Rasmania 102

We had a wonderful week at the Utah Shakepeare Festival.  We maxed out on plays and saw two every day.  The acting was amazing and it was so great to enjoy theater again.  Gloria and Mike came up Tuesday night and saw Richard III with us (it was dark and long, but because of the acting it was enjoyable).  The actor who played Richard III (Aiden O'Reilly) was a man who had some obvious birth defects (in real life) and was legally blind.  He's an example of someone who has overcome, because he was a fabulous actor.  We saw him again in a reading later in the week.  To read the script he had an extra light over his stand and a magnifying glass.  He had to have his head right down on the stand to be able to read the script, and yet he was still able to act. Gloria and Mike came up again on Friday night for Pirates of Penzance (which was well done, but my least favorite).  We also drove down to St. George on Thursday night and joined them again for Count of Monte Cristo at Tuachan. 

I am putting in a few pictures I missed from last week.  From the party Saturday: It's hard to pick out individuals in this picture (but not impossible).  Our family is in the middle on the right.  Vernon and Ila Cook have a pretty impressive posterity. From last Sunday night: Ila helped me pick vegetables last Sunday night.  I had just finished picking when the Green's got there, and after dinner all Ila wanted to do was to pick vegetables from grandma's garden.  I started by allowing her to pick a small cucumber that wasn't really ready, but then we started finding all the stuff I had missed.  She had a large bowlful in just a few minutes.    From sometime this past week: Also from last Sunday night, Gunnar with Yuli. Cute Camden.  Poor Nick and Sara, all their kids have been really sick  at some point throughout this last week, with croup and fevers, etc.  Effie has completely lost her voice.  Camden looks pretty happy, even though he's been sick.  We are praying

                                   The legacy of Vernon and Ila Cook The focal point of the week was the wonderful reunion we had with the Cook Family.  So many of Vernon and Ila's posterity were able to be there.  I'm sure they were able to glimpse the interactions taking place throughout the afternoon and evening, and I'm sure it made them happy.  It is amazing that there is so much love for each other among the siblings, the cousins, and now the 2nd cousins and so on.  The grandkids had such a good time playing with their second cousins.  I asked Doyeon if she had fun meeting and playing with all these new cousins.  Her response: "Yes, but now I'm going to miss them."  When Ruby was called to join their family in their departure, she ran by me with a sad expression.  I asked, "Ruby, what's wrong."  Ruby said emphatically, "I just want to keep playing." Another funny story:  Finn came running to Adrienne and tattled on Isla (Emily'

Waiting for three weeks to write my "weekly letter" is a bad idea.  These last few weeks have been packed to the brim with fun activities.  In order not to bore everyone, I will keep my travelogue to a minimum, and do a Shutterfly book or something later. Before we began our trip, Jennie and Jordan had us for dinner at their place.  Jennie cooked a delicious dish of creamy lemon chicken with pasta.  It was fun to visit with them.                                                  Max's Baptism We were fortunate to be able to fly to Augusta, Georgia for the baptism of Maximus Darren Jackson.  We had a little bit of bad luck with this flight--I guess we've just had bad luck flying in general since our trip to Porta Vallarta in March.  We arrived in Atlanta just fine, but after nearly reaching Augusta--a very short flight--we were told that the plane was having technical problems and we had to turn around.  I guess all the mechanics were in Atlanta.  It would have been nic