Alpine Sage at Spring Gardens

Fulfilling another Christmas wish of mine, Alpine Sage was able to perform together again this year! We had several months off while I was in the hospital, but got together in October, just in time to put together a Christmas program! We took our show on the road to Spring Gardens last night!

We love Spring Gardens. They are an appreciative crowd who is even amenable to having their picture taken!

We were happy to have Dave's wife, Kristi, join us this year. We are a big band!

OK. Gratuitous grandchildren shot before the show! But they did have a part!

We had all our grandchildren get on stage and dance while we sang Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree!

Brittany joined us for several songs, as well as played the hammered dulcimer on We Three Kings with Ed and I.

It was great having Hazel's dad, Millen to run our sound! That made a huge difference!

It was one of our better gigs, and I personally, was thrilled to have been a part of it. It is great to have a lull in cancer treatments and get out and enjoy life.

Here is our gig list:

Christmas Time’s a’Comin’

Cherry Tree Carol   

Beautiful Star of Bethlehem          

Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree—Kids Dance

Stars Were Gleaming         

Santa Never Brings Me a Banjo    

Mary’s Boy Child     

We Three Kings-Pinyon Rats        

You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch—Pinyon Rats and Ken

Far, Far Away          

Santa’s Workshop   

Holiday Blessing     

We switched instruments a lot and had some beautiful 3 part harmony by the ladies. It was just enough to keep everyone slightly outside their comfort zone! 

Relief Society Christmas Party

I got asked to do something about My Favorite Things at the RS party on Tuesday. So, I picked a song that Whistling Prairie will be recording later this month. It is called "Santa Never Brings Me a Banjo." The title tells it all. It is very funny.

Afterwards we had a great dinner and exchanged gifts we brought of our favorite things under $5. I came home with a fuzzy blanket, Poo-pourri (for the toilet), and some Trader Joys kitchen cloths. It was super fun. I gave away harmonicas-one of my favorite gateway instruments!

Thanks Shelly for another great Relief Society party!

Labs and Lunches

We had labs on Monday. The good part was I got a really cute purple hat with a flower on it. It was even big and comfortable on my big head!

The bad news was my WBC went up to 17.73. It was quite a leap, and left us very disturbed. I know I need a stem cell transplant, and possible CAR-T treatment to get me into remission prior to the transplant. However, we did not want my white blood count to go out of control before January. We have big plans for the holidays!

This did not stop us from having a great time at lunch with Chuck and Renee at lunch on Tuesday. We went to the Brick Oven to celebrate Chuck and my birthdays. Chuck's is Christmas Eve and mine is Christmas day! We started celebrating together in 1982 and took a few years off while the were in California and we were not! It's great to be together again in Utah!

My good friend, Reagan Dickson also has a Christmas Eve birthday, and came to Utah this week. We celebrated with some great Root Beer at the Strap Tank Brewery in Lehi!

It was fun meeting with Beverly (another Maryland transplant), as well as Katrina, Reagan's sister from Alpine!

On another happy note, my labs on Thursday improved slightly, and my WBC went down to 15.63! Yay! Let the celebrating continue!

Christmas Gig at the Monte L. Bean Museum

Last Friday we all got a free dinner for performing at the Bean Museum. Brittany has been teaching a mammals lab there, so is still an employee, and she volunteered our services.

The Pinyon Rats had a great time playing there, with the fake fish in the background. It was their office Christmas party, catered by Molly's. Yum.

We had a fin time singing the 12 days of Christmas at the museum:
12 lichens drying
11 purple penstomon
10 leopards leaping
9 students sorting
8 Mormon crickets
7 dabbling ducks
6 Packer paintings
5 ivory tusks
4 free-tail bats
3 fake fish
a 2-headed snake
and a liger in a glass case.

Afterwards we had a sleep-over at Brittany and John's house. We stayed up late and watched three episodes of the third season of The Expanse. One of us may have fallen asleep in the middle of episode 2. But it was a great day!

Suessical, the Musical

Monday night we went to the Hale Centre Theater and saw Seussical the Musical! The costumes and staging were fantastic! We loved it! This was the last show in the season that we purchased at the beginning of the year. It's been great to have a reason to get out planned in advance!

We also enjoyed dinner at the Wave Cafe across from the light rail station. It was good food and great conversation! We're happy we signed up for season tickets and had the excuse to get together throughout the year!

My WBC was 11.77 today, slightly up again. We're hoping it is because I had a cold this week. I'm feeling better and we always hope the next blood draw is better!

Alpine Cove Christmas Party and Porter 50th wedding anniversary

Ed and I had a good time at our ward Christmas party on Saturday. It was nice, but strange, not to have been involved in it in any way except attending! They had a great Cafe Rio style meal! We also enjoyed the entertainment by several of our friends and band members!

