Flashback Friday: Band

I see how it is. You aren't going to really enjoy my Flashback Fridays unless I include embarrassing pictures of myself during the most awkward part of life (as in ages 11-17). So here we go...Yup, I was in marching band for a year in high school. I've always loved music. I started playing the flute early. In fact, before I ever learned in school, Rachel taught me some basic fingerings. By junior high, I realized lots of people played the flute and I wasn't into doing what everyone else did so I switched to the oboe. In Junior High, my friend Michelle helped me learn the oboe and I played it through my Sophomore year.

In 10th grade (first grade in high school for Mesa), I was in the marching band. I was told you had to be in marching band to play with the band. This was totally discouraging to me because 1.) you can't even march with an oboe and 2.) I did not want to be in the marching band. I was part of the pit (the percussion section that sits off on the sideline) and I played the marimba (a giant, expensive xylophone). I actually really enjoyed playing it, but I didn't enjoy the fact that I sat in the stands with the band with no instrument. For every single high school football game. Everyone else got to play their instrument, but I just sat.

Anyway, one year was enough and I quit. I wish I would've been a little more assertive when my band teacher told me I had to be in the marching band to keep playing. I realized too late that I could've played with the orchestra during marching season and then play in the concert band. I don't regret much, but I do wish I had kept playing. Oboe music is beautiful and I had just gotten past sounding like a dying duck. Mostly everything about marching band was complain-worthy: the outfits, the crazies, the mandatory boring games, the early mornings, etc. However, I did enjoy learning the marimba and I did enjoy playing music. Best of all, some of my closest friends were in marching band too. Which clearly proves that not everyone in marching band is a geek. Although for some reason, I still get teased for being in the marching band... 12 years have passed (am I really that old?) and just last week someone made fun of me. I'm sure Clint was just jealous he didn't get to wear a Mexican inspired outfit, complete with blue polyester pants, white frills, cape and fuzzy blue cowboy hat.

So come on band geeks, now is your time to come out of the closet.

PS Daddio's surgery went superb. Modern medicine+faith=amazing.

I Love Them

My dad is having ablation surgery for his atrial fibrillation today. I am kind of fascinated with the procedure. It got even more fascinating to me when my dad couldn't explain exactly how the procedure works and rarely is there something he can't explain. Surgery on his heart via a vein in his leg? That's neat. It's not open heart surgery but the procedure is very intricate. He's had a Priesthood blessing. He's been in so many prayers. He's in excellent hands. But naturally I've taken some time to reflect on our relationship. I love my dad. I love that on a normal week I get to see him at least twice. Sometimes just long enough for a big hug and a quick joke, but always long enough to know he loves me.

And then there is my mom who is celebrating her birthday today. So of course I think about how much I love my mom (and how I feel so lame for not getting a better birthday gift for someone I care so much about, even though she doesn't care about presents). She told my dad, "You better not die on my birthday; that wouldn't be very nice of you." That's right Dad, not very nice. What a birthday present! A birthday present that is only slightly better than the two new tires she got yesterday. Two new tires to replace the flat ones discovered as she was leaving to take Alexis and Justin to the airport. :)

Flashback Friday: Alexis

Alexis is in town and we got to hang out today. At 14, she's my oldest niece. FOURTEEN! I remember the day Alexis was born very vividly. She was born in California and we lived in Arizona so it was a few days before I got to see her. I couldn't wait to see her but I told myself I was going to talk to Emily first so Emily didn't think I was more excited to see her new baby than her. Unfortunately, my plan didn't work. I said a quick hi to Emily and immediately went for her perfect, beautiful baby. She had big round eyes, dark hair and evenly toned skin. She had little defined calf muscles, which obviously didn't come from our side of the family. Not only that, but, she's always been very mature for her age. I remember when she could barely talked I asked her if she wanted some water and she said, "No, I'm fine, thank you." She's the best "head niece" ever. Alexis at Rachel and Don's reception. I think she's 3 and a few months in this picture.

