Me and Gary Lightbody (oh yeah, and Martin and Alex)

We went to the Snow Patrol concert on the 14th of October. Can I just tell you how long I have been waiting to see them in concert? Do you all have any idea??? Well, just to give you a vague notion, they came in '07 and I remember we couldn't go because the venue was some night club downtown and, if I remember right, it was on a Sunday. A little part of me died that night....Me and nightclubs do NOT jibe, and that's not even considering the fact that it was on a Sunday. So I've waited not-so-patiently for 4+ years for the day to come that they would grace me with their presence in Seattle.

This time the venue was the Paramount Theatre in downtown Seattle. It's a cool historic old building and the perfect place for me to see SP in the flesh. I got awesome tickets: front row, center up on the mezzanine. I was literally like 20 yards from thee Mr. Gary Lightbody and had a completely unobstructed view. Oh, ladies, he is a fabulous specimen of man. He has a smile that lights up the entire auditorium. And of course, when he sang "Run," I knew he was singing directly to me. (har-har)

The opening act was Plain White T's (eat your heart out Mindy) and they were really the best opening band I've ever seen. Martin agreed. They have this gigantic African-American drummer who just looks so out of place but is so amazingly good.

This was Alex's first concert and I was worried he'd have a bad experience going with his lame-0 parents and all. He is such a great kid, though and he really enjoyed it. He made me promise not to yell and scream and dance around like a fool. Obviously, he doesn't know who he's dealing with. I'm a bit of an introvert. But I do have to admit when it was just me and Gary in the auditorium I may have screamed just a little bit.

Oh, Summer, Where art thou?

I was looking through our family photos we had taken this summer, trying to decide which ones I want to get enlarged to hang in the house. I got a bit depressed thinking about how warm and sunny that day was and how now it's just stupid cold and rain out of doors. Seriously, though, now that I think about it, that day was freaking hot and I was freaking sweaty and so...good riddance hot, sultry days...hello, cool breezes, pretty autumn colored leaves and yes, rain!

I realized, however, that I never posted the pictures on my blog. Weird indeed. I wouldn't worry about it but every year I make a book out of my blog and I want to have those photos in it.

For those of you who haven't seen the pictures, they were taken by Suzanne Plant of Lookie Loo Photography http://suzannereneephotography.blogspot.com/. She lives in the Draper area. Her husband actually used to work for Microsoft. How they lived in Utah but still worked for MS is beyond me but he doesn't work there anymore. Back in Spring I saw some of her photos on a friend's Facebook page, loved them and got an appointment to get our family pics done by her.

We met up at a park with a pond in the middle in her neighborhood. It had a cool burned out bridge that was part of the backdrop. I was really pleased with her ability to capture the personality in my kids. She took the time to really get to know what I was looking for, which I really appreciated. As we were talking she told me that she had been a photographer for about a year! Yep, only a year. For only picking up a camera a year ago, she does some brilliant work. She had some pretty fancy equipment but told me her secret is that she has to do most of the work, not her camera. I have no idea what she means by that as I am no photographer, but okay.

Here are a few of my favorites

Anyhoo, as you can see, my kids are pretty much the cutest kids around.

First Day of School (Yeah, I'm late. What of it?)

School has started and it's the first time in 13 years that I won't have a little one at home for any part of the day. This = extreme joy. Yes, it's cool but there's a part of me that misses having a little company during the day. The years that I spent with each one of the kids alone, one on one at times, are treasures in my memory, even if the little punks don't remember it!

Alex was oh, so happy to start school as an almighty 8th grader and to be at the top of the pecking order in Middle School. So far he LOVES school. He has always been great about getting himself up and out the door every day but this years seems to be even a bit easier for him. He says he has many friends in each class (for the first time) and has a bunch of buddies in his lunch group. He is getting great grades so far. All in all he is very happy. Look at this smile. It's true. However, he is decidedly against sharing with me whether there is any interest in friends of the opposite persuasion. I am always on the lookout, though and I'll keep you posted (oh, he's going to kill me for saying that).

Here's the girl in all her fashion-forward splendor. Let it be said that she HAD to have this hat to begin school. Annoyingly enough she has worn it twice: this day, and to the Miley Cyrus concert. Yep, that's Livi. She's all about style when she's making an entrance. After that, she couldn't care less and very seldom will she comb her hair or even put her clothes on unless I remind her. She is enjoying 5th grade more than anyone should legally be allowed, but what can I say? She's a brain like her dad and the social aspect of school is like air to her (where in the world did she get that?). Whenever I see her at school she is running to greet a friend she hasn't seen for like 5 minutes or yelling 'hello' to another friend across the playground. She is such fun. Her teacher told me the first day that everyone was waiting and asking, "Where's Olivia?"

Here she is posing at the bus stop with one of her bff's, Sofi, who lives across the street.

And last but not least...the Cuteness. He lost all his front teeth gnawing on some stiff french bread (his favorite). I really had a hard time sending this adorable kiddo to the 1st grade. He's the baby so that's my excuse. Martin almost had to intervene to get me off him so he could get on the bus. Isaac likes first grade well enough. I don't get much out of him except a "fine" or "good" when I ask him how school went that day. He has already lost his back pack, lunch box and 2 jackets somewhere at school. He can never really remember where, but I usually have to go in to school every few days to collect his things from the lost and found. The "lost and found" concept completely eludes him so I have to go find them for him. He is a crack up and so just "la-dee-da" about life. That's what I like about him, but it's also the thing that makes me consider taking up smoking weed to relax. The other day he had his best buddy, Solomon in the car and, while talking to Sol, he actually had to pause and ask "What's your name again?" This is especially strange because a) he sits by Sol on the bus every day, b) they have had several play dates over the past year, c) they were in the same class for a year and d) Sol is in our ward. Everyone in the car busted out laughing at that one. That's just Isaac.

Well, that catches everyone up on the goings on of the school year at present. I hope everyone is having a great year so far. I miss all you family members and friends and think about you often, especially now that I'm off Facebook. The upside of me being off FB is that I am a better mom and I am less distracted by and large. I wish I knew how to figure out how to control myself better and not have this "all or nothing" mentality, but for the moment it escapes me. So, you'll have to catch up here with us on the blog for now. Ciao!