2 June 2004, Wednesday

Tonight was pure magic. There is no other way to describe it. I was finally able to see the musical, The Phantom of the Opera. I had a new dress that Heidi helped me alter so I could wear it. I was finally brave enough to color my hair and it turned out exactly how I wanted it to. And I had a date, Brian, that I knew would love the show, he'd already seen it twice. Brian even bought me a corsage with two red roses on it. The night was wonderful.

The best part of the whole evening though was the magic of the theater. The emotions I felt watching it, the way my heart wanted to leave my chest, the chills that went through me, I have never felt that way during a show before. It was almost overwhelming at times. There really aren't words to adequetly describe what it was like for me to be there tonight.

I did take some pictures, mainly for my mom so she can see what I looked like all dressed up and actually with some place special to go. But if anyone else is interested, feel free to look.

4 June 2004, Friday

What a great entertainment week for me! This was a wonderful way to celebrate the first week of my summer vacation. This afternoon I went and saw Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I want to go again. I wore my Muggles for Harry Potter pin and took the Hedwig owl I got for Christmas a few years ago. That was a fun movie, I'm definitely going to see it again, and again, and again. And then buy it when it comes out on DVD as soon as that is available.

5 June 2004, Saturday

So aside from seeing two great shows this week, one live and one on film, I did do a few other things as well. Tuesday I was almost in a car accident, and that was exciting. I was waiting at a stop light to turn left. When the light turned green, I had to wait because a car was coming straight from the other direction. While I was sitting there, I saw a car run the red light, and smash into the side of the car that had been right next to me. The back window of the car that ran the red light blew out. Both cars were carried across the intersection and to the curb. If I hadn't had to wait to turn left, I would've been in the middle of that sandwhich, and in my little car that wouldn't have been good. That scared me.

I also started quilting my quilt this week. This is going to take forever, but it looks great. It's not going to be done before I go on my trip later this month, but since I'm not flying, I can take it with me without someone worrying I'm going to attack someone with my quilting needles. I will have curtains in my room before I leave though.

I've also registered for the Deseret Morning News 10k race on July 24th. I want to finish along the parade route this time.

9 June 2004, Wednesday

I have a king sized quilt up on frames in the middle of my living room. Except now that I'm typing that, and looking at the quilt, it really isn't in the middle of the room, it is covering the whole room. I have to crawl to my kitchen. I had been quilting it in a hoop, but it was going slow and I decided I needed some more motivation to get it done. So I put some ice cream and chocolate syrup in my kitchen, and then put the quilt between me and the ice cream. If that isn't motivation, I'm not sure what is. It is a real pretty quilt though.

I bought a digital camcorder on Monday. Last night I was playing with all the features and figuring out how all the buttons work. I hate spending that much money, it actually made me sick to my stomach that night, but I've researched these things for a few weeks, I knew what I wanted, and when I found it, I went for it. Now I need to film a whole bunch of stuff so I can feel better about spending that much. Oi, I'm a tight wad.

My first book of the summer is done. It was okay. I wish I could've started the summer off with a better one.

12 June 2004, Saturday

I must recommend Glade's scented candles. I love them. My most recent ones are Angel Whispers, which is absolutely wonderful, strong enough to make my whole apartment smell nice without ever being over powering; and Waterfall, which also has a nice scent, and butterflies that appear on the glass when it is lit. The two combined are heavenly.

13 June 2004, Sunday

We had regional conference this morning. Eleven stakes in Orem met at the Marriott Center on BYU campus. After driving there, I've decided it is a blessing I can walk to church every Sunday because dealing with Utah drivers does nothing to help bring the Spirit. I was listening to April Conference on CD, so that helped a bit. It seems to me that in Utah, a turn signal on a car is not used to indicate a change of lane or a turn, it is used to indicate that you are about to be cut off, and since you had prior warning you can't get mad at the car that cut you off.

Elder Sorensen of the Seventy conducted the meeting. We heard from him and his wife. We also heard from Elder and Sister Maxwell, and President Faust. It was a great meeting. At the end of his talk, President Faust bore a very strong testimony of Jesus as the Christ. I am so grateful I didn't come up with some silly excuse and miss out on it. In the end it was worth the traffic.

14 June 2004, Monday

Happy Flag Day!

17 June 2004, Thursday

Last night I went to opening night of Damn Yankees at the SCERA Shell. It was a fun show. The set was huge, and very well done. The costumes were great. I went to a VIP thing before to celebrate the opening of the theater season at the Shell, and watching the cast walk around in their costumes, particularly the guys in their 1959 baseball uniforms, I felt liked I'd stepped into the movie The Field of Dreams. It was fun. The songs were in my head for the rest of the night, and even when I woke up this morning too. I miss being in a show. Watching theater is fun, but it is more exciting, there is more camaraderie, and you can enjoy it longer, when you are in it. I need to audition for something soon.

