter!