Music is Playing Inside My Head.....

One of my favorite songs was written by Carole King. It's in my brain....just like the music.
Music is playing inside my head
Over and over and over again,
My friend,there's no end to the music.

Ah, summer is over
But the music keeps playing
And won't let the cold get me down.

Pictures are forming inside my brain
Soon with the colors they'll rain together and grow
Then don't you know, don't you know there'll be music

Ah, it's not always easy
But the music keeps playing
And won't let the world get me down.

This past weekend was full of music. On Saturday we spent the day at a high school percussion/color guard competition. Josh has been involved in our high schools percussion group for middle schoolers. It's the only one around here, so they went to perform and compete (although there were no others in their division). They won a trophy. They dressed all in black with blue gloves to be like "The Blue Man Group"
(I'd never heard of them). Josh plays the marimba. It was a very fun filled day. Josh had a great time. He will perform again Friday and Saturday, then he will be finished with percussion until next year.
Jon went to Tacoma Washington (near Seattle) on Thursday and spent 4 days practicing with the 2007 All State Band. It was a jump out of his comfort zone. The only one from our school to go, he rode on a district bus with 7 other kids from Vancouver that he had never met. He roomed with 5 guys from around the state. I would have been petrified, but in preparation for his mission he thought it was great going someplace where he didn't know anyone.

...More Music

Top O The Morning To Ya!!

With the last name of EGAN , being Irish around here is not an option. Each St. Patricks Day we celebrate with the kids having an good old fashioned "Egan" Irish feast. It's not in the least traditional from an Irish standpoint, but it suits us just fine. We have "Irish" baked potatoes with "green" salad topped with Zesty "Irish" Dressing along with an assortment of other "green" food items. We listen to Irish music and at some point in our dinner we hear a word or 2 from the "Irish" one himself.....Sir Richard. Here are just a few.......

SOME IRISH BLESSINGS: Bless your little Irish heart and every other Irish part!
May your right hand always be stretched out in friendship. But never in want.
May God grant you to be as happy as the flowers in May.
May the sons of your sons smile upon your face

SOME IRISH PROVERBS
IWho keeps his tongue, keeps his friends.
When mistrust comes in, Love goes out.
A friends eye is a good mirrorEGAN

Trip to Rexburg....Part 3...Saturday

Stephanie and her mom (who we also know and love) with Mallory and Shelby....and Jared

Saturday was full of activities. Richard and I were staying in Idaho Falls so we got up early to head to Rexburg. Jenny had tickets to attend the workshops and I was really excited to see Michael Ballam. He gave a wonderful talk full of music and stories on Love. He told about his son who has Spina Bifida and the many challenges they have had with him. It was really touching. We attended a baby shower for Shelby Crain our old neighbor and friend who lives there with her husband who's still in school. Her sister Mallory also goes there and her mom Stephanie and brother Jared (Jon and Jared were inseperable as boys) were also there, so we had a wonderful but quick reunion. (They now live in New Hampshire) Stephanie was excited and sorry that she won't be here to help with Jenny's wedding. We took Richard to see the dress and after purchasing it we picked up Logan and headed to Idaho Falls to shoe shop and other things. Jenny is very easy to make decisions....unlike her very indecisive mother, so it was a quick trip. Now all she needs to do is have the dress hemmed. That evening we attended an oratorio...The Tree of Life. It was beautiful...the story of the tree of life taken from the scriptures and put to music. We could just picture Jon up in the orchestra playing his french horn. More and more we are thinking Jon needs to be in Rexburg. We're really getting to know the school and love every bit of it....except the weather!!! (Jon can adjust)

Trip to Rexburg...Part 2....The Dress and other things

Friday morning started with Jenny and I attending her religion class. The lesson was very applicable to Jenny that day.....it was about marriage!! Cival War and Reconstruction class was interesting as well, although I had a hard time staying awake. We met Logan and he treated us to lunch on his meal plan. He bought a 50 meal card and had only used 10 of the meals. We could pick from any of the restrauants, but we all 3 chose chinese food. Jenny and I went and she tried on the wedding dress she had picked out with her roommates the day before. It is very beautiful on her. I'm blogging more pictures of it!!! We shopped at Walmart and went back to the apartment to wait for Richards arrival. Jenny and I played a rousing game of scrabble (we had played with Logan the day before....Grandma Drew would LOVE to have him in our family.) When Richard finally arrived in Rexburg,Logan met him out front....it was just way to cold to go outside. We had dinner at the resturant Jenny worked at.... "Lost Creek Steak Company" and got to meet some of her co workers. It was a nice time to visit with Logan and get to know him better. I'm not sure what he thought of all our stories, but he got to know us a bit too!!

