Tracie's World

Dinner at Robin's house tonight, with two cute Sister Missionaries, Sister Knight, and Sister Mahsi, both of whom are from Australia (Sister Mahsi is originally from Samoa, but her family recently moved to Australia). They were cute girls, and we had a great time visiting with and being inspired by them. 

My friend Robin and I hit the road yesterday afternoon to attend the Open House for the newly remodeled Ogden Temple. The Ogden Temple was definitely one of the oddest looking buildings you'd ever see, and it was in serious need of a remodel. We made sure we left plenty early, to give ourselves lots of time to find parking and to stand in line. But it turned out that we needn't have worried. Parking worked out great, and the folks in Ogden were very organized. The temple is beautiful, and drastically different from what it looked like before. Here's what it looked like before... And here's what it looks like now... The difference is pretty much night and day. The building now faces East instead of West, and looks nothing at all like the original. After touring the temple, we stopped inside the Hospitality Tent, to cool off and to view some of the photos of the work and samples of the materials. They had a green screen for taking photos, so we

So after the drama and fiasco with AT&T last weekend, I was hoping for a bit of a reprieve this week. But it seems that karma had other plans for me. It all started on Tuesday when I was going back through my finances. While I was in Iowa, I had paid to subscribe to a site called "Find My Past". Said site was supposed to give me a free pass, due to its agreement with FamilySearch. So I hadn't wanted to subscribe. But I found a possible clue on that site that referred to the family history black hole that is my Great-Grandfather Smith. But in order to look at the clue I had to subscribe for the low price of $12.95 (or something like that). So I subscribed, found the clue, and that it did refer to the aforementioned ancestor. Hallelujah! That is, until Tuesday, when I discovered that the supposedly "reputable" site had charged me not $12.95, but $179.95 instead. Say what? Of course, the said site provides no way to contact them or their customer service, and n

While we were in Iowa, I picked up an Iowa Hawkeyes t-shirt for my youngest nephew, and asked the parentals to give it him for me when they visited him on their trek home. I figured it would be a fun way to introduce him to his Iowa heritage. They gave it to him, he loved it, and even modeled it for a photo-op for Aunt Tracie. Isn't he adorable? Or course, BYU will always take first place in his affections, but maybe the Hawks can be a close second.

Had a really weird day yesterday, and it left me just feeling completely out of sorts. It started with attending a funeral for a gal I hadn't known well, but had been kind to me when I had needed some kindness. She had been in my ward, and passed away from an aggressive form of cancer. It was a very emotional service. She had come from a large family, had many friends, and had been a firefighter. Her fire department was there in full force, and performed an honor guard afterwards. The honor guard was incredibly touching and it all left me pretty spent. After I left the service, I noticed that I had a couple of text messages, but I noticed that the attached pictures weren't coming through. I've had this happen before, so I got online to chat with AT&T. The agent checked my account, and couldn't find any reason why it would be happening. Nothing on my plan had changed. After doing some initial detective work, she asked if my operating system had updated recently. I

Spent last weekend in the ancestral hometown in Iowa. I say ancestral because that side of the family has lived there practically since Iowa became a state. A mighty long time indeed. I always love being in Iowa, and this year I had a fantastic reason for a visit, as it was my Gram's 90th birthday. Mom and Dad drove out from Oregon, and I flew in to Cedar Rapids, and they picked me up along the way. Even though I haven't lived there in many years, being in Iowa is awesome. The countryside with the rolling hills and the farms is absolutely beautiful. Plus, Gram is still there, and going to Maquoketa always feels like I'm going home. And having my Aunt and Uncle there, and being able to get together with my cousins and my high school besties makes it extra special.  This time around we spent the days visiting, talking family history, and having lots of Iowa comfort food. My three cousins were all there, and we had a fun little surprise party to celebrate Gram's birthday

Yesterday the Triple-D Divas met up for another foodie adventure. This time was in celebration of the new movie "The Hundred-Foot Journey". It stars one of our favorite actresses, takes place in France, and features Indian and French food. So how else do you prepare for the show, but by celebrating with the sin of gluttony? We started off by meeting for lunch at a local Indian restaurant called The Copper Bowl. We ate from the buffet, and stuffed ourselves with Masala, Kurma, Saag, Biryani, and plenty of Garlic Naan to share. After our Indian feast we rolled out the door to go see the show, which was totally delightful and worth seeing again. It was all about the competitive rivalry and eventual cooperation between an Indian immigrant family who starts up a restaurant across the street from an established, Michelin-starred restaurant in a small French village. A total feast for the eyes with lots of delectable food, and a feast for the ears with lovely French and Indian

Friday evening I made the trek up to Park City with my pals Cyndee, Rebekah, and Liz for the Deer Valley Music Festival. I've talked before about my love for Deer Valley and their outdoor concerts. It's become a pretty much annual summertime tradition for me. This year's guests were none other than the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. And as you all know, I'm something of a Choir groupie, so of course I was thrilled to be there. Even better, the program was all showtunes. Let's see - Deer Valley, MoTab, the Utah Symphony, and showtunes. A total quadruple threat! So, despite my gimpy toe, we made our way to Park City and hauled ourselves up the hill. Now, the thing with Deer Valley is that Park City is several thousand feet higher and several degrees cooler than Salt Lake. And when the sun goes down, the temperature drops quickly. It's not uncommon to have it be 50 degrees by the time the show's over. So I usually try to be prepared in the extreme. This time around

Last night some friends from the ward and I headed down to Sundance (or as I like to call it, Bob's Place) for a production of "Fiddler on the Roof", and theater under the stars. Being as I was a little gimped up, it was quite a journey. We decided to take the long way around and go through Heber City, which is a much prettier route. First we stopped off at this awesome joint, Billy Blanco's, to get some chow. It's like a Hard Rock Cafe for Car and Motorcycle buffs. Lots of rock music, lots of bikes, and lots of vinyl and chrome. Totally fun. I know I'm usually a veggie girl, but after a bit of a rough day I was in the mood for some meat, so I ordered the carnitas tacos, and coleslaw. I must say I highly recommend both. After a yummy dinner, it was on over to Heber, and down Provo Canyon, to Bob's Place. It was a gorgeous evening, and the show was awesome. The actor playing Tevye was absolutely incredible. Alas, no Bob sightings, but I did get

It's been a banner couple of weeks for the feet in the Edwards family. First, Brother #1 stubbed his bi toe very badly while he was out playing soccer with the kids. Granted, he was playing soccer in his bare feet. Then this week, one of the nieces stubbed her baby toe and either broke or dislocated it. Something about dancing with her sister in their bedroom with the lights out. Doh! Then yesterday morning another niece got into a fight with a bumble bee, and her little foot ended up losing. Poor thing. Finally, we come to Aunt Tracie. The morning started out pretty innocuously. I was up a little early, doing chores, and went noticing I was out of paper towels upstairs, went downstairs to get a new roll. Trying to kill two birds with one stone, I thought I'd open the backdoor to put the plastic wrapper in the garbage. And that's where things took a turn. There's this thing on the bottom step, called a doorjamb. Completely unawares, the doorjamb reached out and attack