I'm still recovering from my weekend in Vegas with Betsy and Weez. All that driving knocked me out.
We spent a lot of time in the lazy river, floating around on a tube getting a tan. The rest was spent eating, showing Betsy the strip (she's never been there) and seeing Mamma Mia. So much fun!
Isn't the Portland LDS temple beautiful? I remember going through the open house when it first opened in 1989. I was 7 years old and just a month or two away from my baptism. I remember putting on the little white booties, so we didn't get the pretty new carpets dirty. I remember how amazing the celestial room was, so white. So light. The image of the grand staircase seemed like a stairway to heaven.
My memories were accurate. The temple is just as beautiful as it was in my 7-year-old eyes.
I went through the temple Aug. 9 to receive my endowment. My family was there to support me, including my grandma, aunt, uncle and a few cousins from Washington. It was fitting to have them all there, since the whole point of this life is to live worthy enough to be with our families in heaven forever.
The temple trip was the highlight of an amazing, busy weekend with my family.
Forgive my lack of blog postings lately. I have a lot to blog about, but unfortunately all the pictures are on other peoples' cameras and I'm waiting for them to send them (so send them already folks!)
So I'll make due with what I have -- an old picture of the Dethman sisters. I flew home last weekend to see Amy, who lives in Denmark and makes rare appearances here in the states.
It was a jam-packed weekend, with rehearsals, my first trip through the LDS temple to receive my endowment, and culminating with an amazing fireside on the Prophet Joseph Smith. I'll blog more about my temple trip later.
Amy and her husband, Andreas, put together a whole fireside honoring Joseph Smith. They wrote the narration, put together a multimedia presentation of pictures, and then selected songs to tie everything together. It was amazing. I had a hard time keeping my emotions in check as my brother, Mike, sang out the first line to one song: "The spirit of God like a fire is burning. The latter-day glory begins to come forth."
Amy conducted the choir, and the whole family (minus Andrew) participated. It was really neat. Then, I sang a trio of "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief" with Betsy and Amy. It was fun to sing with all of them. Our voices seem to blend so well together. Must be that family gene. I remember the days when I would be annoyed that mom always made us sing together at church, but now I love it. It's so fun being all together up there.
Nope, not Kentucky. But fried. As in my battery.
My car decided to up and die on me Monday night. Thank heaven it happened after I left the creepy downtown Wal-Mart at night, and waited until I was parked safely next to a street light outside my friend, Elissa's house. My two heroes, Dan and Phatty, came to the rescue and gave me a jump. I drove around for a while and then went home to bed.
I was nervous to try again Tuesday morning, and for good reason. The thing wouldn't start. Everything was dead. Even my automatic door locks wouldn't move at the command of my little clicker. At this point, nobody was around to give me a jump. Luckily my friend Meg came over to help. We both had never jumped a car before, and she was pretty nervous. Good thing I didn't remember the whole "battery exploding while Betsy jumped a car once" story until after we successfully jumped the car. That likely would have freaked Meg out. She looked scared even without the story.
Long story short, I spent a few hours at Pep Boys reading Breaking Dawn while they tinkered with my car. Now, $100 bucks later, everything is back to normal.
Oh and I have no idea how the battery died. I didn't leave any lights on or anything. I guess the battery was just tuckered out.
Yes, my devotion to all things High School Musical continues. On Wednesday I went a few of my girls to see "High School Musical: Live on Stage." I was a little hesitant, thinking nothing could match the amazingness of the Disney Channel movie, but I was proven wrong.
Yes, it was the same plot, and most of the same songs. But it was a different experience. The staging was amazing. It proved that you can have a nice set on a touring show. I was amazed that the boys in the "Getcha Head in the Game" number were able to dribble in rhythm with the band the whole time. The girl playing Gabriella had a great voice, and Troy was OK. He was a bit nasally and sometimes went into rock star voice mode. He's no Zac Efron, but really, who is?
After the show, we totally stage doored. Let me explain. Elissa's 13-year-old sister and 9-year-old cousin were at the show, and they are big HSM fans too. So I got to use their enthusiasm as my excuse to stand in the alley waiting for the actors to come out. The girls all got autographs, and the 9-year-old even got an autographed drum stick from the guy in the pit. Pretty sweet.
Please forgive the blurry cell phone pics. That red neon light says "STAGE DOOR." That crowd behind me and Elissa is surrounding the girl playing Gabriella Montez.
This guy is a new character in the stage show, Jack Scott. He's the voice of East High School, and ushered in every scene with a sweet radio voice announcer drawl. Elissa had a secret crush on him, so we made sure to get a picture.
Finally, here are pics of the girls with the actors playing Gabriella Montez and Troy Bolton.
Most of my friends went to East High, and I've always been insanely jealous. I'll have you know that my friend Jane said I am now an honorary graduate of East High School. You know you're jealous.
