Thursday, July 30, 2009

I Wanna Be A Rockstar.....


Do you ever let that hidden side of you come out? Well...I'm not very adept at hiding things, (ask my mom, my denial - "No I didn't go swimming" her response - "why is your wet suit in the washer then?") --- but sometimes new oddities of Debby pop out....mini secrets come to life. My latest? I think that I've secretly always wanted to be a rockstar (for a day or two that is.) I'm kind of getting my wish too, and I'm surprisingly enjoying it. I'm playing the keyboard for a patriotic dinner show at the Village Green. (performing this Fri. and Sat. and probably again the weekend of Sept. 11)
Yup - I am officially a member of a band. Company D is what we are called. There is a drummer, and 2 guitars, and 2 basses and 7 or 8 singers. Granted...it is not really "rock" music, (the wildest thing we play is Chuck Berry's Back in the USA) - and the vast majority is country music which I absolutley loathe...but still I am enjoying myself. I hated the rehearsals for the longest time - I was so annoyed to be working with some people who can't read music or count...etc...but I've come to really appreciate their craft, and realize I really stink at "rocking out." I'm not to keen on feeling the music and picking it out by ear, if you know what I mean. I certainly have my talents, elsewhere. But, as the "wild child" inside of me is released - I am finding it kind of fun to put on a show that can appeal to a more mainstream and mass audience of people than most shows I play for= and I'm slowly learning to let go a little bit. This isn't the first time (nor the last I hope) that my rocker chick self has emerged. Here are a few other rock-on moments from my past:

1. In college my friend Alessandra and I - we stayed out well after midnight at some guitar major's apartment. Doing what? Playing with amps and electric guitars of course! We were soooo clueless, but karaoked to Dave Matthew's band (who I actually think is quite talented and reputable) and that is my first encounter with real rock music, and I started thinking....yeah...this could be fun. (remember I only have ever listened to the radio, minus NPR, for about 1 year of rebellion in 1998.)

2. Fast forward - dating my now husband Eric who loves to tinker with the guitar. I ask him to teach me my favorite song I loved to hear him play: "Enter Sandman" by Metallica? I think? I LOVED learning the intro to this, and thought it was sooo cool. Eric wasn't so sure how neat I would think it if I heard the real version...yup...he was right...it is just a tad wild for my leetle ears.

3. My drum solo at the Snoring and Deranging (okay, Scoring and Arranging) Finale Recording Session. We were suppposed to orchestrate a piece and then the school sympohny performed it and we got a recording of it. My friend Cassidy an awesome percussionist asked me to help out with her arrangement of Up on the Housetop. I got to play the big timpani drumset. I only had about 4 beats....but having never drum soloed - I got just a little intense with it.....Okay...so I had the whole symphony orchestra and my class in hysterics with my full body drum banging. Needless to say my drum beating made it so that we had to re-record the piece. (ooo - that was a fun day. Everyhone in the class did a nice Christmas Song - Mary's Lullaby, UP on the HOusetop...etc...my pick? A Kabalevsky Prelude - so dark and eerie - yup - it was like Santa turned into the devil - go me for being different. I guess I"m not afraid to stand out a bit.)

4. Girl's Night Out - just a month or two ago. 2 of the moms that I meet at the gym sometimes for crazy early morning body pump and spin classes had a mom's night out. We got together at someone's house and played RockBand on a playstation, I think. SOOOOO FUN! I LOVED LOVED LOVED LOVED IT! I guess, it showed too -because they put me on drums, and in my sheer exctiement, I broke the covering on one of the drums. Oops. I just got a little too into it, that's all. People were certiainly surprised at my wild side - I wasn't. Hitting a drum is the perfect vent for any frustrations or pent up anger. Try it - you'll like it. After my drum episode, they put me on vocals. Of course I'd never heard any of the music, and I was screaming in the bass range changing the words like crazy (Feed my sheep...etc.) and getting quite a few cackles out of my stupidity. (I know now that it is the Beastly Boys, not the Bearded Boys.) On a side note, I felt like a hypocrite. I would really never let my kids play that game. Wayyyyyy tooo much suggestive language and the way the people are dressed is way to provocative. I don't want my boys to even watch it or come within twelve houses of it....yet I Loved it? I enjoyed it? How can this be? I think I have an inner battle to work out yet. I'll let you know when I reconcile my enjoyment with my hesitations.




