Goodbye and Hello

We made one last recording Friday morning-Mabel singing Up on the Housetop! We're hoping we can mix her with our CD for next year. She was eager to be a part of it!

Then we went to shelters looking for the perfect dog for Crystal! This was Gracie, who was great, but probably would do better with a big yard and an owner that was home more during the day!

She also loved Goofy, a stray that was found up Spanish Fork Canyon. Sadly, Goofy was also full of pent-up energy! She'll keep looking in Colorado, but if you know of a medium sized dog with medium energy, let us know! Even if you're out of state! We could work it out!

We were sad to say goodbye to Crystal Saturday morning, but happy that the weather was good for her (despite a little snow in Alpine as she left town)!

We were happy my friend Reagan, from Maryland, stopped by on Sunday! How we miss those band therapy sessions with the Pearl Strings! And Reagan's sassiness really amped up the fun level!

Pancakes and Pals

Our holidays are rapidly coming to an end. We had a pancake breakfast on Thursday morning.

Who knew you could make such fun pancakes with some batter in a squirt bottle? Brittany and Crystal, apparently!

We also had fun seeing our Broomfield friends, the Engstroms, for a few hours. We appreciated them taking time out of their ski vacation to drop by! Kent even popped by for a bit, as his in-laws also live in Alpine!

Fun and Games

We had some fun family game time over the holidays. On Christmas night we played Secret Hitler, which was a game all about lying to your opponents. It was super funny, as not all of us are good liars! And it is even worse, when you are a strategically impaired player trying to lie (as in my case)!

We had fun opening presents. Crystal always wraps hers so beautifully!

She got the kids some cute animal house slippers, which they loved!

The family is getting too big to eat in the kitchen together, so we had to graduate to the dinning room, where we still barely fit!

We did some recording on Christmas day. We tried to coordinate that with nap time, but it didn't always work out. Here, Hugo was captive in the playpen while we recorded.

With a ball and some goldfish crackers he was good as gold!

Last night we wrapped up our recording sessions, having recorded 11 songs in 5 days! We consider that a Christmas miracle! It all went well, but we are considering cutting back next year!

Yesterday we were privileged to see the Wizard of Oz at the Hale Centre Theater in Sandy! They did a terrific job, and the staging and costuming did not disappoint!

Aunt Crystal is wearing herself out trying to endear herself to the kids! They loved it!

Hugo loved running with Crystal, even though he can barely walk!

It was fun watching Hugo take some confident steps. He was motivated enough here to walk up to the Christmas tree and just stand looking at it! He and Amanda and Nolan flew home today, and we're sorry not to be with him as he turns into a true walker in the next week or so!

We're happy Crystal is staying for a few more days! The party is not over yet!

Christmas Eve

It has been fun getting to know Hugo. He has been leery of me, but actually crawled to me twice yesterday. His great forte is throwing a ball straight and true! He is taking steps between furniture, but not very far. We were hoping he'd go home a true walker. We have two more days for a Christmas miracle!

Mabel and Clementine took a step back in time to see if they could still fit in the Play n' Pack. They are both sleeping in beds now and even Clementine is potty trained!

We recorded four songs yesterday and rewarded ourselves with dinner at Tucano's Brazilian all-you-can-eat BBQ. Turns out we can eat a lot and wish we hadn't!

Tub full of Grandkids

We had a great Sunday, with Brittany, Amanda and Crystal singing Bring a Torch, Jeanette Isabella in church, while Ed and Judy played bass and guitar with them. No picture of that!

But we did get a bonus shot of a bathtub full of cousins, getting all cleaned up for Christmas!

Happy Holidays from Whistling Prairire!

Whistling Prairie is together again and ready to party! We started our holidays Saturday with a photo op for our next album! It wasn't easy strapping a camera to a ladder and using a cell phone to remotely trigger the shutter! But in the end, we were thrilled to have even the children's faces in the picture!

We had lots of fun with our three grandchildren! Clementine, Mabel and Hugo loved our new child-size lounge chairs!

