Fun at YWs

As part of our activities, we have been teaching the girls fun things to make for inexpensive gifts. This week we did brownies in a jar where you put the dry ingredients into a jar to give to someone with a recipe that includes the wet ingredients. The girls had a great time! And, we ate a batch of really yummy brownies.

The girls and leaders had never seen these jars before, which I thought was pretty funny. Of course, I'm learning that the cooking, crafting, etc. that I grew up with is rare today, and that even folks my age don't know how to do a lot of this stuff. Crazy!

One of my counselors took photos and put these fun collages together after the activity.

BYU Hangs on to the Top 10...

Go Cougars! The rankings for this week are out...and, as could have been predicted, the favored USC has cracked the top 10 again, and moved one spot past BYU. But, BYU's lackluster win over Utah State this past week did not drop them out of the top 10--they hung on to a 9th place ranking. They are going to need to play much better this Thursday if they want to hang on to that top 10 spot and beat TCU. Come on Cougars--you can do it!

A Temple in Rome????

Yes, it is indeed a great day when the Church plans to build a temple in Rome, Italy! To think that there are now enough members of the Church in that area of the world that the city known as the home of the Vatican and other Catholic historical and sacred buildings will now also be the home of a temple of the Lord!

Midnight Sun

As a previous post indicated, for a long time, I resisted reading the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. However, since reading Twilight July when I went to Washington, D.C., to visit Eric, Sheree, and Tyler, I have been an avid reader and follower of the series. I have read the remaining three books--the fourth of I bought at midnight upon its release. (I know, I'm crazy!) And, I just finished the draft of the first 264 pages of the fifth book--Midnight Sun. It was released on August 28th following this (abridged) email from Stephenie on stepheniemeyer.com--

Midnight Sun: Edward's Version of Twilight
August 28, 2008

As some of you may have heard, my partial draft of Midnight Sun was illegally posted on the Internet and has since been virally distributed without my knowledge or permission or the knowledge or permission of my publisher....

I did not want my readers to experience Midnight Sun before it was completed, edited and published....Unfortunately, with the Internet, it is easy for people to obtain and share items that do not legally belong to them....

I'd rather my fans not read this version of Midnight Sun. It was only an incomplete draft; the writing is messy and flawed and full of mistakes. But how do I comment on this violation without driving more people to look for the illegal posting? It has taken me a while to decide how and if I could respond. But to end the confusion, I've decided to make the draft available here (at the end of this post). This way, my readers don't have to feel they have to make a sacrifice to stay honest. I hope this fragment gives you further insight into Edward's head and adds a new dimension to the Twilight story. That's what inspired me to write it in the first place....
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Stephenie is right that the draft is exactly that--a draft. It is rough and unedited--not ready for publication. In fact, in some places, it is a little disjointed with Twilight despite the fact that Midnight Sun is Edward's version of Twilight. But, for those of you who are Twilight fans, I highly recommend that you read the draft. I will admit that before reading the draft, I went back and re-read Twilight, which I'm glad I did--I missed so many things the first time around because I had to find out what was going to happen to Bell and Edward. Stephenie herself admits that the books are better if read twice--and, I would agree with her. Midnight Sun provides additional insight into Edward and give you perspective and foreshadowing of the remaining three books.

Admittedly, reading Twilight again and reading Midnight Sun has totally doomed the Twilight movie for me. I already (see previous post) had decided that the movie was totally mis-cast. Now, I'm even more convinced. I am also concerned about how they can possibly portray this story in a 2-hour movie. From the trailers, I already know there has been artistic liberty taken. For example, the "how old are you, really" question is asked in a totally different location and series of events in the book than in the movie trailer.

Anyway, for those of you who are Twilight fans, I recommend you read the draft of Midnight Sun, and that you encourage Stephenie to actually finish the book. There's no question that I would buy the final version of Midnight Sun--there's so much more of the story to be told from Edward's perspective!

Good News!

While I was in law school, my good friends the Paulsons suffered a devastating blow when they learned that their daughter Caitlin had brain cancer. Surgery was immediately performed at Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City and chemotherapy was administered. Thanks to wonderful, smart, and optimistic doctors as well as lots of faith, prayers, and fasting, I received this great email today--"It’s official--Caitlin is a 5 year cancer survivor!!! We had the MRI on Tuesday and went to clinic on Wednesday. All is fine and she will continue on the 6 month MRI schedule as we had expected." Congratulations Caitlin!

Free Admission to Disneyland on Your Birthday

It appears that 2009 is a year of celebrations at Disneyland. In honor of this, they are giving away free admission to the park on your birthday. Go to Disneyland.com to register your birthdate and personal information. I'll be looking for someone to go with me for my birthday...

Thank you USC!

I'd like to thank USC...for losing your game this week. Thank you for stepping aside so that BYU could move ahead of you in the the polls...enjoy your number 9 ranking...number 8 is looking pretty good to us! Go Cougars!