Dancing in the Rain

I was going to complain a little bit tonight about my classmates and the train cars, but then I read Lindy's blog and saw the quote from Grandma Barrett, who has waaaaaaay, waaaaay, way worse trials than just having to deal with annoying classmates! The quote she likes says: "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass . . . it's about learning to dance in the rain." I realized that even if it's rainy and cold here, and my classmates are mad at me and drive me nuts, there are still a lot of things to be happy about, so I need to do a lot less complaining and start doing more dancing in the rain. Last night and today were really, really fun because Greg came!! We hadn't been able to see each other for a few weeks because of our busy schedules, but luckily we were able to spend some good time together this weekend.

Last night we enjoyed some Thai food and watched a movie, then Greg headed back to Sullivan. This morning he came back to Charleston and I made some breakfast burritos. And then, we got to go see the cutest little puppy ever! My classmate Sarah just bought a little beagle puppy named Ivy. Sarah's boyfriend Adam surprised her by bringing Ivy down here from Chicago this weekend--Sarah didn't think she'd get to see her until next weekend. Ivy is totally cute with her big paws, her floppy ears, her little droopy eyes, and her white-tipped tail. Greg and I then took a little excursion up to Tuscola to the most wonderful restaurant in the whole world: Flesor's Candy Kitchen--which has the BEST Reuben sandwich in the universe! Their Reuben is so delicious, that I have found that I don't enjoy Reubens anywhere else anymore because nothing compares to the one at Flesor's. Greg even agreed to stop at the antique mall in Arcola with me on our way back! We were able to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening relaxing and watching TV and movies. I did do some homework and we even went over to school for a minute to work on some things, but for the most part I was able to have a much-needed break from school stuff. (It's back to the exhibit construction grindstone tomorrow right after church.)

Yesterday before Greg came I had to go over to the studio to work on train car stuff, and I ended up having to paint the rest of the crate--which Kristen was supposed to have done the day before, but she didn't. It was okay though because honestly, the part she painted didn't look like wood at all--it didn't even look like fake wood! So I was able to finish it how I wanted to. There is still so much more stuff we have to do before we start installing the exhibit on Monday, but I will not worry about that tonight. I also don't even want to think about how we're going to get all of the stuff we made from the studio over to the Tarble Arts Center! But it's all good because no matter what happens in the next few days, one week from today Dr. Rugh will be here to speak at the exhibit opening, the exhibit will be up, and life will be good.

Yesterday when Mr. Riccio and I were moving a big 8-foot-tall piece of plywood, we almost blew away (literally). It's been really windy for the last couple of days, and a big gust of wind picked up the plywood. We would have both blown away had there not been a pole right by where we were walking, which stopped the flight of the plywood. :-) It's supposed to be pretty stormy tomorrow, but I'll try to remember my new resolve to dance in the rain (or snow)!

Crate & Barrel

Here are the infamous chairs! Now, remember that the space where the chair will be placed is a little 6 x 6 foot fake train car which will also contain a table and some luggage--not much room. And, said chair will only be part of the exhibit for three months--not very long. Soooo, which chair would you choose? The big honking wicker chair for $50? Or the nice little leather chair for $2? Any sane person would choose the $2 chair, but I have stopped worrying about it because it's not my problem. I just think it's funny. :-)

