Pearl Jam 9/28

So on September 28th I had the chance to see my most very favorite band in the whole world live in concert! I last saw Pearl Jam in Las Vegas in 2006, it was also awesome but our seats were terrible. Before that I saw Pearl Jam in 1995 and my seats then were also terrible. This time I decided that my seats would not be terrible. I got up extra early the day that tickets went on sale and drove 40 miles to the E Center box office to get in line. I felt pretty good about my chances of getting tickets as I was 7th in line and there would be 8 lines open when tickets went on sale. What I didn't know was that the losers in the front of the line would be having their children also attempting to purchase tickets which pushed me back to like 13th and didn't allow me to purchase tickets right when they went on sale. When I finally got to the ticket agent the only tickets were nosebleeds. I bought some anyway, just because I wanted to make sure I got tickets, and then Jaime called and told me that she was able to get 25th row on the floor on the internet! Yep, I went all the way to the E Center for tickets but Jaime was able to score great seats in the comfort of her own home...oh well. Later on I decided to sell all the tickets I owned and find some better seats through a ticket agency. I was able to get 14th row on the floor and it was awesome!! Anyway, on with the story.

The concert itself was so much fun, PJ really is my most favorite band. I really enjoy other bands and the music that they make but no other band has the history and meaning for me that they do. Interestingly enough, PJ was introduced to me by my mother. For those of you new to my tragic past, my mother and I are estranged and have been for almost a decade. Anyway, it was my mother that first played PJ for me right after Ten came out and I was visiting her at her home in Boston. She became a big fan after seeing some of their more intense performances on TV and I can still remember sitting in her car as she drove and told me about how amazing this new band was and the intense emotion surrounding their music. I remember being blown away by the raw emotion, the anger and sadness...it seemed to speak right to my teen angst and I loved it!

Hearing songs like Alive, Evenflow, Jeremy, Black etc. for the first time was like nothing I had ever experienced. My favorite music up to that point was from the likes of MC Hammer and Bobby Brown, I really enjoyed what was on the radio but had never latched on to one particular band. Pearl Jam was my first.

Because I associate Pearl Jam with my mother, Black is (for me) the absolute saddest song in the universe but that is a post in and of itself.

As I got older, my obsession with Pearl Jam only deepened. I remember spending most of my money in high school on Pearl Jam bootlegs and posters from Crandall Audio in Orem, I can remember the amazement of getting Vitalogy for the first time and freaking out at the scary detail of the album artwork, I remember the weirdness of No Code and loving it nonetheless. I remember the devastation of Yield coming out right after I went into the MTC. I kid you not, I would have dreams at night while serving a mission in Russia about listening to the album and my mind would create its own version of what the songs would sound like...weird, I know.

When Jaime and I were married, I was forced to select a song to be on my portion of our wedding video. You know, there are pictures of me on the screen and some sort of 50's song is supposed to play in the background. I chose Last Kiss from Pearl Jam...

Anyway, I have tons of memories of loving Pearl Jam. Again, there are a number of bands whose music and/or lead singers I adore but none compare to PJ. OK, on to the pictures from the concert...

The man, the myth, the legend... Good seats, huh?

Mike and Stone on lead guitars, Jeff on bass and Matt on drums. So good...

So intense, my favorite music is music that makes me feel something.

Mike was on fire...

So, a couple songs into the first encore Eddie pulled a local guy up on the stage who had written him a letter and wanted to propose to his girlfriend on stage. For some reason, Eddie actually read the letter and let the guy do it! I don't know how one gets a letter to Eddie but that is so cool! Anyway, Eddie let the guy on stage and he did his thing (she said yes) then he sat them down (see picture) and sang Just Breathe off of the new album to them. So cool...

Near the end of the concert PJ had Ben Harper join them for a song. I don't get the Ben Harper obsession but it was still pretty cool.

