My Christmas Gift to you, or: 6 things you probably never wanted to know

Ksenia has been bugging me about finally getting this posted. I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep and figured I might as well use this time somewhat constructively. So here goes....


1. When I was a child i used to have a reoccurring dream. In the dream my family was walking out of a movie theater when this giant crayon box (that looked exactly like one we had only about the size of a monster truck) came out of nowhere and ate my younger brother Beau. When the crayon box chomped down on him he exploded into this thick sticky substance that closely resembled oatmeal... after he exploded I opened my mouth to scream (or something) only to reveal that Beau was still alive, but in a very miniaturized state... on my tongue. After that, I would wake up in a cold sweat and probably go wake up my Mom and ask her if I could sleep with them, only to end up on the floor because Mom and Dad didn't buy into that whole family bed philosophy of the 1980's.


2. When I was 14 i slept through a babysitting job where I was supposed to be watching a 2 year old for 2 hours while her parents saw a movie (in the middle of the afternoon). They woke me up when they got home and I was so groggy that when the father asked how much pay I wanted instead of saying "no charge" (like I should've) i said "the last people I babysat for paid me $20" (it was a family with 4 boys that I sat for 4 hours). The man kindly gave me $5 and drove me home. That was the last time I ever babysat. To this day I have guilty shudders whenever I think of babysitting.

If I were them I would've probably done this to the kid before waking him up and sending him home without a dime.


3. When I was in fourth grade I broke both of my arms jumping out of a swing. Incidentally, this initiated my boldest fashion statement: wearing sweatpants every day for 2 years.


4. My left nipple is significantly larger than my right nipple. The result of a cat scratch that left my nipple hanging like a chad in florida. I freaked out and put it back on with band aids. The resulting scar tissue causes the before mentioned gross abnormality.

5. Just after high school, i got wind of some friend's plans to TP the house of a girl I knew. The night they let the TP fly, it rained really hard. I, thinking it was sort of a mean thing to do (and possibly somewhat motivated by my opinion that this girl was kind of cute), went over there at 4 am and cleaned up all the soggy TP in the rain. I put all the wet scraps in a trash bag and left it on the girl's doorstep. My friends were very confused when they went to chide the girl about the TP job, only to find out that all she found was a trash bag of wet TP on her front step.

6. I used to play street hockey with a neighbor kid, Nathan. We gave each other nicknames which we went by when on our rollerblades. My nickname was "the Adrenalator"... I'm not quite sure why.

I have no desire to tag anyone else... the tags must stop somewhere. The tags stop here.

Picture pages Picture pages...

Ksenia has new photos up on her blog for all the world to see. Check it out.

Me in a Nutshell

Okay, I am finally replying to the tag. Sorry for the delay, I just saw it like 2 days ago. So here are 5 (or 6) things people might not know about me.....or maybe you do.

1. I love and adore going shopping for clothes (especially when my husband comes with me). But I have to admit that Drew is better at picking out clothes for me than I am for myself. I used to think that wasn't true. I thought I did just fine on my own, but the more we shop together the more I realize he's just better at knowing what looks the best on me.

2. I'M PREGNANT! (just kidding) Sometimes I'm funny or witty and it surprises people.

3. I've never been stung by a bee and hope to never be stung.....I'm slightly afraid of bees probably just because they've never caught me.

4. I got an award for being an "Outstanding Student" in my culinary program. I was also praised by my chef instructor that I made the BEST cinnamon roll he has EVER consumed. He's consumed a lot of cinnamon rolls in his day so I felt pretty good about that. After that my fellow culinary classmates thought I was some amazing pastry chef that could do anything and would come ask me how to do things or see if I could help them with ideas. I still claim to know very little about pastries and confections.

5. I have cussed only 2 times in my entire life. Both of which I am not very proud of. And both of them happened while I was watching movies starring Will Smith. He would say something funny and I would repeat it to Drew because I thought it was funny. Then I'd realize the quote had a bad word in it after I had already repeated it. The first time that happened I felt so bad I cried. I am no longer allowed to watch Will Smith movies.

6. I had some questionable dealings with the Utah TRAX system the summer I was doing my internship in Salt Lake. I have since then repented. Ask me later if you want details.

I tag....Beau, Mallory, Drew and Travis.

All About Meeeeeeeee

For lack of a more specific forum, I'll answer here Ksenia's tagging me (on her awesome photo blog to share 6 not-commonly-known things about myself). Not as exotic as some of her soggy-eyeballed responses, but:

1. I am very disconcerted by midgets. In fact, they really bother and scare me. I mean, come on:


2. I've had a tooth bloodily yanked from my mouth. With a washcloth. Luckily, a baby tooth: my first, in fact. Here is a photo of my brother the assailant.