Trip to Rexburg....Part 1

My plane arrived in Salt Lake early so I was able to catch the earlier shuttle to Rexburg. The weather was very cold and snow was falling. The shuttle was full of mothers from all around the country going to meet their kids for mothers weekend. We had a great time chatting about all sorts of things. The 4 hour ride went by quickly. Jenny and Logan met me at the drop off spot. The first thing Jenny said when she hugged me was that I was skinny. Hooray.....my diet is working!! Logan was very much the gentleman. They took me to Arby's since I was hungry. Then we went for ice cream. I met the roomates, which somehow they were never all together to get a picture. They are all very sweet girls. The "MOLD" was cleaned up but the clorox smell very strong, so we opened up the window and it went away after awhile. It was VERY COLD in Rexburg!! There was ice all over the parking lots as we walked from Jennys apartment to Logans. The streets in Rexburg were pretty clear and the campus walks were clear as well. I had made Logan a scrapbook of pictures of Jenny growing up. He liked it. I gave Jenny some notecards with "J" for Jensen (or Jenny) that I found last week.

Mother Daughter Memories

In a hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the type of house I lived in, or the kind of clothes I wore, But the world may be much different because I was important in the life of a child.

HAPPY 21ST BIRTHDAY JENNY!!!!

I have spent hours tonight looking through scrapbooks of my little girl's life. Since our scanner hasn't worked because we're too silly to figure out why, I thought I would take some pictures of pictures like Kristie did a few weeks ago. I found all kinds of wonderful pictures of Jennys life. Baby days, pre-school days, vacations, dance recitals, singing at the mall, birthday parties, school pictures...and many many more. It was so fun!! I wanted to blog them all. But, alas, every picture I tried to take would have the flash right in the middle. So, I settled on these 2. The baby picture taken at 3 months won a baby picture contest. We got some gift certificates to Safeway. The silly one was taken while she was home at Thanksgiving and shows her true personality....hee hee!!
I just can't believe 21 years have past, and now she's living her own life and making her own decisions....and by the way, not calling her mother enough this past week (hint hint). Anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY HONEY!!

Can't Wait for Tolo!!

The girls decorated the guys car windows the night before Tolo. I thought they did a cute job!! Jon had been out to the basketball game with a group on Friday night. They must have done it sometime right after they brought him home, because when Richard got home shortly after 11:00PM it was done. Jon had been really busy all week with the school play (he's in the orchestra) so hadn't had time to get a tie. Saturday after we got back from a family baptism in Chehalis Washington I rushed to Kohls and bought him the shirt and tie. The shirt is doing double duty...he needed a black shirt for the orchestra pit. The tie matched Katies dress. He's a good sport....I'm always taking pictures.

Crazy Hat Day

Well, it wasn't really intended to be crazy hat day....it was actually a birthday tea put on at work on Thursday. Once a month different classrooms take turns doing a luncheon/birthday celebration for that months staff birthdays. This month we were to get out our favorite hats...or make one to celebrate. Finger sandwiches and tea was served. I was going to wear my Minnie Mouse hat from Disneyland, but when I got to work my morning class teacher wanted us to have the kids decorate butcher paper so we could make hats. It was actually a great opportunity for the kids to use some fine motor skills. We had them draw people, trace their hands, use bingo dobbers, and otherwise use markers to draw. Some of our morning kids are further along than the others, so some did more. We have several that can't sit for more than 1-2 minutes, but they did great. I wish we had taken a picture of the 3 of us....teacher Kari and the other staff assistant Sarah. They're both single moms pretty youngish....very nice to work with. We all decorated our hats in different ways. I put tissue paper flowers on mine....Sarah had diapers and picture schedules, paintbrushes, and baby wipes on hers. Kari put die cuts and pipe cleaners. There were lots of hats worn, but ours were definitley the most school spirited ones. By the way, the logo of our school are hands painted the primary colors....which we put on our hats. This is my hat.

Watch Out!! Here Comes Momma!!

I even got in on the fun!!Jon was pushing some kids on their sleds when he slipped and hit his face on the road. He got a bloody nose and a fat lip. He's had a hard week!!

WHEEE.................

Richard went and bought a sled for the boys. Some members in our ward live on a great hill to sled down. Josh had a great time going down. We're still going to build that snowman, but we came in to thaw out. We'll keep you posted.

Cozy Snowy Day

As Jon drove off to seminary at 5:45 this morning, there were very light drops coming down. I went back to bed and 40 minutes later the street was covered. I called Jon to make sure he got to school okay and told him to be careful. Josh got up and dressed and was ready to walk out the door when I called Jon again to tell him to take the bus home if they cancelled school. He said they had just cancelled it and the busses turned around. The only kids at school were the ones who arrived early. Josh went down to his bus stop to tell the kids there. Jon was able to make it home....slowly in the truck.
These pictures were taken 2 hours after it started. It has now been snowing steadily for over 4 hours. Josh played all morning and is now in thawing out. Jon, Josh and I are going to go out in a bit and build a snowman. The weatherman has been saying it's only going to last another 45 minutes.....he started saying it 3 hours ago. It's still coming down hard as of this posting. Jon measured 2 1/2 inches a while ago. Maybe today's the day I cozy up and read....or not!!

