The Police Concert

Well, it was awesome! I expected nothing less. Our seats were exactly what we expected for $15 each.... directly behind the stage, toward the top. But hey, we were just glad to be there. I totally had a goofy grin on my face the whole time, and I couldn't help giggling a lot.

(The view from our seats.... with a not-so-great cellphone camera.)

Sting is absolutely amazing. It sounds totally cliche, but he is truly a very talented musician. Not only are his songs interesting musically, but his lyrics are intelligent and clever. Andy Summers was intense and serious, and played incredibly well. Stewart Copeland just cracked me up... he always had this huge grin on his face. He has so much energy. He looked like he was having a blast. And did I mention that Sting was incredible? I could listen to his voice all day long. The music was even better than on their recordings. They are amazing... no bells and whistles.... just 3 really talented guys making great music.

They started with "Message in a Bottle," and followed with:

Synchronicity II

Walking On the Moon

Voices Inside My Head

When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around

Don't Stand So Close To Me

Driven To Tears

The Bed's Too Big Without You

Truth Hits Everybody

Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic

Wrapped Around Your Finger

De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da

Invisible Sun

Walking in Your Footsteps

Can't Stand Losing You

Roxanne

First encore:

King of Pain

So Lonely

Second encore:

Every Breath You Take

Next to You

A lot of people complained that the performance veered to much from the original, but I thought it was just enough to make it interesting (why would you go to a live concert if you want to hear music played exactly as it is recorded?), but not enough to alienate.

HIGHLIGHTS:
- Singing along with Sting. "Walking on the Moon" and "King of Pain" were especially fun.
- Snagging a FREE on-street parking space directly across the street from the arena. Sweet.
- Sting shouting "Phoenix, Arizona" three times during "So Lonely."
- Copeland running around the stage like a kid.

LOW POINTS:
- Stepping in the beer that the guy next to me spilled.
- The opening act, "FICTIONPLANE." There were terrible. I wondered how such a stinking awful band could have been opening for "The Police" until I learned that Sting's son, Joe Sumner, is the guitarist and singer. They had a couple of songs that were decent, and the last one was totally offensive and disgusting. Most of them were just plain boring. Basically, they were totally unoriginal.

Since we didn't have to pay $20 for parking, Jay decided we should buy a shirt. It's very UNFLATTERING on me, but I still like it.Check out this slide show of the concert. If you look really closely, you can see me. :)

Swim Team

Collin isn't a very good athlete, but he keeps trying. I'm proud of him for not giving up. He isn't competitive, so he just does it for fun, and has a good attitude even though he doesn't expect to win. He is on the swim team right now. Last year was his first time ever, and he was probably the worst one on the team.

I'm so pleased with the progress he has made though. This year he did well enough to make the relay team for freestyle. Unfortunately, since he had never participated in a relay before, he didn't quite understand how it works.

He was the 2nd swimmer, so he was up on the block ready to go. When he heard the starting signal for the first swimmer, he thought that was for him, and off he went. He didn't realize what was going on until he was half-way across the pool and almost ran into the first swimmer. So, he had to swim back and get out.

By this time, the first swimmer was completing his lap, and it was Collin's turn. He is used to swimming just one lap in a race. But at this point he had already completed a full lap.... in 2 halves. So, he was obviously a little tired at this point, but he completed his lap.... behind all the other teams. The last 2 swimmers did their best, but they weren't able to make up for the lost time.

Oh well, it was a good experience for Collin, and now he understands how it works.

The amazing this is, that in the end, because of disqualifications, his team took 2nd place. Not bad.

ClearPlay

Jay and I like to watch movies, and we do it a lot.... mostly at home. Even though we have a tiny television and no surround sound. But going to a movie theatre is expensive.... about $20 just for tickets, and another $20 or so for a babysitter! So, until the day when Collin can babysit, most of our dates take place in our living room.

