Family

Well everyone, 4 days, 1,958 miles, 36 hours of driving, several family dinners and one replacement fuel pump later, six current Chapmans and one soon-to-be Chapman (yours truly) are back from Arizona! Here are some of the highlights:

• Listening to an amazing Silver Chair song with Jacob in the car
• Hanging out in the air conditioned waiting room of the car dealership while the van was being repaired
• Watching the sunlight on the martian landscape of Arizona/Nevada as we drove
• The look on Grandma and Grandpa Chapman's faces as we walked into the door of El Charro restaurant
• Conversations with little baby cousins
• The incredibly squeaky-beyond-belief bed that Laura, Anna, and I shared that kept Laura and I awake and laughing and Anna talking in her sleep for at least an hour
• Watching "Mythbusters" with Jacob, sisters, and cousins
• Playing the seat-switching game with family on Sunday afternoon
• Wading upstream in a river in Provo during a ward reunion
• Long talks with Jacob after a late-night swim
• Playing with the air conditioning vent with Laura and Camilla and Jacob for an hour, making paper plates and bowls and napkins hover
• The moment during the above when the bowl flew from the vent straight into Camilla's hand, like she had the force, and which we attempted to create for a really long time
• Meeting tons of family and friends of the Chapmans
• Playing the guitar and singing with family
• Watching Jacob do the Porter scene for his family
• Jamming on the blues in D with Jacob, Camilla, Laura, and Grandpa Fraughton
• Jacob's sweet arms around me as I slept in the car

There were a lot more awesome moments that I'll treasure, but these are the ones I'm telling you about. =) Here's to family!

Happy trails

Well, readers, I'm off to Arizona for the weekend! Here's to 4 days of family, love, summer, and road-tripping. See you Monday night!

Learning from Love

In all the frenzy of wedding preparations, it's easy to lose perspective. ("If the candle votives aren't perfect, nothing's perfect!" You know, that kind of thing.) But I've just been thinking about this man a lot lately, while cutting out fabric, painting decorations, and checking off lists. And I'm so grateful for him. At the end of this frenzy of wedding prep (and through it) is one of the most wonderful people I have ever known, and am likely to ever know. His heart is the kindest, most caring heart I've ever found. He finds joy in others' laughter, and mourns with the broken-hearted. He's constantly seeking for truth and beauty and knowledge, and shares it when he finds it. I learn so much from his example, whether in little things that make life more convenient, or in big things that make life more beautiful. Here's just a taste of how Jacob has helped to change me for the better.

Things I’ve Learned from Jacob Chapman (so far):

1. There is always time to say hello to a friend or acquaintance.
2. Hamlet is even more awesome than I had previously thought.
3. Pearl Jam is one of the greatest bands of the last 30 years.
4. When in doubt, talk. You have nothing to lose by being honest, by communicating.
5. Every life is valuable, whether it be the life of a friend or the life of a spider, the life of someone that drives you crazy or the life of the smallest ant.
6. If you turn the heat on in the car, but keep the vents closed, you don’t have to have cold air blasted on you while you’re waiting for the heat to get going.
7. It can be difficult to do the right thing, to resist temptation, and to keep the covenants that you’ve made. But it’s do-able. Some may say that men, especially, are fighting a losing battle, surrounded by temptation in the media. But it is possible to remain virtuous and to honor the covenants that you’ve made, no matter who you are.
8. Some of the coolest people alive today include: Jack White (of the White Stripes), Eddie Vedder (of Pearl Jam), Anthony Fantano, and Garrison Keillor.
9. Poetry is often better when read aloud.
10. Beauty can be found everywhere…in the dance-like movement of bees, in the fluttering of prayer flags, in the curve of an ankle, in the petals of a dandelion blossom.

I'm so excited to spend the rest of my life learning from this man's example. I hope I can one day be half as patient, kind, and honest as this man is.

Répondez s'il vous plaît

Not much of a blog entry, but I just wanted to remind everyone that if you're planning on coming to the wedding (19 days and counting...), and haven't yet RSVP'd, please do so soon! We need a head-count by June 30th! Thanks so much everyone!

Click here to RSVP on our wedding website! (This link takes you to the homepage, click on RSVP on the left menu.)

Gritting my teeth (a brief rant in defense of small family-owned theatres in West Yellowstone)

Went to the dentist this morning...need a crown and half a dozen fillings, and one wisdom tooth extracted. But that's neither here nor there.

