White Christmas 2007

HIGHLIGHTS OF 2007

• A fun-filled family reunion in beautiful Boulder, CO.
• Inspiring and chaotic weekly meetings with our homegroup buddies.
• Seeing our two cute kids laugh together.  (tough to beat!)
• Experiencing the thrill of Disneyland through a toddler's lens.
• Andy produced the "Our Emmanuel" Christmas CD for SBCC before December.
• Angela wrote and/or recorded several new under-appreciated songs.
• Abby was practically a mermaid at her 3 weeks of swim lessons.
• Aaron learned new important words like Mommy, Daddy, love and MORE!
• Andy was generously gifted a Chris Tomlin signed guitar by his class.
• Angela is doing a great job at her new 5th/6th grade teaching position.
• Abby started her second year of pre-school and is loving it!
• Aaron learned to crawl faster than Lightning McQueen.
• Andy keeps this blog up-to-date so come back all year for more updates!

We have many things to be thankful for. Above all, we are grateful for the love and grace of Jesus this Christmas. His unending mercy is a cherished mystery. Also, we have the world’s best family and friends. (That’s you!) The love and investment you all have made is unmatched. Our church and weekly home group has been a tremendous encouragement.



Andy and Angela are both teachers and are rewarded by this challenging charge. Andy also teaches over 20 students with “Good Times Guitar” and continues recording side projects in his home studio. Angela has grown significantly with writing superb songs and preparing magnificent meals. One family highlight was an awesome family reunion this summer in Boulder, Colorado. 

ABBY UPDATE

Abby is loving life. Yes, she frequently claims she is a “princess” and she adores pink. Pink clothes, pink CD’s, pink ponies...ANYTHING girly and pink. But there’s a rich depth to be found beyond the surface with Abby. She is a deep, spiritual thinker, a true friend to all around, a gifted artist and a passionate singer. She loves to please her parents and her wonderful teachers at school. She talks a mile a minute and she’s sweeter than strawberries.

AARON UPDATE

Aaron is ALL boy. The little guy has been grunting since day one! He is super sweet too though. He loves to giggle, crawl, sing, use sign language and most of all...EAT! Twiggy as he may be, this little man can CHOW! He is a tremendous blessing and each day gets better!

DADDY DAYS

"Daddy Days" with Abby are the best! Check out the note she made me today! Three more work days, then 14 Daddy Days. Woopee!

Ian & Jeremy Singing!

The McCarters brought over their whole clan tonight for some dinner and singing. Oh yes, it was good times. We managed to get the twins into my studio for a bit of singing! If you think you're up for ten minutes of cuteness, take a listen to their beautiful singing! Just CLICK HERE and listen in!

Also, we took Abby and Aaron to the snow today. Well, not snow in the mountains...the kind that you have to drive far to get to. Instead, we went to the snow that was ten minutes away at the Natural History Museum in SB! We snapped a few pix of the fun while we were there...

Abby takes a break from chuckin' snow balls at me...


A rare photo of all four of us...


Even Santa loves Natural History!


This event included face painting too! Pretty hip museum!

Annual Clark Christmas Song

CLARK has recorded our annual Christmas song. We should have an entire album by 2015 for sure! Please feel free to download this year's song, "We Three Kings."

The song is RIGHT HERE.

Last year's song was "Drummer Boy." It can be found HERE.

Elfin' Fun

Our friend Jill made us this hilarious dancing elf e-card. The groovin' card was SO elfin' hysterical, it had us all rolling on the floor laughing! So, I decided to make one with all of the cousins. You've gotta go check out Abby, Aaron, Nolan and Gwen doing the elf boogie. CLICK HERE!

Ok, I added one more. Here's more FAMILY BOOGIE!

Abby Talk

Here's a fun email from our awesome babysitter, Kjaere.

Home from School car conversation:
(Abby going about a million miles a minute)

Abby: (Your Grace is enough playing) "I know this song! I went to a Rock n Roll concert and they played this song and it was AWESOME! Do you know who sings this song, KJ?"

