HaHaHaHaHaHa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope this makes you smile too!

Dan In Real Life – The Power of Music and a Mix Tape

I was out home teaching the other night, and while sharing a very nice message about sharing our testimonies with others, I was inspired to share my testimony about music to the family that I was visiting.  Now this was OK, because I was Home Teaching the ward Choir Director, and it really sparked a great conversation about sharing the gospel through music. 

Now I am definitely not a vocalist or a musician by any means, but even I know the power that a song has on the heart of a person in the right situation.  I shared with this family an experience that I had in the Missionary Training Center, getting ready to go to Japan for 2 years.  

I was fortunate enough to spend my 2 months in the MTC during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.  So music was very plentiful about that time of year.  My MTC president had encouraged all the missionaries in the MTC at the time to really enjoy the special season.  One-way that I figured that I could enjoy my time in the MTC and really take part in the music of the season was to take part in the MTC Choir.  

Now, this was not a normal thing for me to do, since the only things that I had ever done musically was to “Milli Vanilli” to the primary music presentation songs when I was a kid; and also learned how to play ‘chopsticks’ on the piano, so that my mother would have a hope of me being able to read notes and maybe play the piano or some sort of musical instrument in my future.  Don’t get me wrong, I love my music, I just loved it in the only way that I knew how at the time.  I joined the MTC Choir, because I loved to listen to music. 

I used to have a pretty sweet setup in my room before I left on the Mission.  I had cleaned up an old lounge chair and modified my Dad’s old Hi-Fi system to be able to play CDs, and wired up the speakers so that I could rock out whenever I wanted to.  It was a pretty cool system; it even had an old 8-track player on it.  It was totally awesome to have a friend over and have them say what the heck is that huge box for on your stereo?  I would then whip out the only 8-track tape that I could find from the DI and play it for them.  Retro was sooo cool back then too.  It is much easier to do this today… a lot smaller too, because all you need now is a little I-pod and some ear buds, and you are off.  

So back then, because I had a bunch of brothers and sisters, I usually just sat back in my old lounge chair and put on some headphones and would listen to the deep intricacies of the many different songs that I liked to listen to.  I would often find myself relaxing to the point of falling asleep to the sounds of the vibration of the violin strings quivering behind the voices singing the lyrics of The Verve’s “Bittersweet Symphony”, or even the many delicate layers of the opening theme to Disney’s “The Lion King”.  Music was so intense and moving to me that it was one of the hardest things to leave behind when I left on my mission. 

Now I had been listening to music this way for a long time as my mother can testify to, since I was at least 6 years old as I can remember.  Back then my Grandma Mi (Joan) gave my brother and me little transistor radios.  Mine was orange, and his was light blue.  They were the coolest.  I modified an old cushion so that I could listen to the sound piece while lying down in bed.  My Dad inspired me to do this when he put speakers in his office wall and then covered it with a wall fabric to conceal where the speakers were.  I thought that it was pretty cool to be able to listen to your favorite jams coming from some hidden place while crashing in bed. 

Anyway, back to the MTC Choir.  I was so excited to find out what songs that we would be listening to or “singing” the first time that I went to choir practice.  I was sooo disappointed when I heard that we would be singing “Come Thou Fount”.  All I could think of was some old pilgrims in big black hats with shiny buckles on their boots, singing what seemed to me to just be an old Thanksgiving day song, about cornucopias and Turkeys.  Well I hung in there, besides I could not just walk out of a whole gymnasium full of Missionaries wanting to sing.   I was kind of stuck between a very large Hawaiian companion and the rest of the base section, also I had promised myself to really get involved while I was in the MTC. 

It was a good thing I did hang in there.  Because the director started that choir practice by playing a version of the song over the load speakers so that we could all hear it, and then he went through and read each word from the lyrics, and explained the great meaning behind the fount of blessings.  I had never looked at music that way before.  Then, when we sang that beautiful song, the spirit welled up inside me like a great fountain that I could not control my emotions.  It spoke to my soul, and testified to me of the great love that our Heavenly Father has for each and every one of his children.  Then being able to hear what seemed like a thousand voices sing the intricate parts to that beautiful song, has caused that moment to echo in my heart still today. 

I was reading a good friend’s blog today, where she talked about Mix Tapes.  She talked about how she used to sit and listen to the radio waiting for the perfect songs to record to her special mix tapes.  It made me think back to those days when I too would listen to the top 5 hit songs at 9 every night, hoping that my favorite songs would be there so that I could record them for a football mix tape to excite me and inspire me to hit as hard as I could in the next football game, or just rock out in my bedroom playing the air guitar.  It made me think back to some of those great “Walkman Moments”, before a wrestling match, or feeling the power of the spirit flow through my heart during a choir presentation or just reclining in my lounge chair back in my old room.  

Reading her blog also made me look back on some of the mixed tapes or CD’s that I was given, or even made myself.  Like the first Christmas gift that Rachel ever gave me.  If you can believe it, one of the songs on that mix tape had the power to get ME to marry her and later in our relationship, to take lessons and learn how to play some simple chords on the guitar, and Me, Mr. Milli Vanilli, to sing the lyrics to the tune of a special song for Rachel on our anniversary.  It must not have been that bad, because she is still my wife today. 

It is amazing… the power of Music and a Mix tape.

