#5 Taking it on the Road

Benson + Ukelele + Mom + Fiddle = Hawaii-American Awesomeness.
Why had we not tried this before? Love love love that we did this.

Me + Motab + African instruments + Violin + Summer Tour = Super Fun and Amazing minus any explanations or stories per strict rules about publicity factors.  I don't want the little door under my chair to one day drop open and I mysteriously disappear over a blog post.  Too bad.  I have good stories.  You'll just have to take me to lunch.

My carpool to orchestra includes these great friends of mine.  Recently we performed for a singles conference and a high priest group social.  We might even have an engagement in December.  Pretty much we need to make t-shirts with our tour cities on the back since we've made our way down the valley.  I think they named us "The Fiddle Chicks" but I wanted to be called "The Hot Flashes"...  btw, Martha, on the right, can fiddle like nobody's bidness.  Orange Blossom anyone?

Why yes, yes I do play the bass.  Started in junior high in jazz band.  YEE HAW I had blisters on my fingers from plucking in about 2 minutes.  But it was crazy fun.

drumroll...

Now I saved the best for last.  You might not believe it -but if you know me you would- I played a job I've never done anything like before. "The Hot Flashes" strike again only this time...

String quartet gig.  With a rock band.  Wearing Bigfoot suits.  Playing covers, such as this Stairway to Heaven video where we opened for a film festival:




Guess what?  I'm a sucker for a repeat gig with gorillas, so this Saturday night in downtown SLC the Wasasquatch Bigfoot Band is going to bring back the magic in a "Pirates vs. Bigfoot" Halloween event with your favorites:

"Close to You"

"Bring Him Home"

"We are the Champions"

"Stairway to Heaven"

Oh, yeah. Mmmm hmmmm.

Not that I have "the life" or anything, but... just sayin'.  I might be making it big any second now.  Be ready for it.

#6 Amy Grant

I have this friend who is OBSESSED with Amy Grant. Once she even gave her a package from the front row of a concert which  included a CD of her own original songwriting, written for Amy. (crazy whistle)

So when Amy Grant came to SLC, she gathered a bunch of us up and took us with her to the concert.

I'm thinking,"I know El Shadai from 1989 when one of my friends sang it at a school talent show. I have her Christmas album.  She's pretty good.  Didn't she marry Vince Gill?"

I was blown away by her concert.  Probably in the top 5 of my favorite concerts of any kind of all time.  She's authentic, she's spiritual, she's a great story teller.  I felt like we were best friends by the end of the concert.  I laughed, I cried, I knew I had to immediately download her music the second I got home.

(The lowlight of the concert was I had to use the bathroom like nobody's business right in the middle of the concert.   I finally got brave and got up from the center of the auditorium and RAN LIKE CRAZY with my friend Emily who was likewise in the same predicament.  No seriously, we two grown women running for the bathroom is a memory I won't soon forget.)

We all loved it.  I was surprised how many of her songs I knew and didn't know I knew.  I was surprised even more that she sang songs I'd never heard before but they spoke directly to my heart as if I'd always known them.  Even my obsessed friend (whose name also is Amy) said it was the best concert she'd been to of Amy Grant's.  

I think I caught the obsession.  It was a life changing concert, really.

#7 Crane Mobile

Aubrey folded some beautiful origami cranes out of scrapbook paper, all different sizes.  I kept them on my bedside table until I had: AN IDEA.

Suspend them from the ceiling.

 Over my bed.

With invisible thread.

Like a mobile for adults.  No, seriously, I could stare at them for like a whole minute.  Michael lies next to me and blows gusts of wind to make them fly around.  So cool.

I may have used a glue gun to attach the thread to the ceiling....  Michael came in while I was doing it and said, "no, you aren't doing what I think you are doing".  He really wasn't supposed to see that.  Ha. Ha. Hehe.

I would be lying if I didn't say the first two nights we didn't have birds falling on us in the middle of the night, but they are securely glued now.

And, of course, my teenagers have already warned me to watch for falling origami spitballs/bird poop.  So so funny.  No one knows what a trend setter I am.  Go ahead.  Call me Emily Stewart.  I like it.

#8 Flour Power

At Michael's family reunion we volunteered to run a "flour war", as suggested by Benson.  He'd done it before at a youth activity and it sounded like so much fun.

It's easy.

1.  Go to Payless and ask for nylon stockings for trying on shoes.  Ask for about 25 and they'll likely give you a whole box rather than count them out.  A whole box had about 100 footies.  SCORE.

2.  Fill each stocking with 1/4 to 1/2 cup of flour, preferably weevle infested or grandma's seriously outdated food supply.  Don't use your actual flour from your food supply.  That would be pretty lame.

3.  Knot the end of the stocking.  Repeat about 100 times.

4.  You can play different versions but we just played with no rules, like a water balloon fight.  You could reuse flour packs off the ground and they were good for a good 5-10 throws each.

It only took Alex about 3 seconds to understand the game.

 

We had about 50 people participate, young and old.

It looks like a war zone, complete with haze.

It only lasts like 10 minutes, but a memorable 10 minutes.

It pit sisters against brothers.

Tip:  Close your mouth when you laugh or it'll get caked.

We had a little rule about no faces getting hit.  Uh huh.

The dads and teenage boys were favorite targets.

Flour War Survivors

From a distance we don't look too bad.  It brushed off easily.

Tip #2:  I shouldn't have worn black pants.  My bum was targeted heavily.  Pictures withheld.