O Christmas Tree (in June)

Momma's Christmas tree. The crown jewel of her life's efforts.

Here in Utah, we have all been dying for the summer to come. I'm pretty sure Spring snuck through here undetected because it has felt like one big, fat, winter. Even so, I am writing some Christmas songs at the moment and I need some inspiration. Do you have a story or memory you could share with me about Christmas time? Perhaps you have experienced a birth or a death or a hilarious series of events during the holiday season. It doesn't matter. I just need stories! Leave a quick one in the comments, or send a more lengthy one to my manager, Joe Meservy at joe@hungrytigeragency.com. He'll make sure that I get it. Thanks and Feliz Navidad!

P.S. This reminds me, once my little sister tried to poison one of my older sisters with some holly berries when they were kids. There's a Christmas song for ya!

Antelope Island

Over the weekend, my husband and I took our boys to Antelope Island. Sometimes I crave world travels so much, but I forget the treasures right here in my backyard. This little gem of an island is located on the Great Salt Lake in Utah and is home to many wonders of nature.

Fuzzy flakes drift down from the Willows like down feathers. The boys play pretend in a grove of trees, blanketed in white.

We have a staring contest with a baby owl.

Every Memorial Day weekend, an old, retired ranch on Antelope Island is the perfect backdrop for a cowboy poetry festival.

We cap off the day by getting very close to some buffalo grazing on the hillside. Now I am trying to remember all of the other beauties in my state that we can visit soon. Summer plans are churning around in my head. Timpanogos Caves? Lake Powell? Moab? Goblin Valley? What am I missing out on?

A Video for You . . .

Ladies and Gents,

I just got this video in my inbox from Warner Brothers recording artist, Meaghan Smith. I discovered Meaghan's music by accident when I was looking for something worthwhile to add to my playlist and it was love at first listen. Meaghan is an absolute gem and so adorable in the hippest way possible. Her music is quirky and nostalgic with a hint of vintage jazz. On Friday, June 3rd, I will be opening for her show in Provo, UT at the Rooftop Concert Series, 8 PM. The show is FREE to the public. Yup. You heard me correctly. FREE. If you are from out of town, this is the summer road trip you've been wanting to take with your best friends!!!

Meaghan has even written a song, JUST for the Rooftop Concert Series:



Now that you've fallen in love with this girl, you have to see her official music videos. They are to die for. Meaghan is an amazing artist and does all of her own animation in her videos. She'll even have original oil paintings for sale at the concert!

Videos:
A Little Love
I Know
Here Comes Your Man (from the 500 Days of Summer soundtrack)

Kids Are Cake

Last night my boy was begging me to call my oldest sister Marni to see if her boys could come see his new snake, "Nino." Sadly, it was a "no-can-do" at that particular moment because they were actually at the pet store adopting cats. The cats would come home and keep their Newfoundland puppy company. I just smiled to myself, remembering how magical my pets were to me as a child. Stinker the Hamster, Nixon the mut, Butterscotch the cat, Red the horse and many others served as my closest confidants. Knowing my sister, she really doesn't care for animals, but we agreed that these years will be gone in the blink of an eye. Sometimes, we just have to throw our hands up in the air and surrender control over an organized life so that our kids can just be kids.

Marni almost has her license as a marriage and family therapist. She has a sweet, new blog called "Kids Are Cake" with darling ideas for fun things that parents can do with kids. Do you know a parent who could use a little pick-me-up? Go ahead and send them a link to Marni's blog and to this live music video of "Hourglass" and tell them what a fabulous job they are doing. Happy weekend!

People always ask me . . .

I often receive emails from people who ask me: "How did you get started in music? What advice would you have for me about getting into the music business?"

My answer never changes: "Go to music industry workshops. That's what lead to my first record deal."

If you live in my neck of the woods, the very best organization to join that hosts music industry workshops is the Soundcheck Series. I myself, purchased the one-year membership to this organization, but you can also purchase a one-time pass to individual workshops. I highly recommend this for anyone considering a music career or currently working in the music industry.

I've been so impressed at how the Soundcheck Series has flown in mainstream music pros from L.A., Nashville and New York to really help raise the bar of our local music scene. There is so much untapped musical talent here in Utah and I have loved seeing the musicians here get noticed in the last few years.

On May 23, Soundcheck is bringing Grammy-nominated songwriter, Ben Cooper, right here to Salt Lake City to speak about the power of co-writing. I'll for sure be there. If you're interested, click HERE to find out more.

Ode to My Papa

Dad, if I were in the 3rd grade, your birthday card might look something like this:

Doesn't ever let me down.
Awesome at pushing me on the rope swing.
Darn it, he's the best dad in the universe!

But because I am now a grown-up, instead I will tell you that I've never wanted to please anyone in this world more than you. You are everything that I want to be. You give and you give without ever expecting anything from anyone. You have more patience with my own children than anyone else I know. I'm certain that I have never heard you complain about a single thing in all my years as your daughter. How is that possible? When it comes to loving and respecting Mom, you win the grand prize. Growing up, you always made time to ride horses, play "Murder in the Dark," take me to 4H, practice basketball, and create a haven of animals and diversities for all of us kids at the blue house. Most importantly, you strive to be your very best for God and your family. I can't take any credit for how amazing you are, but man, I must have done something right to have been sent to you on this earth. I love you Dad! Happy Birthday!

Ode to a Stud Muffin

I've been gone more than ever lately it seems. That's not an easy thing when you're married and have a few children; not on you or your family. But my husband is such a champion, and the purpose of this post is to honor him and tell him "thanks for always getting my back."

