A Day at Bear Lake

This summer we had the opportunity to spend an evening at Bear Lake with some of the Ogden's.  Richard took a swim, and I sat on the shore and let the wind blow through my hair while watching the dogs play and try to capture a kite.  Then we had some dinner and called it a night. We're hoping that we can get a big group of us together for a little sleep-over next  summer.  I think that would be totally fun.

And for kicks and giggles you can check out this video of Rue playing with the kite.

Lots of stuff has happened since my last post. I'm not even sure I know where to begin.

Let's see... Uhhhhhh...

I wrote a short story for the online magazine, Pure Slush. Something a little silly that has received a little bit of attention from my online friends. You can read it HERE!

I'm also editing for Shotgun Honey along with my friends, Kent Gowran and Ron Earl Phillips.

I went to San Antonio for Girl's Weekend. Each year I get together with my girlfriends from Las Vegas and Arizona and we kick it over Labor Day Weekend. We walked the ruins of Alamo, took a river water ride, ate lots of yummy ice cream, walked the river walk and shopped and shopped and shopped and laughed and laughed and laughed. Then we ate some more food and I took a ton of photos.  I also passed the Sash of Authority to Lisa...which means she's in charge of next years destination. Oh, and I learned a lot of about Mickey Mouse.

 Tina, me, Teri

 I wanna be a cowgirl, baby

 Ooooh, pretty wall

 hand carved figurines

The Alamo

 Lisa with her the Authority Sash... just so you know, in order to pass the sash to another you are required to stand and do a dance number (or a jig made up on the spot) in front of whatever restaurant guests are in the room. I impressed them all because I AM AWESOME! I wish I was quick enough to have someone snag some video of it. Memories 101, man!

 Me and Lisa

On the Trolley

I also attended this awesome murder mystery convention called Bouchercon in St. Louis. While there I was able to meet some of my favorite authors... some have become great friends since our time together on twitter. I'm hoping this becomes a yearly event for me to attend. Lots of books, lots of authors, lots of friends, and lots and lots of fun.

 Me with Russel McLean

 Author Josh Stallings

 Author Andrew Grant

Joelle Charbonneau

 Chris F. Holm, Katrina Holm, Neliza Drew, Brad Parks, Joelle and Me

Author Holly West

 Author Daniel B. O'Shea

 Author Thomas Pluck

 The lovely Hilary Davidson

 Author Peter Farris

Me and Neliza Drew

After, Richard flew into town and we spent the week visiting St. Louis, Kansas City, Liberty, and Nauvoo, Illinois. We watched the Cardinals play the Mets one night and then drove to Kansas City to watch the Royals play Detroit the next. From there we toured church history sites and just enjoyed our time together.

 walking the streets of St. Louis

Busch Stadium from the announcers booth

 the road we followed

 on a walk to a landmark

 power lines for Nick Ogden

 at the top of the Arch

 The Arch

 view from the stadium

at the game

 in Liberty

 taking a tour at the Royals Stadium

at the Royals game

 in Nauvoo

 Nauvoo Temple

 Nauvoo Temple

Nauvoo Temple

Now, I'm just catching up on reading, writing reviews, and working on a couple of short stories for submission to a couple of places.  We've also completed a couple of home improvement projects, but I'll save those for another day. Love to all.

When Yoda Comes To Play

I live in this really great neighborhood about 16 miles west of salt lake city and I love the back street that our house is tucked away on.  I also love our neighbors.  We don't hang out all the time and pry into each others lives, but we do watch out for each other.  When people are gone, without even being asked, pretty much everyone around during that time will take a look at the home and make sure nothing unusual is happening. If we notice things are off, we don't hesitate to call and see if the family is alright. 

We watch. We serve. We care.  It's kind of like an unofficial motto in the area.

Which I happen to like.

There is this one family that lives across the street from us. These neighbors have some pretty wonderful kids. They're bright. They're fun. They read. They play. They write. They read. They're awesome with a capital "A"... for real.

Last week the kids knocked on the door and when I opened it I was surprised to find a massive, cardboard Yoda standing on my front porch. He was green with the cutest ears.  It didn't take long for one of the little ones to pop their head out from behind Yoda with a big grin on their face.  Soon we were all standing there, and shortly thereafter the kids and Yoda were walking through the house on their way to the backyard to find the their father.  It was a great.

A couple of days later they were back. This time with the original paper doll Yoda they had made that had inspired their creation into the life size figure. Seriously. I love these kids. I do. Would die for them if I had to. That is how wonderfully special they are to me.

Their parents are pretty wonderful, too. They encourage their children to PLAY. Really play. When they're bored, the parents tell them to use their imaginations... and they do. Last year they wrote plays during the summer and then took tickets around to the neighbors. Mom and Dad might not have known they were doing a performance that night, but the kids and the neighbors did. And it was awesome! They built the stage out of, you guessed it... cardboard. They made some puppets. Wrote some scripts. Then put on a performance.

Well, the long dreaded winter is finally over, and the sun is out and full of all the things everyone in the neighborhood is looking forward to. 

When will the first play be?

When will the first backyard movie night for the neighborhood be across the street?

When will the kids start giving away tickets to another performance?

When? When? When?

Richard and I sit with this family on Sundays at church, and today one of the children passed Richard a note.

It was this...

This is Noah on the Ark announcing to the animals that he's loading them alphabetically. While the ants are "whoo-hooing" and the zebra's are saying, "darn", I'm saying...

"Totally cool! I can't wait for summer to begin!"