Labor Day is when Payson has its annual festivities - Onion Days. Matt had to be in the parade on Monday with the pipe band.  I fully intended to go watch, but then I didn't.  Instead, I cleaned around the house - yay for a cleaner house lol.

After Matt got home and showered, we went over to his parents' house for the traditional pizza :)  It was fun to hang out with family.  Mocha got to meet new friends, Maggie and Paisley.  She does so well with new animals, as long as they're not mean to her.  She really loved being off her leash and running around outside.  She also loved rolling in the hay.... oh well.  She didn't get too dirty. :)

Also awesome was the pair of Swainson's hawks we saw on the pole in the field. :)  Dad brought out his binoculars and his scope so we could see them better.  Here are a few pics taken through the scope.

This is just a little post to cover the little things that have happened that don't warrant their own post :)

The weekend after Jackson, Shades of Brown performed at I Sea Stars in Payson.  It was a lovely evening.  It was in the park at the bandstand, and decorated nicely :)  We watched Nick Sales, The Summer Transition (who I now follow of FB :)), The.Freebie (Zac, you're awesome!), and then Shades of Brown, and Allred (who I also follow now - ♥!).  It was nice weather.  Mocha came out with us.  It was a long time without water, but she was a good puppy :)

One last trip for the summer - as always was when the band headed north to Jackson Hole, Wyoming the third weekend in August.

The games was a little different this year.  They didn't have much money, so they didn't hold a band contest.  Initially, they were only offering piping solos, but BJ decided to come up and judge so there could also be drumming solos.  Our band and the Eagle Rock Pipe Band from Idaho Falls were brought in as guest bands in order to have some entertainment throughout the day, so all of our band went up.

I originally had Friday off, because I naturally assumed we would leave Utah at a decent hour and enjoy the evening in Jackson.  However, Shades of Brown put a damper on that plan because they were playing at a party.  The party started at 7pm, and we thought the would play close to then.  However, apparently they didn't play until about 9pm, which was when Natalie and Tashina arrived at our house because we had thought we could leave by then....

Matt finally made it home and we finished loading, and we left Payson at about 11:30pm.  Natalie's backseat in the truck wasn't very comfortable, so I didn't get a lot of sleep :\  I did get a few naps in, and after Bridger's pillow ended up between us, I used that for awhile to get a little bit longer of a nap.  I did, however, plan ahead and was in PJ pants with my face washed and contacts out for the ride.  This was a wonderful plan as we didn't get to the hotel until about 4:30am.

Another joy, which actually was quite fun, except was a little inconvenient because we got in so late, was the hotel had some issue (thanks Shawn for calling to let me know :)) and so Shawn and Joe were bunking in our room.  This really didn't bother me, except I felt bad waking them at 4:30am.  When we got in, Matt took off his shoes and fell asleep, jeans, button-up shirt, and all.  I had to brush my teeth first, however.  I felt icky when I got in.  But it was super nice that was all I had to worry about before getting to bed :)

Because Dave wanted the bands to be playing throughout the day, we had to be at the fairgrounds at 9am.  Before I go off about how amazing it was I was able to wake up and get ready just fine, I should probably mention that I follow Owl City on twitter.

I know, how does that relate? Well, you see, I get his tweets sent to my phone, and my phone was apparently on really loud, and Adam, being overseas at the moment and an insomniac, tweeted at 6am Saturday morning, which woke us all up :)  Joe got up a little after that, and I followed suit so I had time to shower.  Even though I only slept for like 3 to 4 hours, I was awake and did fine most of the day.

We left around 9am for the fairgrounds.  The weather was nice most of the day.  Because of our late arrival, Matt wasn't soloing.  However, Matt plays for Natalie's solo - but she came to her senses and decided to scratch :)  While the band tents were being set up, Shawn and I did our usual - go find breakfast instead of put up the tent - routine.  They had a sandwich booth, and we got breakfast sandwiches and hung out getting food.  Lucky for Matt, it was too much food for me, so he got to share :)

Since the games (which is usually small in terms of vendors anyway) had no money, the festival was even smaller this year.  Shawn and I shopped some during the day and found the usual stuff.  Our friends from Colorado were there with their booth, and we avoided it.  (It's a husband and wife - and he does NOT shut up ever....)  The band played a few times throughout the day, and they even did an opening and closing massed bands - all two of them lol.

Remember how we kept Bandito boarded at the vet's office over the weekend? Matt went up Monday afternoon to bring him home.

I talked to Dr. Schiffer when she came in at about 12:30pm.  Bandito was still making improvements on the Milk Thistle, so Matt went up to bring him home.  They showed him how to give him his meds, and they came home with a month's supply.

Matt and Jennifer went to Petco to get a new cage because the doc thought the liver toxin was probably ingested exposed metal from their old cage.  It was old and the coating had been broken in places.  They brought it home and Matt put it together.  Matt ended up separating Bandito and Bethesda because she was bothering him and Bandito still wasn't 100 percent.  Bethesda ended up in the old cage on the dresser, and Bandito was in the new cage on the floor.

Matt gave him his medicine around 9pm.  I had to work later that night and didn't even leave Orem until 9:30pm.  When I got home, the birds were shut in the office to keep the cat and dog out.  I didn't check on them :\

Tuesday morning, Matt had to get up early to take Mocha to the clinic to be spayed.  He checked on the birdies, and came back to the bedroom to tell me Bandito didn't make it.

It saddens us.  I wonder what happened when he had been making improvements.  Was it the new cage?  Was it Bethesda harrassing him?  Was it having the door shut? (It gets hot in the office.)  But in other ways, I'm glad he waited until he could come home.  Even if I didn't get to see him alive again, at least Bethesda could see him and he could be here with us.  We miss our little dude, but Bethesda misses him more.  Now she is in the big new cage all alone.

Later Tuesday morning, we took Bandito up to my parents' house to bury him in their garden near Bhuvan. :(

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.

Matt napping

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 :)