We used to subscribe to Cleanfilms.com. It worked just like Netflix, but the movies were edited for content. It was great to be able to select any movie that sounded interesting without having to worry about ratings or offensive content. But then the movie studios won, and put Cleanfilms and other companies like it out of business. We were really disappointed. We went back to Netflix, carefully avoiding R-rated films, and many PG-13 ones that are nearly as bad.

Then, my techie brother told me about this, available here, and I bought it. It really works! This is even better than edited movies, plus it's already been through the legal channels to make sure it won't have the problems of its forerunners. Hooray for people committed to providing clean entertainment options!

Fathers' Day

Even though I'm a day late, I want to honor three important fathers in my life.

1) My dad, Russell. It is hard to describe what a wonderful father he is. He is kind and wise, supportive and loving, generous and hardworking. He taught me many things, like how to drive a car, budget money, build a house, teach lessons and give talks, respect my elders, and overcome my shyness. He taught me the gospel, to love the scriptures, and to work hard. He gave me many things: my first job, good advice to fill volumes, opportunities to travel the U.S., Canada, and Europe (and infected me with the travel bug), a loving home, and wonderful priesthood blessings. He provided for the spiritual and temporal welfare of a family of 11 children, and has always treated my mother like a queen. He has counseled with me when I have had problems, comforted me when I had my heart broken, and set me straight when I got out of line. By his example, he taught me to love learning, to persevere, to serve, and to be happy. He is also a wonderful grandfather to my children. Thank you Dad. I love you!
2) The father of my children, Jay. I always wanted to marry someone like my dad (even when I didn't realize my desires as such) and I did. Jay is all the things my dad is, and more... he changes diapers. :) Jay is good provider, and a wonderful priesthood leader in our home. He plays with the kids, reads to them, helps them with homework, takes them with him when he runs errands, makes them laugh, and helps them feel special. He also gives them baths and gets them ready for bed. He keeps our yard looking nice, and fixes things around the house. He goes on fathers-and-sons outings even though he hates camping. Unlike my dad, Jay doesn't like to travel, but he does anyway because he knows it is important to me and the kids. He commutes to Phoenix for works because he knows I want to raise our family in the suburbs. He supports me in my church callings, and serves well in his own. He teaches our children to work hard, treat their mother with respect, accept responsibility for their actions, and treat each other kindly. He is patient, but firm. He is fun, but serious. He is intelligent and good. Thank you Jay. I love you!

3) Jay's father, Collin. We named our eldest son after this good man (and my dad for his middle name). Collin worked hard to support his family, and made a lot of sacrifices. He is patient and supportive. He taught Jay how to work hard and how to fix things, and made sure Jay earned his Eagle Scout award. He gives great advice, and stills counsels with Jay about all kinds of things. He loves his family and shows it with affection and service. He shows an interest people and makes everyone feel comfortable around him. I am grateful to him for raising such a wonderful son, and for being a good grandpa. Thank you Collin. I love you!

HAPPY FATHERS' DAY

Coolness

I'm not sure that Jay or I have ever been "cool," but I'm quite certain that neither of us are "cool" now. We are getting old, and we aren't exactly hip. Fortunately, as our ability to be "cool" has decreased, so has our desire to be "cool."

It would seem that attending a rock concert would qualify as "cool." My parents never let me go to concerts when I was in high school, so I have only attended 2 in my entire life; I saw Donny Osmond when I was at BYU (I'm not even sure that counts), and Cocteau Twins after I had graduated from college.

On the other hand, Jay went to quite a few concerts in his "younger" days, most of which I would have loved to attend; Sting, R.E.M., OMD, Depeche Mode, Morrissey, The Ramones, Live, Concrete Blonde, The Cure, Weezer, INXS, Luscious Jackson, and Peter Gabriel, to name just a few. He even saved most of the ticket stubs!

