Last Friday, Craig, Pat, Dan and I went to see Dark Star Orchestra. They are a Grateful Dead cover band that is as close as you can get to the real thing. They are AMAZING!! We had a fantastic time and danced for 3 hours straight! 4/27/08

Playin' in the Band

I can't decide if I am proud or embarrassed to post this, but I have started singing in a band.  I'm only embarrassed by it because I am 38 and a mother of three and I'm not sure if I seem crazy!  It started with meeting Dan (on the right side of the photo) back in the Spring.  He has played every Thursday at the So. Pas Farmer's market for a long time now.  Whenever I would go, he would entice me by playing Grateful Dead songs.  Every time I passed by, I would want to stop and harmonize with him.  I resisted the temptation for a few months.  I finally started to talk with him and told him that I used to sing in a band (18 years ago!) called Cubensis.  It turned out Dan used to see us back then and he even recognized me!!  He told me I should start singing with him and his band to which I thought, "No way! I'm a mom!"  This was back in early summer.  I held out for a couple more months (even though I did reunite with Cubensis a couple times.)  Right before we took our trip to Oregon, I sang a few songs with him when I would come by.  We sounded good together!  After our trip, I sang a few more times with him and next thing I knew it was becoming regular!  In October, I met Pat, our lead guitarist.  He is fantastic!  He's married with two sons.  We had a practice at my house with my Dad and my kids running around.  We have been practicing ever since.  As it has turned out, our drummer is none other than my old friend Damon, who drummed with Cubensis with me 18 years ago!  Damon is an amazing drummer.  He and Dan have been friends forever.  Isn't it a small world?  We are going to play at the Pasadena Waldorf school's Elves Faire in November.  My favorite thing about our group is that these guys LOVE Joni Mitchell and have learned several of her songs for me to sing.  We also do originals.  Our goal is to get a bass player so that Dan can play his keyboards instead of rhythm guitar.  We hope to play at lots of family friendly outdoor festivals.10/25/07

Morning Glory Photo Shoot

I don't like to mention my band too much, because I always wrestle with the idea that I'm even in a band!  I hate to divide my time from my family.  BUT . . . I'm in a band.  And I LOVE it and they are super-talented musicians.  I don't know how I fooled them into thinking I can sing.  We have been working on a press kit and a demo so that we can apply for some festivals.  We did a photo shoot this afternoon for the press-kit.  I really like this picture because it really captures who we are.  Craig took the picture while the kids were playing all around the park.  By the way, we are called Morning Glory. 2/17/08

Elves Fair Morning Glory

There were different musical groups, including my group!!  We got to perform from 10:30-12 noon and then 2:30 -4pm.  This was our first paid "gig."  We had soooooo much fun-- I LOVE my band mates, they are so talented and nice to let me sing with them. They learn Joni Mitchell songs for me!!  (They love Joni Mitchell!)  I was also so happy that my girlfriends, Lorell and Kristen came by.  I know they had a great time too.11/17/07

The Fab Four

Last night we saw the Fab Four at the Alhambra Jubilee. They are a Beatles cover band and they were seriously amazing. They sounded EXACTLY like the Beatles!! And if you squinted just a little, they looked EXACTLY like the Beatles. They even did three costume changes to coincide with the songs they did. I especially LOVED the Sgt. Pepper's costume/psychedelic portion. They did "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely hearts club band," "A little help from my friends," "A day in the life," and "Penny lane." "Strawberry Fields" was especially beautiful with the ending jam they did. We were a little disappointed that they didn't do "I am the Walrus" because I kept telling the girls it was coming up. BUT "Yellow Submarine" was AWESOME!! We met up with our friends, Pat and Em Dore (Pat is of Morning Glory fame. :) ) We hadn't actually intended to bring the girls, but also didn't plan appropriately so they came with us. Ceci fell asleep in Craig's arms and Bella and Olivia hung out with me on the side where we danced and sang a lot. What a fun night! It was fun hanging out, Pat and Em! (and thanks for holding the girls at the beginning!) 8/17/08

Morning Glory at Abuelita's & My Birthday!

Last Friday we played our 2nd gig at Abuelita's.  We had a great time!  For me, it was the perfect way to start my birthday which was on Saturday.  What more could I ask for?  We debuted some new songs including "Dear Prudence," "When you dance, I can really love, " (Neil Young) and "Dreams" (Allman Bros.)

