Celebrating 34 Years with "The Music Man"

Last weekend, Ken and I celebrated thirty four years of marriage. As we often do, we celebrated by going to the Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City. We went with Pam and Roger and had a great time. First we went to my favorite Rusty's for dinner. The coconut shrimp is SO good!

We decided to forgo the restaurant dessert, because it seems that our anniversary is the same as Dairy Queen's, and they were celebrating with two for one Blizzards. We wolfed down our blizzards, then headed to the play. We saw one of my two all-time favorite musicals, "The Music Man." I love that show. When I was in high school, I played the part of one of the "Pick a Little" Ladies. Being in a show makes you love it. It was so fun to be with Pam and Roger who love it as much as I do.

This couple could dance! They were so fun to watch.

It's impossible to beat Robert Preston as the Music Man, but this guy was really, really good.

I'm still on a bit of a high from the evening! Thank you, Pam and Roger for a wonderful evening!

He's a Biking Fool

Ken enjoys biking in the summertime. He's always gone on long bike rides, but the last couple of weeks, he's really pushed himself beyond his furthest previous limits. He gets up early on Saturday mornings and rides before it gets too hot(though it's still in the high 80's). The picture above is of him with his mountain bike. The last couple of weeks, he's ridden his road bike- last week 54 miles, and today, 61.85 miles. He did the Gunlock/Veyo loop. He's a biking fool. Last week, he did it on water alone, but this week I insisted he take gatorade and some calorie chews. He did great, though he's a little sore. We won't talk about where! I'm proud of my biking fool!

The proof on his biking odometer:

Rehydrating:

He's already making plans for next week's even longer ride. I'm hoping summer ends before he does!

Vicarious Joy

Last Sunday, baby Lily was blessed by her Daddy and some of her uncles. Kristen, Jared and family drove from Wisconsin to be there and Michelle, Brian and Gabbi drove from Washington DC. So, they had a little reunion. It was kind of sad not to be there, but Brian was good to immediately send pictures, so we could experience the joy vicariously. Here's some of my favorites from those he sent:

This is the morning of Lily's blessing- my precious family:

Pretty darn good shot considering it's using a timer.

I love the red stains on every little face. Obviously those kids loved Blake's homemade pizza:

The girls:

Brian, Michelle, and Gabbi

Blake, Shonna, Caleb, and Lily

Kristen, Jared, Jacob, Brielle, and Nathan

On Saturday, they visited a farm. I love this shot:

And this is one of my all-time favorite pictures. Our four oldest grandchildren:

Aren't they cute? I'm so glad they could be together.

My Favorite Things: Fiestaware

I know I've told you before about my love for fiestaware. I love, love, love these dishes. I've had some of them (the red, orange and yellow) for several years and added the other colors last Christmas. There really is no difference between the older and the newer in appearance. The older show no sign of wear. I've only had one piece break. And yet, there is no lead in them. But what I like most is they are gorgeous. Every single day the beautiful colors make me very happy. As you can see, my dish cupboard is full to the brim, which is a shame because if there were more room, I'd want to keep buying more and more of these beauties. My favorite color, you ask? I've pondered this question way more than I should. I vacillate between the apple green, the red, and the purple. Can't choose. Which do you like best? I love Fiestaware.

Awesome!

I know that's an over-used word: Awesome! But I just can't think of one that better describes what happened here Saturday. We participated in an LDS Regional Service project in honor of the 75th anniversary of the welfare program. It was a HUGE humanitarian project. I wish I had statistics, but we did hundreds of school kits, hygiene kits and quilts. It was a huge undertaking, very well organized. Wow. Like I say, Awesome! As I didn't think to take my camera, I’ll try to describe it to you:

