Rockin' the Suburbs...and He Was Pretty Talented!

Wow....we enjoyed a spectacular concert last night! Ben Folds is one talented man! He pounds the piano so hard while he's rocking out, I'm surprised his fingers aren't bloody by the time he's done!

Although Ben Folds can sometimes use choice words, and although I don't know all his songs well enough to sing along, I still thoroughly enjoyed myself. Not only did I get to hang out with Sammy, but Aaron and Lindsay came along, too! As far as concerts go, this one was pretty entertaining. Here's a few highlights:

Ben Lee's guitar plug (the thing that plugs into the speakers so we can hear what he's playing) producing some serious fuzz noise and nobody coming to help him so, instead of giving up, he lifted his guitar up to the mic and played and sang using the same mic.

Paying five bucks for parking, and then paying another five bucks to go upstairs...on top of the 10 dollar service charge.

Waiting in line forever before they actually opened the doors and hour after they said they would...with a very full bladder.

Watching people flail their bodies around while rocking out to Ben Folds.

Seeing Ben Folds out taking pictures before the concert and Sam yelling he loves him at the top of his lungs. (and Ben actually acknowledge the yell by giving a sideways glance and a slight nod of the head and wave of the hand)

Singing along with the crowd as Ben Folds waved his arms and led us through various parts of a couple songs....Ba, ba, ba....

Watching the mysterious tambourine man walk on and off the stage nonchalantly...never showing his face.

Seeing Ben Folds do all sorts of crazy things with the piano, synthesizer, and shaker, and sometimes doing them at the same time.

Having Ben pull out his camera in the middle of the concert and take a picture of the crowd (and Salt Air not turning on the house lights for him)

And last, but not least, watching Ben throw his stool at the piano at the end of the concert.

All in all, Ben is one passionate, crazy, talented, down to earth, rock star.

Savana learned how to open cupboards and drawers. And she can't help but go to one when she sees it. It's like the drawers are whispering secrets to her....telling her all the fun things they have hidden away behind their doors. Today she discovered the drawer holding all her bibs. A pretty harmless drawer, although I could foresee a mess to clean up. Savana proceeded to rummage through the drawer and pull out many of her bibs. She even discovered a few hidden treasures (a baby monitor we never use since our condo is teeny...we hear every peep she makes)! But, before she crawled away from the drawer, she picked up those bibs and put them back in the drawer! I'm sure it was Savy's desire to put things inside other things, not the desire to actually clean up after herself! (My 15 year old sister still hasn't clued into this concept!) But you never know! Maybe her aunt's OCD with cleanliness is going to kick in with Savy!

On a much different note, I can't wait to rock out in the suburbs to Ben Folds tonight! Wahoo!!

Back to Life

Savana chose a great night to be sick. I've had the whole week off of school for spring break and have thoroughly enjoyed staying up late (11:30) and sleeping in (7:30)! (I know, it's pathetic when those times are considered staying up late and sleeping in.) So I decided to go to bed slightly early last night to compensate for having to get up at 6:00 to get ready for school. I dislike Mondays quite a bit, so I though if I got enough sleep, it would be easier to get up. But Savana had different plans for me...the poor girl had a fever and woke up three times last night. Needless to say, I wanted to throw my alarm clock across the room when it went off this morning.

It's just hard to get back to life and back to reality when you've had a week's break from the usual routine. Sammy, Savy, and I packed up and spent this last week at my mom's house with my sisters. My parents were out of town, so we moved in for the week. Instead of heading off someplace fun, Shanda and I took Mallory, Brynn, and our kids to lots of fun places around us....Lehi Legacy Center Pool (with an incredible kiddie pool), Thanksgiving Point to see the farm animals, and the Living Planet Aquarium. We had a blast hanging out, cooking yummy food, playing games, and playing with the kids! It's so nice having family close by!

2 second epiphany

Savana had her first tumble down the stairs today.  It scared the pants off me and Brynn.  We were shaking for a half hour after the incident.  Savy's just learned how to crawl up stairs this week, and she thinks she's invincible.  She has no hesitance heading down the stairs or off the edge of the bed face first.  And she moves so fast!

