In and Around St. George

There were lots of fun things to do in and around St. George on the Labor Day 2017 weekend. Michael's parents-in-law, Gay and Bevan Bastian, were guests at our St. George home, with their family.  Michael's wife, Heidi, planned a family reunion for the Bastians of hikes, games, and singing and dancing.  Our three days at the Shakespeare Festival overlapped the reunion by a day, so we got a bit of time with the Bastians, eating a French toast breakfast and listening to Gay sing Broadway show tunes, accompanied by Heidi.

We gorged on theater over Labor Day weekend, seeing six of the nine plays at the Utah Shakespeare Festival.

In "Midsummer Night's Dream", we especially enjoyed the "play within a play," which reminded us of the time Michael played Pyramus (or was it Thisbe?) in the Lowell Elementary School presentation of "Midsummer Night's Dream".  Alas, we missed "Romeo and Juliet", which would have reminded us of the time Jonny played Romeo.

 I had never seen Shakespeare's "As You Like It", and I was delighted to meet Rosalind, one of Shakespeare's strongest and wittiest heroines.

 I was surprised to enjoy "Shakespeare in Love" so much.  "Guys and Dolls" and "Shakespeare in Love" were my favorite plays of all those we saw.  "Shakespeare in Love" included many of the scenes and ideas of "Romeo and Juliet" (which the events of "Shakespeare in Love" supposedly inspired), but with language that was simpler than Shakespeare's Elizabethan poetry.

 "Guys and Dolls" was a charming musical, with beautiful singing and a half-believable love story.

 "Treasure Island" was a rollicking pirate tale, with some tongue-in-cheek humor.  It was especially interesting to Dave and me because it was written by Robert Louis Stevenson, one of the great Scottish authors about whom we had learned on our recent trip to Scotland.

 "William Shakespeare's Long Lost First Play" was a fun spoof of all Shakespeare's plots and characters.  My favorite scene was a supposed meeting of Hamlet and Lady MacBeth, in which Lady MacBeth couldn't understand why Hamlet was so hesitant to do a bloody deed!

 Cedar City has assembled a collection of unimposing storefront restaurants with very good food.  We ate dinner with our friends, Perry and Carolyn Merkley, at Chef Alfredo Ristorante Italiano.

 My fettuccine di mare (sp?) was delicious.

 We enjoyed talking about the Festival plays with Perry and Carolyn.

Another favorite Cedar City restaurant is Centro Wood-Fired Pizza.  Its pizza special was butternut squash with goat cheese.

Ben and Brittany's Wedding

The weekend of August 25, 2017, was wonderful family time, as Dave and I gathered with our children to share the wedding of Ben Moreland and Brittany Tennant.  Ben is the son of Dave's sister, Janice.  One happy surprise was our daughter Lisa's son, Michael, and his wife, Rebekah, driving from Rexburg, Idaho, for the reception.  

 We began the wedding parties with a picnic Friday night at the International Peace Gardens.  Ben and Brittany are such an attractive, talented couple!  Ben is just back from a mission to the Philippines and is becoming a software engineer.  Brittany recently finished an MBA and is working with a healthcare consulting company.

 We enjoyed the marriage in the Salt Lake Temple, and then the fun bridal customs afterwards.  We waited for Ben and Brittany to emerge into the Temple garden and gave them a rousing cheer.  We then took family wedding pictures by the Temple doors.

It was a special treat to have Mike and Heidi, Camille and Steve join us for the temple ceremony and pictures afterwards.

 Ben's sister, Charlotte, and her husband, Tony, brought their two little boys, Jet and Dax, to greet their uncle and his bride.

 Nancy, Janice's sister, is still on her mission to Nauvoo, but Nancy's children--Jennifer, Jane, Jared, and Jacob--came to enjoy the wedding with us.  Nancy's daughter, Jane, had just gone through the temple for the first time herself, and we enjoyed sharing a temple wedding ceremony with her.

 Camille always looks beautiful and stylish.

Nancy's son, Jacob Moench, has a big smile and a son who looks exactly like Jacob did as a little boy.

 Ben and Brittany's wedding reception was held at Sparks, a vintage building in downtown Salt Lake.

 It was a very fun party, with dancing, a "getting to know the bride and groom" game, and a cheese, fruit, and cake buffet.

 Janice's new husband, Mark McCready, was home from Afghanistan for two weeks.  He works as an air traffic controller at a US Air Force base there.  Janice has three handsome sons, including Joshua, on her right.

 Janice's son, Daniel, has just moved to SLC from Texas with his wife, Elise.

 Joshua was at the reception with his whole family, including Ashley, Finn, and new baby Cohen.

 Finn experimented with the tiny bottle of bubbles given to each guest.

 This was a relaxed party, with children welcome.  Jacob Moench's daughter played blocks with Charlotte Alvey's son.

When it was time for Ben and Brittany to leave, the guests blew a wall of bubbles for them to walk through!

Salmon, Oatcakes, and a Highland Cow

One of my very favorite things is cooking fancy Sunday dinners and eating them with family and friends.  On August 20, 2017, I served my Scottish dinner to Mike and Heidi, Camille and her family, and Alan Dale and Shauna.

The tables were decorated with my beloved stuffed Scottish animals--a highland cow, mountain sheep, mouse, hedgehog, mouse, and piggy.  I used tartan wool scarves as table runners.

 As an appetizer,  I made oatcakes and served them with cheese and chutney.  That was a dish on menus all over Scotland.

 The entree was salmon with pesto cream sauce and "tatties"--mashed potatoes.  I added a caprese salad (sliced tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil), and that entree was also on menus all over Scotland.

 Annelise and Sophia are getting prettier and prettier.

 Mia and Ezra enjoyed the stuffed mountain sheep and hedgehog on their table.

Camille has a new Church calling as "compassionate service leader."  She arranges for taking dinners to women with new babies or who have been ill, and she gives tender attention to the 15 elderly women in her ward.

Girls' Camp

I finally made it to Girls' Camp.  Our Emigration Stake Relief Society went on a two-day retreat to LDS Girls Camp high in the mountains east of Heber City, Utah, on August 19 and 20, 2017.  Many of the 175 attendees stayed overnight, but I couldn't face sleeping in a bunkhouse with a dozen other women and having no shower.  My friend, Julie Monson, and I drove back and forth to camp on Friday night and Saturday morning.  At 1 1/2 hours each way, that gave us six hours to talk!  Many other dear friends attended the camp with me, including Quinette Hensaw, pictured above.

 The view from the Girls Camp road back to Heber City was spectacular.

 Good friends Robyn Petty, Quinette Henshaw, and Quinette's daughter sat with me in the outdoor amphitheater after dinner on Friday night, to hear speakers talk about finding "holiness" in our lives.

 I tagged along behind Julie Monson.  Julie knows everyone and always has a story and a smile.

 It was good to see Holly Young, a longtime neighbor who has recently moved from our ward.  Holly loves camp and singing songs accompanied by her guitar.  "This is who I am," she said, as we walked to the amphitheater after dinner.  "I love being out-of-doors and not too clean!"

 My favorite speaker Saturday morning was my cousin, Judy Edwards.  She told about the "holiness" she brings into her life through working in the SL Temple.

Melinda Rich, one of the many single adults attending the Relief Society Retreat, was a high school friend of Michael's and a member of the ward Heidi attended before marrying Michael.  Melinda taught a great genealogy workshop.  We discovered, during the workshop, that Melinda and I are relatives and that she has many Eyring treasures, such as copies of letters my Great-grandfather, Henry Eyring, wrote to his sister, Clara, after she stayed behind in Germany when Henry came to America.  Melinda agreed to share.