As I approached River Road to turn left to go to the stake center where the event was to be held, I saw that River Road from the right was a steady stream of cars. We have lived here 26 years, and I literally have never seen that much traffic on that road. The light finally stopped them and I had my turn. Then I realized they were ALL going to the stake center. One after another turned in. It was difficult to find a parking spot in the parking lot. Our stake and Little Valley Stake were assigned to work from 9-9:45am. When I got in there, it was packed to the brim with people busily working. The gym was filled with tables set out to put together the kits. Ken was put in charge of a table assembling hygiene kits (there were many such tables) I was at a table folding towels for those kits. There were young men whose assignment was to walk through the aisles, picking up boxes and waste we threw on the floor from opening the toothpaste or the rags or whatever. There were men hauling out boxes of completed kits on dollies. There were people everywhere quilting, assembling, folding, ripping. When the set up tables were full, they sat on the floor or went into the foyers to work. It was just amazing: Hundreds and hundreds of people working shoulder to shoulder to help others. There were older people who walked on canes or walkers (Ken had two 88 year olds at his table) to little kids (I had a little 8ish or so boy whose job it was to take our folded towels to an assemble table. He felt SO important.) We finished our shift by ten in time for the next two stakes to come in and do the same thing, then on and on for a couple more hours. What a huge, huge undertaking to have all those supplies there and ready and organized. How did we pay for it, you ask? Our stake, and I assume all the stakes, were asked to donate $8,000. Our ward was asked to donate $800. Our ward turned in over $1700. It was simply announced and people responded with great generosity. It brings tears to my eyes to think of the sweet feeling of service. Isn’t it a joy to be a member of our church? Later that day, when I was driving to the temple, I drove past that stake center and saw a huge flatbed track with a trailer loaded with palettes of boxes containing the quilts and kits, all ready to ship to Salt Lake City. Awesome! Really, it's the only word to describe it. We're so glad we could be a tiny, tiny part of that AWESOME undertaking.

We Kamalu-ed!

We have a nice retired couple- the Kamalu's- in our ward that have a cute tradition. Each Saturday night, she sets out his clothes for the next day. She chooses his clothes so that they will match what she plans to wear to church. If she is wearing a purple dress or blouse, he wears a purple tie. If she is wearing something red, his tie is red. He even has a green sport coat for the day she wears green. It's fun to see what they're wearing and how they match. Ken commented to Rod, the husband, about it one Sunday. He explained that if he gets in the wrong color, she says, "Uh uh!" and he has to go back and change. He's from Hawaii and she's from Germany, so that kind of explains it.

So, anytime Ken and I accidentally match (I'm not organized enough to plan it,) we say, "Hey! We Kamalu-ed!" Here's a couple of pictures we took when it happened. Well, actually Kristen took the first one when she was here last spring. We met Ken for dinner and discovered we'd Kamalu-ed. The second one was just last week.

So now, next time you match with someone you can exclaim, "Hey! We Kamalu-ed!"

Angle of Repose

Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner
My rating: 5 of 5 stars


"Wow! Oh, Wow! Wow, Oh, Wow!" I kept whispering after finishing this book in the middle of the night yesterday, even though my husband was sound asleep and there was no one to hear me. The last sentence of the book was what I call a "Sting Zing." Remember the movie, "The Sting," and how you felt at the end- that surprised, wow, oh wow feeling? That's how I felt when I read the last sentence of this book. It's a sentence that I'm sure I'll remember the rest of my life and moved my rating of this book from a 4 to a 5 star. One sentence. Just four or five chapters from the end, I had decided this was a 4 -star book for me. But that one sentence bumped 'er up. I thought it changed the central theme of the book. When you start reading, you think this is a magnificently written book about the beginnings of the western United States. About half-way through, you realize it's really about a marriage. It's the story of the marriage of a displaced Eastern socialite (Susan) to a rugged western man (Oliver). You get to know the characters intimately and live their lives with them. It’s the story of a marriage that starts- like an helium-filled balloon- full of hope and joy, and gradually, ever so gradually, deflates and loses air and becomes sad and even hopeless. I hated that. In fact, I got a few chapters from the end, and left the book sitting on my table for a couple of weeks. I didn't want to read the sad, foreshadowed parts. But, I guess the fact that I cared so much tells me how very, very good the book was. I loved these flawed, imperfect characters and wanted happiness for all of them. Then you come to that last sentence and realize that the book is about forgiveness in marriage. (I hope that doesn’t spoil it for you.)
I went to Wikipedia and found out that the letters in the book- the ones from Susan to Augusta, her socialite best friend in New York City- were real letters written by a Mary Hallock Foote who was a famous author/ illustrator in the Victorian age. These letters dictated the settings and basic story line for Stegner, who built this marvelous novel from them.
There is another main character in the book. This is a novel within a novel. Lyman Ward, a man in a wheelchair with a bone disease, decides to write the biography of his grandmother- a famous author and illustrator, Susan. So we read his novel as he writes it, learning about him and his life along the way. So it’s really two historical novels in one as we see a little of what’s happening in the late 1960’s and his views on that, as well as his own personal concerns.
I see why this book won the Pulitzer Prize. It is beautifully written and has great historical significance, but it’s greatest value is the exploration of marriage, hopefully causing the reader to analyze and improve their own marriages by looking for the good in one’s spouse, loving them for what they are, and mostly, forgiving them. Anyway, that’s my take away from this great book.