However, Jay is a little too young to have attended a Police concert; he was only in 6th grade when they released their last album, Synchronicity, in 1983. (Jay says the closest thing he saw to a Police concert was in elementary school when the music teacher had the class sing "Every Breath You Take" while a few kids played a single chord on acoustic guitars.) I remember buying the album (on cassette tape) for my older brother for Christmas. What a great album. After that, Sting went solo and I became a huge fan.... I still am.

And now The Police have reunited for a world tour, including Phoenix this Monday night. Even though Jay and I both agreed it would be "cool" to go to the concert, we decided it probably wasn't "our thing," nor did we want to spend an insane amount of money for tickets.

But last night, just for kicks, Jay looked on eBay for tickets to the concert. We even bid on a couple of decent seats, but gave up when it topped $150 for the pair. I admit to feeling relieved when we didn't win. Then we noticed 2 tickets for sale with the "Buy it Now" option, for $29 total, and free shipping. The catch? The seats are directly behind the stage.

And then suddenly we said, "What the heck. That's hardly more than it would cost to go to a movie. Let's do it." So, we'll be at US Airways Center on Monday night along with 20,000+ other fans. For that price, we won't feel bad leaving if it's lame (doubtful) or if we feel too "uncool" to be there (probable).

On second thought, these guys are old enough to be our parents. Maybe it's not so "cool" after all.

Oak Creek Canyon

We spent last weekend in Oak Creek Canyon, outside Sedona, near Slide Rock. We had planned this trip a while back, but it looked like it had fallen through. At the last minute it worked out, and we went! It was delightful!

My dad and a business partner purchased Don Hoel's Cabins, which they plan to develop into residential lots. In the meantime, it sits empty, just as it was when the original owners sold it. Sadly, most of the cabins will be torn down eventually. But in the meantime, we can enjoy them.... and escape the heat.

We spent some time at beautiful Oak Creek, just a short walk away. The weather was absolutely perfect, though there were a lot more insects than I'm used to.

The kids enjoyed the playground on the property.

Collin and Mary got brave (after a lot of coaxing), and went for a swim in the creek. It was their first experience swimming in a natural body of water. (I don't count the irrigation in grandpa's backyard, or walking on the beach.) This was real swimming! They thought it was pretty freaky at first, but when they got used to it they had a great time. Fortunately, there were no fish nibbling at their toes. It was the wrong time of day for that.

My cousin (who is "Mr. Outdoorsman") and his family went with us. He set up a zip-line for the kids, and they had a blast.

The grounds are beautifully kept by the caretaker.... whose name is Strider! Jay thought that was super cool, and now thinks he has the "uncoolest" name in the world.

We enjoyed eating our meals outside, and the kids had a great time together, riding their bikes, playing ping-pong, volleyball, and walking in the woods. The grown ups enjoyed relaxing, eating, visiting.... and some playing too. My cousin and his wife braved the crowds and took the kids to Slide Rock, which is just a few minutes away. Maybe I will brave it next time.

On Sunday morning we went to church at the Sedona Ward. Let's just say, it was "interesting." We left after lunch on Sunday (reluctantly), and we can't wait to go back.

Ouch!

I didn't sleep well last night. It wasn't because I couldn't sleep. On the contrary, I was very tired. I had no trouble falling asleep... I did so many times last night. It's just that I was awoken many times too. It wasn't because I was sick or uncomfortable. None of my children were sick or frightened or otherwise in need of comfort. I didn't have nightmares, or hear scary noises that kept me awake. It's because Jay was tossing and turning all night. And that is because he was stung by a SCORPION. (shudder) Yikes! I hate scorpions!

"North" Pasta

When we had dinner at North last weekend during our Anniversary Get-Away, I fell in love with my meal. I tried to re-create it last night for our family, with quite a bit of success. Here is what I came up with.

