Busy Weekend  

Posted by Amber

This last weekend saw lots of activities and little sleep.

I took Friday, Aug. 12th, off of work because we were going down to St. George with Matt's family to see Disney's The Little Mermaid at Tuacahn.  The original plan was to hang out there and spend the night in St. George.  However, it was the same weekend as the World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, and Matt decided to invite people to our house to watch the competition.

Friday, we left Payson at about 1:30pm and arrived in St. George a little before 5pm.

 On the drive down
By now, you should know my love of Joshua trees :)

We met up with family at the hotel and talked and watched TV until it was time to walk over the Brick Oven for dinner, where we met up with Lori and the kids. :)
Waiting at Brick Oven - Matt did so well with giving me decent smiles all night :)
Rylee and Lori - waiting at Brick Oven
Everyone trying to decide what to order.
After dinner, we said goodbye to Lori and the kids and walked back to the hotel for a bit.  This time, we hung out in Jason and Camile's room talking before heading out to Tuacahn.
The drive was uneventful.  We didn't get lost and didn't spend a ton of time looking for parking.  We arrived early and shopped in the gift shop and took pictures in the cutout board. 


Matt's parents ran into someone they knew in the gift shop, and while Matt and I were wandering around, we ran into Michelle from Damsel in this Dress. Remember her? Yeah, she remembered me, which was cool. Umm, and you should all go check out the blog cuz she's hilarious.
 Matt, McKade, and Me
 Jason, McKade, and Camile
 Dad, Michelle, Matt, and Jennifer . . . waiting
Mom and Me

I wasn't sure about Broadway-style Little Mermaid, but, as always, Tuacahn did an awesome job.  Unfortunately, the leads' vocals weren't awesome.  Okay, but not awesome.  Ariel bugged both me and Matt on sustained notes.  She couldn't keep enough support, so she'd go flat until she hit her vibrato.  But overall, it was really good and it was fun to see how they dealt with the different aspects of the story (you know, land versus ocean, swimming, mermaids and the like).  I think my favorite was Les Poissons - such a fun scene!

Anyway, right after, Matt and I snapped a few pics of some of the cast and headed back north to Payson.
 Sebastian and Flounder
King Triton and me (sorry about my devil eyes, I haven't edited these)

So, the play got out later than we anticipated (11:30pm).  After getting gas in St. George, we weren't on the freeway until midnight.  Worlds started at 2am MST, so that was when Matt had invited people over.  We texted everyone that it would be closer to 3am, which we did get home just after then :)  At about 2:15am, 2:20am, Matt handed me his phone to try to stream the qualifiers because LA Scots (with whom Andrew was playing) played at 2:30am.  We missed them, but we did finally get things streaming at about 2:40am.

A little after 3am, our few awesome friends who made it up that early came over. We had a fun time.  Matt made pancakes later in the day, and most everyone napped at some point or another.  I did well this year, only napping during breaks in the competition, except for the last couple of medleys.  Oh well.  I was awake for the whole march around and awards, which is quite different from last year :)
Everyone attending, less me ;) Matt, Ian, Elyanna, Zach, and Susan
 Ian and Elyanna sleeping
Ian got to share Elyanna's blanket ;)
Matt napping
The boys asleep
The girls not ;)
Susan and I stayed awake playing on our laptops.  Mine was too little to be seen in the picture, however.

Sorry this post is getting long, but it really was super eventful. 

Later in the morning, I fed the animals.  Bandito seemed to be having some balance issues.  I got worried and started researching potential reasons.  I pulled him out later in the morning to make sure his feet and legs looked okay.  After worlds, I started looking for vets.  Dr. Ipsen wasn't in.  Dr. Folland's practice wasn't even open.  So I searched online for more avian vets who might be open on a Saturday.  We called one in Provo, and while they were open, their avian vet wasn't in.  Bless them, though, they offered a few numbers as referrals.  We called up to Creekside Animal Hospital in Draper, and they had an avian vet and late hours (after-hours charges suck, in case you're wondering).  So we got an appointment for 2pm and packed up our little one to take to the vet.
In the car on the way to the vet.

