The Meandering Thoughts of Jan

I feel like this past week I've been waking up from a weird rut I've been in for who knows how long.  This blog is called the Meandering Thoughts of Jan, so come meander with me, because I feel like I need to sort out some thoughts as I’ve been trying to sort out my life.  I've been contemplating the (sometimes not-so-lovely) art of getting older.  Lately I've been feeling much older than my actual age.  This kind of dawned on me a couple of weeks ago when I was buying some new tunes.  My tastes have chilled out quite a bit, which isn't a bad thing.  In fact, quite a few musicians that I’ve enjoyed for years now seem to be chilling out right along with me.  It reminded me of a conversation I had with my mom back when I was about 23.  I was telling her about a concert that I had either been to or was coming up.  She smiled and listened and once I had completed my raving about whatever band at the time, she said, "You know, when you are young, you crave the lou

As I mentioned in my blog post below, my sister Noelle and I had a craft night together, which got us through the BYU/U of U game.  We made two different crafts which I promised to unveil once they were complete. First, a picture of the supplies Noelle and I in craft heaven. The final products! Now a how to: First, the wooden "Boo".  Noelle and I got this idea from our sister Michele's craft blog !  Even though Michele lives a few hours away from us, it was our way of still having a sister craft night together.  (Michele we missed you!)  For the "Boo", we used wooden cut outs from the craft store.  We traced the letters onto different fun patterned paper and used mod podge to glue the paper on.  We used ribbon, stickers and paper to add the little embellishments. For the second craft, Noelle found these paper pumpkins on pinterest. This blog is where we got the instructions. I would recommend using stiffer paper and paper with design

This weekend was a whirlwind experience.  I realize I could split this up into like 4 or 5 different posts, but I'm just going to do one big, long post.  So get a snack, get comfortable and prepare yourselves. Friday Night:  Danny's Concert with his friends, The Atomic Thunderlips Danny performed up at the Layton amphitheater and rocked the house!  I really mean that, he did such  a fantastic job.  He opened for his friends, The Atomic Thunderlips, who also put on an awesome show. I had great fun clapping along to the music with my nephews who came and being a bit of a proud wife in the audience.  We all went out for a late night dinner at Iggy's afterwards, which showed me that I'm not in college anymore, because I got heartburn afterwards.   (Growing old, sigh.) Members of the family that came to support! Me and my nephew Dr. C before the concert. The boys clapping along. He can play with his eyes closed, he's that good. Danny the guitar man

I've been a bit sporadic in my blogging as of late.  I know I keep whining about things being busy, which is true, but that seems to go for everyone else in their lives as well.  Today I thought I'd share a little review I wrote for the Utah Chamber Artists concert which Danny and I went to last night.  It was beyond beautiful.  Usually when I write reviews, I try to include the pros and cons of the production, but I honestly couldn't think of any cons.  Even the hard benches in the cathedral didn't bother me. Plus, it was fun to see so many neighbors and friends there. Speaking of friends, I've been really lucky lately to see or hear from some of my old friends, or perhaps I should call them my long term friends, as they are not really old.  I see all of these little interactions as such blessings, because I've really needed it lately. I feel like listing these little blessings as a thank you to my friends and family members who have helped uplift me as o

Remember a couple posts ago when I mentioned that it had been a slow week?  Man, do I long for those times.  Work has been extremely busy the past 2 weeks.  I'm not sure if it is going to let up this week.  Anyway, that's my reasoning for not really blogging or pretty much for not having any communication with the outside world.  Except when I went out to dinner with Talena last week, because that was heaven sent, as was watching the BYU game and having homemade pizzas with Jared and Noelle this weekend.  You guys are the best! Enough rambling, I just had to share this video my brother made for his boys.  My nephews are so dang cute and Mark is such a rad dad for putting in all the special effects for them.  Enjoy!

Aug. 3rd - Me and Danny at Donut Falls. Aug. 4th - Foot shot by the stream by Danny's family cabin. Aug. 4th - Pine trees up at Mount Aire. Aug. 4th - Danny and his Dad. Aug. 6th - Danny got me yellow roses, my favorite, for our engagement anniversary. Aug. 6th - Our engagement anniversary tradition, getting ice cream sundaes at Hires like we did the night we got engaged. Aug. 14th - Talena was kind enough to pose for a photo shoot I was helping with for work.   Aug. 14th - Sunset at Antelope Island during the photo shoot. Aug. 30th - Photo shoot at BYU Museum of Art.  I had to get up at 4:30am for this photo shoot.  At least the photo shoot was at a culturally enriching place. Aug. 30th - A bubble wrap wedding dress at the BYU museum (but it is not of BYU approved standards.) Aug. 31st - My little niece, Lady Lu, had a lemonade stand including face painting.  We were happy to attend. Aug. 31st - My nephew JM was happy to show off his