obsessed with suave spray gel for our little heads of hairs.

one day five years ago i went into the nursery after church to get abbey. when i leaned down to pick her up, another little girl walked right in front of me and i got a big whiff of her hair. i was in love, instantly. i asked her mom why her hair smelled so great and my child's head just smelled like recess and she told me her secret: suave spray gel. yes, suave--dirt cheap and alot of bang for the buck.

i spray it quite liberally on my girl's hair when it is wet after bathing and i have found that it really doesn't work like gel--mostly it just makes their hair smell cleaner. while they are young, i like that i can use something inexpensive, because i know the dollars are gonna start adding up as they get older. my favorite scent is ocean breeze, and i find it at walmart or harmons. i just wish i could figure out how to keep them in saran wrap or a ziplock baggie of some sort so they would still smell good when they come home all sweaty from school--will someone please invent something for that? they would be a billionaire.

i like shiny things

i know there is a bird called the magpie that is attracted to only shiny, glittery things. it has been known to steal rings or jewelry off windowsills or tables. raccoons are also drawn in by bling and their main goal is to steal it and keep it for themselves. (soooo smart)

there is no doubt in my mind that i could hang with my magpie friends because i am a sucker for anything that glitters or shines or reflects light. pretty much i like anything that a 12 year old girl would purchase at the mall. 

if it shines like a disco ball, i'm IN. i know this is lame for a 38 year old adult female, but bling brings me joy. the purses in the photo is what megan gave me for valentine's day because she knew i would love the big pink diamond zipper-pulls (which are REAL diamonds, btw.  neal told me so) i thought they were so cute and the best part about it is that they are from wal-mart which equals cha-eeaap!

the spectrum newspaper never disappoints. also it never gets it right.

still love my small town paper for two reasons:


1. that they are going to promote a group who's hairstylist time-traveled back from the early 90's (i wonder if they used my brush?? hmmmmmmm.)



2. where else can you hear about a real-life scalping in the 21st century? you can't make this stuff up! btw i am never getting in a go-kart at fiesta fun ever again. the end.

wentworth miller for president or we've let our 13 year old watch prison break with us yikes.

okay, let me sing the praises of wentworth miller for a few moments.....ahhhh, you little boy--i could spread you on toast and eat you for breakfast!!

wentworth is the star of the fox television series "prison break". now, i've heard about it off and on for the last couple of years, but i waited way too long to check it out.

 i think it took me all of 8 minutes into the pilot to buy in hook, line, and sinker. i figure we are about the last people on planet earth to discover it, but for the three people who either don't have tivo or live under a rock, let me break it down for you just one time: older-buff brother has been convicted of a crime he didn't commit, and is on death row in prison awaiting execution. younger , smoldering-sex brother--my man wentworth--just so happened to be the structural engineer for the prison older brother is incarcerated in. (who would have thought? hey--it could happen....) smoldering- sex concocts an extensive scheme to break older-buff out, but first smoldering must rob a bank so that he can be thrown in the joint with buff, and then execute his elaborate plans with amazing calmness and steel-blue eyes.....(sigh.) i must admit that we are just a little bit obsessed.

it's true that you have to have a little suspension of disbelief at times, but we can't seem to stop watching and are almost done with the first season. the theme can be a bit mature at times--this isn't especially for youth byu session.....these boys are prisoners, after all, but we manage to selectively ignore that fact.

if you want to borrow season one from me let me know as i highly suggest it-- it's rocked our world! , i think the man is easy on the eyes, but i wouldn't be his biggest fan in this house--that would be our thirteen-year old girl.


katie thinks that perhaps if she gets good grades and helps babysit we will fly him out for homecoming when she turns sixteen. she can hardly see him onscreen without bursting into full-worship mode and makes little sounds like "heh-heh-heh-heh" accompanied by ALOT of comments of "he's so dang HOT!!" he has now officially replaced edward cullen as her computer screen saver. ummmmm....i don't know if you can understand the magnitude of that statement: He Replaced Edward Cullen.


