I'm not sure how to talk, really talk, about how much this concert meant to me.

Back in high school, my ears were opened to a whole new level of music. I've written about it a lot in the past, but it changed my life. I already liked alternative music a lot, but my life-long friend Ben had discovered some amazing sound, thanks as always, to the British.

Cocteau Twins, Kate Bush, Bauhaus, This Mortal Coil and Dead Can Dance.

Dead Can Dance's Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard. Photo: Jay Brooks / Sacks & Co.

I thought they'd broken up back in 1999. They've both put out solo albums, etc. Dead Can Dance was done, right?

Imagine knowing a band/musician that had moved you in amazing ways. Imagine that band/musician was never going to produce any more of that soul satisfying sound again. Terrible.

All the credit for knowing about the return and world tour of Dead Can Dance goes to my husband. He found out about it and said we could go together. What an offer! But...

But this music belongs to me and someone else I am eternally entwined with...my sister-in-law Alesha. I told Cameron that his offer was wonderful, more than generous, but I really had to go with Alesha.

And I did. We had to go together to experience something long hoped for and never to be realized, except now it could be realized.

The venue was the Red Butte Garden amphitheater and the concert was last Saturday. I thought a lot of my friend Ben, now passed away these eight years, and how he was the catalyst for my love for all this music that I still love so much  (going on nineteen years).

It was a beautiful, dream-like concert, so much more about sound than noise, an amplification of the senses rather than the volume of an electric guitar (though that's awfully fun, too). Dead Can Dance are classified as "world music." Fair enough. They are Gothic cathedrals, rural Turkish villages, Greek churches and Irish fields.

Brendan Perry's voice is a rich, elevated baritone and Lisa Gerrard reminded me of a graceful marble statue that could sing like an angel.

I wished Ben could have see this concert. I wanted him to be there. Dead Can Dance have never made it to Salt Lake City before. At the third encore, an unfamiliar song introduction began and I puzzled it out in my brain and then came the utterly unexpected "Song to the Siren." Originally written by Tim Buckley, recorded by Pat Boone, then Tim Buckley, then This Mortal Coil (sung by Elizabeth Fraser from The Cocteau Twins). This Mortal Coil's version is the one I know best and when I was in high school with Ben, he expressed that he'd like me to sing it at his funeral.



When Ben's mom called to tell me that he had passed away, she said wanted me to sing but that she wasn't sure what yet. I related what Ben had told me ten years earlier and she said that's what she wanted me to do.

So here I am. Standing at this concert, with my sister-in-law and friend, who accompanied my singing at Ben's funeral, listening to the very song I sang that day, all the while thinking of him, wishing he could be there. Of course, I cried, but it was so awesome. Alesha and I clung to each other.



These musicians move me. I am so grateful for the effort they put into beauty and ethereal elevation.

The new computer is here and installed and running well.

THANK HEAVEN!!!

I'm grateful to have the means to replace when it's time to do so, but nearly three weeks without a computer really sucked.

We had a lovely Easter Saturday and although I forgot my camera, my sister took this of all the grandkids
Yesterday we had dinner with Cameron's family. We don't get together enough and it's really great when we do. We also had a mini-birthday song and cake for me. The cutest thing about that was how excited my kids were to celebrate with me. Love those kiddos!

This was such a great family week!
On Wednesday morning my cousin Curtis and his family came for breakfast, passing through on their way to Las Vegas to visit her family.
I was really excited about this because I had not yet met his wife, Chelsea, although we've been blog buddies for way more than a year now. (I hesitate saying years...could I have been blogging that long?!) The 90 minutes they spent with us just flew by and was so nice. My boys loved playing with Caleb. Makenna loved playing with...me! It's so rare to have someone else's kid take to me so I was more than pleased. I also got to hold little Mason. Dane was enchanted with that little guy.
I am so glad they came to visit.

Ella felt a bit shy about the whole thing and she even missed out on pictures. Dig Bryce's crazy jammies!
Me and my boys...

On Friday, Cam surprised me by calling and asking if I minded if we went out to eat for dinner. If you know us at all...well, it just about knocked my socks off. Thanks, Cam!!!

