Bling

A few weeks ago I went to Portland to visit my friend Lindy. She's a photographer and the one who I can credit most of my continued desire to do photography to (she let me use her D200. I was HOOKED!) and is just an amazing friend. I was sad when she moved away from Utah, but still visit her, of course, because that's really just been my year.

Then I found this picture in my inbox this morning*.


Lindy took the picture while we were taking a Starbucks break (the hot chocolate kind). I do need my own magazine. We should work on that (o:

Unexpected e-mails are always my favorite.

*I realize it's no longer "morning", but I'm claiming being sick as the reason why I just woke up. 12 hours of sleep, how delicious!

Things Joseph Smith Nutcracker Likes - Harry Potter

(This post is for Tianna, Melanie, Amy, Erin, Auntie Chris and Jenny)


With Halloween fast approaching, Joseph Smith Nutcracker had to decide what he wanted to be. Last year* he didn't even dress up, just went as himself. I mean, he's JSN, so he can get away with that one year or maybe alternate years, but certainly not every year. What a lucky nutcracker he is, Jenny made him glasses and Erin crocheted him a scarf that meant he could go as Harry Potter! (notice how low his hair goes -- that's why he doesn't have a lightning bolt.)


Joseph Smith Harry in his full outfit. He can't wait for all the candy he's going to get!**


This is the face he'll make when he sees Voldemort Nutcracker (I'm somewhat relieved that "Voldemort" sets off my spell check. However, Kevorkian works just fine. Go figure. I wonder what search hits I'll get with that combination).


Every good costume is all about the details. Harry Potter probably wouldn't have a map of Nauvoo, but he WOULD have a Marauder's Map.


And gold plates? Never! Now he has Gadding with Ghouls by Gildroy Lockhart.


It looks just like the one in the book -- we are, after all, seeking for accuracy here. Nothing less for our little Joseph Smith Nutcracker/Harry. Happy Trick or Treating, JSN/H!

*What's really sad (besides the noticeable difference in quality between my D200 and D700) is that I've been taking pictures of that poor Nutcracker for well over a year.

**Please feel free to send "him" candy!

A Story of Melanie and the Theatre

I think I mentioned it enough that no one could miss it (I was really excited!), but Melanie, my coworker, and I went to NYC this past weekend. We left Saturday morning (hi, red eye flight!) and came home last night. It was quick, but wonderful.

Despite spending most of the time in theatres, this post will probably be reasonably picture-heavy.



We started our day in the city by taking a nap. I'm glad we did as we were out very late and Melanie doesn't sleep on planes. The first real plan on the agenda was getting lunch. Melanie has someone thinking of her. (o:


The next order of business was finding theaters. The first show we saw was Wicked. Here's Melanie in Times Square. You can see the Wicked sign telling us which way to go.


I kept seeing signs and advertisements for Ragtime. I am so, so excited to see that one as well.


We found it! We're pretty amazing.


Inside the theater at intermission. We sat next to this lady from Idaho and her friends from Pennsylvania. They were very nice people except for one of her friends didn't get the jokes until at least five seconds after everyone else got them. Then he would clap and laugh loudly to an audience that had moved on. It was really odd.

We loved, loved the show, though. Everyone was, as one would expect, exceptional. Only, we missed the stage dooring time. So that was sad.

After the show, we shopped (purses! Everywhere. Not for me, though), ate and headed out for the Linda Eder concert (which is really the reason we went out there in the first place). Fun thing about that concert, it looked really close on the map, but a $100 cab ride in the pouring rain later proved that assumption to be incorrect. The concert was held at Long Island University. Yes, in what seemed like the middle of nowhere. At least far from the city. We arrived stressed about how to ever get back, so I didn't take any pictures.

The show was also great. I wanted more Linda, but, oh well. (o: Very worth the trip, in any case.

After the show we wanted to stage door, but the people said they weren't doing that. The security guys at the actual stage door seemed to prove this was a true statement. No autographs, no pictures, nothing to show! That is now two stage door fails.


I did take this picture of a gondola statue (it was cute) as we were walking to meet our car to take us back. So this statue represents an entire concert.


