More Park City Jazz Festival

I decided to upload a couple more video of Carson at the Jazz Festival this last weekend. The first is "Boggie Woogie Bugle Boy." You can really hear the bass on this one.

This second one is "Satin Doll."

Enjoy!

Park City Jazz Festival

Carson had a wonderful opportunity to play in the Park City Jazz Festival this past weekend. He started playing around with the bass in 7th grade. In 8th grade his orchestra teacher needed an extra bass in one of his orchestra classes and asked him to officially play. (Carson's main instrument is the cello.) He played in two orchestra classes in 8th grade and three in 9th grade - jazz band playing the bass, advanced orchestra playing the bass, and elite orchestra playing the cello. He seems to pick it up naturally and really enjoys playing.

He was asked at the end of this last school year to play the bass for a local music school that had lost their bass player just before a major gig down in California. So, he spent the summer playing with the "Little Big Band" which consists of kids from ages 11 to 15 years of age. The name of the group is "Little Big Band" because they are teenage kids that play big band era jazz music. They also wear Zuit Suits for their performances to keep with the big band era feel. They played at main Disneyland and California Adventure Parks during June. He was also able to perform in Alpine and at Thanksgiving Point. His summer ended with this last weekends Park City Jazz Festival.

There has never been a band this young to perform in the Park City Jazz Fesitval playing on the main stage. The kids attended a jazz music clinic at a Park City middle school in the morning and then rushed over to Deer Valley Resort to prepare to perform in the outdoor ampitheater. They performed the best I have ever heard them!

I got a few pics. Most the pictures we got were taken of Carson on the jumbotron. It was kind of hard to get pictures or video because they had reserved seating in the middle of the ampitheater for those who paided humungo buckaroos or donated lots of money to the jazz festival. One of the ladies seating people told me the going rate for the center front seats were anywhere from $1,5oo.00 to $2,500.oo a seat. Those seats had the persons name embroidered on a cover for them. The upper center seats were less than that, but not by much. We had to sit to the side on the grass. As a result, people with reserved seating were walking in front of my video camera the entire time. I can't believe they didn't get there on time to see the teenage group perform. It's as though they didn't have a kid in it or something. Boy did they miss out getting there late!

The Little Big Band played 8 songs. I uploaded the last one they performed called "In the Mood." I suggest watching the entire video because Carson twirls his bass. Cool. If I get other copied onto my computer I might upload more.

Carson will not be playing with the Little Big Band anymore. He is too old to play with them this year and does not want to try out for the Super Band because he wants to consentrate on cello. I am so proud of what he has accomplished and have enjoyed all of his performances in all of his jazz playing. Way to go Carson!

Onions

In my opinion, only garlic surpasses onion when it comes to cooking. I love the smell of onions. Crazy as it may be, onions and garlic are as attractive to me as sugar and cream. They just make totally different delicacies I crave and enjoy.

I plant lots of onions every year. Part of the reason is because they are the first thing I can get in the ground. It's nice to have your garden look established so early in the season, even if half of it is onion. You don't have to wait for them to get "ripe." A few weeks after planting you can harvest some as "green onion" if you want. Even if an onion is small it's still usable.

Some advice - plant onion from seedlings not from bulb starts. The seedlings usually come in a container that has a bunch of tiny onions growing all together that you have to pull apart and put in the ground separately. Starts are the small bulbs that have already had one growth. The seedlings will grow bigger. I heard that on the garden show years ago and tested the theory out. It's true. Plant seedlings.

In the past weeks I've had a few people ask me how will they know if an onion is ready to be pulled out of the ground. Upon returning from my vacation, I found half my onions were ready to be pulled and few rotten ones. So I took pictures to show you garden lovin people what an onion looks like when it wants to be loosened from its earthly hold.

To start off - onions can be pulled at any time. If you get a hankering for an onion to munch on or throw in your favorite dish, you can pull that puppy out whether big or small. If you like to see how big they can get - leave them in!

Here are some onions that the tops have fallen over. When they do this it okay to leave them in the ground for a little while longer. This was taken last Saturday. This weekend I will probably pull them out. When they have a good amount of green on them as these do you can pull them and braid all the tops together so that they can hang up out of the way. It's really pretty too!

This is how I found half my onions when I got home last week. They are ready to be pulled and cleaned up.

I pull them out and sluff off the loose outer layer. Next I rip the top off close to the onion and most of the roots off. Sometimes I rub them on the grass to get the dirt off. It depends what they pulled up with them when they came out. Don't wash them off if you are going to store them. That makes them squishy.

