Sleepless in Seattle

Preston in his Christmas Outfit

2009-12-20T11:08:00.000-08:00

We got Preston the CUTEST little outfit to wear to church today, being that it is the "Christmas" Sunday.

However, trying to capture a picture of him in front of our tree before church was near impossible. The little wiggle worm!

We'll see if Grandpa Southworth can take a few better ones this week while we're up there for Christmas.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Scroll down for a Preston Post.

A Preston Post

2009-12-20T10:40:00.000-08:00

Hi there. It's me, Preston.

It's been an eventful week.

First, I fell asleep in my highchair again.

Then, I went to the snow!!

Except, I didn't go snow-shoeing or cross country skiing like Dad and uncle James and aunt Elizabeth.

I just sat in the snow with my friend Camden and cried. Maybe next year I will like the snow??

Here's my buddy Camden!

After all the snow stuff, we all went to the Family Pancake House in the mountains.

I ate the most pancakes. More than anyone there!!

Except, I did share a few bites with my cousin Gwenevere.

Then I got to play the piano with my friend Emma! She was pretty good.

Duets were so much funner than playing by myself!

Emma got up on the piano bench all by herself. I asked her how she did that, but she just said "Uhhh".

And last of all, my Dad ran in a big running race!!

And guess what, he got 2nd place! It was a marathon!

Well, that's all.

Bye!

Concerts, Parties, and Pianos

2009-12-15T01:03:00.000-08:00

Christmas time is a busy, busy, busy time of year to be a musician.

It's like all year long you get to ho-hum along and then WHAM Christmas time comes and then all of a sudden everyone wants you to play for the Messiah, do Christmas concerts, do solos in church, recitals, come out with a Christmas album.

Oiye.

So with that said, this past week was exactly that for me. Only today did I just re-emerge from the submersion of the vast deep musical depths we call Christmas time. It's all good mind you, but just really busy.

To start last week, there was my Student Masterclass/Party/Dress Rehearsal/GameNight. Here were a few of my victims. Er, uh, I mean students.

Those cookies you see them so delightfully and creatively decorating were the result of me trying 3 different sugar cookie recipes. Which took all of Monday night and Tuesday morning to finish. If you want to know which recipe I liked the best, you can go here.

Wednesday night I had an orchestra rehearsal at the church, as I so ambitiously put together a ward string orchestra to perform in church next Sunday. We have been rehearsing once a week since mid-November and it's coming together quite nicely if I do say so.

Thursday I spent about 3 hours on the phone on a conference call with an amazing musician that I will be collaborating with this next year. We chit-chatted. We talked about our kids who are almost the same age. And we talked shop. I stayed in my pajamas all that day. It was good times.

Friday the craziness continued...

It started with me baking a piano shaped cake for that night's recital.

I also typed up programs, bio notes, went to the store, made phone calls, and did some last minute rehearsing with a couple of my students. Only to be delightfully occassionally interrupted by this cute little guy...

I didn't get any pictures, but Friday night was my Student Recital. Out of my 17 students, I had 12 of them perform in the recital. They all did WONDERFUL and it was such a lovely night. I'm so thankful to the Yoses for opening up their beautiful home for the recital. And to top it off, I was so surprised to get a few gifts from my students including treble clef shaped Christmas tree ornaments, a dozen red roses, a necklace, and mint M&M's.

So sweet.

Saturday morning came early, as I was up at 7am and drove an hour north to a dress rehearsal for Sunday night's Christmas concert. I have to say, I had played better. Luckily though, my performances on both Saturday and Sunday night were flawless.

I also soloed in church on Sunday.

Do you want to know everyone's favorite part?

It was when I went to lift the piano lid to put it up, and didn't realize there was a stack of choir folders sitting on top of the piano. CRASH!!! If there was anyone asleep in the congregation they were rudely awaken. I turned and flashed a very embarrassed cheesy smile to the audience, where after I performed. A bit jolted from my fumble, but I think I played okay nonetheless.

Sunday night I performed Carol of the Bells with a fantastic church choir(as pictured above).

I would like to call it a Choir-G. Winston-J. Thomas-George-Choir Sandwich. The song (as you can hear and see in the video below) started with me playing my own original intro (not in the video cuz I edited it for timesake), then the choir came in with the original version of Carol of the Bells, then I came in with the intro to the G. Winston version of the song, then chopped out his and added in my own original work on the piece, then reverted back to GW, and then at the end with the choir.

It was awesome.

Here is me in front of our piano after Sunday night's concert. I figured it would be one of the last times I would get to wear this fancy dress for a bit, so why not take a few pictures in it?

I was lucky enough to find this modest Calvin Klein dress at Nordstrom Rack a few months ago and finally had an excuse to wear it.

I love it. I felt very elegant in it.

And here was me after my week was all overwith....

I want to thank Will who played single parent much of the week. I don't know what I would have done without him. He came to all of my performances even if he did spend half of each in the hallways with Preston.

If you want to hear a little of my Carol of the Bells....here it is for your viewing pleasure. Sorry about the audio quality. It was just our little digital camera.

The Santa Dilemma

2009-12-14T23:37:00.000-08:00

I still remember the grim details surrounding the event of how I found out Santa Clause wasn't real.

I remember which house we lived in, and so I must have only been about 7 or 8 because we moved after that. My parents, my older brother, my younger baby brother, and I had been out for a drive somewhere. It was night, we had just gotten home and were all getting out of our 1980'ish Suburban.

My older brother and I were fighting, I got mad, said something, to which he retaliated with "Oh yeah?! Well guess what! Santa Clause isnt real! Mom and Dad do all the presents!"

I stopped. I looked at him. And then, as if I knew deep down that it must be true, I cried.

And now, I see my precious little one, reading "The Night Before Christmas" with his Daddy...getting ingrained in the magical tales and folklore of St. Nicholas...