Anyway, the concert was a surreal experience. I heard some of my very favorite songs ever and had great seats and got to attend with my favorite person.

Here is a setlist breakdown:

Set 1
Of The Girl - this was a cool random song to intro with. I could tell it would be a good night for a fan right from the start.
Breakerfall - also off of Binaural, probably the least popular PJ album but a real rocker nonetheless
Hail, Hail - holy crap I love this song! I peed a little when this one began...
Severed Hand - off of the last album, trippy but cool
The Fixer - off of the new album, "the single". Strangely happy for a PJ song, welcome to the post-Bush era
Low Light - off of Yield, such a classic!
Marker In The Sand - again, off of the last album and really solid.
Even Flow - the first real sing along of the night, hard to get excited about but still good (am I a PJ snob? Yes.)
Unthought Known - probably my favorite song off of the new album. Really, really amazing. Eddie mixed the lyrics up a little but it was still great.
Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town - second sing along of the night but much better this time. HELLLLLOOOOOO!!!!
Got Some - My favorite "fast" song on the new album. This was a highlight for me.
Given To Fly - second pee instance of the night. This is one of my very favorite songs in the world.
Immortality - I was so excited to hear this live! So freakin' amazing!
Satan's Bed - a real treat. 2 songs from Vitalogy in a row!! No whip sounds but super awesome!
Amongst The Waves - a future sing along from the new album. Cool.
Do The Evolution - lots of stuff off of Yield. I love this song but Eddie mixed up the verses a little. Still fun though!
Blood - I used to sing this song during high school football games when my voice would get really hoarse. I screamed along...(scram along?)
Encore 1
Bee Girl - super rare treat here, just Eddie and Jeff.
Just Breathe - this was the one that Eddie sang to the happy new couple up on stage. This really is a beautiful song using an instrumental that Eddie wrote and put on the Into the Wild soundtrack.
Red Mosquito - with Ben Harper. Didn't care about that but I do love this song.
Daughter - not the last sing along but it was cool
Supersonic - off of the new album, about the love of music, apropos right?
Spin The Black Circle - another scream along! I think I like those more than the other types of "alongs"
Encore 2
I Believe In Miracles - so, I am not a huge Ramone's fan but I know this song from the Eddie cover on the tribute album.
Crazy Mary - this was the final pee moment for me. I loved this song live! Eddie passed a Corona around at the end.
Alive - the ultimate sing along. This one was cool because they turned the lights on and you could see 10000 people singing about how they were still alive. If you haven't seen the episode of Storytellers with PJ where Eddie explains about how the crowd has changed the meaning of this song for him you definitely should!
Yellow Ledbetter - the closer. Pretty dang cool, unintelligible lyrics and all. Near the end the crowd rushed the stage so Jaime and I left a couple minutes early to avoid the potential riot...I hated being those people but there were way too many drunk people in da house.

Well, that is pretty exhaustive, as all my posts tend to be. Can you imagine trying to live with someone who just goes on and on like this all the time!? Sorry Jaime...

Peace, I'm outta here.

Sleepwalker

So my sweet baby girl has started sleep walking. (Yeah I know she's 8, she's still my baby.) It started several weeks ago when she would wake up in the middle of the night and get undressed and go back to bed with just underwear on. And then it progressed to true sleepwalking. The first time she sleepwalked she came downstairs and just started rummaging through the fridge and then just went back upstairs. Random we thought but we just blew it off. It has happened several times since then. (Once or twice a week.) Sometimes its funny and sometimes its worrisome. One of the times she got up, she came downstairs and went outside!!! (Just into the garage that was closed but still...) She told Chet that she was looking for something that she left in the car. After several minutes of her looking, unsuccessfully, Chet finally coaxed her back inside and carried her back to bed. The night before last Chet and I were in bed and I saw her carry an armload of clothes into her bathroom. I stood at the door for a minute and waited for her thinking she would use the bathroom and go back to bed. Nope. She came out dressed for school with the exception of the underwear she had put on her head!!! She had it around her neck and was trying to put her arm through the leg hole! Chet said to her "Sweetie thats your underwear." and Liv said "I know!". Chet and I were laughing so hard but trying to help her get back to bed without waking her. (You're really not supposed to.) I finally got her back in her jammies and back in bed. So funny. :) It is quite concerning, however, so we have done some research on the matter and have found out that 1 in 10 kids ages 8-13 sleepwalk and they eventually grow out of it. Its usually caused by lack of sleep or stress. (I'm thinking stress since she still gets about 11 hours of sleep a night.) In the mean time we just have to deal with it by getting her back to bed and not waking her. I hope that for her sake that she grows out of it soon. She always wakes up sooo tired the morning after she sleepwalks.