After we ate, we played at Sky Park. Bryce decided to be the photographer.

Daddy

Mommy
The slide
Bryce's personal favorite: his nostrils

When I got my camera back...

Ella

Bryce and Dane

My three little monkeys

And now today...

we had Cameron's parents and sister's family over for dinner.

So much fun to be with family!!!

(Kristine, Bryce, Ella, Dane & James in the sandbox)

Dane had a marvelous birthday on Thursday, waking up to a brand-new green (favorite color) bicycle. He came to wake us up early (as he has the entire Christmas vacation). I told him that he had a surprise in the other room. Off he went and I listened closely...first, the gasp! then "a new bike!" whispered with incredulity and then the patter of bare feet and then Dane rushing into our room exclaiming "Thank you! Thank you for the new bike!" Surprises are so priceless! Yay!
Our whole family would like to take a minute to wish our many other family and friends celebrating birthdays in January a very happy day!
ANISA S, CONNER B, ETHAN F, IAN M, JONE D, JOREN S, KELLY D, & LANA R


Continuing with the party...
Cam's mom and my niece Kristine







My mom with Bryce who slept through the whole thing.


Finally, my cute nieces Addie and Kristine with Ella. She was so excited to play with both of them at the same time. She's usually quite outnumbered by boys so this was extra fun. Kristine's twin brother James and Addie's brother Kyler spent the whole time running around with Dane.

Cam's parents both came. Alesha and Sean came with their kids. My mom brought Ky and Addie. My siblilngs Eric and Mandy came. It was a good turn-out for a quick, last minute get-together.

I hosted Thanksgiving this year for my husband's side of the family. Determined to enjoy my week, I actually wrote out a great division of labor for the four days leading up to the big day and was pretty pleased with that. Thankfully, it worked out well.

While I prepared the turkey for the oven, I got Dane and Ella busy making sugar cookie dough for the cookies for the cousins to frost and eat while the adults were playing games. Thankfully, Dane can read, measure and crack eggs.

I kept Bryce entertained by using his hand to stamp turkeys for the place cards. Then I let him finger paint. After returning from leaving the room for a minute, he had painted his pants, socks, the chair, the table, and the chairs for the kiddie table in the next room. Thankfully, it was Tempera paint and it washed off easily.


Cameron was so willing to help and I did a better job of asking for that help more than usual. Thankfully, he not only handled chores I hadn't got to yet, but they were also ones I didn't want to do.


Later, I had Dane and Ella decorate the turkey hand prints that Bryce made. They did a great job, using their fingers, Q-Tips, and acrylic paint.

Thankfully, they got none of that paint on their clothes.
My turkey turned out great, though it was ready two hours early (how did that happen?). Thankfully, everyone arrived on time.

My husband's sister and family arrived with an extra guest. (Surprise!) Thankfully, we had room at our table and plenty of food.

Five busy cousins under age six had a marvelous time together. Thankfully, the house survived and no one got hurt.

I chose to not play games this year (I'm ususally really competitive and love games), but chose to clean up and spend time with my kids and their cousins. Thankfully, no one missed me, the kids enjoyed my reading to them and my house looks great today.

All that stuff is great but I am truly thankful for:

• a husband like Cameron


• kids that love me anyway
• a warm house in a beautiful area
• food to fill my stomach
• the Gospel
• intelligence and creativity
• digital cameras
• books
• really great friends

Now, bring on CHRISTMAS!

Monday: Ella's birthday and we had a big birthday party for both her and Bryce. I had some errand running to do earlier in the day and ended up having only three hours (3 pm to 6 pm) to pull the party all together before our family members arrived. In that time I managed (after turning on "Monsters, Inc." for my little monsters) to bake two cakes (from mixes), frost and decorate (with new toys from the store), make dough for 4 pizzas and get out all the appetizers... Then those tender mercies start happening. My SIL Alesha and family arrive and begin slicing pizza toppings and putting them together with me. We get one, then another in the oven and then everyone else begins arriving. The timing was nice...too many cooks in the kitchen are, well, too many. It was nice that everyone else was running later. GREAT!