The drive back was also an adventures. Still rain, still dark, and a freeway being closed. We reversed on the freeway for at least half a mile to get back to an exit. That driver was amazing. Where do people even learn to drive like this? The guy whose car is pictured decided to turn the other way and drive the wrong way down the street of reversing cars. Also he flipped everyone off as he did it, so I didn't want him to see me taking a picture because I don't love confrontation. You can see a car going backwards behind him and all the cars still on the freeway as well.


Sunday was a gorgeous day. Here's the view from our hotel. It's the City Center Theater where I saw Music in the Air last January. Happy memories (o:


Hey, look, I'm cliche! It was great.

I'd like to believe I was in love with the Starbucks on every corner. I do love their white hot chocolate. If only they had pan au chocolate, I'd have been in heaven.


Hard to see because of the angle, but I so know how tired he was feeling.


Before we left, Brooke asked for a picture of a subway (she's weird). I wasn't going to do it, but Melanie is more indulgent than I am, so here is Brooke's 57th street station picture.


We did a bike tour of Central Park. The driver had been in the country a week and certainly didn't know how to half-down focus (o: So here Melanie and I are in all our blurriness (o:


As we went along, Melanie asked me, "Have you ever been to the Pool of Bethesda?" I answered I had and it was beautiful. She started raving about the fountain. I didn't remember fountains. In fact, I remembered it being dried up. Apparently there is a Pool of Bethesda in Central Park and I thought she meant the one in Israel. I have now visited BOTH!


The fountain Melanie loves so much. With a rainbow. Aww.


He didn't get the focus idea, but I changed the aperture to give him more of a chance. He said he prefers point and shoots.


Walking to our next theatre, I saw where Ragtime will be! Again, so much excitement.


Melanie is already preparing to ring in the new year with some tacky sparkle glasses.


We found Mary Poppins! What a cool set! Laura Michelle Kelly, who is Mary Poppins, has an AMAZING voice. Those dancing animals were kind of strange. I loved how they used the set. They had the roof of the house come down and the kitchen come up and Bert walking on the ceiling and Mary flying away. I'd see it again for theatrics alone. Seeing as how I wasn't doing so hot with stage dooring on Saturday, I made Melanie come with me on the backstage tour. This was the set staircase. I only brought my 50 mm so I didn't get the whole set and wasn't willing to take tons of pictures and stitch them. (o:


With the adorable actors who played Jane and Michael Banks. She's 10 and he's 12. They're so cute!


Then with Christian Borle who is Burt. Melanie told him she saw him in Millie and then wasn't he in an eBay commercial? That got a funny reaction. I won't lie, the hair and the leather jacket makes me want to sing rebel songs from Saturday's Warrior.

Maybe it's just me.


Then with Laura Michelle Kelly. They all signed my Playbill and my life felt meaningful and validated all over again. Whew!

We then meandered through the street market where I got a gyro and Melanie looked at purses, made it back to our hotel at 5 and somehow made it to the airport at 6:20 and got on the plane leaving at 7. It was a miracle! Also a great trip. I am so excited to go back.

Things That Made Me Laugh This Week

I'm at home supposedly packing for New York, but then I started and remembered I hate to pack so I'm trying to put it off just a little longer. Isn't this always the way?

Carli: "Is it a live orchestra? That can do it sometimes, bless the violins hearts." I was texting Carli while Jenny and I were at Jekyll and Hyde (not during, of course) and complaining about how darn slow Bring on the Men was. It's so true. We love violins.

Ziggy (on why Giselle can't play with him): "She can't play up here! There are choking hazards!"

Michael E. (on dating quotas): "My roommate invited approximately 15 girls to our apartment last night and almost all of them came, so it was like a 1-on-15 date. Very romantic, I assure you."

Melanie: "I will try to not complain if my ear explodes so you can still enjoy the trip." Melanie has a broken or near-broken ear drum or something random and painful. It likes to ooze things and we're afraid it will pop in a fountain of horror. If that happens, however, she will suck it up until after I have enjoyed seeing Linda Eder. She's a great friend.

Melanie (on the movie Somewhere In Time): "I loved it all until that demmed penny."

Heather: "When the prophet says you should dye your hair red, you dye your hair red!" I think this was about Pres. Hinckley teasing President Monson that he needed to dye his hair red for some reason. Fun fact: President Monson has never dyed his hair, though people still send in letters believing he has and being offended about it. And there ya go. People are funny.