It was a lot more irritating to deal with the dental hygienist who cleaned my teeth, (bless her heart). She asked what my major was, and when I replied "Fee-uh-duhr ed" (theatre ed), she immediately began talking about the Playmill, and I told her how I was there for two years. Which was fun. But at the end of my exam/cleaning, she said,

"You know, I've been going to the Playmill for 30 years...we went when the Bensons owned it and later when John Bidwell owned it, and in the last years, and we've always loved it. But I really miss the piano. It bugs me having the canned music. It kind of bothers me. Okay, it really bothers me. I used to love that piano."

Liz, slightly confused but not particularly invested in the conversation, puts on her "customer service hat," and begins nodding understandingly. The conversation continues:

DENTAL HYGIENIST: That's so disappointing.

LIZ: I'm sorry. (inner monologue: Do you have any idea how much easier it is with tracks?! No need to find an accompanist for the entire summer, great sound of full orchestra tracks, enormous flexibility with set changes and staging?)

DENTAL HYGIENIST: And I've been worried about shows being inappropriate, too.

LIZ: Really? (inner monologue: Uh oh...)

DENTAL HYGIENIST: Yeah, I mean, we've been going for years...my husband always loved it--my husband is a general authority, he's a member of the seventy--and we've always loved it, but we didn't even go last year.

LIZ: Oh. (inner monologue: Of course. Your husband, the general authority. The one with the monopoly on righteous entertainment.)

DENTAL HYGIENIST: Yeah, we went and saw "Footloose" not this last year, but the first year that they did it, and it was just so inappropriate.

LIZ: Hm. (inner monologue: Oh, the first year. The year I was in it. Wonder if I should put her in her place and tell her my role in that very show was one of my favorite at the Playmill...?)

DENTAL HYGIENIST: Yeah, it was just so contentious. Like between the dad and the daughter; just a lot of contention.

LIZ: Oh, yeah. (inner monologue: You mean there's conflict? In a PLAY?!)

DENTAL HYGIENIST: Yeah, in 30 years, I've never walked out of a play, but we walked out of "Footloose."

LIZ: That's a shame. (inner monologue: If you'd watched to the end, you'd have seen a beautiful message of redemption and family healing.)

DENTAL HYGIENIST: Yeah, we've been going every year, but after "Footloose," we just didn't even go last year. We just weren't sure if it would be appropriate or not. But this year the shows are great!

LIZ: Yeah, I'm excited to see them! (inner monologue: The main characters in "Seven Brides" model their behavior after ancient Roman RAPISTS. There are members of the KU KLUX KLAN in "The Foreigner." There's an effing MOB in "Beauty and the Beast." But fathers and daughters don't disagree, so it's all "appropriate.")

DENTAL HYGIENIST: Yeah, I was glad they picked good shows this year.

LIZ: Yeah, they should be great. (inner monologue: Or just shows you happen to like.)


Now, I know I'm preaching to the choir here, and you've all heard it (or said it yourselves) before, but I'd just like to articulate these few points:

1. Conflict does not necessarily equal evil. As a matter of fact, it is NECESSARY for successful theatre.
2. Truth can be found in heaven, earth, or hell, and it is our responsibility as human beings, and especially as Latter-day Saints, to find and share it.
3. If you're that concerned about your entertainment, shame on you for not researching what you're participating in before paying for your tickets.
4. Instead of pointing fingers, recognize "where the accountability lies." "I didn't like it" is not the same thing as "It was bad," just as "I loved it" is not the same as "It was way good." "It was inappropriate" more often than not probably actually means "I personally couldn't get past certain issues to find the truth/the cost was greater than the reward." Please do not tell people they are doing something wrong when they are trying to share or seek out messages of truth, redemption and healing. If you are offended, that's FINE. You are not obligated to participate. But you are obligated to respect the tastes and artistic journeys of others. And there ARE things out there that ARE inappropriate. (Pornography comes to mind.) Protect yourself to whatever degree you wish in your own entertainment choices, but do not deprive others of the opportunity to learn and grow from artistic experiences that they choose.

(For a more detailed examination of the role of agency in art, see this.)

"Sanity is a luxury I cannot afford."

28 days, people.

Now comes the wedding marathon.

(WITH THE BEST TROPHY (HUSBAND) EVER AT THE END OF IT.)

For Allison

How Jacob and I are organizing our personal library:

* 000 – Computer science, information & general works
* 100 – Philosophy and psychology
* 200 – Religion
* 300 – Social sciences
* 400 – Language
* 500 – Science (including mathematics)
* 600 – Technology
* 700 – Arts and recreation
* 800 – Literature
* 900 – History, geography, and biography

The alphabet?

