Concerts in the Park!

Tonight I went to a concert in Pioneer Park in Salt Lake City. She & Him! But first we had to find a good spot and wait. We played my new (from a thrift store) travel Scrabble and I lost spectacularly. Maybe my sister Glarcy will play with me now that she realizes that she can cream me. We also had a little picnic while we played. I made Jello. I love how it jiggles.

Finally, the opening band came on, the Dum Dum Girls. They weren't exactly my thing, so I read some Jeeves while I waited for the main attraction. When the Dum Dum Girls stopped singing, the guy in charge stood up and listed every business in the greater Salt Lake area and several of their employees as a thanks. Finally, She and Him! It was really fun, although we almost got trampled! Oh well. Zooey Deschanel was fun to see. I liked watching her bounce around with her tambourine. Once she got tired, one of her backup singers did the jumping and tambourine banging. Eventually, the smell of peoples' alcohol was and the jostling became unbearable. She sang some of my favorite songs, especially "Black Hole."

Twelve-step programs

They say the first step is admitting you have a problem. Maybe that's my difficulty. I can see that I have a condition, a situation. Most of me thinks it's not really a big problem, though. Yesterday I bought 5 books from Savers. I am excited to read them. I already started The World is Flat. I weeded out 3 or 4 other interesting looking books just on principle. Mostly because my mom was with me and asked where I was going to keep all these books. Luckily my cousin was there and asked for one I was going to buy but had already read. I decided to share the joy.

So. Do I start attending Book Buyers Anonymous? I just don't ever see how more books can be a bad thing. Even in Texas, when I realized that I would have to cart all those heavy things back to Utah, I considered the difficulties and bought books anyway.

Lesson 13: The Priesthood

I just got asked to teach the Relief Society lesson on Sunday. It's last minute, and the education counselor apologized, but I totally understand. Sometimes teachers bow out last minute. Anyway, I am really excited because I have enjoyed teaching RS in the past. I am also a little nervous because it's been a while since I've taught. So here's the lesson.

Anyone who has any thoughts, experiences, ideas on how a lesson on the priesthood from the Gospel Principles manual can be taught to a bunch of young single adult sisters is welcome to share. Nay, invited; beseeched!

I can see blue sky when it's raining.

Seriously.

It happened yesterday.

I was floating down the Provo river in an inflatable kayak, minding my own business, recovering from capsizing just minutes earlier (I don't recommend this; it was so cold I couldn't breathe), when suddenly I felt some water droplets. I thought at first that it was from my oar splashing in and out of the water but then my friend yelled that it was raining. I looked around and I could see drops hitting the water around me. I looked up to blue skies and one tiny, wispy, white cloud. The raindrops didn't even look like they were coming from the cloud. I watched as they came down, and it looked like they were forming right out of the air. It was awesome.

The only man in the room

I did many fun things last week, and, had I written them down earlier, I would have remembered some good stories to tell. As it is, I have a few. Tuesday last week I went with some friends to Spiral Jetty! It was so much fun and so interesting. Every time I have gone it has been different. This time the jetty and the land it sits on were completely dry. The water didn't even really come near. We had to walk out a ways to get to the water. The water was very shallow for quite a ways (to be expected in the GSL, where the whole lake is shallow), but it was separated, almost into pools, by raised lines of mud. Sticking out of the mud were gypsum crystals, which looked pretty surreal. All in all, we had a wonderfully salty, wet good time. Afterwards, we hiked a little hike at Golden Spike National Park, and saw a little gopher snake, which was awesome and a black widow spider, which was not so awesome.

A couple of days later, I was at a wedding reception where the parents of the bride wanted everyone to open the bottles of sparkling cider to have a toast. Nobody could open their bottles, and nobody had any tools to open their bottles. At our table, I pulled out my Swiss Army Knife and we opened our bottle. People noticed what we were doing and asked to borrow the knife. Soon the knife was passed around the whole room. I was shocked. I was the only man in the room!

Finally, tonight Jessi and I made churros from a mix. They were very tasty, but not as good as from a restaurant. We are now committed to perfecting our churro making skills.