Brooke: "You forgot 'the children remain children. FOREVER.'" My g-talk status (which, as g-talk friends know, I like to change near-daily) was "It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes. But the half-wit remains a half-wit, and the emperor remains an emperor." and Brooke decided to finish it.

Dan (on the movie about Sherlock Holmes): "It's a new re-imaging with everyone being sexy and awesome. And they do NOT need a musical about that. What's wrong with you?"

Eric: "I will advise on strange dining habits and sexual orientation of food any time." I told him I didn't like to eat straight butter. We then discussed gay butter. It was so random.

Josie: "You just went from beautiful Italian to Utah Farm Girl. The moment is lost!" The lines are so easy to cross (o: Italy? Sanpete County? So, so very easily crossed.

A Ride, A Jog and a Bear

I think it has been established that Melanie and I spend a lot of time together. We work together, we travel together, we occasionally fulfill our craving for Mrs. Backers cookies together...well, the other day we were going to my house together and saw some interesting things on the drive home.

The first being this guy:


Yeah, he has horns affixed to the hood of his car. They are real. It was disturbing. So, so disturbing.

But not as disturbing as this person who we saw jogging. I made Melanie post the picture on her blog because I didn't want to have nightmares every time I looked at my blog (o:

Less disturbing, but more fun for me:


Giselle fits in my Build-a-Bear clothes. She loved the rain jacket, sun glasses, purse and cell phone. Sadly, her feet are too long and not circular enough for the shoes. She does fit in the pants (her head is too big for the shirts), but that was just weird and wrong. I told Jenny if her next child was strangely proportioned, she could borrow the clothes.

Teasing Jenny

It's so fun to tease Jenny when I'm the one with the pictures. It helps that she keeps asking me when she can see them (o:


This isn't even his cheesiest smile. It gets bigger! The eyes get squintier! It's great. In color, it looks like we plopped him down in front of a leaf background at Kiddie Kandids or something.


When she isn't screaming, Giselle is actually pretty delightful.

Adventures with Jenny (and Some Other Stuff)

So this isn't so much Jenny, but instead it's a picture of my awesome home teachers! Somehow they manage to come over every month despite the fact that I keep going out of town. They're great. Of course, then, Brian decided to get married, so this is the last time they will be over. Brian is trying to teach Micah about the Doctrines of Marriage. Micah's thought seem to be clear on that matter.

They've been amazing, amazing home teachers and I wish Brian the best of luck.


Also not Jenny, but instead Katria. We had lunch yesterday at PF Changs. I haven't seen her since the San Francisco trip in June. She loves when I take pictures of her eating. She was also nice enough to understand that I had a project come up at work and couldn't leave until an hour after we planned to go to lunch. She's very understanding and I was grateful. She got to hang out with MamaLynne and JSN while I finished.


Getting closer to Jenny, I went to her house yesterday to pick her up so we could go see Jekyll and Hyde. I spent most of the drive behind this car wondering why CD'S were possessive and RECORDS and TAPES weren't. Tape's! Record's!


Now at Jenny's house, Giselle is getting to that fun stage where she throws tantrums. It's the cutest thing ever! She lays on the floor and screams and kicks and cries. I don't live with it, so I thought it was adorable. She's really loud for such a tiny person.


I am trying to be the Favorite Auntie, so I let Ziggy use my camera. I forget why I did that...I think it was I told him he could take a picture of me if I could take a picture of him (he didn't want me to take his picture), but then he took my camera and ran with it, so here's a picture he took. You can see that Jenny is a little worried about the fate of my camera.


I love that I ended up with a picture of Mr. Potato Head's profile...sort of.


The picture Ziggy took of me while I was trying to teach him how to focus.


