home

utah has been lovely

especially the part where I got to see so much of my family

and the part I got to play music with my favorite people

but. it is time to go home

and I am

ready.

seattle has been pulling on my heartstrings awhile.

James has been interviewing for residencies all over the US

we match in March

where we will be the next four years.

so. if you have ever wanted to visit seattle,

now is the time. while I am still there.

xo

s

also, if you are looking for good music today. Try Mr. Buddy Guy, a chicago bluesmaster. Let me put it this way. Jimi Hendrix used to skip his own shows to catch a club show of buddy guy's. Artists like Led Zeppelin, the stones, and clapton have covered his tunes. take a listen.

Family

\Having my family in town makes 

this lil' heart sing...

LOUD.

Joe and John from Austin

Kate from Seattle.

Does it get any better?

The holiday has consisted of usual Christmas fare plus:

2, soon to be 3 movies; (Up In The Air, Avatar, and Sherlock) 

If you don't know this about me yet...I love going to the movies. 

many pounds of sweets

6 Office viewings

4 Modern Family viewings

6 Games of Yahtzee (I got a Yahtzee on 4 out of 6 games. amazing)

1 new car stereo, not that public radio is all that bad, but still

10 carols at the piano

1 dinner at Happy Sumo

many a dr. pepper

24 hours spent helping june 'play' with new toys

76 hours of laughing with my siblings

I love the holiday. 

My only remaining question I have for you is:

WHERE ON EARTH CAN YOU BUY A SKIRT OR DRESS PAST YOUR KNEES?????

no, seriously. I tried to buy my mama a long skirt. I even dared to enter cold water creek before the velvet and moose apparel scared me out. I walked into EVERY store at the Gateway and at Fashion Place malls, including nordstroms, dillards, and macy's.

seriously, if you know of ONE store. please let me know. 

xo

s

surprise

I love surprises.

I am a long time believer in date nights.

and james really pulled out a christmas miracle with both!

James, aka best hub in the world

took me on a surprise overnight date.

first up: matinee- "invictus" with all the treats I wanted

(loved the movie-could be I love morgan freeman ever since shawshank, but matt damon was great too)

next: dinner at Trio- I mean have you tried their rosemary flatbread?

next: Armstrong Mansion. I will not go into details :)

next: breakfast and sleep in.

thank you sweet James. you mean everything to me.

Mormon Times

Got a call a few months ago

from a woman who wanted to write

an article about me for the press.

Didn't know if the story would ever make it to print.

But here it is today on

Mormon Times

Click here to read.

xo

s

*if the link is not working, just google mormon times and then click on the music tab

(would like to clarify however that Scott Wiley produced my albums, not myself :)

-thanks judy for your thoughtfulness in writing this.

happy holiday

helped my mom decorate her house for a big family party.

way more work than I anticipated

but I loved the feeling of creating while christmas music

played round the clock.

hope some of you can come to the holiday concert to benefit the road home on wed. dec 23rd. click here for more info.

also, I had an early morning phone call this week

informing me that I had won a big ol' contest

which gets me on this!

performing!!!! love it.

to watch the video I won with click here.

xo

s

Christmas Eve Eve & NEBRASKA

EVERYONE INVITED

Wed. Dec 23rd. 6pm. 7pm music starts.

This will be a moving night of music

all created with my favorite friends.

please come. bring a friend. all donations go to The Road Home

And now onto other business in the department of

uberly talented friends. one named Ryan Tanner

who is an amazing photographer and designer (designed my last two albums)

he documented our tour to CO & NE

on a real camera. all film folks. no digital here.

really great work ryan!

To see more of his work or to contact him

to take your amazing pictures....click here

animal prints and shopping

i've decided this christmas I want

to support independent artists by

buying most of junie's gift off ETSY

or from the artist themselves.

of course i started looking at items,

3 hours later....still looking

I'm amazed at the talent out there. wow.

this was one of my favorite finds. This is a

cool young couple based out of portland

he is an artist, these are a few of his prints.

super affordable

sells orginals and prints

go crazy. also, read the bios for each animal, they are so funny! The wife writes the bios.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE

everytime i go

I wrote this song for my lil juniper.

it is always hard to leave her for a few days when I tour

even when I know she is with family who loves her

no matter the distance

'nothing can keep my love from you'

video live from KRFC -Birds of a Feather tour with Ryan and Paul.

I love their harmonies.

thanks cindy for taking the video!

thanks dadeo

thanks dad for our plane tickets to texas.

thank you catherine and lily for loving juniper

so perfectly.

thank you God for helping me survive

another 3 hour plane flight alone with a toddler.

and thank you again

when juniper tried to escape the bonds of her stroller in the airport security area

while her mom tried to balance the huge carseat and bags

on top of the stroller

and then when mom dived for the daring rescue of

junie escaping her bonds

and the entire caravan toppled over

and everyone was watching that poor helpless mom, frozen with pity

and then another mom rushed forward to help.

Thank you God for that other mother. And

thank you that she pretended

to not see my eyes full of tears.

but........ WE MADE IT!

lil show tomorrow night. in layton. only $5 measleys. plus you will get to hear dylan schorer rock. 7pm

A*U*S*T*I*N

(pic of south congress st)

I love texas.

let me re-phrase that

I love Austin Texas.

My Dad's side of the family

lives here and I love coming to Austin every year.

Austin: Amazing music. Best BBQ. Best Queso &

Guac. Home to my Family. Cool People. Austin City Limits. Green. Colorado River runs through town. Where we got our two dogs. Always feels good to my heart to be here.

Some awesome (and not so awesome) moments in the last week:

* we bought juniper her own seat on the airplane. best move of my life so far.

*Grandmother's cooking on Thanksgiving.

I also interviewed

my Grandmother about her Childhood in Longview TX.

She told me amazing stories of her family. Like her father, Clark Sample,

enlisted in WWI when he was only 16 because he lied about his age to be able to

be deployed with his older brothers. She told me that her parents would stay in

there nice clothes everyday till 10pm or later because you never knew who would

drop by the house. Also, she told me that she NEVER saw her mother without her

hair perfect, and her mother always wore big high heels because she was only 5 ft.

tall. oh. And my great grandmother sample was a better shot than her husband. love it.

* Granddad loving Juniper

*playing board game with my brothers who

can actually make any game hilarious.

*Finding a new neighborhood in Austin that I adore.

Here is a house I saw and loved enough

to stop in the middle of traffic to take a picture of it on my phone.

*City Wide Garage Sale- picture a stadium filled with small booths. Antiques: Cowboy shirts, jewelry, furniture, instruments, etc etc. I was in heaven. I will post my treasures later.

*the moment where junie walked out of my

dad's bathroom holding an open gallon of bleach in her

hands. not so awesome. calling poison control not so awesome.

she was fine, did not drink any, but still a panic moment.

*also, junie has decided she loves the movie shrek

and walks around the house all day asking 'shrek shrek shrek'

any advice to steer her away????

Hope everyone had an amazing holiday. Back in SLC end of this week.

Doing a show this Sat. night 7pm in Layton if anyone wants to come. Short concert (1hr show) so you can be home early :) click here for more info.

xoxo.

s