i think she would like to take him home and keep him for our family pet.

ode to rbc or six things i love about russ

i just wanted to write this little love note to my man--here are six things i love about russ:

*he lets me put my cold feet on his legs when i get into bed
*he makes me an omelette for breakfast every morning
*if mine or the girls hands are cold, he will cup them and hold his hands around them and blow hot air into them--works like a charm!
*he works a dress-shirt and tie like NOBODY'S BUSINESS! he is the best dressed man that i know personally and it doesn't hurt that he's incredibly handsome. 
*he likes to take rides with me in the car and turn the radio up loud and just belt it out
*he is a hopeless romantic in a time where hopeless romantics are hard to come by
i love rbc!

an open letter to the publishers of us weekly

dear us weekly,

please, please PLEASE stop printing this magazine that i love more than my own life--i have come to depend on it's existence to justify my own, and i need to cut my umbilical cord that leads straight to your pages.

the money i spend on your publication each year should be going into my four children's college education funds. instead, i have told them to learn phrases like "would you like to supersize this meal?" and "housekeeping? housekeeping?"   i know that not a dime from my subscription fund will make it into their accounts.

i wish you would no longer tempt me with just the right amount of fluff, hollywood gossip and photos of shallow celebrities, while not burdening me with excessive amounts of time-consuming stories about people who fought terminal illness or heroes who saved someone's life. if you would no longer print stories about britney's hair extensions or heidi and spencer's romantic valentine's day yacht jaunt or what joey fatone's red carpet checklist was, i would be able to give you up for good.


but you continually ensnare me with articles like this one about our own beehive state's rehab facility in sundance:




editors, do you realize that by making rehab sound like an exclusive, vip-only resort that it makes me want to have an intervention of my very own, so that i could jet on cirque's private helicopter and take yoga classes with eva and kirsten and lindsay?? surely it has come to your attention that by giving me an article like this:

only reinforces my downward shame-spiral by the fact that i have NOT received my anti cellulite body scrub and wrap, and that my cellulite called and told me it was "here to stay, for like ever!"

so i am begging you, good people of us weekly --please start printing photos of hillary clinton's presidential campaign and articles outlining the food-pyramid and it's nutritional benefits. if you would be so kind as to review only independent pre-worldwar two german films with no subtitles and documentaries that showcase duck hunters and their fascinating world of thigh-high waders, i would no longer find myself a slave to your pages. only then can i move on with my life and make good on the promise to quit you for forever. until then i remain
your dysfunctional, co-dependant friend,
mindi

it's vegas, baby or we stayed at the wynn and watched someone make it rain at tryst

do's and don't's of vegas:

1. do stay with your best friends in fierce hooked-up hotel with a waterfall (we love you wynn)

2. do pack unreasonable amount of shoes (4 pairs) and clothing (4 changes) for less than 24 hrs

3. do eat outside at italian cafe with view of strip and the wynn

4. do make new bff's at concert with inebriated couples surrounding you as they are the most entertainment for your concert dollar (besides the concert itself which straight killed it)

5. don't choose this moment with new bff's for the first discussion (maybe later? okay)

6. don't get into middle of testosterone filled mosh pit appearing at the bottom of the stage

7. do pay 8 dollars for a bottle of water at hard rock hotel

8. don't wait in line for 35 minutes behind 300 other guests for a cab--just make a deal with iranian limo owner and 4 strangers to share a limo back to hotel for 8 bucks each. (yay steve!)

9. don't hesitate to snuggle up with new bff jean in backseat (work it jared!)

10. do sing journey's "don't stop believing" at the top of your lungs with new bff's when limo driver cranks it up (ahh yeahh russ!)

11. do go to swanky nightclub for best people-watching ever. EVAHH. 

12. do see ufc champ "rampage jackson" at booth with lots of ladies--gaze, starstruck and wish you could perform the rear-naked choke hold.