"Who is that?" we ask him. "Can you say Santa?"

And now, as we go various places during this holiday season and he sees this big man dressed in a red suit with a long white beard everywhere we go, I see the look on his face that says "I've seen him in my book."

And yet...I'm struggling with the decision as to whether or not to allow him to believe in Santa. I often think to myself, What is the point? So that years down the road he will realize that his parents were lying to him this entire time? So that when he finds out the truth he will cry and cry because there really isn't a Santa Clause?

I have been wanting to ask my own parents lately what their thoughts were when they had us as tiny children...

Did they ever think to not introduce us to Santa? And yet obviously they did.

Christmas Eve's were SO exciting as we couldn't wait to go to bed so that we could lie there all night waiting for Santa to come. We would stay up as late as we could so that we could catch him, but somehow he always came and we missed him.

I remember all of the Christmas time movies we would watch, like the clamation versions of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, or Santa Clause the Movie, or other such wonderful magical movies. I remembered watching them and truly believing.

I suppose, that it is why Christmas is such a magical time for children. It encompasses such a great part of those childhood memories.

Perhaps I am being too harsh in thinking that no good would come from letting Preston believe in Santa. Maybe that is where dreams, faith, and hope are learned as a child.

And maybe it isn't up to me to deny him those experiences...

So....

Santa it is.

Dear Jenni

2009-12-11T22:15:00.000-08:00

Regarding the note you left me below; YOU make life EASY and ENJOYABLE! This makes me a HAPPY HUSBAND and FATHER! THANKS for being YOU!

Love,

Will

Dear Will

2009-12-11T21:40:00.000-08:00

Dear Will,

I just wanted to tell you how much I love you. Thank you for supporting me and being such a helpful, kind, generous, thoughtful husband and father.

I'm glad that I'm stuck with you for eternity. Honeybucket!

Jenni

I Thought I would wait a Week, but...

2009-12-06T20:00:00.000-08:00

Today was a good day.

It was Fast Sunday, and normally I'm not particularly excited about fast Sundays because it means I can't eat all day long.

Okay, haha, that sounded bad. All you need to understand is I get kind of grouchy whenI don't eat. It has nothing to do with not agreeing with the whole reasoning behind fasting, etc.

Today though, I did have an intent purpose on my mind to fast for. So it was a good day. All of the lessons were really good and just what I needed.

I thought I would wait until next Sunday before posting about Preston transitioning into Nursury, since next Sunday is actually his official 18-month birthday, to the day. But no, I'm going to write about it today.

Preston has been crashing nursury here and there for the past month or two.

He is an angel baby (usually) during Sacrament meeting, but then he really needs to get his wiggles out during Sunday School and so we usually walk the hallways, or go into the gym and he throws pretend balls into the basketball hoops.

However, on the off-chance that he didn't take a good nap before church, is particularly un-pleasable, or cranky....we crash nursury.

A couple of months ago, it was very obvious that he was much younger in both age and development than the other kids, and so we found him to be distracting to the other kids instead of adding to the environment. So we would only stay for about 10 minutes or so, long enough to go into the toy room and let him throw a ball around for a few minutes.

But now, now that he's almost 18 months old, he will officially be old enough to be dropped off at nursury starting next week.

Sans parents.

Today Will and I decided to do a trial run of it. I went to nursury with Preston during Sunday School, and then Will came to swap me so that he could stay with Preston while I went to Relief Society.

Seeing how grown-up the other kids acted, how well they listened, knew how to sit in their little chairs, eat their snacks. pick up toys (and share them), drink from real cups (not sippy cups)..I realized...my baby was growing up too.

I got a tiny itzy bitzy glimpse into the emotions of mothers who drop their child off at Kindergarten for the first time and cry.

But today was not my day to cry. Today was just the trial-run. Next week I can officially cry.

While he did point to the toy room door and yell "Ball" for the first half hour, only halfway participate in the lesson, he did finally catch on that he needed to do what the other kids were doing. I think by the end of nursury time he was a little more adjusted.

Next week we will be better at making sure he gets a full nap before church so that he has enough steam and patience to last through 2 hours of nursury time. And I'll make sure I toughen up so that I don't cry during Relief Society when I realize Preston will no longer be my little side-kick during 3rd hour.

Boo. Hoo.

Preston Updates

2009-12-06T01:19:00.001-08:00

For those who don't know (or notice), I still upkeep my "Belly Diaries" and it is where I always post the updates about Preston. I just posted a bunch of new ones for those who would like to know more about Preston and his ever-growing self. :)

http://bellydiaries.blogspot.com/

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-12-04T13:41:00.000-08:00

2009 was our year to have Thanksgiving with Will's family. So we made the trek to Idaho and had a wonderful week there.

Although, just a fun little story about our car before I dive into the photos.

Before our trip, our Jetta had been starting weird. When you turned it on, it didn't feel like it was running on all 4 cylinders. It ran more like a 1960's VW bug, than a 2004 VW Jetta.

Will was going to try his hand at fixing it (he can usually fix anything. Serious). However, due to time restraints and the possibility that our car would be torn apart with no answers the day before we had to leave to Idaho, we decided to take it into the VW dealership and let them mess with it.

To make a really long and boring story short, turns out they weren't able to fix our car in time before our trip (they broke a part while they were fixing it, then fixed it, gave it back to us and it still wasn't fixed).

So instead, we got to drive this sweet ride:

It was a 2010 and only had 600 miles on it. I felt completely spoiled with the heated seats - especially since it was like 15 freaking degrees in Idaho Falls.

We actually still have this car. It's been 2 weeks. I'm fine with that, but I am wondering if VW is ever going to fix our Jetta.

Anyway on with the Thanksgiving report! I'm lazy today, so the pictures are in no particular order, but I'll try to post captions where necessary. Enjoy!

Uncle Daniel with Preston...I was surprised he sat so still on his lap for that long.