Then, here's today's project at the sculpture studio: a fake crate to go in the fake "boxcar." Aren't museum exhibits supposed to show people real things--not a bunch of fake things? But, anyway, since there was no stopping them from making a fake crate, I thought it might as well look good, so I volunteered to do the wood "graining." While I was painting the Masonite planks to look like wood, I was thinking about the pioneers who used to paint wood to look like marble. Their skill was much cooler than mine! While I was painting the crate, Dan, Aly, and Kristen were building a bench for the fake "economy car." It was really funny because Dan was trying to pretend like he knew how to use a drill and other power tools, but he's never used them before, so it wasn't working out so well. It took them a really long time to finish the bench, and it did look cool, but the problem was that when you sat down on it, it would tip forward--not good for museum visitors. Why did this happen? BECAUSE WE ARE HISTORY STUDENTS--NOT ARCHITECTS OR CARPENTERS OR FURNITURE MAKERS!!! We have not spent a semester studying bench configuration. But try telling Kristen that, and she bites your head off. I know this is bad, but as she was puzzling over how to make the bench stay up when someone sits on it, I was chuckling inside :-) I have to go to the studio again tomorrow morning to work on stuff, and hopefully we can get everything finished since we need to start putting it up at the Tarble Arts Center on Monday!!

Thankfully, once again, the weather did not turn out as bad as they had predicted. Originally, we were supposed to have super bad storms here all evening. We did get a lot of rain all day, and they're saying that there is flood danger again, but that's a lot better than hail and tornadoes! We really only had one nasty thunderstorm blow through at about 7:30 p.m. It was kind of funny because I was sitting on my bed, and I had been really tired all afternoon, so I was even kind of drifting off to sleep, when all of a sudden it sounded like a bomb went off outside. There was a HUGE flash of lightning and a monstrous boom of thunder. It's like the lightning bolt shocked the life back into me because when that happened, it jolted me awake, I jumped out of bed, and I have been busily getting stuff done ever since then--and I'm not even tired! :-)

I've been hearing on the news that in Mississippi they've had some pretty crazy flooding going on. In Vicksburg, some houses are under water! I was hearing that the river gauge reading was almost 50 feet there, so I went back and looked at some pictures I had taken along the riverfront in 2006. I was shocked when I realized that the Mississippi River would currently be up to the bottom of the river gauge shown in this photo!!! This river gauge is on the back of the wall containing the Vicksburg riverfront murals--so the water is basically up to the lower part of the downtown area! When I took this photo during the summer, I was standing at the top of the concrete boat ramp that, at the time, dropped down about 30 feet to the river--which is typically about 20 feet deep. But now people wouldn't even need to use the boat ramp--they could just go get in their boats in their backyards and float away. I read that in Natchez the river crested today at 54 feet and is expected to reach 56 feet after today's rain--yikes! Every morning on the radio during the summer, they would state the river gauge reading, and it was typically at about 15 feet--or 17 if we had a big rain storm. So I can't believe how much higher than usual the Mississippi River is right now! I hope that Natchez Under-the-Hill didn't get flooded. That's where Magnolia Grill is located--and they have the best bread pudding in the South, and the best chocolate pecan pie, and they have some pretty tasty sweet potato fries there too. So I hope they're okay. Well, I'm off to bed--maybe I'll dream about Magnolia Grill's bread pudding.

The Best of Natchez Part 2

While I'm on the Natchez kick this evening, I thought I'd add some more "best of." Aside from my favorite Natchez experiences, when Mom and Dad came to visit and when Sarah, Joel, and Eliza came to visit, I had a few other memorable occasions which I will describe below.

First, however, I forgot to say that I now have a new favorite treat: Strawberry Milkshake Oreos!!! They are so delicious. Mom had told me about them when they first appeared in Utah, but I couldn't ever find them here. So, Mom sent me some in the mail (she did a really good packing job--none of the cookies were broken!), and they are divine. I love them.

But, here are a few of the most random Natchez experiences:

The Rice-Cooker Cake
For my 23rd birthday this last summer, Mary Wubbena, one of the museum interns we had this summer who became my good buddy, wanted to make me a birthday cake. She had purchased a rice cooker for her dad for Father's Day but hadn't given it to him yet, and on the box it said that you could use it to make cakes in your microwave. So, she tried a microwave rice-cooker cake for my birthday. It was sooooo funny! :-) She made a chocolate cake with sprinkles, but the sprinkles kind of disappeared into the depths of the cake. It was as solid as a rock, but it was very tasty.