And the one he took of Jenny. I am not quite certain I must be the favorite Auntie to Ziggy, at least. Giselle, however, does not like that I took her mom away for the evening. We went to Lehi to see Jekyll and Hyde. My expectations weren't terribly high, but we both really, really enjoyed it. Emma had a great, clear voice and Lucy belted the songs and was a fun actress, so I liked her. I had THREE issues with it.
1. Hyde would breath heavy and growl all the time. I just wanted to say, "Sweetheart, we know you are Hyde without you hyperventilating into the mic. It's distracting and I don't love it, so stop!"
2. The one who was on the board of governors who I found overall annoying. I don't know if he can change that.
3. Their turning Bring On The Men into the Slowest Song Ever. It's supposed to be fast and fun -- like any good racy song! Instead it was so painfully slow, I was bored within the first five minutes of it. Oh, the song shouldn't last five minutes, you say? My thoughts exactly.

In the end, though, I would probably even see it again because while it was long, it was still really well done. And the music is fun, which is always a selling point.


Then this morning Jenny dragged us all out to do family pictures. She wanted to see them, but I just put them on my computer and don't really want to look through them, so, here is a teaser for Jenny. We took funny Dave Newman with us, and he kept having me come over and do camera settings and things (we were using my camera). I was hiking around in a long dress and heels, and when he had me start taking pictures of my family, I wondered if he planned to put me in the pictures, too. Not that I would have minded, I don't care for family pictures.

After that, I met Dave Mortensen (too many Daves! Or, DAVE'S, if we prefer) at Hale Centre and we saw Curtains. I loved it! Sadly, the audience was all older (like, WAY older) and we were usually the only ones laughing at the jokes. It was great, though. I would probably even see that one again, too. This is turning into a very theatery month, and it's only going to get better next week!

Things That Made Me Laugh This Week

I'm having one of those rare in-town weekends. I've already made plans of things to do, so there are reasons I need to stay here, but every time I see something interesting happening in some other city, my first reaction is to buy a plane ticket. That's a habit I'm going to have to get out of soon (o: But never fear, next weekend in NYC with Punk Rock Mel! I've been looking forward to this trip since I bought show tickets back in June (or when ever it was I was finally able to talk Melanie into going with me). There will probably be masses of pictures...or maybe not since we'll be spending most of our time there inside theaters.

So, anyway, things that made me laugh!

Mike V.: "Thank you! You saved the day. Now you will go to heaven for sure." Also a positive review from a coworker (o:

Brooke: "I haven't even logged into gmail or facebook much this morning. I just thought, 'Hey, I'll go change her status,' and then your obsessive friends pick up on it. I don't know what your offer is. I thought you could come up with that. I already did the hard part which was advertising it." She changed my Facebook status to something like, "has an offer you can't refuse." Since I can't access Facebook at work (hey, maybe I can. I actually haven't tried, but I doubt it), I started getting all these random "[blank] has commented on your status." e-mails and was so confused. I asked her what was going on.

Daniel A.: "It's mainly because she is persistent and asks for things." Brooke: "She does! She's very good at that." Daniel A.: "Yes. It's funny she isn't married, actually, she could just ask for that." I asked him to write me a musical (which he is!), it wasn't like I was asking for the moon or anything!

Kristy: "Quick! I need a good pickup line!" Joe: "Man, I can't think of anything that is appropriate. How about, 'Hey, I'm in love with you'?"

Chance (on watching rated R movies): "I don't any more thanks to a certain someone who seems determined to drag me to exaltation whether or not I like it."

[not saying who] (as I was trying to find a "date" to a work party thing where we have to play getting-to-know you games): "Only if I can kiss you in front of everyone. It makes getting to know you a whole new ballgame."

Brooke: "I will continue to be cavalier with your status as long as you continue to egg me on, so I think we've got an understanding here." I've had a few phone calls from concerned people wondering about my status (o:

Chance (on personal boundries with question asking): "For the record, you can ask questions like that. It's random people I barely know (which, technically would be you, I guess) that irritate me."

MamaLynne (trying to rewrite the Latter-day Prophets song): "Gordon B. Hinckley is dead, you know, so Thomas S. Monson is the president!" Are they making that song longer? Because it seems pretty much out of room.

Daniel A.: "One minute it's profile picture peer pressuring, the next thing you know, you'll be sitting in an alleyway sucking the dredges of cheap wine off of some hobo's discarded flannel jacket. And how did you get there? Photographers." Photographers are apparently a bad influence on me.