Our little jailbird on tippy-toes.

Preston loves balls, and found about 5 different basketballs around Grandma and Grandpa's house. He has eagle eyes I tell you! He found balls in the most obsure places but just knew they were there!

Game Night with Da Boys

Queen of the Self Portraits - Haha

Beautiful Dalynn...

At Great-Grandma Lindsay's house...

Getting the car stuck in the snow

Helping Grandma locate her perfect Christmas tree to chop down

"Me might mountain man...I have cut down massive tree! Ar!"

Our little Christmas Elf...

At the Thanksgiving Day 5K...brrr...it was 15 degrees

The after-Thanksgiving-dinner Belly

"Ball?"

I was trying to show the kids how to decorate cookies and somehow the frosting kept ending up in my mouth. Incredible.

So sleepy....

Will and I before our baby-less date to go see New Moon (by the way I have a confession, I actually READ New Moon over the holiday. I KNOW!! I swore I would never read any Twilight books!LOL)

Night at the Symphony

2009-12-04T13:07:00.000-08:00

You may remember our Night at the Symphony last year.

I am proud to say that this year it went much smoother.

This time, I was not breastfeeding and worrying about a starving baby at the babysitters. This time I did not spill smoothie all over the only dress that fit me right before we were supposed to leave. And this time, I fit into a way better dress that I had actually worn for Will when we went to the symphony back in 2004. Yes, it was a bit tigher and had more cleavage, but STILL I wore it. Oh and I got to wear my fancy necklace that I never get to wear hardly ever.

I had been telling Will for a few months that I wanted him to take me out on a dressy date. And being that we are not technically gangfully full-time employed right now, this means that in order to do a date like this, we must forgo other casual date nights to afford it.

However, Will surprised me with a crazy surprisingly affordable fancy date night. Check this out:

Seattle Symphony Tickets: $9 each

Romantic Italian Dinner for Two overlooking the city: $40

(and that included appetizers, drinks, dinner, and dessert)

Do you want to know his secret?

Symphony tickets:

While these tickets normally sell between $30 - $150 (depending on where you sit), he found steal-of-a-deal tickets on the day of the concert (they usually discount tickets in order to fill the house and get rid of empty seats)

Dinner:

http://www.couponmom.com/
http://www.restaurant.com/

You can get a special code on couponmom.com, which you redeem on restaurant.com. Basically, you pay $2 for a coupon that is $25 off and then you can choose from any of the participating restaurants on restaurant.com.

It was a lovely evening indeed. The Symphony played Tchaikosvy's Pathetique Symphony, a pianist played a Mozart Piano Concerto with the symphony and then afterwards did improv compositions for us. It was neat. And we had one of the most entertaining conductors to watch. Long hair flying around and all. It was actually the very first time I have ever seen a conductor conduct a symphony without using any music. I was so impressed. (Gerard Schwartz is retiring from the Seattle Symphony and so they are "interviewing" prospective conductors, so many of the concerts have guest conductors. It's fun).

During intermission we did our traditional thing and climbed up to the 2nd balcony and tried to pick out people wearing the most rediculous outfits. You never know what you get at the symphony. The award went to the 4 teenage boys dressed like the Jonas Brothers, only longer hair and shabbier tshirts and jeans, unfortunately not pictured here.

Thanks for a great dressy date, babe! And thanks to James and Elizabeth for watching Preston for us.

The Willy Awards 2009

2009-12-03T18:31:00.000-08:00

Yesterday morning, I got an email in my inbox from the Recording Academy that said to tune into CBS later that evening because they were going to announce this year's Grammy Nominations. Or to just check their website at 7pm, as they would post the list.

To win a Grammy Award is surely every musician's dream. It is one of the elite once-in-a-lifetime awards that you could possibly win. Granted, it's more about who you know than what you know in this game, but I thought "Hey, what if?". Right?

The past few months I tried to not think about it.

I tried to not think about what way I would celebrate if I did win.

I tried to not think about what gorgeous couture dress I would pick out to wear down the red carpet.

I tried to not think about how even just a plain nomination for this award would help throw my music into the hands of virgin ears across the world.

I tried to not think about how fun it would be for my Will (in a tuxedo) and I to sit next to my Mom and dad in the Kodak Theater all dolled up and watching artists like Beyonce, Taylor Swift, and Yo-Yo Ma.

Well, 6:45pm came. I just finished teaching my last lesson. I was already late for the Relief Society Progressive Dinner that started at 6:30pm. I thought "Heck, it wouldn't hurt to wait to leave until after 7pm so I can just check out the Grammy website really quick. I'm late already."

7:00pm came.

I checked out the website. And after an unearthly long list of nominations I had to scroll through, heart pounding very loudly in my chest while thinking "Will I see my name? Will I see my name?", I finally reached the category of "Best Musical Childrens Album".

And,

I did, in fact, not see my name.

Just then my neighbor knocked on the door and came in to see if I wanted to ride with her to Relief Society. I didn't even really have a second to swollow the realization that I really wasn't on there. I just grabbed my jacket and left.

All evening, as other women were talking and as I tried my hardest to go along with conversations, I couldn't help but yearn for just a moment to myself to think about this whole stupid Grammy thing. I had, afterall, tried really hard to not think about it for a long, long time. And gosh darnitt right then I really just needed to sulk about it for a second and then let go. But it wasn't exactly something I could answer to or explain as to my dumbfounded expression, or vague answers or interest in the topic of conversations.

"Um, yes, I'm sorry but I just found out that my latest album was not nominated for a Grammy Award. I'm fine, really I am. What were you saying?"

Alas, the evening ended, I came home. And as I approached our flight of 25 stairs leading up to our front door, I realized it was finally my first chance all evening to think about it.

I was really okay, really.

I mean, just because all of the other nominations were stupid, quirky, jumpy silly-song albums for kids didn't mean my classic orchestrated piano album of lullabies was no less good.

