Photo of the Day: Angry Note

Can you decipher Kennedy's angry note?  My guess is she doesn't like chocolate chip cookies very much! 

Diary of a Red Sox Fan

It finally happened. After two months of failed expectations, the Red Sox are in 1st place in the American League East. Who would have guessed that they could come back so quickly? Come on, this was the team that started 0-6, was 2-10, and didn't break .500 until mid May. Well, things have certainly changed. The Red Sox are the hottest team in baseball and they are now 29-22 and in 1st place!

I never officially jumped off the band wagon in April. My arms and legs weren't completely inside the band wagon at all times, but I never took the leap. This team was too good to be playing the way they did in April. It just seemed like they couldn't catch a break. They had four chances to reach .500 and lost each time. There were errors, bad pitching, and atrocious hitting. It was a team effort to the bottom of the cellar.

Then, along came May. Things just seemed different. Adrian Gonzalez starting hitting everything. Carl Crawford had some clutch hits. Lester, Beckett, and Buchholz are pitching like studs and shutting down opposing teams. Even better - Dice K and John Lackey both went to the DL. Pedroia, Youkilis, Ellsbury, and Big Papi are getting back to their old selves. Things are good in the Nation right now.

360° of U2

Last year I bought tickets to see U2 for Tara's birthday.  We were both really excited to see Bono and the boys one more time.  Unfortunately, Bono had a problem with his back which required surgery.  The last part of the North American tour was postponed and we were left in limbo.  Should we turn the tickets in and get our money back or should we hold onto our passes and wait for U2's possible return to Utah?

We held onto our nose-bleed seats and I'm glad we did.  Last night was the return of the 360° Tour to SLC and it was worth the wait.  U2 came onto the stage and overwhelmed the crowd with a musical and visual force that's hard to describe.

A lot has been made of "The Claw" - U2's gigantic stage.  With it's unique design, including 4 massive legs and a mammoth video screen you couldn't take your eyes of it.  To be honest, we couldn't take our eyes off of it because it was the only way we could see the show.  Still, that was the intended point, as the stage was designed so that you could see the action no matter where you were sitting. My favorite part of the show was when the screen broke apart into hundreds of smaller shapes and became a video curtain that stretched down to the stage. It was something I've never seen before and it was unreal!


With a collection of songs over the past 30 years it was easy for U2 to pick a vast array of diverse songs. Good thing for us. We weren't really big fans of the last album, so it good they didn't choose many songs from No Line on the Horizon. To be honest, Get on Your Boots actually sounded great live. Take a look at the setlist from the SLC show and you'll find a great mix of old and new:

Even Better Than The Real Thing
I Will Follow
Get On Your Boots
Magnificent
Mysterious Ways
Elevation
Until The End Of The World
All I Want Is You
Love Rescue Me
Happy Birthday to Bob Dylan
Stay (Faraway, So Close!) - This was a great acoustic set with Edge and Bono
Beautiful Day / Here Comes The Sun (snippet)
Pride (In The Name Of Love)
Miss Sarajevo
Zooropa
City Of Blinding Lights
Vertigo / It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (But I Like It) (snippet)
I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight / Discothèque (snippet) / Mofo (snippet)
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Scarlet
Walk On / You'll Never Walk Alone (snippet)

Encores:
One
Blowin' In The Wind (snippet)/The Times, They Are A-Changin' (snippet)
Where The Streets Have No Name - Loved watching the stage go red during the intro!
Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me
With Or Without You
Moment of Surrender


We loved every minute of the show, but as the second encore was starting we knew we needed to end our night.  Jason and Kristin were nice enough to watch the kids (on Kristin's birthday no less) and our night was well after 11:00 pm when the boys started playing With or Without You.  We decided to pack it in and head to TRAX, hoping that we could beat the rush and make it home by midnight.  We were wrong about everything.  The TRAX riding crowd had no end and we missed every connecting train.  It was impressive.  In fact, we couldn't have messed things up any better.  Still, we finally made it home a little after 12:25.

So, that was our night with U2.  It was fun to see them - probably for the last time for us.  Their music was great.  The show was beyond description.  The night was fantastic.  For a night, we were taken back through the years and U2's part of our lives.  It was just us and a band that have been together a long time.

Big Graduate

Alex graduated from preschool yesterday. The program that his teachers put on is amazing. They all have memorized parts, they sing tons of cute songs and it is very organized. Alex did a great job during the program and seemed to have a great time.

Alex's preschool has been amazing. He has loved his teachers, Miss Fidge and Miss Alyson. They really do a great job. Kennedy was in the same class last year and I hope Dylan will be able to get in when he turns four. It's nice to know that your kids are in good hands and are learning while they have fun. Now, on to Kindergarten!

Don't you just love Alex's self portrait! Pretty talented, don't you think!

Zoo?

My sister Char called to invite us to go to the zoo last Saturday with her family. Little did we know it was a free day for all the military. As we drove up and saw people walking a mile after parking just to get into the zoo, we quickly decided to bag it and headed to Liberty Park. We were going to hit Tracy Aviary and the playground but ended up just doing the playground. The kids had a blast playing in the water and riding a few of the rides at the amusement park.

What started out as a big mess, ended up being tons of fun. We might have to spend more time at Liberty park! It's cheap and fun!

Still Here

It's May 22, 2011.

We're still here.

Guess I shouldn't be surprised.  I know a lot of people hoped that we wouldn't be here today, and I have to say I feel bad for them.  As a person of faith, I understand that you can put a lot of trust in something - in someone.  The challenge is predicting the end of the world doesn't seem to make a lot of spiritual sense.  Christ talked about the fact that no one would know when he would return.

Sure, there are always signs that can be interpreted in a variety of ways.

