A Little Weekend Miscellany

Remember that Halloween donuts are a tradition in my family? They are. And this year was no different. The husband and I loaded the children (and the canine) in the car and traveled on over to Grandma and Grandpa's casa (after two small stops- the first at Sonic for slushes and the second at the Crocs store) where we enjoyed soup that was too good (in the words of one adorable niece) and donuts that can't be beat.

As we all consumed unreasonable amounts of donuts and soup, ooh's and ahh's were in plentiful supply as each family arrived and we marveled at the ingenious costumes that each family assembled.

emo, emo, pumpkin, Wolverine, Arizona Cardinal

Oldest daughter proved her commitment to piano and was rewarded with the Cleopatra costume she had been working to earn all month. She was on cloud nine, swimming laps in the Nile, if you will.

The family gathered for a Halloween portrait. Complete with goofy faces and zero percent loveliness.

Can you guess what the husband and I were?

As we were trick-or-treating with all the cousins, my sister was recalling how three years ago this very holiday, she was receiving a precious little bundle into her home as they were adopting my adorable little nephew. She recounted how emotional the holiday was as she was waiting for that little boy and hoping and praying that the birth mother would decide to go through with the adoption and not cancel it. My very own little middle daughter was listening to the whole story and predicted that through the whole process that cute little baby was probably thinking,

"Yay! New parents!"

I think she is right.

That does it for the Halloween recap. How about a little Miscellany?

First of all, huge thanks to Megan who notified me of my erroneous BYU Football post. For some reason I thought the Cougars were matching up with the Cowboys this past Saturday. Even though I read the date of the game, it just didn't register. So I posted a football post. And sweet cousin Megan (or was it Eph?) alerted me that I had been a little trigger happy. Look for a correct post on Saturday. K?

Middle daughter is pretty motivated by the Internet. Anything we have a question about, she replies with a, "just go to ________dot com!" For instance, we were wondering a bit about Cleopatra's history- since she has been something of an anomaly in our household of late. So, that brilliant middle daughter told us to go to Cleopatra dot com. Got a leg ache? Check out leg ache dot com, won't you?

Plus, she is pretty astute about passwords. She knows that my password for everything is dot dot dot dot. (maybe you already saw that on the husband's twitter feed- he scoops me on everything with that silly tweeting of his)

You will be happy to know that my OB/GYN is pleased to report a normal mammogram. Also pleased? The husband.

Some of you may recall my escapades regarding one Barta Heiner. I have a new visiting teaching partner. Her maiden name is Heiner. I was chuckling when I found out. And of course I regaled her with the entire Barta saga- after inquiring if she knew Barta and if she were a relative. She is not. Not gonna lie- a little bummed.

Today during fast and testimony meeting, oldest daughter asked why I wasn't bearing my testimony. So I told her I would if she would. We waited for the person who was at the mic to finish and then I stood up to take my turn. Oldest daughter didn't follow. Middle daughter did. So, I was duped and had to bear my testimony without oldest daughter. It was ok, though, because little son was sitting on my lap and kept trying to lick me- bearing my testimony was a great way to escape the licking. Thank you oldest daughter.

Finally, our evening was spent swapping riddles. Two hours of made-up riddles with the children. It was enchanting. I highly recommend doing it with your own little offspring. They are pretty clever. And the husband has discovered that he is riddly-gifted. Who knew?

Woo Hoo!!! Bring on the holidays! This is such a brilliant time of year- so. many. traditions. I hope you can handle traditions. I've got a bundle to share. Look for them throughout the next couple of months. And also, Tune In Tuesday for I don't know what yet, but I'm sure I'll come up with something. Suggestions?

Lucky, Lucky Tuesday

It's Lucky, lucky Tuesday. Do you know what that means? It means you need to sit down and get comfy because it is story time! I am about to share another morsel from my life regarding Barta Heiner. (for a little Barta background go here)

Again, when I was at BYU and rooming with the best roommate on the planet (besides the husband) we both worked at the Morris Center. Did you work at the Morris Center? The roommate, let's call her J, and I met there, in fact. We worked together, serving food to ravenous dorm-livers for a whole year (and eating the yummy cookies from the dessert line).

After we spent a year working together, we decided that we should be roommates. So we were. And it was great. Except for the psycho roommates. And we got a new living situation. And we bought a t.v. from Barta Heiner. And from then on, we were obsessed with all things Barta. Because it was a funny thing to laugh about. An inside joke, if you will.

One day we were at work and there appeared by the kronos (the time clock system used by BYU) a stack of half-sheet fliers advertising a production that Barta was to be appearing in: The Glass Menagerie. We did the only logical thing that one might do, if you ACTUALLY KNOW Barta Heiner. We took home that stack of Barta fliers and cut out her face from each one and taped them to the wall to form a huge heart-shape from the numerous mugs of her. That's so logical- we heart Barta, therefore we should make a heart-shape out of her pictures.

In the following days we came across small posters advertising the production which we took home to add to the shrine. There was an article in The Daily Universe announcing the opening of the show. We cut that out and encapsulated it in the Barta heart.

J and I met in the Cougareat at the Wilk one day for lunch. As we were simultaneously eating and checking out the hotties (actually, I was the only one checking out the hotties since J had a missionary + a boyfriend= dear john. and all I had was a really great guy friend who shared a confusing relationship with me) we noticed on the wall, hanging near some large artwork, a giant 3' x 4' poster advertising The Glass Menagerie with guest artist Barta Heiner. We had to have that poster. It was the missing piece.