They decided to keep our little birdy overnight, which we consented to because their overnight fee wasn't excessive.  On the way home, we decided to stop at Petco to look at cages.  (The canaries' cage is old and they could use a new one.)  While we didn't purchase any, Petco was hosting adoptions, and there was this cute little Miniature Australian Shepherd.

Matt has wanted a dog for awhile.  Finding one we can both agree on is challenging.  Matt's aunt as a mini Aussie, and I had told Matt that if we were to get a dog right now, that is probably the breed I'd be okay with. Well, lo and behold, the adoption had one.  We wandered around while Matt calculated costs of supplies, and we pet her and talked to them about her for a bit.  Then, because we were hungry, we went to lunch and talked about it.  Then, we went back and adopted her.  She came with a name that we have decided to keep, Mocha.
 First pic, while Matt was filling out the adoption forms.


As if this wasn't exciting enough for our weekend, we also went to the Scera Shell Saturday night (August. 13th) to see Aida.  Two of my friends were in the ensemble, and we liked the show when we saw it at the Hale, so we headed out to that.  We put Mocha in her crate for the duration, just in case.
Waiting for the show to start.
The show was really good.  I had forgotten a lot of the storyline, and so naturally forgot that I should have brought tissues.  I totally was crying at the end.  Oh well.  We chatted with Alicia and Stacy afterward.  I'm just glad it didn't rain much, so the show wasn't cancelled. :)

Mocha was good that night.  She hasn't had any accidents.  Bandito has been kept at the vet's office.  I authorized a blood draw, but it stressed him out, and he's really little, so they only got a partial draw.  There were indications of a liver problem, so they started him on Milk Thistle, a liver protectant.  He has been getting better.  We could have brought him home Thursday, but they called too late in the day so we couldn't get up there.  We opted to board him there over the weekend since we were leaving for Jackson.

0 comments »

Guitar + Me =/= Friends  

Posted by Amber

So I've always loved guitar.  Maybe that's because my Daddy used to play when I was little. (I always loved when he'd play and sing Summertime.)  When I got older, I really wanted to learn how to play guitar too.  I'd been singing all of my life.  I started violin in 6th grade, and piano shortly followed.  Then in 8th grade, I learned the bagpipes.  It's not like I don't have musical talent here, people.  However, I never got around to learning guitar.

Later in life, my dad bought me a guitar. (It's so pretty- it's blue :))  The plan later became that I would teach him bagpipes and he would teach me guitar.  That didn't last long. 

I did, however, get a 'beginner's book' with my guitar and tried learning on my own a little.  However, let's face it, no one wants to start at the beginning. :)  I wanted to know chords so I could write songs. (And, no I am not a songwriter either. Maybe one day? . . . ha! unlikely)  Fortunately for me, my cute little book has a chord chart in the back :) 

I've tried playing chords.  I fail.  My poor fingers and the guitar strings are not friends.  I have no callouses, and the work it takes to get callouses is painful! So I quit. lol

Well, I bring this up now, years after having tried to really play anything on my guitar, because guess what I did tonight? That's right, I pulled it out.  You see, I ♥ Taylor Swift.  You should all know that by now.  I wish I could be her.  Well, sort of.  Anyway, I thought, I'm going to be Taylor Swift for Halloween this year :) Random, I know. (BTW, this was at the beginning of the year about, so this has been a long time coming.)

Well, to complete the ensemble, I figured I should learn to play one of her songs.  I could learn a few chords enough to be able to play one song, right? HA!  So tonight, after tuning up the guitar (and relearning what each string was :-S) I searched tabs for Speak Now, the song I had picked, and started to learn.

OUCH!

I was even a good girl and cut my nails (cuz there is no way I could attempt it with nails), and picked out some of the chords.  Once I found tabs I liked, I perservered.  For like 10 minutes. My fingers are recuperating now.  However, I'm afraid my hands may not be built for guitar :\  I suppose you'll find out how well this goes in October :)

0 comments »

Hoot Hoot!  

