Birthday weekend

Last weekend was my birthday (26!) and both to celebrate that and to have one last "just us" vacation, Tim and I spent the weekend relaxing and doing only fun things. I picked most of the fun things (re: birthday) but it ended up being a completely wonderful weekend.

We kicked it off with dinner at Brick Oven and ice cream at our house with some friends, which was delicious and fun and I am sad I forgot to take any pictures, especially of the AMAZING balloon animal giraffe I got at Brick Oven for my birthday. It was by far the best balloon animal giraffe I've ever seen!

Saturday morning we slept in, then eventually packed up and headed first to IKEA, which is the happiest place on earth in my book. We browsed, ate lunch, and picked up a few things I'd been wanting. Then over to my other favorite place, H&M, where I scored three shirts for $12 because I had a gift card. And they all currently fit over my big belly! 

Then we headed up to Salt Lake and checked into our hotel and basically did nothing but relaxed and napped and enjoyed being in a cool, clean, quiet place. This photo about sums it up. 

The view from the window:

And the Hilton from the outside. Oh so swanky, no?

Over to Olive Garden for dinner (great food, not so great service) and then to Gourmandise for dessert (we also got some muffins for breakfast the next day). A very international day, huh? Then we got to watch some of the Olympics and THEN we went down to the pool. Uh-mazing. It was so nice to have all the weight lifted off my joints and just float for a little while. Tim was super nice and let me use him as a paddle board so I could really just float. Getting out was hard.

Here I am at almost 35 weeks in a new H&M shirt before we went to dinner:

 The results of Gourmandise: strawberry tart, bread pudding, and yummy muffins.

We slept in super late on Sunday, then headed over to my parents' house for a birthday lunch/dinner and presents. Then it was back to Salt Lake for the crowning event: Wicked!!! My mom got me tickets for Christmas and holy cow, they were amazing seats. Second row of the balcony, dead center. And the show was so good - Tim and I had both seen it before but not for awhile and never together, so we were super excited. The cast was amazing, the show wonderful, and we haven't stopped singing songs from it yet. It was the perfect way to end our weekend.

Happy 26th to me, and happy last vacation to us!

Go see The Drowsy Chaperone

I just have one thing to say: go see The Drowsy Chaperone at the Hale Center Theater in Orem. That's the whole message: go see it. Now. It only has a week before it closes and there aren't very many tickets left, but go. Drop whatever you're doing next week to make it happen. Even if you have to sit in a single seat and your husband/wife/best friend/significant other/parent/sibling has to sit on the other side of the theater in a far away single seat, go. It's worth it.

Okay really, all exaggeration aside, I'm completely serious. Tim surprised me with tickets tonight and I've really wanted to see the show because I've heard good things about it, but it completely surpassed all my expectations. It was the best musical comedy I've seen in...possibly ever. Perfectly performed, brilliantly scripted, and absolutely hilarious. I wish that we had seen it much earlier so that we could have told people about it sooner, because it's the kind of hilarity that you just have to share with everyone you know.

And I'm also serious about there not being many seats left. Tim and I had to buy single seats that were near each other (a very nice lady and her daughter offered to switch us so we could sit together) but even if we'd been far apart, we still would have enjoyed it as much as we did. And we may or may not be considering buying tickets again for next week, so you should too. The Drowsy Chaperone is amazing - go see it!

"Mr. Frank? Happy Memorial Day."

(The title is a quote from a musical. Points if you know which one!)

Unfortunately, I didn't get to do much for Memorial Day - I spent the very early morning hours throwing up and most of the day nibbling on saltine crackers and napping. But I have been thinking about some of the people who have passed away and whose graves I would like to visit today, if I could.

My Grandma Bushman was my father's grandmother, and she passed away when I was 13, I think. It was the first funeral I ever went to for someone I knew and was close to. She was over 90 years old when she passed away, and though it was sad to have her gone, I loved how much I got to know about her from the stories told at the funeral. When I think of her, I think of the Washington D.C. temple where she worked for a long time and of her fearlessly driving down the freeway at 70 mph when she could hardly see over the steering wheel.

My cousin Ian passed away when I was 16. He was only 13 and had lived with a heart/lungs condition all his life. It was not necessarily unexpected, but it was very sudden. When I think of Ian, I remember how he idolized Batman and how he loved to dress up as Batman with his oxygen tank in tow.

Grandpa Ed, my father's father, passed away during my first year of college. He had Parkinson's disease, and it was very hard to say goodbye. My sister and cousin and I got to sing "Homeward Bound" at the graveside service, and it has been a very special song ever since. I have so many memories of Grandpa Ed, of his paintings and his humor, trips to Monterey for his artist workshops, finding treats in his "magic cupboard," watching Santa's workshop in the snow. He always encouraged our talents, whether musical, artistic, or writing. It seems strange to me that Tim never met my Grandpa Ed, and I am so glad that we have some of his prints in our house.

Syd was my high school drama teacher, and she passed away very unexpectedly a year after I graduated from Orem High. It was so devastating to lose her -- she taught me everything I know about theater. She was able to extract from crazy high school students the most beautiful performances. She stretched us to be better in every rehearsal, and she cared about all of us. I count myself extremely lucky to have worked with her and learned from her for as long as I did.

I've written about Nigel before, but I especially remember him on Memorial Day. My tall, lanky cousin who was brave and honorable and absolutely dedicated to his dream of becoming a U.S. Marine. I am so proud of him, but I wish he was here so we could be proud of him in a different way.

I loved all of these people, and as I've been thinking about them today, the things I remember best are their passions -- for family history work, for Batman, for beauty and creativity, for theater and stories, for freedom. I hope that I can be remembered for the things I'm passionate about, and I hope I take away more than just memories from my time spent with them. I think in many ways that's what Memorial Day is about -- not only remembering those who have passed away, but recognizing how they touched our lives for good.

"They seek him here, they seek him there..."

Monday night, Tim and I sat entranced at the Hale Center Theater while The Scarlet Pimpernel unfolded around us. It was enchanting. It was wonderful. It was breathtaking--literally. There were several times that I realized I had been holding my breath during the songs. If you've never seen this play, please do. Soon, if possible. It's easily one of my top three favorite musicals of all time. It's got everything--daring adventures, passionate romance, hilarious disguises, life and death, and the most incredibly awesome costumes you've ever seen. Seriously. I would considering doing something illegal to obtain just one of those dresses--just one, mind you!

The Scarlet Pimpernel has been a favorite story of mine for many years now. I can't remember if I saw the movie first (probable) or read the book first (less likely), but I fell in love with it. I distinctly remember sitting in the car somewhere in Salt Lake, oblivious to my family around me, barely breathing as I raced through the novel completely enraptured. I finished what I still consider to be one of the most romantic chapters in all literature, put the book down, and sighed with my whole heart all aflutter. If you've never read this book, read it. Have patience with the descriptive paragraphs and enjoy being surprised by the original story.

I'll put in a plug for the movie too. The 1982 adaptation starring Anthony Andrews, Jane Seymour (Dr. Quinn, as she is better known), and Ian McKellen (Gandalf in his much younger years) is the best version, so far as I'm concerned. I haven't seen it in a long time, but I could still probably quote the better part of the movie to you right now. ("Oh, the English and their stupid sense of fair play...")

I absolutely love this play/movie/book. And I love sharing things I love with the people I love. (It's very lucky for Tim that he enjoyed the play almost as much as I did, because we ARE going to see it a second time.) So go ahead. Pick up the book. Listen to the music. See the play. Rent the movie. You're gonna love it, I promise.