Renegade Shopping Cart
One morning last summer, we got to work, and saw this--a shopping cart from Belk which had taken off part of our sign :-) We laughed so hard, imagining how this must have happened. Belk was about 3 miles away from the park, so the cart obviously got some help from some mischievous children. It was just a really funny to see this on a serene, quiet, misty Natchez morning.


Alligator Sightings at St. Catherine's Creek
In 2006, Ranger Tim and I went to St. Catherine's Creek to the old plantation country to look around, and we saw a mom alligator and her two babies on the shore of the creek! I wanted to run away, but Tim insisted on taunting the gators until Momma Gator plopped into the water and started swimming towards us. Then Tim agreed that we should run away. We went back to the same spot this last summer, and there were two gators in the same place!! This one that I took a picture of swam pretty close to where we were walking, but luckily we left before the gators ate us.

Stryder Gets Impaled
This last summer, I went on a Civil War site hunt through Port Gibson, Mississippi with Matt and Angie's friend Rob. We followed Matt's directions and ended up on a terrible road through the middle of the forest with entire trees laying across our path. We finally made it through, but Stryder got impaled by one of the trees. Luckily I was able to remove the branch that was sticking out of his front fender.

Attack of the Pecan Tree
Poor Stryder. He had a rough summer! I woke up one morning and went outside at Routhland to find a pecan tree branch smashed into Stryder's windshield. That was not good. At the point of impact, the windshield had caved in about two inches! Luckily I found some people to come and replace the windshield. As I mentioned the other day, as I was giving Stryder his spring cleaning, I found some glass shards from the pecan tree incident. I decided I don't like pecan trees. I do like pecan pie though--especially with chocolate on it like they serve at the Magnolia Grill.

Jesus-in-the-Cradle Flower
This is Jessica's infamous "Jesus-in-the-Cradle" flower. I guess they call it that because the center of the flower resembles a cradle. Anyway, this flower only blooms once a year--in the middle of the night, of course. In 2006 when I was Jessica's roommate, she started pounding on my door one night. I thought the house was burning down, but she was just telling me that I needed to come see the flower. It was cool, but I wasn't too happy about waking up in the middle of the night. This last summer, Jessica asked me if I wanted her to call me on the night that it bloomed. I said no--seeing it once was pretty good.

Sugar Roses
Who would have thought I could make sugar flowers? During the summer of 2006, Sister McClure from the ward taught me how to make roses out of sugar paste. It took a long time, but they looked pretty cool. The church ladies were always inviting me to do interesting things like learn how to decorate wedding cakes and can figs. So, among my ranger friends, the church ladies earned the nickname "the fig ladies." Mmmm, I miss the fig tree that was right outside my door at Routhland.


So, those are a few of my funny, random memories of Natchez. I must be feeling extra nostalgic about Natchez lately because for the last two years, at this time of year, I've been getting ready to go to Mississippi for the summer. Hmmm, I'm looking at the weather, and tomorrow is supposed to be really quite nasty. There is supposed to be a "severe tornado outbreak" everywhere from Illinois to Texas. Craziness!

The Best of Natchez

I am feeling much better today than I did yesterday--because I didn't have to see any chair Nazis or any of my other compadres (except for Aly, of course--but she's cool). I definitely needed a break from everybody today, so I was able to take the morning off while some people went to work more on the train cars, and then I went and worked with Dr. Hardeman this afternoon. He didn't even fall asleep once! I do have to work on train cars tomorrow and Friday, but I'm glad for the time I did have to myself today. I even watched some "Ghost Hunters" tonight for a few minutes! This made me want to read about the Natchez Trace in this book that my classmate Sarah let me borrow called Haunted Hikes: Spine-Tingling Tales and Trails from North America's National Parks. Reading about the Natchez Trace made me feel nostalgic about Natchez again, so I was thinking about it this evening. I wanted to highlight a couple of my favorite things down there in the South--the "best of," if you will. Here are a few of my favorite things in Natchez and its surrounding communities:

Malt Shop, Natchez, Mississippi
This was one of our favorite places to go for lunch after a hard morning of chasing tourists around Melrose. But we liked it for more than the cheese burgers and Cajun fries--if you notice the sign, it says "Sundies, Shakes, Hamburgers." Sundies?? Classic Southern spelling of sundaes.




