Evan's prayer

part of Evan's prayer today .......

"Thank you that my mom is in love with me"

THAT makes me so happy!

do you like to feel good??

There are some things I have seen lately that just make me feel good.  I wanted to share them with you because who doesn't need a little sunshine in their life??

This is exactly what I hope my life will be.
I can't believe I'm already to the short hair phase of my life!!!!!

My sister sent this to us.  It is so beautiful!!

WARNING:  You WILL cry!!!  We watched this at a Muscular Dystrophy camp out a week and a half ago.  For someone who has a son who is disabled .... it touches my heart in more ways than I can even express!  Enjoy 

cleansing

So one of the things about moving is the need to cleanse.  I am feeling a deep desire to cleanse anything  and everything.  One of those things is the camera on our cell phones.  We both finally added the pictures from our camera and I wanted to share just some of my favorite from the summer.

 crazy how similar these boys look

Landon put his lion in timeout ... it was so funny!

 One of my favorite things that I tell all MOMS about are nail decals.  I have been using these for almost a year.  My friend tried them and, of course, LOVES them.  Mine are the leopard print, she chose the houndstooth pattern.

 This is a picture of a GREAT man!!!!!!

We sold cupcakes for Safeway as a thank you for our elevator.  Evan was an incredible little salesman.

 THIS is how our family has been living for the past 2.5 weeks.  In the old house and the new house we have all been living in boxland.  Hopefully we will be out of it again soon ... and then ... never ever again!!!!

New homes are awesome!

Moving Sucks!!

(more later ... glad I have internet again :-)

I'm such a boob!!!

Summer is over :-(

Justin stayed in Montana with Landon on Labor Day. (more on that later) Evan and I had an Evan/Mama date day. Evan really wanted to go to the Dinosaur Museum so that is what we did. It was such a gorgeous day and ended up being a perfect day as well. We slept in, had a picnic, went through the museum at Evan's pace, signed up to make a fossil and drove home to get to sleep early.

It was a perfect little day for us and a great last day before school started.

Yesterday was a HUGE day for Evan. We had our clinic day at the hospital. That means a really long day for us. It went well and everything is going really well for him. We had some good long talks with the doctors that we needed to have some good long talks with and did some blood work, got new velcro on our braces. After 4 hours at the hospital we were still able to make it to an hour of school.

I can't believe how much Evan has grown!!!! It blows my mind!!!! He is such a little man now. I put him on the bus today and he couldn't have been more excited! I, on the other hand, couldn't have been more conflicted. I am so excited for him. I know school is a good thing for him, BUT ................ I just want to freeze time. I struggle with my kids growing up. Obviously I do want them to grow up, I just really love my little kids. I love my time with them, and I LOVED having them with me all day during the summer.

I cried as the bus drove away with my smiling, happy, wonderful son. I love you Evan. I hope you have a GREAT school year!!!

Evan and Miss. Kyla

now I need to plan an Landon/Mama date.

Josh Groban sweat on me!!!!

So pretty much I have had the BEST birthday week of my entire life!!!!! I mean I seriously couldn't have asked for anything better to kick of my final year in my 20's.

I have so many things to say about my birthday week, but since I am unable to download any of my pictures yet I will just talk about the day before my birthday.

I knew we were going somewhere. Justin told me to dress up. That is it!

We get to the saddledome and I start to get an idea of who we are seeing. Justin had me guess.

Justin: "so your hint is that it is a boy, and you really like him"

Kira: "have I dreamt about him??"

Justin: "I don't know, maybe we should turn around right now ;-)"

Kira: "is he a singer that i have been in LOVE with since before I loved you?"

Justin: "I don't know. I'm starting to question getting these tickets."

Kira: "does his name rhyme with Smosh Smoban?"

As soon as he spilled the beans I got butterfly's, I couldn't stop smiling, and I started to question my choice of outfit and wish that I had the time to do my hair. Almost immediately after that I began to grieve the fact that Justin didn't tell me to grab our camera.

And then ............

We went to find our seat. We walked closer and closer and closer to the front. Finally we pause at ROW 6!!!!!!!!!!!

How lucky am I that one of my friends was sitting in the row directly in front of us and she didn't forget her camera, so she emailed me her pics. Thank you Katie!!!

This concert was a dream come true for me! I have wanted to see Josh in concert since the summer of 2002!!!! It was 2 hours of bliss for me. I can't believe that we were sitting so close I could see every single detail, every line of sweat coming down his face. Josh even ran right by us while picking people out of the audience. Instead of us he picked a couple in the row behind us to go up on stage. It was just amazing!!!!

Heaven Heaven Heaven!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I DID IT!!!!!!!

I did it!!!!

I mean I actually did it! I nailed my audition!

Let me start at the beginning.

One month ago I got the call for the audition in Red Deer. You might remember last year when I had an audition. I didn't make it, but a lot of good came from that audition. Most of the playing I did this last year was a result of the exposure that I got from the audition and gigs with the Red Deer Symphony Orchestra.

I get very nervous about auditioning! I wanted this soo badly!!! I have put in the work and did everything that I knew I could do to practice playing through my nerves. I had some pretty neat experiences that I wanted to share.

I've been praying that I will be able to play well in the audition. I kept telling God that if he would just help me to play like I had been doing in my practice sessions that I would be happy, whether I got the job or not.

Immediately before I went in to the building I said another prayer. Just as I was praying for help to calm my nerves I felt like I should open my eyes. Right in front of me was a key chain I have hanging from my steering wheel that reads ... relax. It is a small thing, but it really made me feel better in that moment.

In an audition setting I can't "practice". It messes with my head. I bring reading material and my IPod. Well today I felt like reading. I made sure that I brought an uplifting book that would make me feel good. The book I chose today is written by Kris Belcher called "Hard Times and Holy Places". I have heard her speak and she is truly inspiring, but that is a different post. I was reading and I came across this verse in the Book of Mormon.

2 Nephi 32:9 "But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform anything unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul."

It is amazing the calm I felt come over me. I felt like the verse was literally speaking to me about my current situation. I knew that I had done all I could and had plead to my Heavenly Father to help me, and he would. Not long after that I felt VERY strongly that I should try a different reed that I had made two nights earlier. I was skeptical because I made that reed and hadn't played on it since. The reed felt really good!!!! I decided to warm up on it and ultimately used it in the audition. Man am I glad I did ... that reed was amazing! How grateful I am for inspiration from above. I know I wouldn't have picked it up without that heavenly guidance.

The audition went great! Was it perfect ... no, but I am still so pleased with my performance. The panel totally threw me for a loop when they decided to let the screen down for the second round. The entire audition is usually blind but they decided to change it up in the second round. I really think this was in my favor. I will be the first to tell you that I am not a good auditioner, but I am a great performer!!!! When I went back after I was hired the conductor kept talking about my poise and aura while I perform. He kept coming back to it and I think that was what separated me from the other candidates, that and how I play the oboe solo from the Brahm's violin concerto ;-)

To say the least I am more than thrilled to have been offered a contract with the Red Deer Symphony Orchestra. I feel very proud, grateful, and humble right now. Thanks to everyone who was praying for me ... it helped! Right now in my life this is my dream job and I can't believe that I have it. What an amazing month this will be for me!!! My birthday is on Friday, in 17 days we will be moving into a house that our entire family can operate in. We hired full time help for Evan, she will start next week (more on that later). I have a pretty incredible little family that I can claim as my own, and to top it off I got my dream job!!! I am one lucky girl!

Maybe I will have a little bit more time to blog now that I'm not practicing and making reeds every night ;-)