Forever in Blue Jeans

Well, I am finally coming off my concert high enough to write about it. What a perfect evening! Even the weather cooperated for the most part.
After a fun ride to SLC, singing along to Neil the whole way, we made it to the Energy Solutions Arena. We got our fabulous T-shirts. Yes, Neil Diamond does ROCK! Did you know that Neil has been donating 100% of the proceeds from his souvenir sales to Hurricane Ike relief in Texas? What a great guy.



Neil treated us to a great variety of old and new songs. He started out with "Holly, Holy" and a few other goodies before singing some songs from his new album like "Pretty Amazing Grace". He even sang directly to the people seated behind the stage, joking with them about their terrible seats.


I was so happy he played all of my favorites like, "Love On The Rocks", "I Am I Said", "Cracklin Rosie", "I'm a Belivier", and"America"(I seriously adore this song and had a little patriotic moment during it). The best moment of the night was when he sang, back to back, "Forever in Blue Jeans" and "Sweet Caroline". He even sang "Caroline" twice!! Needless to say we were going crazy.


What a fun night! I made it to bed around 2AM with sore hands and a raw throat. Neil's songs will surely be in my head for weeks to come.


Thanks Shawn for a awesome Christmas present!

Saving Silverman

Neil Diamond is kidnapped in the name of love in Saving Silverman. Go here to see the clip from the movie. Good job Bart.

So tonight think of me while you are sitting wrapped up in your blankies in front of the TV. I will be driving home from the concert, hopefully surviving the crazy weather here in Utah.

Tomorrow, hopefully I have some pictures to share with you.

Neil Leslie Diamond

Leslie is also my mom's first name. She is a big Neil Diamond fan.

SOOLAIMON

"Originally written for an extended piece(The African Trilogy) , "Soolaimon" took on a life of its own when it was presented to a live audience. The title is meant to be a variation of the word" Salamah", meaning "Hello" and "Welcome" as well as "Good-bye" and "peace be with you", in many languages." Information taken from the website Song By Song with Neil Diamond




What more can I say?

Caroline Kennedy, plus Syd's new look

In a 2007 interview, Diamond revealed the inspiration for "Sweet Caroline" was President John F. Kennedy's daughter, Caroline Kennedy, who was eleven years old at the time.^[2][3] Diamond sang the song to her at her 50th birthday celebration in 2007.^[4]
Sweet Caroline is popular at sporting events, and is most notably played at every Boston Red Sox home game at Fenway Park during the middle of the eighth inning. While the song is being played, the lyrics are shown on the stadium's video system and fans are encouraged to sing along. The song has become an iconic part of Red Sox lore, even having been featured in the movie Fever Pitch. Sherrie Levy, Neil Diamond's press agent, remarked, "I'm not sure how it happened, but we're very pleased that it happened".


On a different note: Syd got glasses yesterday! Isn't she so cute! She is loving the fact that she can now not only see the board at school, but also the TV! Of course we had to go with pink frames with tiny flowers on the side of them. If she had to be cursed with my bad eyes, at least she can still look great.

What about Bob

One point for Bart. I will have to watch this movie again very soon.



Oh, and all I can say to certain family members. . . just remember that very soon you have to spend a week with me and ALL of my Neil Diamond CD's! :)

"There are two types of people in this world. . .

I am going to see Neil Diamond in concert!!!!!!

Shawn got me an early Christmas present. A ticket to the Neil Diamond concert in Salt Lake this weekend. And my oh so happy companion? My sis-in-law, Shanna. Who knew our husbands were so tricky? The real reason they gave us the tickets and told us to go together is so that they don't have to go.
But anyway I am over-the-top excited. Shanna and are are looking forward to eating dinner out, getting T-shirts with Neil's face plastered on them, singing along with all the middle-aged women who will be there, and basically acting like 15-year-olds.

So in honor of the upcoming event, I have dubbed this Neil Diamond Week on our blog. Check back each day for what I am sure will be exciting facts, pictures, and videos of Neil doing what he does best. Also look for trivia in the label of each post. Whoever answers the most questions wins my undying devotion!!!

Now you all have been warned-you might want to keep your distance from my excitement on Friday, unless of course you are also a Neil fan then by all mean, turn up your music and sing "Sweet Caroline" at the top of your lungs. I will be doing just that all week long!

Family Photo Shoot

My dear, wonderful, talented, fantastic friend Danelle came to visit is recently from Alexandria, Virginia. She is a super-fantastic photographer. While she was here she took some beautiful pictures of our little family. Here are some great shots. Thanks for taking time to spend with us my friend. It was so great to see you!