My One True Love

Today is mine and Chet's 10th anniversary and I wanted to write something beautifully eloquent about why he is my one true love and soul mate but I am not very good at writing so I am going to list some of the reasons that he is those things.

Reasons why I love my husband:

He loves me more than anything in the world!
He loves his kids more than anything in the world!
He has an amazing testimony.
He is my best friend.
He takes me to Disneyland, pretty much whenever I want.
He is very hot.
He buys me flowers every week.
He buys me Pepsi.
He lets me sleep in.
He is smart.
He helps around the house.
He lets me be crazy sometimes.
He listens to me when I need to talk.
He teaches me.
He gets excited about his favorite music.
He works very hard every day at his job to provide for us.
He makes me laugh.
He makes me feel beautiful.
He is my best friend!

I am so grateful that after 10 year of marriage and 14 years together he is still the first person I want to be with. He is my best friend, my soul mate, and my one true love. Happy Anniversary Hounnh! Always and Forever olive jew!

Soccer Games

A soccer mom I am not! But I now have 2 kids that play the game and they love it. Friday night was Harris' first game. He was so excited! For his birthday (back in June) he got a really nice ball from his Auntie Lindsay and Uncle Jake. So he has had a lot of time to practice. I was so proud of him. He is usually very shy but he got right in there and gave it his all . He even had the ball a few times and once kicked it all they way down to the goal only to have it kicked in by another team member. He didn't mind though. He was just so proud of himself for getting it down there! My sweet baby boy is a great soccer player!



This is his game face. Can you see the focus? (Soooo cute!)

He loves his ball! He is taking it in for the coach to use.

Running for the ball with the coach cheering him on. (That girl was a beast! She made all the goals for the other team.)
Practicing with his team.

On Saturday Liv had her first game. She did awesome! She is a forward which means that she is always after the ball. (I think.) She got it several times and knocked a few people down to do it. :) Unfortunately they never scored. You see, their coach has never played soccer! So, he has no idea what he is doing. Fortunately one of the boy's mom played in high school and college, so at half time she went in and took over. (She is now the new assistant coach.) They did a ton better after that. Liv was in the whole game so by the time it was over she was exhausted! I think it will be good for her to build up endurance. She had a great time and hopefully with the new assistant coach they will make some goooooooooals. ;)



Here she is practicing before the game. She is right handed, but kicks with her left foot?


Kicking towards the goal.

I am so sad that this picture is fuzzy. Look at that face!!!

Yep, that is her in the front, in the yellow, in the thick of it with the boys!

First Days of School

Yesterday was Olivia's first day of school. Not just a new grade but a whole new school and curriculum! (For the A.L.L program.) I have to say that I was way more nervous than she was. She was so excited that she got up at 6:45! (School doesn't start until 9:15) We got ready and headed out the door. When we got to her school we had to figure out what we were doing! It was crazy! There are over a thousand students there right now because the new elementary isn't done yet. After we got it figured out we said our goodbyes and left. I was so nervous for her! New school, no friends, new routine..... Finally 3:30 rolled around and I went to get her. She was beaming from ear to ear! I was so relieved. She loved her teacher and made two new friends and actually got to do school work. I hope that the rest of the year goes as well!