This morning I started on my great road trip. And tonight I am sleeping in Cheyenne, Wyoming. I stopped at Little America and got an ice cream cone, because that’s tradition. I turned off the interstate at Rawlins and headed north towards Casper. I stopped at The Mormon Handcart Visitor’s Center at Martin’s Cove. It struck me that I had started this morning at the pioneers’ ending point, and by tomorrow night I will be where they started, at Winter Quarters. I’m making the same journey (albeit backwards) in two days that took them months to make. The rain that fell and the storm I went through didn’t get me wet and only slowed me down a bit. It put things in perspective. I’m grateful I took the opportunity to walk around the Cove and feel the Spirit that is there.

18 June 2004, Friday

Musings for the day:

• Spend the extra money for a nice hotel, tonight is going to be so much better than last night.
• Nebraska is cloudy. I never saw blue sky once today.
• Lexington, Nebraska, smells like cows.
• I get better gas mileage going 75 than I do going 90, much better.

Tonight I am in Fremont, NE. I drove clear across Nebraska today, it was cloudy the whole way, rained for quite a bit of it. It was kind of fun though because there were a lot of towns and things to see. I stopped and saw an original Pony Express station. I took a two hour nap at a rest stop. I stopped and saw the Wyoming State Capital building before I left Wyoming this morning, so I stopped in Lincoln, Nebraska, and saw their state capital tonight. Before coming to my hotel, I went to the Winter Quarters Temple in Omaha and took some beautiful pictures of it in the evening. I'm going back tomorrow morning to see the temple again, the visitor's center, and the cemetery before going on to Nauvoo in the afternoon.

19 June 2004, Saturday

The sun came out today. And I went through some beautiful country side. Iowa is a lot hillier than Nebraska was, and the crows are a lot braver, I thought for sure several of them were going to smash into my windshield. I went to the Winter Quarter’s Visitor Center and Cemetery this morning. There is a special feeling there. From there I crossed the Missouri River into Iowa, took a small detour to see a Louis and Clark monument and then went to the Kanesville Tabernacle before hitting the road for Keokuk, Iowa, where I’m going to be based from tonight and tomorrow night. I took one last detour in Des Moines to see Iowa’s state capital too.

20 June 2004, Sunday

This is why you should do your trip research before you leave, rather than deciding to do it half way through. Today I pulled out my father's genealogy that I have on my palm pilot to look for the names of people who would've lived where I am right now. There are several. Last night, while I was driving through Southern Iowa, I passed the grave of Nathaniel Ashby without knowing it. He died and was buried 6 miles west of Bonaparte in Van Buren County of Iowa. It was in September of 1846, after the Mormon's had been kicked out of Nauvoo. His wife, Susan Hammond, had 11 children, the youngest, John, wasn't even a year old yet. She made it to Winter Quarters where she married Joseph Bates Noble in March of 1847 and they had a daughter together in 1849 after reaching Salt Lake City.

I would love to have Susan's journal to know what she thought and felt through all this. At the records office in Historic Nauvoo I was able to find a description of her by her youngest daughter. They also told me where the house they lived in when they were in Nauvoo is. It’s amazing that I could see that house.

I spent my afternoon visiting Nauvoo and walking it’s streets. When I was in my car I was listening to April’s General Conference. I had to drive a bit to get to the Pioneer Cemetery, and as I pulled into the parking lot, it reached the closing song of the Saturday morning session, which was “Come, Come, Ye Saints,” which for me was perfect.

I spent this Father’s Day learning about and “visiting” my forefathers.

21 June 2004, Monday

Tonight I am in Springville, Illinois. I started by going to a few more places in Nauvoo and then going on to Carthage before coming here. This trip has been incredible, I'm so glad I've taken the time to stop at all the places I've been to.

I think I'm finally okay with the money I spent on my camcorder as well. I haven't taken many still pictures, but I've recorded the whole thing with my camcorder, so I'll be able to relive this trip whenever I want. I'm really excited to see how it all comes together when Brian helps me edit it. I can take others on my trip with me this way as well.

22 June 2004, Tuesday

Today I stopped at Lincoln's tomb and his Springfield home before getting back on the road. There is a definite reverence at the tomb. Inside they have asked people to be silent, no talking, out of respect for the family. I was appalled at how many people thought that applied to everyone but them. It made me thankful that my parents taught us to be respectful and things like that. It wasn't just kids talking either. One man felt compelled to read the plaques aloud to himself. Agh!!

I've got a good little car. It's been a lot of fun this last week traveling in it and seeing so many things. Now I'm at my parent's and I need to get to work on my quilt. It's probably going to take the whole time I'm here to get it done.

30 June 2004, Wednesday

My pictures from my trip so far are up. There will be more of course, but it you would like to see more than are below, these pages are available.