13. do shake it "low, low, low, low...." but dont wear "apple-bottom jeans, and the boots with the fur..." (cuz there are WAY too many girls wearing that outfit already. ohhhhh yes.)

15. do get some good ideas for extreme halloween costumes

16. don't even THINK that your feet aren't gonna hurt like the mother of all hurts. (cuz they WILL)

17. do fall into bed, exhausted, but with "rockstar" vegas weekend" checked off your to-do list!

she's going the distance

i just saw this on a blog and my mouth hurts from smiling so much. this is what i need to train my children to do-- their mom would be bursting with pride!! the song is "going the distance" by cake. my particular favorite part is about 40ish seconds in when she goes for the chorus with gusto like i've never seen before. plus, the hand actions that accompany? the best ever!

this little girl rocks--just like dewey finn from school of rock, she is "-servicing society by rocking, OK? she's out there on the front lines liberating people with her music!-"

mia+sharpie=BAD

we have all of our old family photos hanging on a wall in our basement. i never liked the thought of getting a new picture and then having to put the other perfectly good picture down like a horse to a glue factory-especially the 16x20 family photo that i had laid out a chunk of change for. therefore, we hang them up and it's fun to see how our family has increased over the years or to wonder when i thought it was a good idea to wear a velvet dress.

mia wasn't so into that idea--a few months ago she took a black sharpie and, standing on the back of the big red couch, went down the line and scribbled on every single photo she could be within arm's length of. when seeing the fruits of her labors, i of course FREAKED. 

i don't quite know what to do about them--i don't dare try to rub it off with something strong as i think i would ruin them more (as if that were possible). some of them are on canvas with a texture, etc. and i don't even wanna know how much it would cost to restore them. so they hang still on the wall, as mia's marker masterpieces.

i have a theory that she did it because she was acting out in anger at the fact that we don't have a single picture with her in it on the wall yet. naughty girl.

i've decided that i'm not going to try to fix these.  i think the photos might be just a little more interesting now that mia has helped them out.  

  after all, we get by with a little help from our friends.  and destructive toddlers.

lessons i learned from scrapbookin/"scrap'n" hell

that is seriously how i feel right now--like i should have a speech prepared with a list of people to thank for helping me get this major award. actually, in utah, this might be better than accepting an oscar. after all, i have heard rumors of other mothers who did not have their children's scrapbook up to date just mysteriously disappearing in the middle of the night without a trace....and nobody mentions their names again.

184 pages. ONEHUNDREDANDEIGHTYFOUR FREAKIN' PAGES!!!!! if i never see another piece of cardstock again it will be too damn soon. (profanity only allowed on this blog in reference to scrapbooking. or "scrap'n" as those in the know would call it.) i can't even THINK of posting one of my pages for review here, though. i don't want to be shunned by everyone and called bad names and have people not let their kids play with mine.

problem is, these are only two of my children's books. i have two more to do. it still sucks to be me right now......

but, for a moment, i am gonna chillax and not be within a fifty-foot radius of a paper cutter.

lessons i have learned from scrapbooking purgatory:

1. use all your old stuff that you already have before even stepping foot in pebbles or other various scrapbook stores. once you do that, the game is over, my friend. you will throw out everything you have and buy all new and improved supplies. i had to physically restrain myself from "re-doing" some of the pages i had just done for abbey. like 6 days before. i have a theory that it's totally a conspiracy concocted by the paper powers-that-be. fight the power!

2. take whatever dollar amount you think you are working with and times it by 10. then double that amount, and add an extra 50 bucks and you should be in the ballpark.

3. make your husband think that what you are doing is a very large sacrifice on your part, and that your selfless toiling for hours on end is all just for the greater good of the family. show me that, and i'll show you a husband who lets you skip out on dinner dishes several nights in a row and is okay with the extra two hundred dollars you spent at target on "stupid, useless chick-stuff"-- my man is THE MAN!