And today was Harris' first day of school. I was dreading today! Most of last year was spent with him whimpering in class until we came and got him. Today was 180 degrees different from that. He was actually excited! He said "Mommy, you don't have to walk me to class. Just open the big door for me." What?! When we got there, however, he had changed his mind. When we got to his classroom he took his name tag off the door and hung up his bag on its hook and sat in his seat and waved goodbye. Yep, waved! I didn't get a hug or a kiss or anything! I suppose that it was a good thing that he was excited and not sad, even though my heart was breaking a little. When I got to the car I had to suppress my tears. Not that he was in school but that my baby is so grown up! I am so glad that he had such an awesome teacher last year that he was excited for this year. Lets hope it continues!

Road Trip

On July 29th we packed up Chet's car and headed out for Cali, road trip style. Since I hate to drive we made sure to make lots of stops along the way. Our first stop was in Beaver at the DFA store for some squeaky cheese and ice cream. (I remember stopping there with my family when I was a kid.) We continued on to Fillmore and went to the original state capitol. It was actually not as boring as I thought it would be. There were lots of really cool pictures of the locals that helped build the building and lots of antiques that family's who have lived in the area since the beginning have donated. After we had our fill of Utah history we made our way to Las Vegas where we spent the night at the Golden Nugget. Yep the Golden Nugget. We stayed there because they recently did a 30 million dollar renovation on the pool and built a shark tank with a pool around it and a slide through it. The tank went all the way down to the bottom of the pool so when you were under water you couldn't tell that there was a tank there! It freaked Harris out. He would go under and then pop back up as soon as a shark swam by and say "too close, too close!". We had a great time at the pool and got a good nights sleep before we finished our journey to San Diego. (You can click on the pictures to make them bigger.)



7/31
Solana Beach was our first stop in Cali. We spent the day with my dad playing in the waves, boogie boarding and building sand castles. Harris and Liv both did great on the boogie boards! They both got slammed at least once but got right back on the board ready for more. That night however both the kids had sand scratches on their tummy's. Liv said the cutest thing to me when she got out of the shower, she said "Mom, I have sand scratches on my nibbles.". Suppressing a laugh, I just smiled and said "I'm sorry, do you want the Neosporin?" Could she be any cuter?!





8/1
We went to Sea World two years ago for the first time as a family. While we were there we bought Harris a small stuffed Shamu that he fell in love with.(He's holding it in the picture with the Shamu character and it's in his shirt at the show. He had to show Shamu to Shamu.) He has slept with that Shamu every night for the last two years! He was so excited when we got to the Shamu show that he was shaking! (Sea World is like Christmas to him.) We went to both Shamu shows that day and got there an hour early for the second show. It was worth it! We were right next to Shamu! He was hanging out right in front of us for the whole hour before the show started. Harris was in Shamu heaven! It more fun to watch Harris than the show. His eyes would just light up every time Shamu would jump out of the water. Needless to say it was hard to leave. Harris was so sad he cried. It broke my heart, but I promised him that we will go back next year.



8/2
The San Diego Zoo is awesome! When we got there is was already lunch time and they were doing some of the animal feedings. We jumped right in line to feed the giraffes. The kids thought it was great and a little gross. The giraffes would stick their long blue tongues out and take the biscuits from the kids hands leaving behind a trail of slime. When we were done with that we made our way through the zoo with our map in hand. The next stop we made was to see the new elephant exhibit. It was awesome. It did a history of ancient animals in California. Like the Woolly Mammoths, and Saber Tooth Cats. (Which the kids are sitting on a statue of.) Which lead to the big cats and the elephants, obviously. We made our way to the Pandas and then the hippos which Harris had to sit on the ground and watch swim. That was cute because last time he was terrified of the hippos and wouldn't even look at them. I really wanted to see the Okapi. They are a giraffe and zebra mix. They are beautiful! Well, the San Diego Zoo is ginormous and we got lost trying to find it! When we did finally find it it was way in the very back of the cage eating! Lame. Oh well. All in all it was a fabulous day.





