family photos and giving up on the guitar (for now)

If I had time I would blog every day but I don't feel like I can rationalize ignoring my housework even more than I already do. How did my mother keep our house so nice? 

We got our family pictures done. They turned out fun. We have always done nature settings such as this one in November of 2009.

 but this year my Aunt LeeAnn told me about a cool teal blue building she saw in Salt Lake that would be a fun back drop. I was in the mood to do something different so that's what we did. I decided what I wanted to wear,  an orange-ish, coral-ish, flowy shirt I got from Down East. I 'm sure you have the same shirt. 

When ever I buy clothes from Down East I see lots and lots of other ladies in them. I had a teal blue blanket my Grandma made. I laid it on my bedroom floor and then I rummaged through the closets of my kids and laid all 7 outfits out on the blanket to try and picture what we would look like. I hoped it would work. We got to the actual building and  it only took us about an hour to get all the pictures taken. I also had her take pictures of me for my Demo CD. I felt pretentious and awkward posing alone and looking off into the distance like I was so cool. Nate and I tried to get some spontaneous pictures of us two. You know, like we were lovers in love flirting and laughing.  We were just nerdy and awkward instead. AnnaKate is really the only one who loves to pose for pictures and is good at it. She has been since she was tiny.  

she is 3 in these photos

 When the twins were babies my Aunt came to our house to take the pictures because I knew it would give me a nervous breakdown to try to get all my kids and my nursing babies someplace on time and looking nice. 

I'm feeling proud of myself for getting the pictures done. Now if I can just quickly order the ones I want and get them on the walls. That's a whole nother huge expensive job. 

 Here is a sneak peak of our pictures we just barely did last Friday. This was a spontaneous moment, us all looking at Sarah. I don't even remember what was happening and didn't know LeeAnn was taking a picture. Sarah is so funny. LeeAnn emailed me the photos so I don't have the quality ones to post yet. 

Perhaps you're wondering how my guitar lessons are going? 

Well I'll tell you. A couple of weeks ago I was practicing like 10 time a day.

 I have a little room off my kitchen that is the music room. I have my great  grandmother Edith Jordan's piano and my great great grandfather John Wesley Zornes'  guitar and my little ukulele and my pawn shop guitar. While a pot is coming to a boil or I'm waiting on the kids to go brush their teeth and make thier beds I run in there and practice. 

I sit in the same chair in the same position hunched and curled around my guitar trying with all my heart to get better. 

My back got sore.

 I neglected my yoga routine and was hiking instead.

 My back got more sore.

 Then WHAM! Muscle spasms and my back went out! Oh the pain. I was in bed for a couple of days.

 I have since been reminded of the need my back has for yoga and that I must sit up straight when practicing. Are you wondering if I sound any better on the guitar these days? For the most part I think

 "I cut my pretty finger nails off for this?!!!" 

But to be fair I have learned the pick pattern Danny does for my song Reprimand. It took me 2 weeks to get it down. I've improved my song The News with a couple of different pick patterns. Danny tried to teach me 2 Jack Johnson songs. I still haven't learned them.(it's not because I don't love Jack Johnson , I do. I'm so happy for his wife to be married to such a sweet heart......hunky sweet heart)  He has tried to teach me so many Jack Johnson songs. I start to learn it, then I get bored and I think it's really hard. Then I re-arrange the Jack Johnson chords (the easy chords that is) and write my own song. Happens every time. Danny recommended a guitar method book. I went and bought it. I opened it up and was instantly bored and frustrated. Really frustrated. Singing and songwriting I can take with me and do anywhere.

 I do vocal exercises in the shower. 

I write lyrics while doing the laundry or the dishes. The guitar requires me sitting down and having my hands occupied. This is really tough to do when you have a house to run and kids to care for. Maybe I'm just making excuses but I think the kids are going to have to be older for me to really spend some quality time on the guitar. Right now I really need to get my kids photo albums organized. I need to go hunt for bugs with the twins. I need to cheer for Luke at his soccer games and listen to Emmaline tell me about her life. I need to open my heart up to my AnnaKate and just love her. The guitar will have to wait.