Claire's Personal Shoot

Danelle did a photo shoot of Claire. I know I am this baby's mom, but dang, isn't she gorgeous? I absolutely adore these pictures. Danelle has taken photos of all my girls as babies. She is just so talented and I am so glad she captured all of them as tiny, sweet babies.

What we will all look like Thursday night

Claire Bear's Hair is Everywhere!

There have been several requests from relatives to not only see Claire's hair down, but to see what other magic it holds. So without further ado, here is Claire in all her hairy glory:

The just-out-of-my-bath look

The Old Man Comb-Over

The Donald Trump look

Alfalfa from The Little Rascals

The Baby Faux Hawk
(AKA Uncle Kurt)

Hair actually done.

Now you know why I do her hair EVERY day!
Be sure to vote for your favorite on the sidebar poll!

Halloween!

Sorry about the delay in posting Halloween pics. Every year at Halloween someone is sick. This year was my turn. Just a cold, but it is my excuse for being slow.

Halloween was great fun this year. The girls came up with the ideas for their costumes all on their own.

Syd was a Midnight Fairy. I think she was most excited about getting to wear make-up and put glitter in her hair. Aunt Becca prompted the pose. Very cute. I especially liked the boots.

Brynny was an Angel Kitty. She wore a angel dress and wings, with a black cat tail hooked to the back. She wanted whiskers and a little nose, but no kitty ears. Very cute, actually. I love that this girl has a mind of her own. She was also very excited about glitter in her hair.

Our Claire Bear was a cute piggy, complete with a curly tail. Poor kid. Her sisters' got to be fairies and angels and she got stuck with the pig outfit. Sorry honey, that is what you get if mom gets to pick. :)

We went Trick-or-Treating around the neighborhood and were joined at different points by Grandma Leslie, Grandma Julie, Aunt Becca, James, Aunt Ashley, and Uncle Jon. The weather was so nice and warm, and we had tons of fun. The neighbors were even cooking hot dogs and giving them out along with donuts. How cool is that?

We wore our sweet little Claire out. She was asleep by the time we got home.

After we got home, we were joined by Bonnie and Kurt(dressed as Kurt and Strongbad). We ate dinner (garlic soup and witch's fingers), checked out the loot, gaagaaed over the baby, and put kids to bed. Then we watched Tremors which go a few jumps out of Becca and Bonnie and had me giggling like crazy.

Derek, Becca, and James were the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. So clever. Hasn't James grown so much lately? :) He was actually asleep from excitement overload. Jon did a stand-in for him.
What a fun night! Now I am trying to hide candy from myself, ward off too-much-candy barfing (we have had 2 close calls so far), and get ready for candy-making season. Ummm... does all of that seem a little messed up to anyone else?

We hope you all had a great Halloween!

dood & juanford

Crazy Hair Day

Today was crazy hair day at school. Syd has been planning her hairdo all week long. This is what she came up with. Pretty clever girl. The last photo is of her and her friends at the bus stop this morning.
Brynn was not so excited about crazy hair day. She was more concerned with looking cute. So this is our version of crazy/cute hair. Also, the last photo is her friends at the bus stop.
Silly kids. There was lots of excitement going around. I hope their poor teachers live through today.

First Snow?!

We are having some CRAZY weather here in Utah. It snowed yesterday. Of course the girls were thrilled. Syd had all her gear on and was out the door first thing after we got home from church. She climbed on top of Betsy and was sliding down the windshield like it was a ski run or something. It was pretty funny to watch. But here is my question: What happened to autumn?!

Food Blog

I started a food blog a while ago. For some reason I feel silly sharing this fact with you all. I don't know why, but I do. So if you go visit it, be kind, I am fragile. :)

The Orange Apron

Goings-on at our house

Things have been fairly quiet around here for the last several days. This is not a bad thing. So just for fun, here is a post about the goings-on within our house full of little women. Syd is loving 2nd grade. She just graduated out of her readers at school. This means she gets to read regular chapter books for her reading homework now. Yesterday she brought me a book she wanted to read: "Dragon Rider" by Cornelia Funke. This book on a 6th grade reading level and has 523 pages. She actually had gotten several pages into the book before she asked for help. That is my girl!

Brynn is doing an awesome job in Kindergarten. She learned how to read her first word last week: "Hot". She is going to be reading before we know it. Brynny is such a charismatic little girl. She knows how to wrap people around her fingers. After church yesterday she said to me "Mommy, I want to go see the Bishop. " So we trucked down to the Bishop's office so she could say hello and get a treat. They are special buddies. She told him all about school.

