The Ting Tings Concert

We went to see the Ting Tings in concert in Salt Lake on April 9th. Now, up until that day I couldn't wait. Then when I started really thinking about it, I was feeling less than ecstatic, tired and old. The doors opened at 8, I think, or 9. I can't remember. All I know is it was later than I usually go out.

Our friends, the Liggetts, were the ones who had suggested the concert and we were going to meet them there as well as Kenneth's sister, Eden. Another friend from the ward, Kyle Boyd, was there along with Cami's brother. When we walked in my senses were accosted by bad language, bad lyrics, and severely bad style from the stage. It was the amazing opening band, Hot Tub, and by amazing I mean amazingly bad. This was supposedly an all ages event so I saw pre-teen and teenagers there, but their music was definitely R or NC-17. Grosseroo as my friend, Cami, would say. I couldn't wait for it to end.

Then we had some time to stand around waiting for The Ting Tings to come out. They were on at 10. Now that is definitely a time that I am in bed, maybe not asleep, but in my bed. The set was really fun. The drummer was amazing. Would I do it again? I don't know. I was pretty wiped the next day. I had fun, except for the scarring from Hot Tub. I have included The Ting Tings music in my playlist for all those who are unfamiliar with them. We Walk is my favorite song.

Closer to Present - Thanksgiving Weekend

Let's jump to Thanksgiving weekend. That's fairly close to the present. It was a wonderful weekend. I must say, that I didn't want it to end when Dec. 1st rolled around.

Friday I DID NOT go shopping. There wasn't anything I really needed, except my sleep. That's free. Friday afternoon we went to lunch with my crew, you know, my homies, my posse, my gang, my tribe, my pack, my coven... you get where I'm going with this, right?

Yes, we were going to Twilight. I had a great time. I was mostly just so excited to be going out with my friends. I had über low expectations just because I was not excited about the casting. It turned out much better than I expected. I can't wait to see it again, so that I can really take it all in. Seriously though, what was up with Jasper?!

Saturday my friend, Marissa, who lives in Chicago was in town and came for a short visit with her husband, Russ, and daughter, Eliza. Marissa and I have known each other since we were 17 and she moved to Utah.

After high school we were roommates at Ricks. The year after that she acted as my maid of honor. After we moved out here, they moved here about a year later. They lived behind us for a few years before moving to Chicago. Neither one of us is terribly great at keeping in touch, we don't call often, write often, e-mail often or see each other often, but we are still close.

It was so wonderful to feel like nothing had changed when we saw each other. I loved it.

They also gave us a box of amazingly delicious chocolates, Frango Mints. This is how I know the chocolates are amazing, there are still some left after almost two weeks. Now you may say, "Isn't that they opposite of amazing, if there are still some left after that long?" Nope, they are so good that I can be satisfied with a few and there were a lot in that box as you can see.

Sunday Kenneth and I spoke in church. Why would I consider this a good part of a wonderful weekend, you ask? Well, it's because now we know that we won't be speaking in church for quite a while. That is always a really great feeling.

We finished off Sunday with some yummy pumpkin cookies. I found this recipe on Bakerella, picture also courtesy of Bakerella. Kenneth doesn't like cakey cookies, like regular pumpkin cookies, so I've been trying to find him something that he would like. He did like these. They are very sweet. Unfortunately, that didn't keep me from eating a lot of the dough, plenty of the frosting and a dozen finished cookies. So sick, yet so worth it.

All I can say to finish here is, "WHEN IS CHRISTMAS BREAK?!"

NKOTB Concert

That's right you read correctly. We did it, we went and saw them. It was me, Amber, her sister, Starli, and Jenn. It was so fun. I still have no voice, so no screaming Jordan's name or anything for me. We all have our favorite, you know you do too. Amber and Starli both like Joey and Jenn likes Jon. It was amazing how much noise several thousand 20-40 yr old women can make. It was by far the loudest concert I have ever attended.

We went to Mimi's Cafe for dinner and then headed over to the E-Center.

