12/23/2015

Enjoying the holiday season with Alisa

Maple Mountain Chamber Orchestra Christmas concert.
At the BYU game with Dad.
Alisa is the best baker in the family.

12/21/2015

Birthday Story for a Nine-Year-Old

WHEN YOU DIG FOR POTATOES
By
Grandma Baadsgaard
Happy 9th birthday Mitchell- my budding archaeologist.

            When Mitchell’s mom told him to go outside and dig up some potatoes for supper he groaned, “Do I have to? It’s my birthday.”
            “You never know what you might find,” his mother said with a wink.
            “What I’d really like to dig up is a mummy,” Mitchell answered. “There’s a mummy exhibit coming to Salt Lake City at the Leonardo Museum with real mummies from all over the world in January. I really, really, really want to go.”
            “But the admission tickets are so expensive,” his mother answered. “Now get those potatoes dug up. Since the snow melted off yesterday, you can get to the last ones next to the raspberry bushes.”
            Mitchell dragged his feet into the garage, grabbed a small shovel and reluctantly walked to the backyard. He found the spot his mother told him about and started digging. The shriveled vines were his best clue of where to dig.
            First Mitchel dug up a gigantic potato then several small ones. He brushed the moist earth off the spuds and continued digging. Suddenly his shovel hit against a solid object.  Mitchell’s heart raced. He quickly dug deeper and brushed the dirt away. Buried in the ground right next to the raspberry bushes, Mitchell found a wooden box secured with a lock.
            Mitchell wiggled the lock but nothing happened. He ran into the house yelling.
            “Mom, you’ll never believe what I found buried in the dirt in our garden. It’s a box with a lock. I want to get this lid open so bad. What do you think is inside? It could be anything . . . like papyrus or a gold goblet.”
            Mitchell immediately called all his friends to come over and bring every key in their house. He tried each key one by one. Nothing fit. The box stayed locked. All his friends went home disappointed. Then Mitchell remembered his own key collection. He tried every one, but nothing fit.
            Mitchell wondered what to do. Because he was born on December 19 there was always a Christmas tree in the family room in their home. He plopped down on the floor, flipped over on his back and looked up at the tree through the boughs. That is the moment when he noticed their giant silver key.
“The key!” Mitchell said. “I forgot about our magic key.”
That large silver key was how Santa got into their house on Christmas Eve even though they didn’t have a chimney and even if the door was locked. His family hung it on the tree each year. Mitchel always liked to leave the key on the front porch with a plate of cookies before he went to bed on Christmas Eve.
Mitchell grabbed the key off the tree and rolled it over in his hand. Then he walked over to the dusty locked box. He pushed the key into the lock and turned it to the right. He heard something click right before the lock opened. Mitchel quickly creaked open the lid to the box.
There in the bottom of the box were tickets for the mummy exhibit in Salt Lake City along with a treasure map and a secret code that looked like Egyptian hieroglyphics.
“Mom! Dad! Look what I found in the box!” Mitchell screamed running through the house. “The magic key worked. Now I can go see the mummies. And look there’s a treasure map with a secret code in here too.”
Mitchell carefully unfolded the treasure map. He carefully deciphered the hieroglyphic writings that formed the secret code in his notebook. Mitchell noticed a half moon, serpent and the bird along with the picture of a man, woman and child. He followed the treasure map through the house as he thought about what the glyphs meant. He ended up in his parent’s bedroom where they were sitting together holding hands and smiling.
“I’ve got it!” Mitchell said with a smile. This treasure map’s secret code translates to . . .  mother . . . father . . .  love . . .  son . . . Hey, does that means you guys love me. Ah shucks. Thanks Mom and Dad.”
Mitchell gave his dad a high five then he gave his mom a big hug right before he said, “You guys are a pretty great daddy and “mummy”.

12/11/2015

John spreading musical cheer in Denmark 2015

My son John is on a mission in Denmark.
 He is traveling the country with this musical group putting on free concerts to spread Christmas cheer all around the country.

12/10/2015

ORCHESTRA CONCERT TONIGHT!



I play in the New Horizon's Orchestra and we have a concert tonight at 7:00 at the Sherwood Hills LDS Ward Building at 4000 Foothill Drive in Provo. 

The dress is casual and everyone is welcome.


THIS IS MY ORCHESTRA AT TEMPLE SQUARE

12/05/2015

Poem for a Fourteen-year 0ld


FOURTEEN
By
Grandma Baadsgaard
Happy Birthday Matthew. You are awesome!

I’m not a boy.
I’m not a man.
Will someone please tell me
Who I am?

Food stuck in my braces
When I smile -
Teacher with a whistle
Makes me run the mile.

“Change your underwear.”
Says Mom with that look
But I frankly don’t I care
If I smell like fish on a hook

“Comb your hair, brush your teeth
Take a bath would you please
Practice piano, clean you room,
Or my patience is going to leave.”

Homework and locker combinations
Assemblies, recitals and tests
Gives me days at junior high
Without a moment to rest.

All the girls my age
Look two years older than me
How am I supposed to impress them
When all they see . . .  

My pants turn into floods
Whenever I turn around.
My voice seems to crack
Whenever I make a sound.

 Older brothers stare
Younger brother tease
When will this annoyance
Ever, ever cease?

Too old for Halloween
Not old enough to drive
How in the world
Am I supposed to survive?

Junior High is full of
 Jocks, nerds and bores
I just don’t know how
I’m supposed to soar.

Maybe I’ll just relax
And just practice being me
Cause when all is said and done
I’m content to be

Matthew the magnificent
Matthew the brave
Matthew the courageous
With a sense of humor to save

Late night video games
Lying in my hammock to sleep
Sneaking treats from the pantry
Is all I really need.

Who says you need
Nutritious food to survive
Mac and cheese serves me well
That’s all I need to thrive

You say I need
 Proper vitamins to grow.
I say life is too short to skimp on candy
When your blood sugars get low.

Someday I’ll be the dad
And surely I will say
“Stop doing that!” to my son
But today is not that day.