If You Build It, They Will Come

Last weekend I had the awesome opportunity of helping in a Miracle League baseball game. The Miracle League was founded in 1998 under the belief that "every child deserves a chance to play baseball"- no matter what their abilities (check it out: www.miracleleague.com), and Utah just organized their first league! The teams played their first games on Saturday, and I went to cheer on the NAC team, and to take a ton of pictures!

(I wish I could post some of the pictures I got of the kids batting and crossing home plate, but I can't violate the participants' confidentiality. I'm sure you would've enjoyed them as much as I do!)

The teams played on this new "Field of Dreams" in West Jordan - a 100% wheelchair accessible baseball field.

It was such a treat to watch these kids, who never before were able to play baseball, finally get an opportunity to do this.

I love my job! :) More on that later.

What Have You Got? FAT BIRDS!

Allow me to introduce you to the most obnoxious birds on the planet. The one on the left is Lady (so named because she loves singing along whenever Lady Gaga is on the radio), and the one on the right is Gunther.

Gunther and Lady belonged to Philip (Jacob's brother) and used to reside in his room until Jacob and I recently moved in. It was unanimously decided very quickly that the birds were no longer welcome, so they moved out to the family room. Of course, that doesn't make them any less annoying, it just makes it easier to ignore them.

The other day I was peacefully eating breakfast in the kitchen when Gunther started up his usual racket.

Gunther: SQUACCCCCKKKKK! Twitter twitter twitter, cheap cheap! SQQQQQUUAAACCKK!

Me: Gunther! What the heck is wrong with you? Could you be quiet for five minutes?

Gunther: *pause* (looks at me curiously) SQQQQQQAAAAACCCCCKKKKK! SQACK SQACK SQACK!

Jacob (from another room): Beka, they're just happy to see each other.

Me: They're not talking to each other! That's only Gunther!

Jacob: ...Really? How can he be making that much noise?

Me: I don't know! It's unfathomable!

The good news is that we finally realized that Gunther will actually quiet down if I hush him over his noise. The trick is that you have to anticipate him starting again and begin shushing him before the sqwacking begins.

Gunther: SQQQQAAACCKKKK!

Me: SHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

Gunther: (looks at me curiously, then opens his mouth again)

Me: SHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gunther: (again, looking surprised, then about to open his mouth again)

Me: SSSSSHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

Gunther: (eyes me suspiciously, then closes his eyes and goes to sleep)

The other trick, of course, is that I have to stop yelling at him in order to shush him.

Philip might come home to find that the cats have "accidentally" eaten his birds.

We're All in the Mood for a Melody

My in-laws have a piano, and it suddenly makes sense why I've been lugging my piano books from apartment to apartment during the last six years. :)

The last few days have been lovely...and very unproductive.

Life is a Series of "Hello"s and "Goodbye"s

Yesterday we packed up the last of our stuff from our Park City apartment and moved it into Jacob's parents' house.

I would be lying if I said that I was upset about this. Park City is not the easiest place in the world to live, and we're both happy to be out of there. I am a little annoyed, however, that we've moved again, and that we've set ourselves up to move again in a few months.

Of course, that hasn't stopped me from trying to amend the situation. After an exhausting day of moving on Monday, I flopped down on the couch and said to Jacob's dad, "Look, here's the thing. I'm not moving again...so you'd better get used to having us here." He was non-too pleased. :)

A Jolly Holiday

Jacob, Kimberly (Jacob's sister) and I just got back from the Caribbean. Utah's Caribbean, that is. As odd as that might sound, that's what some people call Bear Lake (located on the Utah/Idaho border) because of its beautiful clear, blue water.

We were very, very lucky. If I've talked to you recently at all, you've probably heard how our summer was...a little crazy. Also, I would use the words "stressful", "busy", and "exhausting". Jacob and I kept telling each other that we'd take a nice vacation together at the end of it. Of course, that was before everything blew up in our faces (more on that later). Suddenly, we didn't have the time or the money to take a trip...but I had to go somewhere before I went crazy! On an impulse, we decided we'd go camping at Bear Lake State Park. We left on Thursday morning and came back Friday afternoon.

We looked up directions, but besides that, we really didn't plan any of it. None of us had ever been there before. We drove to the Lake, saw it, then kind-of looked at each other and said, "Now what?"

