Well HELLOOOOOOOOOOO there!

Well, hey everybody!  This has been a good week.  I (Kurt) was extremely busy, I played a concert for the Jazz Combos on campus on Tuesday, then accompanied the Jazz portion of a recital on wednesday, as well as playing a choral festival for the high school I accompany that morning, then Thursday had rehearsals in the morning and a concert in the evening with the Katella High School choirs.  For little to no preparation, those kids did marvelously!  And Candy turned pages for me at the concert.  She's such a good sport.  Candy and I had our third ward choir rehearsal today, as well as a hymnbook choir for sacrament meeting.  We sang "All Creatures of Our God and King," and we and the choir received MANY compliments from the congregation.  I always feel so unprepared going into rehearsals, but today a sister told us how well she thought we were doing, and it made me feel much much better.

BABY NEWS:

don't worry, nothing too exciting, just that Candy is more than ready for the baby to come out!  At her appointment on Friday the midwife informed Candy that all looked good and that everything that has happened up to now is lining up perfectly to give birth.  He's head down and ready to go!  We just want it to happen soon, so everybody pray that this is the week!  We appreciate all of your prayers on our behalf.

Speaking of baby, and our ward:  our ward ROCKS!!!!!  We have great attendance at choir, the talks are always great, the sunday school classes are VERY interesting, and the ward members have been such a help to Candy and I already.  We feel obscenely blessed.

We also had Candy's cousin Kimmie and her family down for the weekend at Disneyland, and we had three of their girls (they have 6 kids) with us for two nights.  Candy made them Mickey Mouse pumpkin pancakes and such.  We were so glad to have them, and to be able to help the Jacksons out with lodging.  We also went with them to Disneyland for a few hours on Saturday!  Got them free parking and got to witness a miracle in action: keeping track of 6 kids 10 and under at a very busy Disneyland after two days of already partying at Disneyland.  We had a lot of fun!  Here is a pic of that:

We had this taken with Candy's cellphone, so we're sorry that it's not bigger.

Candy also entered a contest for Better Homes and Gardens where she had to make something "cute" for a Halloween treat.  She settled on a "Gingerbread" spook-house.  It turned out pretty well, so here are a couple pictures of that, along with Candy and her belly (here you go Rachel and Kohleen ;)  )

Well... we hope all goes well for everyone!  We love you and appreciate your prayers.

Love, 

Kurt and Candy Reeder

Howdy, folks!!!!  Who's Your Fav'rite Po-ssum??   *LESTER!!*

Anyhow... I just want you all to know that I love us!  Candy is awesome, and the way she puts up with the discomfort of the last few weeks of pregnancy is LIKE A CHAMP!!  She's doing well, but can NOT wait to get this baby out of her belly!  The due date (Halloween) is fast approaching and she's doing the weekly visits to the doctors now.  All looks well, and the baby has apparently received the command to "move to position."  (Captain Cutie, reporting for duty, says a onesie he'll wear)  But, all in all... WE'RE STOKED!

So, our lives... well, we have a calling in our ward: we are (once again) co-Ward Choir directors.  YAAAAAYYYYY!!!!  We are suuuuper excited about that.  Especially 'cuz we get to do the Christmas program!  I've worked on arranging a song written by one of the brothers in the ward.  It's a good tune with good lyrics about the Savior, and the melody is catchy, so I've put it into an arrangement with four part harmonies, and a key change and everything.  Thus far he really likes it, and I'm being really careful not to tread on his "artistic ground," per sé.

One thing I failed to mention in one of our recent posts, was that Candy's sister Holly came and stayed with us for the general conference weekend.  We had loads of fun!  We watched the fireworks at Downtown Disney, we watched "A Goofy Movie," and hung out.  Oh, and Candy made some good food.  We are really glad that Holly could hang with us, and it is a blessing for Candy to have her a close by as she is.  We LOVE her!

About Kurt: I now have two jobs!  It's not much money, but not too many hours either.  I work as the choir accompanist at Katella High School in Anaheim (about a 10 minute drive), and I have a weekly gig at a restaurant in downtown Santa Ana on Wednesday evenings.  It's a cool joint called "Chapter One: The Modern Local."  It's got good eats (kinda pricey, but a tab is included in my pay so it's free when I work), like a skirt steak chimmichuri with yucca fries and mashed potatoes.  Suuuper yummy!!!  I also had my first concert on Thursday with the Fullerton Jazz Orchestra (the big band on campus).  And posted below are some videos from the concert.  (Candy asks that you please excuse her unsteady hand, she did have to sneak the vids since they asked that no filming happen in the concert hall).  I'm glad we got the videos, and Candy DESERVES to have videos of her husband playing music.

This is me on vibes during the Steely Dan tune "Aja."

This video is of me playing piano (including the melody on the second time) on the Steely Dan tune "Do It Again."  Cool arrangement done by our director, grammy-winning arranger Bill Cunliffe.

I had a video of "'Round Midnight" with the full tune that's beautiful, and has me playing a solo, but it's too big to post here, so if you want to see it let me know.  The easiest way to go about getting to see it would be for me to put in on dropbox for you to see.  Just email me or call or text or something.

Well... we're super excited to have our baby, and to see Candy's Mom when she comes down to help out for the first bit of our lives with baby.  We're also SUUUPER excited to have both of our family's down for our baby blessing over Thanksgiving weekend.  

Love, and Hugs,  Kurt and Candy

Better Late Than Never!

So... news of the week: After much consideration, and realizing that a haircut here is freakin' EXPENSIVE, Candy and I finally invested in a hair clipper, and Candy gave her first haircut EVER!  So, The Kurt and Candy Reeder family proudly present ...................... >>Drum Roll<<..................................

THE HAIRCUT!!!!!!

Now... understand that this is at the end of the day, and Kurt is greasy and nasty, and tends to play with his hair a lot.  But I'd say that Candy did a WONDERFUL job!!!  I love her SO much, and am grateful that she's willing to experiment in order to help us scrimp and save... especially since President Monson says there's no shame in that! :D

Well... ta tat for now!

Kurt 'n Candy