After September 11th the world was coming to an end.

Katrina witnessed it was time to prepare.

When President Obama was elected many felt like the Constitution was hanging by a thread.

I'm sure everyone around here will say the end is nigh when an earthquake finally strikes Salt Lake.

All of these events are terrible to think about (for some), but I don't necessarily chalk them up to any end of days prophecy.  Things happen.  We can't waste our lives worrying about the events we can't control.

I like to think of last weekend reminding me to make the most of what I've been given.  To savor the good parts of life and to live each day as though it was the end.

Besides, I'm sure another prophecy is just around the corner anyway....

Happy Mother's Day to Me

So we celebrated Mother's Day last week.  The kids came home from school and church with all sorts of cute gifts and poems and fun little trinkets.  My favorite gift from Kennedy was a homemade ring holder in a bag that she decorated with flowers.  On the bag she had written: "Mom, you are mi flawr!"  (Don't you love kindergarten spelling?"  Her teacher told me Kennedy came up with that herself and she had never heard anything so sweet.  It was pretty sweet!

I loved the picture that Alex drew of me and the questionnaire where he answered that I weighed 17 pounds and loved to eat broccoli and carrots.  I wish!

The kids also gave me some nice new jewelry and Jared gave me some money for clothes shopping.  Now I just need to find time to actually purchase the clothes.  My book writing husband had promised to make that happen!  Now I just need to get motivated to do it.

I also spent some time with my mom on Saturday, since we didn't see how we could make it down on Sunday with church and everything else going on.  We had a nice lunch and took a walk to the park.  The kids had a blast playing on the Mapleton park playground (there's been some nice improvements since I played on it when I was little!)

Sunday started out with the kids and Jared making me yummy waffles for breakfast and being sweet as can be.  The kids really were great all day, trying to be on their best behavior and do little errands for me.

After breakfast we went to church and then where I had to teach my primary class.  I was hoping that would go okay, but my kids here hyper and could barely sit through my short lesson.  We finally finished a small gift for their moms and then went to sacrament meeting so we could wrestle with my own kids. Jared's present to me was dealing with Dylan, so I could enjoy the meeting.

After church we had a nice dinner with Jared's parents and family and enjoyed a fun evening with the kids. It was a nice day and I have to thank my cute hubbie and kids for making Mother's day special.

Baseball Star

Alex loves playing tee-ball.  I've tried to get him to try other sports but he always wants to play tee-ball.  So we did tee-ball again this spring.  He loves to hit, but not so much the fielding part.  I actually hope he continues with baseball.  It is a bit boring but it's better than soccer, right!

Here's a few pics of the incredible tee-ball action we saw this spring.

Final Word

Dylan is tough to handle at church.

I know that's not a big surprise to any of you that deal with two-year-olds during sacrament meeting, but trying to keep Dylan from escaping our row, screaming when he doesn't get his way, or hitting his siblings is a draining chore.  I can honestly say it may be worth it to be in the bishopric again to escape to the stand...

Still, you had to smile when the closing prayer ended on Sunday and Dylan shouted AMEN! at the top of his lungs.  As everyone turned to look at our row, Big D was smiling from ear to ear.

I guess he got the final word on Sunday....

The Farm in Photos

Mothers' Day

Mothers' Day is always a favorite for the kids. They typically get up early and rush up into our room to give Tara a hug. This year Kennedy was the first one up and she ran up to me to suggest we make Tara her favorite breakfast, Egg McMuffins - ok, so that is Kennedy's favorite breakfast. Still, I was glad Kennedy was willing to help with breakfast.

My favorite moment of the morning was discovering that Tara's present was missing. I helped the kids pick out some jewelry for Tara and we hid the items in one of my drawers. I didn't think much of the whole thing until I went to retrieve the necklace Sunday morning and it was gone. I guess Kennedy wanted to play dress up and took the present out for her costume. Tara found the necklace/bracelet and thought Dede took it from her jewelry box. So much for the surprise factor on Mothers' Day!

Besides the kids' present I always try and make Tara something for Mothers' Day. I took a few of our favorite pictures from the past year and created a fun little video. Feel free to check it out....



Happy Mothers' Day to all the moms in my life!

Obama Exposed

Maybe now, the Birthers can finally claim victory. Don't you just love Trump's reactions in this video. Classic!

American Pride

Last night Tara and I were just settling down after putting the kids to bed. We turned on the TV and were flipping channels when the national news cut in.

"We have breaking news that there will be a press conference from the White House. The President is going to announce that our forces have killed Osama bin Laden."

What?! Really! Unbelievable!

Tara and I just looked at each other. Like most Americans we'd given up expecting to hear any news of finding bin Laden years ago. I mean, it's been 10 years. It just didn't seem likely to happen.

Immediately following 9/11 capturing bin Laden was a certainty. He had killed our people and now we were going to find him and kill him. Finding one man in the middle of Afghanistan proved to be a lot more difficult that imagined.

President Bush spent 7 years looking for him and nothing. President Obama dedicated more resources to tracking bin Laden and still nothing. Then the news broke. Osama bin Laden had been killed in a firefight with US troops in Pakistan. It was surreal to hear the words and watch the President's speech.



I think the best way to describe my emotions is closure. I wasn't affected directly by 9/11 - no one I knew was killed. My daily routine hasn't changed that much. Still, as an American, I felt like my way of life had been attacked. We were changed, as a country. And so yesterday mattered to me. Like many Americans, death of Osama bin Laden brings a sense of closure to one of the darkest events in our Nation's history. It was certainly the darkest day I've ever witnessed in my lifetime.

Today, I'm proud of our Troops. I'm proud of our Leaders. I'm proud to be an American.