Slushie Machine in Yard, Church Hill, Mississippi
One day in 2006, Ranger Tim and I went up to an archaeological dig at an Indian mound near the little town of Church Hill, Mississippi along the Natchez Trace. We stopped at the church on the hill (thus the town's name) to look at the old cemetery there. We looked at a house across the street from the church, and there in the front yard was a slushee machine. The best part was that it was working!!! The little slushee cup on top of it was rotating around in a circle. It was so funny. We didn't dare to go try to get a slushee though.

Orka Jambalaya Booth, Great Mississippi River Balloon Race 2006, Natchez, Mississippi
In October 2006, I got to attend the annual Great Mississippi River Balloon Race when they literally have a hot air balloon race and then they host a big fair with food booths and music performers. I went to get some red beans and rice when I saw the sign for "Orka Jambalaya," which is funny because it was supposed to be "Okra"--so we had fun saying that (even though orca whale is spelled differently) they were serving whale jambalaya.

Louisiana Country Music Hall of Fame and Grave of the Unknown Confederate Soldier State Historic Site, Natchitoches, Louisiana
That has to be the longest name of any state historic site in the country! Could there be a more random combination? Country music hall of fame and grave of unknown Confederate soldier. Who would think to put those two things together? People in Louisiana. In July 2007, my good friend Ranger Angie and I decided to take a road trip to Natchitoches, Louisiana. We had to visit this particular site just because it sounded so funny, and it was. The museum, which was really cheesy, was shaped like a guitar.

Hay Tractor, Vidalia, Louisiana
Just across the river from Natchez is the town of Vidalia, Louisiana. In September 2006, this John Deere tractor made out of hay appeared along the road. Its purpose was to advertise a corn maze in the field nearby (which, by the way, was never open). It lasted for a couple of weeks, but slowly went the way of all hay.

Louise the Unfortunate, Natchez City Cemetery, Natchez, Mississippi
The Natchez City Cemetery has a lot of quirky graves, but one of my favorites is the headstone that says simply "Louise. The Unfortunate." If your headstone says that, you know you must have been pretty unfortunate. As legend has it, Louise was a "lady of the night" at one of the brothels at Natchez Under-the-Hill. She died one day, and all of her man-friends wanted to buy her a headstone, but they didn't know her last name or anything about her except her name.

The Golden Finger, First Presbyterian Church, Port Gibson, Mississippi
This is classic--the golden finger pointing to heaven. As legend has it, one day a preacher was preaching, and he held up his finger to emphasize a point, and then lightning hit the steeple! So, in commemoration of that momentous event, they put a golden finger atop the steeple.


Humbug Ball, Natchez, Mississippi
There is a very old, historic photograph of some Natchez citizens with what they called a "Humbug Ball" as part of the "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too" campaign when William Henry Harrison and John Tyler were running for Pres. and VP. Supposedly they made a big ball with campaign slogans all over it, and then they rolled it off the Natchez bluff into the Mississippi River. Ranger Jessica wanted to recreate the Humbug Ball for a Natchez event a few years ago, but it had just been sitting in storage since then. This last summer, they decided we needed to get rid of the Humbug Ball. We really, really wanted to roll it off the bluff into the river--as a historical re-enactment--but we couldn't get permission to do so. So, Clyde, one of the maintenance guys, drove through it with a fork lift, which was quite enjoyable to watch.