I mean, I don't need a stupid little trophy to feel justified as a talented musician, do I?

And as I reached the top step and went to grab the door handle, I noticed a piece of paper stuck to the front door. This is what it said...

"The Willy Awards 2009 Winners"

Album of the Year - The Lullaby Album, Jenni Thomas

Song of the Year - Preston's Song, Jenni Thomas

Best Duo Album - The Lullaby Album, Jenni Thomas & Carolyn Southworth

Best Children's Album - The Lullaby Album, Jenni Thomas

Best Orchestrated Album - The Lullaby Album, Jenni Thomas

Best Solo Piano Album - The Lullaby Album, Jenni Thomas

Best 2 CD-set Album - The Lullaby Album, Jenni Thomas

Best Mother/Daughter Album - The Lullaby Album, Jenni Thomas & Carolyn Southworth

Best Future Concept Album - Portraits, Jenni Thomas

Best Future Album Artwork - Portraits, Jenni Thomas & Ron Southworth

Hottest Looking Artist - Jenni Thomas

Best Artist/Musician/Composer/Mom/Wife - Jenni Thomas

My heart skipped a beat, and a huge (and I mean huge) smile came across my face. I flew the door open and found Will. All I could do was jump up and down and giggle.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I loved it! That was the most thoughtful thing...ever." I said as I squeezed him to death.

And so it is, that I did not win a Grammy Award this year, but I did win 12 different Willy Awards and frankly, that is far better than any Grammy ever. For reals.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-22T09:38:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note to let our friends and family know how thankful we are for you!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We'll be back next week. We're headed to Idaho for the holiday.

Preston's Biggest Love.

2009-11-17T21:45:00.000-08:00

Preston loves balls.

I really cannot even count how many he has. He seems to keep accumilating them. He's obsessed with them, and they are, hands down, his favorite toy.

We've been trying to get him to sleep without his bottle lately because he's been developing a mild case of "Baby Bottle" on his upper two front teeth. The poor guy has been sick too, so it hasn't been the best time to take away his nighttime bottle.

So instead, I gave him his basketball. And then this is how he fell asleep...

This picture says it all.

A Big Fish Tale ~ a preston post.

2009-11-08T23:45:00.000-08:00

Jenni's note: I thought I would throw this video in because it was cute to watch Preston and Jace interact- being that they are only about 2 weeks apart. I can't say that they got along this well the entire time they were together (lots of competition with toys, let's just say that), but this video was cute.

Holiday CD Sale!

2009-11-07T19:24:00.000-08:00

For those who haven't had a chance to pick up my new album yet, I just wanted to let you know that I am going to be having a fantastic sale on both of my albums from now until the end of 2009. So if you are looking for a great gift idea for Christmas or stocking stuffer...Look no further :)

Buy 2 or more CDs and they are just $9.99 each (reg. $14.99 and $16.99). This is a great deal particularly for The Lullaby Album since it is a dual-cd set. Also, for kicks. my debut album Key of Sea is on sale for $9.99 regardless of how many copies you buy.

Happy Holidays! And thanks for supporting my music - it means a lot!

Oh, here's the link to my website:

http://www.jenniferthomasmusic.com

Happy 1st Date Day

2009-11-04T21:45:00.000-08:00

November 4th, 2003 was the first time I ever laid eyes on Will in real life.

It was the first time I rode in a car with him.

It was the first time I noticed he had freckles (because I didn't notice it in his pictures).

It was the first time we climbed a mountain and ate sandwiches together.

First time we got to have a long conversation without typing it or speaking it into a phone.

First time I got to look into his blue eyes.

First time I knew for sure that he would make me laugh.

Last time he would wear his green American Eagle sweatshirt because I stole it after that and have never given it back.

Happy 1st Date Day babe,

Your babalicious.

Halloween 2009

2009-11-01T22:09:00.000-08:00

We had a lovely Halloween. Preston was an elephant. His friend Camden was a giraffe.

Although, Camden was not really diggin' the giraffe suit.

Everyone had a good laugh at Preston's costume. Hee hee.

And of course, he...

On the other hand, Will found a comfy cozy spot which is where he parked for a while. He did run 10 miles earlier that morning, so I suppose that is a good enough excuse.

Erika and I had fun totally messing up their brand new kitchen in their brand new house by making some brand spankin' new pumpkin cinnamon rolls with caramel frosting (thanks to Heather in our Relief Society Newsletter!)

Want the recipe?

Okay.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Caramel Frosting

1/3 cup milk
2 tbsp. butter
1/2 cup canned pumpkin or mashed cooked pumpkin
2 tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg, beaten
1 package dry yeast
1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup bread flour
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 tbsp. melted butter
Caramel frosting (recipe follows)

In small saucepan, heat milk and 2 tbsp. butter just until warm (120-130
degrees) and butter is almost melted, stirring constantly. In large mixer bowl, combine pumpkin, sugar and salt. Add milk mixture and beat with electric mixer until well mixed. Beat in egg and yeast. In separate mixing bowl, combine flours. Add half of flour mixture to pumpkin mixture. Beat mixture on low speed 5 minutes, scraping sides of bowl frequently. Add remaining flour and mix thoroughly (dough will be very soft). Turn into lightly greased bowl, then grease surface of dough lightly. Cover and let rise in warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch dough down. Turn onto floured surface. Knead a few turns to form a smooth dough, sprinkling with enough additional flour to make dough easy to handle. On lightly floured surface, roll dough into 12x10 inch rectangle.

In small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon. Brush surface of dough
with melted butter. Sprinkle with brown sugar mixture. Beginning with long side of dough, roll up jellyroll style. Pinch seam to seal. With sharp knife, cut roll into 12 1- inch slices. Place rolls, cut side up, in greased 9 inch square baking pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, 30 to 45 minutes.

