Because of recent events

Friday morning I woke up and because of a friend's facebook post, went onto the local newspaper's website to read about the news of a movie theater shooting.  A couple of things stood out to me to make me realize how close to home it was.

- Our stake asked for responses through the visiting teachers and home teachers to know if all members of our stake were accounted for.

-Taking Lauren to the airport to fly home we passed the theater (in sight from the freeway) away about 15 minutes away.

-An article came out today about a Red Robin who had 8 employees shot who had gone to see the film.  1 was killed and 5 still remain in the hospital.  John and I ate at that Red Robin 2 weeks ago as part of my birthday celebration.

These things just put into perspective for me that it is my community this happened to.

I feel sick to my stomach that such things happen.  Looking at a timeline of the US's deadliest mass shootings in the past 40 years, so many of them take place on college campuses, and this man was a student.  It makes sense as far as the different mental breaks that happen in adults 18-24 although it doesn't make it any less tragic.  I am however proud of John and his ambitions.  Working with victims of these situations is a noble cause and I think working with those to help these situations from even happening is just as noble of a cause.  (I do make these statements without any knowledge of any diagnosis given for the gunman, this is purely speculation)

And yet sometimes I'm bothered by speculation.  There's a lot of talk of how and why?  And I get most frustrated by the what if's?  People think they have the "what if" that would have prevented it, or minimized it, or whatever it is.

I have a lot of friends on facebook all over the country and especially in Utah.  And it was entirely frustrating to read some of their comments, suggestions and whatever that could have helped the situation as if they themselves could have stopped the events from happening.  "What if's" come up over and over as if their scenario would have proved to be the one that would have prevented everything from happening.

Back when the Colorado Springs fire was at its highest, having evacuated 30,000 people and 360 homes burnt, several people posted how if they hadn't had chosen to reduce their policeman/fireman staff, they wouldn't be in such hurt for help from the National Guard.  Having sat through the 100+ heat and watching dry thunderstorm after dry thunderstorm blow through here there are an infinite amount of "what if's" you could raise to the amount of resources/man power that could have aided the situation.

So often do we find critique before we show condolence.  Of course in this world of social media,  our thoughts are sometimes revealed without time for consideration.  I can understand when you aren't so close to something, how your comment may seem just as removed, but having been amidst the happenings in Colorado, it can be hurtful. 

We've been fortunate that we as well as all of our acquaintances here are safe from both situations.  I can't even begin to imagine the distress that comes from either situation.  But the lump in my throat gets larger every time I see an insensitive remark.  More and more I realize that the world contains individuals and not populations.  I'm afraid for where we will end up if we forget that element of our world.

Spring at DU

St. Patrick's Day

We stayed for 2 hours, saw 5 pipe bands, Irish Wolfhounds, Irish Setters and throngs of Irish dancers...but left when we were already sunburnt and we were only halfway down the program. Totally enjoyed it! Even made it into the newspaper's photo blog online.

Wisdom (not mine)

John and I have been generally frustrated in the past couple of months by a couple of trends that the world seems to be having. At least we're finding them in abundance here. Enter the Ensign!

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Trend #1: Parents never letting their children grow up.
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There are so many examples of this one that John and I are encountering, but the best examples come from John: a classmate who can't understand why everyone complains about tuition...she has it all figured out to get out of grad school debt free. Her plan? Well, my parents are paying for my housing and $25,000 a year for tuition. She and some of her classmates get to drive home in $65,000 cars paid for daddy...Yep life is rough... Second, the couple who are moving into the home that their parents paid for. Third, the student who takes a spring break overdrawing their account that their parent just fills up for them again.
I know there are parent's who genuinely help their children and the kids genuinely either are working for their life to become better or really do need the help. My parents and in-laws are very kind in their help with me and John. But it's the excessive pampering that leads to expectation that becomes dangerous.

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http://www.lds.org/ensign/2012/03/helping-without-hovering?lang=eng

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Start 'em young. I love these simple principles that encourage independence and work. Too many people expect something for nothing. When frustrated about this, I turned to this Ensign article by chance and just smiled at the universal ideals that come with our gospel that just apply to a better life no matter who you are or what you believe.

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Trend #2: Living beyond your means
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This is definitely something I can always improve on, but there always needs to be a discernment between wants and needs. I know that everyone's wants and needs are different, and I do not post to brag, but, for example, I have cut my own and John's hair since the day we were married. I would love to go to a salon and get the full treatment, but until we're through grad school, it isn't going to happen anytime soon. We also don't have any sort of television and have been sharing one car. I know soooo many friends and family who make similar or comparable sacrifices. Living paycheck to paycheck is a reality for a lot of families but an unnecessary one for a lot of them. Financial crisis doesn't come when you can't afford a trip to Hawaii, or shouldn't come when you went to Hawaii when you couldn't afford it. Today I remembered a talk from Elder Hales in conference that has stuck with me all day long. The quote, which has been used in many contexts, is this: I have learned that the three most loving words are “I love you,” and the four most caring words for those we love are “We can’t afford it.”

