Road Trip Weather

About an hour out of Vegas on our drive home, we received a phone call about flooding in St. George and a blizzard in Beaver. Tyler and I, remembering I drive down, chuckled because it had already been flooding up around St George and we'd figured it would just be more of the same.Yet, as we got up to Mesquite, NV we noticed more muddy water in and around the town than we'd seen on our drive out just 2 days before.Here are a number of pictures we took while driving. We also pulled off I-15 to snap a few pictures of the Virigin River. This first one I took to put some of the waterfalls in the background and also show the resulting flow. Below, you get an intimate look at the water that frothed below us. Where we stood, not more than 3' away from the water, it was clear that the banks of the river were beginning to erode away. Yikes!
Looking out the window at one point in St. George, both sides of the car seemed surrounded by water. When we got home, I saw that same stretch of highway on the news and it was indeed surrounded by water.Later, we started to see snow, though the roads were pretty clear most of the drive. In Nephi, we stopped to get gas. The gas station had about 8" of snow and luckily they had kept on top of things and plowed it enough so we could stop and refuel. I took this image of a hillside that reportedly had up to two foot depths of snow just up from where we were.

Vegas Wedding Bells

Tyler and I were delighted to attend Ethan & Becca's wedding held in Las Vegas this past Monday. Though Vegas leaves much to be desired in regards to traffic, costs and such, it was a magnificant experience. Below you can see the happy couple as Becca talks on the phone.I can now say that I've seen "first hand" and "up close" many of the world famous Las Vegas sites. Here's a view of our hotel room. We were on the 23rd floor in the Excalibur.The rest of the pictures were taken in and around the Luxor. Here's one of Mom & Dad. All these indoor shots were taken without a tripod. I had limited options: either stand still or set my camera down and hope the subject stood still enough as the flash ruined any of the images with too much directional light.My dad has the camera with the pictures I took of the happy couple while dressed in their wedding ceremony clothing. One of the traditions they used was a tradition from Messianic Judaism, that of lighting a unity candle. Truly, it was a beautiful ceremony. To the happy couple, I simple offer this wish: mazel tov!

A painted Dawn

I could feel dawn compelling me to rise, so I arose early this morning.

Reflected on every willing surface, I did witness this glorious display of light.
Proudly, the sun displayed her painted skies, and I did partake.

All That Jazz

Living in Utah has had its impact on me. I didn’t grow up with TV or even caring about professional or college sports, TV shows…yeah, all that stuff didn’t matter to me. Strangely enough, the LDS capital of the world changed all of that for me. I follow NCIS, CSI, Chase, American Idol… a few others too. I’ve also (gasp) started to watch college and pro sports with my husband.

Along with that, I have been to a total of 3 Jazz games since moving to Utah. I learned who Kyle Korver was and why everyone was always talking about Boozer, AK 47, and my favorite: Deron Williams.

But, what really mattered to me was the fact that this was a basketball team named for the best kind of music there is. And they didn’t seem to have much to do with true groove of music… that is, until this season. They changed their logo and I’m proud to say, I finally caved in and bought a Jazz hoodie.

More importantly, for a work party, we went to see the Utah Jazz take down the Bucks. My nephew, Johnathan and niece Hannah got their first taste of the NBA and were “jazz”ed about it. Sorry, but I’m punny like that sometimes. Notice Johnathan's lips are blue from the blue cotton candy. Yum!

So, go D Will and go Jazz!

Heaven on Earth

I was so blessed to be able to drive down to St. George and witness my brother’s family being sealed together for time and all eternity in the temple. What a miracle it is to see them so happy as they embark on this eternal pathway back towards heaven.

I love the St. George temple, it means a lot to me, as it does to my brother. The temple has long been a stopping place for us on our travels and it especially came to mean a lot to me one year after traveling back to California to visit friends.

We were very tired so we stopped for a few hours in St. George and just walked the temple grounds and talked about things. We went on their tour (my 4^th time on the tour).

I’m so grateful for temples, for the hard work and sacrifice that went into building this temple. Some of our ancestry was involved in the construction of this temple. Walking through the temple, I could not help but feel that it was a personal and wonderful place. I wrote a poem about some of the thoughts and musings that came to me afterwords.

The Other Side (Of This Room)

We live in world companioned with an unseen parallel,

silent copy, hopeful twin

invisible in every other place

but this room.

I watched them discover, they could see

the other side of this room

by looking forwards and backwards

into mirrors, frames

painting ahead and behind them, and opening infinity all around them.

They stood, suddenly seeing.

One waved to the future

and the past replied with a similar gesture,

and smiles transformed the generations.

The coin was turned,

not thumbed into random motion,

but keyed

into this position.

Heaven and earth touched each other.

One finger reached up, the other down

and contact was made—

in this place.

And it became celestial,

and so did they,

he said it felt just like home.