Well, today she tested her invincibility.  In a blink of an eye, she was at the edge of the stairs and heading face first down the long flight of stairs.  I was playing the piano, Brynn was at the top of the stairs, and within 2 seconds of Brynn's scream, I ran over and grabbed Savy before she conked her head on the wood floor.  It was the scariest 2 seconds of my life.  I was terrified.

Savy came away with a cut in her mouth, I came away with a little bit of blood on my new shirt, and Brynn and I came away with a serious case of the nervous shakes.

This was Savy's first big tumble, and my first experience feeling terrified for my baby's life.  Yeah, I know it was just a minor fall down the stairs, but it was a big eye-opener to me at the many "falls" my little baby is going to take in her life...and not just physical falls.  A few of these "falls" can be avoided by close supervision and guidance, but there are some things my little girl is going to have to go through in her life.  And although I will always be there to support her through whatever falls she goes through, I won't always be there to catch her and save her from it.

I love my Savana and I want the world (and the moon) for her.  I only hope Sammy and I can give Savy all she needs to be successful, happy, confident, and loved in all aspects of her life.

Rocking the Night Away

Spring Break totally rocks (literally)! I walked out of Kindergarten at 12:30 on Friday afternoon, not having to see my kindergarteners again for a whole 9 days! (I truly love them, but man, it's nice to have a break! they're slightly energy draining.) I've already read a great book, cleaned my house, hung out with friends, hung out with my sisters, relaxed, and then went to a freaking awesome concert last night!

Me and Brynn dragged our little sister, Mallory, and my tired husband, Sam, to Utah Valley University to see Jimmy Eat World and Paramore. It was Mallory's first rock concert, and I dare say they lived up to her expectations of a truly rocktacular concert. All us girls bought t-shirts...(mine emphasized the best part of my body..tee-hee...i wish i had pictures to show...but my camera's battery was DEAD!!!!) And then we sat back to watch them rock our socks off.

I'm not that familiar with Paramore's music, but they provided us with some great dancing tunes and convinced me I need to listen to them more. And then the long awaited moment came....


...and Jimmy Eat World walked onto the stage to rock the night away. Sam got tired about halfway through (it's hard working all day), but us girls danced hard core to all the tunes we knew. It was a great concert, complete with crazy outfits, teenage couples being sickly in "love", weird piercings, and awesome music. We had a great night! Thanks, Brynn for convincing us all we needed to attend last night!

Only 8 more days until our next concert...Ben Folds!!!

TAGGED?!?! Well, if I must...

A-attached or single: attached pretty hard core
B-best friends: my hubby sambo
C-cake or pie: both. if pie, i must have the graham cracker crust. if cake, it must be chocolate
D-day of choice: Thursdays-one more day till the weekend and the best t.v. night (now that lost moved to thursdays!)
E-essential item(s): savy, diapers, cell phone, and orbit gum
F-favorite color: right now? probably black. love to wear it and decorate with it
G-gummy worms or bears: bear
H-hometown: American Fork, UT is my true hometown, but saratoga springs is my actual hometown for the moment
I-indulgence: chex muddy buddies
J-January or July: definitely july...who likes cold January?
K-kids: one adorable babe...savana
L-life is incomplete without: sleep, family, friends, and my toothbrush
M-marriage date: october 23, 2003
N- number of siblings: 5 sexy sisters
O-oranges or apples: apples...if they're nice and crisp
P-phobias or fears: spiders if anyone's around (i can handle them on my own), and losing my loved ones
Q-quotes: "dance like no one is watching."
R-reasons to smile: savy's cheese face, spring break, and watching savy sleep
S-season: i love them all...for the first few days. then i'm ready for a change
T-tag friends: no one...i'll let you all off the hook
U-unknown fact about me: hmm...i was a terribly shy child...until i met alesha. then she drew me out of my shell. thanks, sheesh!
V-very favorite store: h & m, old navy, target
W-worst habit: inability and lack of motivation to work out
X-x-ray, ultrasound, or mammogram: ultrasound...they're usually showing off something amazing
Y-your favorite food: mmm...that's a tough one. anything my mom makes!!
Z- Zodiac: leo

"It's okay to make a mistake...it's part of learning!"

That is one of our many "mottos" in Kindergarten. Life is full of opportunities, goals, chances, successes, failures, mistakes, and ah-hah moments. We should be just as proud of our failures and mistakes as we should about our successes. Without them, we wouldn't grow, we wouldn't learn, and we most likely wouldn't reach our goals.