4. get on board with the fact that any page you do is going to be vastly inferior to pages that any other person living on the planet will do. i set my bar very, very, exceedingly-stupid low and so i was always happy with sub-par results.

5. recruit fast, efficient worker-bee sister, stampin-up sister, and scrapbook-gifted friend to help. mad props to megan, loni, and kristin--you girls are really ALL THAT and a bag of chips.

6. work faster, harder, stronger! no, really--i think the fact that i didn't spend 10 minutes envisioning the layout, trying to match colors on the paper to colors in clothing, etc., was only a total bonus to me and my time. i also am a big fan of cramming a whole lotta photos on some pages--that's really all my kids wanted to see, was their pictures. they really don't care how they got there. that's gratitude for yo.  but typical, though. not one of my children have ever even thanked me for birthing them so they sure as hell aren't going to start thanking me for this.

7. make 1 page, duplicate it for your other children. why reinvent the wheel? this is when megan stepped in saved my life--she must have copied 40 pages for me. i heart her.


in the scheme of things, thought, i'm not sure why i really did this. murphy's law says that now that i am caught up on these two, our house is gonna catch fire and burn to the ground, scrapbooks and all. but, both abbey and chandi were thrilled, so i guess it all is worth it in the end. the things we do for our children!

HB CHANDLER CHANDI CHANANDELER BONG!!

10 years old today and ready to date and drive......too bad she's gonna have to wait another 6 years!! from the moment she arrived, bald and white without a hair on her head (or on her eyebrows, for that matter--we used to lovingly refer to her as our little burn victim! not pc, but we thought she was beautiful) and with those scrawny little bird legs, we were completely and totally in love!!

chandi has a social schedule that rivals her mother's own, and if she is not arranging for the next playdate way in advance, she is off her game. she loves soccer, and any music by any rapper with one letter or initial in his name with baggy pants and a large platinum dollar sign on a chain 'round his neck. chandi is our little organizer and cleaner, and is the first to be called on when some drawer or cupboard needs an overhaul.

we are grateful for the love chandi brings our family--she is perfectly content if she is sitting on her dad's lap or snuggled up next to mom watching "heroes" and playing the nintendo ds.

one of my favorite things about chandi is when she filled out a questionnaire for primary about all of her interests and hobbies. when asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, she put down "sno-cone maker"---genius!! who doesn't WISH they were making sno-cones for a living? i think it would pretty much be the best job, EVER.



so, hb, chandi-girl! your family thinks that you are amazing and wonderful and we couldn't love you more.

mia is currently drinking from her nose

mia has been sick off and on for like the last million years or so. she gets sick, we pump medicine into her, she gets better, we relax, she gets sick again.

right now her nose is constantly running, and she finds it just easier, really, to lick it clean as it runs down to her mouth than to wipe it off. it reminded me of a term that my friend brooke's little girl said about one of their friends who was doing the same thing: "mom! she is drinking from her nose!"

i always wonder what would happen if , as an adult, i went around doing something like that--would i still be socially accepted? 

cougar hunters

behold, the mighty ones who hunt the cougar......

we gave these shirts to the menfolk for valentine's day-- i considered for a moment the one that i loved that said "cougar bait" on it, but decided that our boys were more in the "hunter" demographic! we had just vacated the kemp's jacuzzi, so i think the towels are an eclectic touch. jared decided to then take it to the next level by graciously bestowing on us this:

  

HB DAD!!