Posted by Amber

Let me start this by saying I'm a HUGE fangirl.  I oogle and obsess and 'squee' with the rest of them.  You can thank the rest of the fangirls over on my Dragon Age - Alistair fangroup on FB for my use of 'squee' :p  I learned from the best.
Anyway, my obsessive devotion isn't limited to nearly perfect (albeit imaginary) men, but also to the singer/songwriter men - namely Adam Young :D

Owl City played Utah on Wednesday, July 13th, and I was there!  We bought tickets ages ago, and then a week before, venue moved to In The Venue in Salt Lake, instead of being at the UCCU Center at UVU (would have been so much nicer on lots of levels).  However, I forgive Adam this lapse in judgment and we drove up to Salt Lake. 
We parked right in front of a piano store next to a Hilton hotel - just down from the homeless shelter.  lol  And there were lots of homeless people.  One was even feeding pigeons and other birds - there were lots of pigeons.  We walked up to the back of the line and a few minutes later, we saw an old friend from band with her husband.  We let them join our spot in line and we caught up during the wait.  Another funny coincidence, one of Matt's tenor drummers was also going to the concert, and her group of friends was right in front of us, so we all got to chat - remember my butterly-ness? ;)

The doors opened at 6pm, and the line finally started to move.  By 6:20 we were in the building.  We found a good spot on the bottom floor, and I opted to go to the merch table.  After standing in a ridiculously long and slow-moving line, I bought myself an Owl City shirt and plush owl.  The shirt looks good on me, btw.  I wore it today ;) I got out of line just after 7pm when the concert started - and then had to fight my way through people back to Matt and Janna.  They had blocked the path I used to get out, so I had to go even further around people :p

OMG - In The Venue is HOT. As in literally, dripping sweat going to die without water hot.   Not the most pleasant of experiences (neither is not having a chair to sit in....especially when wearing heels - it's okay though, the heels helped me see over people :))  Ocassionally we did get a breeze though, so that was nice.

 Me and Matt before the show
Janna and Joe before the show

The first opener was Unwed Sailor.  They were alright.  Their songs were all very much alike.  And no vocals to help distinguish between songs either.  Matt pointed out they'd make good ambient music, though.  But I wouldn't pay to see them.
 Between acts - and my owl wrapped in my new shirt :)
Apparently my quota is one good picture of Matt per night....

Second opener was Mat Kearney. I didn't know who he was, but I did recognize one or two of his songs.  But let us just say, he got another 'like' on FB after that.  He was amazing! Loved him!  He was so much fun.  He even made a little ditty about Utah and how we were all 'sweating in a box' or something like that - because that's how nasty it was inside In The Venue lol. He was super funny and a great performer.  lol, Later he told us there was no oxygen in our state and asked how we breathe :) So funny.  I like his new song, "Hey Mama."  He had us doing the hand claps and going 'woo hoo' - he even called us terrible lol.  Good times.  If I hadn't already spent $37 on a shirt and owl, I may have stopped by the merch table again to get something from his stuff :) Maybe ;)
 Mat Kearney
 K, I know it's a crappy picture, but he came down into the crowd for a song.  I high-fived him and touched his back.  This probably contributed to the FB like ;) I was a squeeling fangirl, and I didn't even know who he was before the concert :)

After Mat we had the longest take-down and setup time before Owl City.  My feet were killing me!  And it was hot.  And I was bored.  (It was horrible waiting with nothing to distract you.  In retrospect, I should have bought water during that time - you'll see why later).  Speaking of water, the security guy upfront at water with a squirt top he was squirting in people's mouths.  (Actually, at the beginning of the night, it was just squirting people in general - felt good.)  Then he threw a couple out into the crowd so the rest of us could get a squirt of cold water.  Mmmm.  At like 9:10pm, there were finally people on stage.... and lights.  And a bazillion cameras/camera phones in the air waiting for Adam to appear . . .
OMG yes, longest intro ever.
And then commence the yelling and squeeing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's ADAM!
OMG LOVE HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Because that wasn't apparent already....)

