Only in Mt. Pleasant

This is the story, in as close to her own words as I can remember, the Gospel Doctrine teacher told us in class yesterday morning in Mt. Pleasant.


(Sadly.) "There was an accident on State Street [Utah Highway 89] Friday morning. My brother-in-law [whose wife was sitting on the last row of class, snickering] was riding his motorcycle down the street when he saw a mule deer trying to cross the road. He stopped politely to let the deer cross. So did the car behind him. The mule deer apparently took offense at this and attacked my brother-in-law and knocked him off his motorcycle right in front of the Maverick gas station store. [Always a hot spot with lots of traffic in and out.] His injuries included a slightly sprained ankle and a small cut on the knee. [Laughing, along with most people in class.] Only in Mt. Pleasant. ONLY in Mt. Pleasant.

I spent all day yesterday writing words to the song "My Brother-in-Law Got Run Over by a Mule Deer."

The dangers of living out in the country...they're different from those in the city...

Only in Mt. Pleasant...

Mt. Pleasant Preview

What do you do in Mt. Pleasant when the only public pool in town (one of only three in the county!) is FULL two days in a row and you have 22 relatives at your house???

(They don't know what FULL is!)

We just pulled in from Pioneer Day weekend in Mt. Pleasant and I had to post this picture. More on the weekend later...

The Search for Elle Finale

The bad news is - our friend Rhiannon is not the new "Elle Woods" on Broadway. She was cut at the beginning of last night's final episode of "Legally Blonde the Musical: The Search for Elle Woods." It was heartbreaking, but...we were expecting it.


We still think she has what it takes to play the role!

And would have been (in the words of one of the judges) "absolutely adorable" as Elle Woods! But, alas, it was not to be...THIS TIME! I have no doubt we'll see Rhiannon on Broadway at some point in her life!


Bailey Hanks (our second choice) will be starring on Broadway. She is a cute girl with plenty of Elle personality, some great dance moves, and a very nice (Disney princess) singing voice.


Break a leg, Bailey!


The good news is...Rhiannon will be playing Margot, Elle's best friend, in the Broadway touring company production of the show. We're REALLY hoping it will play somewhere out west, and we will go see it!


It sure has been fun to watch this show! Congratulations, Rhiannon!

The Search for Elle

Okay, so we haven't ever gotten into the whole "American Idol" thing, BUT...



We have been having a GREAT time watching MTV's "Legally Blonde The Musical: The Search for Elle Woods" for the past seven Monday nights (haven't missed an episode!)

No, we are not MTV fans. (I've actually never ever even watched MTV before this.) We weren't even fans of "Legally Blonde" - the movie. (Although after re-watching it recently, we realized it is pretty cute.) What motivated us to watch this show is that our friend, Rhiannon, who used to live in Boulder City and was in our school and church ward, is one of the finalists! She was chosen, along with fourteen other girls, from thousands who tried out, to replace the actress currently playing Elle Woods in "Legally Blonde The Musical" on Broadway. The first episode whittled the girls down to ten and Rhiannon was the LAST one of the ten chosen. As of last night, with next Monday being the final episode, Rhiannon is in the TOP THREE!


She is so charming, so cute, so talented, so SPARKLY! She has what they call the "IT Factor" and just BUBBLES with personality. She IS Elle Woods!! The judges aren't sure her voice is Broadway ready, but we're hoping the whole package sways them! Wow, it has been fun to watch her!

I told the girls if Rhiannon plays Elle Woods on Broadway, we ARE going to go see her! It's looking like I may possibly have to pay up!! I sure hope so!

Amy's Photos

Amy has been reading a lot about photography lately. As a result she has been taking lots of pictures.


She informed us she loves the look of old "industrial" looking buildings, smokestacks, and factories. I never thought of them as beautiful...


She liked the look of this old sign in a field across from an abandoned house she and her roommate visited.


She photographed this tenacious palm on our walk around the block a couple of weeks ago.


These rocks on Morro Bay beach tested the "macro" setting on her camera.

She's decided saving money for a new cool camera is high on her list...

But I enjoy seeing what she's doing with the not-so-cool camera she has now!

Kelly's Wedding

After checking into our motel last Saturday evening and throwing our wedding clothes on over our beach scraggle-ness we sprinted to the church for the wedding, which was supposed to start at 6pm. We arrived at 6:01...but then it didn't start till 7:00, as they were waiting for a late grandmother! The wedding was very beautiful and Kelly was beaming the whole time.


Jon and Kelly at the reception at Jon's parents' home.


Bride at groom at the head table.



Grandma Bonnie and Brenda frosted and decorated the cake. Stephanie helped with flowers.
What a masterpiece!

Grandma Bonnie and Grandpa Garth. (I wish I could have caught Bonnie ""hamming it up" just before this shot. She is a hoot!)


Jessica dumped her pink and white jelly beans on the ground, but she was determined to get every one of them back in her cup!


Dad and Amy posed at dinner.


And on the cool bridge in front of the house.


Brendan is all ready for the toast with his flute of apple juice.


And on a final note-I really liked the look of this house across the street from Kelly's new in-laws. I asked Dad if he would build me one. He said yes, if I took a picture of it. So here's the picture, Jeff. Do you think he'll build it??? :)

Morro Bay

After the big trees we drove across the state, on some beautiful, tiny, windy roads through some really pretty country-and some "middle of nowhere land" too-to the beach.


Amy with Morro Rock in the background.


Are these egrets? Or what? We are not birders. But they were cool!


More of the "egrets."


We got to watch a real "Baywatch" type rescue. Everyone was okay. That lifeguard was HOT. He needed to go for a swim to cool off...


Morro Rock from afar.


I have wanted to go to this quilt shop in Morro Bay ever since I read "Mariner's Compass" by Earlene Fowler and wondered if it was a real place. When I met Earlene at our local quilt shop she told me she based "The Fabric Patch" in the book on "The Cotton Ball" in Morro Bay. I looked up their address both this time and the last time we went and left it home by mistake both times!


When we were driving down the road to the beach this trip I just happened to see it! I made Dad and Amy stop on the way out of town. It is a really fun shop - home of the "surf quilter!" (See Rob Appel and "Adventures of a Surf Quilter at http://www.thecottonball.com/)

Then it was a race back across the state to our niece Kelly's wedding!

Big Trees

The largest living organism on the planet! And WE were there last weekend!


This is the "General Sherman" tree in Sequoia National Park, southeast of Fresno, and northeast of Bakersfield in California. It is 36.5 feet in diameter at the base and 274.9 feet tall. It could fit almost two of our family rooms in the bottom!


The funny thing is, next to all the other sequoias and redwoods in the forest, and with Amy and Jeff in front for reference, I don't even think it looks that big!


And while it is neither the tallest nor the widest tree in the world, it IS the largest living organism on the planet by volume. If you filled it with water it would hold enough water to provide you with a bath every day for 27 years! Whoa! That's a BIG tree!


We stopped along the road on the way into the park and Jeff and Amy hiked down to the middle fork of the Kawaeh River. I had finally succumbed to the nasty virus everyone else in the family had gotten sometime in the past two weeks, so I stayed on top and took pictures. This picture was taken with the zoom lens. It was quite a ways down.

This tunnel tree is over part of the trail up to the General Sherman.

Another thing to mark off on my "List of things to do Before I Die."