Our Claire Bear will turn 6 months next week. She is starting to get such a fun little personality. Her new favorite thing is her exercise saucer. She also learned her name! "Baby" Actually she will look at you if you call her Baby or Claire. So we must call her Claire sometimes.

Shawn and I are keeping busy chasing the girls around. Shawn has had lots of work meeting lately. Work meetings= games of golf. I have a new obsession with cooking blogs lately. I have found some really good stuff lately. Carne Asada Tacos anyone? BTW- yes the picture is an old one. From the days when we were young and beautiful. Honestly we don't have many pictures of us together. Are you guys like that? Thousands of pics of your kids, four of yourself.

Lemon Bars

Please indulge me another recipe post. I found this blog: For The Love of Cooking and on it, this recipe for lemon bars. The picture does not do it justice. These things are amazing! Lemon and coconut- it is a perfect combination. We ate the whole pan in one night. You've gotta give them a try! Let me know if you do.

Crust:

• 1 cup of flour
• 1/2 cup of powder sugar
• 1/2 cup of sweetened shredded coconut
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 stick of cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat the 8 inch baking pan with cooking spray. To make crust combine flour, powder sugar and salt in a bowl. Add butter pieces and mix with hands until crumbly. Press evenly into the bottom of your baking pan. Bake until lightly golden, about 18-20 minutes. Set crust aside.

Filling:

• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup of white sugar
• 2 tbsp of flour
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 2 tsp lemon zest, diced finely
• 1/3 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice
• Sweetened shredded coconut for garnish

To make filling whisk together eggs, sugar, flour and salt. Add lemon zest and juice and mix until combined thoroughly. Pour over hot crust. Bake 15-18 minutes or until filling is set. Cool completely before sprinkling with shredded coconut. Enjoy.

My Husband Can Cook!

So I had a serious sleep-in this morning. I am talking 10:45-serious. I got up and could smell something really yummy going on in the kitchen. Here is what Shawn made for our Brunch today:

Biscuit Peach Cobbler

3 lbs. ripe peaches
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 c. sugar

Biscuit Dough:
1 1/3 c. flour
2 tbsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 c. cold butter, cut into small pieces
2/3 c. buttermilk
2 tsp. sugar mixed with 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Have ready a 2-inch deep 2-quart baking dish.

Slice peaches into wedges directly into dish. Toss with lemon juice and sugar. Cover with foil. Bake 15 minutes until peaches are hat and juices bubbly. Make dough while peaches cook. Mix flour, sugar, powder, and soda in a large bowl. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Pour buttermilk over top. Toss with fork until mixture clumps together. Drop heaping tablespoons on peaches. Sprinkle sugar-nutmeg mixture on top. Bake 30 minutes until biscuits are golden brown. Let stand to cool.

Take your brunch to school

Guess what Syd asked for in her school lunch today? A pancake sandwich! Hehe. I guess breakfast was a success.

LOTOJA

My dad participated in the LOTOJA this past weekend. First of all let's just say this: My dad is awesome. He is my hero. He has taught me that if you want to do something, don't whine, just go make it happen. He picked up biking 2 years ago. Last year he did the LOTOJA and made it to Afton. He went for it again this year. I was on his support crew, along with my mom, Shanna, Dave, and Robyn. Here are some of the highlights from a very fun, very long, very inspiring Saturday. It was time well spent. Also I promise this is the last mosaic for a while.

1& 2) Getting ready to go. I drove and was worried the whole time that the bike was going to fall off the roof of my car.
3) Lucky number: 9191
4) At the start line in Logan at 6 AM. Maybe a little nervous?
5) Preston- dad made it there just about 8 AM. Making very good time and feeling strong.
6) Right before heading up Immigration Canyon. Hooray!
7) Robyn and Dave- by the way almost all of these pictures (the good ones) were taken by Robyn. She has a knack for taking good shots and a very nice camera to boot.
8) Montpelier- refueling and still looking good. I sure I am doing something very helpful here.
9) Shanna catching a little snooze. She got 2 1/2 hours of sleep the night before. After this cat- nap she was on fire for the rest of the day.
10) Riding along, going strong.
11) Heading up Salt River Pass. You are the King of the Mountain, Dad.
12) Time for a foot rub in Afton, WY.
13) One of many egg sandwiches, None of us could look at them by the end of the day, especially dad.
14) Dad getting some sugar from his woman. Aren't they cute?
15) Our Dave's.
16) My cousin Brady rode with a relay team. They did really well. Brady rode with the lead pack into Montpelier. He is fast! He earned the nickname "Bones". Hmmm, guess why.
17) Me and Shanna. We spent very little time acting our age today. Yay for friends!
18) "The Property" in Freedom, WY. We were driving through Star Valley and my mom said "If I could live anywhere I would live here." We all laughed because they own a couple of acres on that hill in the distance. They can live here! Time to build a cabin.
19) Biking through the trees in Snake River Canyon. What a beautiful ride!
20) Finish cheer! Dad had to stop 18 miles from the end. He was dehydrated and not feeling very well (you know like slurred speech and starting to get delirious). He would stand up to pedal, go to sit back down and miss the seat of his bike. Also it was getting very dark. He was bummed that he was so close, yet did not quite make it. But true to form, on the ride home he started making plans for next year. I already have it on the calendar. Love you dad!

