Almost...

Tuesday night Alex and I went with our niece Greta (18) and her boyfriend to an Aquabats concert. It was super rad. The Aquabats are a poppy ska band that were huge in the late 90s. They are a bit older--but put on an out-of-this-world performance. They dress up in costumes (the famous blue aquabat spandex, black Zoro masks, and "utility belts") and fight bad guys on stage. Plus also, the music is fun.

So, the Aquabats co-created this new CrAzY show on Nickalodean called Yo Gabba Gabba (produced by Alex's cousin Justin!). It is a show loved by kids and grown-up-kids who overdosed on Sesame Street and Saturday Morning Cartoons in the 80s. They have 5 funny characters (robot, wolf, alien-like creatures, etc.) and have guest stars (Elijah Wood, and lots of indie bands), kids, and songs (There's a Party in my Tummy!). (We have never actually seen the show, because we don't have cable--but we watch pieces on YouTube).

Anyway...DJ Lance Rock (guy in big orange hat) opened for the Aquabats and....the characters from Yo Gabba Gabba danced on stage! AND WE MISSED IT!!! We got to the concert a bit late--and they had just finished and left the stage. Bummer. We saw a family from church there with their little ones--they got to go up on stage and dance. Muno even tried to pick up the baby. How cool is that!? I suppose it would be like me going to a concert as a 2-year-old and getting to meet Big Bird and Snuffy. Whoa. I wish.

But...the concert was super fun and it is always fun to go to concerts with Greta.

An exerpt from a rambling Journal entry...

"Life isn’t a competition to see who is engaged in the most worthy or time-consuming cause! Life is a test to determine how we meet the challenges our Heavenly Father presents for us—by our actions and our attitudes. Life is so much more than this week’s To Do List. When we sacrifice the "best things" in favor of crossing off the more obvious things from our List—we are not getting any closer to becoming the whole and healthy daughters of God that we desire to be! Life is made up of moments. How we live in each moment IS our life. SO…choose wisely."

Great Auntie Jen

Thanksgiving was wonderful...the food was excellent and the family had so much fun. My 5-year old nephew Ole (the blond-boy below) called me a few days before Thanksgiving: "Auntie Jen? Will-you-bring-your-Gameboy-with-you-when-you-come-to-my-house-so-that-you-can-battle-Mabel-in-Pokemon?"




It was so cute! (Mabel is his 7-year old sister). This is me with nephew Ole (5), niece Mabel (7), and my great-nephew Garrett (3--the one trying to figure out what the camera is doing). I adore those kids! I don't get to spend near enough time with them! Also pictured: Alex and our nephew Gavin (26)--who is Garrett's daddy--playing ping pong.

Oh...p.s. the day after Thanksgiving I went to see Mr. Magorian's Wonder Emporium with my mother-in-law and some of my nieces and nephews--it was SO cute!! I definitely recommend it!

The First Recording Session

Hooray! After months of missed plans, we have finally begun recording for our EP! We are recording 3 songs (Pacific Shores, Over the Mains, and Corridor) with our friend Dennis Ayres (who is drumming for us). Eric Lovre (of the Dharma Bums) is recording us in his in-house basement studio. It's tiny--but perfect for Kalaloch.

These are songs that we have been playing and planning on recording for a long time. Too long. Until today, these songs were a bit boring to play. But...it was fun to watch other people get excited about our music. The excitement was contagious and the day was awesome. There was much creativity and some great sounds. We got 2 drum tracks down perfectly...and one that needed just one last take--but our drummer had a gig and couldn't stay a minute longer. Hopefully we'll finish the drum tracks up this week, and then get the rest of the recording done this year.

If we're lucky...we'll have a record pressed by February or March.

Fun Weekend Sunday: Cowgirls and Colossial Heights

SUNDAY
Sunday we spent enjoying God's creations. We hiked Blue Basin (which is green...hm...) and found much peace in spending time together 1000 ft. above a breath-taking view. The hike was about 3.5 miles with a thousand foot elevation change. We hiked up the canyon and then around the rim on the top of the mountains--looking down into this blue/green basin. Many amazing early mammal fossils have been found in this "valley of dry bones." It was awesome to look down into the basin and realize that it is the resting place for mammoths, the first rhinos, saber-tooth cats, and Alex's favorite: the fanged-mouse-deer.

My favorite part: climbing over the stile when the path crossed through a private farmer's land. I felt like a real cowgirl up on the mountain side walking the cattle-trail. (=

Sunday night...I won. We drove to the nearest real town and stayed in the Best Western. I soaked in the bath and Alex picked up Pesto Pesto Pizza (yum!). We slept with the heat on full blast all night.

