Summertime, and the Living is Easy

Now that the weather is allowing for time spent outdoors, my Dad and I are taking advantage of the beauty of Park City by doing a bit of hiking.  He loves to tell me all about the wildflowers, birds, and weeds that we see along the way...

Dangit, I can't remember what this one is called.

Oh!  What is that girl eating that is making her belly so HUGE?

Saturday, June 20, the Spanish Branch threw an "asada" for the Jensens who have moved to Bountiful.  We'll miss those guys!

Wyatt did a great job as the farmer in the Utah Dance Center's rendition of The Wizard of Oz at Kingsbury Hall on June 18. 

12th Annual JudgesRun 5K- June 13.  Bret's boss and our dear friend, Peter Stirba, formed the Judgesrun Foundation in memory of his wife, Utah Judge Anne Stirba who battled breast cancer and passed away several years ago while their daughter, Emily Stirba and I were at Princeton together.  Bret's family, Wes, Lydia and I were able to participate this year.

Lydia won a prize for traveling the farthest to get to the Judgesrun (all the way from New Jersey!)  I still think I should've gotten a Preggo-Prize!

We are so grateful to Peter Stirba for helping Lydia land her summer job at the Huntsman Cancer Institute.  We hope that she makes some great contacts while she's here so she can complete her residency in Utah.  While parents frequently tell their children that they can do anything, Lydia is really the only one I know who is actually working on finding a cure for cancer.  I guess she took her parents seriously.

Wes and Lydia finished the race in about 30 minutes and I walked it in 55, so they came back to see me through to the finish line.  Go team!

Wyatt is a little athlete!  He skipped his way through the race and finished with a great time.

Rachael and Lydia are for healthy breasts.

Wes's new best friend is 2 month old Peter Jackson, born to our dear friends, Molly and Vic who lost their precious little girl, Lucy last year in a tragic accident.  Molly and Vic are an inspiration to everyone who meets them and we feel so lucky to have found them.  

My last day at Zane Benefits, Inc and 2nd anniversary there was June 11.  While sad to say goodbye, I'm proud of the work we've done as a team to get the company where it is today.  From left to right: Ben Dilts/CTO, Debbie Graybill/Accountant, Sam Clarke/New Guy, Tyler King/Software Developer, Rick Lindquist/Health Benefits Specialist, Paul Pilzer/Founder & Chairman, me/Senior Benefits Consultant, Alison Wistner/CFO.

Isaac was featured in the Park Record last month after having participated in the Asian Occasion at the Summit County Library.  Wearing his authentic "hanbok", he was the sweetest little Korean baby ever.

I got skunked again while fly-fishing the Weber, but at least I got to see the munchkins!  I WILL catch a fish this summer.

First Mother's Day 2009

This year for Mother's Day, the moms got two days worth of spoiling.  Saturday evening, the Charles men got down and dirty and cooked their girls some great breakfast grub.  Four official mothers and one mother-to-be were present.  Sunday evening, all moms and pending-moms were required to fill out a dinner-request form and the Rawson (+1 Charles) men were to follow all instructions exactly so that their ladies did not have to lift a finger.  It's about time, right?  Thank you to all of the amazing, loving, kind, hard-working mothers in my life!  The world would not work without you.  I can't wait to be in the mom-club with you.

  

Shaken or Stirred?

There are benefits to having a husband with an office in the Bahamas.  Sometimes, he gets to bring his wife!  We spent a little over a week at the end of April exploring Nassau and Paradise Islands, soaking in some sun, and for Wes...working on an audit.  I didn't have a car during the day, so I wandered our little gated community, hung out on the beach across the street and soul-searched, and chilled in the company townhouse and watched a lot of "Baby Story" on TLC.  

One of the best parts of the trip was seeing all of the Casino Royale sites.  (Anyone who knows me knows of my...should we say...obsession with everything Daniel Craig.)  Here we are having an AMAZING pina colada at the "one-and-only" Ocean Club where several Bond scenes were filmed.

You may remember Daniel Craig walking up those very steps in the background to go book his ocean-front villa.

There's a reason they call this Paradise.

Note the bar where Solange waited for Dimitrius to finish his poker game (the one where he lost his beautiful Aston Martin.)  Dangit, I forgot to wear my hot pink, satin prom dress.

The one-and-only circular driveway...minus the Aston Martin.

Best sign ever.

I tried to get a free night's stay here, but to no avail.  Bloody Brits!

Most awkward picture ever.  We were struggling to take a picture of ourselves by holding the camera out, and a kind stranger took pity on us, but I'm not sure why we had to look like we were on a first date.