What Lies Beneath

Every once in a while I get the urge to deep clean. What I mean by this is that I go digging. In this case, it was under the bed. I had been doing a colossal amount of laundry, even wrote a poem about it. I spied a sock hidden beneath a pile of empty plastic bottles. I nabbed the sock and added it to my laundry load. I returned to the bed and pulled out over 200 plastic bottles. Only 3 were on my side of the bed…so you can imagine whose side I put all 200 bottles on under the covers. Just kidding. I nabbed a picture and then collapsed them so they’d fit in a plastic bag. And yes, I recycled them.

Do you realize?

Do you realize, those things in the corner?

Yes, those piled up clothes—

they await the magician,

they await… you.

They long to dance, and

yes, they long to move;

they have waited at least a week

or, perhaps it has already been two.

Do you realize, the soul is present?

Yes, present…in the being of you—

you could animate many forms,

yes, this you could truly do

you could breathe motion

into their defeated frames.

All of this—yes, this—

you could do,

if you did so choose.

(c)Brianna Kent 2010

Warehouse Fun

I work part time at a warehouse in Salt Lake. What I’m finding, is that the two guys I work with Tyler (my husband, pictured below) and his buddy Brandon (wearing orange in background) are pretty goofy guys.

Without betraying any of what we’ve laughed over, I will detail a few things that we have been doing lately.

We assemble Silt Fence that is used on Construction sites. Sometimes, we have to make a zillion (it feels like) rolls of this stuff. In the process, we sometimes end up with splinters from the wooden stakes. We also use the forklift to load and unload all kinds of landscaping fabrics etc. My job, usually, is to answer phones and assist as needed around the place. Since I have my phone with me, I usually snag a few photos of things.

This also meant that I could post these pictures of the guys and not have to have any of myself. Smart thinking, ehh?! Since I had the opportunity, I couldn’t resist sharing a few of these images.

Cuteness

I went and interviewed at Salt Lake magazine and then went to my class. Later, we were invited over to visit with the world’s cutest pair of kids, my nephew and niece.

Since one of the things I bought at a garage sale was a children’s book where you just add pictures of them, I couldn’t resist using some of the cute pictures I have of my niece, Hannah. In this image, Tyler is reading to her. I don’t usually have many pictures posted of her or her older brother Johnathan because the internet is full of weirdos these days.

Anyhow, wanted to share a few of these pics. Apparently only the ones of Hannah turned out. The two of Johnathan were kind of blurry.

Of Scary Things

Many people complain that Halloween is a pointless holiday. These same people gripe about how it's simply an excuse for kids to be spoiled with candy. "It's a dentists' conspiracy!" they cry as children sized ghosts and goblins rove into the neighborhoods. So look into my nephew's eyes and tell him that Halloween is pointless!
However, I have come to appreciate the real meaning of All Hallows Eve or whatever you want to call the original tradition. Speaking or origins, we'll get to that in a moment.
First, its the one time of the year that you can get away with having dust and cobwebs. In that spirit, I added to my collection of spiders and spider webs in hopes of inviting more 8 legged arachnids into my home to decorate. Unfortunately, Tyler spied the open window and closed it. He stepped on my hired help and deported them to their octagonal eternity.Second, this is the season for dress-up. It's the one time of the year when all non theater productions people get to put on the threads of a character and paint themselves up to look like whatever dream or walking nightmare they deem most appropriate. Sadly, in the case of some people, they select to remain as hideous as nature finds them and thus, they refuse to honor the holiday. Sadly, my sweet Tyler falls into this category. That usually puts him on Candy duty, while I handle all things 'fun and games' in my alter-ego of choice. Of course, my niece didn't mind that most of the grown-ups weren't in full costume. That way, the attention was all hers for the taking.
Lastly, and more importantly, the original basis for this holiday and celebration, be it Pagan, Christian or other general harvest time festivity (if you ask a Christian, they will say it was a Christian holiday and if you ask a Pagan, they tell you it is their tradition) is to honor or give homage to those departed this realm of the living. All I can say is the however this tradition came about, I'm grateful. It seems all Christian holiday traditions are laden with Pagan significance. Be that as it may, some people carve pumpkins to honor or provide a frame or visage for their departed ones to haunt, while others simply dig into genealogy and family history charts as they read stories of Great Grandma so-and-so. I simply carved a pumpkin or two to honor Winnie the Pooh, the Road Runner and Wiley Coyote. Things from my childhood that society has sought to replace with other critters and creatures. Thus, for one night, my candle burned to animate the chase of one runner and one very accident prone coyote!Oh, and to anyone browsing these pictures and unaware of my favorite TV show, I dressed up as Abby from NCIS. If you get the time and have the inkling, I HIGHLY recommend you catch one of their episodes either online, or just steal a friend's DVD of the back seasons. Grab a Caf Pow and get to it!

Off the Hook

I bought my fishing license this summer in hopes that I could catch a bunch of fish and be able to cure my fears of all things fishy in taste. I also enjoy the calm quiet of fishing, so I figured that would be a good idea.

