BYU Invitational

Yesterday my niece competed in discus at the BYU Invitational.  As the name implies, only the top athletes are invited to this meet.  Tashena has been invited every year because she is amazing in discus but she has really struggled at this meet (she doesn't like the cage at BYU) and has never reached the podium.  Not this year!  She took third place with a throw of 118 and I am so proud of her!  The State Championship is in two weeks (also at BYU) and I am so excited to see how she does after this confidence boosting performance!  Go Tashena!

Tulip Festival 2019

Yesterday when I woke up there was snow on the ground but the sun came out eventually and it turned into a really nice day.  I decided to spend the afternoon visiting the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point.  It was absolutely perfect because the temperature was cool and it wasn't crowded.  There are fifteen different themed gardens featuring 280,000 tulips in hundreds of varieties imported from Holland.  I loved wandering through all of the blooms.

The Creek Garden

The Italian Garden

The Fragrance Garden

The Secret Garden (my favorite)

The Tulip Festival has been extended through May 11 at Thanksgiving Point.  It is open Monday through Saturday from 9:00 am to 8:00 pm.  Tickets are $20 in advance for adults and $15 in advance for children ($25 at the door for adults and $20 at the door for children).  The tickets this year are time specific.  When you buy an advance ticket you will be asked to pick a time to visit.  This is so they can control how many guests are in the garden at any one time and I really appreciated that as it does sometimes get very crowded.  Go here for more information and to purchase tickets.

ZNP With Tashena

During our recent road trip to Southern Utah, Tashena and I made a little detour to Zion National Park.  It was a really quick visit but I loved being among the red rocks!

The weather was absolutely perfect and the park wasn't very crowded!  It was a wonderful afternoon!

Avengers: Endgame

Last night I saw Avengers: Endgame and I think it is an incredibly satisfying conclusion to a saga that has been eleven years in the making.  I loved it!  I laughed, I cried, and I cheered out loud multiple times!  After the catastrophic snap that destroyed half the population of the universe, the remaining Avengers, Iron Man/Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.), Captain America/Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), Hulk/Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), Hawkeye/Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner), War Machine/James "Rhodey" Rhodes (Don Cheadle), Ant-Man/Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), Nebula (Karen Gillan), Rocket (Bradley Cooper), and Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers (Brie Larson), are left reeling in the aftermath (some more than others).  They want to punish Thanos (Josh Brolin) but, more than that, they want to reverse the effects of the snap.  They eventually devise a plan but will they be able to do whatever it takes?  This movie brilliantly weaves together multiple storylines which reference many events from the previous entries in the MCU (I definitely need to see this again because I am sure that I missed a few).  Each character has a rewarding emotional arc with moments of great poignancy and all of the actors, but especially Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans, and Scarlett Johansson, give highly nuanced performances.  To be sure, there are epic battles but I absolutely loved all of the intimate moments with characters I've grown to love over the years.  This movie does justice to all of them.  I enjoyed every minute and I highly recommend that you see it as soon as you can!

Note:  I don't know if this is a spoiler or not but there is no post-credits scene.  Almost everyone in my screening stayed until the very end and we felt a bit foolish!

Aladdin at the Eccles

When I went to New York on a theatre trip a few years ago, my roommate went to see Aladdin on a night that I saw a different show.  When we both got back to the hotel she raved and raved about it so, of course, I immediately wanted to see it.  It seems like I have been waiting forever but I finally had the chance to see this entertaining show last night!  It definitely did not disappoint!  In fact, I think I giggled throughout the whole run time and I may or may not have sung along to "Prince Ali" which is my favorite song from the movie.  The stage musical basically tells the same story as the movie with all of the amazing songs you remember (and a few new ones thrown in for good measure).  Aladdin (Clinton Greenspan) is a street urchin in the city of Agrabah where he ekes out a living as a pickpocket with his friends Babkak (Zach Bencal), Omar (Ben Chavez), and Kassim (Colt Prattes).  While in the marketplace he meets Princess Jasmine (Kaenaonalani Kekoa), who has run away from the palace because her father the Sultan (Jerald Vincent) wants her to marry a prince, and he falls in love with her.  Jafar (Jonathan Weir), the Grand Vizier, wants the throne for himself and learns that there is a magic lamp hidden in the Cave of Wonders that could help him but only a diamond in the rough can enter.  He enlists Aladdin's help but his plan backfires when Aladdin releases the Genie (Major Attaway) from the lamp and is given three wishes.  Wanting to impress Jasmine, Aladdin wishes to be a prince but he soon realizes that he must be himself if he wants to win the princess.  I really loved all of the colorful and sparkly costumes, the dazzling choreography, especially in "Arabian Nights," "Friend Like Me," "Prince Ali," and "High Adventure," and the incredible sets, particularly the Palace and the Cave of Wonders!  The special effects are so much fun and the magic carpet ride in "A Whole New World" is everything I hoped it would be!  Both Greenspan and Kekoa have wonderful voices but Attaway steals the show with all of his hilarious pop culture references.  It is a glitzy production worthy of Disney that is just so much fun to watch from start to finish and I highly recommend it, especially for children!  It runs at the Eccles Theatre through May 12 (tickets my be purchased here).