View all my reviews

Call Me

A couple of weeks ago, Ken and I went out to dinner at Applebee's. After dinner, we came out to find this crumpled napkin on our car windshield. Puzzled, we checked for dents. Nothing. We conjectured all the way home on who it could be and what they could want. I personally think some girl saw Ken in the restaurant and thought he was hot. Anyway, we didn't- - - call, I mean. Would you?

November, 2010 Conference Report

I'm hoping "better late than never" applies here. I am really late with this report. Studying these talks is an involved procedure, I guess you'd say. I had maybe ten left to do when I left for Ohio. I really didn't want to take everything I would need to finish studying them there, so I didn't get them done until after I got home. So I just finished last week and am ready to make my feeble attempt at reporting general conference of November, 2010.

It seems to me that this conference had a focus on agency or choice. We were reminded again and again of the gift of agency. Elder Edgley's talk used the words "choose" and "choice" 22 times! One of the things we can choose is "Faith," another oft-repeated theme of this conference (and the next one). There were seven talks on faith. Are we choosing "faith?" Obedience is always a theme of conference, and this one was no exception. We also were taught a lot about service and given concrete helps in raising families.

Elder Neil L. Andersen has become the apostle who uses the most scriptural references. He had 44 scriptural references, with Elder Hales using 39 references. It used to ALWAYS be Elder Russell M. Nelson with the most, and he still does use a lot. I love how he puts additional insights in his footnotes, as well.

Here's the tally of references, in case you're interested:

Book of Mormon: 131

Doctrine and Covenants: 105

New Testament: 102

Latter-day Apostles quoted:69

Other literature: 40

Old Testament: 39

Pearl of Great Price: 27

Hymns: 6

The Book of Mormon nearly always is the most-oft referenced book of scripture in general conference. The New Testament was quoted more in the conference before this one, but The Book of Mormon the most in this one.

An observation: President Hinckley is remembered for, among other things, his love and appreciation of church history. An appropriate legacy of him is the Nauvoo temple, built under his administration. He quoted a lot from the Doctrine and Covenants in his conference talks. He felt a strong connection with the Saints of the Latter days and reminded us of their sacrifice continually, "lest we forget."

President Monson has always quoted the New Testament a lot in his talks. In fact, I've thought of him as the "New Testament Apostle" for years. It's evened out a bit since he's been the prophet, but it used to be he always quoted most from the New Testament. This conference he quoted from the New Testament 13 times and the Book of Mormon 10 times. But, my point is this: I think it's appropriate that one of his legacies will be the Rome, Italy temple- heart of the New Testament lands. It shows me that the Lord prepares the hearts of each of his prophets to do the work he should do. I get chills all over when I think of a temple in the ancient city of Rome.

I reluctantly close this Conference Issue. I feel a deep sense of gratitude for these good men and women who pay the price to bring me the words of the Lord in general conference. I have a strong testimony that if we read, study, ponder, and then try to live what we're taught in general conference, we can go forward with faith in these troubled times. We have all we need. We will be fine.