Fun Weekend Saturday: Crikey, it's COLD!

SATURDAY

We spent the day learning about the ancient jungles of Central Oregon--a story told in the fossils of these painted mountains. Apparently banana trees, crocs, and rhinos were plentifully until the hot lava redecorated the landscape.

We drove through some great small towns. These pictures are from our drive on the business loop in the "town" of Mitchell. It was sad and artistic and scary and beautiful. These buildings are not all abandoned. They house businesses, families, and the ghosts of happier pre-Interstate times when the Business Loop was a regular stop for cross-country travelers.

On our travels we happened across this bizarre looking tree with some Jurassic fungus. Shoe-shaped fungus...No! It's fungus-filled shoes! The sign seems to read "A bearing tree--no cherries or peaches--just a few pairs!"

Saturday night...Alex won. He really really really wanted to go camping. He was certain that the extra bedding he brought would keep the bitter cold at bay...and--I admit, it did sound fun.
After an indeterminable amount of time we agreed that the violent shivering of our bodies was not actually warming the air in the tent...perhaps we needed to consider a different lodging option. But...we didn't have enough gas to get to a town with a hotel. We only had enough gas to get to towns that had gas stations open during daytime hours. Hooray for heated seats! We threw our air mattress and blankets in the back of the wagon, turned on the heat full-blast until we were sweating--then turned off the engine and dove under the covers! It wasn't quite as comfortable as our "really nice" motel room...but it was warm!

to be continued...

Fun Weekend Friday: Jennifer Aniston, and paleontology

Our plans to record with our band fell through last weekend (again), and we were suddenly left with a long 3-day weekend and no plans. I voted for spending time cleaning and catching up on my to-do's...but Alex really wanted to go away and--I'll admit it--I did too. (I'll never look back on my life and wish that I had spent more time cleaning and less quality time with my husband!)

We decided to go somewhere close that we had never been to before--and the only National Park we had not been to in Oregon was the John Day Fossil Beds (http://www.nps.gov/joda/). This is a little piece of desert in the middle of green Oregon! I felt like I was in Utah--colored mountains, tumbleweeds, and COLD. But I'm getting ahead of myself...



FRIDAY


We decided to spend the first night in a little town called Madras, OR. Tiny town, middle of the off-season, freezing temperatures...we should have no trouble getting a hotel...right? But but but we were unaware that Jennifer Aniston is filming her new film in a hotel in Madras, OR.



Yup. So we had to settle for one of the only little hotels with a vacancy sign--The Madras Hotel and Motel. It was awesome. The lobby of this 1800s hotel doubled as a real estate office, museum, post office replica, hotel desk, handyman shop, taxidermy shop, christian missionary center. Our little old hotel manager gave us the grand tour--he told us all about the grand history of his hotel (which we couldn't stay in because it was built before indoor plumbing) and the motel that he recently re-decorated by himself. "I'll give yer a real nice room with a queen sized bed," he says. "Everything in the room is brand new! I re-done-it myself," he says. He was adorable...and that was the smallest queen-sized bed I've ever slept on!

to be continued...

My Grader

I have the best husband (sorry ladies, but it's true!). Alex has been commuting to Portland everyday (getting up at 5:15 a.m. to make the morning train and not getting home until nearly 8 at night)...yet he doesn't let that be an excuse to not help out at home. He knows that I'm busy and tired when I get home too.

This last Tuesday I needed to grade some exams for the Basic Math class I teach at the college. We've started a tradition with grading exams: I bring home the tests and pizzas--we divvy up the problems--and then spend the evening comparing weird answers and helping each other with those tough-partial-credit decisions. It is so fun! It sounds weird--but it is really fun to share my teaching experience with him. Anyway--on Tuesdays I don't get home until 8:30 pm because I work late and then have a late night Yoga class. I came home with the pizza and found the house straightened, the dishes done, candles lit, and the coffee table cleared and ready for exams.

I love my husband! It's so great being married to someone you like. I highly recommend it.

New Calling!

After nearly 2 years teaching the CTR 8 class at church, I have a new calling! I will now be an Achievement Days leader for "FIGS" girls 10 and 11. Yeay! I'll miss my class, but I'm excited for my new calling and I'm really looking forward to it. I remember Merry Miss activities when I was in primary. Those are some of my fondest memories from Primary! I hope that I'll be able to make these activities fun and meaningful for these girls!

All Hallow's Eve

The Hippie and The Hick