Howard, At Long Long Last

I think the first concert I ever went to was in 1988, or thereabouts anyway. Though I forget the year I remember clearly who it was. I got to see Steve Winwood. You know, Bring Me a Higher Love, Back in the High Life Again...that guy? Loved him. I remember being like a little puppy I was so excited. Beautiful Park West on the hill was the place - still possibly my #1 venue I've ever loved for seeing concerts, though sadly it is no more. Maybe I only loved it so much because I ended up seeing so very many shows there in the subsequent years. I just have such fond memories of the long drive there, always with friends. Finding a parking spot a least a mile away from the venue which required a very long walk to the gates, and then the huge grassy hill where you'd lounge at the beginning of the evening, chatting as the opening band played and the sun set. But then after dark the main performer would come on stage and we'd run down to the dusty ground in front of the stage and practically get trampled by the crush of energized fans. I know I had beer dumped on me more than once, and it's there that I learned what marijuana smoke smells like. And I have this great memory of seeing the same cute stranger boy at several of the concerts and then ending up dancing next to him in the press of people. At Park West I saw UB40, Sting, The English Beat, Chicago, The Indigo Girls, I can't even remember who else. But they were all awesome.

Sadly, there was one show I just wasn't able to go see. And that was my all time favorite 80's rock star. That would be Howard Jones.

Is there anyone out there more classically 80's and so very fun even still today? Maybe, but not in my book. He was the best. I received for Christmas one year, I think in 8th grade, his cassette tape of Dream Into Action. My sister was so jealous. Probably the first and last time she was ever jealous of something I had. I loved him so much. But when he came in concert to Park West, my mom deemed me too young to go. I'm sure she was right - this was probably '87. And yet it just wrenched me apart to miss it. He came again in 89 and for some other reason I couldn't go. Pretty much every person I know who was over the age of 16 in 1989 went to that concert. Oh how I wish I could have been there to see him in all his 80's glory. That white mohawk and pegged parachute pants and synthesizers everywhere. But no. I never did see him.

I know he came to Utah from time to time but somehow I just never got the chance.

And then, this February of 2018, may the date be remembered forever, I heard that Howard Jones himself was to appear for 5 nights in a row at a small theater in Park City. Luckily I have a dear husband who was totally supportive of us going even in the middle of the week, even getting a babysitter for our too-old-for-sitters kids because I knew they'd be a little freaked out about us being gone that long. (Bless you niece Kate and nephewish Cameron for helping us.)

The theater was indeed small, and we knew from previous experience of going to shows of old 80's stars in Park City that the crowd would be rather on the aged side. But that was all good. We sat in our seats and expected no fanfare or opening band as the stage contained naught but one keyboard and a stool. And an iPad.

The show was called "Howard Jones, the songs and the stories." After the show was introduced, the man himself strode onto stage looking as cool as he ever did, and even though the mohawk was gone his hair is delightfully silver blond and still rebelliously spiky, I'm happy to say. I was floored to discover that Howard is actually in his mid 60's and has been married to the same person since 1977. Who knew!!?? That is so awesome.

The man just sat down and started talking and telling stories, and then he'd play a song. His voice is as wonderful as it ever was. Not everyone who was famous in the 80's sounds as great as they used to. Just ask Troy about the time we went to see Alphaville in 1998. Not good. But Howard sounded just the same and we were amazed at his skill at the keyboard. I guess I kind of always connected him with electronic music, which is true, but he can seriously play. He's fanTASTIC.

So yes, my teenage dream finally came true. HoJo remains my 80's hero.

Bleak Bleak Week

January. Blerghh. It definitely got off to not so much of a bang and more of a gentle kerplop. We all had colds, we all had the blahs. Sounds like Januray.

One fun thing was that Romney grew in to a full-size cello. I have been so proud of how she so quickly adjusted to playing the bigger instrument. She named him Austin, and she and Austin sound great playing together. It's been such an adjustment with our auntie/teacher Margaret moving away but I've so appreciated Peter for stepping in as a teacher and managing the long-distance lessons.

One way I decided to keep myself busy and happy during January was to knit myself a copy of the hat I made for my sister a year or two ago. I loved knitting that hat and I loved the way it turned out, so I decided to make one for myself as well. I love this hat. The only downside is that once I put it on, it had better stay on because it give you the absolute worst hat head you've ever seen. Romney has decided she loves the hat as well, but I'm not sure I'm ready to knit another one yet. Maybe if she's really really good. Or if she asks too often to borrow mine. Then maybe I'll consider it.

 

An evening I'm sure we'll all remember is that night that we offered to keep an eye on this little nugget while his parents went on a much-needed date night. Things went well for the first hour or so but then something went wrong, who knows what, and we this poor kid put in over an hour of furious screaming. Some of us did a little crying as well. We are hoping he has forgiven us and will return for a visit soon.