{Derrill and Mindi, Rogers Circle home, 1974}



happy birthday dad!! my dad doesn't read my blog as he can barely turn on the computer and send an email without calling to my mom for help, but i still wanted to pay tribute to one of the greatest men i know.

my dad has always been an awesome example of keeping your cool and working things out. he has tons of patience and wisdom, and many people have come to him over the course of his life to ask for direction and guidance. he has always been a hard worker but then, when it's play time, he is ready to go! and when i say play i mean GOLF, as my dad is a golf fanatic who can be found on the golf course 5-6 times a week (no, that's not a typo. yes, my mother is a saint). many a deal was brokered in between holes or while riding around on a golf cart.


my dad is fun loving and we children have always loved being around him when we get together. the picture i posted on here that i love is the one of him in the back on the "screamin" roller coaster in disneyland--classic derrill. we never plan on visiting disneyland again without dad in tow.

my dad is a bit of an eccentric sometimes.  he used to have a map that showed which lightbulbs in the house had last been changed and the date, and he liked to do things like buy generic and namebrand ice cream and then have us taste them so he could prove that we couldn't tell the difference. (we could.) he also LOVED free food--if there was an open house for a home or grand opening of a business or the radio station was broadcasting from somewhere with free hot dogs and drinks, you could bet that we would show up. he has a few quotes that are famous in our family, like the time he told my sister who was 13 at the time, "now, loni--you've never really liked boys, and they've never really liked you...." . but the greatest legend in my family has to be that my dad loved to make bets with us kids and then totally welsh. like the time he told my brother ryan he would give him 10 dollars if he stood in a freezing creek for 10 minutes, but when ryan came to him after a full 10 minutes in the water, witnessed by the whole family and a few puzzled strangers, my dad said, "i meant up to your neck." he didn't want to pay, but my mom made him.

one of my favorite things about my dad is how much he loves my mom. he has always been so affectionate and loving towards her, which, while growing up, was important for us kids to see. if i had a dime for every time i've heard, "do you kids know how much i love your mother? she is SOOOO snuggly!!" i would be house-payment free and own a timeshare in the bahamas. we kids will always groan and roll our eyes, but we all secretly love it.

so, happy birthday dad and grandpa! have a wonderful day on the golf course--we heart you!

the 1980's called: they want their hairbrush back...

i am somewhat scatterbrained. "easily distracted" is what i prefer to call it, but i tend to misplace things or lose things quite easily. i've lost purses, cell phones (two now and counting), my wedding ring (bad.), different kids in different places (very bad.), money, brand new beauty supply curling irons and straighteners that cost 150 dollars (just happened when we went to stomp), etc, etc. you get the idea--i suck at keeping track of things, and i've been this way all my life, but increasingly worse as i get older. but, for some insane, wildly unexplainable reason, i still have one item that has been in my possession since i was a junior in high school: my hairbrush.

let me tell you, this little number has seen it's share of excitement. it ratted many a teenage girl's bangs into the beloved "cobra"--upright and standing position, has been covered with aqua net, bold hold, stiff stuff, aussie scrunch, scruples, paul mitchell, vavoom, suave (only when russ forced me for a while), joico, and a hairspray that i got out of a tijuana bathroom (for REAL. when i was 18. it seemed like a good idea at the time....can't explain why). it is missing about one third of it's bristles, is covered in several unidentifiable liquids and really should be put down, but how can i possibly do that when it helped my hair look like this?

i was gonna clean it off before i took the picture, but then i decided that it wouldn't be a true and honest depiction, so you are getting it way too up close and personal. don't be a hater on my brush, people!! (see slang term of the day). it has served me faithfully for many years, and if it holds up to it's track record, it's got at least another 20 to go.

HB ABBEY ABBERS ABBEY-GAIL!!!!

