30th anniversary

Thirty years under our belts and eternity to go.

So, Monday was Glen's and my anniversary. For the first time in 30 years, I dared to try on my wedding dress...that has been sitting in a dry cleaner's box all that time (so it was just a little wrinkled).

I was able to get it on...though it took 2 other people to get me into the dress...one to hold the 2 sides of the zipper together and the other to actually zip up the zipper. I weigh 10 pounds more than when I married (but 40 pounds less than my all-time high), so it was a tight fit. I lasted for about an hour before I decided I'd really rather breathe than continue wearing the dress. But it was so much fun wearing it for a while.

That evening we showed "The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob" at the old movie theatre. It was the first movie Glen and I saw together, which was soon after we first met. It wasn't a date, though, but a church activity our singles ward had. We did travel to the MGM Grand in the same car, however.

It's a 1973 French film about a racist French man who has to go into hiding as a Jewish rabbi. Very silly and a lot of fun, subtitles and all. Apparently it's currently available on Amazon Prime Video because Ryan and Angeles joined us in spirit by watching it up in Idaho.

waiting for the movie to start

We also managed to finally take down our Christmas decorations this week, which though it seems late, it was earlier than we managed to get them down last year (but last year we had a forest of trees up and this year we only had 3 and they were barely decorated...so why did it take us so long? Don't know).

I had my first pottery studio class on Friday--it's not for credit, just for fun. I'm excited to work with clay again. I've started on some valentine's projects, though I doubt they will be done by Valentine's Day.

In other news, Alex participated in a math competition yesterday. He came in second in his category, earning himself a couple of gift cards. Congratulations, Alex!

And then today, we were to have a baby shower for Brent and Alice's baby...only Alice went into labor and couldn't come. We gathered for cake and ice cream anyway, and while the party was going on we received the good news that Alice had given birth to a baby boy, Hunter. He was 7 lbs 6 oz and that's all the details I have at this point. Congratulations Brent and Alice!

Fluent Forever and our Utah trip

Ryan and Angeles got me a great book for Christmas called "Fluent Forever: How to Learn Any Language Fast and Never Forget It" by Gabriel Wyner. He is an opera singer who at age 30 could speak 6 languages fluently. He shares many of the tricks he learned along the way in his language studies. I have been using his system since Christmas and it really is helpful.

He gives several helps, but the biggest one involves a flashcard system called a Leitner Box, which is a spaced repetition system (SRS). The basic idea in a SRS is that you go through longer periods of time between looking at your flash cards again to help the info really sink into your brain.

Of course, in the video below, it is being used to study a language, but when Angeles first came across this idea, it was from a college professor who recommended the system to study vocabulary, so it can be used for anything you want to study. Besides language cards in my box, I also have some hymns to practice on the piano and I added in some music theory, too.

This past week was our annual UTA trip (Utah Theatre Association). Glen's been taking his drama students for over 2 decades. Each year a different college hosts the conference. This year we were in Odgen, Utah at Weber State. I stayed in my hotel room during the day mostly doing my Chinese studies while everyone else was attending workshops. It was heaven.

Thursday evening we saw the musical "Newsies," which I had never seen before. The talent was AMAZING. They had a cast of at least 137 and there were a few scenes that most, if not all, were performing at the same time. Wow. Loved it.

photo from Weber Sentinel News

Friday night we saw "Seussical," which I had seen before (as Eric was in it and play Yertle the Turtle...maybe in 2006?). In Fremont High School's version, they actually had 4 aerial silks with at least 8 aerial dancers performing in different scenes. The costumes were gorgeous.  Once again, I was totally wowed by the phenomenal talent displayed.

I tried to find some pictures online and found a promotional video they had made. Since they were still rehearsing when this was put together, the scenery isn't complete, but this still gives an idea of what the play was like.

 So, we had a wonderful week. Glen and I are looking forward to another good week as today is the anniversary of our meeting 31 years ago (playing Bunco at our Young Single Adult ward in Vegas). Tomorrow we celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary.

Happy Anniversary, Glen! Thanks for marrying me!