The band rocked as usual.  Each of these guys are SO GOOD!!  But my favorite part was when everything was all over and next thing I knew, they were all behind me singing "Happy Birthday!" I turned around, and there they were with a cake!  How could I be so lucky to sing in a great band, with great players, but also, they're sensitive and thoughtful!!??  I LOVE these guys! 6/8/08

Old Towne Pub

Morning Glory rocked the house! 6/24/08

Calling All Angels

This has been a really tough week for me. We started school and I've been working super-hard to get my girls back into a solid routine. I've been getting up early but going to bed late so I'm exhausted. I've been putting all I can into being a great home schooler. Hopefully, I can start posting about some of that next week. I also made the very painful decision to quit my band this week-- I finally came to the conclusion that I needed to-- so I could focus more intently on my family and home schooling. My heart is broken over this, even though I know I made the right decision. It really hurts to give it up-- I LOVE singing and my band mates. :( So in addition to this, I was asked to sing this Saturday at the memorial service of a woman who passed away in an accident over Labor day weekend. She was the wife of a music acquaintance/friend of mine. I had only met her once-- she was young (40?) and had a 7 year old daughter. I remember thinking she was very nice and we even talked about getting our girls together. I can't imagine what my friend is going through with his loss. But as I practice the song he asked me to sing, I have felt with him the pain he must be going through. I have been constantly praying for him and his daughter. I am so honored that he would ask me to sing--He asked me to sing "Calling All Angels" by Jane Siberry. I've been practicing it in every spare moment I have. I'm so glad I've been playing my guitar again because it has helped me to learn it, it's not an easy song. Anyways, I wanted to post the beautiful words to this song, and ask anyone who reads this to pray for my friend that he and his daughter will be comforted. Please pray for me too, that I will do the song justice-- I am very nervous. I hope also that we will all remember to not take our loved ones for granted--we never know how long they will be with us. Life is such a precious gift. Those of us who have experienced loss know.  

You can hear this song on my playlist, it's at the bottom-- 9/12/08 Calling All Angels Santa Maria, Santa Teresa, Santa Anna, Santa Susannah Santa Cecilia, Santa Copelia, Santa Domenica, Mary Angelica Frater Achad, Frater Pietro, Julianus, Petronilla Santa, Santos, Miroslaw, Vladimir and all the rest a man is placed upon the steps, a baby cries and high above the church bells start to ring and as the heaviness the body oh the heaviness settles in somewhere you can hear a mother sing then it's one foot then the other as you step out onto the road how much weight? how much weight? then it's how long? and how far? and how many times before it's too late? calling all angels calling all angels walk me through this one don't leave me alone calling all angels calling all angels we're cryin' and we're hurtin' and we're not sure how... and every day you gaze upon the sunset with such love and intensity it's almost...it's almost as if if you could only crack the code then you'd finally understand what this all means but if you could...do you think you would trade in all the pain and suffering? ah, but then you'd miss the beauty of the light upon this earth and the sweetness of the leaving calling all angels calling all angels walk me through this one don't leave me alone callin' all angels callin' all angels we're tryin' we're hopin' we're hurtin' we're lovin' we're cryin' we're callin' 'cause we're not sure how this goes

Morning Glory rocks Mr. T's!

Bad neighborhood, fun place-- The guys were on fire last night. We had a total blast!! 8/19/08

Rock your baby to and fro

Yesterday we went to see my old band, Cubensis. We went because we wanted to celebrate the last weekend of the summer and it was at a nice kid-friendly venue on the grounds of a Renaissance fair. The show started around 6pm so it was still nice and sunny. There were lots of beautiful trees and a nice breeze blowing. The girls LOVED the little booths to play in. The band sounded especially nice. They asked me to come up and sing for the last 2 songs of the first set and the last five of the second set--Sugaree, The Music Never Stopped, Scarlet Begonias, Fire on the Mountain, Shakedown Street, Terrapin Station, and Passenger. I had a complete blast dancing and singing.  Craig and the girls had a really nice time too. :) 8/31/08

Thank you!! for a real good time . . .

I mentioned it in an earlier post, but I felt I needed to write more officially that I quit my wonderful band. It's taken me this long to accept that it's true. :( It was a really hard decision that I really did not want to make-- but I know it's best for my family. I was probably crazy to join in the first place . . . but I AM crazy! And I'll always be a deadhead. :) For a while there, I couldn't even walk into my living room without wanting to cry-- knowing we would not have our wonderful band practices there with my kids running around and my Dad hanging out in the next room. We made such beautiful music!! I just hope all my band mates know how much I love them and how I really wished I could keep doing it. Telling the band was sooooo hard because I didn't want it to be true. I told them that I will always feel that each and every practice and performance we had together was a gift. I really mean that. This picture is from our favorite gig ever that we did at the Whole Earth Festival in Davis. What a blast we had! I love how happy Dan looks (on keys.) Thank you, Morning Glory, for letting me live out a rock 'n' roll fantasy. Thank you for making me feel 20 again and giving me the opportunity to sing my heart out. I love you all.

We have a new blog!

Okay, I started a new blog. It has taken me a looooong time to get caught up so I am finally "revealing" my new blog address. It is:

thegallupfamily2.blogspot.com

For a while there, I was enjoying not blogging. Life is so busy, I honestly don't have the time. Home schooling is soooooo demanding. But I realized that I LOVE blogging, it's like scrapbooking and journaling combined and also a great way to stay in touch. So I forced myself to get caught up.