A plan was hatched. The production was to run February 23- March 9th. The final performance being March 9 at 7:30 PM. We determined to be in the Cougareat on March 9th at 7:31 to claim that poster for our own.

On the appointed day at the appointed time we made the dangerous journey to carry out the risky mission. We made our way to the Wilkinson Center and carefully removed the poster from the spot in which it hung. We stole that poster. (Can you believe it? We are thieves.) We took it home and displayed it proudly in the front room of our house.

After it hung in the front room for a few weeks, it was relocated to our bedroom so that it could complete the Barta shrine. It was hung on the wall adjacent to the heart. And it was a thing of beauty. The likes of which have never been seen since. It was pure tribute to the wonder that is Barta Heiner.




Shortly after, J became engaged and I met the man of my dreams and became engaged myself. We both had summer weddings and new roommates. The shrine was dismantled. And in packing up at the end of the school year for a new life, somehow I won the poster and the cut out faces.

One newlywed evening the husband and I were talking and I divulged to him the whole Barta odyssey. I ran to our closet and pulled from its dark corner a rolled up poster. I slid off the rubber bands, unrolled the poster and revealed to the husband a tidbit from my past.

A plan was hatched. We took that poster and a few of the cutout faces and in the dark of night crept to the basement apartment of J and her groom. We pasted the poster and little Barta faces to their door, knocked and ran like a child who is trying to pull one over on the clerk at the Corner Store.


I haven't seen the poster since. But I trust that it is well taken care of.


*after I dug this picture out of my stack of un-scrapbooked photos, I noticed that there are show tickets and a play bill from the show. I do not recall going to the show. I don't have a clue what the tickets might be from. My memory fails me. So, J, if you read this can you remember what those are?

Barta Explained

Sarah was wondering who Barta Heiner is. Some of you may not be wondering. And some of you don't care, but you will get the chance to know who she is here and now. Lucky, lucky Tuesday! (if you don't care and this is where you sign off, one quick thing before you go- hey, have a lovely day! Come back tomorrow when, hopefully, I will have something you might be interested in)

So, when I was at BYU I had an awesome roommate. Our apartment was way close to campus. We started out one fall semester living with a couple of psycho girls. I mean, REALLY PSYCHO!! We lived with them for about 2 weeks before we started searching diligently for a new place to live.

(former roommate-

if you are reading this

please correct any details,

or add anything I have omitted)

(former psycho roommates-

if you are reading this

I hope you got some help,

because you were really freaky!)

It was tricky, because we would have to sell our apartment contracts to someone so that we wouldn't be stuck paying a year's worth of rent on a contract where we didn't live anymore. We even had to have a student housing mediation to get out of the contract. The managers didn't want to let us sell our contracts. I think I already mentioned it was tricky.

Our contracts sold and we found a house far off-campus (BYU approved, of course) that was awesome! It was owned by a single guy who we became pretty good friends with. He had furnished the house pretty awesomely- the front room had a mustard/gold velvet sectional and mustard/gold velvet swivel rocking chairs. It was pure 60's bliss- and it wasn't even the 60's anymore. But, I will say that it was in pristine condition, so that is nice. (and I have some pretty good stories from living here)

Anyway, we had no t.v. We decided we wanted a t.v. So we scoured the classifieds and found a large t.v. for sale. We contacted the owner and made arrangements to go and have a look-see. (who uses that term? i did, just now for like maybe the second time in my life)

We arrived at the historic home in Provo to view this television set. There was a reddish-orange mustang in the driveway and large trees flanked the home. We were met at the door by a girl in her 20's. She was a student living at this address. We told her we had come to see the t.v. that was advertised. She said, "Oh, ok. Do you go to BYU? Do you know Barta?"

We said, "No."
She said, "Barta Heiner lives here. You know. Barta Heiner."
We still said, "No."

She proceeded to tell us about Barta. Apparently Barta is famous. Who knew? She is the head of the theatre department at BYU and has been in some productions. We did not know this. But then, out came Barta Heiner. We met her. We did not recognize her from Adam. We had never seen her productions. But, WE MET BARTA HEINER. We even bought her television. And we talked about it the rest of the school year.

So, my roommate and I returned home with the television we had purchased (I think we paid all of $13 for it) from Barta Heiner. You know. Barta Heiner. And what better to purchase from Barta Heiner, Movie Star and head of the theatre department, than a television? I know!
Meeting Barta + meeting her student boarder x buying her t.v. = an experience never to be forgotten.

Fast forward 7 years. One day I retrieved my mail from the mailbox and found that my April 2003 Ensign had been delivered that very day. I also discovered that it had a DVD inside- Finding Faith in Christ. Immediately I popped that DVD into the player and began watching a beautiful depiction of the Savior. All of a sudden, there on my very own television screen was Barta Heiner! depicting a diseased woman that the Savior heals. I was stunned. All I could think of doing was alerting my old roommate. It was crazy. I turned to the husband and said, "That is Barta Heiner!! You know. Barta Heiner!"

And to think that I saw her. In my very own home. On my very own television.




It was so fun to write about Barta that I think I might do it again. Would you like to hear more about Barta? I have another Barta story that you will either love or not.