Kathryn’s mom recently joined the Orchestra at Temple Square.  She had her first performance this Friday and Kathryn and I decided it would be fun to drive up to SLC to see her.  We swung by Tim’s office on our way over and picked him up and headed over to the Tabernacle.  We picked a nice spot on the upper balcony where we could easily see Suzanne.  Being married to Kathryn, I’ve been to quite a few concerts, but mostly she’s playing in them and I’m in the audience with Tim and Suzanne.  It was a little strange to be with Kathryn watching her mom play.  They did a great job and the concert was very good.  The acoustics in the Tabernacle are unlike any place I’ve ever been to for a concert.  When the first piece began, and the women started singing, it sounded like they were miked and there was a speaker up behind our right shoulder.  Several of us looked around to see if there was, which there wasn’t.  I then realized that the women were turned more towards us and their voices were bouncing off of the curved ceiling above us like a parabolic reflector.  It was like at a science fair where they have the two parabolic reflectors across the room, and you and a friend can speak to each other at normal volume.  The Tabernacle is a very interesting building.
“If these old walls could talk…”

The purpose of the Sunday School lesson today was to help class members appreciate the Prophet Joseph Smith’s role in bringing forth the word of the Lord in this dispensation.  I really liked the table below from the lesson which lists some of the truths restored by Joseph Smith with an associated Bible verse.

At work, I use a paper cup to hold all my pens.  Yes it falls down occasionally and spills them all out, but it works, most of the time.  One time when Kathryn came into work to visit me, she saw my paper cup penholder and pronounced it pathetic.  She told me she’d get a nice mug for me.  It’s really not that important to me, but as they say in the Men’s Prayer in the Red Green show, “I’m a man, but I can change, if I have to, I guess.”

Kathryn kept offering me mugs to take into work, but none of them seemed right to me.  Then one time when we were at Michaels, (now before you question my manliness for going into Michaels, we had just been to Best Buy and bought a subwoofer for our awesome TV so I owed it to Kathryn) I saw these mugs that you paint and then bake in the oven kind of like at Color Me Mine.  I thought it would me a great fun activity and would be much more fun to have at work than some other random mug.  Ironically, I was the one that walked out of Michaels with something crafty and Kathryn was empty handed.

Well, we painted the mugs tonight.  I think they turned out pretty good.  Mine is very simple and clean looking, and Kathryn’s is just exploding with stuff.  It’s a fun look into our different decorating ideals.  I’m excited to take it to work and add it to my desk decor.

Mine:

Hers:

Before and after:

Kathryn’s family has a great Priesthood meeting tradition that is very much anticipated.  All the boys in the family get together and attend Priesthood meeting together, then we all head to the Kyoto Japanese restaurant in SLC for an after meeting dinner.  This was my 5th time attending the semi-annual dinner.  When someone new comes for the first time, they go through a sort of coming-of-age bet that comes with a hefty prize if you succeed and shame and ridicule if you fail.  My first time attending 2 years ago now I was faced with the daunting challenge of eating an entire pot of rice after we had already finished our heavy meal that leaves you feeling overly stuffed even if you are trying to eat lightly.  The prize was a crisp 100 dollar bill and becoming a man and being accepted into the family.  The penalty was that I would be ridiculed and possibly not even allowed to marry Kathryn.  You see, we weren’t even engaged yet, though I had purchased the ring and was waiting for it to be finished so I could propose to her.  The stakes where extremely high, and downing the rice was my only option.  Did it hurt?  Of course.  Where there after-the-fact repercussions?  Yes.  Was it worth it?  Absolutely!  I succeeded and entered the ranks of men at the table.

While the men are at Priesthood meeting and at dinner afterwards, the women also get together and go out to dinner and often go shopping.  Last year Kathryn, Emily, Marta, and Suzanne went shopping together and Ben, James, Tim, and I made bets on who we thought would spend the most money.  It was a race between Marta and Suzanne, but you know who won?  Kathryn with her awesome purse.  Apparently I’m not a very good shopping companion and she needs some good girl advice to thrive.  This year, she and Suzanne went shopping and all they got was stuff for the house.  Lamps, a mirror, and a great rug for upstairs, as seen in the picture below.  It’s apparent we’re home owners I guess when that’s all Kathryn wants to buy when she’s out on a shopping night with her mom.