Utah Review

Hi.

My month-long hiatus from the blogging world has come to an end.
Rest assured that I haven’t neglected you dear readers intentionally. Suffice it to say that I cannot seem to get the mess that is my house under control. I have been trying and trying and trying for a good 3 weeks now, which leaves little time for blogging, as you may imagine.

So, for a quick summary of what we did in Utah…

We had a GREAT time.

Oh, was that a little too quick? Okay. I’ll include some photos.
Our two weeks in Utah were filled with lots of

friends....

cousins....

cousins...

more cousins....

Treats...

This is what I found one day when I went to check to see if Adam was done with his nap. I was hopeful that he would still be asleep. It was oh so quiet in there.

Tweens...

These girls were 6 when I moved out of Utah. I really had a fun time sitting in the kitchen with them and their siblings, listening to them talk about friends, love interests, Twilight, and other things that brought back memories of when I was their age….and I may have told a story or two.

Nostalgia....

My nieces found a box labeled “Emily’s Dolls” in my parents’ attic. So of course we opened it. I was surprised how many times I cooed “o-oh” whenever I would pull out a new one. There are some Madame Alexander dolls, some handmade by my Grandma, and some that were my babies during their glory days. It seems the farther and farther my childhood slips behind me, the more my heart yearns when I find connections like this.

Siblings who I absolutely adore….

L-R: Angie, Dale, Me, Melanie, Kirk, Ellen, Mike, Becky
Front: Mom and Dad

…and one AWESOME surprise.

It was my mom’s 60th birthday on Thanksgiving day. All of my siblings arranged to be there for this surprise party on Monday night. Amazingly, we managed not to give it away before the big day…even though I had a really close call:

We were hiding out at my sister Ellen’s house for the first 5 days of our trip. I offered to stay home and babysit while the older Burnsies all went to see Twilight. Everything was going great until the phone rang and I answered. I heard my mom’s voice on the other end….

Mom: “Ellen?”

Me: It’s mom. Blast! My heart starts racing. Pregnant silence that lasts an eternity. “Yeah?”

Mom: “This is mom.”

Me: “Hi!” This can't be happening to me.

Mom: “Is this Ellen?”

Me: More long hesitation. What do I do? “Yeah, it’s me.” Great. Now I’m committed. I already know I don’t sound anything like Ellen. Wo is me. If only I were pretending to be Angie I could pull it off because my mom can’t tell us apart on the phone.

Mom: “Ellen, it doesn’t sound like you.”

Me: Great. She’s caught me. I am a notoriously bad liar. There is no way I will be able to pull this off. I’m going to have to cave in and tell her the truth. But then, calculating all of the money, effort, and everyone’s time and careful planning that has gone into this one surprise, I can’t give it away. “No, it’s me. What can I do for you?” Blast! I really don’t sound like Ellen. Not only does my voice sound enormously different, I’m saying things she would never say, and I’m on an adrenaline rush so I’m speaking like a ditzy teenager.

Mom: “It really doesn’t sound like you. Are you far away from your phone?”

Me: Ah, she’s provided me with an alibi. Hallelujah! “Yeah, I’m on speaker phone.”
Okay, I’m OBVIOUSLY not on speaker phone. Speaker phone sounds grainy and distant like you’re getting really bad reception on the radio dial. Speaker phone doesn’t magically turn you into someone else and make you sound like a cheerleader.

Mom: “Oh, that must be it.”

Me: “So what’s up?”
She was calling to schedule a family trip to the temple and wanted to find out if the day after Thanksgiving would work for me….er….Ellen.

Me: Without any pretense at consideration for Ellen’s real schedule, “Yup. That’s perfect. I’ll put it on my calendar. Bye.”

So, I was counting on the fact that my being in Utah would be so far out of context for her that she wouldn’t figure out it was me. I was also counting on the fact that she is such a focused person on whatever task is at hand that once she hung up the phone she forgot about it. I was right on both counts.

So, without further ado, here’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for.



The party was a recital for old time’s sake. We played our favorite chamber music, her favorite chamber music, and Dale put together an awesome choir with all the grandkids singing a Bach Cantata. No, I’m not kidding. Bach. Cantata.

I borrowed Melanie’s violin because Weston and I decided that carrying 3 fragile and irreplaceable things with me on the plane was enough. We didn’t want to try to make it 4. But at the moment of the recital I was wishing I had my own. We only had one day to practice together so it wasn’t the best performance we could have given, but we had fun. Afterward my mom stood up on the stage and told a story about how recently she was going through her music files and she started crying because with each piece she realized it represented a victory or success for one of her children. She had us all in tears.

I am getting weepy and sentimental in my old age.

Ay-Aye, Cap'n!

Okay, this is hilarious....

