California is like heaven... with traffic jams

Wow I'm behind on blogging. It's time for me to chronicle a road trip Ben and I took to California in June.


It all started when Ben applied for an ORCA grant to do a documentary for school and go it! Woo hoo! At least that's what we thought initially. Now the feelings are mixed. An analogy: it's like winning a sweet new SUV then having to pay out the nose for car insurance and gas. We won money, but now we have to spend money to fully utilize the money we won.

So part of said spending was a trip to Los Angeles to interview people for the film. Ben's documentary is about a group of people we both taught on our missions called the Garifuna. They are black people who live in Central America and speak Spanish, but many have immigrated to the US and integrated into black culture. So as stage one of his project, we cruised to SoCal (don't I sound so legit?) for a few days. I was just the production assistant, but I was glad to tag along. The agenda was as follows:

1. Film interviews
2. Film more interviews
3. Film a Garifuna school
4. Film a Garifuna concert
5. More interviews
6. Relax in Laguna Beach for less than 24 hours

Yes, as a reward for being a great production assistant I made Ben take me to Laguna Beach for a night. We got a great rate at a hotel and spent the morning on the beach. And that was about it. I barely got any pictures of the interviews or filming, but I did get a bunch at the beach. Really though, who can pass up taking pictures at the beach?

We made a sweet sandcastle and although many of the people on the
beach chuckled at two adults furiously digging and packing sand, I think they
ultimately admired our amazing design :)

Ben models the castle

One day I'll own a beach house like this. Or maybe I'll redeem my ward choir
points (see earlier post) for a mansion in heaven like this one.

The City of Los Angeles was quite an experience- Ben and I spent most of our time in a area we dubbed "Little Central America". We were there filming for 4 days and saw only two other white people- both homeless men. One day we had a few extra minutes so we decided to stop by Ross and get Ben some clothes. When we walked in everyone looked at us like we were from the moon. We looked around and realized we were the only white people in the whole store- everyone else was Latin. The same thing happened in the grocery store. At times I thought, "Am I still in America?" But it was a great opportunity to practice our Spanish and be the minority for a bit. I think that's a healthy experience to have every once in awhile.

Last funny story: Ben and I decided to go to church in Spanish on Sunday. We programmed the address in the GPS and followed the directions. When it said, "Your destination is ahead of you" I pulled into a church parking lot and we parked on the side of the building. Since we'd arrived early, we sat and waited for other people to arrive. One man got out of a truck that had a big "LOVE JESUS" sticker on the back, which we thought was strange, but we didn't get suspicious until a lady walked in the side door with a black lace veil on. Ben then asked, "Is this the right church?" So we walked around to the front and saw this:

We were about to attend an Evangelical church called "La Iglesia de Jesucristo" or "The Church of Jesus Christ". Pretty close, but very different. It was complete with neon sign and multiple days you can attend.

We then turned around and directly across the street we saw this:

The Mormon Church! I'd just turned into the wrong church parking lot. We got a good laugh out of it. I told Ben the neon flashing sign was hard to resist, but the Elders greeting people in front of the other church got me in the end.

76 hour work week

It's currently 6am and I just finished a 76 hour work week. Monday to Monday I was at the ER 7 out of 8 nights. And yes, I'm publishing it to the world to say that I'm awesome and I can't believe I survived it. Thank you, thank you.

One thing that's made it especially entertaining is that Ben just took a job with BYU Classical 89 radio doing their morning news. Each morning he leaves at 5:15am and I get off at about 5:15am. So our new system is chatting on the phone while I drive home from work and he drives to work. We're typically both so sleep deprived the conversations are entertaining and keep us moderately connected... for now.

So if you've ever thought about a 76 hour work week and doing it yourself, don't. It's not worth the money or the satisfaction. In the end, the only real benefit is that you can brag about it on your blog.

Anna's Wedding

I've been terrible at blogging lately. Mostly because work has consumed a large part of my life and when I do get a moment free I'm sleeping, doing laundry, the dishes, spending time with Ben, etc. All good excuses, but I'll try to be better at keeping it updated.

Today I have to take a moment to blog about the funnest wedding reception that I've EVER been to. A few weeks ago my cousin Anna got married and had a dinner party at a garden house in Highland. This is what it looked like:

It was so beautiful. Anna and Jared her husband had planned everything so well. The program consisted of toasts, dinner, dancing, and then dessert. They even had an Italian soda bar and photo booth! Ben and I had a blast! If I had had more money to do our wedding I would have done it just like that. It was a party.