DIGGING IN THE TRENCH

Christmas break for my kids meant digging a trench from the side of our back yard to the front in the street. Our water line has been leaking for a few months so we are replacing it now before it breaks. We are one of the last of our neighbors to do it.
Faulty pipes were placed in all the new houses when ours was built 16 years ago. There was a class action lawsuit filed and the manufacturer was held responsible.....only up to 10 years. That means thousands of people had to put out the money to replace their lines. Being the self sufficiant people that we are, and having a hard working husband, we did it ourselves. It was a minor inconvience as we had to turn off our water for a few days, but, thanks to a very hard working crew who spent their Christmas break flexing their muscles the new pipe is in and working!!

Christmas Breakfast and Dinner with the Egan Family

It was a busy but relaxing day. Grandma and Grandpa Cameron came for the customary breakfast. This year I made sausage/egg casserole with mufins and juice. We opened presents from G&G and they opened gifts as well. We ate early as we were having Grandma and Grandpa Drew for dinner at 2PM. Aunt Ellouise didn't make it in time for breakfast, but she came for dinner. Grandma and Grandpa Drew,Elizabeth, David and Henry arrived a little late, which was fine by me, since my oven had quit working for a time. The turkey was done, but I had other things to cook in the oven. They had trauma at home themselves, when Dad cooked the ham with the plastic covering still on. He had to clean the oven before they came. We had a huge feast, and we all even fit around my enormus dining room table! It was a nice day. The first we've stayed home all Christmas Day without going out.
The pictures are out of order, but here are Grandma and Grandpa Cameron. I had told them to come early because we were going to eat breakfast at 9AM, but when they weren't here by 8:45 I called. Grandma got confused and thought I said to come at 9:00. It all worked out and we had a nice visit and yummy food!!
The Egan clan with Grandpa Drew after dinner.

Christmas Day

Jenny loves getting church books for Christmas!!
Jon with Dad wearing his new lettermans jacket
Josh aka Santa's helper and chemistry set (watch out!)

CHRISTMAS EVE

Our Christmas Eve sounds alot like yours. We went to church and heard our beautiful choir sing the Christmas story. I enjoy it even more because Richard and Jon were singing in the choir. I usually do too, but my voice has not been up to singing since I've had 3 colds since early November. Anyway, the audience also participated by singing at different times with the choir. It was very moving and got me teary eyed as well, then I gave the closing prayer, barely hanging on to keep my composure. After church the kids made our usual neighborly calls to deliver plates of goodies for friends and neighbors (for Grandma Cameron too.) Around 4:00 we went to Art and Marilyns (Richards sister) for our annual Christmas Eve activities. Art and Marilyn have had us join their family for about 10 years now.We ate tacos, played out the nativity story and sang Silent Night, decorated Gingerbread houses and the kids exchanged gifts. Most years Santa also makes an appearance, but this year was waylaid by troubles at the North Pole. On our way home, we drove around in the pouring rain to see the lights in our neighborhood. It was a very busy day!!

Feeling the Spirit of Christmas

The multipurpose room made to look like a home with hundreds of nativities.

Festival of Nativities

A traditional part of our Christmas time is the annual Festival of Nativities our Stake puts on. This year was as spectacular as ever. Not only do we adorn the cultural hall with hundreds of nativities from around the world, the entire church is transformed into Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and scenes from home.
The Primary room is turned into Bethlehem with a huge stable, complete with hay, a manger and baby Jesus. The ceiling is transformed into a starry night and the walls adorned with scenes of old. People from throughtout the community can bring their children here to dress their children as shepherds, wise men, Joseph and Mary and pose in front of the stable. There are Christmas trees from each ward full of ornaments that each primary child has hand crafted. Lights twinkle as the children play with hands on nativities and puzzles acting out what might have happened that special night in Bethlehem.
The childrens nursery room was turned into a carpenters workshop with activities making little mangers complete with baby Jesus, coloring pages of nativity scenes, and other things. The room was filled with the smells of fresh cut pine and a real carpenter demonstrated how to sculpt with wood. The walls and ceiling again were covered to resemble Jerusalem. The chapel is filled with music throughout the 3 day display of nativities from school choral groups, ward choirs, and other talented individuals willing to share their talents. On the final day, a live nativity scene is played outside with a program and music for those brave enough to withstand the cold temperatures. (I was a wimp) It's a great way to begin the Christmas season.
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Josh: The Engineer

Joshua is always so creative. Here he is holding a model he built of the Tsunami that resulted from the eruption of the volcano Krakatoa. He's fascinated by weather: hurricaines, tornadoes, floods,....volcanoes, tsunamis, earthquakes and generally anything having to do with science. The model shows a rolling wave headed to the shore. Josh designed and did the entire thing, except cutting out the boards.
Last year he made an Incan bridge and a volcano found on Mars.
I had some good news yesterday. At my Weight Watchers weigh in I lost 2.6 lbs. over the holiday........that brings my total weight loss past 10 lbs!! It really hasn't been terribly hard even though Thanksgiving is a big eating day. I was thrilled!! It's a great diet because I can eat anything I want....but I'm learning to eat better.
More good news.....Jon learned today he was selected for ALL-STATE band. It will be in Seattle the last week in March. His lips will be sore for sure. He's doing pit Orchestra for the school musical....South Pacific started rehearsals this week......and he just got his Solo and Ensemble music. He's doing a solo and probably several ensembles like last year. Luckily he won't get the All State music until January.