Gang of Rhythm

My sister seems to find some of the best songs. Here is one she showed me recently and I think I've played it at least four times today!

The Little Things

I ran into this song on Pandora a couple of days ago and I just had to share it.

I love it.

Sie Liebt Dich

So.

Yesterday I had my itouch on shuffle when this song came up.

I totally have a Beatles album on my itouch that is all in German.

Don't ask me how I got it because I have no idea.

Lewis

I woke up this morning and decided it was going to be a Huey Lewis & the News morning.

Enjoy my favorite song. Used to listen to this all the time as a little kid.

Rehersal #1

So first let me say that I was mistaken. The choir that I am singing in that will be singing for General Conference will be performing at the afternoon Saturday session. Not Sunday. I don't know why I thought it was Sunday because that is MOTAB's day.

Today was our first rehearsal and I was a tad late. Gasp I know! I am so coming earlier next time. I absolutely loath UVU parking. So they gave us all the rules. You must be LDS. That one made me laugh. Apparently this has happened before...hopefully they became a member! You must not be excommunicated. You must not be a terrorist. I think that one was a joke ish....Everyone of course was wondering what we would be required to wear.

Boys: Missionary hair cut. Side burns must not be longer than the middle of your ear. No facial hair what so ever AND....if you have enough hair to part....part it! (I saw a lot of awesome faces on the boys as he said this.) No dapper dan suits, no pinstripes, and dark ties are a go but no cartoons or writings on the tie.

Girls: Black closed healed shoes. No big heals. Black tights. Black skirt mid calf (pretty sure I don't own one that goes to my calf because it makes me look oober short), no hair in the face, but no ponytail and our hair has to be pushed behind our shoulders and stay there....yeah right. No jewelry except small earrings. Button up blouse, solid color. They will tell us the colors sometime in February.

We went over a bunch of songs that they were going to submit to the church tonight. We are learning six songs and they will all be memorized. Depending on how long the talks go we might sing between four to six of them. It's a lot of stuff but gosh do I consider myself blessed to be able to do this. To share with the world the spirit, and our testimonies through music. I've always prayed that I would have an opportunity where I would be able to share my testimony through that which I love to do, which is sing.

Again what a blessing I have been given.

Celebration

Wait for it.....wait for it....

FINALS ARE DONE!!!

Oh man today is the best day ever. Finals always take it out of me and to say they are done is like a ginormous weight off my shoulder. It feels fantastic. Easiest semester I have ever had and probably will ever have. Sad day. Now I finally have time to do some Christmas shopping which I haven't even started. I know I am totally behind. Don't judge. I did get to go to my bro's high school Christmas concert with the fam which was so fun! Brought back so many memories and made me miss choir even more! I saw so many friends that I haven't seen in years. Some are getting ready to turn in mission papers, some are home from missions, some are engaged....some are working their butt off in school like me....seriously it's crazy. Megan gets home from Idaho this Friday so we will finally have the whole family together! Christmas time is the best.

Speaking of Christmas time, I've noticed that there are more crazy drivers around this time of year. Running red lights like no other! Relax people. You still have time to get that perfect gift. Or not so perfect gift.

Remember this with him?




After going to the MOTAB Christmas concert Thursday, (which was fantastic by the way) I went home and watched the last three years of MOTAB Christmas concerts. Starting with the lovely Sissel who was fantastic, next the Kings Singers, then Brian Stokes Mitchell. I forgot how awesome last year was! This song just makes me smile and makes me want to dance.

Love, love, LOVE his voice.

The Unthinkable

I was shown this a couple of days ago and about died. No way would I have ever pictured these two singing a Christmas song together. Ever.

Ladies and Gents....David Bowie and Bing Crosby.

Straight Lines

I love when commercials play cute songs and you get enough of the lyrics onto your phone to look up later, and then you actually find the song.

Yes this makes me very happy.



Here are the lyrics:
Remember when we were young
How you asked everyone to marry you
All of those songs we sung
Changing all the words you used to make the heroine die
Why?

Remember when we were right
God threw his darts at stars in the night
I had a kite
You had a trampoline and a BMX bike
You didn't even like

I don't want to say it's breaking my heart
And I don't know where to start
Old friends are falling apart
Time like the name of a man
Covered and we both can whine
I miss the straight, straight lines

The old times

Remember when we got caught
Dirty hands and make-believe drugs
We never got
Give me all your money
Bank robbers and cowboy cops
Make-believe rocks

Remember when we held hands
Red rover and marching band
You had a tan
Staying outside that long's gonna make you man
Never going back, never going back again

I don't want to say it's breaking my heart
And I don't know where to start
Old friends are falling apart
Time like the name of a man
Covered and we both can whine
I miss the straight, straight lines

The old times
The old times
Remember when we were young
Remember when we were young

Manic Monday

I am one of "those kids" who does not like to listen to Christmas music until after Thanksgiving. It just makes sense in my head. I did get a little excited when I went to Tai Pan and my mom finally got her frosted tree. I can't think of the real name for it right now. Anyways, well my mom wants to set it up so we can see what ornaments we need to get, for we are for going our country theme and doing something new. My dad however said as long as there are pilgrims (decorations of course) in the living room , you can't have a Christmas tree up at the same time. Well Sunday, I got in a weird Christmas music mood and listened to Christmas music all day. My roommate was shocked. That weird mood ended Monday morning though so no worries.