Much better.

We snuck into the most incredible aquarium I've ever seen at the famous Atlantis hotel.

Wes took this same picture long ago before we met, and it made me sad that he was having all of those fun experiences without someone to share it all with.  Well, move over babe.  

I'm with ya now.

Behold, Wes's office.  There are just a few people who get to enjoy this place on a full-time basis, but it's not a bad place to come back to every so often.  Wes accidentally set off the office alarm on a weekend when he was showing me around, and we couldn't get it turned off for a good 10 minutes.  At least now we know that cops won't come if someone actually breaks in...

Just because I can't eat grouper, doesn't mean we can't be friends.

Wes also made a friend!

If anyone is wondering, I have NO desire to go on a shark dive, and I happen to think my husband is CRAZY for doing so in the past.  I am quite comfortable on the other side of a glass wall, thank you.

Maybe someday we'll get to stay a night or two in the Atlantis instead of just walking around pretending we belong there.  What an awesome place!

Okay, this would not fly in the U.S.A.  There was a huge outdoor and unprotected pool that spanned the Atlantis that was teaming with sharks and large fish of all kinds.  And by unprotected, I mean, a kid just just take a dip if he felt like it and never be heard from again.

Controversy in the Capitol

This story is just too weird not to document. I hope I'm not violating any privacy laws by posting it for public viewing. About 2 years ago, one of Bret's coworkers left the firm. Among that guy's client base was a group of FLDS leaders (City Mangers and other officials of Hilldale and Colorado City, etc) who were concerned that other people at the firm would lack an unbiased approach to their case (regarding a land dispute that the firm believes will eventually go to the US Supreme Court over the issue of polygamy). The men were considering leaving Bret's firm, so Bret's boss told him that he'd better go make some friends.

The guys knew Bret was LDS. Most mainstream Mormons share a general disapproval of the practices of the FLDS and wish to distance their religion from the break-away group, so the men were less that optimistic about the new partnership. However, Bret is great at making friends and took on the challenge. In his pursuit, he expressed his personal doubt that polygamy is in fact "unconstitutional" and cited my senior thesis as evidence that he was not just paying lip service. He told them "my own sister wrote about this at Princeton".

My thesis title was "Separation of Zion and State: The Effects of the 19th Century Mormon Polygamy Controversy on American Constitutional Jurisprudence." Although I barely mentioned the FLDS in my thesis, my conclusion was that the Reynolds vs. United States decision which outlawed polygamy back in the late 1800's was based on illegitimate evidence and poor substance. Regardless, that one case changed the LDS church forever and set church-and-state court precedent that is still used today.

Bret emailed my thesis to the city officials and they ALL read it (Bret thinks they saw "Princeton" and assumed I was more important than I really am ;-). It circulated all around the FLDS communities and is still a topic of conversation. I suppose they see it as a contemporary work that is sympathetic to their cause, yet my arguments were strictly constitutional and less than emotional. There seems to be very little academic analysis of the century-and-a-half polygamy battle.

Fast-forward. About 2 months ago, I was at lunch with Bret and my mom in Salt Lake. We decided to make a stop at the State Capitol building so that Bret could avoid running into an obnoxious client back at the office. We walked inside, and Bret immediately saw one of his coworkers. Further inside, the coworker introduced us to their clients...the City Manager of Hilldale and the CM of Colorado City, and some other officials that I'm failing to remember. TOTAL coincidence. Bret introduced us as his mom and sister and one man asked "Wait, is that THE sister who wrote the paper?"

They all had read it and told me that I'm famous in the FLDS community and that someone had even sent it to their highest leaders. One of the guys mentioned that I included a picture in my thesis of his family and that the same picture now hangs in his house. They were VERY friendly and if I didn't know better, I would say they would've tried to recruit me if Bret hadn't been there or if I hadn't have had my wedding ring on!

I didn't think that thesis would be my claim to fame, but I guess you never know. It's a very very small world.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

No, it's not Christmas.  Everyone in the Rawson and Charles families knows that April is the best (and most expensive) time of the year.  The list of birthdays includes: me, my Mom AND Dad, Mike, Tracie and Papa John.  I'm sure I'm missing a few, but let's just say that if you have a "gift budget," it's totally blown out of the water in April.  With the exception of getting a migraine, my birthday was perfect.  Wes treated me like a princess and I spent some great time with family.  Below are some highlights from a trip to the zoo and a Rawson shindig.  I just can't get enough of my boys!