Hammonds in Park City!

My friends Michelle & Greg Hammond left the heat of Phoenix, Arizona, to come to Park City for three weeks and enjoy the nice, cool 70s and 80s weather. We hadn't met their newest addition, Charlotte, whom they adopted from China in January of this year, so it was fun to see her little personality and how well she fits in with her sister Sienna and brother Brant. We got to visit them in Park City a few times and spend some time on Main Street, eating out, riding the Alpine Slide, and enjoying the Utah Symphony at Deer Valley. Very fun! Such cuties!

Draper Resident for a Day

My friend Melanie and I decided to go see the Utah Symphony perform at the grand opening of the new Draper Amphitheater. We got Cafe Rio salads to go and ate it in the beating-down-on-us sun with our fingers, since they didn't give us forks! (Crazy!) But other than that, it was a great evening! We had great seats, a great view of the sun going down, and a fun night pretending to be Draper residents, enjoying the new amphitheater.

Brown Family Reunion

It all started with various family members posting old photos from early Brown reunions from the 70s-80s on Facebook. This got people talking about having another reunion, since we haven't had one in several years. I nominated Shaunna to organize it (since she was unemployed and therefore had "more time" than most of us) and she got on it. We planned it for the 4th of July weekend and reserved our campsites at Payson Lakes Campground, the famed site of many a past Brown reunion.

We had great response on it and lots of family showed up for a chilly, but fun-filled weekend. Love those Browns!

For more photos, see my web gallery.

Linda Eder comes to Utah!!

My favorite singer of all time - Linda Eder - has been to Utah before, and sang at Abravanel Hall. This time, she came to the outdoor Scera Shell in Orem, of all places! Total shocker! I don't know how they got her here, but I'm grateful they did! We got a big group of seats together on the third and fourth rows so we had a great view of her! She sang an awesome set list, singing so many great song selections. A special moment came when she sang and dedicated "Bridge Over Troubled Water" to my dear friend Deb Thornton and her mother who died a year earlier. It made us all very emotional.

Summer Weddings

Summer always brings plenty of weddings to attend.
Jeremy's longtime friend (and roommate for the past 7 years), Colby, got married for his first time. He and Marci invited us to their wedding and dinner at The White House in Bountiful. It was a beautiful ceremony and fun to see Jeremy and all his buddies join together to celebrate Colby & Marcie's union.
My longtime friend, Angie, got married for the third time. I'm proud to say that I have attended all three weddings. She leads a charmed life because all three have been outdoor weddings, and the weather has ALWAYS cooperated. I'm so happy that she found Paul and is sooo happy and in love. Yeah for Angie & Paul!

My friend Lyndee started dating her now-husband Nathan in January and married him in late June. I love that he's like 8 years younger than her! Gotta love younger men! Woot Woot! Congrats to Nathan & Lyndee Gubler!

Another "third" was my dear cousin Glen. He too feels like he has finally found the love of his life, Carol. He is so certain and thrilled to be with her. Though he got married on a 100-degree day, his wedding was lovely and the dinner was a total blast! My sister Shaunna & Keith & I sat with Carol's cousins, who were hilarious! They had us laughing so hard we were cryin! Seriously so fun!! Congrats to Glen & Carol!

Next is Jeremy's youngest sister Lindsey's wedding to Casey in August. Stay tuned for that post!

Memorial Day Weekend Drive

For Memorial Day Weekend, we celebrated by taking a gorgeous drive into some new (to me) territory. After giving me a driving tour of the Weber State University campus, where Jeremy goes to school, we drove up Ogden Canyon, which was beautiful. I had no idea.We went to The Oaks, an old, well-known restaurant, and had really yummy burgers! Then we drove up to Pineview Reservoir through Eden/Huntsville. I had never been there during the day, and it was SO gorgeous!

Oh Canada!!

My friend Melanie got to talking several months ago and travel, and we both expressed our desire to visit Eastern Canada. She had served her mission in Montreal, and my dad had served in Toronto back in 1960, so I'd always wanted to visit. So we planned a trip! We covered lots of territory in 9 days, but got to see everything we went for: Toronto, Niagara Falls, Ottawa, Quebec, and Montreal. We had a good mix of sightseeing, evening entertainment, shopping, and (best of all) the food! We kept taking pictures of our food because it was all so delicious! Our hotels were all super nice, too, thanks to Melanie's Marriott "hook-up." I'd have to say that - scenery-wise, Niagara Falls and Quebec were my favorite. Ottawa was pretty gorgeous too... Toronto & Montreal were basically big cities on the water, so pretty nice themselves. It was a great vacation! Check out our photos, eh?