14.5 oz. pasta* (I like Barrilla Plus)
8 oz. fresh mushrooms, sliced
9 oz. bag fresh spinach
2 oz. pine nuts (it could have used more)
butter (I used about 1/2 c. total)
garlic (I used 4 cloves total)
cream (about 1/3 cup)
1/2-1 c. freshly grated parmesan
cooked salmon** (roughly 3 filets)

Cook pasta according to directions. Meanwhile, in a large pan, saute mushrooms in some butter with crushed garlic; remove and set aside. Add a little more butter to pan and saute pine nuts***; remove and set aside. Add more butter and garlic, and saute spinach. Drain pasta and return to pot; stir in mushrooms, pine nuts, spinach, with some cream and parmesan cheese, and small chunks of salmon. Serve with a salad on the side.

* The restaurant used Gemelli, which I couldn't find at Wal-Mart, so I used Rotini, which wasn't nearly as good.
** It was grilled shrimp at North, but I needed to use up the leftover salmon from the night before. I preferred the shrimp, but slices of grilled chicken would be good too. Or leave it out altogether.
***They would have been much better toasted in the oven, but I didn't have time.

Alice's Travel Agency

If anyone is interested in a romantic get-away, you can get the same resort we stayed at for $99/night this summer (thru September 11), Sunday through Thursday, plus the weekends of June 15-17, July 27-29, August 10-12, 17-20, and August 31-September 1. Other weekends are a little more. But hurry... it's going fast.

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Twilight

I stayed up (much too late) last night finishing "Twilight." Since it's technically classified as "Young Adult Fiction," I never would have picked it up if it hadn't been "assigned" reading for the book club I'm in. (Though I read.... and loved.... all of the "Harry Potter" books without thinking twice.) But, I suppose there is a little bit of teenager left in me. Besides, how could I resist reading a New York Times Bestseller written by someone who has so much in common with me... we went to the same college where we both majored in English, she grew up next door to me (well, actually the city next door... I guess there she has more in common with Jay), is a member of the same church as me, and she married a guy from Arizona and is the mother of 3 children, just like me! We both dreamed of being "published" but I'm afraid that's where the similarity ends.

But I digress.

I'm not giving anything away by telling you that one of the central characters is a vampire, because it says so on the back of the book (which I think was a mistake... it would have been much more fun to discover this fact along with the heroine). This is another reason why I would never have read this book... I simply don't read "vampire books." However, this isn't really a vampire book. But it is a fun read. I hope they make the movie.

I'm anxious to start on the sequel.

Pomp and .....

Mary "graduated" from Kindergarten on Friday. I don't know why they make such a big deal about it, but it was cute. They sang some darling songs. (Mary, center, grinning)

The program listed what each of the children wanted to be when they grew up. The funniest one was "Crocodile Hunter." I was proud of Mary for choosing "Mom." It's the best career there is.

(Mary with her teacher, Mrs. Willis)

Anniversary Get-Away

We continued celebrating our 10th Anniversary this weekend. Waiting one week saved us several hundred dollars. I guess Memorial Day weekend is when the cheap summer rates official start at the local resorts. Instead of paying the nearly $500/night rate normally required at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess Resort, we paid just $179.

Friday was the last day of school (half day), so we dropped off our kids at my sister's house (thank you!) and headed off to North Scottsdale. When we went to check in, they said they had upgraded us to a suite! It was so nice! I wish we could have stayed longer. After getting settled, and checking out the resort a bit, we went over to nearby Kierland Commons for a stroll, and had dinner at North. It was excellent! I had a delicious pasta dish with a very light Parmesan sauce, spinach, mushrooms, toasted pine nuts, and grilled shrimp, and Jay had a very tasty pizza.

After dinner we bought tickets to see "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End." But it was opening day, and when we entered the theatre we realized we would be relegated to the front row, Jay said, "Forget it," and walked out. I went running after him, and said, "What, you want to throw away $20?" He replied, "No, I'm going to get our money back." I laughed, "They won't give us our money back." He was completely confident.... "Sure they will." I stood there in awe as he marched right up to Guest Services, handed over our tickets stubs and said, "We want our money back." The agent smiled, took the stubs, and said, "Would you like cash, or do you want me to credit your card?" My mouth dropped open, while Jay calmly replied, "Just put it back on our card." While the agent printed our receipt, Jay went to get the car, and I just stood there dumbfounded. I had no idea you could do that! I was proud of him for being so bold. I'm too chicken to do something like that.