Yesterday I was faced with the daunting task of flying to Utah with all three kids. Let me articulate that by emphasizing that I was flying with 3 kids....3 and under. I got lots of funny looks and staring but I just smiled.

We succeeded in getting from the car, baggage check, and through the security line with Weston's help (Thanks again, Sweetheart!)
blah, blah, blah...fast forward to corralling the troops down the aisle of the airplane looking for row 25.

As we approached our designated row, Peter caught sight of a man wearing a black eye patch.

Peter said loudly so that everyone could hear: "Hey, look mommy...That guy is a pirate!"

Hey! What do ya know? He's seated right across the aisle from us.

Me embarrassed but trying to laugh it off: "Leave it to a three-year-old... The good news is we get to sit right next to you."

Peter to the pirate: "Are you a pirate? Do you have a ship? Are you the captain?"

Pirate: Nodding his head, smiling, and graciously playing along.

-minutes pass-

Peter trying to make his tray-table function: "How does this work, mom?"

Me: "We can't put the tray down until the captain says it's okay."

Peter to the *captain*: "Are you going to tell us when we can put the table down?"

Captain and Captain's friend and me: Laughing

-more minutes pass-

Delta Captain over the speaker: "Folks, we'd like to welcome you aboard Delta flight......"

Peter: "Who's that talking, mom?"

Me: "That's the captain, Pete."

Peter: Turns around to look at the captain who is not talking....at all. Confusion.

Me and Captain's friend: Laughing even more hysterically.

-Four hours pass with these interactions happening constantly-

(and me sometimes having to tell Peter not to wake the captain cause he's sleeping)

-Finally we land and start trying to collect our things-

Peter: "Mom, I don't think that guy is really a captain. I think he was just pretending."

Me: "I think you're right, Peter. But it was a fun game, wasn't it?"

Happy Veterans Day!!

I realized very late at night on November 10th that the following day was Veterans Day and Weston would be home from work.
With Weston in school (he was there all last weekend and usually spends his days-off doing homework) and me usually working on Saturdays, our precious moments to spend as a family are VERY few and far between.
I was supposed to host preschool that day.

Hmmmm…..

I acted hastily and called all my preschool friends to see if they would be interested in rescheduling. I figured I might not be the only one with Mr. Hubbie home that day. They were very gracious and agreed, despite the last-minute-ness of it all. Thanks, girls.

This was the best family day we’ve had in a long time.

We went to Brookside Gardens to enjoy what was left of the Autumn leaves. I still find it enjoyable even when most of them are on the ground.

Afterward we set our minds on going to find some hot chocolate.

Panera Bread? Too far. Random Kensington Donut Shop? Too hot of cocoa and not inspiring enough of a setting. IHOP? Definitely not inspiring enough of a setting….and involves being seated and paying a tip.

Finally we vocalized what both of us were thinking anyway: our mutual agreement that we are really tired of spending money.

We went home...

Fired up the grill for hot dogs…

...and had better hot cocoa than we could have paid anyone to make for us.

We even doused it with cream….which is what really makes hot cocoa, anyway.

An Evening With Craig Jessop

I had such a fun gig this weekend! It's not often you play a gig that makes you want to blog.

The Fairfax Choral Society invited Craig Jessop (former long-time director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir) to be their guest conductor. The way things played out, I ended up in an orchestra with many of my friends. I haven't laughed at someone in the cello section making faces at me since I was in college. Thanks for that, Kells!

Me, Kelly, Dr. Jessop, and Amber

Dr Jessop: "These girls are all OTS Alumn. These are Utah Girls."

I didn't realize how much playing under Dr. Jessop again would make me miss Salt Lake City. I played in the Orchestra at Temple Square for about 3 years and left in 2003 when I got married. It was so fun to be reminded of the days when I used to be able to participate with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and be inspired on a regular basis.

Back then I didn't realize the love I would develop for choirs and choral conducting, so it was even more inspiring to observe him from the standpoint of finding what I could learn from him as a choral conductor. His vocal warm-ups were amazing. I started taking notes on the back of a costco receipt, the only piece of paper I had in my purse at the time. I'm going to use them in Stake Choir next weekend. Even if everyone looks at me weird for making them sing: "The tip of the tongue, the teeth and the lips" on the downward diatonic scale.

The program was wonderful. We played a few Rutter pieces...you can never go wrong with John Rutter. We played Benjamin Britten's Rejoice in the Lamb, which was kind of fun for me because I got to sing this same piece earlier this year with National Philharmonic Singers. Only this time the accompaniment had been orchestrated (it was originally written for organ). I like it better with orchestra. We also played Mack Wilberg's Requiem, which was recorded last year by the MTC and OTS and released in February. It is now on my Christmas wish list. It was so beautiful. In my opinion, you can also never go wrong with anything written by Mack Wilberg (now the new director of the MTC.) It's so funny for me to think how inspired he is and yet how bashful he is about receiving accolades from the audience. I remember back in the day, whenever he was due to take a bow he would just turn around and kind of nod, and then hurry off stage. So endearingly Mack.