Then Bleak Week hit. Last year it was a major hit for our family, this new holiday focused purely on pampering ourselves while we got through what we deemed to be the worst week of the month and therefor the entire year. Last year we went out to a movie and had a dance party with neighbors and I watched all the Jane Austen movies I could stand. This year? Well, we made plans. We sat down as a family and made a big list of all the things we thought would add to a great Bleak Week. We had movies and service projects and dinners and game nights...and it all just didn't happen. Because guess what. We all felt too bleak. It just sucked. And other things kept coming up. I can't even remember what all, but it was not great.

This is how I felt. Blah.

We did manage an evening with everyone's favorite take-out: Panda Express:

And best of all we were able to follow through with our plans to spend Friday evening at Crystal Hot Springs. I don't have a picture because I didn't take a single one. I was too busy sitting in very hot and minerally water with our friends the Bucherts. What a therapeutic place to go that week. We just sat and soaked and talked and talked and then got out and ate pizza. Couldn't have been a better ending to a truly bleak Bleak Week.

One event that took place after that week was a surprise visit from my darling friend Natalie - we got to sneak off to lunch with Kalleen. That was happy. Short, but happy.

I have to be honest - this was not the worst January ever. I know our Bleak Week turned out to be not as fun as we had hoped, but I can honestly say that this January wasn't awful. We didn't have any snow - that in and of itself is a bummer, especially for our climate here, but it did make it so that we didn't get the horrible inversions we often struggle with in January. And the kids were out of school for Christmas break clear until the 9th of the month and so January was a third over by the time real life kicked in again. Romney also has been able to start singing lessons and has loved that. There were lots of ups. And I'm happy to say that February came faster than it did other years.

Happy New Year!

The week after Christmas yielded some quiet days. In fact, I don’t think there was a single event listed on our calendar. We spent a lot of time snuggling near the fire, catching up on movies, and watching Chase devote himself to the total immersion in one of his favorite Christmas gifts, a new game for his PS4. It pretty much completely sucked him in for the two week break. I'm a super good mom. We got a little fresh snow on Christmas and so Troy took the girls sledding one day. 

Here’s Emma trying to stay awake for family reading by the fire. She failed but very comfortably so. 

Here’s Romney showing off her new dress that was her present from her Auntie Sheri. It’s significant because it’s an adulte size! (XS but still....)

One fun afternoon was spent as the ice rink. Ok, the ice rink itself wasn’t that fun. It was super duper crowded and the ice was so choppy it was painful. But we were in excellent company. Our good friend Heather and her two boys Nick and Luke came to town from California and we got together with them plus a couple of other boys from Chase’s kindergarten class to enjoy some crappy skating and great company.

These boys are just absolutely huge now. All freshmen in high school - so crazy to think that they met as kindergartners. 

Then, just a day or two before the new year, Peter and the rest of the St. George crew arrived. We decided to meet up at the Aquarium in Sandy as they arrived in the valley. We had thought that this would be a great idea but since it happened to be the same great idea that everyone else had it was actually a terrible idea. I've never seen the place so packed before. We did not stay very long.

Iva loves her cousin Chase.

I know they were hoping for a ton of snow to play in but there just wasn’t much. We filled our time with trips to the zoo and letting the grownups chat while the kids played and argued and played and ate except for Chase who stayed upstairs with a PS4 and a monitor. He was pretty happy with this arrangement.

We did get a chance to head to the zoo for their annual zoo lights display. Slightly anti-climactic after Christmas but still fun. I've made it to the zoo a couple of times now but still haven't laid eyes on the two new polar bears. Hopefully one of these days

We even made it back downtown to see the lights. We had learned in years past that a post-Christmas viewing of the lights was much less congested but it was still pretty nutty down there. Still, those beautiful lights are worth a little discomfort.

While our cousins were in town we had to abandon them for a bit on Saturday morning to head to the annual Preslar family Christmas Party. Sam and Kathleen very generously hosted and we had a great time enjoying soup and appetizers and a great spread of Christmas cookies. Sam's son Noah has taken to enjoying music on LP records - he's got this cool little record player up in his room that he and Chase and funnily enough Emma went up to enjoy. Troy and his brothers as always really seemed to love being together and talking. Lots of great gifts, time chatting together and a peaceful morning. 

As Christmas Eve was on a Sunday, so also was New Years Eve on a Sunday. We knew this would possibly make for a challenging day of celebration. But we wanted it to be fun. Sheri was a hero - she put together a really fun list of minute-to-win-in type games that she orchestrated throughout the day. Every hour or so she’d start up another one. Since we had so much time between post-church (barely past noon) and ringing in the new year (nearly 12 hours later) we spread out the games and invited our extended family to join us whenever they could. We had the company of cousin Kate and her Cameron early in the day. They played a TP-wrap game with us then brought bunnies over for everyone to snuggle.

I'm not going to lie - NYE got very very long. The games were fun - rug racing across the floor, skittles sorting, Kleenex box emptying - lots of fun. And also it was just a long long day. My dad came for a bit, my sister came for a bit, and we tried to get the kids to decide to go to bed early but every last kid was still awake at the stroke of the new year. Long day.

We survived. We survived New Year's Eve. We survived 2017. A lot happened and we welcome 2018 with open arms!