Muse at the E Center

First song (above)--can you see Matt Bellamy's cool glasses and silver lame jacket? Below, on the piano.







The crowd:


So for Christmas last year I gave Chris a monthly date, but I told him he couldn't just eat out at Panda Express all the time when it was his night to cook, we have to think of other fun things to do like concerts and movies. So he said, "I want to go to the Muse concert in April!" So we bought like the last tickets before the concert sold out, along with his friends Niels and Lydia, and we went last night. Great fun, even though I forgot to take cash for parking. We were early enough that we found an ATM and were back in time for the opening act.

Great stadium rock--lasers, balloons, rotating and elevating stage pieces. Matt Bellamy on guitar, keytar, piano, and bullhorn. A perfect mix of old and new songs.

Bennions 1991

Visiting the Bennion family in Utah - 1991 from Super Acht on Vimeo.

Erich and Robert came to see us soon after we moved to Springville. In 1997 we visited them in Mainz. As Dave says, it's a treasure.

Drivers Ed Trip to Las Vegas

So Chris drove to Las Vegas before Christmas with his friend Niels, John, and me. It was originally planned to get Chris all the day- and night-driving hours required for his license, but he ended up with all 40 hours before we left. And it was originally going to be a trip to Los Angeles to visit Boyd & Co. on their way to Utah from Anchorage, but in the end SoCal seemed just too far to drive in the short time we had.

We visited the new City Center,
drove along the Strip,
watched the dancing fountain at the Bellagio,
ate at buffets and In N Out Burger, watched Avatar 3D, slept in, and went Christmas shopping at the outlets. John lost $5 in the slots while waiting for me to come out of the restroom (the $5 was a voucher from the buffet where we ate lunch). After two nights in our $35 Circus Circus hotel rooms we'd had enough Vegas for the decade, and Chris drove us home again. Sweet little trip. It's really not that far away.

Dave Came to Visit

Here John and Dave eat Smores from our new fire pit (above), and Mike visits with Dave, Nicolle, and Ethan:
Roasting marshmallows:
Brett drinks coke:
Marshmallows are serious business:


Colette makes a new friend:
Backyard camping:

I really like the firepit. It is lightweight, cute, and $59 at Lowe's. But dang, we've got to finish that one little corner of the garden (or at least get the buckets full of rocks out of sight).

Writers Group at Greenjacket

We read John's new polygamist murder mystery, set in Rush Valley. People give feedback in the casa verde (above) after dinner. Val makes pancakes on Liz and Al's lawn in the morning (below):
Breakfast:
Dennis gets his beard back:
Looking at the dugouts:
Writers group:
John and I visited the graves of our people at the Vernon cemetery. Below is John at his father's grave. Lucy's is behind. She would be 20 years old this year.

Friends in London

We stayed with our friends Helen and Gary and their daughter Briony, as we usually do. We met at the Hyde Park ward many years ago. We slept for 13 hours last night, which is the best way to get over jet lag. We are horrible guests and not entertaining at all. We've often stayed with them at the end of our term abroad as well, when we're absolutely tired and frazzled. I don't know why they put up with us (or I should say 'put us up' except I don't know how that translates into British English, or Australian). But we are very grateful to them.Now, when John gets back from the rental place, we'll be off for Edinburgh.

Writers Group

...tonight at England's cabin. After potluck dinner, we read and discussed an article by Bruce (below, with Mary) on Joseph Smith, Gene England, logic, and Mormon literature. It was fun, as always. It's great to have Val and Dennis back from the Ukraine.
Dian and Charlotte:

Dennis and Valerie:

Bruce, Roland, and Donna:

John and me:

Fire on the Mountain

We were late tonight to a bluegrass concert at the Tahitian Noni theater just down the hill, but we did get to see their headliner--the band Fire on the Mountain. I know these homemade videos of musical performances don't come through too well, but it was fun. We went with our friends the Burtons and the Jacobsens--who we'll be seeing again Tuesday for the victory party.

On the Cusp of Fall

My friend Donna and I took the babies to Thanksgiving Point to see the fall gardens. The wind was so cold we had to drive over to WalMart in American Fork to get them something warmer to wear after we bought the tickets. It certainly hadn't seemed that cold in Provo. Johnathan had three layers on and was still cold. He liked riding in the umbrella stroller though. Colette was a little warmer because she was a horsey galloping and whinnying (with her cool pink halter, provided by Donna). The message I took away from the garden this time was -- GRASS.

News of the Week 9/14/08

I love the fall. The excitement is remembered from childhood--getting new clothes and shoes, going back to school, the October deer hunt at Orderville and Bob Creek, then Halloween and the rest of the holidays. I don't go back to school anymore, or hunt deer, but the excitement is hardwired in.