Mr Papa taught me...

I don't remember all that I learned in History in 9th grade, but I do remember my teacher telling us why it's not good to assume. Wisdom at its finest.

However, I am always making assumptions. Today I realized most of the time they are "negative" assumptions, meaning, I assume the worst. I do it with everything. If someone at work pulls me aside, I assume it's to let me know I've done something wrong which ultimately means I'm probably getting let go. If I get to go on vacation, I'll crash and die. If I get released from a Church calling, it's because I failed. If someone calls that doesn't normally call, I assume I've done something to upset them. If you don't leave a comment on my blog, you hate me. I questioned why the last radical assumption hadn't lead to serious insecurities and low self-confidence. It's because in my mind self-confidence isn't thinking people like me, it's not caring what people think of me (within reason).

This might seem like it would cast a negative shadow on my life, but really, I think it's the way to go. First of all, if you assume the worst, when the worst happens it's not as shocking. Second of all, if you assume the worst, when something other than the worst happens, it seems pretty good, even if it's bad. But compared to worst, it's good. It's almost impossible to be disappointed. And finally, if you assume the best, anything but the best will bring you disappointment. And who wants to live life always being disappointed?

Break From Life

I am in the middle of taking a break from my regularly scheduled life while Rachel is in town visiting with her four darling kids. It's been one continuous party since Wednesday and more fun is ahead. I haven't made much time for everyday life (cleaning, working, blogging, etc.) nor do I plan on doing so until the party heads back to Utah. Until then, all you get is a picture of my awesome legs with my burned knees. Pretty cool that ONLY my knees got fried and nothing out. Pretty cool, I tell you.

Letter of Thanks

Dear Dell Laptop,

We both know I've never really liked you. My Gateway served me well for many, many years (well, computer years). Carrying me through endless nights of coding and programming and behaving for me well after my college days were over. We never really had problems with his hardware or software the entire time. In fact, the reason I bought you to replace said Gateway was because of simple things: too little memory (which I wouldn't say is a problem, we just outgrew it) and a battery that liked to melt the power cord (again, I'd expect things like this to happen after thousands of hours of use).

You, however, have been a headache from day one. I remember the day you arrived. I took you out of the box and just thought, ugh, you just feel cheap. The Husband picked you out because I wanted nothing to do with spending that much money. I'm not sure if your problems began when software was loaded or if Dell hadn't trained their employees how to correctly handle new software and ensure it functions properly with the hardware. I try to update you and fix you, but I think you might be a lemon. Is that possible? Do you think lemon computers exist? Actually, it doesn't really matter because I'm pretty sure you can't be fixed. I just know you may have easily shaved a few years off my life. Things like shutting down all by yourself before fully booting up (sometimes three or four times in a row), things like dying batteries and power cords long before your prime and things like turning on in the middle of the night after I've put you to sleep are not exactly attributes I look for in a computer. Perhaps you think you're clever and all grown up for being able to complete such tasks on your own, but laptops aren't meant to have a mind of their own. They are meant to be submissive and obey exactly as their masters wish.

However, I've never loved you so much as I did this afternoon when you gracefully jumped off my bed and weren't harmed one bit. No cracks, nothing. You didn't even turn off! I wouldn't say you are functioning great, because you're definitely not better than before your accident, but you function as you did prior to the accident, which makes me happy. I thought you were stable, but as I turned to get some checks, off the edge you went. As much as I dislike you, I don't intend on replacing you anytime soon. Thanks for jumping carefully.

01001100011011110111011001100101,
Your Owner

Pretend Vacation

I've been saying I need a vacation for a long time. We got out of town a lot, but here's my new definition of a vacation: going somewhere to spend time with just our little family. Not that I don't love family and friends, but it'd be nice not to have to be on anyone else's schedule or worry about pleasing a big group of people. I want to be able to spend all our time with each other and not have to share. Maybe I'm selfish, but life is a little bit crazy and we just need some time together.

Whatever I am, it's a darn shame we can't go on vacation any time soon.