5. Lastly, here is a recent picture of a rock out session in the comfort of my own home. I'm not afraid to jam out and play "jailhouse break" with my boys, any time of day or night. So...the real Debby comes out....don't worry, this "wild child" side of me - yeah...not too much to worry about. I'm still the same old nerdy boring bookish freak - but I do wanna be a rockstar still ---at least sometimes.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Cade the Cameraman Part II

I realize you haven't even seen Cade the Cameraman Part I yet....but here is part II. For his 4th Birthday he got a kid safe digital camera. He has loved it - and it has been totally entertaining to see what he finds to take pics of. He's getting pretty good at it to I think. I know he's better - a WHOLE lot better at picture taking than I was with my first pics. The first pics I remember taking were in Washington DC when I was 12. I have a ton of good ol' Abe Lincoln's feet. And Thomas Jeffersons. And..the grass at the white house....you get the point. (In my defense this WAS before digital cameras, much harder indeed.) Anyhow - enjoy Cade's pics from our recent trip to Yellowstone...oh and a few pics I took of him taking a pic. Actually every time I tried to take a picture he had the camera in front of his face...funny boy. Another post of our trip to come later too....stay tuned...or not. :)




Wednesday, July 8, 2009

4th of July Festivities





So...here is a boring recap of my 4th of July. Boring for you to read. Fun for me to remember :) Spent my 4th in IF.
We had fun with Dustin and Melissa - newly engaged - Congrats! We played Bocce ball with them. They put us to shame. They are a cute couple.


Firework Show with the Cannon Fam on July 3rd. Snakes with Andrea, Sparklers with Grandpa, and can't say what it was that Grandma bought again to light off :) So funny, never pegged her for one to get such fun fireworks. She bought them on accident last year...this year....not so sure it was an accident!

Bubbles at Grandma Reeds with cousins. My sister Sarah and her 4 kids were up visiting. We had fun with Caleb, Adam, Emily, and got to meet baby Leah for the 1st time - along with Spencer (Becky's son). Fun to have all the cousins on that side together for a bit Ran the Firecracker 5K. Finished in 27:45 (I think that is my fastest 5K yet....not too fast, one day maybe I'll find some speed.)


Skipped the parade. Had cereal for lunch because I don't like picnic grub. I LOVE the 4th of July - despise the food. Hotdogs? Hamburgers? Potato Salad? Watermelon? come on - give me some veggies and pasta please!


Made homemade Rootbeer (Darth Vader Juice as Cade and Uncle Ben named it years ago) with Grandma Reed.


Skipped the big Fireworks show and that was plenty fine by me! We just did some family fireworks again, Nathan had a keyboard and played music for our little show and the kids had fun dancing. I enjoyed not being up so late. Happy 4th indeed!

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Happy Father's Day!




Here's a shout out to my awesome dad and incredible husband and super father in law.
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!!

Here are just a few reasons why these are some great dads:
My Dad:
- SOOOO patient, he puts up with a lot
- Love his nose - thanks dad, you gave me the same one :)
-I get his curls, I really do. I slept in curlers every day in high school except two so that I could have curly hair.....I think I got this from my dad that some family members affectionately call "Father Fuzzhead."
-he's a great listener - you can call and talk to him and he REALLY listens to you.
- I once wrote a poem to him called: "Ode to a toothbrush gagger." He still talks to me after that, I'd say he's pretty forgiving :)
-He is sooo hard working and super depenable - he'll never let you down.
-Everyone loves him - he is just the kind of guy who nobody in their right mind can hold a grudge against.
He's an awesome dad!

My Father in Law:


- He has the Cannon brain gene - and all of his kids got it - this man is incredibly intelligent - and humble about it to boot.
- He takes guitar lessons, I think that is soo cool. Eric has lots of memories of his dad singing and playing the guitar, he really helped give his kids a love of music.
-His cars are so fun! He is the kind of guy that goes out to get a hamburger and ends up coming home with a super sweet yellow jeep instead :) (Okay it has only happened once, but it is a fun story.) I loved getting to ride in his jeep - I wasn't a big fan of the jag..much too squishy, but still fun.
- He's a very refined dad - he has fun with his kids - and is a lot of fun to play games with - as long as you don't mind losing all the time to him!
He's a super father in law - I'm lucky! I serously have no complaints against my in-laws.

My Hubby:
Eric is THE BEST. EVER. Seriously. A few examples:
- last week, he showed up from work carrying in a bouquet of orange and yellow flowers with a lemon. He says - here are some ugly flowers for you....and a ....a lemon. How great is that? Huh? I laughed so hard. He wanted to get me something just completely random. I think he succeded. He made sure I didn't think it had any double meaning, like "you are sweet AND sour, or I got lemon for a wife." I didn't. I knew he doesn't think that way. He loves just randomly making people happy. For Father's Day in addition to the cologne, and Reese's Cups, and Barbecue Grill, and Pen we gave him - I got him a screw - a loose screw with a bolt and also a Pencil Torch (What is that? I have no clue - that was the idea I wanted a random hardware store gift to get him back for his gifts.)


- He is a hands on dad. I don't know if anyone else has a husband that does as much as mine. He does the laundry - washes it every week. He scrubs the toilets every week and he takes care of the kids 50/50 at night time from birth on. Whoa - am I ever lucky.
-He never complains, which makes me want to complain, because how is it possible to not ever be so disgruntled? I'm still trying to figure out this superhuman quality that he possesess.
- He is so well rounded. He knows a lot about a lot.. He is super smart, and super funny - I think so, and he never lets things get him down too much - he's always pretty bouyount in the face of any struggle.
- I like his new contacts - he's a handsome man - glasses or no glasses - he's the best :)
- I could go on and on alll day about Eric, except for the fact that I'm hot and Davy is asleep on me.