What I appreciate more now about September is that things settle down after a chaotic summer. With John and Chris taking summers off, I don't have a regular routine until they're both back in school. I love mornings sitting in a clean, quiet kitchen with the cats, the sun edging in the south windows beneath the eaves, eating a ripe pear or a peach from our trees (my schedule allows about one day per week of doing that).

THS was out Friday, and Chris' band, Red and the Rovers (check out his Facebook and MySpace pages) played a house/pool party. He tells me that I have to sign onto Facebook and MySpace to see and hear his publicity, so I guess I will. He says a lot of kids at school recognize him from online, and some tell him he has a good voice because they've heard his samples or demos or whatever they're called.

The RS counselor over Sunday lessons came by today to give me feedback from sisters in the ward, saying that my lessons may be too challenging and leave some upset and worried about my testimony. I can see that, and I'll change what I can without saying things I don't believe or boring myself to death. It may be, however, that I'm more suited to playing the piano than giving lessons. And I haven't even mentioned the Heavenly Mother! I used to joke that if I was ever desperate to be released from a calling, I would just start an opening prayer like this, "Dear Father and Mother in Heaven." (In the end I just ask to be released, however, and then it's quite a long time before I get another calling.) This morning I felt like protesting that I would like more lessons like the ones I give, but as Julie said, this isn't actually only about me. It just seems a shame to have lessons (as is often the case) where it is more interesting to write out the weekly grocery shopping list than listen to what's going on in Sunday School.

We had our writing group up the canyon at Charlotte's cabin tonight, and read Charlotte's memories of life with Gene and their kids. Her submissions this month revolved around house keys and cars, and were very funny. We got on a roll of telling car stories, and laughed for about three straight hours. This was after an initial 30 minute moan session about the state of American politics, so we needed the laugh endorphins. John and I took some of the bottled white grape juice from last week to cut with tonic water, and it was a very good and elegant drink to go with whole wheat pasta and homemade tomato sauce.

My SFF writing group is evolving. Isaac got married this week and is taking some time off, and Brandon is swamped with his Robert Jordan finale and says he won't be back until after the New Year. Dan is going to take a break from writing after we're through with his serial killer story. So they've invited another group member and moved to Janci's house. I just realized I haven't sent my submission yet for group on Tuesday. I guess it's too late. My goal is to work up to three half-days per week to work on stories, but so far I haven't even made it to one.

Maybe with the settled, structured, September schedule...

Shakespeare in Cedar City

John and I went down to the Shakespeare Festival with Chris and Grandma Gene. Our friends Bruce and Donna went too (Donna lived with J, C, and me during our UK 2007 trip). We saw a really great production of Cyrano de Bergerac in the Adams Theater, and an OK Two Gentlemen of Verona in the auditorium the next day. Chris said Two Gentlemen is like a sit com, which it is--one of Shakespeare's earlier works and not his best. The dog Crab is cute though.

Helen and Gary

We met Helen and Gary at the Hyde Park Ward during our 2001 stay in the BYU Centre at Palace Court. They had recently moved to London from Sydney. Our similar family situations give us much in common--we are near the same age, both couples married quite young, both have two boys and two girls (we have one more--Chris). Their boys were in Australia then, but daughters Michal and Briony were living with them at the time, while all our kids were with us, and the children hit it off.

But as Ryan said at dinner last night, there’s something spooky about how alike we are. John and I are friends with many couples, but usually one of us is first a friend of one of them, and spouses are included incidentally. But with Helen and Gary, Gary and I are most interested in politics and government, John and Gary most interested in publishing, Helen and I most interested in science fiction/fantasy (which we just discovered last night), John and Helen most interested in art, Helen and I most interested in psychology, John and Helen most interested in integrating the arts in a creative program or space, John and Gary most interest in Mormon issues, Gary and I most interested in history--and yet we’re all interested in all of it, and everything else, and can go for a year without communicating and then talk all night (which is why I’m so sleepy now on the flight home).

Our differences are interesting as well. John is an academic and a writer, I’m a psychologist and homemaker, Gary is an attorney and ethical advisor to a company which privatizes government functions (after working as a critic and advisor within the Labour government in Australia), Helen is an art grad student at the Slade in London after a BA in psychology, a diverse work history, and raising the kids. Gary’s book, which he has been working on for some time, has evolved into three (or four) projects--from a finely researched look at the convict ships to Australia to the history of Wells Fargo in the American West. They (and I suppose we) are quirky, even eccentric, passionate about many things, and supportive of many people. They are hospitable, generous, and gracious. I hope that I am also, at my best. I love and admire Helen and Gary for being what I aspire to. I look forward very much to seeing them again next year and taking up the conversation where we left off.