Natasha Bedingfield was the opening act. That was cool. I really like her and was a little surprised that she was opening for the Block.

Then the guys came out. l-r Joey, Jon, Donnie, Danny & Jordan. The screaming was insane. Amber and Jenn went crazy. Kidding. We were mostly laughing at the crazy people around us. Surprisingly, there were quite a few men. We thought it would be women and gay guys, which there were, but most of the guys there were husbands who had brought there wives. Isn't that so sweet?


They played their old stuff, some new stuff and some of the solo songs that a few have done over the years. Of course, the old stuff was the best. When we arrived we were informed that our seats were being changed to lower level seats. I did not complain.


Even though I didn't scream or sing I realize that I had to yell to be heard by my girls and now I really have no voice. Oops. Well, worth it though. It was a blast into my past and I cannot deny that I used to love NKOTB and still do.

Kangaroo Zoo

I think this place is seriously one of those, "Why didn't I think of that?," kind of things. It is great. Okay, I think it's a little pricey, but that's because I have 5 kids. If I just had to pay for 1 then we would probably hang out there more. It's just a big warehouse with a bunch of blow-up climbing and jumping things. It's a little loud with all the blowers, but not too horrible. There are comfy places for moms to sit and chat while the kids run around like crazy, having the time of their lives. We went there last Monday when Amber was campaigning for "Aunt of the Year." Sophia and Orion had and appt* and so we took them with us. *We will discuss this in a future post. First, we went to McDonald's where the kids played and ate crap food while Amber and I ate Cafe Rio. Then we headed to Kangaroo Zoo. We weren't able to stay too long as I now have to pick up kids from school. Apparently, it's too cold to ride bikes anymore. How I wish I was a mean mom, like my mom. Did I mention that I NEVER had a ride to school. I walked in whatever Mother Nature was cooking up that day. Sometimes it was horrible and really scary and other times it was fine. Still, I am alive and well and I walked my whole elementary school years. How did this turn into "I walked uphill both ways in snow up to my chest" post? Oh, well. We had a great time at Kangaroo Zoo and I think that I will probably go back with Dylan sometime in the winter when we are going crazy from staying indoors.

Friday Night with the Schmaelly's/Restaurant & Movie Review too.

Last Friday Kenneth and I went out with Gary and Christine Ishmael to celebrate Gary's 53rd birthday. He looks young, but it's all the plastic surgery and Grecian Formula, promise. First stop was Daybreak where Christine was working at the "Oh Sweet Sadie" (look for the mention of Christine on their site) art & gift show with her amazingly cute items from her This & That Creations. She and her partners are super talented. Their stuff was sooo cute. This was my first trip to Daybreak. It was adorable, just as I had heard. I don't want to live their, but the community looks really nice and the houses where the show was located were amazing.

After looking around we headed to dinner at McCool's at The District. This is an Irish Pub. We even had a waiter named Shane. We asked him to say something in an Irish accent and he told us he was Italian so he couldn't do that. Irish pub, Irish name, Italian??? He was a good waiter anyway. Kenneth and I had the fried cheese plate for an appatizer. What is a fried cheese plate you ask? It is deep fried cheese that is then set on a plate. Crazy! Crazy good, that is. I love cheese. Christine and Gary had pierogis, which are basically potato dumplings, yummy. Kenneth had a lamb sandwich w/brie, Gary had fish and chips, Christine had a steak salad, and I had buffalo shepherd's pie. Kenneth's was not the best, kind of bland, but he had yummy sweet potato fries and regular fries. Gary said his was good, but they served it with chips (crisps) instead of fries (chips). They were fresh made chips though. Christine said her salad was good. Mine was the best though. There was another 1/2 lb (approx.) of cheese on top and inside was tasty, tasty goodness. So if you are looking for a lot of melted cheese and good comfort food I would recommend McCool's and then hit the movies at The District. Which we did.

