Happy Halloween!

Last Year:

This year:

Last Year:

This year:

And Last Year.......

....And This Year....

Happy Halloween!

The Wedding Singer

As some of you may know, I had the chance to sing at my cousin's Alyse's wedding reception. They had live music the whole time, thanks to her large and musical family. And I was also asked to sing a few songs. I sang "Funny Valentine," "As Time Goes By," and "Can't help Loving That Man." THEN, for some bizarre reason, she also asked me to sing their "first dance" song- "At Last." 

Now, I'm not going to flatter myself into thinking that anyone really cares to hear me sing but for the few family members who do I thought I'd add a clip. It's the first dance song. The other songs there are a bunch of reception guests talking so they are hard to hear. 

So, I wouldn't consider this my best performance, but then again, I'm not so sure that I have a "best" performance yet in my life. And as much as I love to sing jazz I have a hard time stylizing because I was taught more classically. But here is me trying anyways...  channeling my inner lounge singer....(and yes, I mess up the words once but I don't think anyone noticed...) (and Buck was suppose to get video of the new bride and groom dancing but that little rascal kept the video on my basically the whole time. Guess I had him spell bound.) ;)

I've had a hard time knowing how to watch these videos on blogs but I think space bar just did the trick. (click on the video then hit the space bar. This may only be necessary for Mac users) But then again, I pressed a hundred buttons at once... If it doesn't work let me know please!!

Apple Peel Secrets

So I got a little distracted the other day while making my apple muffins.

Falling for Fall

Sunday we went for a drive, our little family did. The mountains were calling to us, all lit up on fire. I'm sure New England is a must see this time of year, but why isn't Utah on the list as well? Mountains candied with yellow, orange, and red- seems like a top choice. People, these photographs you're about to see were not color-photo-shopped. In fact, I took them as we were driving, a "drive by shooting" I'd like to call it. (well, except for the obvious ones when we left the car to explore for a minute.) And, as always, there are a million photos, but I don't think you can blame me. Good company, crazy-colorful scenery-  shoot, I don't even feel bad for being late to church. ;)

 ENJOY!

Ivory June

Really? I know. I have a billion photos of June. But look at this face! How could I not?! And these ones are definitely going on the wall. 

Swinging!

The swing that Buck got me for our anniversary present finally came in the mail! And Buck set it up on our tree and now I get to swing everyday! And besides, the swing itself is beautiful. Check it out. And are you ready? Because here come a billion photos. I don't know why except that Buck and I had a fun time last night swinging and taking photos. So here they are in all their raw, unedited glory.

                                                                                        Emo Swinging

Twist!

My parents are crazy!

 Life is good.

Paranoid

Straddling the line between being aware and paranoid is a tiring life. I should know, I'm always dancing back and forth. It comes with the territory I suppose- the one of a degree in Sociology, working at a juvenile corrections center, treatment center and with foster kids (usually the stories of what they grew up with in their families are far worse than anything they've ever done). The one of the blond sister missionary and her "encounters" in Armenia (seriously mom, don't worry about it...) ;) The one of a girl who has studied many social problems and dealt with a lot. The one of a volunteer with the Rape Crisis team (this one made staying on team aware really difficult for me.) I don't know. Blame it on all of that.

Either way.

WHY has there been TWO different black vehicles now that have stopped purposefully and quickly in front of my house to take a picture of it only to race off, taking no note of the other houses? Huh? And
WHY, then, did the most recent person have sunglasses on in a rain storm and take the photo with his CELL PHONE? WHY did he know exactly where he was going? WHY?

Ask any man and they will give me a lot of logical explanations. The one that makes the most sense is that it could be real estate agents for various purposes. Okay then. Fine. But with their cell phone? Really? REALLY?!

Actually, to help myself not be so paranoid, I have to carefully pick and choose what news articles I read. I actually can't handle most of it. It makes me feel too dark and scared of the world. I really have to be careful. It messes with my head.

So I don't know why I thought I could handle the news clip on the baby that was stolen from her crib in the middle of the night by strangers!

Seriously.
I watched it and then 30 minutes later the man in the black car drove by, deliberately stopped and quickly took a cell phone photo of my little house.

So guess what I'm paranoid of now? Yep, that people in black cars are plotting to come kidnap my baby. I even called the police station to ask them if the "paparazzi" attention I was getting was weird. They confirmed that it was, although, of course, there could be "explainations." Either way there's nothing they can do about it unless I get more info NEXT TIME it HAPPENS.

Great.

Since then I've been too scared to walk outside with June. Good heavens.
Last night, in the middle of it, our carport and backyard motion sensor lights turned on. I about had a heart attack. I tried to wake up Buck but he is impossible to wake up!!!
This morning I heard some banging around in the house while I was in the shower. Logically I knew it was my cat doing something savage, but still, I got scared.

And each time I start planning how I will kill whoever tries anything. Is it bad that I know that if anyone ever tries to hurt my baby (or my family) I would kill them? I know that I could do it. Does that make me a crazy person or is it just self defense? Because I am a mamma bear at her worst and NOBODY is going to take my baby or hurt her!

*Sigh*

Well. Looks like I'm siding with paranoia for a time. But all I'm doing is trapping myself in some horrific mental hell AND in my house.

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