Me: "Yep, Chris Tomlin"

Abby: (astounded) "How do you know that?"

Me: "I'm very smart."

Abby: "Well, Chris Tomlin gave MY Daddy a new guitar."


....... walking to the house, juggling Aaron, papers, and talking to Abby who's holding Advent candle thingy she made:

Abby: "Can I go to Heaven and talk to Jesus, Kj?"

Me: "Um, what do you want to tell Him?"

Abby: "I want to tell Him that this candle is for Him... Do you think He knows this candles is His?"

Gosh... got to love your kid ;-)

Thanksgiving 2007

GOOD NEWS!!

The "Our Emmanuel" Christmas CD's are here! They actually arrived in the mail two days before Thanksgiving. Phew! You can buy them at SBCC on Sunday's or online.

We had a good time in Templeton this weekend! Here's some pictures of the fun...


Even though they aren't smiling, Aaron & Gwen are pretty cute!


Here's a picture of the very first Thanksgiving...ok, not really!


Abby loves Gramma Rachel & Papa Ron!


Good Times with the cousins!

I was gifted a Chris Tomlin Signed Guitar!

What an amazing gift! I received a big surprise at the Evening of Thanksgiving on Saturday night. The parents of my class gave me a beautiful, brand new Epiphone guitar, signed by my favorite worship song-writer, Chris Tomlin!



I have to tell you the whole story! I have actually been wanting a second acoustic guitar for about two years, but I’m afraid diapers have taken the priority in our budget. I love my Taylor, but it has been quite burdensome to take it back and forth between home and school constantly.



When I arrived at the Evening of Thanksgiving on Saturday night, I realized that I had completely forgotten I was supposed to bring my guitar for a special song. I saw the beautiful Chris Tomlin guitar on the auction table and pondered the idea of borrowing it from the highest bidder. However, I quickly decided that it was far too special and I had no business borrowing such a unique instrument from the fortunate winner. (Little did I know, that blessed individual would be me!) I raced home to get my guitar. However, I did not end up needing it! After Brent Reichard presented the Tomlin guitar on behalf of the third grade parents, I KNEW I could play it!



This Guitar Will Go to Good Use!
I am thrilled to have this guitar! I have been researching guitars and this Epiphone AJ-200 is EXACTLY the one I’ve had my eye on! Can you believe that? God amazes me! It’s new home will be my classroom at El Montecito School. My class was thrilled to see the guitar this morning. We sang “Your Grace is Enough” for the first of many times! I will use this guitar every day for worship with my class and every week at chapel. You will probably also see this guitar being used at SBCC and at special school events like the Christmas program and Extravaganza. I'm sure I will record with it and play it with bands. Lastly, it will also be used to teach others how to lead in worship. I am so grateful for this generous and thoughtful gift. Thank you so much!

Come Little Baby

This post is for everyone from SBCC that is is helping with Kathleen's "Come Little Baby" song. The song is on the "Our Emmanuel" album due out by Thanksgiving. You can hear the song if you click HERE. (allow a few seconds for loading...)

Here's the lyrics:

COME LITTLE BABY
By Kathleen Sieck

VERSE 1
Little Jesus, precious Savior
Holy Son of God on high
We will sing your praise forever
Our Emmanuel

VERSE 2
Alleluia, Alleluia
Child of light and greatness come
Cleansing us from worldly sorrows
Come Lord Jesus Come

CHORUS
Come, Oh little baby come
Come, Our precious Savior Come
We will sing your praise forever
Our Emmanuel (END: repeat “Our Emmanuel”)

Repeat Verse 1
Verse 1 + Chorus (2x)

Two Songs at Good Times Studio MySpace!

You can listen to two full songs from the Our Emmanuel Christmas album! Just head on over to the newly remodeled Good Times Studio MySpace page. You can pre-order the album online at that page or right here. Remember, they make dandy Christmas gifts and ALL the proceeds go to a great charity, IJM.