We intended to see Eagle Eye, but there were no seats together so we ended up going to Ghost Town. We were very happy with that selection. It is a funny film. Ricky Gervais is the lead and he is hilarious. You may remember him from such films as Night at the Museum and Stardust. He is also Michael on the BBC version of The Office. Problem: 2 totally unnecessary "F" words. Seriously. It felt like they threw them in just to make the movie PG-13. This movie goes to show that if you can make women laugh that you can get someone as hot as Tea Leoni. That women don't need a hot doctor to make them happy, just a real person that they can enjoy being with for the rest of their lives. I do recommend this movie, great date film.

Walking the Quiet Gardens

Now this was the kind of garden visit that I love. The weather was beyond perfect. Me, Dylan, Jen and Katherine. Dylan running around like crazy and Katherine sleeping through the majority of it. I told Jen that I would love to take a nap like that, being pushed around outside with the perfect temp and a lovely breeze. That would be a great nap, so I totally get why she was out the whole time. The flowers were still amazing and the trees were starting to change, which was convenient for me as Sophia needs to gather leaves for her class. I hope TP doesn't mind me picking leaves off their trees.

$2 Tuesday Crazy? Yes!

In the month of August at Thanksgiving Point they did $2 Tuesdays. You all know I love Thanksgiving Point and sing It's praises often. I love it so much that I have a pass, but not everyone does. So twice in the month of August I found myself at Thanksgiving Point with friends and family and 1,000,000,000 other people. That number might be a slight exaggeration, I'm not sure.

The first time we went to the gardens with friends from the ward. I lasted about 1 hour.

The next time was after school had started so I convinced myself it would be less crowded. This time it was just me and Dylan going to the museum with Naomi and her family. Still crazy crowded.
Dylan loves the sand and water. He didn't notice that it was super crowded and he didn't seem to care as long as he was able to be super messy.

Dylan cracked his head on the exhibit behind him here. I guess the signs that say to stay off the exhibits are there for a reason. He had a huge bump on the back of his head. So sad, but he didn't want to leave and he didn't lose consciousness or anything so we stayed. That sounds bad, but he was really fine.

Point is, buy a pass or go at another time with someone that has a pass so you can get in cheaper. The little extra you may pay to go on a normal day is worth missing the crowds. A pass is extra worth it.

Erin's Slumber Party

I think I have mentioned that Jenn Maroney is my activities coordinator and if it wasn't for her I would be a hermit. I do my best to stay a hermit, but sometimes she drags me out. On the evening of Aug 15th there was this radio station event called Erin's Slumber Party. So essentially a bunch of women come to a hotel convention area which is packed with vendors and proceed to try to win free stuff, pick up a bunch of coupons and samples, get a "free" massage (must tip at least $5), a "free" pedicure (must tip at least $5). Things like that.

Jenn won tickets from the radio station so it was her friends Shauna and Janae, her, and me. The highlights? I won 50% off a laser treatment package, which I am totally using. Unfotunately, it won't be for me. We have been planning on getting Kenneth's neck lasered for a while now because he gets such bad ingrown hair. So that saves us $300. I got an airbrushed tattoo for $6. It washed right off the next morning when they said it would last 2 weeks. Kenneth didn't even get to see it. :-(

Here's Jenn getting her tattoo.

The best 2 parts of the evening were the Nothing Bundt Cake samples, I went back a lot, and Michael Damian performing. I have added his major hit to my playlist so you can get a little nostalgic.
If any of you have seen the movie Music & Lyrics, it was like that. This old rocker who had one major hit singing for all these more mature ladies. It was hilarious. I don't think that I will participate again. I would much rather go out to dinner with my friends for the money I spent on all that "free" stuff than go to a room packed with strangers. Thanks for getting me out, Jenn.

Cricket is Here!!

Welcome to the world, Katherine Lucille Morrison. Born sometime after 6pm on August 26, 2008. Weight: 5 lb 13 oz. Length: 17 in. She is such a sweet, tiny baby. You will all love Jen's story of her labor, she's a superstar. I'm sure she will post more pictures and tell the story when she is home and feeling up to it. Congrats, Jen, Matt and new big bro Carter.