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http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2009/04/becoming-provident-providers-temporally-and-spiritually?lang=eng&query=provident+living+%28name%3a%22Robert+D.+Hales%22%29

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I feel like this is a rant of a post, and I am reminded by these, the more I can do to better my life, I guess mostly in financial ways. It takes work and discipline, both things I am not even close to being good enough at. I am grateful however, that these are not foreign things to me. I am grateful for the ethics I was taught and that I'm not a 35 year old expecting my life to happen for me.

February

February was full of little fun days all month long that kept us sane and going.

So this was John's favorite Christmas present this year...and a beard experiment that didn't last.

The beautiful cactus I got for Valentine's Day last year that waited to bloom until February...which meant we didn't miss it over the Christmas break which I was worried about.

Valentine's Day is my favorite!!! I went into John's internship on Monday before work and set up his desk for the holiday on Tuesday. I forgot pictures, but his desk was full of army men, robot paper hearts and snickers. I received lovely red tulips from him and found notes everywhere throughout the day. Going out to eat is special for us, so I asked John where he'd like to get food that night. His request was a restaurant that he could get free chips and salsa with his meal. Easy enough, we tried a Mexican restaurant that hit the spot for both of us...nothing excessively romantic, but perfect for what we were looking for. John even made a chocolate strawberry shortcake for us to have for dessert! So yummy! Then we closed the night with a viewing of "Those Magnificent Men and Their Flying Machines". I had heard of it, but hadn't seen it before. It proved good entertainment for the night. I love when Valentine's Day is meaningful, simple and sweet!!!

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Saturday the 18th was the multi-stake women's conference with Barbara Thompson. Some details are in the previous post. One of the pieces I orchestrated was for a vocal soloist and I had the intimidating task of conducting the orchestral accompaniment for her piece. I just couldn't look at the 1400 women in the congregation as I walked up to conduct. It turned out so well and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out. John even got to sneak in and watch since he wasn't able to see the rehearsals. I got to attend two sessions of the conference since I had just received a new calling as the secretary in our ward's relief society presidency. There was a session for the women invited from 9 stakes and a training meeting for the relief society presidencies of those stakes. It was a very neat meeting and it means a lot being further removed from the availability of Salt Lake.

John and I have awesome home teachers here! One of our home teachers had extra vouchers to the Museum of Nature and Science so we had a fun date this past Saturday. We went to the 3-D IMAX that was about chasing tornadoes. It was a fun one to watch in 3D.

Once again, we're glad to have a way to be able to attend events and explore the sights of Denver. Sometimes we really enjoy being part of the town. It's a beautiful skyline, although you can see how far away the mountains are from us, because those are big mountains.

A fun filled Saturday included our ward's chili cook-off. There were 20 entries for chili and it was a very fun event.

I made my mom's chili recipe. We took my lucky number 17 place and named it Amy's 2 in 1 chili. It is so-called because my mom has two recipes that she makes her chili from. She's never written it out to be the correct one recipe and whenever I'd help her make it, there was always a lengthy set of explanations to go with the two recipe cards. We received the price for most ingredients which I found ironic, since it does have two recipes worth of ingredients, but the prize was awarded by a taste vote. I think next year it'll be John's turn. Maybe we'll get some Kentucky spaghetti chili out of him.

January

So, January was a whirlwind of a month and flew by us faster than we could have hoped. We went from nothing to do in December, to crazy busy in January. I guess not ever as busy as we were in Logan though...because we've still been sleeping at night. We got back from the holidays and I started my new job working about 30 hours a week as an assistant/book keeper for an accountant. He is an LDS man who runs his business from his home and I work with 4 other employees although some of them are part-time or very part-time co-workers. It's a stretch for me, not so much of what needs to be done, but how to do it...but I'm learning. John found the month long break to be a little bit too much of a vacation and getting back into school was a little rough. His classes this semester are a lot of community based classes, something that is good to know, but not where he wants to end up in his career. It's a lot of policy and program learning as well as observing and advocating for different groups of people. John's more like me. Let me have someone one on one and I feel like I can make a difference with their playing. He feels the same way about being a therapist.
Once again, thanks to John's internship, we were able to attend a sporting event. I personally have a hard time with professional games sometimes, just because the crowds aren't as invested in it...and this game wasn't worth being invested in, but from the ticket above you can see the seats were. Club seats worth $115. Don't think we'll ever get that opportunity again.
John received two new callings in January. He now gets to learn who the adults are in our ward instead of knowing the kids in the nursery. He has been called as a stake auditor and the Sunday school president. So while those callings have been keeping him busy, I had a little fun of my own. The woman who runs the music studio I teach in is the Stake Relief Society president of the Boulder Stake. She asked me if I would be willing to orchestrate some pieces for their women's conference. The Boulder Stake was hosting Sister Barbara Thompson as their guest speaker for the conference. Because a representative of the General Relief Society President would be attending, eight or nine stakes were invited to participate. They have always tried to put together good music for their conferences though, and this one would be no exception with a choir accompanied by as full of an orchestra as they could have in a the chapel. (no brass, percussion) We only had 2 1/2 weeks to orchestrate them before the first rehearsal. I orchestrated three of the songs for the conference (but more on the conference in February's post). It's sad to say that John and I are already wishing for another vacation and planning what March's break may give us.