In Which I Make Fun of Jenny

I promised last week that I intended to make fun of Jenny, but this week, not only has every once of blogging motivation I had gone, I hardly remember what I was going to make fun of her for

I guess we'll start with the things I remember because I have pictures to accompany them.


Jenny is a reasonably patient and indulgent older sister (and I need that! I love to be indulged). One day I was taking pictures of her kids (because I am operating under the belief that my photos steall parts of their souls and soon her children will be mine. This has the added benefit of when I'm old, I will hold Ziggy's soul hostage so he has to take care of me in my age-d state -- oh, and pictures of my niece and nephew never get old to me. To everyone else, yes, but not to me!) and I told Jenny she needed to practice her ANTM poses. Here she is doing that. Smiling with her eyes or something. I have one of her with her mouth partly open (why, why, why do models do that?), but since I don't think it looks flattering on anyone, let alone someone as naturally hot as Jenny, I won't subject my blog readership to that. This was my favorite photo from our mock model shoot, in any case -- partly because she was taking a break from comforting a crying Giselle to look up at me, then it was back to Giselle.


Another funny things about Jenny (which I actually really like), is her attention to detail. The other day we went to shoot bridals for my friend Sara. Mark was working, so MamaLynne was watching the squishes for all of maybe two hours. Jenny had some very meticulous instructions, my favorite of which were Giselle's shoes on a paper with a box around where the shoes fit. It says "Taelor needs to wear these so she doesn't fall on the tile." She isn't totally great at that walking thing yet, I guess. I saw that paper on the counter, started laughing and grabbed my camera.


I promised Jenny I wouldn't post the close-up photo of her instructions, so here's the far away version. The food on the counter is possible things Ziggy can eat. I like how things like "peas" and "in the fridge" are underlined. Jenny went over the list with mom while I played with Ziggy. I noticed we were late and asked Jenny when she would be ready. She responded with, "I'd be done if you'd quit talking!" (she was having getting ready stress, I think). Mom and I couldn't stop laughing at that since I hadn't been talking at all. But it was all in good fun.

Then Jenny and I drove to Lindon. I was playing Jekyll and Hyde since we're going to see it on Friday and wanted Jenny familiar with some of the music (for some weird reason she already knows Bring On the Men -- I don't know what THAT says about her). I was playing Confrontation and Jenny asked how it ended. OH, PS, SPOILER ALERT, if anyone cares -- I said it was sad and I didn't want to ruin it for her, but she wanted to hear anyway, so I told her Hyde dies. She was very sarcastic in saying, "Oh, THAT isn't sad! He's the bad guy! Who cares if he dies?" Then we listened to the last song where they shoot Hyde who also happens to be the same person as Jekyll. Her face when she realized they BOTH die was pricelessly wonderful. We're going to have so much fun on Friday. I love having Jenny back in Utah so she can be my theatre buddy. Now if only I can get her to travel....


I also enjoyed while we were shooting the bridals, Jenny wanted a certain angle but couldn't get it because of the thorny bushes where she wanted to stand, so instead she hung out over the banister and did all kinds of things to get the shot.


It worked out, though, because she got some lovely pictures. I always have fun with my sister (o:

Things That Made Me Laugh This Week

I am having one of those mornings today. It may be the after-effect from last night. Jenny and I went to Lindon to shoot bridals and it was great and wonderful and so much fun, but then I had to go to Jenny's house to load all my pictures to her computer since they need to be edited by Monday and, oh, I'm going to Portland today, so that won't happen from me. It meant I got home much later than I should have.

So, home late, tired, started packing for Portland at 6 when I leave for work at 6:30 usually (luckily, I have three main bags I travel with and they are all packed to varying degrees because I haven't bothered unpacking them) and was mentally planning clothes with what shoes/coat I wanted to wear and knew everything went with jeans, so there we go. Somehow planning clothing with jeans in mind didn't transfer over to planning clothing with work in mind because when I got to work I realized I'd put on a blue plaid skirt with an orange checked jacket, red shoes and a cream shirt. I don't even know what happened there.

And of course I have to make fun of myself because I plan to make fun of Jenny when I get back from Portland and want to be able to say everything is fair game, myself included (o:

So, things that made me laugh this week:

Some GA (we were at Conference; we didn't happen to bring the Chart of 70s so we didn't know who they were; we're bad people, sorry): "Which family are you with?" Heather: "The Church family." I tried to explain that was not what he was asking, he wanted to know where we got the tickets. Her answer was better anyway.