Bake rolls at 350 degrees about 20 minutes or until golden. Remove from
pan to waxed paper-lined wire rack. Cool 10 to 15 minutes. Drizzle with
Caramel frosting. Makes 12 rolls.

CARAMEL FROSTING

1/4 cup (4 tbsp.)butter
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
2 tbsp. milk
1/4 tsp. vanilla
Dash salt
1/2 to 3/4 cup sifted confectioners' sugar.

In small saucepan, heat butter until melted. Stir in brown sugar and milk.

Stir in brown sugar and milk. Cook over medium low heat 1 minute.

Transfer to small mixer bowl and cool mixture. Stir in vanilla, salt, and confectioners' sugar. Beat with electric mixer until well blended. If necessary, add more confectioners' sugar for desired consistency.

My Advice: Put more flour into the dough. It was way too gooey.

Halloween's Past

2009-10-31T12:41:00.000-07:00

I thought it would be ultra entertaining for you to see some of our Halloweens pasts. There are lots of old goodies in here. (I couldn't find many of Will's old costume pictures, but there is a goodie in here anyway...you'll see it).

The order of these picures are as random as this post is.

This lovely gem below is Will and I's first Halloween together. We actually won 1st prize for our costumes. We were just barely engaged at the time. We stuffed a pillow in my butt, socks in my bra, Will stuffed a pillow in his shirt...and we were stunning. Love my hot pink cheeks and lips?

This one is me, as a ballerina, with two of my brothers. Ninja hi-ya! And an Arabian Shiek.

This was me during my first year of college. I played in the symphony orchestra and every year they did a Halloween concert. The first year I was Miss America. Yes I made my own sash. The only thing I wish I would have done better was had bigger hair.

Yet another fab Halloween concert at school - the following year. My friend Mel and I borrowed costumes from the theater department in the 18th century era and just, well, felt pretty. My hoop skirt knocked over someone's music stand on stage because of how huge it was.

Okay here's the gem:

That was actually not Halloween, but Will and his roommy Nate running in the Portland Starlight Run, which requires costumes. He ran a 5k in CLOGGING SHOES. Yes, he was sore for about a week and now his clogging shoes are trashed. (he used to clog when he was in college. Oh oops sorry Will!! Was I not supposed to say that? :)

Below: This one below was when I was living in Provo. That's me and my totally fun awesome roommate Veronica, and uh, exboyfriend Chris (on the left, he was Icabod Crane). We were Renaissance Maidens. Oh oh oh!! And the costume that Veronica is wearing I actually sewed! Myself! Yep one of my only past sewing projects thank you very much.

Okay this fun one was a YSA Halloween dance in 2003. I had just met Will at this time but he was living in Portland, and I was up here in Seattle. So he's not in any of these photos. I was a gypsy. The easiest costume ever I might add. Big jewelry, and scarves.

Michelle you should get a good laugh out of these because here's your hubby as the hulk!

Okay next. Me as I was meant to be - an angel. Awwe. sigh. LOL kidding. But yeah, here's me at yet another Halloween symphony concert. This one was 2002.

And last but not least, this was us last year. I was a beauty school dropout, Will was my client, and Preston was a duck. Or a chicken. No, wait, he was a duck (Noelle, I still need to give you your costume back!)

What will the Thomas family be tonight???....Well, Preston's going to be an elephant. And as far as I know, we're just chillin' this Halloween :)

Happy Halloween! Don't eat too much candy or it'll rot your teeth out.

I'm Exercising a Constitutional Right.

2009-10-30T11:41:00.000-07:00

So I'm not usually one to get into the heat of serious political debates or topics.

Which, is kind of funny in a way, since I grew up around a dinner table where my mother would discuss her views on the latest candidates, government policies, and political leaders. She is very smart about these types of subjects and always up to date on them. She has always followed the news closely and is always up on forwarding me any emails that I should pay attention to regarding anything political.

I of course delete them without even reading because I have never had very much tolerance for email forwards of the political nature. I just have no interest in it.

And my mom knows this because I tell her this (and apologize to her too.)

So yes, I readily admit, that even though I spent a year obtaining a paralegal degree, spent many hours in a law library studying my brains out and writing appelate briefs and aced the course...that I really have no interest in following much of the political news of today. Which also explains why I pursued my music over my brief (very brief) trial run in the legal field.

However, my mother will most likely be proud to read what I am about to write.

Lately, I have stumbled across a topic that has actually effected me. It has stirred emotions within me that include surprise, anger, worry, defense. And the whole reason I am writing about it here on our blog, which is public, is to excersize my right that is at the very heart of the issue itself: Freedom of speech, and freedom of religion.

Over the past couple of weeks, I have heard people here and there bring up a certain talk by an apostle of our church, Elder Dallin H. Oaks, that was given at a BYU-Idaho devotional on October 13th to an audience of BYU-I students and faculty. You can read the transcription of the address here.

I have heard that the talk created a great amount of media buzz, much of it in a negative nature from the usual liberal media sources (which is practically 99% of our media in this nation). Normally I would say "Oh really, how interesting" and forget about it. But the fact that it has been coming up in MANY conversations lately really sparked my interest.

So this morning I went and read the talk (thank you Will for finding it and forwarding it to me).

The bravery that Elder Oaks took on to even give that talk impresses me so greatly, and the powerful words he gave still are ringing in my ears.

When I was in college, I had the fun opportunity to be in the pit orchestra for a stage musical that the theater department put on. It was a play called "1776". As you can guess by the title, it was all about the formation of the Declaration of Independence and how our country came to be. It went through detailed scenes, conversations, struggles and trials of our forefathers (particularly from the point of view of John Adams) when they were striving to gain freedom from England and establish this country. I was always deeply effected by the play (and the movie version) to see these acts and it made me feel so proud to be born into this country.

It is sad and eye-opening for me, to see "cracks" in the very foundation that this country was built upon happening right now before our eyes. It is our responsibility to protect that foundation. It is our right as citizens of this country to talk about it and defend that foundation.