He was so good live! Love Love Love Love Love!!!!!!!! SQUEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry, I'm still freaking out just remembering it :)

He did lots of old songs and then some of the new ones. LOVE!

We all had a grand time singing along.
And Adam was so cute.  He kept saying how nice we were and how gracious and how humbled he was.  Adorable!
Sorry for the pic overload - but that is just how these things go! :D
Right, so why buying water would have been appropriate.... remember how it was like a million degrees in there?  Remember how I said I was wearing heels?
lolz - love his face here :)
Well, a couple songs before the end of his set, some chick passed out.  Sad news.  They carried her out.  Cute little Adam was all, "I hope she's okay.  This next song is dedicated to her, even though it's about deer and headlights." 
I don't know if it was just seeing that chick who had passed out, or if this would have happened without the extra external encouragement, but I started to not feel well at all. I wasn't really dizzy, per se.  But my head was all pressured and tingly, and my vision was tingly and fuzzy around the edges. 
So yeah, I grabbed Matt and we walked out to the back where there was some more space.  I sat down on the floor, and my awesome husband bought me a water bottle.  I was dehydrated too.  Oh, and being that time of the month :p, the cramping in my back didn't help my overall feeling of well-being.
Fortunately, being a small venue, we could hear just fine.  Matt sat with me through the end of the set (Deer in the Headlights and then one other song, so we didn't miss too much :))  Then people started leaving in droves.  Janna and Joe went past us.  I thought to myself, there's no way that's the end.  He'll have an encore.
I stood up, still shaky and not strong at all (darn heels), but I wasn't sure if we would just leave or not.  Fortunately, the indecision meant we were around for the encore ;)  He played two more songs.  I stood for parts of them, but had to sit some of the time still, otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to walk the few blocks back to the car.  I did see the final bow, though, so I don't feel like I didn't complete the concert.  I do feel bad I couldn't enjoy the whole thing though :p  Stupid venue change....
Highlights - "Fireflies" is my favorite song, and he totally performed it.  I videoed it. :D  He played us this solo piece (as in, the rest of his touring band took a break and went offstage while Adam played the piano and sang us a pretty, sad lullaby).  I'd not heard it before and don't think it is on any of this albums.  He performed "Hello, Seattle," which is another favorite of mine.  He also performed "January 28, 1986" which is my favorite off of the new album All Things Bright and Beautiful.  It's about when the Challenger blew up.  I believe the intro they played at the concert was longer than the excerpt included on the cd.  It was so cool.  It was all dark while they played the public address given after the accident, and then he came out to sing the song.  Loved it.  And yes, I totally recorded that one too :)
As an interesting side note, I only got the new cd the day before the concert and only listened to it like twice, maybe.  Well, and once on the way to the concert :)
OMG, I love Adam and am totally crushing on him now.  I've already decided I have to see him in concert again.  Loves to Owl City and our new friend Mat Kearney!

0 comments »

Miss Social Butterfly - oh, and some bagpipes :p  

Posted by Amber

'Tis the season for roasting in the sun . . . wait, I mean, going to Scottish Festivals :)

Saturday, July 9th was the Payson Scottish Festival. (It is held annually the second weekend in July at the Memorial Park in Payson on Main Street - for those who would like to go next year or are upset that they missed this year :) )

I awoke at 4am to the sounds of Cinco retching (you're welcome for that tid-bit of information).  The poor kitty threw up in our bedroom, and I went back to sleep until 6:10am when I got up to take care of the cat sick, feed the animals, and get ready for the day. 