7 years ago today we got the best valentine's gift ever--our abbey. this little spitfire keeps us on our toes and makes us laugh. we have learned through painful, repeated trial and error to never, i repeat NEVER get into a mexican stand-off with this girl, because we are destined for complete and utter failure when we choose to engage. the stubborn streak coexists nicely with her ability to give huge amounts of love and affection, and it doesn't hurt that she is probably the most beautiful 7 year old on the face of the planet. verified practically.

we are grateful that she was allowed to be such an important part of our family and we are thankful that she got to choose us. we just hope that she is still young enough to not be completely ruined by bad parenting. or that by the time she is 12 and needs extensive therapy, our trust-fund adoptive parents will have found us!!!


abbey, we love you and are so grateful for the vivacious, exuberant spirit you are.   happy valentine's day to the reason our hearts beat.

happy heart day to my boyfriend/husband/sugardaddy

happy heart day to all of you. i want to give a special little valentine to my man--this is us on valentine's day 1991. someone went to a lot of trouble with that background, huh? only first class for us. i love you honey! thanks for being my valentine.xoxo

i am in a committed relationship with diet dr. pepper

 i have what some may say is an unhealthy relationship with diet dr. pepper.

 i used to drink the full-leaded dr. pepper-- but after i birthed chandler and wound up sobbing on my closet floor when i couldn't get my pants up past my knees, i knew it was time to change.  i kept hearing my dad's voice saying, "melinda, never, ever drink your calories. do you know how many calories one regular soda has?" -- but i had been in deep denial cuz diet pop SUCKED. and it left a nasty aftertaste, and all i could picture was the tab diet soda from the 1970's that i remember my mom drinking sometimes, and how it tasted like a sad, sad, not-even close facimilie of the real thing.

but those pants weren't gonna re-size themselves magically,so i gave it a shot and found that not only could i actually tolerate it?  i kinda liked it.

 diet dr pepper brings me peace and serenity and joy. it gives me an excuse to get in the car with my husband to go on "a drive" while my kids are whining about not being invited to go. (it's sacred time, children. just watch high school musical 2 on mommy's tivo and we will be back before you can say troy bolton) and is something of a social-event for us. 

there is a running joke in my family about how each one of my children have it running through their veins when they arrived in this world, and how they learned how to suck out of a straw before they could crawl. is it good for them? i'm thinking no. but i have witnessed them running with scissors and staring directly into the sun also, and they have survived.

the only time the dr and i disagreed was when i had to have an intervention with myself about a year ago. i was drinking about three 44 ouncers a day, and i remember standing in front of the cups at mr.d's chevron and eyeing those 64 ounce massive plastic cups 'o goodness and thinking that it would just be a smarter and more efficient idea to fill that little puppy all the way up. so i cut down--just a little, not a lot. we still see each other every day and it works for us.

this is a picture of my soon-to-be valentine birthday girl abbey at the pool when she was about 16 months old. she is here, representing for her momma (see slang term of the day). i think in this case a picture is worth a thousand words.

closet chips and salsa soup eater coming out of the closet

okay, this is totally random, but yesterday i am pretty sure i sunk to a new low. it was lunch time and i had been doing this **%@*** scrapbook for abbey's birthday which just happened to all of a sudden creep up to THIS THURSDAY and was all frustrated and bent out of shape. someone put a gun to my head. now. i am serious-- why did i think this was a good idea, again? but i digress--- we had some chips and salsa from chili's left over and since chips and salsa is my naughty, naughty comfort food, i was all over it. problem is, everyone living under my roof eating out of my fridge forgot to tell me that they had also decided that chips and salsa were their comfort food, too, and so all that was left was salsa and small chip particles. but here's the thing: there were ALOT of small chip particles. so, i threw them in a bowl, poured salsa over them, mixed them up like a bowl of ice cream, and voila! chips and salsa soup! i felt kinda guilty and anxious that somebody was gonna walk in when i was eating it like it was WRONG ,and just this side of white trash that it made me laugh out loud. so now i confess to the blogging universe that i ate it as a way to break out of my downward shame spiral. i had to write about it because i just could not shake the heh-heh-heh, hope nobody's looking, better hurry and rinse the bowl out feeling i had. i know there have got to be you people out there who have eaten chips and salsa like this. i cannot be alone. peace out. (see slang term of the day)