Alex (responding to me saying how busy I'd been): "Tell me about it! I can barely find time to eat! Let alone make out and go to Broadway!"

Daniel A.: "I should make a chart of how many times a week you ask me to marry you and at the end of the quarter I will do a Powerpoint presentation for you including, chiefly, this chart. We will discuss things like Trends and Why It Hasn't Happened Yet."

Carli: "If you were to ask me if I would knee-touch someone she knee-touched, I'd have to think about it." The conversation started with kissing people friends had kissed, but apparently knee-touching is more momentous for us.

Garth: "This will invariably get back to my mom who will use the same template. Except it will start, 'Who is Kristy?' and then proceed to the template: 'Why don't you marry Kristy?'" His mom and sister tell him to marry every girl whose name he mentions. It all made sense in contect.

Daniel A.: "Every marriage announcement needs a sprinkling of pessimism."

Brooke: "By 'we' I mean 'the institution of the Church, and also me.'"

Jenny: "Does Scott owe you any favors? Would he do it for free? We can include some flirting on your part....ahhh, but then I'd have to teach you how to flirt, huh?" She wants a sisters picture of us and wants someone I know to take it, but I don't want a sisters picture and so asking (and flirting) probably won't happen (o:

Joe (how to flirt with a Physics Nerd): "Statements such as, 'Want to expand my polynomial?' might be a bit strong for the first time, but for the astute student, are eventually achievable. Instead, start with, 'Your eyes have the perfect wavelength of 453.2 nanometers.' Once you get to the point where he says, 'You make me want to be a better physicist,' then you know you've got him."

Adventures in Green River

All growing up, my extended family on my mom's side would always go camping in Snow Canyon over UEA. I have some great memories of climbing rocks, playing on the grass, making quilts, singing around a campfire, rolling around in the sand dunes and having our pictures taken in the same cave every year. Well, eventually they became more environmentally conscious and made it so you can't climb on rocks or play on grass or touch anything (slight exaggeration, but I'm still bitter), so we decided to stop going there.


Which turned out to be fine (aside from breaking the Legacy of the cave pictures -- thanks a lot, guys), as now instead of camping (which is not my thing anyway. I hate being cold!), we go to a house my uncle has in Green River, UT. Isn't it gorgeous? It's surrounded by a lot of land to go four-wheeling on, the Green River is close and the whole thing is encircled by mountains.


I wasn't planning on going this year as I like to save all of my vacation for my birthday, but since next year's birthday trip will probably only take five or six days of vacation and this IS my year of adventure, so I took off Thursday and Friday (not entirely, I went to work for two hours Thursday morning), picked up Jenny and the squishes and we headed down. Here's my car packed for the four of us. They were staying two days, I was staying one. The back was FILLED.


If we didn't have two wiggly, anxious children in the car, Jenny and I probably would have stopped the car for pictures instead of just taking them while driving.


The house is perfect for all of our family. It has a big basement with bedrooms, two bedrooms on the main floor and a loft filled with beds. Here's Caleb hanging out in the loft. I'd never been up there before this year. Usually the house is so packed that I'll sleep on a couch or the floor on the main level, but this time there was a loft bed for me!


I love cousin bonding time. They all played Harry Potter Clue (which looked way harder than Clue should be) while I took pictures. Playing up to our skills (o: The house is very open, so no matter what's happening, you can feel like part of the action.


Amy winning Harry Potter Clue! Erin talked about buying it for so long, part of the victory was just playing it!


My cousin Adam stopped by to bring us watermelon and cantaloupe. He brought his little dog Toasty with him. Maddi was in love with the dog! She followed Toasty around everywhere and finally was able to catch and hold her.


Erin, Amy, Zach and I went four wheeling. I brought my camera which meant I didn't feel comfortable going over any rough jumps, but it was still fun. And freezing cold! Next year I'm dressing warmer and going to ride up along the river.


As much as I loved being with my cousins (especially the ones who liked being photographed), I had to leave to go to my mission reunion in Salt Lake. I'm pretty sure I was still covered in dirt when I got there (even though there was no camping, four wheeling was not the cleanest activity ever).