I hope everyone had a great Father's Day! I think we sure did around here!

Saturday, May 30, 2009

A Beautiful Day.


Stats for today: 1 funeral, 1 ER trip, 1 bloody nose, 0 servings of funeral potatoes = a beautiful day.

Today was a beautiful day....not perfect by any means but beautiful. Eric's Grandma Cannon passed away last Sunday. Today was her funeral. Even though, it was a crazy day, it just felt so good to be surrounded by family and to feel the love and the Spirit that always accompanies loss. I feel so fortunate to have known Grandma Cannon. I will really miss her visits, and her Silvermint bars :) When Eric and I started dating, one of our favorite activities was to go and visit his Grandparents. I really treasure all of the time I have had to spend with both Grandma and Grandpa Cook and Grandma Cannon in Logan. They are all such amazing people. I have really come to love and appreciate his grandparents. They are truly the kind of people you want to emulate in so many ways.
My day started around 2:30 A.M. Eric woke me up and said he needed to go to the ER. Poor Eric has been sick since last Friday. He just keeps getting worse. He has been on an antibiotic, but it still wasn't helping, and he was having trouble breathing....so off we went. A big thanks goes to my mom - who had stopped in the night before on her way to Colorado. I was able to leave my kids with her in the middle of the night. Hooray for Grandmas saving the day. Fortunately, Eric just has a super duper bad sinus infection, but it seems to be bacterial and so they were able to put him on a stronger antibiotic. I hope he gets feeling better soon! He's totally your a-typical man. He never complains, and he is nooo problem at all when he is sick. he is just mellow. But he doesn't EVER whine and he takes care of himself. (How did I get so lucky to get the perfect man???.......still can't figure it out some days.)
So - anyhow, we were at the ER from 3 until about 6. An hour later, I was getting the kids up and ready to go the funeral. Eric was in no condition to go. He was pretty sad to have to miss the funeral, and the chance to see his family. He also missed Grandpa Cannon's funeral because he was on his mission.
From the beginning to the end, even though I was miserably tired and starting to not feel well myself (I'm now a bass and losing my voice rapidly), David got a bloody nose, and my kids were insanely crazy and irrerverant and having to go to the bathroom ten zillion times during the whole service.....overall I felt so peaceful and good today. 128 ounces of diet coke got me through the 2 hours of driving I had to do on no sleep - and the love I felt just being surrounded by an incredible family, made it a beautiful day. Cade melted me on the drive home - talking about heaven, and how he wants to be there with his family. He told me he was so glad there was a heaven and that his grandmas and grandpas got to be there with Jesus. The simpilicity of his statements made me so happy. It is a great thing to have the assurance and peace that comes with our knowledge.
I don't like funerals, I don't like sickness - but I do love the happy feelings that family and togetherness brings. It was great to see Eric's family, and it was great to spend time with Eric, even if we were in the hospital bin the middle of the night. Even though today was crazy - I still loved it. Really my only complaint about the day was I didn't get any funeral potatoes. I think that is the first funeral I've been to where I got gipped :) (I think I'll survive.)
At the end of the day.....all the numbers and events really don't seem to matter anymore. What matters is being together. Yup - that is what made today a beautiful day.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

A Haircut, A KitKat, Flowers, A Chest, and A Bridge


My Boys and Me.... My Haircut....
My Chest.....

The Bridge....


The Bridge again....

I had a fantastic Mother's Day this year. A few days before I got a haircut. I whacked off a couple of inches - always fun. On Sunday, I got a KitKat at church, that David promptly devoured and smeared all over my outift :) Then, I got a really great decorative chest that Cade picked out. I also got flowers - so spoiled - I know.
After church we went to Logan. I wish we went to Logan for different reasons, but it ended up being a great trip. Eric's Grandma had a heart attack and broke her hip and isn't doing really well. We went to see her. Cade melted me by singing Happy Mother's Day To You to Great Grandma Cannon. We also had a great time visiting Great Grandma Cook. We went to have picnic lunch at Merlin Olsen Park while we were there. I love that park. I have some great memories there. Eric propsed to me on the bridge there and so I kind of am partial to it. Which brings me to my last mothers Day Gift - a bridge. I am a hopeless romantic - so I cauned Eric into allowing me to get a bridge for our yard. He asked me to marry him on a bridge, and I have a picture of that bridge hanging in our house, and now I will have my own smaller model bridge in my yard....when we get a yard. The bridge won't be over a pond or anything, probably just a dry rock bed (which Eric thinks is silly.) He can't understand the point of having a bridge that doesn't go over anything or to anywhere, but, nevertheless, he relented and got me my bridge. Gotta love that man.
Anyhow - I had a fantastic Mother's Day. I love being a mom, and I have two of the greatest kids ever. I know, every mom thinks that - but isn't it great - there is always someone out there to love and cheer on even the most difficult of kids. Hope everyone else had as great of a Mother's Day as I did, too!