The Couple that Sees Plays Together

 Today is Scotty's and my 18th wedding anniversary. 

Obligatory wedding photo

We celebrated yesterday by seeing Les Miserables at Hale Centre Theatre. It was so wonderful to go to a show. I've been craving a theater experience, and after a pandemic year, it was pretty emotional to sit in my seat before the show and feel the spirit of performance. 

I'd never seen Les Mis on stage. Can you believe that? I've read the unabridged book and the abridged book. I've seen the Liam Neeson movie, the Hugh Jackman movie, and the BBC mini series. I've listened to several different cast recordings from the musical, but until yesterday I'd never seen a stage production of Les Miserables. 

It was a great way to celebrate our anniversary. We followed up with sushi at Tsunami, and then Scotty took the kids to Wendy's for their dinner while I stayed home and ate rocky road ice cream and beat levels 17 & 18 of Dr. Mario. 

(Did I mention that we opted for a 12:30 matinee because we are honorary old people, and we can’t go out with the “late” crowds?)

Going to Hale Theatre made me think of all the plays Scotty and I have seen together. I wouldn't consider us avid theater goers, but we enjoy seeing something theatrical once or twice a year. This morning we talked about which plays we've seen together and tried to compile a list. I'm sure we're missing some, but here are the ones we remembered:

The first play we saw together (we think) was one put on by our stake. We don't remember the name, but it was something "Zion-ish." Another possible first play was one written by a guy I went to high school with. Scotty and I went and saw it to fulfill an assignment for my humanities class. It was about Marco Polo (not the app). Those are our earliest theater experiences.

Then came a doozy… the time Scotty decided to surprise me for Valentine’s Day. He planned the activity - a double date with a mystery couple. Dinner and a play! We went to see the Adventures of Tom Sawyer at Hale Theatre… with Scotty’s mom and step-dad. Scotty learned, very thoroughly, that you don’t “surprise” me with a double date on Valentine’s Day with your parents. 

Those were all while we were dating. After we got married, we saw The Forgotten Carols a couple of times. I’m pretty sure we saw A Christmas Carol at Hale Theatre (Scotty can’t remember). And I think we’ve seen the Martin Harris pageant in Clarkston together.

Our stake did a production of Fiddler on the Roof (we saw that one with no air conditioning). We went to an old sugar factory turned playhouse and saw Scotty’s cousin in The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (I was pregnant, and there were no bathrooms in the theater, but they had the cleanest, most spacious porta potties I’ve ever had the chance to use). 

While we were in West Yellowstone pre-kids, we saw The Foreigner at the Playmill Theater. I think the Playmill has since moved to a new location, but when we went there, it was the most claustrophobic theatre I’d ever been in (I swear the ceiling was a mere two inches from my head), and I thought I was going to have a panic attack, but it ended up being a great experience, and we loved the play!

When Nicky was about five, Scotty and I took him to his first play - Mary Poppins - at the Tuachan in Saint George. We’ve seen Aladdin and Frozen at Disney’s California Adventure. I found both of them very impressive, so they definitely “count.”

A few years ago we took Nicky to see Newsies at Hale Theatre. Then one year for Halloween, my in-laws took us to the Addams Family at Hale. We saw the first fifteen minutes, and then the fire alarms went off, and we had to vacate the theater. We got compensatory tickets and returned a few months later and saw Sessical. It was fun, but a little silly for my taste. Great for the kids though (we took Nicky and Daisy). 

Of course, we saw Hamilton when it came to Eccles Theater and then again in San Francisco. We also saw Wicked during its most recent run at Eccles. I loved it, but our seats were terrible. I want a Wicked do-over! And this time, I want Scotty to STAY AWAKE!!

(Seriously, who sleeps during Wicked?)

(Oh, just the man I’ve been married to for 18 years).

That probably sums up the plays we’ve seen together. I’ve seen lots of plays without Scotty. In junior high, my English class was able to attend several Pioneer Theater Company productions, and I’ve been to some plays with my friends for girls’ nights.