I store my onions in a crate because the air can circulate around them. If they don't get some air they are more likely to mold. Order of use: Use the walla walla and red variety first if you can. They don't keep as long as white and yellow onion. Usually I have onions from my garden through December. I store them either in a crate downstairs or a few in a basket on my table for quick use.

Make sure you take pictures of these babies. They have nice autumny colors and are enjoyable to look at. Some of these were small. I keep all onions if they are usable. The red onions I am pulling out this weekend are twice as big as the ones I pulled last week. Different variety.

It's important to get them out of the ground if the tops get dried up. If you don't, you risk pulling out what seems to be a perfectly nice onion and finding this . . .

. . . rotten, squishy, yucky, not good to eat onion that smells bad. So don't let your and their hard work go to waste. Pull them before they spoil.

Max deserves a notable mention in this blog. He is my constant companion when I do yard work. Peter hangs with me sometimes, but Max is with me more often then not when I am outside. Thanks for the love Max.

Just Playing Around

I'm sick of the plain look of my blog so I am trying different things out. Check back in a couple minutes or a couple of days and you might see something different. While working on this, I came across this video I made when I originally bought my digital camera. It was a trial run done in 2005 and I uploaded to the internet to see if I could figure out how to do it. I figure out how to upload and then promptly forgot the password for the account. In my desire to change the look of my blog I needed to upload some digital paper. I was shocked to find I could remember the password - FINALLY.

So, here's a little gem. The quality isn't that great - done on my 8 megapixal digital camera and all. I was prego with Sam and Carson had just graduated from grade school. They grow so fast.

Back to School

I've heard from many of my friends that they feel a little sad when all their kids go back to school. I feel like a terrible Mom. I don't feel one bit sad about sending the four older kids back to school today. It was a RELIEF! I can have the house cleaned up for a couple hours during the day. I can walk downtown with Sammy to do errands without worrying if my kids a beating on each other at home while I am gone. I can play guitar hero without someone asking if they can play the next song. AND I don't have to listen to them bickering and complaining for a few hours each day. Don't get me wrong. I love my kids. I looked forward to summer break as much as I looked forward to school starting. Change is good for me. I just am so relieved they went back to school today!

Carson is a sophmore this year.

Seth is in 8th grade.

Nathan has Mrs. Bailey for 4th grade.

Gabby got Mrs. Briggs for 2nd grade.

I really like the teachers the younger kids got in elementary school. Kids in three schools this year. It's going to be busy. I'm on the PTA or PTSA board for two of the schools. So, a little breather this week before I take the plunge back into my busy life. I think I hear Kneaders calling me . . .

We're out of here . . . .

We will be visiting Yellowstone National Park and camping in the Grand Tetons for the next week.

Upon my return, I expect my pictures to look like these.

And - I would really like to meet this guy.

Wish us well. I will post pics when we get back!

Daddy Daughter Campout 2008

It does wonders to have a Bishop who has brought into this world 4 girls. (Actually, his wife did most the work, but he did play his part.) We now not only have the Father/Son campout, but a Daddy/Daughter campout. This was the second year.

Yummy Smile!


Kissable Lips!

Carp flew got home from Phoenix about 5:30 p.m., finished loading up the van and girls by 6:30 p.m. and then was off. Gabby was having a hard time waiting for him to get home. She has looked forward to this campout since last year. Sammy didn't go last year, so this was her first one. Needless to say, they both enjoyed themselves.

Sammy and Gabby relaxing by the fire.



Here is Bishop Platt making breakfast. The ward provided dinner and breakfast for Dads and girls. They all look like they are having fun!

The girls gathered around the fire in the morning to keep warm. Carp said there were about 30 people there. Not a bad turn out. The girls are looking forward to next year!

Happy Birthday Sam and Seth

Sammy and Seth had their birthdays the end of July. Sammy turned 3 and Seth turned 13.

We were going to be up in Wyoming on Seth's birthday so he had a couple friends over for a sleepover the Wednesday before. Seth got an ipod shuffle - the only thing on his list besides a cell phone - yeah, right!

Seth with friends and siblings. He had mint brownies and vanilla ice cream.

Sammy had her best buddy over - Cameron. It's been so fun to watch these two grow up together.

Sammy had peanut butter bar cookie with vanilla ice cream.

Sammy got coloring stuff and a couple "littlest pets." Those are interesting critters. I secretly find them appealing. Maybe not so secret now.

Happy Birthday you cutie pies!