Manatee. I mean Manti

Since our stay in Utah is quickly coming to a close, we took a break from packing, planning, and cleaning to take one final trip.

Day: Last Friday

Place: Manti, UT

People: Sean, Kyle, Me

Purpose: Visit the temple and see the "Mormon Miracle" pageant.

Conclusion: The temple is so very, very lovely. Take a gander.

Ah brothers. On the stairway to heaven.

Oo, ominous- it looked like those clouds were ready to break forth and water the earth. But we lucked out, it passed right over us.

The stone had chisel marks all over. It gives it great character, doesn't it? Like I know what I'm talking about...

Watch out, pocket sized Kyle packs a mighty punch!

Sean's a good photographer.

I'm holding my shoes because they hurt my feet. Doesn't that defeat the whole point of a shoe? I still have a scabbed toe.

That's a staggering number of chairs. Who gets to take them all down?

Not it!

That's where we sat. Not bad. Except when the action was RIGHT in line with those dang lights. The darker green grass in front of the chairs is where the pageant took place- it's a big hill, though doesn't look like it from this angle. It has to be big, there's hundreds of performers to accomodate.

We waited a long long time for the pageant. But it was worth it. It told the story of Joseph Smith, a bit of the Book of Mormon, and the early Mormon Pioneers. Even if it was a little cheesy at times, I usually felt warm and fuzzy inside.

Speaking of fuzzy, see Sean's face. He's got a little goatee growing. Hee hee!

But it was cold. So weird- when the sun was out, it was pretty hot, enough to make me want to stand in the shade. When the sun went down, it was the perfect temperature for about 5 minutes. Then it plummeted. I was very unprepared except for this little blanket. So I bundled.

And to close, a lovely flower from outside the restaurant/b&b in which we ate our first anniversary dinner.

Awww.

Longest Day

On Sunday, to celebrate summer solstice, the longest day of sunlight, we went for a walk. At about 9:15pm. And it was still pretty darn bright.

Though not bright enough for pictures. The above photo was about the only one that turned out. I really need to figure out how to use a flash properly.

We also came upon this:

Can that be anything besides a TV antennae? Some sort of radio maybe?

To each his own.

Fondue: a fun-do

Perhaps this is horribly late but no matter, this restaurant provides a lasting memory. For our 2nd anniversary, we treated ourselves to a trip to The Melting Pot!

We probably won't be going back anytime soon- but that's not because of the quality, which was fabulous, but because of the damage to the pocketbook. However, it's worth at least one visit!

For those unfamiliar, eating at the Melting Pot is a true food experience. Consisting of four fondue-style courses, the subdued atmosphere and built-in cooking and warming times forces you to slowly ponder and savor each bite.

Most of the courses are cooked/dipped in this here pot. I want to say it's a double-boiler but I really have no idea. It's on a heater built in to the middle of the table, keeping everything inside of the pot warm.

Would you like to see the mouth-watering food we were priviledged to eat? Lez go:

[Cheese fondue]

To start, we had bite-sized portions of bread and slices of apples to dip into this thick, flavorful cheese. I could have filled up on just this.

Also, the romantic mood lighting made for seom terribly blurry pictures. Plus, the food was so tempting, I never took the time to take a good photo. Because of those two reasons, I had about 3 focused pictures. Sorry 'bout dat.

[Salad]

Alright, so there wasn't any fondue here, but it was tasty. My salad had sugar-crusted nuts, I love those.

[Main course]

Mm, this was fun. The center pot had a thick broth (that the waiter put together at our table-entertaining) in which we submerged various types of meat, cut into small portions. It only took a minute or two a piece and was actually quite fun to do ourselves. I liked having all sorts of meat to try, to savor- little bit of steak, little bit of chicken, little bit of shrimp, little bit of pork. Mmm mmm.

[Dessert]

drool... My golly, whoa nelly, gee whiz, this was THE best part: the chocolate fondue in which we dipped these delectable morsels. I should have just had this for each course. What was I thinking?!

Can you guess whose plate is whose?

About two hours after we arrived, we rolled out of that restaurant with smiles on our faces. We were still full the next morning. To give you perspective, I actually left one piece of brownie on the plate, uneaten. If any of you know me, you know I never let dessert go to waste. You see, I think I have a second stomach reserved solely for desserts, so there's always room. But this time, I don't know what happened, I just couldn't stuff any more in.

I'm so ashamed.

We walked by a court house on the way back to the car and snapped some photos.

Sean made a new friend. Honestly, with all that food in our bellies, I don't think we've ever been friendlier.

You know, I said that we probably won't be going back soon, but I think I'll take back that statement. You can always just get the chocolate fondue... that sounds like a good idea to me!

Spectrum

On the way home from the movie theater yesterday, we were greeted with this beauty. Actually, there were TWO rainbows! The inner rainbow was so bright for the longest time but was fading by the time we got home to our camera. Still, it made my day!

Guess Utah can be kinda pretty once and a while...

Pre-Houston

I'm currently watching the results show of So You Think You Can Dance. Holy cow, I don't know how the judges can boot anyone- they're all incredible! This is gonna be a good season.

Well, we've decided we're going to Baylor. So this last weekend we popped down to Houston to find a place to live. And I'm happy to report success! It's a cute little place with:

• TWO Bedrooms (instead of the half sized bedroom we currently have)
• TWO Bathrooms (wha? for guests?!)
• Room for a kitchen table (call me greedy)
• A dishwasher!! Hallelujah!
• DOGS ALLOWED! That's right Pogo, you're comin with us!

While we were there, we took advantage of the proximity to the ocean and took a little trip down to Galveston. We only walked along the beach but, golly, that water's warm!

One of the great things about Houston is that one of my bruddas live there. We got to stay at his house and hang with his fun fam. And I remembered to take pictures of people! Except only once, so the whole family's not in there. And we brought our old, smaller camera, so the quality isn't so fantastic. C'est la vie.


We had a girls nail painting party. Oh man, was it raucous!

Niece J painted my nails and niece B's nails, while I did Niece J's. I went for all blue, while J chose some blue and pink alternation. B wanted pink on one hand and red on the other; quite a statement.

And look, the toilet's the background. That's classy.

This is a true representation of Nephew R. Most def.

Look inside his mouth. Is it just me, or does it make you confused too?

Have you ever played Apples to Apples with little kids? How they just pick whatever they like best, no matter the topic it's supposed to match? I think I prefer it that way.

It'll be so nice to have family nearby. We're moving in about a month- it's hard for me to fathom! Gotta get on top of everything!

Duck Pond

Did I wash this out too much? Maybe. But I like it.

But I digress. Can you digress if you haven't even begun to talk about your main subject?

Anyway, Sean and I paid a little visit to the duck pond south of campus. Well, I walk by it all the time but this time we had a camera! There's been an EXPLOSION of precious baby ducklings in the last couple weeks and I had to take advantage. I just wish I had more zoom so you could see all the cute details.

I'll let the pictures do the talking.













Protective momma. I stayed out of her way.