Holy Roller

Holy Roller: [The term is commonly used derisively, as if to describe people literally rolling on the floor or speaking in tongues in an uncontrolled manner. For this usage, the Oxford English Dictionary cites an 1893 memoir by Charles G. Leland, in which he says "When the Holy Spirit seized them..the Holy Rollers..rolled over and over on the floor."[1]

Well apparently Evan was "seized by the Holy Spirit" in church today! He spent the majority of sacrament meeting rolling up and down the isles, speaking a language nobody has yet been able to interpret. (Although, admittedly, there were a few "hi's" that we could make out) :-) It was quite entertaining to watch, and made a few other's smile too. At least he wasn't screaming!

Gross!!

I don't know whether to laugh or cry! Yes that is poop on the side of the toilet. Oh the work of a toddler ... and he can't even walk yet.

Our good Eater

I have to say that one of my favorite things about small children is their little tummy's. It is impossible for them to hide that adorable feature when they are full. I have always loved feeling Evan's tight little tummy after he is done eating, I don't why but I think it is hilarious. After dinner tonight it was the tightest it had ever been ... check out how he is bursting out of his shirt. :-) Sooo cute!!!

Family

One wonderful thing about living up here in the great white north is that there really is a lot of family close by. It has been wonderful to have family from both sides come through and stay with us, to have family reunions near our home, and to even be able to just hop over to another house and hang out with our loved ones. I am going to include just a few (really it is just a few) "family" pictures from the last month and a half that we have lived here. It has been very fun!

We arrived in Calgary 2 weeks after our nephew Carter was born. It has been a blessing to watch him grow from the very beginning. In addition to this, Evan adores his older cousins Michael and Logan.


This is a video of Brian's (Justin's dad) moves on the house boat. He is always entertaining.

My Grandma Shaw has been able to come and stay with us. How special for us to be able to be with her. I love that Evan is able to grow up so close to his Great Grandparents.
The "Arlen Leavitt" (my Grandpa) family reunion was held just 2 hours from Calgary. Evan and I were able to go (Daddy had to work :-( ) This is my Aunt Jackie, Aunt Dixie, Aunt Fara, and Uncle Greg standing in front of their family farm just outside of Cardston.
We went hiking in Writing on Stone Provincial Park. It was awesome.
What was so great about this reunion is that I was able to see cousins that I haven't seen in years!! This is my cousin Meaghan (from the same crop I am from ... 1982 baby!) More cousins on top of the world in Waterton! Barbie Jo, Melissa, Aunt Jackie, Stephanie, me, and Patterson is in the front.We have been able to be here for Carter's blessing, and Michael's birthday! My Auntie Lynn came through with her girls and spent a day with us. It was so wonderful to see her again. It had been a long time. (forgive the picture, it is 6 AM and y'all know how much I like being up early)
We were able to spend two days with Lanny (Justin's mom) for here birthday! She is an amazing Mother -in-law! We love going out to their ranch and just relaxing with them. For her birthday we went on a drive through the mountains and took pictures of mountain sheep, and picked wild berries. It was a perfect day!

Pet Peeves

Allow me a moment of selfshiness. I don't have very many pet peeve's but the ones that I do have drive me insane.

The first being loud eaters. Now I know that most people cannot help this unfortunate trait, but if I am next to a loud eater it just about drives me batty! Unfortnately for Justin he can pin point my good days and my bad days by how on edge I am about his chewing and swallowing decible. (Poor guy) Fortunately for him he also thinks this pet peeve of mine is hilarious and usually just laughs at me.

My second pet peeve is lateness. Now this has several catagories for me. I hate being late, and when I am I am not a very happy person. I hate it when other people are late, but I can usually just laugh it off. The worst though is when I am left waiting for someone and I end up waiting forever. I feel like my time is worth more than that. I know it is a completely selfish thing on my part. It somehow feels differently for someone else to waste my time as it does I when I am wasting my own time. Oh well.

Evan's Blog

J Q, AA X Q S ;z.xx q .,A1ykm < (Evan wanted to get in on the blogging thing. He is always wanting to be on my lap when I am typing, and when I do lift him up he always lunges for the keyboard)

Children and Dogs

I have always had a theory that kids are just like dogs, minus the fact that we shouldn't leave small children home alone when we go to the store.  Here are just some of the ways that they relate to each other.

1) Neither can talk, but both sure do make a whole lot of noise if they are hungry 

2) Both have to be potty trained

3) Both require a lot of love and affection, but know how to return that love two fold

4) Dogs have kennels, kids have play pens and cribs  

5) There are times when both of them stink

6) Both need and love their outdoor time

and finally the inspiration for this post .......

7) Apparently doggie chew toys can double as baby chew toys!  (I found Evan chowing down on a doggie chew toy at my in-laws house.  He was LOVING it!!)   

IDRS convention

This week was the break that I needed after a really hard move.  From start to finish it was a week of perfection!  I arrived on Sunday July 20th and had my dress rehearsal the next day.  I knew that monday would be the day that I might run into some of my old friends from BYU.  I came across the volunteer meeting, and low and behold, FRIENDS!  So I stayed for the meeting and the tour afterwards.  I couldn't help but laugh at myself, because I was not volunteering.  As I was telling this to one of my closest friends from my BYU years, Elizabeth, and she started laughing because she did the same thing!  

