Lunch Time Field Trip

We have been watching Salt Lake's new Public Safety Building go up a block from my office building for the past while.  The ribbon cutting ceremony was today so I walked over during lunch.  Of course I did.  If you have a choice between walking over to the ribbon cutting ceremony for a new Public Safety Building or not walking over to the ribbon cutting ceremony for a new Public Safety Building, you walk over.  Obviously.  Besides, they had sandwiches, fruit kabobs, and a children's choir.

 You also take a pink fire hat and pose by the "honor" sign.

 Snap pictures of the flags.

And spend most of the ceremony smiling at an elderly couple (he walks bent over almost right in half, she is wearing pegged purple pants and a giant sun hat) who seem to embody most of what is right in America.  That's just what you do.

What? You have no cash?

Last night I invited Tyler, Bryce and Tanner to join me for snow cones, only to discover that my favorite Hawaiian Ice snow shack only takes cash.  And I had a total of $2 in my wallet.  Umm, Ty???  A little help here please.

Chalk up another one in the "I'm the favorite aunt, not the favorite sister-in-law" file.

I Can't Fight This Feeling Anymore

I've been trying hard all week NOT to say it.  And now I'm just going to say it.  It makes me really sad that Cory Monteith died.  (And yes, I still miss Heath Ledger and sometimes I wonder how Michelle Williams is doing.  I have a weakness for celebrity gossip.)  I've listened to a lot of "Don't Stop Believing" in my car and it's going to be awhile before I can turn on my Glee soundtrack again.  If you learn anything from reading this blog, I would ask you never to try heroin.  Ever.  And always try to be as nice to people as Finn Hudson was.

Also.  Who's brilliant idea was it for Nicolas Cage and Gabriella from High School Musical to do a movie together?  This has got to be the most awkward celebrity pairing ever.  Is no one else bothered by this?

Lazy Weekend

I've been telling everyone I had a lazy weekend.  I guess that's not really true.  I had play time with Lauren and Carly, cleaned my house from top to bottom, saw Ryan Shupe in concert at Farmington Festival Days (Motto: Faith - Family - Freedom - Farmington 2013), taught Primary, and took my lime chipotle dip to a  Sylvia Plath book club discussion.  I guess what I mean when I say "lazy weekend" is that I put less than 100 miles on my car.  And that feels good.     

I Know I'm Weird

So I've noticed a lot of grocery stores are attaching anti-theft tags to the bottom of their shopping baskets.  This is really depressing to me.  I'm not sure I want to live in a world where people walking off with shopping baskets is a big enough problem that stores have to take measures against it.  Can't we all just get along?

Festival City USA

This weekend I continued one of my favorite summer traditions of attending the Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City.  (Otherwise known as Festival City USA.)  I saw "Love's Labor Lost" and "Peter and the Starcatchers" with my sister and our friend Teri.  Both productions were excellent.

Teri and I did a session at the St. George Temple on Saturday morning.  So beautiful.

So I'm not good at taking self-portraits.  My iPhone tries to make it easy for me, since you can reverse the screen and actually see the picture you're taking while you're taking it.  Here are the expressions I captured after asking the question, "Why do I look so bad?"  Thanks, girls, for putting up with me!  It was a great weekend.

I need to write down the different plays I've seen at the Shakespeare Festival.  (While I still remember.)  I know down the road I won't be able to piece together what I saw when.  So here we go.

Summer 2011:  "Romeo & Juliet" and "Midsummers Night Dream" with Teri

Summer 2012:  "The Merry Wives of Windsor" and "Les Miz" with Biz, followed by "Les Miz" again with Steve

Summer 2013:  "Love's Labor Lost" and "Peter and the Starcatchers" with Teri and Biz

Independence Day

Ever since I have been working in insurance, the 4th of July has become the holiday where I am too exhausted after our insane 7/1 renewal period to do anything much.  Parades?  Fireworks?  Wake me when it's over.

So this year I decided to celebrate my freedom to do whatever I wanted on a much-needed day off from work.  I made a pie, all by myself, for probably the first time in my life.  Peach, not apple or cherry, which may have been more appropriate.  But who wants apple when you could have peach?

I admired Carly's cuteness in her red, white and blue, complete with sparkler pig tails!  And played with my good buddy Lauren.

 I saw Despicable Me 2.  Which was hilarious and I am already counting down to when it's released on video.  There is a 5 minute scene at the end I can see myself watching again... and again... and again.

 Oh yeah, did I mention that peach pie?  It wasn't bad, if I do say so myself.  Anyone who has spent 10 minutes with me in the past few months knows that I am currently obsessed with the Our Best Bites cookbooks.  Everything is SO good!  And if you follow their instructions, things turn out.  I highly recommend them.  To everyone.  Seriously, why are you still reading this?  Go buy Our Best Bites, or go to their blog, and start making something. 



Temples and Tomahawks

It was an eventful summer weekend.  Friday I was able to have lunch at The Garden with Ashlee and her family.  We decided to pose for pictures on the floor.  Why not?

Friday night I went to the Manti Pageant.  I hadn't been since I was very young (maybe 6 or 7) and my only memory of the pageant was sitting in the car stuck in traffic late at night after it was over.  There is still only one road out of Manti and traffic is a little bit stop-and-go.  (With a heavy emphasis on stop.)  But the pageant is really something else.  The introduction promises a gripping tale of temples and tomahawks and it doesn't disappoint. 

I'm not going to lie.  I enjoyed looking at the stars and the majestic Manti temple probably more than the theatrics. 

And my friend Steve enjoyed posing in his "Post-Mormon" tee shirt with members of the cast following the performance.  Now there's a photo opp you can't pass up!

Saturday afternoon I got to have a pizza picnic with my nephews as they were passing through on their way to Arizona.  And later that day we had a "gummy bears and grapes" tea party with the girls.  Life is good.