Midnight Madness, No Sports Involved

Last night, Chris and I went to a midnight movie. It was the first time that I had done so since college when I, Jeaneah, Megan, Rachel, and sometime Angela would see the midnight movie once or twice a month. The theater back then only charged a dollar to see a slightly older movie at midnight, and it was the perfect way to wrap up a busy Friday night. Going to the midnight movie last night brought up some fond memories. I wish that I could say that it was worth it. I'm sad to say that the movie we went to was a huge disappointment. We went to the see the new Indiana Jones movie for a friend's birthday and we were very excited to see it, being big fans of the previous three. However, the movie was poorly done and seemed to rely more on the reputation of the Indiana Jones series rather than plot or dialogue. There were plenty of inconsistencies within the movie, plenty of sad and overused clichés, and the plot was thin and clearly a nod to the directors fetish for aliens. It made me sad for the actors who definitely should have known better, and for the institution of Indiana Jones which would defintely have been better off if no such project had ever been considered, and for Chris and me who lost out on some much needed sleep.

Back In Salt Lake

It's everything I hoped it would be, and more! It's so nice being back in Salt Lake close to family and having no job to go to. We got back into the city sometime after 9:00 in the evening, and we were able to see most of Chris' family that night. I saw my sister the next day. We had a barbaque to go to and we've been to softball games and family dinners. It's like we never left except we have boxes and boxes of things to unpack. The only thing putting a damper on our return is that Chris has to take the bar in a couple of months and he is taking a class to help him prepare for his test and since I don't have a job, I've been getting a little bored with nothing to do most of the day while he's studying. As we were driving home after our last baseball game in Kansas City, Chris said that it would be nice to just keep driving and see baseball games in California instead of coming back for his class. If it hadn't been that we were coming back to a family who loves us, I might have taken him up on the offer.

Chris And Jaime's Excellent Adventure

We, Chris M. Glauser esquire and (James) Jaime Glauser have offically completed our excellent baseball adventure! We had planned to visit three ball parks on our way back to Utah, but couldn't resist the draw of the competition, the smell of the hotdog, or the roar of the crowd and extended our trip to 6 ball parks. We stopped first at Nationals Park in Washington DC the night before we left. It was a little cold, but really fun.

Our next stop was Pittsburg and the Pirates. This stadium was really cool. We saw the Roberto Clemente bridge and got free hats.

We then went on to Cleveland to see the Indians play. We got to the stadium pretty early and went inside hoping that the game would still take place even though it had been raining most of the morning and was continuing to rain. We sat at in our seats for a couple of hours until the stadium announced that the game would be postponed until the following day. It was a disapointment but we did get a picture in front of the field.

We then went on to the city that was to be the pinnical of our trip, Chicago. We went to this really cute bed and breakfast call the Old Chicago Inn. The owners of the in were really excited about our baseball trip and gave us five or six large books to read while we were there all about the Cubs. The baseball field was really historical and interesting. It had a scoreboard that had to be changed manually and the consessions were all really traditional. It was an amazing field and the home team won, which was very exciting.

We then went on to St. Louis to see the Cardinals. We were there pretty early and were able to watch batting practice. While we were watching, Xavier Nady, #22 from the visiting Pirates hit a home run into the stands which bounced pretty close to where we were standing. Chris ran over to it before anyone else and we got to keep it! Oh yeah, and the game was fun too.

Our final stop was Kansas City. This field was having renovations done and was a little messed up, but was still pretty nice. There were fountains in the outfield which was really pretty. We sat next to a Royals fan who had been all over the world and still loved his Royals. It was a good time.

And now we're back in Salt Lake. Our trip was really fun, but we're glad to be back.

Nearning The End

We've said our goodbyes, we've packed our things. Tomorrow morning, we leave. We've had a good last few days here visiting with friends and getting ready to go. We went out to dinner with the Hopkins. We were going to go bowling, but the bowling alley was having a league night, so we couldn't get in. We ended up driving around for quite a while looking for somewhere to eat, driving to the bowling alley and driving back, but eventually we were able to have a good time visiting and eating. The day before that, we had the chance to visit with the Pattons. We went to their house to eat pizza and play games. We hadn't seen them for a little while, and they're going to be moving to New York, so it may be a while before we see them again, so it was nice to visit. A few days before that, we went to a barbeque with many of our friends from the law school. We were part of an incredible group of law students and their wives and children. We've been friends with most of them from the week that we moved out to the area. We met one couple the first week we were in church, it was their first week too. We met a few of the others just a little while later. It has been wonderful becoming friends with all of them and we are very excited that some of them are going to be moving to Salt Lake where we can see them once in a while. We loved living in DC.

Bittersweet

I finished my final day of work yesterday. It was a bittersweet day for me; I was, of course, excited all day because the end of the day meant that I was officially starting a new part of my life, a part that includes being closer to family and settling down in a house that we'll be in for quite a while instead of knowing that it's temporary, and eventually starting a family. I felt that I had done the best I could at my job and felt good about the way I had left things there. However, it was sad that I had to leave so many great people behind. I made some great friends at work and it's always hard saying goodbye. They were so sweet and took me out for lunch and icecream, and gave me a card which they had all signed along with a couple of gift certificates and they all said nice things to me, and everyone knows what a sucker I am for a compliment. It was wonderful getting to know them all and I hope that they don't forget me.

Learning From The Sunbeams

Today Chris and I taught our last lesson to the Sunbeams. As I was sitting in the primary room listening to the children sing, I was thinking about all the things that the Sunbeams taught me while I thought I was doing the teaching. Here are a few examples. No does not mean no, it means count to five and then ask again, because there's no way that the teacher is going to remember that she said no. Five prayers to start class are never too many. Sharing crayons is great, except for the light blue one that is someone's favorite. Shoes in class are optional. When a sunbeam has hidden a ball for another sunbeam to find, he needs to tell her where he hid it right away so that she doesn't get confused. Jesus loves everyone. If one student has to go to the bathroom, everyone has to go to the bathroom, especially if they just went. The CTR 5's are way more interesting than the primary president, or whoever happens to be speaking at the front of the room. And there were many more things that we learned from the sweet children. I have to say that teaching the sunbeams is my favorite calling in the church and I'm going to miss it so much when Chris and I are in a new ward next week.