As I mentioned, I’d like to see Wicked again with better seats. I’ve never seen Phantom of the Opera on stage (we almost saw it in Vegas several years ago but ended up deciding not to). I’ve seen Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, but Scotty hasn’t and I think he’d love it. I can take or leave The Music Man, but if someone gave me tickets to see it with Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster, I’d be easily convinced to go and would probably become the greatest Music Man fan on earth. There are a lot more plays I’d love to see, so hopefully we have many opportunities in the future!

Happy 18th Anniversary, Scotty!

Our Unusual Gardening Tools

Once upon a time, Scotty and I put a garden in our backyard and adopted the Square Foot Gardening method. We gardened with both success and failure for a few years. It was great! Then I went back to school and got pregnant, and we took two summers off gardening, and the garden grew weeds that were 5' tall, and our chickens dug all the dirt out of our garden boxes, and our peach tree died, and the garden was never quite the same. 

We've been working on rehabilitating our garden for the past few summers, and this year we've made some really good progress. It's taken years, but we've sifted all the dirt out of the gravel, moved all the boxes, transferred the dirt, and moved all the rocks. We still have some work to do, but we got to the point where we've been able to plant! Sadly, we missed the first wave of planting and didn't get our cold weather crops in this year, but we're just in time for the warm weather crops!

We're trying corn for the first time (we've always been lucky to have farm corn. Uncle Fred still hooks us up each year, but it's time to become self-reliant in that area). I'm trying to plant it in phases so it ripens at different times. We planted some herbs, some tomatoes, some peppers, and several vining fruits and veggies. We used to have a decent strawberry bed... but chickens... so I got a bunch of strawberry starts from my neighbor which should fill in nicely over the next couple of seasons. It feels so nice to be gardening again. We've planted the last two or three summers, but our soil levels in our boxes were really low, and the dirt lacked nutrients, so our yield wasn't fantastic (but it got us through). This year, we have added fresh Mel's Mix to all our boxes and will hopefully have better luck. Unfortunately, it's only been three days since we started planting, and something has already munched on our plants, and we don't know what creature we're up against! Sneaky thing! Are you a bird? Are you a snail? Are you a rodent of unusual size?

Yesterday while I was working in the garden, I realized that we have some pretty funny gardening "tools."

Two of our most-used gardening "tools" are the arrow and the broom.

When we first started square foot gardening, I drove nails into the garden boxes at 1' intervals, and I would use them to run yarn across the boxes to make a 4' x 8' grid for planting. Then I got kind of annoyed with cleaning up the yarn every season, so I started just drawing the lines in the dirt instead. I really only need the grid just long enough to plant, so the yarn started to seem inconvenient and time consuming (though it looked pretty cool strung across the boxes). 

An old, broken arrow is a great drawing tool to make the grids. 

The arrow is also nice for poking holes in the dirt to put seeds in. 

Yesterday it took me a while to find the arrow, and I was quite distraught! Luckily I eventually located it leaning against the shed. 

Several years ago I ran over our broom and broke half the handle off. It's been floating around our garage ever since. The broom is awesome for smoothing out the dirt. As we've been shoveling fresh Mel's Mix into our boxes, we've needed to do some stirring, which creates hills and lumps. After we finish shoveling and stirring, we just take that handy broken broom and smooth everything out. 

Another handy "tool" we have in the garden is an old pond form. We use it to hold dirt - kind of like a wheelbarrow without wheels. We've also filled it up with weeds and garbage. 

The pond form doubles as a swimming pool for our kids. Win/Win!

Last but not least, we have a rabbit cage, which we use to sift rocks. 

Five years ago our friends moved to Minnesota, and they left their rabbits with us... which we kind of killed. Well, maybe not. They pulled a Romeo and Juliet on us and died together on a hot day. Now we use their cage to sift the dirt out of our gravel, and frankly, we can't live without it. 

I think I should start my own line of gardening tools. Watch out, Martha Stewart! 

