2013-2014 Student Body Officers

One of the perks of working at a comprehensive high school is being able to sponsor a group, club, or organization.  Granted, this is often a great deal of work; however, it is also a lot of fun!  This year I have been the student government advisor and I have had the pleasure of working with these amazing students!

They have had a very successful year at Hunter High School and I am so proud of them!  We recently had the election for next year's student body officers and the feeling is very bittersweet.  I am excited to work with a new group of students and I am looking forward to new opportunities and experiences.  Yet at the same time I am sad at the thought of saying goodbye to this wonderful group.  I will definitely miss them!

I wish them the best of luck as they go off to college in the fall!  I know they will do great things!

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Last week I went to see The Grand Budapest Hotel (again).  If you don't already know this, let me tell you now that Wes Anderson is a genius.  The movie is set in Zubrowka, a fictional Alpine European republic, between the wars and includes a panoply of eccentric characters centered around Gustave (Ralph Fiennes), the concierge of the Grand Budapest Hotel, and his loyal lobby boy, Zero (Tony Revolori).  When Madame Desgoffe-und-Taxis (Tilda Swinton), one of Gustave's many wealthy clients who rely on his "exceptional service," dies and leaves Gustave the painting Boy With Apple, her son Dmitri (Adrien Brody) accuses him of her murder.  Gustave enlists the help of Zero and his beloved, Agatha (Saoirse Ronan), to help prove his innocence and thus ensues a fantastical adventure, including a prison break, an appeal to The Society of the Crossed Keys, a high speed chase on skis, a gunfight in the lobby of the hotel, and a mysterious second copy of the second will written by Madame D.  The cast is phenomenal and I was especially blown away by Ralph Fiennes!  I always think of him as a dramatic actor but his comedic timing is superb.  Adrien Brody (I love him in every movie he is in) is hilariously overwrought.   The scene where Dmitri walks down a corridor of the hotel with organ music playing in the background just about killed me!  There is also an impressive list of cameos in this movie (fans of Wes Anderson will recognize many faces);  my favorite is Bill Murray as Monsieur Ivan, a member of The Society of the Crossed Keys.  As with every Wes Anderson movie, the production design is incredibly stylized.  The hotel itself is a piece of pink confectionery and the banners on the hotel at the outbreak of war are almost a spoof of the Nazi swastika.  In my opinion, this movie is brilliant and I highly recommend it!

Mozart, Bernstein & Nielsen

I won some free tickets to a Utah Symphony concert of my choice for promoting the organization on social media.  Recently Marilyn and I used the tickets to see a lovely performance featuring the music of Mozart, my favorite composer, along with Leonard Bernstein and Carl Nielsen.  The orchestra began with Eine Kleine Nachtmusik which is one of Mozart's most popular works, certainly one of the most recognizable.  It was performed by a small chamber group and I thoroughly enjoyed it because this is one of the first pieces of classical music that I fell in love with.  I think it is light, airy, and elegant.  After this piece, the full orchestra, including a large contingent of percussion instruments, joined the group for Leonard Bernstein's Serenade, after Plato's Symposium.  This featured Kathryn Eberle, the Associate Concert Master for the Utah Symphony, on solo violin and she was amazing.  It is a series of related movements with various speakers praising the platonic idea of love.  I really enjoyed the first movement because it featured a lot of percussion.   I especially liked the chimes.  The orchestra concluded the concert with Carl Nielsen's Symphony No. 5.  I was not very familiar with Carl Nielsen but, as the orchestra has been performing his Symphony Cycle this season, I have grown to appreciate his work and I was especially affected by this piece.  Many believe it was heavily influenced by the brutality of World War I.  It was very somber but I thought it ended triumphantly!  Marilyn and I had a wonderful evening.  Thanks to the Utah Symphony for the tickets!

Easter 2014

Easter weekend was absolutely wonderful!  Lots of sunshine, family, food, and fun!  Saturday morning Marilyn and I colored Easter eggs with Sean and Tashena.  We tried a new technique involving shaving cream and food coloring which ended up being extremely messy but we did end up with some beautiful eggs with two colors swirled together.  Sean spent more time playing with the shaving cream than he did coloring eggs!  After our egg adventure, we took the kiddos out for lunch.  Whenever they get to pick the restaurant, it is always Chuck-A-Rama so that's where we went.  Then it was time for presents!  Marilyn found those adorable bags on Pick Your Plum.  They were a hit!  The rest of the afternoon was spent outside.  Sunday morning Sean and Tashena had an Easter egg hunt in the back yard and found their baskets.  The Easter Bunny brought Tashena a longboard and Sean an impressive Amazon gift card (He is currently obsessed with spy gear and he had half of his gift card spent that afternoon on toys from his Amazon wish list.)  I think the Easter bunny has become considerably more generous since I was a kid!  Then my brother-in-law Trent fired up his griddle and we had French toast, bacon, and sausage for Easter brunch.  It was absolutely delicious.  I think food always tastes better outside.  After another afternoon spent outside, we had an Easter feast.  Kristine made Chicken Cordon Bleu in the dutch oven and it was so good!  We spent the rest of the evening in front of the fire pit with three different pies picked out by Sean from Village Inn.  I had the Lemon Supreme!  Yum!   As we lingered by the fire we all wished that the day would never end.  I love spending time with my family and I love being outdoors so it was the perfect Easter for me!

Note:  Go here for the recipe for the Lemon Chick Cookies.

Jazz Game With Sean

Last weekend I took my nephew Sean to a Utah Jazz game and it was quite the adventure!  Sean was so excited he ran all the way home from school (and then had to wait several hours for me to pick him up).  The Jazz played the Portland Trailblazers and it was a great game, until the fourth quarter!  I've gone to quite a few games this season and I initially thought that I was a good luck charm because the Jazz won every game I attended (even one in Denver).  However, I decided that I was really a curse because the last five games I saw ended with the Jazz falling apart in the fourth quarter.  It has been a frustrating season.  Many people believe the Jazz have been losing on purpose to get a higher draft pick and, if that is true, I am really disappointed in the organization.  Even though this game ended with a 111-99 loss to the Blazers, Sean still declared that it was really fun!  There is never a dull moment with this kid!  Most of the people around us were drinking beer and Sean decided that they were all "drunk."  When we went to the bathroom at halftime, he brought the water bottle he was given at the beginning of the game (he was thrilled to get this) with him.  I told him that he could leave it by our seats because we were coming back but he was worried that all of the drunk people would steal it!  Sean wanted some cotton candy and the girl working that concession booth was a former student of mine.  We talked for a little while and she gave Sean the cotton candy for free!  So exciting!  This was my last game of the season and I'm so glad that I got to see it with Sean!  I sure do love him!