Do you ever have one of those days where you are so busy that you don't notice the day go by until it's over? Like what did I do today? Today was like that. Work was so busy which can be a very good thing and a notta good thing. It went by so fast! I was so tired today too so that didn't help. I almost said "peace out" to one of my patients as I walked them up front. No bueno. I caught myself just in time though.

Secret Said

Okay well my mom just posted the secret on her facebook so I think it's pretty safe to spill! Don't you just love technology these days? I never thought my mom would ever....ever get a facebook!

Drum roll please......

The guest singer that is going to sing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir at their Christmas concert is the Natalie Cole! I can't tell you how ecstatic I am to go to this concert. Natalie Cole is amazing and Mormon Tabernacle Choir is amazing. So this concert is going to be double amazing! Click here to listen. Or here. Or here!

Secret

Dah! I am ecstatic about the information I have just received! Unfortunately I have been told not to share it yet because it hasn't been "officially released yet". I will say that it's about the guest singer who will be singing at the Mormon Tabernacle's Christmas concert this year. It's going to be fantastic! If you don't find out from somebody else, stayed tuned because as soon as I get the okay to blog it I will!!

I just had to tell you all because sometimes it feels good knowing something that other people don't!

First

Well this weekend has been quite something. My first day of school was Wednesday, and I started out the day with my 7:oo am history class. You all probably think I am crazy, but actually it hasn't been quite that bad. I really enjoy learning about history and my teacher is pretty funny. I guess he does war reenactment for a living and he likes to bring in guns for us to look at which I think is pretty cool. Today he brought in a Colt revolver...(?) I'm not exactly sure.

Oh back to my first day of school, I ended the day with my very first concert...EVER! I know how embarrassing huh? I'm 20 and I am just getting around to a concert. I can now check that one off my bucket list! I have gone to my fair share of orchestra, choir, and John Schmidt concerts, but those don't really count. We went to go see Nickleback, which to be quite honest, I'm not a huge avid fan. I knew a couple of his songs so that was fun because I could actually sing along. They put on a great show! Fireworks included. I will say I have never ever seen so much beer, or heard the "f" word so much in my entire life! I was shocked! I guess I kinda expected it at a concert, but man! It was like every other word. There was a really REALLY annoying girl that was sitting behind me that had a scream like no other. It reminded me of when my cousin and I would have a contest every 4th of July to see who could lose their voices during a screamer firework. I don't remember who won but that's what it sounded like.

Times 3.

Pictures will be posted later. I will admit....you could totally tell that this was my first concert. I tried the head bang out.....no bueno.

Beach Boys

I had to drive up to Salt Lake today and I most definitely picked the worst time to drive up there. Traffic was awful. There were two car accidents, and one wasn't even on my side of the road! I hate when morbid curiosity takes over people. This is when I usually start to lose my patience with people driving. I have found over my driving career, that when I am in horrible traffic and getting really annoyed, I put on The Beach Boys. For some reason, their happy, go with the flow music calms me down and I actually have a decent ride home. Beach Boys bring back so many childhood memories. When I was little we would always turn on Beach Boys or Queen when we were cleaning up the house. My dad would crank up the music so loud! We all thought it was the best and would dance around the living room. It also reminds me of my grandparents house in California. Oh how I miss that house. We would visit almost every summer and would head to the beach for six hours, then come back, shower off, and swim in the pool for another six hours. We pretty much lived in the water. I even remember doing a dance in second grade to Surfin' USA. We all had our cardboard surfboards that we decorated and I had these awesome glasses.

Thank you Beach Boys.

Alive

No worries, I am alive. My next door neighbor decided after a year of my cousins using their internet, that they would completely cut me off. I haven't had internet for a whole week!!! I know it's sad I can't live without the internet. I figured since most of my classes this Fall will be online, I better find something and hook it up ASAP. I ran and got a router and thought it would be pretty easy to hook up....NOT! Thank heavens my Disneyland/gamer buddies came to my rescue. I owe them big time! Big enough that I am going to save them a parking spot at my place for the Stadium of Fire! Parking for this even is RIDICULOUS. That is a huge bonus for where my grandparents are located. Well while I was internet-less I jotted down all the funny stories that happened to me so I would remember when I could blog again. Of course....I can't find it now. So, until I find it you just get to hear what happened this last weekend...starting with Thursday, which isn't the weekend but close. A group of friends and I went to the Oquirrh (not Oaker...haha) Mountain Temple open house. The area the temple was in is beautiful! I want to live there so bad! Of course the temple was beautiful as well. I loved being able to walk through everything and the spirit that was there! You can't beat it.