MAMMY
And last, but certainly not least, Mammy's Cupboard! Mammy is quite the landmark in Natchez. She appalls some people because they have issues with race, but for the most part, since she's a historic building, people don't complain. Her skin has been progressively lightened over the last couple of years, so we started to call her Mamacita because she's starting to look slightly Latino :-) Anyway, Mammy's Cupboard is only open for lunch, and they have the BEST FOOD IN THE ENTIRE WORLD!! My favorite meal is chicken pot pie--only served on Fridays, followed by some banana caramel pie. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. Mammy's is always busy--she is quite famous. When people would ask Ranger Sharon for directions to Mammy's, she would say, "Go south on Highway 61 until you see the two-story woman. That's Mammy's."

Good times. Well, yesterday's predicted tornadoes are supposed to come tomorrow. We'll see about that. If a tornado does come, I hope it carries our train cars away. I have to say one thing about the NCAA b-ball championship the other night--which was totally crazy! I wanted Memphis because it seems like Kansas always goes to the championship--and I've driven through Memphis a couple of times--and that's where Elvis lived :-) I thought they were going to win, but you have to admit that the 3-pointer nailed by the Kansas guy at the last second was pretty amazing. It was a very exciting game--just like the championship should be.

The Chair Nazi Part 2

Today's "strong thunderstorms" haven't shown up yet, but I was watching the Weather Channel and they said that the storms could show up later, or maybe not. That's okay with me if they don't show up--except that it would have been kind of nice if a tornado had come and carried our train cars very far away.

Here's a link to the funny Digital Dudley movie we made for Mr. Riccio's class and entered in the EIU i-movie challenge. It's pretty funny: http://prepresstoprint.com/seanwalker/quick9.htm.

Today was Part #2 of the Chair Nazi drama. Catherine and I worked with Laurie, Sarah, and Mr. Riccio this morning at the studio, and we brought the $2.00 chair along with us to ask Mr. Riccio about it. He said he didn't care what we decided to do--not a big help--and then we discussed it with Sarah. One thing that Mr. Riccio did say to help us was that it would not be possible to bend wood like Kristen had been planning to do, so Sarah realized that they couldn't build the chair they were planning. But Kristen was 100% opposed to using our chair--even though we figured out that you could just unscrew the cushion and the chair back to reupholster them if you wanted to--but still, she doesn't like the chair. So, what finally happened was Sarah, Kristen, Laurie, and Angie went shopping at some thrift stores in Mattoon and bought a $50 wicker chair. Now Kristen is happy. I could go off about the $50 chair vs. the $2 chair, but I will not because I don't care anymore--they can use whatever freaking chair they want. At least they're not trying to build one now. They said they recalculated Mr. Riccio's budget and found that we had some extra money that they could spend. I think that his budget is so messed up we don't know how much we do or don't have--but once again, I don't care because the budget is not my responsibility. Anyway, we did a lot of sanding, painting, wallpapering, wood staining, crate building, and a whole bunch of other stuff today, and I am pooped. But I have to go to our weekly meeting now, so I'll go and try to be nice.

Happy Birthday to Grandma today!!!!

The Chair Nazi

I'm afraid that today was the last sunny day we will have for a while. I couldn't believe it when I saw that it snowed in Utah today--and then I checked the weather, and it is supposed to snow here on Saturday. And we're supposed to have "strong thunderstorms with large hail and possible tornadoes" tomorrow. I knew that the beautiful, perfect weather we've had for the last three days was too good to be true.

Not only will the weather be changing, but the mood amongst my compadres is quickly turning stormy as well. I am soooooooooooooooooooooooo mad right now, but luckily now I am home watching the NCAA championship basketball game (go Memphis!), trying to unwind a little bit. Kristin has become a total control freak. And when I say freak, I mean FREAK. I literally think she has gone insane and should be banned from working on the exhibit.

