Lower Lights

Tonight, I went with my parents to the Lower Lights concert at the Masonic Temple in Salt Lake. I have been looking forward to this ever since I went to the Mindy Gledhill concert earlier this month. I am a small-comfy-cozy-concert kind of gal. They really do something wonderful for me. Like make me forget that it is practically zero degrees outside. And that is good, because I sure do complain about the cold a lot. The Lower Lights is a group made up of a whole bunch of artists who all have their own musical endeavors on the side. I think there are 42 people who play in the group and whoever is in town plays at the concerts. I counted 17 musicians on the stage at one time. That many people made for rich, complex, enveloping music. The last couple of years we have given my grandpa one of their CDs. We import it to our iTunes before he even gets a chance to open it. (:

we went to town.

Tonight we made our way downtown for some holiday festivities.
We stopped at Blickenstaff's to get some last-minute gift ideas. I love that place. Hence why I have gone twice in 2 days. Who knew so much fun could be had with a magnifying glass?
The Willy Wonka and glittery swirly glasses were favorites.
Every time we go, the kiddos make sure to ride the EZYRollers.
Candy ornament window displays we passed on the way to the Trax station.
Rita Skeeter glasses and a $70 hat/scarf/handwarmer.
The Grand America has a holiday scavenger hunt with their window displays. We went last year and fell in love. Last year was frigid, so it was the perfect indoor activity. Basically you walk around and look for clues in the amazing window displays, make a pit-stop in the toy store, and end up in the bakery to get a free shortbread cookie.
Lights at Temple Square
1: Owen got cold while waiting for the Trax and crawled up Sam's sweatshirt.
2: Enjoying shortbread cookies.
3: The candy piano at the toy store.

 

the one starring rapunzel

Once upon a time, I had this roommate named Jessica. One time Jessica stayed at my house in Bountiful and we had an epic sleepover with 10 kids. Jessica was the most awesomest person some children had ever met. Little girls got to brush and braid her luscious locks. Little boys got to hear story after story. Basically they never wanted her to leave. Ever since then, the girlies and Owen have been begging for her to visit again. Jess was in Logan for Thanksgiving, and since Bountiful is halfway between Logan and Provo, it only made sense that she stayed with us once again. She may not have completed all her homework, but it was all worth it. She got to see something quite memorable. My mom and I aren't afraid of hair dye. We tend to be quite adventurous. I wanted to bleach the underside of my hair and my mom had been toying with being super blonde again for awhile. Today we went for it. I went first and was quite pleased with the results. My mom has a bit of a longer story.

Round 1 resulted in this lovely fluorescent orange mess. We decided the bleach hadn't been left on long enough, and decided to give it another go. It couldn't really get any worse, right?
Wrong. That is not a wig people. That is real-life Disney princess hair. We had a good laugh.
Owen came in...
Me: Owen, does she look like Rapunzel?
Owen: Huh? She looks HOT!
Mom: *nearly throws up a little bit while laughing*
My mom and I ran to Walmart (because we tend to get ourselves into these kind of messes late at night when nothing else is open) and picked up some color to go on top. I don't have pictures, but I assure you her hair is now a reasonable color. And that is the story of how my mom turned into Rapunzel.

the one where drew comes home

I'm feeling a bit better, but Sam is getting worse. We stayed home from church today and got to bring Drew home. We are still waiting on test results, but some of them won't be back until Wednesday. Depending on those results, Drew might have to go back to Primary Chidren's to get IV medications. We are somewhat quarantined until we know what he has. If he can't stay hydrated, he'll have to go back on IV fluids. We have to keep blankets under Drew and then wash them every few hours. No one is allowed to be right where he is so we can hopefully keep anyone else from getting sick. We have 2 super soft blankets from Costco. I brought one up for Drew. When Owen saw me about to cover Drew with it, he lunged for Drew's couch, crying, "Noooooooo!" He burst into tears the second it touched Drew because that meant it was contaminated and he couldn't use it. My mom and I ended up running to Costco for super soft princess and Spiderman blankets so everyone could have their own.

awesome neighbors

I've been feeling kind of sick for about a week, but I've gotten so much worse. I was bone-cold last night. I laid in bed with 3 comforters and a sleeping bag over me, but I could not stop shivering. I woke up once an hour all throughout the night. My throat feels like it's about the diameter of a pencil. My dad headed up to the hospital and my mom came home. A blessing and a Lortab later, I was feeling human again. My grandma and grandpa brought the kiddos back home and now Sam is feeling sick.

I've posted about the Marsden's a few times. They have gone to Goblin Valley and Capitol Reef with us a couple of times. Today Dave took Owen to his house so my mom and I could each have a nap. Later Owen came downstairs and told us Kimberly was going to stop by later. My mom and I came upstairs and heard the clicking of the stove starting. Thinking it was Sam trying to roast a marshmallow or something equally as messy, she called out "What are you doing?" Before we turn the corner into the kitchen, Kimberly responds, "I've come to make you dinner!" We have awesome friends who take rambunctious, contagious 4-year-olds who can't play with friends and then make us yummy dinner. The Marsden clan is planning on coming to our house for Thanksgiving. We'll see if we can get everyone healthy by then.

hospital: day 2

Drew had tubes put in his ear today, so hopefully he will start getting better. He might be able to come home tomorrow, if he doesn't need an IV anymore. Owen is still home-bound, due to the sores on his face, and he is really missing his friends. I worked hard to keep him entertained, but throughout the day, I kept noticing his fascination with getting taller. He stood against the wall and measured himself no less than 15 times today. So I decided to ask him about it.

Me: Owen, why are you measuring yourself. Owen: To see if I got taller. Me: Why do you want to be taller? Owen: I want to be bigger than all my friends. Me: Why's that? Owen: I just want to get taller, so I can be a grown up so I can unlock dad's iPad because his has a password.

I tried getting kids to help clean once they got home from school, but we didn't have much success. Ainsley was beside herself because I was a meannie who made her clean and she just wanted Jessica (my roommate) because she would be nice to her and let her do her hair and not make her clean anything.

Owen has really been into rhyming for a while. He is particularly fond of the letter D. Examples:  Ains-a-Dains, Fin-a-Din, Kens-a-Dens, Sam-a-Dam, Owen-Dowen, Mom-a-Dom. But he runs into trouble once he gets to Drew or Dad.