The good news is, there's some very cool stuff to do up there! We started with a tour of the Minnetonka Cave. I wish I had better pictures to show because it was awesome (I guess you'll just have to go check it out yourself!) We also enjoyed seeing bats and having natural air conditioning...even if it did smell a little weird.


While driving to camp from the cave, we saw some very beautiful scenery, including the picture below:

What a lovely place! Even the dandelion looks beautiful. It's odd (and wonderful) so you can find little pockets of beauty like this anywhere, even on the side of the road.

The sun was beginning to go down by the time we got back to our camp. Amazingly, we had randomly decided to camp on the East Shore, which ended up being a very cool decision because it meant we could take silhouette pictures:




Someone, we also managed to have only one neighbor. And I mean, one neighbor anywhere around us. And most of the time, we couldn't even see him. It felt like we had the beach entirely to ourselves.


Sunset was incredible. Again, I wish my camera did it justice. It was unbelievable. Then, when all of the light from the sun was gone, and our fire died out, we got the biggest surprise of all: a gorgeous, giant, clear night sky with a perfect view of the Milky Way, and some remnants from the Perseid meteor shower. We just sat and "oooo"ed for a long time.


The next day, we went kayaking. It took a lot of work to find someone who would rent us a kayak; most of the boats on the lake are motorboats, and therefore all of the rental places rent only motorboats. We finally found ONE place that had ONE kayak...and yes, it was available!

I was a little hesitant. As a general rule, I don't like motor boats. They're loud and obnoxious. And a nuisance when you're in a little kayak. I wasn't too sure if we were going to enjoy ourselves at all.

Then, fortunately, we found this little cove, and had our own personal beach for the rest of the afternoon!
















That's pretty much the end of the story. I apologize, I know it's just a long story that no one cares about except the three of us, but after the summer we've had...I was so grateful for two days of quiet and bliss!

The only thing I regret is that we didn't see the Loch Ness monster. Oh, didn't you know? According to legend, there have been sightings of a serpent-like creature at Bear Lake. Then, because it took such a long time for people to find the bottom of Bear Lake, people started to believe that Bear Lake and Loch Ness were "connected by underground tunnels, and that the monster seen in Bear Lake was actually the Loch Ness Monster swimming between the two lakes." (That is a quote from the Bear Lake State Park map/brochure.) So, not only is Bear Lake part of the Caribbean, it also appears to be part of Scotland, too. It'd be worth a repeat trip just to look for Nessy.

The Name of This Blog

If you know absolutely anything about me, then you probably know that I LOVE the movie Mary Poppins. In fact, I love it so much, that when Jacob and I went to Disneyland a few weeks ago and I saw Mary and Burt riding atop a parade float, I started jumping up and down and screaming until I realized that everyone was either staring at me, or looking around, trying to figure out what in the world was so exciting that a girl in her twenties would react so dramatically.

Although many people appreciate Mary Poppins for it's sweet tunes, fun characters, and absolute magic, I think most people miss one of the central themes in the movie. I relate the following story, as I learned it from an interview given by Richard Sherman (one of the two brothers who wrote the music).

When Richard and Bob Sherman originally wrote the music to Mary Poppins, there was a love ballad included, in which Mary essentially taught the children what true love is. However, when Julie Andrews went over the music, she felt that the love ballad was out of place for the movie, and asked for a replacement song. The Sherman brothers went to work trying to find something, and presented a few suggested songs to Walt Disney. When Walt heard the song, "Feed the Birds", he was quiet for a few minutes, and then said, "That's what it's all about, isn't it?" He understood that the most important things in life are the things that we have to make tiny sacrifices for, even tuppence. And the song made it into the movie.

For the rest of his life, every Friday the Sherman brothers would meet in Walt Disney's office every Friday evening and talk. And, every Friday, Walt would eventually say, "Play it, Richard," and Richard would play "Feed the Birds" for him. It stood as a weekly reminder to make those small sacrifices that would make the people around him better and happier.

I've named my blog in honor of that idea; to serve a reminder to everyone else, and myself, to spend a few tuppence every day to help your family, friends, co-workers, and everyone else that you come in contact with, just a little happier.

It Is Time

Well, I've been wanting to create a blog for a long time, and it looks like the time has finally arrived! I warn you, however, that we don't have internet at our household, so I probably won't be able to update too often. But I hope this will be a great opportunity to keep in touch with everyone from the past. Check in often!