I will try to explain the situation, but I am so mad that I might not make any sense. So, remember the stupid train cars? Well, the issue lately has been how to decorate them. Kristen and Sarah were talking about building and upholstering these ornate chairs and benches to put inside the train cars. Okay--problem #1: none of us know how to build fancy chairs and/or upholster furniture. Problem #2: Even if we could make said chairs, materials for them would be expensive, and we don't have any money. Problem #3: The exhibit opens in 12 days and we still have a lot of other stuff to do--like GET THE ARTIFACTS THAT WE'RE GOING TO DISPLAY!! And we're worrying about making some stupid chairs??????

I truly believe that Catherine, Laurie, and I are the last three sane, rational people out of the 10 of us. As we heard Kristen's ideas for making chairs today, the three of us said no-way. Catherine and I determined that it would be a lot easier and more likely that we could find a chair at a thrift store or antique store--and it would cost a lot less. So, Catherine and I went shopping today after class. We went to the Charleston Community Thrift Store, and there before our eyes was the PERFECT chair!!! It is a 1930s-style pine chair covered in leather, and it's got these cool old brass finials on top. It looks just like something you see in pictures of 1920s and 30s train cars. The best thing of all--guess how much it was: $2.00. Perfect. Problem solved, right? No. That would be way too simple.

I went to work with Dr. Hardeman this afternoon (the funniest thing I read in student papers today was the Robert E. Lee was the commander of the Union army), and Dr. Hardeman asked how the exhibit planning was coming. I told him about the train car and that my classmates wanted to build some chairs. He thought that was so funny. He said, "Building train cars and furniture is something that skilled craftsmen who have studied that stuff do. You guys haven't studied that stuff." I said, "Exactly. We don't know what we're doing." He said, "Mr. Riccio should not have gone along with that idea." I said, "Exactly." Dr. Hardeman was getting distraught just listening to me talk about how the whole train car thing was unfolding. "But," I said, "Catherine and I found a chair for $2.00 today, so now thankfully nobody will be building any chairs." Well, ha ha, I was wrong.

I went back to the lab this evening where Catherine and I had dropped off the chair. Everyone was really excited about it--except for Kristen and Sarah. Kristen said, "That's not the look we're going for." Well, it's a little too late to be that freaking picky! Then Kristen said, "Besides, Sarah and I already made an executive decision today, and we bought all of the materials to make a chair." I said, "You don't know how to make a chair!!!" She said, "Well, we can figure out. You guys don't have to help. We already have a plan to make some round cushions and some claw-foot feet for the chair." Catherine and I were speechless. It would have been really funny if Kristen was joking, but she wasn't. When we could finally speak, we said, "You're seriously not going to use this perfect chair? You're going to waste a lot of time bending wood and sewing some freaking cushions????!!! And you bought all of the materials with money we don't have???" (Everyone else was just sitting there watching the smack-down unfold.) Kristen said, "Well, it was nice of you guys to pick up the chair today, but we're not going to use it. You can keep it." Catherine and I both said, "Okay, this is crazy. This chair is perfectly fine." Then, Kristen got really upset and yelled in a really snotty voice: "You guys! We've already decided. WE'RE GOING TO BUILD THE CHAIR. So just forget about it. Will you guys just drop it already? Just stop talking about it." There was a really, really, really, really awkward moment of silence after that. Catherine and I looked at each other in disbelief. Our faces and Kristen's were red with anger. I just rolled my eyes and said, "You've got to be kidding me. This is so stupid." Catherine said, "Well, you guys are on your own then." And then Kristen tried to just go happily along like nothing had happened tonight, but Catherine and I were soooooooo mad, and everyone else was too scared to say anything. Anyway, it was really weird, and we are realizing that Kristen is turning into a control freak, and she's not going to stop until everything turns out just like she sees it in her mind. BUT, the key is that the night before the exhibit opens, when Sarah and Kristen are trying to bend wood and sew cushions and they tell us that they need our help, WE WILL NOT HELP. I am more than happy to do my share in putting up the exhibit, but I'm not going to contribute to the stupid ego trip projects that Kristen, the Chair Nazi, insists on doing.