I'm feeling so grateful for our little chunk of land - a yard where we can put forth an effort to grow some of our own food. It never feels like the most economical choice (we spend far more money on plants, seeds, water, and manure than we would for a summer's worth of produce from the market), but it's pretty satisfying to put something in the ground and watch it grow - then serve it for dinner and think, "With my arrow and my rabbit cage, I did this!" 

On Spiritual Gifts

This week in the Come Follow Me curriculum, one of the topics is spiritual gifts, from Doctrine & Covenants 46:8, which says, "...seek ye earnestly the best gifts, always remembering for what they are given."

One of the gifts mentioned in the scriptures is the gift of tongues, which is written about in Moroni 10 (Book of Mormon), 1 Corinthians 12, and Doctrine & Covenants 46. The gift of tongues has usually been understood to refer to an ability to learn and express oneself in a different language. Many missionaries are blessed with the gift of tongues as they minister in foreign countries. It's pretty miraculous that individuals can immerse themselves in a new language for a short time and become fluent. I took French for five years, and all I can say is, "Voulez vous coucher avec moi ce coir?" and I didn't have to take a class to learn that. 

(Okay, that's not entirely true. I can also say, "Je suis un ananas" and recite a poem about snails going to a funeral).

Actual footage of me using my spiritual gifts to bless God's children

Anyway, the other day I was at the park with some friends, and they were discussing their desire to learn Spanish. I, too, would love to learn Spanish, but I don't have a knack for languages. I didn't pick up well on French. Now granted, I wasn't immersed in it, and immersion definitely makes a big difference, but I know myself well enough to realize that I don't have a "gift" for learning a foreign language. Therefore, I've always assumed I don't have the gift of tongues. Maybe someday I'll be called on a mission, and I'll be blessed beyond my natural ability to learn another language, but thus far in my life, it's just not there. 

However...

A while ago, I read the book Seekers Wanted by Anthony Sweat, and there is a chapter on spiritual gifts, and he said something that made me think a bit differently about the gift of tongues. He defined the gift of tongues as:

"The spiritual gift to speak in a celestial language to express heavenly concepts, or to clearly communicate gospel truths in a way that is understandable to those who do not speak the way you do" (103). 

That definitely embraces learning and speaking languages, but I think it can also include clear communication in our own tongue. Even when we speak the same language, we don't all use the same words or describe things in the same way. Many times in my life, I've heard someone express a gospel concept or bear testimony in a way I hadn't thought of before, making gospel truths clearer to me. There have been times when I heard something expressed in a way that made me go, "Yes! That! I didn't have the words to put it that way, but that's it!" Perhaps that is a gift of tongues just as much as a gift for speaking foreign languages. If so, maybe it's not a gift I've been exempt from. 

Some additional verses in D&C 46 that have impacted me are verses 13&14:

"To some it is given by the Holy Ghost to know that Jesus Christ is the son of God, and that he was crucified for the sins of the world. To others it is given to believe on their words, that they also might have eternal life if they continue faithful."

A while ago, I wrote a post about how I do not know that there is a God, but I'm pretty darn sure there is. While reading those scriptures a few years back, I felt strongly that my role in the gospel is not to know. 

My role is to believe. 

My gift is to believe. 

There are those who are blessed with the gift to know. I am blessed with the gift to believe. And the more I learn and grow, the more I realize that it suits me to not "know." It pushes me and challenges my spiritual intellect to not "know," but to be pretty darn sure. 

I have always loved the topic of spiritual gifts, and I have enjoyed seeking spiritual gifts. I've discovered a lot of my own spiritual gifts through studying my patriarchal blessing and praying. I've also been blessed to benefit from the spiritual gifts of others. Some of the gifts I've appreciated in other people are:

• the gift to "see" others 
• the gift of music
• the gift of a calming presence
• the gift of expressing love
• the gift of connecting with children 
• the gift of charity
• the gift of listening
• the gift of creating order
• the gift of perspective taking
• the gift of bringing people together

I wouldn't mind acquiring a few more of those gifts myself. They won't get me a spot on America's Got Talent, but it's the lesser noticed gifts and talents that sometimes have the biggest impact. 