It's also not always a walk in the park to have a hormonal, under-slept, swollen pregnant lady at home either. But again, this man is the best to be married to when you're expecting (not that I have any other comparison, but I can only make an educated guess). Last night, my body ached so badly. He rubbed my feet and legs and took care of me so sweetly. I'm just feeling so very grateful. Thank you, my love.

Final Chance!

This is just a last minute note to tell you that my friends from the band Fictionist, are SO CLOSE to making it to the final round of the Rolling Stone "Choose the Cover" Contest. Tonight is the last night to help get them there. A lot of you have seen lead singer, Stuart Maxfield, play lead guitar for me at many of my shows. Ficitionist is a phenomenal band reminiscent of Pink Floyd. They really deserve to get on the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine. All you have to do is click this link: http://www.rollingstone.com/choosethecover/artists/fictionist and rate them 5 stars, "Like" them on Facebook and if you have a Twitter account, go tweet about them (@FictionistNoise). All of these things can help them to win this puppy. It really would make me so happy to see them win. They can and they will! Good luck, boys!

Dear Idaho Falls . . .

A special thanks to Krista Maurer of Island Belle Photography for these lovely photos.

Dear Idaho Falls,

It's a good thing that I love the retro vibe of the Civic Auditorium so much. It's a good thing that the Teton Chamber Orchestra is so rad. It's a good thing that more than 1,000 of you came to the show. It's a good (miraculous, really) thing you bought every last CD I had. It's a good thing that you had so much energy and were one of the best crowd's ever. It's a good thing I had so much fun and that I love you, because on my drive home the next day, the engine in my Dodge Ram seized and I had to abandon it, plus my trailer somewhere north of Malad. Then, two days later, our one working car died in a parking lot. But you, Idaho Falls, YOU, are worth it and more! Seriously, thank you so much for making the evening so magical for me. I'm really looking forward to coming again!

Hey look: this is a good profile shot of my belly.

The set and lighting by Jay McGregor were once again, breathtaking.

The Teton Chamber Orchestra? Also breathtaking.

Jay Tibbitts on the drums, ROCKED my world. Yes he did.

Andrew Burton on bass is a big sweetie pie. I had girls emailing me about him afterward.

And Joe Corcoran is a champion on guitar. I can always count on him to deliver.

Some may scoff, but secretly, they are jealous of my Yamaha keytar.

Some may scorn, but really, they wish they could wear wings just once in their lives.

And I hope they do.

Rexburg Highlights

This last weekend was so surreal, I still can't believe it really happened. I finished up my last two headlining shows in Rexburg and Idaho Falls before taking the coming summer months off to prepare to have a baby. The Teton Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Eric Wenstrom, joined me for both shows and it couldn't have been more perfect in my book. The Kirkham Auditorium at BYUI in Rexburg sold out the day before the show and the crowd was incredible. Please enjoy these lovely photos by the talented Krista Maurer of Island Belle Photography:

Jay McGregor did the lighting design. All I can say is: WOW.

At 6 1/2 months along, I just don't look quite myself. Voluptuous layers of maternal padding are in, right?

How I wish I had an orchestra at every show!

Conductor, Eric Wenstrom, is such a gem of a guy.

Of course, my keytar came along for the ride.

And so did guitarist, Joe Corcoran (all the way from Los Angeles!). I love this guy.

Mr. Jay Tibbitts (also drummer for Parlor Hawk) played his first show with me.

The same goes for Andrew Burton on the bass. They both knocked it out of the park!

I loved meeting so many of you after the show. Thanks for bringing your energy to the show. It makes it so much more fun for me. Can't wait until we do it again!

This Weekend in Idaho

It's not every day I get to perform with an orchestra. In fact, this Friday at the Kirkham Auditorium at BYUI and Saturday at the Idaho Falls Civic Center will be the first time. I'm honored that the Teton Chamber Orchestra will play with me. Many thanks to conductor, Eric Wenstrom for all the effort he has put into the arrangements and making this event happen.
The details:

May 6: Rexburg, ID // Mindy Gledhill with the Teton Chamber Orchestra // BYU Idaho, Kirkham Auditorium // 7:30 PM // BUY TIX HERE

May 7: Idaho Falls, ID // Mindy Gledhill with the Teton Chamber Orchestra // Idaho Falls Civic Center // 7:30 PM // TICKETS: call or buy directly from Dale's Jewelers in Idaho Falls 208.525.3361

Safari in the Maasai Mara

The last three days of my trip to Kenya were spent on safari in the Maasai Mara region (where "Out of Africa" was filmed.). We flew from Diani Beach in a little prop plane (gulp). When our pilot showed up, I was a bit surprised to see a veiled Muslim woman step into the cock pit. Something about that made my inner woman power surge and when we took of, I was literally on Cloud 9.

Views from the airplane.

We made a few stops. On the 2nd to the last stop, I saw the rocky, dirt runway below and wondered how it was safe for a little airplane to land. I'm sure it's normally fine, but sure enough, one of the tires blew on the landing. Our pilot handled it like a champion.

We made it safe and sound to our safari Jeep.

The animals didn't waste any time showing up. They were EVERYWHERE. Warthogs ran around the camp by the droves, elephants were around every corner and we could even hear hippos grunting at night from our tent. It was an honest-to-goodness dream.

At one point, someone asked our guide, "If I got out of this Jeep and walked the trail home, would I get eaten?"
"Yes. Absolutely," was his quick response.

However, the guide did find a safe place for us to get out and picnic. Page thinks it will be fun to wander off and take her chances.

Lilly Holmberg was a native magnet. All of the natives working at our camp fell in love with her - and so did we.

Babies were all over the savanna.

The hyena den was actually one of my favorite spots.

Teenagers.

The savanna at dusk from the camp pool.

I spy a leopard in an Acacia tree.

A million thanks to Troy and Lisa Holmberg of Basa Body for the trip of a lifetime.