Scroll down and click "Buy Now" to order...
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Chris Tomlin Concert

Abby had a blast at her first "rock n' roll" concert. At first she was mesmerized by the lights and volume...by the third song, she was dancing and singing! Half of Elmo was at the show. It was fun to hang with friends...here we are with Jaime, Jill, Elie and Dawn.



We had amazing seats. Turns out the third row of the County Bowl is about 10 yards from the stage and about 5 yards from a rack of bass thumping sub-woofers. From now on, Abby will expect all concerts to be viewed from the third row! It was a great time of worship. Abby's best comment was, "Daddy, this is WAY better than the music at church!"

Major props to Kjaere for watching Aaron for us even though she watches him every day! Here's a insanely cute picture of the buddy the next day....



More concert pix on my FLIKR page.

Halloween Rockin'

Abby and Aaron had a blast yesterday at school and at the "Light the Night" Halloween alternative. They had about 4 billion pieces of candy, plus games, music, bounce houses, etc. Abby REALLY got into the live music. You can see her rockin' out in the video below!



Aaron was a tiger, aka "Rajah", Jasmine's sidekick.


Abby was a bumblebee at school.


Light the Night even provided make-up for Jasmine!


Need more? See more pictures RIGHT HERE on my FLIKR page.

Album Cover & Audio Preview!

Let's hear it for Scott Anderson and his fine work on the album art! Also, thank you to ALL the musicians that helped make this project possible.

I sent off the master CD today at lunch. These albums should be available by Thanksgiving weekend! Listen to a preview HERE.

Here's the track list:

1. JOY TO THE WORLD Mike Willbanks
2. HARK THE HERALD ANGELS SING Angela White
3. OUR EMMANUEL Chris Mundell
4. OH LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM Andy & Mary Patterson
5. OH HOLY NIGHT Kathleen Sieck
6. O COME, O COME EMMANUEL Matt Knoles
7. O COME ALL YE FAITHFUL Ruth Loomer
8. SILENT NIGHT / LET ALL MORTAL FLESH / WHAT CHILD IS THIS Kaimana Farris
9. COME LITTLE BABY Julia, Madeline, Hannah, Danielle, Renee
10. LO HOW A ROSE E'ER BLOOMING Tom Fikes
11. THE FIRST NOEL Jon Killam

"Our Emmanuel" album is finished!

I'm happy to announce that the SBCC Christmas album, Our Emmanuel, is finished! I did the final mixing on Sunday and it was mastered this week. There may be a few minor tweaks done in mastering, but, it WILL be shipped off for replication on Monday. I'm thrilled to have this big project in the can. It will be for sale by Thanksgiving. Let me know how many copies you'd like to buy. ;)

Scott Anderson has put together the artwork for the album! No, this light photo is not it....but trust me--it looks awesome!

Now, I understand that the anticipation is absolute torture. So, I've got a couple "dance remixes" to offer in the meantime. Head on over to the Good Times Studio myspace page to take a listen. And, don't worry, the album sounds NOTHING like these electronica renditions. They're just for fun.

Disneyland & Pumpkin Land

We took a big family trip to the happiest place on earth. Then we had more good times at home! Enjoy the slideshow...



Check out some more new pictures RIGHT HERE on my FLIKR page.

Joshua Tree Remastered

Twenty years after it's original release, U2 is releasing a newly mastered version of it's top selling album, The Joshua Tree.

Normally, I would say this is a marketing stunt. However, I’ve always thought this album was poorly mastered. "Exit" is so quiet....I look forward to hearing what that song sounds like. ;)

I suppose one could argue that you should not mess with a good thing. Any thoughts from my peeps?

You can read about the release HERE.

Aaron is One

My cute son is one. It's hard to believe an entire year has past.



We celebrated his party this weekend with our amazing friends and family. Here's some of the best pictures we have of Aaron's first year.



Stay tuned for Aaron's infamous cake eating video! I will work on that after I wrap up the SBCC Christmas album this week!

iLike iPod

I honestly think Apple used me as their target audience when they first designed the iPod. Ok, it's true. I did get a brand new iPod Classic for $100 (you'd expect to pay $250!). I've had quite an extreme relationship with these little devices. Here's my history with the iPod....

