Happy Mormon Battalion Day!

One year ago today I was giving tours to thousands of people at the Mormon Battalion Historic Site because it was the anniversary of their arrival in San Diego.

I owe a lot to the members of the Mormon Battalion. They taught me so much over the last 18 months. For example:

Faith can make an ordinary person do extraordinary things.

Despite difficult circumstances I can choose to be happy.

Sacrifice isn't easy, but when it is for the right thing, it is infinitely worth it.

I doubt that any of them had any idea of the difference they would make. Sometimes I bet they wanted to turn back. But I love that they never did.

The best way to celebrate Mormon Battalion Day is to go to the Mormon Battalion Historic Site, but since I couldn't do that, I was luckily able to do the next best thing - attend the homecoming of the directors that I served with. The Evans brought back a lot of excellent memories in their talks, which I greatly appreciated.

Here's some of the gang (sadly missing our pioneer getup):

90's

I lived through the entire decade of the 90's - yet somehow it is already time for a 90's party. Who knew I was getting so old?

Here we are rocking the 90's grunge look. Gotta love my bangs (too bad they flattened out by this point).

Un Soneto

When I signed up to take spanish lit, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Two weeks into class I found myself composing a sonnet...IN SPANISH.

If that wasn't bad enough, the next week I found myself memorizing a sonnet...again IN SPANISH!

I had no desire to stand in front of the class and say anything romantic, so I settled on a nice poem by Garcilaso de la Vega about a dog.

A la entrada de un valle, en un desierto,
do nadie atravesaba, ni se vía,
vi que con extrañeza un can hacía
extremos de dolor con desconcierto;

agora suelta el llanto al cielo abierto,
ora va rastreando por la vía;
camina, vuelve, para, y todavía
quedaba desmayado como muerto.

Y fue que se apartó de su presencia
su amo, y no le hallaba; y esto siente;
mirad hasta do llega el mal de ausencia.

Movióme a compasión ver su accidente;
díjele, lastimado: «Ten paciencia,
que yo alcanzo razón, y estoy ausente».

Or in other words:

Within a valley's entrance, in a desert,
Where none pass through nor leave this barren setting,
I saw, though strange it seemed, a dog was fretting;
In pain he cried, in agony bewildered,

To open skies he hurls his dirge untethered,
And now along the path he tracks, retreading;
He ambles on, he turns, he stops, and yet he
Retains the ashen pallor of cadavers.

And this because his master left his presence;
He cannot find his master, this he senses;
Behold how far the reach of painful absence.

To see his hardship moved me to compassion;
In pity I exhorted him: Have patience,
For I can fathom reason and am absent.

It reminds me of this painting by Goya, which I LOVE:

Classic Skating

They say that every day you learn something new. Today I learned that figure skating skills do not transfer particularly well to roller skating. Blading maybe, but skating - definitely not. Who ever thought it was a good idea to have the 4 wheels spread out like this?

Regardless of the inconvenient placement of the wheels for balancing-purposes, we still managed to have a blast. With excellent style I might add.

Brian Regan

Who knew I would ever see Brian Regan perform live? I don't know if I have ever laughed so hard for so long. I only wish I could have recored the whole show! Here is a view of the stage from our seats:

And here is a Brian Regan classic so that you can understand why there was so much laughter.

Toms? Tims? Todds?

or just plain awesome?

Remember that time when we were twins?

Three years ago Kami and I discovered that we have the same wardrobe. Here we are in Guernica (like the Picasso painting - no big deal) and you will notice that we are matching.

Flash forward three years. Yet again: TWINS!

Belles on their Toes

Years ago I read Cheaper by the Dozen and LOVED it. I was thrilled to learn that there is a sequel!

Belles on their Toes was just as delightful as Cheaper by the Dozen as the many mishaps of a large family continue until they are all grown up.

Read it.