Dave and Gretta

Shakespeare and the Mob

Dave and I had tickets to four plays at the Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City over Labor Day weekend, and we also circled down to Las Vegas to check out the new Mob Museum. It was a lot of violence and drama squeezed into just four days!

Our very favorite of the four plays was "Julius Caesar," produced in the new, 250 seat theater, which surrounds the stage. The play was produced in modern dress, as a political event. At the beginning of the play, party organizers led the audience in chanting, "Hail, Caesar! Hail, Caesar!" The play felt like a crazy, modern political campaign run amok (sort of like watching Trump on TV and wondering what will happen next).

Two of our plays, "Henry V" and "Much Ado About Nothing", were produced in the new, outdoor Shakespearean theater.

I had never seen "Much Ado About Nothing before", and I enjoyed experiencing one of Shakespeare's strongest, wittiest characters, Beatrice, with her lover Benedict.

I especially enjoyed "Mary Poppins". I had always thought of it as a charming, frothy children's musical, but this production emphasized the pathos at the center of the story--a rigid father, frustrated wife, and neglected children trying to find themselves, with Mary Poppins helping out.

Our new home teacher, Parry Merkley, was in Cedar City with his wife, Caroline, while we were there, and we ate dinner with the Merkleys at Milt's Stage Stop, up the canyon towards Brianhead. Parry is the creative director for the Church-affiliated advertising firm which produces ads for the missionary campaigns. Parry created the "I am a Mormon" campaign.

We spent a day in Las Vegas, with our first stop at the Williams-Sonoma outlet at Prim. It was a wonderland of cake decorating kits, pizza stones, and linen napkins. Dave arrived in time to see me at the checkout stand with a shopping cart heaped high and bulging at the seams. I assured him that the total bill would be less than $250. It was--and most of the items are for my Christmas table.

The Bellagio buffet was a must. Someday we will have to take Heidi. The buffet scared off two of Michael's former girlfriends, but we think Heidi now has a strong enough relationship with Michael to survive the buffet and remain a Spendlove! (Actually, we aren't sure what caused those break-ups, but they occurred shortly after eating at the buffet)

When we visit the Bellagio, we always check out the garden show in the Conservatory. This time it had an "under the sea" theme, with fishes made of flowers. A little odd....

We loved the Mob Museum in downtown Las Vegas. It was very interactive, with lots of film clips, including original footage of the St. Valentine's Massacre in the 1920s and a segment on "Mobsters in Hollywood," with clips from films like "The Godfather."

We couldn't visit the courtroom where the Kefauver hearings into mob violence were held because there was a wedding underway! On the steps of the museum, we saw the wedding party, dressed in mobster suits, including black shirts and white suspenders! Las Vegas has everything....

At the Cabin with Tom Hanks

After all of the fun wedding parties for Michael K and Rebekah, Dave and I crashed at the cabin during the weekend of August 28, 2016. We overdosed on segments of "The Pacific", a history of the World War II campaigns in the Pacific, produced by Tom Hanks. The 10-segment series was first shown on the HBO channel.

I took with me huge piles of ironing, including all the tablecloths and napkins from the wedding showers and parties. It was a great weekend, ironing and watching movies in a cabin in the mountains.

Seattle Reception

Michael and Rebekah's wedding reception in Seattle on August 20, 2016 was a beautiful, happy event, with some poignant moments. Julie White helped with the reception. She is the mother of Derek White, a close friend of Michael's who died just a year ago in a car crash on his way to start college at BYU.

Spencer was the photographer for the reception. His fiancé, Naomi (below, with friends), arranged the armloads of purple and pink flowers from Pike Market.

The reception was held in the garden of the Johns home, where Kirsten worked this summer.

The flowers were breathtaking.

The food was breathtaking, too (in the opinion of the chefs, Camille, Gretta, and Lisa). It was a buffet of baked salmon, tortellini and pesto salad, fruit salad with lime dressing, green salad with artichoke hearts and hearts of palm, croissants with homemade raspberry jam, two flavors of homemade ice cream (strawberry and mango), and two varieties of cookies (mint brownies and lemon bars).

Lisa floated 200 lighted candles in the Johns' swimming pool.

The "cul de sac kids" came--Bryce's and Alyssa's good friends from down the street.

The Nielsons were there--Spencer's second parents and good friends to the whole Flindt family.

The Adams family are special friends of Michael.

Kyle and Lisa greeted guests at the entrance to the garden.

When there was a pause in the crowd, Camille and Gretta sat down to enjoy their handiwork. "It's all so good," Camille said. "I can't decide what's best. Why wouldn't everyone cook the food for their children's receptions?"