STOMP

well, we flew by the seat of our pants this weekend and decided at 2:30pm saturday afternoon to roll down to las vegas for a quick overnight with our 3 oldest girls. i had been keeping an eye on the "stomp out loud" tickets at planet hollywood as ashlynn had mentioned that they were 2 for 1. the deal goes away at the end of this month, and since i have issues with closure, we snatched them up and told our girls to put on "fancy clothes". we informed them that we were going somewhere overnight as a surprise, and chandler immediately had us on a plane bound for hawaii. i had to remind her quickly that our trust fund had NOT kicked in yet (still waiting on that, btw. are there any rich people without posterity out there that would like to adopt an adorable family of 6? will work for large inheritance.... hmmmmm) and that it would be a little closer to home. we decided that the "real deals" in traveling are for those who can afford to decide the day of, as we got the KILLER deal at the new marriott chateau which is right across from the bellagio and planet hollywood.


the show was fabulous, and i HIGHLY recommend that you see it if you can--would be great to take your kids to, especially for those who are in the percussion industry (translation: band). our tickets were about 38.00 per piece, but i think we could have easily gotten by with the cheapest tickets as the theater was quite small and i don't think there was a bad seat in the house. i would not recommend sitting next to a nearly-seven year old, though, as there were ALOT of questions (what time is is? why is he bald? are they mormon? why does he chain his fridge shut? andonandonandon), but the hand-holding and listening to her gleeful half-laugh, half-cackle made up for it big time.




we took the girls to their definition of the nicest restaurant in the world--cheesecake factory--and then did something afterward that russ and i have never done in all of our vegasing-----saw the water show at the bellagio. we were shivering since we were the fools who forgot to bring our jackets, but the picture above captures the essence. totally cool.
HOLLA!

why i love the spectrum

our local newspaper, the spectrum, (or the rectum as we lovingly refer to it--keeping it real) holds a special place in my heart. i have read this paper religiously nearly every day since i was probably 14. my parents always got it, and so when russ and i tied the knot, he got me, along with a 24 month subscription. lots of people i know do not subscribe on principal: our little hometown daily has a long-time history of errors, typos, wrong photos with wrong captions, etc... these people all say that it is too painful to read, they get irritated by the incompetency, blah blah blah. i say that the little problems and the "oh NO THEY DID NOT's" are exactly what i live and exist for, and gives me, on some days, a reason to LIVE!!! oh, that something so small and insignificant can bring me such pleasure!


last week a classic example of what i can't wait for appeared in the saturday edition. to know me is to know that one of my hugest pet peeves in the world is when somebody uses the wrong form of to or too, a your instead of a you're or, the biggie, an 's when it should be s-- especially if it is on a permanent banner or on a large marquee for the masses to read. we all do a bit of that here and there, but if you run an establishment like, oh, lets just say a NEWSPAPER, somebody, ANYBODY, should be proofreading and double checking and then triple checking. so when i see something like this little gem in black and white, i wonder who is on the payroll and what they are doing round 'bout printing time...
IT'S TOO LATE, PEOPLE!! TOO, TOO LATE!!! and seriously, my favorite thing is the image of the pioneer chick packing some serious heat up top--is that the picture any of us have in our minds when we think of our female ancestors??? i love living in this town!

top 10 concerts i've seen

to know me is to know that i love concerts. love to go to them, love to plan to go to them,even love to listen to the "homework"cd i make for myself in the months before the concert to familiarize myself with all of their current stuff. i have always loved music, and from the moments of the very first concert i ever went to, (air supply, 1982, in cedar with my mom and dad and loni--pure oozing, dripping cheese but i was IN to it!) i knew that concerts and i would have a very long, loving relationship.

i read on a blog that i lurk on the other day about the fact that the author had fallen out of love with going to concerts. too crowded, too much hassle, too loud, etc. i just wanted to say to him, "but you are just going to the WRONG concerts!" i have been to my fair share of milquetoast concerts, and to a few where they were really just about 5 years past their prime, (hello, def leppard? COME ON!!!) but i have also seen some righteous rocking out and been right down on the floor to partake thereof---

alternates who almost made it, but, sadly--no:


howard jones st. george 2007--great, intimate little evening with hojo. just him and a guitar player, but good stuff

justin timberlake las vegas 2007--i know SOME people didn't like this concert as much as i did, but i danced and sang and felt the love with justin.