So let's celebrate our mistakes in life. Those are our moments of learning.

Raising Kids is a lot like Training a Dog

My parents have this super cute big puppy named Jack. He's just over a year (in human years) old. My mom, dad, and sister Mallory have spent a lot of time training him...teaching him not to chew things, how to sit, wait, roll over, uh-uh, etc. Somethings he's really good at, somethings he's not so good at. But if there's one thing I've learned about Jack, he'll do ANYTHING for a treat...much like my daughter.

If you've ever eaten anything around Savana, you've learned that you have to share. Savy will stare down anyone with food—family, friend, or stranger—and start licking her chops and grunting until she gets a piece of whatever you're having. Alesha can attest to this...I think Savana ate more of her mashed potatoes then Alesha did. And Savy loves to eat. I've yet to find a bottom to her belly.


Well, today I was trying to coach Savana to walk along the edge of her coffee table. Jack came to mind, as well as Savy's love for food, so I put the two thoughts together and made Savy earn her Cheerios. I laid Cheerios along the edge of the coffee table and showed her where they were. She made small, shaky steps along the side of the coffee table, and in the end, Savy got to all those Cheerios!

Chickies

Every spring my mom (also a Kindergarten teacher) hatches baby chicks for her class. Well, she puts them in an incubator and hopes they hatch. This year, only one of her 12 eggs hatched. Being the sensitive woman she is, she had to go buy two other chicks from Thanksgiving Point so her one chick wouldn't feel lonely!

When I was student teaching in Logan, I also hatched eggs for my Kindergarteners. I had a lot of them hatch, but then two chicks had something happen to them, and they started losing strength in their legs and eventually ended up dying. I was devastated over the loss of these two chicks (Sam can attest to that, as can the teacher I was helping...I was in tears the whole day!) Nevertheless, I haven't had the courage (or time) to attempt to hatch eggs in my class...but we love going to visit them at Grandma's school!

Savana loved watching the chicks play around in the cage. She kept making little chirping noises, just like the chickies! The yellow chick is the one my mom successfully hatched!

Mallory had to keep a close eye on Savana. The chickies were so interesting, she wanted to grab them. And little kids don't know the power of their own strength.

Thoughts...

Sammy and I have been down to one car for quite awhile. Our old car rolled over and died and is going to cost too much for us to justify fixing it. Sammy's seriously considering getting a motorcycle. It's much cheaper then an actual car, we'll save money on gas mileage, but I'm slightly worried about how safe Sammy will be on the motorcycle. I guess there's risk in simply living and breathing, but with a motorbike, I think the risk factor will rise a bit. But I'm certainly anxious to get another mode of transportation...it stinks having to drive 20 minutes to pick him up from work.

Oh, and Savy just puked all over the cute outfit I had her dressed in. I wanted to show off her cuteness to some friends this evening, and I had the perfect outfit on her. And then she goes and pukes all over it! Grrrrr.....

I Kid, I Kid

So, I spent some time today researching non-profit organizations. I'm working on a branding project for an organization which funds and carries out humanitarian projects to feed those in need and looking at example organizations gets my mind going. Anyway, I decided to visit unicef.org to fill my idea bucket. While I knew UNICEF was a humanitarian organization, as I read I realized that I never knew they focused specifically on the improvement of children's lives worldwide.

I read about how many children are born into impoverished conditions, about how many never get the chance to go to school, and about how many ultimately succumb to malnutrition and die. I was moved as my thoughts turned to my little girl. I love her so much—more than I ever thought possible. How would I feel if she had to fight for survival, or would never have the chance to better her circumstances?

It's a tragedy, one of the worst I can imagine. Children, the most innocent of all human beings, deserve the right to be children. Being a child for my little girl means being fed, clothed, and played with. She gets to learn, grow, and brighten my day with her cheery disposition. She is comforted and coddled, loved and hugged. My life is better because her life is as it should be. All children deserve that life.

I don't usually feel swayed by humanitarian causes. They are often far away and disconnected enough from my life to be little more than a news story. The fight for children is a cause that I, from my new perspective as a father, can more easily champion. If I really love my little girl, shouldn't I fight for her and all children?