The Payson Scottish Festival always begins with a mini parade to the park, so I dropped Matt off at 8am and headed back to Smith's for chips.  Apparently the band was doing lunch this time, and it was potluck.  Then it was back to the park to find parking.  I ended up just around the block from where the bands were supposed to set up this year.  Then I walked over to the band field and watched some solos.  Our dear friend (and Matt's old Pipe Major from the James J. Coyne Memorial Pipe Band in Claremont, California), Seumas Coyne, was one of judges.  Seumas and I chatted a bit, and I got me a Seumas kiss :)  I also got to chat with Jenny and Lynette. 

Funny story - to me anyway - Lynette came over while I was talking to Seumas, and Seumas found out that Lynette was my first pipe teacher.  He was acting all upset about never knowing this information before. lol Of course, then Lynette had to point out I'm no longer piping, so I threw her under the bus too ;) Ah, good times.

I headed back to the piping tent with Lynette and then chatted with Larry (my dad's cousin and 'keeper of the time') then talked for a long while with Ed Best - our other friend who was judging drumming that day. 

I ignored the parade, but I did find a spot to watch opening massed bands, which took place on the street this year (apparently it's too much effort to fight the athletics people for use of their field).  I've never been directly in front of the massed bands so closely before - holy crap it's loud! Still, it was pretty awesome and didn't last too long.  I also chatted with a former bandmate, Kathryn, during massed bands.  Are you starting to see the butterfly coming out yet? :D

White Peaks at massed bands

After massed bands, I headed over to the band tent area to find Matt.  He told me if I went with him to the restrooms, he would help me get the rest of the stuff out of the car, so I did :)  Guess who we ran into afterward? That's right, Seumas lol. 

Let me make a note of the fact that piping solos were already behind schedule before the parade even started..... Then we talked to Seumas for like 20 or 30 minutes :) This put them further behind, so I'm told ;)  Wasn't our fault, though.  Seumas likes to talk. 

Apparently pipe bands in the L.A. area are struggling and it is no bueno.  Seumas also told Matt he should come back out and play with JJC.  Unfortunately, Matt is currently unemployed (Oh yeah, I haven't mentioned that, have I? Matt was laid off almost a month ago now. So if you want to hire him, or know of someone who'd like to hire him, let us know!) so we can't really afford for him to go out to Cali once or twice a month.  Then Seumas says, "If I paid for your flight, would you come?" Heck yes, he would! Unfortunately, we didn't get to chat with Seumas after the games like he asked, so who knows if this will happen.  But it would be awesome!

Anyway, after that, we unloaded the car and headed over to the other side of the park for Matt to warm up for his solo.  While he was warming up, I met up with my aunt Chris and some of her grandkids.  Then I wandered over to where my family usually is and found my aunt Karen and uncle Steven.  I mostly didn't hang out with Matt or my band friends, instead, I stuck with my family.  It was good times :)  It was also useful because I could drop my bag off there and then wander the park with just my purse - much more comfortable :)

Here's Matt's MSR - he placed third.

Around noon, we were under the impression the band was going to have lunch, so we wandered back that way.  Shawn and I chatted, and we also ran into Heather and Tom, so we talked with them a bit.  I had so much fun catching up with so many people throughout the day!  We quickly discovered that lunch wasn't really going to be at noon.  Then I discovered lunch was going to be hot dogs (not so much a fan), and at that same time, my aunt Caleen had just come back with pizza and crazy bread. mmmm crazy bread, so I went over and had lunch with the fam.

I rather enjoyed being on my own for the festival.  At Thanksgiving Point, I had fully intended perusing the shops and listening to the Tinkers, but mostly I sat in the band tent and read.  At Payson, I brought books to read, but I didn't once pull them out :)

I did browse the shops.  Lots.  I ran into Koreen and Kari in one, and Koreen offered to buy me some earrings.  Yay for nice aunts!  I got two pairs of awesome earrings :)

That's pretty much what I did all day, wander around and then chat with random friends I ran into :) If I wasn't doing that, I was hanging out talking to family :)  During solos, my old dance teacher, April, was helping steward, so I was over chatting with her. :)  She also used to play snare in White Peaks, but not when I was in the band.  I also chatted with a lady from my parents' ward, and I talked to Aaron and his dad during the band competition.  So much fun being a social butterfly!

