A little "light" reading

I get the opportunity to talk with a lot of people from different backgrounds, which is interesting and thought provoking for me. Recently I was asked about polygamy and challenged to read a book titled "Under the Banner of Heaven" by Jon Krakauer who also wrote "Into the Wild" and Into Thin Air". I bought the book and it has been difficult to put down.



The book starts out detailing the gruesome murder of Brenda Lafferty and her young daughter in Utah a few year back by her husband's brothers who believe that the execution order was given to them in a revelation from God. The book traces the roots of the LDS church through Joseph Smith to Brigham Young through the separation of the Fundamentalists through the Mountain Meadows Massacre and back to the murders and the trial. What has surprised me the most is that all of the names in the book are very familiar, the places are places I know, the history is part of my history and most shocking is the stories (documented in foot notes) of the details behind each of the events. It has caused me to really stop and think about what I have thought I knew all my life. It has also peaked my interested to study more of my history and not just take stories I've heard at face value. I've always been fascinated with Mormon history, loved The Work and the Glory series, read tons on Porter Rockwell, but never really though about it much past the surface.

In the trial chapters of the book the Defense team thought about using the insanity defense for the Lafferty Brothers, but there is a whole issue around trying to prove that someone is insane because they pray to and receive guidance from God...don't we all?

It has brought up a lot of great questions in my mind and I am looking forward to more reading and researching, discussions and deliberations. The more I learn, the more I want to know. I am fascinated with the story of John D. Lee. I never connected that Lee's Ferry on Lake Powell was named for him and that he was bannished there by Brigham Young after the massacre. He was excommunicated along with a couple of church leaders from Cedar City and in the end given up as the scapegoat for the tragic massacre and executed at Mountain Meadows. That is a whole story I want to study. I'll also be making a trip up to the Mountains Meadows next time I'm in Hurricane. If you want to read an article put out a couple years ago by the Church, google the Mountain Meadows Massacre.

And one last thing that I want to study more is the Dream Mine that is located in the mountains above Salem, UT. We've all seen it from a distance, but there is a whole other story that weaves into LDS history about the mine and all the gold that is supposed to be buried there.

2 Other recommended reads that are on my list are The Mountain Meadows Massacre by Juanita Brooks of St. George and Blood of the Prophets.

A week of Sun, Sand and Sorrow

This past week I have been pretty well laid up with a viral infection, and since it is now starting to depart my poor fatigued body, I wanted to catch up on the week before I was sick and got to spend some time in Hurricane withe friends and family.

Mom picked me and Brucer up at the Las Vegas airport on Sunday afternoon, we had decided to fly commercially which ended up being a very decision even though weather during the week was just about perfect. We stopped on our way out of Las Vegas as we usually do at a small grocery store off the Cheyenne exit for authentic Mexican cuisine. The place is called Marianne's, it's in a strip mall south of the exit, it's phenomenal! Of course some of you will wonder why we risk the neighborhood, but just take a stroll around the store and you'll get it pretty fast. The bakery, the meat counter, the fresh produce and the cafe, unbelievable. Yes, we are the only white faces in there, but WHO CARES, the food rocks!

Some of the high and low lights of the week were: hanging out with my brother Dan and learning to milk his nanny goat. His wifey Jill has been growing a herd out there and they have some really cute babies (kids).

Jill's been making cheese from the milk and is getting ready to do soap and lotions, I'm in line for that stuff! Right after we headed back to the house, Jill was hiding from the baby goat so it wouldn't follow her to the house, she got leveled by the dogs in her hiding place, I thought it was kind of funny (the same kind of thing happens to me regularly) until the next day....

I thought I would run from the house to the hangar on the rock path, bad idea! I tripped on a rock and went down hard! Skinned knee, gravel in my hands and a few days of feeling like I was 90! Sorry Jill, I shouldn't have laughed!

That night I was sitting in the living room when I noticed the ambulance lights at our neighbor's home. Jen and Pat McCarroll live across the taxiway behind us and Pat has been battling bone cancer for as long as we've known him. He lost his fight that night and it was a really sad scene. RIP Pat!

The better part of the week came on Thursday when Dan took us out to the desert for some 4 wheeling sight seeing dog roasting fun. We broke in our new side by side and had a great time, I can't wait to go out again and just explore, it was incredible!





And a picture of my silly beautiful sister Karen

Then the big rib smoke with Dan, Jill, Karen and Leonard. If you haven't had meat that Dan has smoked topped with his special barbecue sauce, you are totally missing it. He caters events too, so give him a call, his food in INCREDIBLE and the ribs ROCKED!

About this point in the week I had a sore throat and was in the beginning stages of the crude that has had me down all week. Great trip, but I wish I could have left the crude there!

I loved my trip to Utah this time and I am looking forward to the next one...soon!

Who would believe it?

See, I did milk a goat!