December

December was so fun for us! John was out of school the whole month, and although his intership kept him going, we got a lot of play time together. The beginning of the month started with a visit from Steve and Carol. Unfortunately, and I think I said before, I stopped taking a lot of pictures for some reason and we have no record of their stay...John was in his intership most days they were here, which meant they got the Denver experience Aubrey style. We got to explore even more of downtown than we did with Sarah and Rob, and for the first time, were down there not on a Saturday. This meant we got to do a tour of the Denver Mint. Pretty cool, although I walked out of there with a ton of questions. The free sample was worth it. It was good to have close family here and show them a little what's been going on here.

Our first Denver holiday experience was the Denver light parade. It was so fun, but the first (and possibly only) days that I commented to John that it was "Logan cold". Downtown was lined with people and it was so fun to see a parade that wasn't filled with little girl drill teams, pick-up trucks with advertisements and each individual's city royalty. I love my small town parades, but this was a completely different experience. The parade is after dark, and every float/band/group is covered with lights or lit up in different ways.

The first parade I've been to that had the balloons. And there were four of them! It's so close to the ground because of the lights.

One of my favorites, just because it was a light up nativity. They were the best lit up costumes of the parade.

An example of a lit up float. This one Nutcracker themed.

Santa! I was completely like a little kid. I guess you watch the Thanksgiving Day parade on TV, and see the spectacle of Santa in a parade affecting kids on movies like Miracle on 34th street or a Christmas story. And this was the first time I got to be part of it for myself. John just laughed at me and thought I was completely silly.

Denver's major downtown buildings all have this style of lighting on them for Christmas. So fun!

So, the second week, we got done with church on Sunday and drove downtown for the free "Tuba Denver" concert. Tuba Denver is a nationwide happening, where Tuba/Euphonium and other horn players order the music and there are concerts all over the country. You just show up and play. I knew it would be entertaining, but I didn't expect it to be as beautiful as some of the pieces were. John has some of the videos on facebook, it wouldn't load here.

Straight from the tuba concert, we headed to DU for the free outdoor carillon concert. I had never heard of a carillon, so I was excited to go. The Richie Center is DU's athletic venue for basketball/hockey. The gold-spired tower holds the carillon. A carillon is really a bell tower with something like sixty bells controlled below by a type of keyboard. DU has a doctorate level for the instrument. If you don't check out the tuba video, make sure to check out the carillon video on John's facebook. It was amazing! There are Sunday concerts in the summer we're excited to picnic to.

The thing that kept me busy during December was our ward's Christmas party nativity production. It was so fun to put together, and I have costumes ready for the rest of my life. I took old sweaters/t-shirts/blankets...basically anything I could find to make animal hats, as well as putting together the rest of the costumes.

Since we were on stage helping the kids, I didn't get pictures during the party, but John's donning the Donkey hat. We figured out how to move the curtains and lights on the stage and just pinned the stable and stars onto the background. I think it turned out really well.

Mr. and Mrs. Claus at the party

We were very blessed to be able to see a production of A Christmas Carol with the McMurtreys. It was our first production at the Denver Performing Arts Center, and I wish we could afford to go to something there every week. It was such a feel-good experience for me to be able to see a show for Christmas.

Since Lance and Brittney were in town for the holidays, we spent Christmas Eve with the McMurtreys. Good food and company and I brought my costumes along to help their nativity. John and I were prepared for a Christmas Eve alone, but it was good to be in a full house for the holiday.

Since I was in charge of the Christmas program...and Christmas landed on Sunday this year, we stayed in Denver Christmas morning. I like waking up Christmas morning in our home with John, and the program went so well. Right after church we packed up the car and left for Utah. It wasn't until four hours into the drive that we realized that we had left the bag with everyone's presents in Denver. Not the brightest thing we've ever done...

This time the Keisel's got the pictures and my family didn't. We had an awesome Christmas party Monday morning. John and I dominated this stacking game...even though we struggled immensely in some of the other rounds.

Candace always puts together a good party. And the house was filled with presents. We were lucky to be able to spend so much time with both families for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

In Logan, we enjoyed being there for when Taylor and Bryce got engaged. (Not there for the proposal, but the after-partying) We fit in visits with as many friends as we could while still getting to party hard with the family. It was so good to spend time with Kristi and Kelly, as well as getting some good old fun time in with Ashley. John was excited to see Tyler and Jesse. We were completely spoiled and it was harder to come home this time, but life moves on and school started again with a new job for Aubrey waiting. But more on that in January's post.