We also enjoyed popping in on my cousin Dwight and his wife Trena, who celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. It made me happy for them, but sad for me, wondering if there is any possibility that Ed and I could make it to 50. That would be 12 more years! We're giving it our best try!

Grandview 13th Ward Christmas Party

Santa came to the Christmas Party at Brittany's ward Friday night. Mabel and Clementine fit right into the decor.

The ward had a catering fail (do not order from BYU food serevices), and the food did not materialize. So, they punted and went out and bought pizzas!

Fortunately, the Pinyon Rats were there to entertain the ravenous crowd while they waited for the food to arrive. We did Mr. Grinch, Go Tell it on the Mountain, the First Noel, Pine Cones and Holly Berries with It's Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas and Jingle Bells/Holiday Blessing. It was lots of fun!

I'm feeling good and enjoying the season!

Christmas fun and Music

I just had to post this picture because Clementine had such a great smile. She and Mabel have been over a lot lately so we can practice music with Brittany.

We had to sneak in a little practice while we were cooking. Brittany brought her dulcimer in the kitchen!

Ed entertained the kids a little with the new Harry Potter train under the Christmas tree.

Skimmy rested in the guitar case last week while we practiced at Brittany's house on Thursday.

The Pinyan Rats are all ready for our two gigs this season! It's been fun having a purpose in our practice!

Hair and blood labs

I'm impressed with my beautiful new hair! I love running my fingers through it. It is also nice now that it's winter to have a little protection from the cold.

It is funny to see how swirly the top is. No wonder my hair never laid right. I think I'm a hurricane of cowlicks on top! The sides are very straight!

My labs yesterday were great. My WBC was down to 6.77 and platelets were up to 25. Both good numbers. The expensive drug I'm on seems to be working. I called the drug company, Pfizer, to see if we could get a discount on it. They don't give any assistance on anyone whose income is over 84K per year. That is pretty interesting, as the drug is $13,500 per month. Hopefully, in another month or two I'll be in remission and can get my stem cell transplant!

Goodbye, Arizona!

We went to Jersey Mike's in Tucson on Saturday to take the Jerseyans back to their roots. The Jersey boys, Tom, John and Ed, all agreed it wasn't like being at home. The servers were much too nice!

In the afternoon we had a fun time sitting around and talking! Heather's Mom joined us, as well as their dog, Charlie.

I wanted to hold the baby, but I came down with a cold, so decided to protect the newborn from my germs!

We left town at about 4 to get a head start on our drive home. We got as far as Flagstaff, where we got a hotel. They had plenty of snow along the way, but the roads were just fine. It was nice to know we only had 8 more hours to drive on Sunday!

Thanksgiving

We had a nice group for dinner yesterday, including Tom and Tina's children Melissa and John as well as their families. John and Heather's kids have really grown up since we last saw them!

And Melissa and Steve now have two children, including Hannah, who was just born on Monday!

Hannah was a bundle of joy in her Thanksgiving shirt!

Little Ethan got to sit at the end of the table! We had a great feast, and really enjoyed being with the Arizona Bushes for Thanksgiving!

Beautiful Tucson

We were treated to a spectacular sunset as we arrived in Tucson Wednesday evening. We don't get as much of this in Utah, with the Mountains somewhat blocking our view!

Tina had dinner waiting for us. And Grizzly, their cat lorded over us from his perch atop the refrigerator.

The next morning, Ed enjoyed showing his brother his new car, the Genesis G70. Although Tom can't get in the car because of his wheel chair, he's always appreciative.

We had time to go over to Tom and Tina's new house before the cooking started. They are downsizing to a neighborhood only 2 miles away.

They are having some remodeling and painting done at the new house, so it will be a while before they move in. We'll spend a little time today helping them move some boxes. I'm glad it's them and not us. Moving is a lot of work!

Terry Fator at the Mirage

Ed and I started our road trip yesterday, stopping off at the Creamery in Beaver. This was the first time we've been to their fancy new facility, replacing a dumpy old building where we (as well as occasional tour buses) have been stopping for years. The ice cream was great!

We arrived in Las Vegas in the late afternoon, and were impressed with our nice room with the volcano view!

Since I happen to be immuno-compromised, I went to the Terry Fator show in disguise!

It has been 10 years since we saw Terry Fator win America's Got Talent. He's come a long way, with his own fancy theater at the Mirage!

He did not disappoint. He had lots of new puppets and voices. He's a great singer and impressionist as well as a ventriloquist! His show was also very funny. We wished we could see his new Christmas show next week, as well!

We're hitting the road again this morning on our way to Tucson!