We finally admitted we would rather spend time at the beautiful resort then spend it packed in a room with several hundred noisy, obnoxious, "Pirate" fans. Jay had insisted that he wouldn't wear a swim suit in public (he thinks HE'S embarrassed), so I hadn't even bothered to bring mine. But when we got back to the resort, the pool looked so lovely after dark, with all the lights, that Jay said, "Let's go swimming." I inquired, "But did you bring a swim suit?" "Well, yeah, just in case." Duh. So, we ran over to the local Wal-Mart and I found a decent one. We swam in the main pool for a bit, sat in the hot tub for a bit, shared a hammock for a bit... ah, it was lovely.

This morning we slept in until 9:00 (lovelier still!) and had a nice (but expensive) breakfast at the bistro downstairs. I had whole wheat pancakes with blueberries and pecans, and Jay had eggs benedict. Then we put our suits back on and headed off to the "Sonoran Splash" pool, where we took a dip, lounged around and read for a while (here is what I'm reading), and enjoyed ourselves like kids on the water slides. After that we reluctantly headed back to our suite, showered and dressed, and (sigh) checked out. It was a glorious, relaxing get-away, and I can't wait to do it again. Until then, we're glad to be back home with our kids, and sleeping in our own bed. After all, there's no place like home.

Book Recommendation

When Jay went to Utah for a few days last month, he brought me back a present.... a novel, signed by the author..... his Aunt Phyllis. I just finished reading it yesterday. It is quite fun, and very entertaining. I believe this is her first novel, and I think she did quite a good job. She is a very intelligent, interesting lady, and she based this book on some of her experiences.

If you are interested in borrowing it let me know. Diane has first dibs.

Deep-Sea Driving

Jack brought me the Leap Pad, complaining that it wouldn't work, and requesting that I fix it. I took it from his hands and prepared to check it out.

I figured the batteries needed changing. But Jack was one step ahead of me.

He handed me a screw driver and said, "Here is the scuba diver."

Yep, that'll work.

Last Minute Dinner

Yesterday at 5:15 p.m. I hadn't started... or even thought about.... dinner. I open my refrigerator and saw a jar of my favorite Newman's Own spaghetti sauce that I had used about 1/3 of for another recipe, and knew it needed to be used up soon.

So, I put it in a sauce pan to warm up, put some water on to boil, and grabbed a box of bowtie pasta from the pantry. Since there wasn't enough sauce to satisfactorily cover all of the pasta, I looked in the fridge again for inspiration, and saw a long-lost half-full bottle of whipping cream that had just passed it's expiration date. I took a whiff and decided it was safe. I added it to the sauce on the stove, and got just the right amount of liquid. I figured the cream had diluted the sauce quite a bit, so I dumped in a little italian seasoning.

Things were looking good, but I knew that Jay would balk at a main dish with no meat. So, I scrounged in my freezer and found the remains of a once-full bag of pre-cooked shrimp hiding in the back. I threw it in with the pasta for the last few minutes to defrost and warm it. I drain the pasta and shrimp and added the sauce. It looked like vomit. So, I went back to the freezer and grabbed a bag of frozen peas and threw it in. Now it looked colorful and presentable, and actually quite nice, especially with a hearty sprinkle of freshly grated parmesan.

I happened to have a bag of pre-washed lettuce, some leftover ceasar dressing, and some croutons, so I made a quick ceasar salad. I looked at the food on the plates and was quite impressed with it. We sat down to eat at 5:45. Now for the moment of truth.

Dinner was a hit.... the kids cleaned their plates without a word. Jay liked it too... even though, as usual, he doused it with "Frank's Hot" for some kick. Oh well.