This past Labor Day I was excited to go fishing with Tyler and a couple of the brother-in-laws and his parents. We headed over to Roy pond (or Roy Lake as I have decided to call it) to fish. Of course so did everyone else. The secret snagging a fish is… well I don’t know. See, I haven’t caught one yet.

But I did capture a couple pictures of the beautiful sunset. So, I’m content to wait for another night when I can bait the line with a squirming worm. Until then, I guess all things fishy are off the menu…and off the hook for that matter!

Awesome Anniversary

My Grandparents celebrated their 60th Anniversary this past weekend and I was privileged to attend and present some memories from my family, since I was the only one able to make it to the celebration. Included are the short versions of those memories as well as some pictures of Grandma and Grandpa and others. Sorry, no one took the camera from me to take my picture.

From Dad: Through the course of my life, I have had occasion to wonder where I got my curiosity from. I can recall this time when my parents loaded us all into the car (I’m certain it was because they needed to distract us, me in particular). They drove us out of town to this place where the bedrock was exposed and there were fossils visible. Nearby there was this very deep hole in the ground. I remember looking down and down and down. I couldn’t see the end of it. I remember looking down that hole and thinking about a lot of things, the same way I am able to look up to the sky and night and let my curiosity lead me. It takes a special kind of parent to take their kids to such a place in the world, one of the rarest places on earth.
From Mom: I remember an Easter Egg hunt- everyone, the grandkids were wearing similar shirts. It would have been when Jabon and Jershon were very little. It was in the Eagar’s backyard. That was sure a lot of fun. I think we even have pictures from that egg hunt. To see all the little cousins playing together, looking for eggs (with help from their parents of course). I think it was Aunt Barb who found the golden egg.

From Jabon: More recently I had the opportunity to convert a few tapes of Come Dance With Us to digital format and to use some audio mastering software to tidy up the recordings. This has been incredible for me as I have never seen them play live for a dance. Theirs is a legacy of music that I am only just learning the story.
From Jershon: When I think of Grandpa and Grandma, I think of their kitchen. It is always so cozy, a country kitchen style. Grandma could chop carrots in her hands and never look down, she was that good. I also remember driving out one Christmas and visiting, it was just so neat to spend time at Grandpa and Grandma’s.

From Me: It was my first Christmas right after my mission. I moved out here to Utah two weeks before Christmas. I would be alone for Christmas. I decided to visit Grandpa and Grandma and when I arrived I was shocked to see that there were no decorations in place. I told Grandma she needed to get “on it” and start decorating. She pointed to where her few decorations were waiting and told me to get “on it” and start putting them up. I did and we shared a wonderful visit. It meant a lot to me to be a part of their Christmas and to be able to help them decorate.
From Brighton: One year at the Cougar Ranch I was up there and I remember fixing up this old motorcycle some people called it a tote goat. Anyhow, it was broken but after a few hours of tinkering I had it up and running. I remember how proud Grandpa and Grandma were of me. There were always supportive of my tinkering and things to do with mechanics. That same year, I had to leave my car at the Cougar Ranch because the engine blew. I came back a couple weeks later with my buddy and we loaded it up onto a car carrier to tow back to Colorado. Grandpa and Grandma drove that long drive down just to see me and take me out to eat.

From Ethan: I remember always being interested in the guitar. I always yearned to be able to play the guitar with the ease that Grandma and Grandpa did. I love how much music mattered to them. Music has become a huge part of my life and I write songs often. I especially remember that one year they visited us after we moved to Colorado. We all sat down on the floor in a circle and sang songs together. I’ve always liked being around the Eagar’s because no one looks at me twice for my red hair.From Elin: My most recent and fondest memory was right after I joined the Navy. I went out and visited and I was honored to hear Grandpa share some of his experiences from being in the Navy. I remember one story he told in particular. He talked about how he was about done with things and so the Navy offered to send him to the prestigious Juliard School of Music back east. It was his dream come true. The catch was that they could only have two kids. At that time the already had two kids, so they would have had to stop. Grandpa told me that Grandma had said she would give up her dreams of so many children to watch Grandpa fulfill his dream to pursue music. Grandpa say “no, no” and that they had already talked about having a big family. He didn’t think twice about that choice and has forever stood by his decision. Both were willing to sacrifice their dreams for the other, now that is true love!

Tons and Tons of Tomatoes

Every summer since marrying Tyler, I’ve been fortunate enough to join in the family tradition of canning. His parents, sisters and I each grow our tomatoes, but his parents have over 50 tomato plants. What this means is every weekend in August, I’m up to my elbows in tomatoes.

We tend to grow all those tomatoes in order to can them, and last weekend we started the process by doing tomato soup. I cannot entirely represent how much better homemade tomato soup is compared to the stuff you can get at Wal-Mart. You just have to taste the difference. Once you do, you’ll never want to go back to the store version.

The next project usually is Salsa. What’s wonderful about thousands of tomatoes is the amount of salsa we can have. The options are endless. So, the next time you have chips and salsa, or put a spoonful of tomato soup in your mouth, think of me. If you are brave enough, you can have a melody of flavor on your tongue.