Not only do we have to get the exhibit ready, we also have like three papers to write, archives projects to do, and a whole bunch of other stuff. Catherine and I stepped outside for a few minutes tonight to decompress and tell each other that there really is still some sanity in the world, and then I came home. Okay, well, I feel much better after venting about this. But it's going to be a really, really, really, really long week, and next week when we're installing the exhibit, I'm afraid we're going to encounter a few "severe thunderstorms" amongst ourselves.

Oh, and one more thing: Alisha has conveniently contracted a "hernia," and has doctor's orders to not lift anything or bend over. I remember when my sister Sarah had a hernia--which was zero, zero, zero fun for her--and though I am not a doctor, I can tell you right now that Alisha does not have a hernia. It was soooo funny this morning though. Alisha came into Dr. Small's class carrying her ridiculously big shoulder bag full of books and her laptop, and plopped it down on the table with a big sigh like she always does (she wants everyone to know how heavy her bag is). Then, Dr. Small said in a stern voice, "Alisha. I thought you couldn't lift anything heavy." Alisha's face went really red, and she was trying to think of something to say, but she couldn't, so she just smiled and sat down. It was really quite enjoyable. Anyway, we're all going insane and I don't think we'll survive for four more weeks with each other.

A Man for the Ages

I liked it today when President Monson said of President Hinckley, "Now he belongs to the ages." That's what Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton, said right after Abraham Lincoln died. In fact, those words are carved into the marble at Abe Lincoln's tomb. Like President Lincoln, President Hinckley had an important mission on this earth--and a large responsibility and burden to bear, which he bore with a smile. President Hinckley is not as widely-known as President Lincoln right now, but hopefully someday more people will understand the true and eternal importance of President Hinckley's role as a prophet of God on earth. Both were great men, and now, they both belong to the ages.

General Conference was really great today! I especially enjoyed President Monson's stories about his ancestors. He talked about the "legacy of total dedication" he received from those who endured everything imaginable and still kept a strong testimony of the Church. I also liked hearing that this October he and Sister Monson will have been married for 60 years! October is a great time to get married--that's when Mom and Dad got married, and that's when Greg and I will get married :-) I also especially enjoyed Elder Ballard's talk about mothers. Elder Ballard used to scare me a little bit when I worked at the MTC and he would call to check on our progress with the new missionary materials. But he does not scare me any more. It was neat when he said today, "There is no role in life more essential and eternal than motherhood." Moms are the best! And dads! I love General Conference weekend.

Today in between sessions I went over to Dr. Small and Mr. Riccio's house to visit their horses. These are the horses, you may remember, that they rescued from the mean guy who was starving all of his animals. The horses used to be really scared of people, but they are doing so much better! They are very sweet girls, and today I got to brush them, braid their tails, and get some mud off their tummies that had become stuck in their hair. It was a regular horsie spa! Mr. Riccio and Dr. Small were grateful for my help, and we had a nice time enjoying the beeeeautiful spring weather outside and drinking orange juice. Mr. Riccio was sure to remind me that it would have been at this time of year that Sarah Bush Lincoln (Abe's step mom) would have walked over to their house (which, at that time, was owned by the Lincoln's doctor) to get "bled" with leeches. I'm glad medical practices have changed.

Last night I had a dream that my classmates and I were on our spring field trip, and there were bunk beds in our motel rooms, but there weren't enough for everyone. So, I got stuck on a top bunk with Alisha. While we were both still awake, she kept trying to push me off the edge of the bed to the floor below, but I kept pushing back until finally she fell asleep. It was soooo funny! When I woke up I was trying to figure out the meaning behind the dream, but all I could come up with was that Alisha always likes to be at the top of everything---by herself :-) Well, I'm off to do some reading and watch part 5 of "John Adams" later tonight.