How to Leave a Comment From Your Phone

Many years ago, a blogger I used to follow had her blog designed by a local company here in Utah. At her recommendation, I decided to look into having my blog done as well - having it designed, customized, managed, etc. I contacted the company and they gave me a starting bid of $12,000!!!

TWELVE THOUSAND DOLLARS!

At that time, I'd never even owned a $12,000 car!

Needless to say, I stuck with Blogger. 

Blogger has been around for a long time. That's where I started blogging, but then I moved to Wordpress for a while. Then Blogger improved a lot of their features, so I moved back to Blogger where I've been since 2012. It's free. It's all I need. 

Blogger has been great, but it has some glitches. I've had several people tell me that they've tried to leave a comment on my blog, but the comment doesn't seem to go through. I've had this problem, too, in trying to leave comments on other people's Blogger-powered blogs. It seems to be an issue with the mobile version of Blogger (I'm not sure why Blogger, in this day and age, isn't more cell phone friendly, but maybe it has to do with the fact that people aren't paying $12,000 to use it). 

So if you ever care to leave a comment and will be doing so from your phone, here's what I have found. 

The mobile version of my blog will look something like this on your cell phone:

If you scroll down to the bottom, you'll see the option to switch to the "web version."

After you click there, my blog looks more like this:

Now you can see my profile picture, and you have some additional navigating options in the right-hand column, such as labels and date selection. Once you're looking at the web version of my blog, click on the "comments" at the bottom of the post you would like to comment on.

This will bring up the comment box, and you are free to comment to your heart's content. If you have a google account, you can use that. If you don't have a google account, you can just select the "name/URL" option.

You will have to prove you're not a robot (the worst part!), and if you pass the robot test, your comment should go through without issue. It goes onto the blog and into my email account. I don't know why it doesn't work from the mobile version, but it works from the web version. Hopefully someday Blogger will get that fixed, but in the meantime, if you'd like to leave a comment, this is one way to do it. You can also leave comments on my facebook page - which a lot of you do!

(You could always practice right now).

(How's that for fishing for comments?)

Currently {May 2021 Edition}

 Reading:

I have a stockpile of Amazon First Reads in my Kindle app, so I've been working my way through them this year. If you have an Amazon Prime account, make sure you check out the First Reads options every month and get your free e-book! Just a reminder, you don't have to have a Kindle. I use the Kindle app on my iPhone, and I have it linked with my Goodreads account so I can access all my highlights in Goodreads. 

Technology... so complicated, yet so amazing.

Watching:

I haven't read the Shadow and Bone series (also known as the Grisha series) by Leigh Bardugo, but I listened to the audiobook for Six of Crows (which is the first in a companion duology to the Grisha series) last year. Unfortunately, I listened to it with COVID brain, and was kind of distracted, so when I tried listening to the second book, Crooked Kingdom, my mind just flatlined, and I couldn't remember what happened in the first book, so I gave up... knowing I could watch the Netflix series someday. Alas, the Netflix series has arrived. The show combines the Grisha series and the Six of Crows duology.

Buying: Mother's Day, teacher appreciation, and birthday gifts. May is a big month for gifting!

Craving: a cherry Pepsi with nugget ice in a styrofoam cup from Maverick. I'm back on the sauce. 

Trying: to set some goals for the month of May (accountability post to follow). I've been rather low-achieving so far this year, so I need to push myself to get a few things accomplished. 

Singing: "What Lovers Do" by Maroon 5. 

Listening to: 

The Cay was one of my favorite books from childhood. I bought a copy from the DI a while ago to read to my kids, but I never got around to it. Yesterday I decided to listen to the audiobook on Overdrive while I cleaned, and I love it just as much! I'll finish it today. Next in queue is Greenlights by Matthew McConaghey, which came in on Overdrive just this morning. I've never been much a fan, but I've heard enough good things about the book to give it a try. It sounds like his book has been a pleasant surprise to many, so I'm hoping it is for me, too! Let's see if MM can convert me to fandom.

