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!

Easterland

One of my absolute favorite things is photography- specifically of children.  (I think this will come in very useful when I have my own.)  To date, I've never had the opportunity to take an official class and I haven't spent enough time with my Dad to know what's REALLY possible with my Nikon D40.  This will be one of my lifelong hobbies and hopefully I'll be able to commit more time to it very very soon.  Below are some of my favorite Easter 2009 moments with the little munchkins in our families!

Spring Adventures

Passover Seder with Emma, Jed and some of their good friends.  Okay, so we're not Jewish, but who says we can't celebrate??

The 2001 was divine...home-made grape juice, that is.

This kid is a happy eater.  Just like his daddy.

And this daddy is one great chef.

Bret and Jen misbehaving (again) at the dinner table...

I think I'm getting the hang of this fancy-camera thing. I'm obsessed!

Garrett is...apparently very serious.

The cousins like to zone out and watch movies together.

One day I'm going to eat those cheeks.

My mom and I took a weekend trip to Bend, Oregon to chill with some of our favorite people, Mr. Bruce and Ms. Nanette.

Bend has some beautiful scenery.  I would love to go back in the summer to get some hiking in.