Elizabeth and I performed on the same concert, so following our dress rehearsal a bunch of friends got together and we hiked to Stewart Falls.  The first few days of the week I stayed with my old room mate, Jen.  I was thrilled when her and her family were able to come on the hike with us.  It was the perfect time to catch up.  Unfortunately I had invited some of my room mates at the conference to come, they had never been on a mountain before, and they got lost on the way down the mountain (in the dark).  We were scared we were going to have to send out a rescue party.  Fortunately for cell phones we all found each other again, and they still liked me the next day, so that is good.  

(Elizabeth and I at Stewart Falls)

Tuesday was the day of my performance.  I was very nervous for many different reasons, and the closer my performance got the worse I felt.  While in my room I prayed that Heavenly Father would bless me to feel a "normal" nervous, instead of a "debilitating" nervous.  I finished getting dressed and headed to the music building.  All of a sudden, from nowhere, a car pulls up screaming my name.  It was some of my dear friends from Florida, Ashley and Marian Rodgers!!!  They said that they debated whether it was me or not walking down the street, and finally came to the conclusion that I did not have an identical twin and chased me down.  I know they were my guardian angels because the second I saw them, every concern and worry melted away and I felt great!  

I went to my performance and played GREAT!  I had so much fun, and couldn't be more pleased that I chose to submit that proposal to play.  After I was done playing I went back to the green room and looked down to see that I had performed with my ugly name tag on!  I was mortified for a second and then had to laugh at myself!  Only I could be ditsy enough to pull THAT one off!  Thank you to Everette Reed for arranging the pieces for me because I got compliments on them all week long.  

(A.D.D. moment: Later that night I literally bumped into Martin Schuring, very famous oboe player, and the following conversation took place:

Martin: "You played the Faure today right? 

Kira: "Yes I did!  You were there?" 

Martin: "Yes, you played it beautifully. I really enjoyed it ... what is your name?"

Kira: "Kira Palmer"

Martin: "My name is Martin (shakes hand)

Kira: "Yea, I know (in my head I am thinking, "Yea, I know, you're famous!") Almost everyone I            went to school with at BYU went to study with you. 

Then there is this awkward silence and he looks like he stills wants to talk to me, but my mind is completely blank.  I mean, what do you say to Martin Schuring???  The rest of the conference he always made sure came up and said hello if he saw me.  It was awesome! )

Alright, I am back to the real story.  So that night I went to dinner with the Rodger's and then headed to Salt Lake and picked up my friends from Florida.  I was so excited to room with Dr. Odom!!  

Ashley, Me, Marian

The whole week was filled with all sorts of fun!  Of course the countless performances, masterclasses, and lectures were AMAZING, but it was so wonderful to experience the beauty of Utah again.  I took my Florida people to Bridal Veil water Falls (random oboe people were drooling over our shirts that whole day!) and then we drove up to see Robert Redford's gate and took the ski lift in Sundance.  I had only done that once before, but it was just as beautiful as I remember!  It was so special to do it with my Florida friends too because none of them had ever seen mountains like these ones.  It was fun to play the tour guide! 

(Me, Lauren, Dr.O, and Kristen at Bridal Veil Falls)

As luck would have it, my other room mate was coming in that same week so Jen, Natalie, and I got together for lunch!  It was so special and such a treat for me!  I was sad that I only saw Natalie for a lunch, but I am grateful that I even got that!  How random, that she would be there the same time?  

(Me, Jen and Benjamin, Natalie and Callie)

Room mates together again!  The only missing from this picture is Evan! 

One of my favorite events was the Utah Symphony concert outside in the mountains.  They played songs that featured the oboe and the bassoon.  So fun!

It was also so nice for me to see Geralyn again.  For being in charge of the entire conference she was suprisingly composed.  Everytime I saw her she seemed totally relaxed, and she ran the best conference I have ever been to.  Congratulations Geralyn on a huge success! 

(me and Geralyn)

I was watching one of the concerts towards the end of the conference and I saw my old friend walk out onto the stage.  I wish I knew which box is housing my highschool dance pictures because I went to senior Winter Formal with Randy Lee (let alone youth orchestras, and church), and then off to BYU where we were both music majors.  Well out walks Randy for one of the concerts, so I ran down backstage and got to visit with him for a while!  It was a great trip into the past for me!  

(Randy and I)

The week was incredible and I am so glad that I went!!!  This last picture is of everyone filling the center of the music building listening to the final performance (Haydn's Fireworks) played by WAY too many double reed players.  It is tradition, and awesome, but should never be attempted more than once a year:-) I thought it was an awesome picture though to see all the double reed players gathered into one room!   

PICTURES!!!

Alright, the pictures have officially arrived.  The computer is on the ground, but it is now out of the box and in working condition.  We will play a little bit of catch up, and post each event separately.  I will apologize in advance because I know that the posts will not be in chronological order.  For the most part we have already posted about most of the events anyway, and so we are already screwed up order wise.  

Happy reading!  

Breaking Dawn

Alright y'all, we have to apologize for our long abscence from the blogging world. I was in Utah for a wonderful week of oboe ... the report with PICTURES is on the way I promise, and shortly after my return Stephenie Meyer's fourth book in the "Twilight" series came out.

I have been holed up reading "Breaking Dawn" since Saturday when it came out. (I know, I know, I read slowly) I just want to say one thing about the book, and one thing only ...

My Life is now COMPLETE!!!!!