Just last night, Will and I were sitting on the couch talking, and it came up between both of us how we have been so shocked lately (meaning the past few years) about how much it is okay for "minority groups" to speak their minds and insult the majority, but if the "majority groups" speak their mind and defend themselves, they are considered to be infringing on civil rights.

I think it would be safe to say that the majority of the people in the United States practice some sort of religion and have a belief in God. No matter what shape or form that type of religion takes. I remember when the attacks of 911 happened and all of a sudden, when people across our nation were terrified and saddened, there was a huge rise in church attendance, prayer (even in school squares). They even came out with some studies that showed that there was (I can't remember the exact number) but above 90% of the people of this country believed in a God.

So how is it, that the majority of the citizens of the United States who believe in God and practice religion are somehow the unpopular ones when they defend their given and fought for rights of religion freedom if they speak up on subjects that attack the very core of their beliefs?

Elder Oaks talked about the whole thing that happened with Prop 8. I like what he said. "The marriage union of a man and a woman has been the teaching of the Judeo-Christian scriptures and the core legal definition and practice of marriage in Western culture for thousands of years. Those who seek to change the foundation of marriage should not be allowed to pretend that those who defend the ancient order are trampling on civil rights."

Just because we choose to defend a tradition that has been practiced for thousands of years does not mean we are fighting against civil rights. It's not about civil rights. It's about defending your religious freedoms and beliefs.

The other day, I was doing a bit of marketing research for my lullaby album, as I have been trying to get some of the major "Mommy Bloggers" out there to feature my album on their blogs and do giveaways, etc. since that is my niche audience. On my own small 'mommy blog' I asked for my readers to let me know who some of their favorite professional major mommy bloggers were. There was one that kept coming up as a suggestion, and so I checked out the blog. This blogger had hundreds of thousands of followers - which got me excited to contact her about promotions/advertising because the possible exposure for my album could be huge. But the more I read her blog, about her, I soon discovered that a good portion of her blog was dedicated to ripping my church. I read some, well, some very crass remarks about my church and my beliefs and whatnot. Of course it was offensive to me. Obviously I decided that she was not someone I even wanted to contact about marketing, despite how many followers she had. I could not support that in the least. The sad part for me even beyond that, was to see with each post that the wrote negative and hateful things about my dear religion, she had hundreds and hundreds of comments from people commending her for speaking her mind.

I am not saying that she should not speak her mind. I totally respect her freedom of speech to do that. The part that really gets me, is that if I were to leave a comment on her blog in my own defense of my religion, the backlash towards me (or anyone else doing the same thing) would be monumental and I would most likely be accused of violating her rights or whatever else they could jive up.

There is just something wrong with that picture.

Why is it okay for someone to say something bad towards a group of people, but if that group of people speak up to defend themselves they are the ones in the wrong? Why is it when Christians speak up and defend marriage, that they are accused of violating civil rights? It does not make sense to me.

So it is, with this blog, that I am practicing my own freedom of speech. I am publicy stating my support of the talk that was given by Elder Oaks. If he has come under media scrutiny for it, for standing up for things that any good person in this country SHOULD stand up for, then I'm right behind him. I'm not going to be a coward. These are my rights as a citizen of this country, so there.

The good people in this country should not have to come under retaliation for standing up for what is good.

11/1/09 Post Edit:

After reading a few of the comments, I need to clarify something here. This post was not about my opinion of alternative lifestyles. It is not about whether or not that people who have alternative lifestyles are good people or not. I have family members in fact (a brother), who practice an alternative lifestyle and I still love them and think they are good people. In fact, the blog was not about alternative lifestyles at all. If you notice above when I mentioned Prop 8, I specifically said "Just because we choose to defend a tradition that has been practiced for thousands of years does not mean we are fighting against civil rights. It's not about civil rights. It's about defending your religious freedoms and beliefs. "

The heart of this post was about people in this country who are not able to exercise freedom of speech or practice freedom of religion or defend their right to do so without backlash. It was about the fact that the very foundation that this country was built upon has come under attack. And it was about the fact that sometimes being a good Christian is sometimes not popular or cool.

Weekend at Grandma & Grandpa's

2009-10-26T20:26:00.000-07:00

My parents live about an hour and a half northwest of us. It's not exactly a short trip, but not like Utah or anything like that either.

To make it worth our while, we sometimes just go up for the entire weekend.

It's a great trade-off, because my parents get to see their only local grandchild, while we get to have free babysitters so that we can actually go out on a date night.

{Friday Night Date Night}

consisted of: spending an hour discussing what we wanted to do, not agreeing on it, and then agreeing, then changing our minds and then coming back the first idea that we had from the very beginning: Quizno Subs and a movie.

Plus Halloween snack size candy bars that we loaded into my coat pockets and snuck into the movie "The Invention of Lying".

It was loads of fun.

The best part was reminiscing about our very first date, which was almost 6 years ago to the day. We remembered how lucky we were to find each other and how all of the events leading up to our meeting were in the hands of God and timed down to the minutes in some circumstances.

Do you want to know about our very first phone conversation ever?

Will called my parents'phone (I was living with my parents at the time as I had just moved home from Utah). Expecting the phonecall from Will, I jumped up and ran down the hallway, in my socks on a slippery wood floor, to answer the phone.

Will remembers me coming to the phone laughing and the first thing I said to him, the very first time he EVER heard my voice, was me saying, "(laughing) Did you hear that??! (laughing some more)". Will: "No...what?" Me: "I totally just slipped and fell on my rear as I was turning a corner at highspeeds, in my socks, on our wooden floor to answer the phone."

And thus began a beautiful relationship.

Anyway.

Saturday, we went to the beach.

I grew up on Camano Island, and only recently have they added the most delightful state park. Well, they already had a state park, but this one is super duper better.

