Can I re-do April/May?

It's been one of those months I'd love to erase and start over. From the miscarriage, pretty much a downward spiral that I HOPE I've hit the bottom of by now! I seemed to have managed the actual miscarriage ok, probably because I expected it to be really horrible and was sort of prepared. But the chain of adverse health effects since then (I won't go into) have taken forever to deal with and were not expected, and they've been teamed up with a bad VW transmission, a grueling job search, some mildly stressful situations with record companies, a drop in temperature, and a downpour of rain. But it really could be worse so I need to stop pouting or it might just get worse, so here's the brighter side...

We made it down to the the temple in Hamilton with Aja & Jonah and went to their friend's house made of rubber tires and tried to catch the roosters they offered to give Aja if we could catch them (the roosters won), getting out to do our first few gigs last week, daily funny moments with the ruthie bug, a trip to beautiful Piha with friends, watching General Conference, and getting out running again. And, I'm not ashamed to admit, I really enjoy my Friday nights on the couch with American Idol and New Zealand's Next Top Model, much to Sloan's annoyance. I'm finally getting back to him for his hours of sports TV - and no chance for retribution for him here! Ha!

We finally have some clips of our music online: www.myspace.com/thebandtangled. Tell us what you think - it's definitely under development and will be updated as our website/branding does. But, it's something! We've been working hard to get live shows happening, so I go out most nights to hear bands play and get connected while Sloan stays home writing new songs. Last week we played at our ward's music night, an open mic at Roasted Addiqtion, and an Irish Bar called "The Dogs Bollix" (yes, it means what you think it means). Our best set was at the Bollix - they were actually a really thoughtful/attentive audience and we were able to play a full set, so it was rewarding to get past the point where the nerves have settled down enough to enjoy. We'll do another open mic in the city tomorrow night and hope the live stuff takes off in the next few months.

Here are some pics of last month

Mission Bay again - this time with the Eyre's





And Piha
First - us not wanting to get out of the car bc it was raining

But brave Ruthie led the way

and mom & dad followed


she of course had to get wet

and set a bad example for Abigail

and paid the price later!

but no regrets


This place is gorgeous (photos courtesy of Charmain Grant - amazing!)






Trip to the Zoo with Katie, Mike & Abi

I'll never go to the zoo without a stroller again





Aja & Jonah offered to take Ruthie camping for the weekend so I met them at a beach Huia - west of Auckland. It's so good to have my sister here.


The girls are chasing after a puppy, loving the wide open spaces!



I found this awesome indoor play center for Ruthie while our transmission was getting a make-over. Is it true these plastic balls are out-lawed in the states?


Here's Sunday dinner at the Eyre's - Ana's pet butterfly with a broken leg spending the last of its days in pure & utter torture


And a video of Ana singing for us, with a little help (much cuter the first time they did it, before we got the camera out, but still funny)


Aja's reaction (I might be in trouble for posting this one :)


Here's our rooster-hunting in Hamilton and the house of tires -





And last of all some cooking at home with Ruthie. Notice the new haircut - that happened while I was out working one day. Sloan has been dying to give her the chop for a while, so he finally had the chance. He did a good job, but it made me cry to see her curls gone.