With my amazing cousins and sisters
(L to R: Cindy, Julia, me, Anna, Laura and Rachelle)

My cousin Rochelle is one of my heroes

With my mom and sisters, Laura and Julia

Ben and I had a lot of fun in the photo booth

Maybe a little too much fun? :)

This was the filmstrip that printed from the photo booth for all the guests.
Thanks to Anna and Jared for a great party and congratulations.
We're so happy for you both!

Ward Choir

Today we sang in the ward choir for Stake Conference. We've been attending practices for weeks, but I think Ben's email below best summarizes how we really felt about the situation. Let's just put it this way: if the ward choir director wasn't such a nice person, we wouldn't have done it. Especially since it wasn't until the second practice that I found out what p and f in the music mean-- thanks to the soprano prodigy sitting next to me. I just hope we get an Olympic size pool in our mansion in heaven for this one.


Dear East Elder's quorum,

I have a true confession to make to all of you: I can't sing. I can't read the music, I can't hit the notes and I'm virtually tone-deaf. I can think of a gazillion different things I would rather do than sing in an organized situation. I avoided choir in my younger days simply because I don't have an affinity toward public humiliation; I am not an advocate of torture.

That said, I have some fairly alarming news for you: I have been singing in the ward choir in preparation for Stake Conference on Sunday. Now, this is not my first choice of ways to spend my time in life, in truth, it falls near the bottom of my list of things that I might perhaps want to accomplish later in life, say, when I turn 97. However, much to the chagrin of those musical marvels in our ward, I am singing in the choir.

I know some of you reading this email participated in choir in high school. Maybe you even dabbled in choir in college. To you, I raise my glass of pink lemonade. Well done. There may be others of you who know you can sing and don't like to make others look bad; don't worry, most of us who can't sing already do that for ourselves. And there may be others like me who can't carry a tune in a bucket, and, indeed, our singing may cause listeners to necessitate a bucket in which to unceremoniously deposit their lunch. That's beside the point. What I'm trying to say is this: the ward choir needs male voices for Sunday-- mostly to cover up the damage I am inadvertently causing within their ranks.

In a last ditch effort I'm writing to extend a most cordial invitation to the elders of the east quorum. On Sunday at 8:45 in the Smith Field House, the ward choir is practicing for the last time before stake conference. The music is inspiring, and, if you have an ounce of musical inclination, very simple. Even if you haven't attended any of the previous practices, you are a welcome addition. I don't know where you fall in the categories of singers, but the choir could definitely use your voice. I invite you to come.

Best,

Ben Petersen
(the secretary)

It's more than just a pit-stop off the freeway

Kolob Canyons, Zion National Park

For the first two years of college, Ben attended Southern Utah University in Cedar City, Utah. He's always had a soft spot in his heart for the school and city because he really enjoyed his time there. That's why we've always had the small town on our list of "Must See Places", after Hawaii and Cancun. But since Cedar City is a slightly cheaper vacation, we thought we should make the effort to visit there first.

Our opportunity came last week when Ben was asked to film the BYU Special Olympics team for the Center for Service and Learning. We left early Thursday morning and arrived in time for Ben to film some of the olympic events as well as opening ceremonies. It was so inspirational to see the individuals with special needs so excited to participate. My favorite events to watch were the assisted walks/dashes since family members were right by the side of the participant on the track, cheering them on the whole way. In the evening Ben took me to his favorite restaurant in Cedar, The Pastry Pub.

That night we stayed in New Harmony at my Uncle Scott and Aunt Jane's house. It is a beautiful home in a great area. In the morning we slept in, then after my uncle made us breakfast we drove up Kolob Canyons to do a short hike. It's a beautiful canyon and worth a stop. Later in the day Ben showed me around SUU campus. It was good because I always imagined it to be old and a little ghetto... but it's actually a very nice school with a beautiful campus.

On our hike. Ben was practicing with the camera and I was modeling...

but then the flies came. I hope you like the contrast in pose as much as I did.
I'm trying to swat the flies away of course.

We drove home Friday afternoon (since I had to work Friday night) but had such a fun time in Cedar City. So there's our tourism plug for this year. That is until we make it to Hawaii or Cancun.