Needing: to clean under my family room couch. I have a feeling there are a lot of socks and pencils under there. 

Annoyed by: the inconvenient task of activating new credit cards and having to go into all the accounts to update them. 

Playing: Dr. Mario. I'm inspired by Nicky's girlfriend who can beat the highest level of Dr. Mario at the highest speed. Here I am worried that blogging is my "immature" hobby while I've been sneaking to the family room late at night to play Nintendo...

(Did I just discreetly mention that my son has a girlfriend? Why, yes, I did. #thingsIcantblogabout)

Working on: My Dr. Mario skills. Obviously.

Struggling with: motivation to eat healthy. Let's just say I've had a few weeks of way too much fast food. 

Eating: anything I want. 

Looking forward to: June. May is crazy. It's full of good things, but I'll be glad when it's over. 

Worried about: keeping my kids busy during the summer. I'm already stressing about how to keep electronic use under control and how to get my kids to help around the house. I feel pre-tired. I'm already worn out from summer, and it hasn't started yet. 

Lately I've been realizing how lacking my kids are in their skills. There is so much I haven't taught them. So this summer, I really want to focus on skills. "Summer of Skills."

I need to find the energy to drag the kids around the house and be like, "Okay, folks! This is how you clean a window. This is how you boil pasta. This is how you get a stain out of your shirt. This is how you answer a phone."

(My kids don't understand that you need to say "Hello" to initiate a phone conversation. They just pick up the phone and breathe in it. I always have to tell them to say hello. How many years do I need to instruct them to say hello before they finally understand?" Dear World, these children are my gift to you. You're welcome!)

Enjoying: being back to church! We just started having primary again last Sunday! I got to return to my calling (I'm the music leader for the children's organization - children from 18 months to 11 years old), and it was an absolute joy. I was a little out-of-practice after a year away, but it felt so good to be there. I feel bad for everyone who wasn't able to come to primary last week because it was the best place to be! The last time we had primary was March 1, 2020 (due to stake conference being the following week). 

The kids were amazing. We are still asked to wear masks to church in our area, which I thought would really affect the children's singing, but it wasn't too bad. They sang beautifully! I had permission to wear a face shield so the kids could see my mouth, and that worked pretty well once I got use to sounding like Darth Vadar. The kids were spread out - ideally we are asked to have them three feet apart - and I have to say... we should have done that years ago. Not being able to touch each other is the greatest thing to happen to a room full of primary kids! Ha ha!

But we'll see what happens as they start getting more comfortable with being back in primary. The chaos will break through eventually!

Wearing: sweatpants and a t-shirt that says "Happy Camper." Always the trendsetter. 

Feeling: really good. As far as my Mystery Condition goes, I just have a couple of lingering issues - "leftovers," if you will. I have a bit of restless leg, and I have some trouble with my knees. But other than that, I am feeling so great. I would say I'm 95% pain free. I need to start building strength back up in my arms and legs now. I'm very weak after nearly three months of limited mobility. 

Grateful for: a yard. I love having a little patch of earth to call my own. We've been getting our garden planted this week, and I'm thankful to have the space and resources to do that. 

May the Fourth Be With You

The librarian at my kids' school is a big Star Wars fan (proof: she has a Star Wars room in her house. A room!) Because of her enthusiasm for Star Wars, all my kids came home from school yesterday talking about "Star Wars Day." 

"Tomorrow is Star Wars Day! And I don't even have a Star Wars shirt!"

"Mom, just a reminder… tomorrow  is Star Wars Day!"

"What should we do for Star Wars Day? Oh! I have an idea! Let's hang out and think about Star Wars!"

I got a chuckle over all their commentary and concern.