I also had to stop by the Elgin Cemetery again this year. I love the statues they have there. It looks kind of lame since it's all just dirt, but you go in and it's so well-cared for a decorated.


On the way back, I decided while I was at it, I should stop at the Mill Fork Cemetery (I don't even know where it is, I just saw the gate on the side of the road and screeched to a halt). That was fun until I saw this sign. That was when I decided maybe the adventure was over and it was time to get home.

I can't wait to go next year! Maybe this time I'll be around when they watch The Burbs this time (o:

Things Joseph Smith Nutcracker Likes - Conference

This past weekend was conference, so I decided to go to the two morning sessions. Being downtown and with friends means people get to meet JSN. He loved the attention, too bad he was upstaged by the warm fuzzy jar!


Saturday morning I went with my mission president, his wife and their granddaughter who just turned 8. She was SO adorable. My favorite part being when she curled up in her seat to fall asleep (conference is, admittedly, long). I didn't realize they were big enough for that. It too a lot to contain my laughter when I saw that. President and Sister Elmer live in Texas, so conference is the only time I get to see them (unless I visit them in Dallas, which I've been meaning to!).


Also in attendance were my friends Michael, Elizabeth, Allison and Joel. Michael and Allison are Brooke's siblings.


After the session we all went over to meet JSN. Here Michael and I are holding him. I think he was going to send a picture to Brooke, who decided not to join us. Something about living in Oklahoma and not Utah being her excuse.


Saturday morning I also sat with my Relief Society Presidency (clearly they wanted to be with the warm fuzzy jar more than with JSN).


As well as Heather who filled in for the presidency member who couldn't make it.

One of my favorite things about that session was watching the next speakers come up to wait for their turn and Elder Holland would motion them to come sit in the empty chair next to him (instead of the chair on the side where they usual sit). It was a very sweet gesture. Oh, also his talk was amazing on Sunday.

Then after conference I went home and of course I fell asleep because the day before I'd driven up from Green River to go to my mission reunion, stayed up far too late, got up far too early for a weekend because there is not a single morning person inclination in me, but I do it anyway because I like my job, so it's worth being up before the sun (o:


For the Sunday morning session I took Carli and we again sat by the Elmers. President Elmer knows EVERYONE! Usually conference is the time when I know and talk to everyone, but this time people were crowding around to see him! He's so popular (o: Carli and I got there way early, so we saw JSN before the session.


Carli likes to think she can read reformed Egyptian. She makes a lot of crazy language claims.

We were sitting in the session and I thought she was taking notes (really she was writing a note to me) and I told her to write them in Hebrew. She looked at me, wrote her last word, handed it over and said, "But there's not a Hebrew word for 'Karma!'" So now we know.


We also ran into Scott and his sister Sarah at that session. Small world! They were staying for the afternoon session as well. Scott's already met JSN, so that didn't need to happen again.


And, for Alicia who wanted a picture of the choir, it's the choir!

We thought about bring JSN to an actual session, but somehow I didn't think I could explain that one away. "Hey, everyone, we're just taking pictures of a nutcracker. Don't mind us!" It felt weird (o: So even though he didn't attend any sessions, he still likes conference. Maybe I'll bring him some year if I have an extra ticket and give him his own seat and insist he's really a person...oh, wait, no. (o:

Voicemail Amazingness

Due to some intense begging and bribery, various friends left me voicemails of them singing various Broadway songs. I'm collecting quite an impressive set. I wish I knew how to get them off my voicemail so I could post them and share them with everyone, but I suspect at least one of my friends would kill me if I did that.

I will, however, share who sang what in an attempt to let everyone know how amazing my friend are:

Scott Jarvie: Empty Chairs at Empty Tables from Les Miserables

Michael E.: Loathing from Wicked (I especially loved that he did the "dun, dun, dun, dun!" as well)

Lyssa: The Internet is for Porn from Avenue Q (that falls into Songs I Was NOT Expecting. Thanks, Lys... Next time don't take suggestions from Nikki, 'kay?)

Alicia: Think of Me from Phantom of the Opera

BJ: Where's the Girl from The Scarlet Pimpernel (One doesn't realize how creepy that song is until you're friend's husband is singing it to you -- luckily said friend was aware he was doing it.)