They have....duh duh duh....CABINS. For super affordable rentals too. With fun activites, crafts, boats to rent, library, games, you name it.

So went and checked it all out.

Preston's new winter jacket seems to a little long in the arms, a little short in the waist, and takes a mom and a grandma to put him in it.

Okay seriously the most embarrassing part of the day, was when Preston and I decided to go swing on the swings.

I was swinging, he was on my lap.

Little did I know how impossible it was to hang onto the swing with one hand while using my other hand to scoot Preston up higher onto my lap.

Yep, just like a clumsy kid on the playground, we fell backwards out of the swing. I hit my noggin, Preston got a little bonk to his head as well. He cried. I wanted to.

Our rescuer was a kind little 11 year old boy who, with huge wide eyes said,"Are you guys okay??! WHOA! I just did that last week on the same swing, only I did 2 flips and then fell on my head".

Dude.

Anyone up for an inexpensive beach vacation, meet us at the Cama Beach State Park sometime. We'd love to. Thanks for asking.

Another new blog below for your viewing pleasure, courtesy of Preston.

A Preston Post

2009-10-26T17:45:00.000-07:00

More blogging to come. Promise.

Dear Blog,

2009-10-20T14:34:00.001-07:00

Oh how I miss thee and long to write a post. Hopefully soon we shall reunite and fill you in on what our little family has been up to.

Until then,
Me

The Maestro Refuses to Play.

2009-10-16T00:12:00.001-07:00

Early yesterday afternoon, Sir Preston was sitting so cutely upon the piano bench, tinkling away at the ivories so excitedly...

When I thought to grab my camera so that I could capture his absolute cuteness forever.

And this is what I got instead:

That is "the face".

It is Preston's trademark weird mouthy thing that he does. It makes him so incredibly, um, him.

Upon further coaxing from his nagging mother to smile and look at the camera, he did this:

I just heard you go "Awwwwe".

Don't let that cuteness fool you. He wasn't actually sad in that photo. (although he may have been sad about the stye on his eye).

He. Just. Wanted. DOWN.

The End.

Pumpkin Patch!

2009-10-10T08:40:00.000-07:00

Preston went to his very first pumpkin patch yesterday. And so did I actually. I'm embarrassed to say that it was my first pumpkin patch experience too. I've done hayrides, corn mazes, haunted houses....but no pumpkin patches.

We went with our sidekicks - Camden and his mom, Erika. :)

Preston was very interested in all of the "balls".

And of course, he had to collect some rocks as well.

It was a lot of fun!

How I Find Balance

2009-10-06T21:54:00.000-07:00

Maybe I should have called this post "How I attempt to Find Balance".

I am not perfect at this, but I am trying.

A conversation with Will last night, a recent comment from a friend, and several LDS General Conference talks have had me thinking about this for the past few days.

How do I balance my life?

Oh how I struggle with this. And yet, I seem to somehow pull it off to the outside world that I have it all together - being a professional musician, recording artist, music teacher, wife, and mom of a young child.

To have recorded and produced a new album during a year of my life when most moms are barely operating in survival mode.

News Flash: I was in survival mode.

To find the time and motivation to dedicate to losing the weight that I gained during pregnancy instead of putting it off for years.

Enlightenment: It was not easy. By any means. And it's still a struggle. I'm still working on this.

To have a healthy and loving relationship with my spouse of almost 5 years through the adjustment of becoming a new parent, through sleepless nights, exhaustion, and not always agreeing on similar parenting techniques.

Reality: It was not all roses, and we have learned a lot about each other and continue to work at our relationship every day.

Last night, Will and I sat down to do our weekly schedule, and ended up sitting on the couch for 2 and 1/2 hours just talking about a great variety of things. Running, Lost toenails, Twisted ankles, Jobs, Dream pianos, Preston, Buying a home someday, The real estate market, My parents, Our siblings, How to raise kids, How many more we wanted, When the timing would work out for us, My music career, What did I want to accomplish with it in the next year.

And more. Much more.

Will and I - we both want so much out of life.

There is so much ambition, and passion for our hobbies. And we fully support each other. I attend his races and cheer him on, and he attends my concerts and helps me produce my albums.

There was a talk a couple years ago by one of the General Authorities of our Church, where he said that for years his wife had a designated night of the week where she left the kids at home with him while she went off to participate in the community choir. It was her night and her time to shine and develop her talents. He wanted that for her, and wanted her to remember that she could still develop herself and the person that she was.

While I had most of my 20's to be single and "play", if you will, I did not find my place in music until I met Will.

I am so lucky to have met him and married him. I'm so glad he picked me.

I spent my early to mid 20's emerged in the world of Classical music at college and afterwards, performing with symphonies on concertos, practicing sometimes up to 8 hours a day on the piano. But I didn't actually start to compose my own songs until shortly before meeting Will, and then it completely blossomed from there.

As of now, I feel that I am finally in a place where I have truly found my inner musical destiny. It only took me about 30 years to find it. So in a sense, even though I have been doing music my entire life, I only feel like I've been on my true journey of where I belong for the past 5 years. It is just beginning.

The question was brought up last night, "You have to stop and think though, in 20 years from now, will we regret certain decisions we are making right now? In the grand scheme of things, certain things that matter now - will they matter in the future?"

This is where my thoughts have been lately.

Am I balancing my life properly?

Are my goals and priorities in order?

Let me just say first of all, that I think that women are strong. We have so much ability and talent, and often times we give up certain things and sacrifice a lot to be a good mother and wife.

My mom did this for us. She put her music aside while my 3 brothers and I were young children.

I often think that if I were a man, I could actually do my music career full time. I actually could pursue trying to get signed with a record label that would expect me to perform 250 times a year. I wouldn't have to take breaks in my career because of pregnancy and babies. I would have more time to practice as well, and compose - because it would be my job. I could compose all day long if I wanted - and treat it like a 40 hour work week.