This morning, Zoe came into my room at 6:30 (her usual routine) and told me she needed to watch the new Simpsons short on Disney+ because it was for Star Wars Day. Then she asked, "Mom, is Star Wars Day an actual holiday?" I explained to her that no, May the Fourth is not an actual holiday but something the internet created that we may choose to enjoy. 

(Remember how we used to blame the greeting card companies for all the holidays? I think things have gone way beyond greeting card sales in our modern era). 

Anyway, May the Fourth got me thinking about my own relationship with Star Wars. Frankly, I neither love nor hate Star Wars. I didn't see the original movies until I was in my thirties, so I missed out on the joy of growing up with them. Scotty and I watched The Force Awakens, and I've seen about five minutes of The Phantom Menace. That's kind of the extent of things for me. 

My greatest take-away from Star Wars is the awesome memes that have come from it:

I enjoyed seeing Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge at Disneyland for the first time in 2019. I didn't "get" most of it because I don't know The Things, but it was a cool atmosphere and visually captivating. At that time, the only ride open was Smugglers Run, which I didn't much care for, but I've heard Rise of the Resistance is pretty awesome, so I look forward to trying that out someday. 

Nicky recently watched the original movies, and it was hysterical to hear him report his thoughts. When he found out Luke and Leia were brother and sister, he lost it! It took him days to recover. 

"But they kissed!" he said. 

"I know. It troubles me too!" I replied.

Whatever level of fandom you observe, I hope you’ve had a fantastic Star Wars Day… or Tuesday. May the fourth be with you!

Running Out of Time

Today I'm going to write like I'm running out of time... because my laptop is almost dead, and I can't find my charger. A normal occurrence for me, as I am the most disorganized organized person you'll ever meet. I'm sure I put it in that "safe place" where I always put things that I don't want to lose or forget about. Can someone remind me where that "safe place" is? 

Normally I'd do a "currently" post about now, but formatting said post would steal precious battery life, so I'm just diving in and I'll write whatever I can get out before my computer gives me my final warning - the one that says, "No, really! I'm going to die any second!"

A thought... lately I've been feeling a little self-conscious about having a blog. I go through this thing every now and then where I wonder if it's totally stupid that I'm "X" years old and still have a blog. "Hi, I'm Britt! I'm almost 40, and I habitually write about myself on the internet!" This isn't a thing real grown-ups do for a hobby, is it? I mean, there's the whole "influencer" thing, but those folks are making mega income. The only profit I've made from blogging was a $25 gift card from Yahoo for allowing them to use a video clip of Nicky (found via my blog) in a compilation video they were creating. I don't think blogging for fun is a thing anymore, and yet, here I am! Living like it's still 2007!

My screen just darkened, meaning I'm in the first phase of lap top shut-down. Quick! I must upload a photo before my computer turns off. It needn't be relevant to the post. It's just a frill to break up the text. 

This.

(I also just got the notification from my phone that it's about to die. Clearly I live dangerously!)

Back to that self-conscious-about-blogging thing... I thought about throwing in the towel. Every now and then I wonder if it's time to move on. But ya know what? I love blogging. This has become my life history. I keep a journal where I document more private things, but my blog has given me a place to be a little more creative in my writing, and I like being able to do that. So I guess I shouldn't worry about it. I do worry, though, about offending people or writing things that I will later regret. When I read back over my earliest posts (beginning over 15 years ago!) I am so embarrassed! But at least I can see that I've learned and changed a lot since I was 21. Someday I'll be able to look back and see how dumb I was at age 37. 

In other news, I put dinner in the crock pot this morning and cooked it for two hours on OFF. 

Have I told you that I'm the most disorganized organized person around? I'm organized enough to have dinner planned and cooking by 10:00 a.m. but I'm too disorganized to turn the crock pot on. But hey, two hours isn't so bad. I've "cooked" all day on OFF many times. But it's been a while, and I appreciate the good run!

I’ve been awake since 3:30 this morning. The Yoda meme above is everything.

Okay, friends, the lap top is bidding me goodnight. Thanks for being here to support this grown-up in her immature blogging hobby.