3. I have a shameful crush on the 19-century Russian short story master Anton Chekhov:

I do NOT have a crush on my favorite poet, Rainer Maria Rilke (who Jane was almost named after):


4. After NOT making captain (but making first dance team lieutenant) I was voted Best Tigerette of the Year in my high school, Best Dancer in a state-wide dance competition, and Best Dancer at Dance Officer camp.


5. I used to play piccolo solos in band, and was expected to receive a full-ride college scholarship on my playing.


6. In college, my professor was trying to make a point that a small Mensa-esque percentage in the world actually has a photographic memory, and he asked the crowded classroom if anyone there had a photographic memory. I, not quite paying attention, raised my hand. I wondered why no one else raised their hands. I wondered why my professor blew air out of his closed lips, frowned, and waved a dismissive hand my way. Hindsight, I had thought he meant Who in the class is a visual learner. Oops.


Am I supposed to tag someone? I tag: Bob.

Sing it Loud, Sing it Proud!

Dear Friends and Family,

Mandee sent me this song in order to inspire me to become more musical this Christmas Season. This work of art was forwarded to her by someone who is trying to "raise Christmas spirit around the world" and also says that "The best way to spread Christmas cheer is to sing loud for all to hear."

I love that I joined such a musical family. I know you'll appreciate it. Please listen to the whole thing, it gets better and better and better.

Thank you, Colleen!!

Sydney LOVES her new hat, and wears it everyday as we traipse around the city. She is the envy of all the babies on the Upper East Side. You could make a small (or large) fortune selling those things here at the park. Just let me know if you want to start up a business! Thank you, thank you, thank you for the darling hat, outfit, and beautiful quilt. She loves it, and so do we!

Rockin' around the Stake Center

the year 2007 marks a significant time for me and my friends. it has been ten years since we formed what is now known as Lindsey Pool. Hard to believe that I am old enough to have been doing something for ten years. In August of 1997 we spent a week in my parents house recording our first demo, and then in October we played our first gig at the Hillsboro Stake center. There was a man there with a decibel meter telling us between every song that we needed to turn down (a situation we found ourselves in many times as we tried to blend Mormon Dances with Rock Bands).

Ten years, four wives, four babies, 3 band names, and five albums later... we played our ten year anniversary show in the same spot as our first show. It was nice to play a show without a man with a decibel meter, and it was at least good to see that we sounded better than we did ten years ago.

Often times we have been confronted with the fact that we have played together for years and don't seem to be any more "successful" than we were when we started. Still playing stake centers instead of sold out formal venues, still flipping the bill for our own recordings, and still hauling our own gear up and down the stairs at Greg's house before and after every show. The explanation for that is that even if we never make a dime at this (and to date we are finally breaking even on our investments) we are doing what we love to do, making original music and exploring the creative process of bringing a song from inception through to production.

Ten years ago, we all got together because we loved music, and wanted to play. Ten years later, that is still the reason we are here. We have seen tons of other bands in Portland form, sparkle, and then die like shooting stars because they couldn't get the immediate huge gigs and big money they were expecting. I'm still in a band with my best friends because it wasn't ever really about the money, it was always about the music. I like that about us.

Maybe someday someone who is really about the music will hear it, and we might get a piece of some of that action, or maybe we never will, but I will never regret the time I've spent with my friends making music.

For your listening/viewing pleasure... ksenia was nice enough to run the video camera at or last show. This is our rendition of MUSE's time is running out, and our own little number Political Satire. Enjoy. Rock on, Rock hard, and Rock always.

Happy Elfin' Christmas

Click and See
Pretty Random Thing, but kind of cute too.

Jane and Me at The Big Game

Jane and I showing a little school spirit at the GSB Big Game Tailgate. Stanford beat Cal to tie for 7th place in the PAC-10. Woo Hoo! Still a true blue BYU fan, but still kind of fun to have another team to root for now.

Can't wait to see you all in PDX soon!

HO HO HO

So I was just taking a little break from work and reading Kim Janeway's blog. She described her son, Brayden's, first time on Santa's lap. She said that he didn't mind it at first, but when he looked up at who was holding him, he started crying. So I'm thinking "what a funny looking pair, I should click on this picture for better viewing," and then BAM!



I totally know these two!


Sorry guys, you probably didn't want to immortalize this, but I couldn't resist (well, I could, until Zach started encouraging me).

Dad Has a New Calling!

This is just a quick news flash out to all of you. Dad was just called this week to the High Council. He's still not sure what his assignment will be. They are still being prayerful about it but it sounds like it may be over either Welfare, or Young Men's.

We were asked to come this morning to have him set apart at 8:00, but it was a false alarm. Our new Stake President is still learning. He has to be sustained in the wards first (which will happen today) so we'll go back in two weeks and he'll be set apart. Well, atleast it got us up and showered early today.

He's looking forward to this wonderful opportunity to serve! (He'll really miss his Gospel Doctrine Class - and he will be missed there. We will be studying Book of Mormon next year and he was excited.)