During rehearsal I realized that this concert was definitely something that my friends from Ward Choir/National Philharmonic Chorale would enjoy. So I did some inviting when I got home and everyone came. The Mikkelsens and the Eskelsens were our little entourage. Having people in the audience also makes gigs more fun. We spent the entirety of intermission just gabbing. They asked about our hubbies and we told them since the guys were all home babysitting, the four of them would have to be our fan club. It was so fun to visit with dear friends who we love so much.

Beautiful music, wonderful friends. Can life get better?

For Love of NieNie and Robin Hood

There is something that’s been on my mind a lot lately. It is the concept of making an effort to play with my children. The list of things that have contributed to my almost incessant contemplation of this topic is long.

We’ll start with Angie’s post. Read it. It’s poetry in a picture.

That lead me back to this article from the Ensign I read in 2005.

Shelley pointed out in one of her posts that the 4-6pm time-frame is the hardest part of the day for a stay-at-home-mom. That’s definitely true. More on this later.

Ingrid mentioned after her boys wake up from their naps, that’s when she’s due to go play cars.

….and then there’s NieNie.

I don’t know what to say other than that I am inspired by her. Her life is a celebration of life. She’s always doing things to make life fun for her kids. Like this….or this….only two examples of many. What’s more, her husband can do no wrong. I say that as a reflection of her own attitude. She absolutely has a special gift for finding all of the little things to be enjoyed about life, and highlighting them.
It’s strange, isn’t it? The things that the Lord allows to happen in life in order that we might be able to learn from those that have something to teach us? I don’t know NieNie personally, though I know her family from growing up in the tree streets in Provo, and her sister Courtney who’s been recording a beautiful log of her recovery since Stephanie’s airplane crash two months ago. I don’t know that I would have found or been interested in Stephanie’s blog had it not been for the accident, but I do know that I am not alone in being inspired by her. I think it was when they appeared on the Today Show, that Stephanie’s siblings said her blog gets around 40,000 hits a day.
Anyway, I can’t sufficiently catch you up on that story in this post, but if you’re interested, start here.

So without further ado….I introduce to you Robin Hood and Little John.

Robin Hood (the old-school version with Errol Flynn) finally reached the top of our Netflix queue a few days ago and since then, that scurvy outlaw who robs from the rich to feed the poor has been all the rage. Yesterday the boys were trying to make bows and arrows using pencils and rubber bands. Well…what kind of mom would I be not to take action? I fortunately had enough elastic left over from Peter’s Scarecrow costume…
....to make two bows. We hunted for sticks that would be strong enough in the yard this morning. The arrow tips are made out of that foamy stuff from the craft store. (I don’t even know what it’s called.)
I was starting to be impressed with myself until I tried to actually shoot an arrow. I kind of forgot that there’s more to the functionality of the bow and arrow getup than just how it looks.
We worked at it for a little while and after a couple of hours, Peter can actually make his arrow travel a good 5-8 feet.
It may be a while before Adam gets the hang of it. But for now he’s satisfied to flip the elastic on the bow, listen to it snap, and pretend.

So, what do you think? As Angie pointed out, the life of a stay at home mom is filled with things “to do.” In fact, I already know from experience that I could do and do and do all day and still never be done. (I did 6 loads of laundry on Tuesday and I still have a basket full waiting to be folded.) But remember that 4-6pm time-frame I told you about? Well, I’m going to try to use it to show my kids that I am interested in what interests them. It’s a fine line because the things “to do” still have to get done. It is very tempting to walk away when the kids are occupied with their trains or blocks, to seize the opportunity to “get something done.” I don’t pretend that I could ever really measure up to NieNie, but it’s nice to be challenged, and reminded that I could do better.

On a Baby Blessing and Gratitude

We were so blessed and grateful to have so much family able to come to Annelise’s baby blessing on Sunday.
Weston’s mom was here, as you know. Also my handsome brother Dale drove up 2.5 hours from Harrisonburg, VA.

My cousin Gary Vance and his wife Ondalynn were gracious enough to wake up before the crack of dawn to be ready with their three beautiful kids and drive an hour from Gaithersburg in order to be at our ward by 8:30am!
Weston gave a beautiful blessing. I am so grateful to him to be worthy to bless our children and family with the priesthood in our home.

…and I’m grateful for this little girl.

Fourth Photo Tag

Thanks for thinking of me, AJ. I thought this tag was kind of clever. What you do is go to your fourth folder, find the fourth picture, and post it.

This is Peter at....coincidentally, 4 days old.

Ain't he sweet?

Now I get to tag 4 people: Angie, Becky, Kelly, and Mme Dall. Let's see those pics, ladies.