Most of my music collegues are men, and they do compose 8 - 12 hours a day. They produce probably 50 times the amount of music that I do.

I often get asked by them, "Jen, why aren't you with a distributor", or "Why aren't you concertizing more?" or "It's time for you to get an agent, why you don't have one already is beyond me."

And after such questions, often, I explain that I also have to balance a home life. I am a wife. I am a mother now too. A record label would expect me to perform more than I can. An agent would want to book me too much.

"Can't you do both?" they then ask.

One such collegue suggested that in order to get some composing done, I simply lock myself in a room with headphones and a keyboard.

*This is where all mothers reading this laugh out loud and shake their heads.*

In my opinion, I am doing "both". I am accomplishing my passion in music and I'm also a wife and mother. Maybe not in the same sense that they are, but for me I'm doing the best I can to balance it all.

And over the last year and a half, as I've adjusted to new motherhood, a blossoming music career, a busy studio with many students that I teach on a weekly basis...though it's been trial and error and I'm continually trying to figure out how to "do it all" and not burn out - I think I have figured a few things out.

And I'll share these.

1. Manage Your Time the Best You Can. It was not easy when Preston was little and had cholic, and wouldn't sleep very well. I survived on very little sleep. For the first year, I did not wake at a very early hour because I was just trying to make up for the lost sleep during the night. And I did not feel guilty for this. But I would take advantage of naptimes to get things done. I also tried to combine things - such as taking Preston for lots of walks in the stroller. That time was golden for me. I was able to brainstorm, compose in my head, and also get some exercise. Now that Preston is a wonderful sleeper, I get up earlier and hit the gym.

2. Schedule Your Weeks in Advance. This way you have no room to complain that you didn't get to do something you wanted to. Will and I started doing this after we realized that our lives seemed chaotic and we just felt like we were "flying by the seat of our pants" all of the time. By scheduling our weeks, not only do we know what the other person has on the calendar that week, but we also try to schedule "fun time" in there - otherwise it won't happen sometimes. Such as date nights, family outings, Will's basketball nights with the guys, my music nights in my studio, etc.

3. Turn Off the TV. We actually don't have TV in our home. Yes, duh, we have a TV. Two in fact. But we aren't hooked up to any sort of cable or local stations. We cannot get a single channel even if we wanted to. This was done on purpose, and we have not had TV in our home for the past 4 years almost. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you are not side-tracked by TV. I know because during times past when we have had TV in our home, I have gotten addicted to certain shows, wasted hours by mindlessly surfing and watching shows when I could have been doing something else. It is a complete waste of your time and your ability, not to mention your intelligence. We do Netflix though. So we select movies we want to watch. And if there are shows that we absolutely are dying to watch, we watch them online with no commericals. Saves a lot of time and we can watch them at our convenience. Not to mention watching a show while sitting at a desk in a computer chair is not that comfortable, so it makes it easy to turn it off when you're done so you don't have to sit there any longer.

4. Just Do It. I don't know how else to say this other than if you want to accomplish something, just do it. Find a way to make it happen and do it. The only person stopping you is yourself - either because of fear, doubt, or what not. Be a DO-er. Accomplish your dreams, don't just think about them. Even financial excuses don't fly in my book. Believe me, I started my music studio out with a computer, an audio cable, and a digital keyboard. Pretty meager. And it worked.

5. Family Comes First. I know this isn't always easy when you're in the thick of a project and you are heavily in a mode of concentration. But your project will wait. This is something I've had to learn. I used to set these deadlines for myself - I had to get a project done by a certain date. And I would beat myself up trying to meet that deadline, sacrficing my family in the process. The reality is, nobody set that deadline for me but myself. I would think "Yeah, but I promised my fans that I would have it done by a certain date." The truth is, they don't care. People will wait. The world can be patient for your project, and when it does get done and emerges it will be all for the better.

6. Be Disciplined. To be honest, I don't goof off with my time too much. Yes there are days when I stay in my pajamas most of the day, or when I spend a little too much time on Facebook or writing emails. I do schedule fun time and enjoy it. But for the most part, I work. And I work hard. Will seems to think that all this music stuff that I do is "play". When he goes off on all these trail running adventures, I often tease him that I now need some "me time" as a trade since he got to have some time for himself. He then often says "Yeah but you do your music". I have to remind him that spending 6 hours through the middle of the night working in my studio is not what I consider "playing" or "me time". It is work. Yes, work that I thoroughly enjoy, but no less, work. I spend a lot of time marketing my music as well, sending cds to promotors, radio stations, emailing, doing paperwork for licensing and royalties, corresponding with other artists, keeping up my website, blogs, etc. Through all of my hard work over the past 5 years, I am proud to say that my music career is self sustaining and it pays for itself. I have no debt, I do not borrow money from our family funds either. I work hard at my music career.

7. Put God First. I know above I said to put family first, and I do mean that. But I have found that you also need to put God first as well. There was one day a few weeks ago, when I was feeling particularly stressed and like I had too many things on my plate. How was I to do them all? I took Preston for a walk in the stroller, and I prayed out loud. I just poured my heart out to Heavenly Father and told him why I was stressed out. I actually went down the list and named everything one by one. And then, in the midst of that list, I stopped because I had the amazing impression overcome me. It was "If you put God first, He will take care of the rest." I got it. I understood it and believed it and said "Okay. Thank you for that." How nice it is to know that instead of having to worry about 20 different things, that you really only need to worry about one thing and God will take care of the other 19.

Women, you are amazing. You are gifted, beautiful, and talented. You can fulfill your dreams. You can be a wife and a mother and still be yourself too. It's all about finding balance and harmony. I still workon this daily, but I can tell you that balance is found in finding out what is most important to you in your life, prioritizing those things, and "cutting the fat" with the rest that doesn't matter.

You are amazing.

You can accomplish your dreams.

You are worth it.