Ryan: Any Dream Will Do from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (This wins at originality as I forgot that musical even existed.)

Alex - Something from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (I don't know the musical, I didn't know the song, but it was lovely!)

Rachel O.: Put on Your Sunday Clothes from Hello, Dolly! (The laugh after saying, "We won't come home until we've kissed a girl," made that song for me.)

Summer's sister-in-law: Love Changes Everything from Aspects of Love (and this wins by far for the best singer. Even crappy voicemail quality was awesome. She can sing for tickets any time)

My voicemail is such a happy place now! It can always be happier, though. I still accept songs, even without bribes (o: It helps me justify never answering my phone.

Also, Melanie did sing Storybook from The Scarlet Pimpernel for me, but she only sang 10 words...and it was....she sang it in the lounge connected to the bathroom at work, so she tried to make it fast so no one would walk in on her. Oh, and she ended it by telling me I'm her Waldorf Salad. Aww. She's so sweet. It suddenly makes me want to listen to Anything Goes.

If any of you happen to see each other (like tomorrow or Sunday or something), then go ahead and ask each other for a song!

Things That Made Me Laugh This Week

I'm taking a brief break from hanging out with cousins at Green River. I went down Thursday, stayed the night and came home today to stop by my mission reunion and am still debating going back tonight. There is so much more I'd like to photograph down there. Anyway, who knows. So, things that made me laugh this week....


Tyler: "Well, if I ever get around to writing a Scarlet Pimpernel/Indiana Jones mash-up, I'll come to you when it comes time to write the steamy sex scenes (of which there will be many, of course), and then we can start work on Star Wars: The Scarlet Pimpernel Strikes Back, the Musical...on ice." I can't remember why he told me I was going to write the sex scenes. I start blushing if I even see people kiss. I can't imagine those mash-ups are going to end well.

Allie: "On a scale of 1-10, how allergic would you say you are? Like 1 being cat hair kind of makes your soul frown, and 10 being you will die a brutal death if you think about the possibility of a cat's existence."

Dave Terry: "[He]'s never getting married. I still haven't given up hope on you." Dave is so reassuring. All the time.

Melanie: "Sad. The only other person in this room who is having hot flashes is the Renaissance Girl." We were at TSP and Melanie and this other girl in a BIG Renaissance dress were fanning themselves. As more people came in, they were joined in hot flash friends. I, of course, thought the temperature was perfect.

Daniel A.: "Do you know cupcakes are the greatest smell ever? One time I smelled a perfume like that. I wanted to marry the perfume."

Chance: "Apparently I'm still the same insensitive jerk she married, she's just learned how to figure out what I really mean behind what I say."

Carli (as I explained to her why I'll never graduate because I keep wanting to buy plane and theatre tickets instead of pay for tuition and books): "Oh yeah. Forgot that little part. Call it a visual-inspiration self-financed internship. For no credit."

Michael: "If it helps, though, I do have some beautiful pictures of Saturn to share with you. They're kind of like you, except you don't have a ring."

Denise: "We will drop off cookies and visit you in the spirit of cookies." Denise is my new visiting teaching partner. I love the spirit of cookies teaching method.

Daniel R.: "I figure if [weddings] keep happening at the rate they're going, then statistically it's going to be mine one of these times. Statistics can be a great comfort."

Lyssa: "I typed 'baby' like three times and just couldn't say it to you." She asked for my sign (to tell me my horoscope) and I told her I would only answer if she asked it like a pickup line.

Allie: "And THEN I wondered: Does Facebook recognize extramarital gay affairs? How progressive is Facebook anyway?"

Zach: "I don't need dinner, 'cause I just ate dust!" Erin, Amy, Zach and I went four wheeling and I drove in front of Erin and Zach specifically to kick up dust -- but in a funny way.

Daniel A. (on how to make small talk): "Ask the couples how they met. Not only is it a good conversation topic, but you might get tips. Nothing more exciting than finding out why you're still single."

MaryAnne: "Maybe [e-mailing you] cycles through on an electronic to-do list." I asked why someone e-mails me on the most random, but predictable, schedule ever. I love being on peoples' to do list.