The party was fun, busy and full of energy! Final count: 14 adults, 7 kids under 7. Happy Birthday, kids!

Tuesday:

Ella had her well-child check-up. Why she felt the need to talk baby talk with Bryce, dropping Rs and Ls all over the place as the pediatrician is evaluating abilities, etc. I do not know. A small growth on her lower back that had showed up and increased in size rapidly in the last 6 months, turned out to be nothing. A great relief as we were suspecting some cancerous mole. 4 shots and no, she wasn't brave and the way she was thrashing about I wouldn't be surprised if they hurt more than they needed to. Not fun.

Tuesday, was also Ella's soccer game. Coach Mommy didn't check the time and we arrived and hour early. She was too cold (and WHINY!) to play, but we did have one of the kids totally become a break-out star and made three goals in quick succession (with an assist from Brenner), making a soccer game with 4-yr-olds actually exciting. We won. Always fun!

Wednesday:

Kids got along well. Cooperated. Did chores. So nice!

Dane's soccer game went well. He has fun. We spend the whole time wrestling with Bryce in an effort to keep him running onto the field. They haven't won yet, but remember, that's not what's important, right? Right, but tell that to the parents sitting to the left and right of me!

Thursday:

Even more cooperation from the kids with Dane mopping the kitchen floor for the first time and not much complaining when I asked them for extra help sans pay.

I did good on my chores as well, nearly resurrecting my home from the disaster Monday brought to normalcy. I also made my bookshelves look nice.

I got back to reading the scriptures with the kids. I have been nagged by promptings and didn't want to ignore them any more. Best part! They were beyond enthusiastic and had obviously missed doing this with me.

Ella got to go to her first birthday party that I recall dropping her off at. It felt like the first day of school suddenly and I was a mildly upset by it. So hard to let go, sometimes... Did I mention the party was just next door?

Dane did well with piano, continually impressing his teacher. How 'bout impressing your mother with a little less pounding and making a 10-minute daily practice into a 40-minute one?

Now here is Friday:

Exciting stuff happening for Cameron that I can't share yet.

Dane had been Mr. Attitude all morning and it's only 8:34 AM. Long day? Most likely. I've fed everyone, but myself. I should do that, but I'm dressed and they're not, so neener-neener!

This is as interesting a post as I could come up before this weekend. If you are my friend on http://www.goodreads.com/ then you know I just added a few new books to my currently-reading list, so I want to work on some of those and I'm going to end this...and read scriptures with my kids before picking up any library books.

HOMECOMING!!!

My in-laws have finally returned from their second mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They served in the Germany Freiberg Temple for 18 months. They met and worked with some wonderful people and I'm sure it was hard to say good-bye. They had some amazing experiences there and so many blessings.

Kids sure grow a lot in 18 months. Kathy, my mil, stood back for a long time just looking at the grandkids then teased them about eating while she was gone when she told them not to.

We made welcome home signs during family home evening yesterday. Bryce, whose sign read "Hello. My name is Bryce", held his sign the whole time, even all the way back home. Dane decorated a cute hat as well with the German flag and "I am 6" written all over it.

My sweet niece and nephew practiced at saying "Welcome Home" and did a great job. Kristine was heart-broken when we had to say good-bye in the parking garage. I don't know if she was sadder about leaving Grandma and Grandpa or not getting to play with my kids.

Alesha and her daddy
The group (Alesha took the shot)

Cam's parents are currently serving in the Freiberg Temple in Germany. In a recent phone conversation with them, Kathy was mentioning some of the Christmas traditions they were going to participate in with their fellow missionaries. The first was the Advent which (as she explained) was the chocolate calendar countdown as well as the following:

Each of the four Sundays before Christmas they take a wreath and place four candles inside it. One candle is lit each Sunday and they eat cookies and drink hot chocolate and sing Christmas carols.

My wonderful sister-in-law invited us over for a real Thanksgiving dinner and we surprised her with the advent stuff.

Dane and Ella made two wreaths out of paper and buttons and we gave one to my sis-in-law's family. It was so much fun and it was a great tradition to participate in. I hope we'll do it again next year.

It was also very nice to see our family, whom we have missed and dinner? It was EXCELLENT!