White Peaks Quick March Medley
White Peaks Timed Medley

So I was also super excited because Damsel in this Dress was at the Payson Scottish Festival this year!!!  My lovely cousin Natalie sews for this company and introduced me to it.  Michelle, the owner, is so funny.  You should all go read the company blog. I love her! 

Unfortunately, my dear Natalie was in Park City for a girls night with all of her sisters.  Okay, unfortunate for me. She had a lovely time seeing all of her sisters :)  However, she and Dave and their kiddos made it down just before closing massed bands, so we chatted and watched closing, and then went over to the booth, where Natalie introduced me to Michelle, and where we played dress up :D  If only we had money (or Matt at least had a job....) I would love to one day own one of Michelle's corsets.  They're so amazing!

 First one - a simple underbust.  Matt was not responding though, so I had Natalie unlace me while I found him, then we loaded the car, and went back to talk to Dave and Natalie, where she put me in this:
Collared this time :)  This second time, April was in there playing dress up too :)
Yes, that is the lovely Michelle behind me :)

We had (well, I had) a grand time at the Scottish Festival this year.  I can't really speak for Matt as I didn't see him most of the day :)

0 comments »

Red, White, and Blue  

Posted by Amber

For the 4th of July, Matt, as per tradition, got to march in the Provo Freedom Festival parade.  After finally finding the lot where they were letting us park (oh, and that was after like a 20 minute wait at Sonic so I could have some breakfast....) we hung out with the band for awhile.  At about 9:15am, I headed out into the crowd to find somewhere to put my chair, which I found a few blocks down from Provo High.  I missed the beginning of the parade, but I didn't really care.  I enjoyed the rest of the parade and even took some pictures of the band as they went past.  However, there were many rows of people in front of me, and I only took 8 pictures, so here are just a few.




Also, some of you may notice I have a new background and header.  I figured it had been quite a bit of time since I had updated it, so I got some new 4th of July stuff and put this together.  The plaid paper in the background is my own design, which I'm quite pleased with, even though it took awhile to create :-S.

After the parade, we came home, where Matt showered and took a nap :) In the evening, we headed back to Provo where Shades of Brown was playing in the spot right before Nathan Osmond.  We got there early, and I ran into someone I went to high school with.  We chatted a bit and I got to meet her cute family in person. (I'm a follower of her blog....)  After that, we had to figure out where to get everyone parked so we could haul the equipment down to the stage.  They were running behind schedule, so we listened to some other acts - something about Jupiter (I don't remember their name) and Nick Sales.  Then it was finally time for Shades of Brown!

The sound guys struggled a bit (same people who were at Art City Days...), but the band sounded great :)  If any readers haven't liked the band on Facebook, go here.  The band also has a blog setup now that you should all check out - http://shadesofbrownmusic.com/.

The band is doing amazing and playing a lot of gigs - and people are loving them!  On Friday, they played The Grove Theatre in Pleasant Grove.  The show was awesome, but I didn't pull out the camera.  I do, however, have some videos from the Freedom Festival performance below for your viewing pleasure. :)

New acoustic song - At the Edge of Identity
 
Love is Made
Ready. Set. Love.
Crash Landing

After the performance and chatting with my parents and friend who came to see them perform, we headed back to Payson to Matt's parents' for fireworks and a lesson from Grandpa. We love hanging out with family, and Grandpa's lessons are always amazing :)  After the lesson and the rain had died, we headed outside for the fireworks.  I had thought to try the 'firework' setting on my camera, but then I didn't ;) So, no pictures, but we did enjoy the show, and the new names that were created for the fireworks - lol.  Thanks to Utah changing the laws, aerial fireworks are legal this year, and it was lots of fun to see fireworks going up all over town.  We even had a couple of our own.  Matt thought the grande finale was most spectacular.  However, next time, we should probably light it further away ;)

0 comments »
<< Newer Posts
Older Posts >>