I thought long and hard about possibly making the new blog private, so that I would know who's peeking in, but I finally decided that I would rather have an open blog that is easy to access. (Sometimes I do wonder what weirdo might be looking at all our pictures!) :)

If you like reading our blog, I would love to get a hello from you. I don't necessarily need a "comment," but I do like to know who's been checking in, (and reading every detail of our lives!!) :)

I truly would appreciate a hello!

Love to all!
Suzy

I might have to change my blog address

My dear three readers, :)

Well, I haven't blogged in almost a month. It's partially due to being super-busy, but it's also because I completely used up all the space blogger will allow me. I actually paid for extra space, but for some reason my account does not reflect it and nobody will help me resolve the issue!! So I can't add any more pictures to my blog. :(

We've been super-busy around here. We took a camping trip in mid-August and we also started school last week! I miss blogging, but like the extra time I have when I don't blog. I'm not sure yet what is going to happen!!

Just thought I'd post this info.

Love, Suzy

Visiting the Rices!

We spent Sunday with the Rices. We went with them to their ward which was very nice. My girls LOVED going to primary with Tristan! Afterwards, we went to their trailer back on the farm. It was exciting to be greeted by all of their animals! They have a lot more goats and chickens than they did the last time we came to visit. The kids all had a blast playing together. They played on this motorized thing, the new swingset, and waded in the pool. It was HOT!!

We had yummy barbequed hamburgers for lunch and DELICIOUS, fresh goat's milk from Amelia. It was my first time drinking goat's milk and I was very happy to find how wonderful it is. Brieanne milks her goats every morning. Brieanne and I had a wonderful visit, just talking and talking while the kids played. Craig and Eric went to do some of Erics farm chores together-- feeding the pigs among other things. After it cooled off a bit, we took a little walk with the goats and then came back to make dinner. Brieanne made fajitas, rice and guacamole. It was so fun to be with the Rices!! I miss them being close soooooo much!

Burger Lounge with the Frasers

So we left my brother's place and went up to La Jolla to visit our good friends, the Frasers. We LOVE hanging with these people! Standing is sooooooooooooo sweet to my girls (even though I know they drive him a little crazy!)

We really wanted to go out to eat, but Craig and I really wanted to eat somewhere healthy. (We are more committed since seeing Food, Inc.) Can you believe there is a burger place in La Jolla that makes their hamburgers from 100% organic, grass-fed meat? Their buns are organic whole wheat and locally made. The produce is local and organic. The food was AWESOME!! Probably the best burger I've ever tried! The place is called Burger Lounge and I can't wait until I can eat there again! I can't recommend this place enough.

The "Purple Pearls" and the Birthday Party

My nieces Yazi and Ari play on a little league baseball team called the Purple Pearls. On Saturday we got to go see them play which was very exciting! It was fun to root for them when they were up. Unfortunately, for her turn, Yazi struck out because of a bad call. (A very low pitch called as a strike) It made me kind of mad at the umpire and I realized that I probably wouldn't be good at having my kids play little league. (Some of those parents get pretty crazy!) But when Ari had her turn at bat, she got a single!! And then she stole second and third!! I thought it was pretty cool that she got a hit for her birthday.

After the game, her team mates sang Happy Birthday to her, which was nice. And although they don't officially keep score, their team actually won. It was fun to root for our cousins and see them play!














After the game, we went back to my brother's for Ari's party. My sister-in-law made a delicious lunch of corn, potatoes, and barbecued chicken. The party started with presents because none of the girls could wait!! We then sang to Ari and had cake and ice cream. Later, the kids all went swimming. It was so nice to be with my brother and his family!

Soak City and Padres Game!

Last Friday we went to Soak City in Chula Vista with my brother and his family to celebrate his daughter, Arianna's, 7th birthday. We had a blast!! The kids LOVED it! It was so nice to spend time with my brother, my sister-in-law, Sandra, and my adorable nieces and nephew. Sandra's mom was also there and Sandra's brother's twins, Jocelyn and Jose. We played in the big wave pool, the lazy river, (you can just float round and round in it) and went down the various fun slides. I was glad I got to go down the slides with my older girls while Craig enjoyed the lazy river with Ceci. My girls were just sooooo happy to be with their beloved cousins! We're pretty sure Arianna had an AWESOME birthday. It was hot and quite exhausting, but really fun!
















































































So after the fun at Soak City, we went to Petco park for a Padres game. My dad came down to join us too. It was really fun! The ballpark has been recently redone and it is beautiful!! They designed it to be like the old school baseball parks and it lies on the waterfront of San Diego. We sat in the outfield where they have a sandbox for kids to play in. The kids loved it!! (Although I was a little disoriented to be in the outfield, I usually sit behind home plate!) It was really exciting when a home run was hit, and fireworks went off! It was also awesome when the Padres won because then they shot off more fireworks!

The coolest thing was that a whole fireworks show was scheduled for after the game. Where we were sitting is where the fireworks are shot off. So we got to go and sit on the field to watch the show. It was really exciting to be able to go out on the field!! And the show was beautiful!! What a wild, fun day! (I'm still recovering!)