Also Thursday my mom left for her tour with the MOTAB. So far she is having a wonderful time and just left Navoo yesterday and was headed to Iowa? I think. We miss her. Especially my dad but he does great and has kept the household down pretty well. Fathers' day was definitely different without mom there. Us kids woke up early to make dad breakfast and instead of getting him gifts from the kids, we decided to give him memories...in the making I guess you could say. My gift was a bike ride through Provo Canyon and a picnic lunch with me. I chose this because my dad loves to ride his bike. It's something he really enjoys. Our family has a tandem, two seater bike for those who don't know, so we might take that! Who knows. Church was great, my friend had just gotten home from his mission so it was his homecoming, and his family had asked me, well really asked my mom, then my mom forgot to tell me and so on. Meg and I did end up singing a very pretty song called O Touch Mine Eyes, and it went pretty well! After that we ran up to my grandparents house to have dinner with the cousins. My aunt has the cutest children! Shown here.
I asked little Janey Jane to give me a smile and this is what she came up with! And she got into a lovely shade of lipstick where all the dress ups are. Maggers has the biggest blue eyes I have ever seen and I just want to squeeze her she is so cute! I love being with my family.
Well hopefully I will find my book soon so I can blog my funny stories. I remember them being funny so hopefully I can find them soon before it's already been too long.

New Music Video

Mormon Tabernacle Choir has a new music video. After watching it myself, it made me think about what our church is really about. Service. Helping others. Everyone has something to give whether it be time, money, advice, skills, even blood. Look for ways to help those in need. Those you help may one day be the ones helping you.

Weekend

I love going home for the weekend! But not this week.

My dearest cousin got married yesterday so I was able to go to that and it was splendid. She looked gorgeous. Other than that I've been studying. I loath studying. Especially for crazy medical classes. I was able to spend a little time with my mom running errands and helping her get some things done which isn't the funnest thing to do, but that doesn't matter because I just like spending time with my mom. Getting caught up on life, boys and everything in between. It's great! She even bought me a fantastic water bottle (if you know me, I love to buy cool looking water bottles) so I wouldn't steal hers anymore!

I also got him put on my laptop. Love his music.

Now it's back to studying. Did I mention I hate studying? Cause I do.

Privilege

On Sunday I had the privilege to go listen to President Packer at a fireside. He actually was there at our institute! There were around 2,000 people there in our chapel, gym and lounge area. My roommate and I were lucky with our row K tickets and sat down on the very last comfy bench in the chapel. President Packer walked in with his wife, (the cutest little lady ever) and sat down. Here are my thoughts and some notes I took through the fireside. On my paper they are all over the place so hopefully I will be able to make sense of them.

"Oh dear...people are already passing around tissue boxes and we still have 10 minutes before it starts! Knowing me....pretty sure I will need some. And by some I mean a lot. I have my mother to thank for that attribute!"

The opening song: The Spirit of God
"Wow!! What an amazing song to open with. You could just feel the power and the spirit that came with singing that song; especially with how many people are here. Voices rang everywhere."

President Packer first talked about how he met his wife here at Weber State and how he served in the war as a pilot. He shared with us a chant that he and some of his college friends made up in institute. Root de toot, root de toot, we're the boys of the institute. We don't smoke, and we don't chew, we don't date the girls that do. Some say we don't have fun...we don't.
Everyone was laughing so hard when he finished like that!

Here is some advice and other subjects President Packer gave us/talked about:

• You can do whatever you choose. But you cannot choose your consequences.
• Only repentance can heal what he, (Lucifer) hurts. And repentance CAN heal what he hurts.
• Marriage is a sacred bond between a man and a women.
• Family Proclamation to the World
• The atonement of Christ can clean anything. We must find it and act upon it for our self.
• Don't be critical of the Lords Church
• Caution: Beware of the word tolerance. It does not stand alone. We are not required to tolerate anything that does not bring happiness.
• In all our struggles, pay your tithing first.
• Economy troubles: We will be alright if we follow the Lords way.
• As Latter day Saints, we need not live in fear. Fear is the opposite of faith. We need not wonder through life lost and uncertain. Look to the plan of happiness.

A blessing from President Packer:

• That we may know good from evil.
• That we may find ourselves in a happy married life; to be as happy as he and his wife are.
• Know that our Heavenly Father is always with us.
• That we may come to know the Savior through prayer and study

Closing song: Come thou Fount (My favorite song) provided by the institute choir

Again I am left speechless. They did such a good job. I didn't cry through the whole entire fireside until this song! It gave me chills the whole entire time they sang. Every note was hit how it should be, and if someone messed up, it didn't matter because the spirit was so strong.

My thoughts on music: I love how music can solve almost anything. The emotion it brings. The spirit that comes with it, and how you can bare your testimony through it, different than any other way. I am humbled, sitting here, so grateful for the talent that I have been blessed with. Music is such a huge part of my life and I hope that I can share my love for music with my kids when I am older; and that I may also do the Lords work by sharing my testimony with others through music.