(Note the name in the middle above. =) I hope we have a pinto...)

Also. I love love love surveys! I really do. I hated middle school, but I loved being able to fill out these survey things...because it was enjoyable AND something the popular kids did! Anyway, I never really got over the delicious self-interest of them. Thanks, Carrie, for this one. (Also, Carrie, I'm not implying that you're self-interested by filling one of these out. That's just how I feel I am when I fill them out.)

A: My AIR CONDITIONER is set on: a shelf in a store somewhere (ditto Carrie)

B: My BEDROOM THEME is: Oregonian college students

C: The CAR in my driveway is: not mine

D: My DESK looks: old

E: The EXACT time I wake up daily is: 6:30 am. I almost always go back to sleep though

F: The FIRST thing I wash in the shower is: my hair

G: My GARAGE is filled with: someone else's stuff, because the house isn't mine yet

H: My HOME is: transient

I: If you peeked INSIDE my bedroom you'd see: Annie watching a movie on a laptop in her bed

J: My favorite JUICE is: orange juice. Because it's the nectar of the gods. DITTO CARRIE.

K: The best part of my KITCHEN is: the big windows on one wall

L: The LAST person who visited my home was: the RA, coming by the do clean-checks

M: The last piece of MAIL I recieved was: Valpak coupons

N: My NEIGHBORS think I'm: antisocial, probably, because I haven't the faintest clue what my neighbors think of me

O: If you OPENED my fridge you'd see: so much food! Like WAY too much. 6 girls sharing one fridge can be tough

P: My last house PARTY was: going on while I was somewhere else, I think

Q: A QUICK meal I like to fix is: herb pasta and lemon pepper chicken. Or scrambled eggs. But that's not really a meal per se...although maybe it is when you add orange juice and a popsicle. Which is what I'm doing right now...

R: My favorite ROOM in the house is: the back yard? Does that count?

S: The SHAMPOO I use is: Herbal Essences

T: My largest TELEVISION is: in Jacob's room until we get married

U: UNDER my bed you will find: storage boxes, filled with journals/keepsakes/decor

V: Last time I VACUUMED was: a few weeks ago?

W: Looking out my WINDOW I see: a big lawn with a volleyball net, a handful of trees (some of which loaded with flowers), and a hammock (see why it's my favorite room?)

X: I wish I had X-TRA: Money. Ditto Carrie. But mostly because our wedding is fast approaching.

Y: My YARD is: beautiful

Z: ZZZZ My bed time is: sometime between 11pm and 1am

The Weekend in Review

Memorial Day weekend = a flurry of awesomeness. Which consisted of:

• Listening to the entire SLC Pearl Jam concert during the drive down to Mt. Pleasant, Utah
• Seeing Melissa and her classmates perform dances, skits, songs, improv, and much more at her graduation performance
• Sleeping in a boarding school dorm on the night before graduation, while my future husband slept on the floor of my parent's hotel room
• Hearing an awesome scholar from India address the graduating class at Baccalaureate
• Eating breakfast and lunch in a boarding school buffet style cafeteria
• Using my program as a fan in the warm performing arts center and cheering ecstatically as my youngest sister graduated high school
• Having dinner at an Indian restaurant in Provo with aunts, uncles, cousins, sisters, parents, fiancees, and various other parties
• Playing with my cousin's 3-year-old daughter in the front yard with Jacob (during which she made me think she needed a hug because she was sad and then tackled me as I comforted her; she also sat on Jacob's face)
• Church with the above-mentioned 3-year-old
• Sunday afternoon lunch at In-N-Out (unrighteous, but we didn't have food, and Jacob had never been)
• Long talks with Sarah in the parking lot of Applebee's
• Spending Sunday evening laying around with friends, watching "Sherlock Holmes" and "The Waitress" (both gems, although rather different), and eating Annie's chocolate cake with chocolate ganache frosting
• Talking with friends on Monday morning, which included Sarah and I planning a motorcycle roadtrip someday
• Pirate Island with friends in Orem
• Listening to musicals on the drive back to Rexburg
• Lots of driving, talking, and hand-holding. And meeting new people.

To all my dear friends whom I didn't call while in town, I apologize. The weekend was packed until Sunday, at which point we were too exhausted to think straight, and needed time for a VACATION. I love you all.

Zion is being surrounded with people you love and who love you back.