Back in the Spotlight

Tonight I performed with a former BYU Young Ambassadors friend of mine, Doug Bean, at his stake’s Night at Carnegie Hall (their chapel is off of a street named Carnegie). We sang In Lily’s Eyes from The Secret Garden.

It was fun to once again sing with someone who can hold their own. We were a good match for the duet and the crowd seemed to enjoy it.

I also sang on Thursday evening in front of a scrutinizing group of production staff for our stake’s March musical production of an original script called Into the Light, the story of Alma the younger (from the Book of Mormon).

My good friend Max Zurflueh is stage managing the show (he worked as stage manager for EFX at the MGM Grand throughout its run and most recently as stage manager at the New York New York Cirque du Soleil production of Zoomanity). This is Max’s first church gig. I told him not to have any expectations and occasionally he may be surprised.

At any rate, according to our inside information (from Max and our friend Reggie Sommer, the stake activities director), the panel was speechless after my audition. We’ll see what role they offer me, if they do at all.

Regardless of what, if any role I get in the stake production, I’m enjoying renewed activity in the performing arts.

AJ’s Day

Well, the stars are aligned for my brother and sister-in-law. Their family birthdays fall consecutively on the 20th, 21st and 22nd calendar days. And all three boys were born on the 21st of a month (April, February and October).

Anthony Jack Codella was born this morning in Salt Lake City at 9:49 a.m. Melissa was at the hospital for just over two hours before he was born … she was close.

We’re excited for them to have three boys, and glad it’s not us. There will be lots of testosterone in their home in a few years.

Just having three children I’m sure must feel so overwhelming.

D-O-M, D-O-M-I-N-I-C

That title is to the tune of Gwen Stefani’s Hollaback Girl, in case you missed the connection.

Isn’t he a cutie? Dominic’s putting on a few pounds and preparing his pudgy cheeks for the pinching that’s sure to occur when his grandmas get their hands on him in the next couple of weeks.

We’re looking forward to a visit from Grandma Codella next week and a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Snow the first weekend of November.

Dominic’s still on the medication to remove the thrush from his mouth, but it’s much better now than it was before.

Eliana is really enjoying preschool and learns about a new letter each week. This week she got to take the treat basket to her class for the letter “J.” She took Jell-O jigglers, junior mints, jelly beans, jolly ranchers and Kool-Aid jammers.

Ellie’s getting excited for Halloween and has a couple pumpkins waiting to be carved. We decorated the house a week or so ago and Ellie loves seeing the decorations around the neighborhood, especially at night.

We’ve found that Halloween receives as much attention in Vegas as Christmas does. Sad, but true. Many neighbors go all out with cobwebs, orange and black lights and huge blow-up Halloween sculptures.

The front of our house has an orange piece of paper that says “Boo!” And that piece of decoration was given to us by an anonymous treat-giver. We have since passed on the favor. It’s kind of a fun Halloween tradition in our neighborhood, to knock and run and leave behind some seasonal goodies with a Halloween poem.

We got word today that my sister-in-law is dilated to a 6 and her doctor told her she could deliver any second, and that most likely she’ll deliver in the car if she doesn’t get to a hospital within 10 to 15 minutes after her water breaks.

Since they’re about 20 minutes from the hospital, that’s not good news. I guess he made an appointment to induce her on Friday. If she holds out that long, this will be the third of three children born on the 21st of the month. Tomorrow’s her birthday, and Brian’s birthday is on the 22nd. Those guys are all about the third week of the month.

And our family is all about the second week, 7, 8, 10 and 11 are our birthdays. We’ll have to see if we can’t have another one in a few years on the 9th of a month.

Neighbors Are Changing

This week our good friends David and Teresa Arnold moved out of the neighborhood. They had trouble with their neighbor and felt like it was time to move on and get a one-story home with about the same square footage.

Also, the home two doors down, the one where the meth lab was, has been completely gutted and renovated. We’ve had workers on our street for a couple weeks now. The homeowner must have dumped $50k into it to fix it up and make it livable again.

And today, we helped our good friends Christian and Ellen Nelson move into a home just around the corner. They’re moving out of their apartment and into a nice one-story home. Eliana loves to play with their daughter, Olympia, so now they’re walking distance from each other.

A couple weeks ago another family that lived around the corner moved to another part of our neighborhood.

So, there are neighbor changes all around.

I’ve even considered looking for a new place. We’d like two more rooms: one for my office and another for Vickey’s office and scrapbooking. We’re thinking about adding on to the house, but certainly wouldn’t do that unless we're sure we’ll be staying here for several years. A move may be in our future ... who knows when.

We’re waiting for news on two births: my brother and sister-in-law in South Jordan, and our kiddy corner neighbor, Rick and Monica Royce. It’ll be fun to see the two new little ones. I’m sure You Don’t Know Jack is anxious to get here and receive a real name, one more permanent than YDKJ.

Can You Hear Me Now?

I’ve been accused by Vickey of having a telephone headset fetish. I admit I’m particular, but I’m no headset freak.

Today, in my normal course of shredding paper (which many of you know is an activity I truly enjoy) I inadvertently got my new phone headset cord caught in the papers I was shredding. The next thing I knew, the cord was all cut up and cut apart, separating my headset from the phone, and the headset was headed for the shredder.

I was able to yank on the headset and pull the cord out of the shredder before it damaged the shredder. I’m sure you’re amused just considering what it must have looked like and my reaction.

I don’t think it’s fair to claim this is a fetish! Certainly logic demands when something’s broken, you fix it or replace it. Time after time the headsets I’ve purchased stop functioning and continued use proves they’re not as comfortable as they were when they were purchased.

True, I’ll need to purchase another headset, probably only the second or third this year, despite what Vickey says. But such purchases do not a fetish make.

Of course, that’s not counting the couple I have purchased for Vickey who doesn’t get the same enjoyment I do out of using a headset. I keep trying to tell her how much more productive she could be with both hands free, but she doesn’t buy-in to it.

All I have to say is I’m frustrated I can’t find the right headset. If I ever do, I’ll be sure to let ya’ll know so you can run right out and get one of your own. They all have their flaws, the most recent flaw being a cord that’s too long and in too close a proximity to the shredder.

You Don’t Know Jack

In talking with Brian and Melissa, my brother and sister-in-law, they’re expecting their third son in a couple weeks, and they haven’t yet decided on a name.

They have decided they want his middle name to be Jack, after Melissa’s mom Jackie.

They want to call him something J, like TJ or AJ or BJ. Something like that.

But they can’t come up with a good first name to go with Jack. They just don’t know and haven’t settled on a good first name choice.

So, I took the liberty of naming him for them. My name for the newest little Codella: You Don’t Know Jack.

I think it’s clever!