These are some pictures we took of the animals that we got to see. It was the Panda's 4th birthday that day. He was so cute! The Okapi is in the next picture. Can you see him? The Capybaras are giant rodents that love the water and were swimming around the whole time we watched them. And finally, the most awesome lion I have ever seen! He was gorgeous and knew it!



Chet's grandparents and great-grandparents (Liv and Harris' great and great-great-grandparents!) live in the San Diego area so we were fortunate to spend two nights hanging out with them. The first night we went to dinner at the Fish Market, it was wonderful. The next night we got together they were kind enough to invite us over to their house for a home cooked meal. Chet's grandma Cheryl is a wonderful cook! It was such a nice break from eating out. After dinner, Harris played ball with Papa Jay, his great-grandpa, and Liv learned a little bit of guitar from her great-aunt Lauren. (Who just turned 24.) I am so glad that we had the opportunity to spend time with them and look forward to spending more time with them on our various trips to Disneyland.



8/3
We never go to Disneyland in the summer (too busy!) but since we were in California and we have annual passes we had to go see the new "Summer Nightastic" . I really wanted to see all of the things that they were doing for it but some of them overlaped, so we chose the parade and the fireworks. The parade was kind of lame. I was very disappointed. It was just some dancers and some characters dancing around in the street and then riding around in these little chariot things. The fireworks, on the other hand, were amazing! They were the coolest fireworks I have ever seen. I did wish that they would have played more songs though. We also spent some time in California Adventure where Harris got to do Grizzly River Run and Mulholland Madness for the first time. He has been wanting to do GRR forever and he finally got to do it. Yay! Chet and Liv did Screamin and sat in the front which is their fave. I was happy walking around and looking at all the renovations they are doing. It is going to be so much better when its done! I can't wait!



It was a wonderful week! I am so grateful for the many opportunities that we get to go on vacations together. I look forward to every single moment I get to spend with my family.

A Family That Plays Together...

So Chet has had a lot of family here the last few weeks. We have had a wonderful time and miss them all now that they are gone. Here are a lot of our good times. :)



The good times kicked off with fishing at Butterfly Lake with Chet's grandpa, Papa Jay, and his wife, Grandma Cheryl. (Liv and Harris' great-grandparents)

Papa Jay was awesome at playing with each of his great-grandkids. He really took time to get to know all of them.

Liv's turn with Papa Jay.

Chet's second cousin Britlyn (holding Peach her tiny poodle) and her husband John came fishing with us and came back the next night for dinner. It was really fun to hang out with them. Liv and Harris loved the both of them.

The boys spent a lot of time on the tramp.

Harris and his great-grandma Cheryl played billiards for about an hour together. It was so sweet!

Chet's sis, Chelsie, and her husband, Chuck, went with us to dinner and a pre-screening of Harry Potter. It was a blast!

The whole fam at the zoo.

Could they look more like brother and sister?! Chet and his sis Chelsie.

We watched the black bears fight for about 30 minutes. It was very cool. Harris lovin Grandma Wendy holding him.

We went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house and had some family pictures before we went.

Chet's parents have an awesome pool. A lot of time was spent there as well. Fantastic!

The Children's Museum is so much fun for the kids. This is Liv and James (Chet's little brother) doing their best anchor person imitation.

Goofin off in the helicopter.

Chet's Nana, Joanie, trying to play Trouble with the kids.

Harris worships his uncles Chrys and James. This was our last day all together so we went for a family hike in the hills above the Robinson's.

What a view! This giant pipe is where we usually hike to and then walk across.

Could these kids be any cuter?! Cousins enjoying our 24th fireworks on the last night.