Christmas in Utah

As mentioned in my previous post, we are here in the beautiful state of Utah to celebrate Christmas with my family. How sweet it is to be with them. My mom and dad are so accommodating and sweet--being with them makes me a little bit sad (in spite of the joy) since these visits are so few and far between. Northern Utah is so beautiful--we are glad to be here and will savor every moment of it.

The drive across the country couldn't have been better. It was as if the skies opened and clouds departed to give us safe passage across the plains. We didn't get a single flake of precipitation on the freeway. And then the day we got here and it snowed 12 inches in 6 hours. Perfect timing. We were left feeling blessed--the recipients of a real Christmas miracle. (Especially considering that Champaign literally is frozen over.)

We listened to the Christmas Carol through Nebraska on the second day. I'd never actually read the *real* story before, so it was fun to hear it from the author himself. Good ol' Darls Chickens. We also got to visit my best friends in northern Colorado and stay a night with them at their house. We had nine kids running around going crazy--it was fun to catch up with Steve and Autumn and see April and her kids (BFF Andy is still in Japan where he has been deployed for the last months--he comes home in three weeks).


We got here Sunday night, got up Monday and enjoyed the snow, built a snow mountain, sledded, made merry, etc. Then, yesterday, the kids started barfing everywhere. First Seth started in the morning, then Jonas in the afternoon, then at about 11:30 last night, Maryn started. We brought her in to our room and she kept it up every hour on the hour for the rest of the night. Everybody is feeling a little better today--but everybody is very tired.

A few memorable moments from the last few days:

Last night, when Jonas had his shirt off from one of his throw-ups he started sucking in his tummy and pushing it out again--over and over. He'd do it, look up and laugh at it, and look down and do it again all while pressing on his belly button.

Also last night, before Maryn started up, she said "I want to get my thnow thoes on and go outside and shovel the thnow." (we shoveled all day the day before--apparently she was into it.)

All it all, and despite the flu-bug, it's been a great visit so far. Tomorrow is Christmas and it is sure to be lovely. I'll leave you with a great little clip that a friend of mine posted a few weeks ago. I think it sums up nicely my feelings about the season.



Merry Christmas!

a little holiday treat for you

it's not really a holiday song--but i think it's pretty rad.

This is the Rivers Cuomo that I love:



We're in Utah with my family and loving it. It snowed a TON this morning and we are so glad to be playing in it and not driving in it. More soon, promise!

My Brightest Diamond @ Solar Culture

At the end of our jam fest, Jon T. and I went to an rad show at the eclectic Tucson venue Solar Culture. I have written here about My Brightest Diamond before--but this show really sealed the deal for me: Shara Warden is amazing.

This was more of a vocal performance than a rock & roll show--she also had an amazing cellist and even more amazing violinist/multi-instrumentalist. Check him playing the singing saw at the beginning of the video.

Anyway, Tina always complains that Shara's a screamer. This song is the closest she came to screaming, which--as you will see--isn't very. Enjoy my first attempt at video bootlegging!


My Brightest Diamond @ Solar Culture 11/29/08, Tucson, AZ from starmaster on Vimeo.

crunch time

Lots to do in the next few weeks to wrap up this, the third semester of my graduate experience. It's been a good semester--not a lot of blogging has been going down here, I realize...still haven't figured out how to be a regular blogger, I guess. For now, I've got me some papers to write and some papers to grade--and then we're skipping town again!

I'll post a more comprehensive update here soon, but for now, please keep your eye on the Only Anything blog. Lots of new content should be posted there over the next month or so which you'll not want to miss! I just posted a video of me and Jon playing his new song Rose Reflection. I think you'll agree that it is really great. Check it!