def leppard salt lake city 1987--again, another group at the top of their game and they had rockband 101 down to a science. russ had a friend who slept out for 3 days to get 2nd row tickets and then asked if we wanted to get in on it. like i always say, it's not WHAT you know, but WHO you know, and who THEY know

thompson twins las vegas 1986--my first "real concert" and this was at the height of their popularity. my friend shannon's mom took me and her and two other friends and i still remember when they sang "king for a day". i also remember that i wore my guess jeans and a ton-sur-ton (sp?) sweatshirt that we had "borrowed" from tammy's stepmom, and that shannon had on like 4 swatches and i, sadly, had only one.


okay, so here it is: for those of you about to rock, i salute you!

10.air supply st. george 1998--okay, i admit that i was dragged to this kicking and screaming and was oh so pleasantly surprised--the short little gay dude could still hit all the notes, and you literally knew EVERY single song they played.



9. foo fighters las vegas 2003--now, let me preface this and say that i absolutely cannot live without this band, and this concert would have been further up the food chain if i wouldn't have had to sit the whole concert until the last straw. this guy behind me started complaining and instead of just ignoring him or confronting him (which, strangely, i like to do sometimes) i totally just sucked it up and glued my butt to the seat. they are touring this year and it is the concert i am most looking forward to.



8.bon jovi las vegas 2007--i am not a huge jonny bj fan, but stevekemp had a rich friend who bought DOPE seats down on the floor in the vip area and paid big bucks for them, then just handed them over to us for free. ca-ching!! there were a lot of cougar sightings, also.



7. madonna las vegas 2006--totally random, i know. russ and i were staying down in vegas for a couple of nights to get away. we scalped tickets that had been selling for $550 a piece and he bought them for $75 each. we were already 30 minutes into the concert when we got in our seats, but it was impressive.



6. erasure las vegas 2003--they were playing at the joint at the hard rock and they weren't promoting a new album, so it was basically all their best songs. we had room off to the side where we could dance--the lead singer is totally gayer than dick's hatband, but he was a show all by himself.



5. red hot chili peppers salt lake 2006--a group that i have never really liked, but the tickets were cheap and so i started listening to their new album and discovered that i REALLY LIKED THEIR MUSIC!! the concert was absolutely insane. lots of devoted fans.



4. duran duran salt lake 2005--i was 8.5 months pregnant with mia, but i got my groove on, and i am here to tell you that simon lebon and the boys from duran duran still had it going on! they played new stuff, but then hit all their old stuff, too.




3. u2 salt lake 2005--oh bono--you bring us all so much joy. what a night! the only thing i would change is to maybe fast forward thru all his political messages.(naughty and civically irresponsible of me, i know) my fav part was when he got this girl out of the crowd up on the stage dancing with him during "mysterious ways" and she rocked his world!



2. nickelback pheonix 2007--okay, with my musical preferences, i know this seems like a longshot, but this concert had more fire and fireworks and special effects and i knew all the songs and had developed quite a little appreciation for those guys. they put on one of the most energetic and captivating shows i have ever seen.




1. DEPECHE MODE LAS VEGAS 2006-- oh, mymymymy. it was hard to just put depeche mode on the list once, as i could fill up a whole top ten list of just their concerts, but this had all the right elements:outdoor, spring night, my man and some of my best friends in the world with me, dave just 20 feet away singing his guts out. it bordered on a religious experience. but what depeche mode concert could be otherwise? i heart them.


okay, so if you have a great concert that you think should be added to the list, do tell. the picture below is from nickelback 2007 with jody, jared, mindi, kristin, colby and russ. good times.