What a Noggin!

Ryleigh had her one year old doctor's appointment today. She weighs 18 lbs 5 oz (10th%), measures 27 inches long (4th%) and her head circumference is in the 97th%. What a huge brain she must have! She definitely inherited the Patton head from her daddy. The doctor is not worried though. She is developing great and can now eat almost anything she wants. The shots only made her cry for a couple of seconds. She had her blankie and calmed down pretty quick. She did great.

Happy Chinese New Year!!! We wish we could be with my family in California enjoying the nice weather. It is in the upper 20s here. Too cold, if you ask me.

Happy Birthday, Ryleigh!

We celebrated Ryleigh's birthday one day early because I have to work late on her birthday. I picked up her free 1 year old birthday cake from Albertson's. It was actually pretty big. 8 inch round one layer. We just had a small party, just us and the Meldrum boys. Ryleigh loved the cake. I didn't give her the entire cake to attack because she probably would have eaten most of it. I did give her a pretty decent slice of cake. She devoured it. If you don't believe me, see for yourself.

Tasting the frosting (the piece of cake I gave her is pretty big).

Digging in!
She finished the whole thing. And then tried to dump the plate on the floor. She loved it.Our beautiful baby girl is not so much a baby anymore. She is fun and happy and loves to laugh and smile. She is pretty mobile now, crawling and scaling the couches. She loves to play with shoes and snuggle with her blankie (sometimes at the same time). We love her so much. Happy Birthday, Ryleigh!

Dan In Real Life - Life as a soon to be Architect

I decided to be an Architect back when I was about 6 or 7 years old.  I narrowed my long list of careers down to 4 choices: a Doctor, a Jet Pilot, a car designer, and an Architect.  I decided to go with the Architect role, because I thought that I could learn a lot of cool things, help a lot of people and make a difference in the world around me.  Now that my goal of becoming an Architect is almost complete, (cross your fingers on the upcoming last test) I look back and sometimes think that maybe I just should have been a Doctor if I really wanted to help people, or a Jet Pilot would have been a really exciting and fun career.  Then I remember something that my Father told me.  He said, Dan what ever career you choose, choose one that will take care of your family and one that you love doing.

So today on my way to work and wile stuck in morning traffic I started thinking about my career choice.  I thought that I may never make a difference in the world of Architecture by building a huge skyscraper with my name on it, and that someday I hope that I can get a client that says, "Money is no object, just give me the best design in the world."  Until then I will wait for that client and do my best to design on a budget.  A very small budget.  

Then there are those days when you actually get to see something that you designed get built.   The reason why I love being an Architect.  Wow... that is really a great feeling, the feeling of having a thought or an idea in your mind get turned into a drawing and then suddenly a hole in the ground appears on a piece of empty land and that idea, like a set of Legos, starts coming together piece by piece just as I saw it in my head a few months ago.   Well today I had that feeling, and a little bit more.  

I just found out that a business article was written about one of my building designs that was recently completed.   It is called System Tech.  

See the following link to the article: http://www.idahobusiness.net/archive.htm/2009/01/19/System-Tech-opens-new-Boise-HQ-training-center

The writer of the article did not give the ascetics or design of the building much justice and it only mentioned my firm at the very end of the article, so I am posting a couple of good pictures.   The newspapers used to post an article on all new buildings...  But they stopped doing that because it became free advertising for architects.

It is really just a big warehouse, but the owner gave me a little freedom to add a little high tech flare to the building.  I think that it turned out pretty nice.  

Well thanks to the owner for reminding me of the reason  why I love Architecture so much.

Primary

I am now teaching half of the 5-6 year olds (CTR 6). Kenna is in my class along with two other girls and two boys. I think this year is going to be a piece of cake. Chocolate cake! Last Sunday was a breeze compared to my CTR7 class last year. Don't get me wrong... I love those kids but they were a handful. And my new kids like to color which is a blessing. My last class did not like coloring or participating. I started a new thing with my class. They earn stickers each week for doing specific things and at the end of the month we have a treasure box they can pick something out of if they earn enough stickers. The first week went well. They had to walk quietly to class, raise their hands to speak (worked most of the time), and listen to the teacher. Nothing too complicated. We shall see if it works.

Dan is still plugging away in the bishopric. We start church at 9am this year so i get to see him more on Sunday. It was really nice last week.

New Year's Day

We had a pretty mellow New Year's Eve. Dan had to work and came home with an upset stomach. We put the girls to bed around 10pm and went to bed ourselves shortly after. We were going to open up a bottle of martinelli's to celebrate, but decided to wait until New Year's Day. So we were bummers, but it was nice to have Dan home New Year's Day to relax a little. I have a little video of Ryleigh walking pushing a walker but I turned it sideways to get a better view of her so the video is sideways. Duh! I will take another with her walking. She is no where near walking on her own. McKenna is getting really good at putting together puzzles. This one is 100 pieces and she did it all by herself.

Kenna put a funny bow on Ryleigh's hair and wanted a picture of it. The video was taken at Kangaroo Zoo. Ryleigh didn't know what to think of the slide. Thanks to Laurel for getting us in for free! The tiger was part of the glow in the dark mini golf at Kangaroo Zoo. Ryleigh liked sitting on him. Kenna was off somewhere playing golf with her cousin Spencer.