Canada - May 2010

New York City!!

Shaunna & Keith & I took a trip to NYC near the end of April to see a few Broadway shows - mainly Promises, Promises. Kristin Chenoweth, Sean Hayes, and Tony Goldwyn made up the cast, which was enough for us to book our flights. They were all great. (The story wasn't the greatest, since it was mainly about adultery, but still the music (by Burt Bacharach) was good - many familiar songs from the late 60s & early 70s.) We got to meet all three of them afterwards, after waiting for a bit at stage door. They were all very nice. Kristin especially - soooo sweet and appreciative of us coming to the show. And if you happened to catch Glee on Tuesday, April 27, you saw that she guest starred and sang - what else? - a Burt Bacharach song: "A House is Not a Home / One Less Bell to Answer." Very moving!! Loved it! She is absolutely fabulous.
Shaunna & Keith had tickets to The Addams Family (the Musical) and Lend me a Tenor, but I wasn't interested in those, so I found my own shows at the last minute. I got to see Sondheim on Sondheim, a review featuring Sondheim's music from his various musicals. Interviews of him were projected onto a screen, and then the small cast of eight would sing his songs as he mentioned them. Highlights for me were hearing Barbara Cook sing "Send in the Clowns" (A Little Night Music), Norm Lewis singing "Being Alive" (Company), and Vanessa Williams singing "Children Will Listen" (Into the Woods). Barbara is 82 years old - it's incredible how she still sings amazingly. What a special treat to see her. Vanessa is very sexy! Yowza! Fantastic talent. Here's more info on the show.

I also saw In the Heights, but it wasn't really my thing. The theatre was packed with screaming teenagers, all there for Corbin Bleu. I guess he's famous for High School Musical. Who knew - not me!

Besides shows, we visited the new High Line park in the Chelsea neighborhood, which was cool. We also did the Circle Line Tour around the island of Manhattan. Our second time, but we just love all the views, the information (history, geography, economy) of New York. Fascinating. Then we walked through Central Park, which was lovely. Enjoy the photos from my NYC trip!
This is my favorite bridge in Central Park: Bow Bridge.

If you're interested in seeing some similar performances, check these videos out! So fun!

• If (You Hadn't, But You Did)- Kristin Chenoweth
• Taylor, the Latte Boy - Kristin Chenoweth
• Hopelessly Devoted to You - Kristin Chenoweth (from TV's Pushing Daisies)
• Losing My Mind - Barbara Cook
• This is the Moment - Norm Lewis

Concerts & Shows

I got to see some fabulous shows within just a couple of weeks: Fiddler on the Roof at WVC Hale Theatre and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at the Orem Hale Theatre. Great stuff, both of them.
I also got to see some fabulous concerts at the E-Center. Naturally 7 opened for Michael Buble, and they were pretty entertaining & very talented!
Michael, of course, was his fabulous self. This was my third time seeing him and he is just so freakin' entertaining. Such a natural-born entertainer. Melanie & I enjoyed him very mucho!
The next week, Jeremy & I saw Muse in concert. They ROCKED! I seriously love their music. Many people know of them because of their songs on the Twilight series soundtracks. Since I haven't read those books or seen the movies, I didn't know about them. Thanks to my friend Nicole for introducing to the yummy ear candy that is MUSE!

Renovations & Improvements

So I've done some improvements in my house this year. I got granite countertops for my two upstairs bathrooms. I picked out some beautiful granite that reminded me of Moose Tracks ice cream. Yummy! I also painted both cabinets underneath (black in the master; walnut brown in the guest bathroom), installed new faucets & light fixtures, and towel bars. Here is the master bathroom BEFORE: And here is the master AFTER:

Guest bathroom BEFORE:
Jeremy loves to paint!!

Guest bathroom AFTER:

I've been meaning to replace the dining fixture I installed when I moved in to something more modern. I finally found a great white drum shade. My home teacher, Jay, came over and helped me hang it. It only required three trips to the hardware store, but he DID IT!

AFTER