Our fam.

I'm usually skeptical of those sites that claim to predict what you and your spouse's babies will look like by combining your photos, but Mackenzie and Beau's result was actually pretty cute. So I decided to give it a try.

Holy crap. Heaven sent...really?

Ok, who thinks this looks like Emily Lloyd?

Creepy pictures, creepy baby. Huh.

Quite frankly, I am creeped out. Except for the Emily Lloyd baby...that one's actually cute. The rest of 'em--free birth control.

Stuff that's happened.

I just imported some pictures from Joe's camera, and here's what I found:

Omgit'sourquintet! Minus Kenji. This was from our recital last semester and I'd totally forgotten about this picture. Fer cute.

Also, in honor of Valentine's Day, I will publicly brag on the Internet about what Joe did for me. After a delicious dinner at Guru's (cilantro-lime quesadillas...DELICIOUS), he surprised me with this:



Tulips! Complete with homemade card and old brown banana in background.

We also went to Best Buy and picked out a little Valentine's gift for him:

The Prestige. Personally, my vote was for Hercules, but whatever. Still a good choice.

(On a sidenote, I just want everyone to know that we celebrated Valentine's Day on Friday the 13th. It was awesome--no snow, no crowds.)

I know I have some adorable Lulu pictures on my camera, but I can't find it at the moment. So, these less-cute pictures will have to suffice.

Bassoon Sense

This post is dedicated to my blue sweater-wearing friend and colleague, Jessi Judd.



Jessi and I were talking in rehearsal yesterday (always a dangerous thing), and we started discussing how some composers have great "bassoon sense" and others just... don't. What I mean by that is some composers really wrote awesome parts for us. They had a certain knack for bassoon-writing. They make us lowly bassoons feel important, needed, and just plain awesome (which we are). Typical good parts include sweet solos and material that makes us feel like we're actually part of the woodwind section and not a low brass player who has a curiously wooden-looking instrument.

Others composers, however, wrote us some particularly awful parts. These offenders make us feel like we are back in seventh grade band, playing some horrid piece with three other bassoons in our section. Typically, said "horrid piece" involves blowing our brains out and still struggling to be heard. Oh, but no need, because usually they just copy out the trombone part (or heaven forbid the tuba part) for us to play. It's like, they didn't know what to do with us so they decided, "Oh, why don't I just stick 'em with the low brass!" Horrendous. Heinous!

So to honor this distinction, we decided to make a list of composers with the best bassoon sense (Bassoon Whisperers, as I like to call them) and the worst offenders. In no particular order, here they are:

The Bassoon Whisperers
-Beethoven
-Shostakovich
-Stravinsky
-Rimsky-Korsakov
-Prokofiev
-Mozart
-Copland
-Moussorgsky
-Ravel
-Sibelius
-Tchaikovsky
-Vaughan-Williams

Worst Bassoon Offenders
-Mahler
-Wagner
-Brahms
-Berlioz
-Dvorak
-Delius
-Sousa

Thanksgiving in review

So...I just realized we didn't say anything about Thanksgiving, and then I started feeling really bad for overlooking such an important holiday. Here I go.








It was yummy.

My Grown-up Christmas List!!!

Guys, this Christmas season we decided to take it upon ourselves to let you all know what we want, no need, for Christmas. So for all of you reading this (hint-hint), here is our Christmas wish list (in no particular order):

A Segway. Actually, since there are two of us, we would totally need two Segways. We really just wanted a way to get to campus that wasn't walking. Because walking is for lame people. And plus they're just so cool!!


An all-expense paid trip to Cancun. I mean, school gets soooo stressful! Sometimes we just need a breaky-break. A vaycay! We'd like to call it our own personal Spring Break.


Next on our list is a grill. Because... well, why not?


Ok, ok, this next one might be a little unrealistic. But we still have our hopes up. We want to play the patient (and patient's crazy spouse) on the next episode of House.


A jacuzzi tub for our bathroom... now this is definitely DEFINITELY a need. If we can't do Cancun, then we must do this. It's like our own personal mini-vaycay in our apartment!


Ok, I really really REALLY need this next one because I lost one or two of them over the past year or so... I have absolutely NO idea where they went... WEIRD. Anyway, here it is, a new ring from Tiffany and Co. I'd really prefer the one on the left (hint, hint Joe...). It's 14 carats. The one on the right is only 12. Gross.


Last but not least... well, ok maybe it is least. But we decided we'd put it anyway just because of our constant struggle to be exactly like Brangelina. We want to adopt a baby from a third-world country. We're not sure which, but whichever one they adopted from works for us!


So, there you have it. Our grown-up Christmas list. We're now accepting gifts from whoever loves us the mostest! Hopefully, this will help us know who our real BFFs are...

My first tag. Woah.

I've been tagged for the first time ever. My life is now complete!

8 THINGS (not in any particular order)

8 Television Shows on my DVR: (yup don't have one, but if I did...)
1. The Simpsons
2. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
3. Kitchen Nightmares with Chef Gordon Ramsey
4. America's Next Top Model
5. The Biggest Loser
6. Seinfeld
7. House
8. ...I watch too much TV.

8 Favorite Restaurants:
1. Sweetwater Tavern (it would be a miracle if this place came to Provo)
2. Guru's
3. Mimi's Cafe
4. Carraba's
5. Cafe Rio (unless I'm with Joe, then it's Costa Vida)
6. California Pizza Kitchen
7. Paradise Cafe
8. Melting Pot

8 Favorite Singers/Bands:
1. Mmm...don't listen to "cool" music anymore. Just warning you, there may be some orchestras/favorite bassoonists/composers on this list. [NERD ALERT]
2. Coldplay
3. Christopher Millard
4. NY Phil
5. Frank Morelli
6. Ben Kamins
7. Samuel Barber
8. Beethoven

8 Books I have read:
1. All the Harry Potters (all read within 2 months one summer)
2. Slaughterhouse V
3. Jane Eyre
4. Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey
5. Many, many books about marriage, getting married, and the like. (wedding presents)
6. Mere Christianity (most of it anyway...I'm such a hoser)
7. The Lord of the Rings (yup all three)
8. Twilight. Embarassing.

8 things that happened yesterday:
1. Went to church
2. Mat came over for Sunday dinner (which Joe made...very delicious)
3. I MADE COOKIES FROM SCRATCH AND DIDN'T BURN/RUIN/MAKE THEM DISGUSTING IN ANY WAY!!!
4. Joe surprised me and did all the dishes while I was sleeping...which is quite the feat considering we don't own a dishwasher!
5. Me and Joe played cards. He beat me.
6. I got really excited that it's Thanksgiving break this week.
7. We were lazy.
8. Because it was Sunday.

8 things I am looking forward to:
1. THANKSGIVING BREAK.
2. Sleeping. A lot.
3. Not working (as much) this week.
4. The summer when it's not cold and sucky anymore.
5. CHRISTMAS BREAK. (even though it'll be cold and sucky)
6. Hanging out with my parents over Christmas break! (PARTY)
7. Graduating in August!
8. Starting my Master's?

8 things I wish for:
1. More sleep
2. Better practice habits
3. A dishwasher
4. A Heckel
5. A fixed dial indicator
6. That I could magically turn into a good cook
7. A reamer
8. SLEEP.

I tag...Mackenzie?

Tiffany Amber Megan Nicole!

For those of you who appreciate a good satire and who have not heard of "Seriously, So Blessed!", do yourself a favor and give it a read:

http://seriouslysoblessed.blogspot.com/

It's basically making fun of all the "Utah Mormon mom blogs" out there, and it is purely awesome.