They also enjoyed playing with fake food. Clementine was a little confused about the 'fake' part of it!

During nap time we got down to business, practicing new Christmas songs for next year's album!

We have high hopes of recording 11 songs in 5 days. We had a bit of a head start, as the Pinyon Rats have been practicing alone for a few months. It was great having everyone together finally!

Hugo didn't mind being caged up during rehearsal, as there were plenty of balls in the playpen to keep him happy! He did throw a good number of them out of the enclosure!

In the evening we rode the Heber Valley Christmas train! It was way past bedtime, but the kids all survived it fine!

Even Crystal, who the life of the conga line!

Mabel and Clementine were lucky to have two sets of grandparents there, as Marti and Ellis came, as well!

Santa joined the train after we arrived at the North Pole and visited each child individually. He also gave us all a really nice jingle bell!

Ed enjoyed a really long cuddle from Clementine, who still has a tender preference for Grandpa!

Hugo's favorite part was the music, and he enjoyed clapping along to the Christmas songs! It was a terrific memory, and I'm sorry to think the kids are too young to retain any of it! We'll tell them about it when they grow up!

Dinner and a Basketball Game

We went to the University of Utah basketball game last night with my sisters and brothers-in-law! One of the perks of having cancer was getting free tickets from some of the players when they visited Huntsman last month! They were playing Florida A&M and won handily. And to top it all off, we got free glow sticks!

We also enjoyed dinner at the Dodo Restaurant before the show. We even got to sit right under the bird! This was a restaurant recommended by my brother, Jon, who lives in Sugar House. He did not steer us wrong! It was delicious!

Alpine Sage and Pinyon Rats at Spring Gardens

Alpine Sage performed Saturday night at Spring Gardens in Lindon. We had Brittany help us out, but other than that, we all live in Alpine Cove Ward! That's a lot of people in one ward to be picking and singing together every Thursday night! The first 6 songs are by Alpine Sage, then 2 by the Pinyon Rats, then one with everyone!

We had some high and low points, but we had a good time, and a great crowd, not only from the facility, but our family that came to support us!

We appreciated Marti and Ellis, who came to hear us and to help out with Mabel and Clementine during the Pinyon Rats songs!


Because the band members might like to see themselves, I'm posting videos of 9 of the 11 songs we sang!

Lunch at Barbara's and a Christmas Show

We had a nice time in South Jordan on Friday, starting with lunch at Barbara's house.

Brittany and mom and I drove up together, and enjoyed Barbara's delicious curry chicken sandwiches!

We also gave mom her Christmas present from the siblings. We all went together to get her a robot vacuum! I hope she likes it. Technology can be a blessing and a curse!

Afterwards we went to Sagewood assisted living to see my friend Debby's choral group perform. They were great, and it was also fun meeting Debby's mom who lives there. Maybe next year Barbara will sing with them! It looked like a fun group!

Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert

Thursday night we got to go to dinner and a show! Annette had 4 extra tickets to the Tabernacle choir Christmas concert, so she invited Barbara and Kent and Ed and me! She and Kent also had two granddaughters. We met for dinner at Trolley Square first!

We had a great dinner at the Spaghetti Factory first! The three sisters sat together at one end of the table. We just have a lot to talk about!

The two Kents and Ed also had plenty to catch up on! It is so fun having everyone retired now!

We met up agin at the Conference Center for the concert featuring Kristin Chenoweth.

We LOVED the concert! It was a visual and audio feast. And Kristen's warmth and exuberance made it especially wonderful! It was a great way to celebrate the season. I hope Annette gets extra tickets again next year!

Cookies from Scratch!

They had a cookie exchange in Relief Society Tuesday night, and I decided to make some cookies. I was inspired by a magazine I was reading up at the Huntsman Cancer Hospital! These are thumbprint cookies. Almond cherry and lemon coconut. The magazine had about 10 flavor choices, and they were so good I might have to try more!

We also had a short but lovely musical program of the nativity, including trombone and ukuleles. We had some delicious soup and rolls for dinner, and plenty of time to just relax and visit!