guess who's coming to dinner

I ate dinner with Glenn Beck.

Sure, he was at the next table. But still! That's close enough for me. He was only five feet away. So cool.

On Saturday I was lucky enough to be invited to sit at the Deseret Book corporate table at a fundraising event in Provo. Glenn Beck was the featured guest. We had dinner, then he was presented an award. After a short musical presentation, he came back on the stage and gave a good, 45 minute-long or so speech.

He was a great entertainer, and he was inspiring. He told us to stand up for what we believe in. He reminded us that one person can make a difference.

"Know who you are, know what you got here, know what makes you so great, know what makes you so strong. It is your values," Beck told a crowd of a thousand gathered to hear him. "It is your commitment to do the hard thing, your commitment to God. In God we trust."

I've been meaning to pick up a copy of An Unlikely Mormon: The Conversion Story of Glenn Beck. I've seen clips, and I've only heard good things. It's amazing to see how someone could turn their life around so much and then become a powerful voice for change and someone who stands up for our values.

back to L.A.

I enjoyed yet another mini vacation last weekend. Destination: L.A. with my friends Marianne, Kimber and Emily.

Highlight of the trip: the fantabulous musical, 9 to 5. It's a musical of the classic Dolly Parton/Lilly Tomlin/Jane Fonda movie. It's been playing in L.A. getting ready for it's big Broadway run next year.


This is probably one of the best shows I've ever seen. Yes, it could use some work, but I'm sure they will retool things before the Broadway run next spring. Megan Hilty was a mirror image and perfect duplicate of Dolly Parton. I still can't get over Stephanie J. Block's vocals. Man that girl can belt. She made Judy loveable. And how can you complain about Allison Janney? She was a hilarious Violet. I still can't get over the dream sequence. I don't want to give anything away. Just go see it.



Before the show, we stumbled into Hollywood somehow. Yah, we didn't plan it. But I'm so glad we did. I found Celine Dion's star on the walk of fame. We took pictures in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater and compared our shoe sizes to the stars. It was an unexpected bonus to the trip.

The next day we went to Disneyland.

I never thought it could be possible to have too much Disney goodness in one year. But alas, I think the impossible is possible. I went to Disneyland on Saturday. Kimber hooked us up with free passes for the day. Now don't get me wrong. I did love it. I've never seen the Halloween decorations. I've never seen the Haunted Mansion revamped into the Nightmare Before Christmas Haunted Mansion. Oh and there was a new ride at California Adventure: Toy Story Midway Mania. Best ride of the day, no joke. I loved it.

Here's what put the downer on Disney for me: long lines. I have managed to avoid busy Disney weekends every time I have gone. In April with the family at Disneyland it wasn't too bad. Then in May, the Disney World lines were a breeze. Somehow we managed to go on one of the busy weekends. In fact, I think the entire state of Utah decided to go to Disneyland that weekend. It was UEA weekend (formerly known as The Hunt) and Utah schools had the week off. Thus, all the BYU and U of U shirts I saw throughout the park.

I hate long lines. Even fast pass lines were long. The single rider line on Soaring Over California was long. All my tricks didn't really work.


Nevertheless, I still loved it. Disneyland really is the happiest place on earth.

Runner-up for best highlight of the trip: the doo on the dude sitting to the left in the rail car on Big Thunder Mountain.

Reflections of Christ

Sorry I've been a terrible blogger. It's amazing seeing the lack of down time I have lately.

I've been spending the majority of my time working on the Reflections of Christ project. It's my job to get the press to help get the word out about this amazing photography exhibit. So far we've been getting great results. Check out this story that ran up in Idaho:

The exhibit was in Salt Lake last week, and I had two television stations and a few newspaper articles that reported on the exhibit.

And for all of you on Facebook, head over there and become a fan of the project.