A Post of Firsts

We have had quite a few FIRSTS at our house lately. Here are some pics to commemorate them. (BTW-I have been into picture mosaics lately. If they bug, someone is going to have to tell me).
1) Claire's first cereal! Hooray! She seemed to really like it. She didn't even pull any funny faces, just chowed down. Good girl!
2) Syd's first day of 2nd grade. What a big girl
3) Don't walk me to the bus stop mom, I'm just fine. Bye!
4) Brynn's first day of Kindergarten. I can't believe it.
5) Brynn with her buddy, Tyler. They are the only two kindergartners in our neighborhood. They are super friends and I'm glad they have each other. Besides. isn't he cute?!
6) Getting on the bus. Don't you love how it looks like all these moms are going to kindergarten too? Brynny loves the bus.
So there you have it. Lots of first. Kids grow up really fast. My house is really quiet in the afternoons now. Maybe I'll go take a nap. . .

Go to the Mountains. . .

We went Camping! We haven't been up to the Tetons in several years and decided it was high time we saw the mountains in person again.Overall the trip was very fun and exciting. . . and a few other things. You know how vacation can be with kids, right? Putting aside the barfing, the crying, the "accidents", and the whining we had a great time. Here are some pics from our fun adventure:

1) What?! We are going camping today? I just woke up!
2) Riding in the car. After lots of crying baby, 2 barfing incidents, 1 "accident", 2 poppy diapers, several potty break stops, and 5 1/2 hours, we finally made it to Colter Bay. I tell you, we will not be driving long distance again for a while.
3) This was about the only time the baby was in the car and NOT crying. Ugh!
4, 5, 6, 7) Our lovely accommodations. We stayed at the tent cabins at Colter Bay. They were really fun. We were able to keep the baby out of the dirt and away from the bugs, but we still felt like we were "camping". Plus the girls had lots of room to explore and run, and we met some nice people. We also saw a red fox, a bat, a squirrel (who was very mad at us), and lots of fat whistle pigs.
8) Washing dishes outside was considered fun. I had lots of helpers.
9, 10) Brynny won the award for the dirtiest camper.
11, 12) Riding the boat across Jenny Lake
13) Hiking to Hidden Falls
14, 15) We made it to Hidden Falls! We got lots of cute comments and a couple of dirty looks about us hauling a tiny baby up the trail. The older two were great little hikers. Brynny even got to be the "judge" for a while.
Syd tried to head up the trail to where the Exum guides were practice climbing with their students. I think she wanted to join in.
16) Baby got a bath in a wash tub.
17) Hanging out at the tent cabin- Brynny's blanket was dubbed "Stinky Pinky" by the time we got home.
18) Going for a walk around the tent cabin loop. We found a squashed squirrel and Syd wanted to poke at it.
19) The girls resting after a hard day hiking- we later went down to the lake and threw rocks and Shawn and Syd even went swimming in the VERY cold water.
20) We went down to look at the dam. We threw lots of rocks in the water.

It was so great to be in the Park again. Of course it made me all nostalgic and itchy to get in the mountains. It was so fun to just wander around Colter Bay, see the lake, visit the Lodge, and just see the mountains. We really enjoyed the tent cabins and look forward to trying to get back up to the Tetons next year. The girls said as we were leaving "We are going to miss this place!" Me too!

When It Rains It Pours

It rained today! And I don't mean a little sprinkle. I mean it poured for a good half hour which is so unusual here. We have not had a good storm for a couple of months so we all went out on the front porch to watch the rain come down.

It all started very innocent but soon turned into this:

Which then tuned into this:

Which was followed by this:

And then this happened, I'm still not quite sure how:

And then we had this:
And last, but not least, we had a little of this:

And here is some video of some cool tricks in the rain:

All this great fun was followed by hot baths and warm jammies for everyone involved. The neighbors probably thought we were crazy, but I think spontaneity can be a good thing at times!