However, Jason had yesterday off and we had lots of fun. It was the best pretend vacation ever. We went to the Zoo in the morning. Not surprising, Clara loved the splash pad.
Clara has been waiting a long time to ride the train and we finally did. We saw almost no animals, but we got some animal facts fed to us we wouldn't have known about from walking, so that was fun.
Thank goodness we rode the train because even with the train ride, we came pretty close to melting. And although I found it funny that the A/C in my car kept going off and on as we drove home, Jason sure didn't find an ounce of humor in it.

That evening we went kayaking down the river with our friends, after which we had dinner at our house and a quick FHE lesson. Clara rode in the kayak with Jason (figured that was a wee bit safer considering my last experience...). I am happy to report, I stayed upright this time around. Had I flipped, I was definitely more prepared: no wedding ring, tennis shoes and less rock danger. I didn't see near as many birds, but we saw lots of wild horses and a muskrat.

It was a great day. I think we should devote more days to pretending Jason is retired and we're on vacation.

Flowered Aprons Look Best on Men

At the risk of Jason never helping me with the dishes again, I share with you this:

Flashback Friday: Runaway Tire

Okay, for this one, look past everything in the picture. Look beyond cute little Steven, Anna and Jake, pay no attention to the red jeep and admire the beautiful blue and white suburban in the background. Because that's what this story is all about. That was our family car for a long time and when I saw this picture, well, when I see any picture of this car, one very memorable story comes to mind.

Here's how the story goes... Once upon a time, we went to a family reunion. We were headed home and were somewhere between Yuma and San Diego, near El Centro. I was sitting in the very back and started seeing sparks off to the left. As we were trying to determine what was causing the sparks, we noticed the back tire bouncing past our car. Yup, our tire fell off and bounced past us, crossed the freeway and landed in a field.

Unfortunately, tires fall off if the lug nuts aren't tightened.

Fortunately, there were no oncoming cars when the tire crossed the road.

Unfortunately, we were in the middle of nowhere.

Fortunately, we were pulling a trailer so the car didn't flip.

Unfortunately, it was before 99% of the population 7 years and older had cell phones, so my dad had to hitch a ride to a Call Box to get help (I think that's how it worked).

Fortunately, Ryan was around to entertain us by catching a kangaroo rat. And then he let it bite him.

Unfortunately, it was the middle of the summer and sitting on the side of the road waiting for help was HOT.

Fortunately, my cousins lived in Yuma AND they had a car big enough to transport the whole family.

I don't remember all the details about this experience, but I can tell you we still laugh about it all the time. It's not every day a tire falls off of the car you're in. :)

Magical House

Did you know? I have a magical house in Utah. Why is it magical? Because never have I known of an inanimate object that has taught so many life lessons.

Things like being patient, having faith, trusting in a greater plan, getting over my bad attitude, what a need really is, that money is just money, more about investing in real estate than I ever wanted to know, importance of contract terms, how to keep the right perspective, ways to recognize blessings regardless how bad things seem and how to laugh no matter what.

Most of you don't know we accepted an offer on said magical house last week. This was just days before we were about to sign a contract on a lease. The only thing, well from the information I was given, that would've kept the offer from materializing was the appraisal. I told my family on Sunday I was pretty certain it would appraise where we needed it, but I wouldn't be surprised if something happened. Why? Well, because things don't exactly go as planned when it comes to this beauty.

So last night I got an e-mail from our almost-buyer saying their loan was denied. I was told their home had sold, but really, it hadn't closed just yet. They had an approval letter (not just pre-approval) from the bank and then at the last minute the underwriter denied the loan (even after the deadline) for the person trying to buy their home.


Hmph.

I told Jason and we laughed. Not just a frustrated why-is-this-happening laugh that was more to prevent me from bursting into tears. It was a funny laugh. Our new joke is, "We can afford that, our house sold. Oh wait, no it didn't." Trust me, there is so much humor in it all it's hard not to laugh.

I've come a long way.