Baseball & Fireworks

I really love watching fireworks this time of year so when I found out that there would be fireworks after the Salt Lake Bees game on Saturday, Marilyn and I decided to take Sean and Tashena.  The Bees played the El Paso Chihuahuas (we had a few laughs about their name) and it was a much better game than last time.  The Bees had a very dramatic home run in the sixth inning to get the crowd cheering and ended up winning 5-3.  But, honestly, it was really hot.  I think we were all just sitting through the game to get to the fireworks!  They were pretty spectacular!

Note:  During the fireworks display, they played patriotic music.  When Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture was playing, Sean spontaneously started conducting with very dramatic gestures!  It was hilarious!

Independence Day 2014

Friday was absolutely wonderful!  I spent the holiday with my family and we had so much fun together.  We had a fabulous dinner of dutch oven chicken cordon bleu, corn on the cob, fruit salad, and rolls.  I think everything tastes so much better outside.

I made my traditional flag cake, which I have made every year since I was in high school.  It is so simple:  bake a white cake, spread a tub of whipped cream on top, and place blueberries and sliced strawberries in a flag pattern.  It is a really light and refreshing dessert which tastes a lot like strawberry shortcake.

I also made flag cupcakes at Sean's request.  He kept asking me if he could have one.  I think he eventually had four of them before the night was over!

While Sean went swimming, the rest of us played the board game Life.  This is actually one of our favorite games to play when we were kids (we also had epic Monopoly games that would last for days during every school holiday when were young).  It was so much fun to continue the tradition with Tashena.  We have a tendency to get really silly while playing cards or board games!

Sean had a hard time waiting for it to get dark to start the fireworks so we had the kiddos play with poppers and sparklers.  I think Sean would have been completely happy with just the poppers!  But we take fireworks very seriously in my family!  When we were kids we used to spend the 4th of July at my Grandma's house in Moroni.  My Dad used to provide a fireworks show for all of the grandchildren.  This usually necessitated a trip to Wyoming to get the good (illegal) stuff.  One year the sheriff pulled up in front of my grandma's house and we were afraid that my Dad would be in trouble.  Turns out, the sheriff just wanted to watch the show!  Now aerial fireworks are legal in Utah so Marilyn and I spent the equivalent of the GNP of a small country on fireworks this year but it was so worth it!

We had an epic show (although the expensive one I bought for the finale was kind of a dud).  One of our aerials malfunctioned and sent showers which exploded towards us!  One exploded right next to Marilyn and actually burned her leg a little bit.  She is such a pyromaniac that when we rushed to see if she was hurt, she yelled out, "That was awesome!"  After the fireworks display (we were competing with the people one street over and I think we won), we went inside for cake.  Then the kids wanted to go in the backyard and play another board game.  We ended up playing Clue (at midnight) and laughing so hard!  Another very memorable 4th of July!

I hope you had a wonderful holiday with your family and friends!

Utah Symphony at the Waterfall

On Wednesday afternoon I was driving to American Fork to get the oil changed in my car and, as I passed Thanksgiving Point, I noticed on the marquee that the Utah Symphony would be performing in the Waterfall Amphitheatre that night.  I was unable to see the concert at Sundance last week so I spontaneously decided to go (it was the same program).  I bought tickets while sitting in the waiting room at my dealership!  It was an absolutely gorgeous summer evening and I was thrilled to be seeing another outdoor performance in a venue I had never been to before!  I will have to add the Waterfall Amphitheatre to my list!  As I was looking through the program, I noticed that there would be fireworks!  Score!  The concert began with a few patriotic numbers and then the orchestra played Gershwin's Piano Concerto with Mary Anne Huntsman as soloist.  After the intermission Celena Shafer sang Musetta's Aria from La Boheme.  Oh my goodness, it was amazing!  I love that opera and I always love hearing Shafer sing!  She also sang "Summertime" from Porgy and Bess which was lovely!  Then the orchestra played a medley from West Side Story.  For the finale, we heard Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture complete with cannons provided by the Wasatch Cannoneers.  This piece is unbelievably stirring!  I have heard it many times and it never gets old.  The cannons make me jump every time!  Then came a spectacular fireworks show!  I love watching fireworks and it was such a beautiful evening!  I need to be spontaneous more often!

Jersey Boys

Tuesday night I went to see the movie adaptation of the hit stage musical Jersey Boys.  My Dad really loves The Four Seasons so I grew up listening to their music.  I remember singing "Rag Doll" at the top of my lungs during road trips when I was a little girl (we also listened to the Beatles and the Eagles on road trips).  I had the opportunity to see the musical last summer and I absolutely loved it!  I loved it so much that I bought tickets for my Dad on my phone during intermission (He loved it, too).  I loved the movie just as much as the musical.  While any performance has much more energy and intimacy with the audience, this movie provides the verisimilitude that the musical lacks because we see the actual venues where the action takes place (the acoustics in the church where Frankie practices are amazing, for example).   Many of the actors in this film are unknown (at least they were unknown to me) except for Christopher Walken, who plays a mob boss (rather hilariously, I might add).  John Lloyd Young reprises the role of Frankie Valli, which he originated on Broadway (for which he won a Tony).  He is spot on with Valli's signature falsetto, in my opinion.  Erich Bergen and Michael Lomenda also reprise their roles as Bob Gaudio and Nick Massi, respectively.  Bergen (I may or may not have a small crush on him now) performed in the Broadway touring company for several years and Lomenda performed in the Toronto production.  I found Vincent Piazza's (from the TV show Boardwalk Empire, which I've never seen) performance as Tommy DeVito to be a bit over the top.  (To be fair, his character is extremely unsympathetic).  However, the real star of this movie is the music!  It features all of the wonderful songs I listened to while growing up: "Sherry," "Big Girls Don't Cry," "Walk Like a Man," "Dawn (Go Away)," "Let's Hang On (To What We've Got)," "Working My Way Back to You," "December 1963 (Oh, What a Night)," and, of course, my favorite "Rag Doll." I especially loved when they perform "Sherry" on American bandstand, "Let's Hang On" on the Ed Sullivan Show, and "Rag Doll" at their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony (which were also my favorite scenes in the musical).  There is a fun medley during the final credits and people were actually dancing in the aisles (everyone danced at the Capitol Theatre during the final bows).  I really enjoyed this movie and I recommend it to people who love The Four Seasons (especially my Dad).

Note:  I was, by far, the youngest person in the theater.  This is becoming a recurring theme in my life!  Clearly, I was born during the wrong time.

O Canada

Today is Canada Day!  While Canada is no longer my home, it is definitely my native land.  I have actually lived more years in the United States than I did in Canada and I am very grateful for all of the opportunities that I have had as an American citizen, but I am very proud of the fact that I am Canadian!  Canada is the land that I love!