+March 2001: I first started using iTunes. I instantly fell in love with the ap and started importing all my CDs.

+March 2002: I bought a 10gb iPod and used it for 4 years! No problems.

+April 2002: A week later, someone gave me their used 5gb iPod. Since they didn't know I had just bought one, I gave it to Gabe.

+May 2006: That same person gave me another iPod! I used that 20gb model for a week.

+June 2006: A week later, that same person decided to instead buy me a brand new 30gb Black Video iPod! I gave the other 20gb model to someone else who could use it.

+July 2006: I sold my 10gb iPod on Craigslist. The buyer couldn't make it work and demanded his money back with threatening emails. I gave in.

+May 2007: After 11 months of daily use, the audio stopped flowing out of my Video iPod.

+June 2007: Thanks to Apple's warranty program, I received a free replacement Video iPod.

+July 2007: That iPod was stolen from my car while I was buying a cup of jo.

+July 2007: Angela immediately loans me her 20gb iPod so that I can maintain a normal life.

+Sept 2007: I finally ordered an older iPod on a closeout deal for $100.

+Oct 2007: Apple emails me to tell me that they ran out of the old ones, so they'd just have to send me a brand new iPod Classic.

Ready for Fire

Kjaere, our wonderful babysitter, caught this cute moment at our house today. She sent these pix to me at work today! She rules.





I have been crazy busy trying to wrap up the SBCC Christmas album. There is an end in sight. I have about 10 days left and only a few more people to record. Drums this weekend!

Missing Matt

One year has past since we lost Matt Steele. I still really miss him.



This picture of Matt holding Abby was taken at Buonapasta Studio when she was less than a month old. I like this photo because it portrays his joyful spirit. It also reminds me of how we shared both fatherhood and music in our friendship. I will never forget the impact he made on my life. So many of my closest friendships are all because of Matt. My prayers go out to his family and friends.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you. (1 Peter 1:3-4)

Oh Back to School

Three weeks down! I'm back in the full swing of school now. I have a cool class of 10 bright young students this year. They are a delightful bunch and we are off to a great start. I'm very thankful to have my partner, David Given, back this year. It should be a solid year!

When students walk in, they see Mr. Given and I when we were elementary students.



Check out the color coordinated homework board....raising the bar!


In addition, Good Times Guitar is in full swing with 20 lessons per week! You can take a look at my iTunes purchases on the left....that'll give you a good snapshot of the extreme variety in music i teach from one lesson to the next!

New women's & kid's shirts...


New men's shirts...

Summer Highlight Reel

We had a blast this summer just doing silly stuff. I had tons of footage so here's a collage of some of the fun.

Matt Lundgaard is 30!

On paper, Matt is officially my brother-in-law. However, he is everything I'd want in a brother. He's a top notch Dad, a loving husband to Rox, a rock-star Uncle and a great friend. Happy 30th buddy!

Nolan is Five

I try to make a video for Nolan's birthday parties. This year's water slide party was a blast! In addition to the video below, I also just added a bunch of pictures on my FLIKR page.

Wilco, School and the Zaca Fire

Well, Angela is back in school now and I'm back to getting my classroom ready. Thankfully, we got to enjoy an amazing evening of music at the bowl last night. Wilco completely blew me out of the water. Immense talent on the stage and the folks behind the mixer were flawless. All in all, a great way to cap off the summer.

I thought I should document the Zaca fire so here goes....

It looked really bad from our parking lot a couple weeks ago...


So Abby & I decided to do something fun inside...


The fire created some pretty trippy clouds....


So we decided to spin a light-up top inside the "book nook"...

New Logo

Angela said that it was time for Good Times Guitar to upgrade its look. I have been working on a new logo for the past couple of days. This is the best I've come up with so far.

Cast your votes....tell me what you think! Would you wear this on a t-shirt?