Body Worlds Exhibit--Art or Horror?

Matt and Leticia Bryner came up to Salt Lake City for Matt's Dental seminar and they stayed with us for the weekend. It was fun to have company and to, of course, play games (as Bryners often do :). We also had the chance to go out Friday night to the Body Worlds Exhibit at the Leonardo Museum in Downtown SLC. This exhibit displays the anatomy of the human body, piece by piece. They had statues which are, in fact, cadavers that have been plasticized.

A lot of the exhibit was fascinating, like the fact that our heart pumps 1800 gallons of blood through out our body per day! We saw regular working lungs, then lungs with emphysema and other diseases. They also had other organs like the heart on display. They showed the first artificial heart that was made and also the first artificial heart design that worked in 1982. It was actually a very educational exhibit. The thing that got to both Bryan and me were the statues. They were supposed to be educational/artistic, but to me, it was a little bit scary.

We left feeling a little woozy and grossed out. I had to write about it because, for one, it was very unique, and, for two, I think it will haunt my memory for many years to come :). Matt and Leticia enjoyed it a little more just because of their medical background, but I think we all agreed on the fact that it was a bit disturbing. So, is the body literally supposed to be displayed as art or should we just rely on the painters and photographers to do their artistic calling and spare us the nightmares of "Body World"? I think the latter would be best, at least for my sleeping patterns!

(If you are still interested, after this compelling article, in seeing the exhibit you can visit www. bodyworlds.com)

Arches and The Bryners

This past weekend Bryan and I were able to go down to Moab, UT and go to Arches National Park with Matt and Leticia Bryner. We drove down to Price Friday night and then drove the rest of the way Saturday morning. We met up with Matt and Leticia shortly after noon and started our adventure into the park. The weather was perfect (considering we were coming from SLC where it just snowed the previous Wednesday). It was about 55 degrees and sunny skies. We wore long sleeve shirts and had a jacket just in case. The best part was that we were able to meet up with Matt and Leticia and spend a lot of time with them. They are now living in Grand Junction, CO so we don't see them as often as we'd like to :).

We spent the day hiking to the different arches (I'll try to remember the names of them). We stayed in the park all day and all of us were pretty worn out by the end of it. We hiked three or four different trails to the arches. Some of the hikes were more strenuous than others. All in all we estimated that we hiked about 6 miles on Saturday. As you can guess, we were all sore as we woke up on Sunday morning :).

Arches National Park is absolutely beautiful! It is amazing how God carved out such beautiful structures for us to enjoy on earth. I had never been to the park before so it was so fun to see all the different arches and just enjoy the beautiful weather. It was such a fun weekend!

I, of course, brought my camera and took lots of pictures. Here are the arches we saw:

The North and South Window Arches were the first hikes we did. I believe the first two pictures are showing the South Window. They were very close to the parking lot so the hikes only took probably about five minutes each.

Here is Bryan on his way to the South Window Arch.

Matt and Leticia on the stairs to the South Window Arch with angelic lighting from the sun.

This is the North Window with Matt and Leticia in it!

Bryan and I in the North Window. It was huge! This picture is from far back too and we still couldn't get the whole arch in it!

Here is the North Window from farther back.

The Double Arch. The first one is huge and the second one is in the background on the left.

Bryan pondering in the double arch. I love this picture! Bryan is the best :)

Taking a rest in the Double arch. The hike up to this point is actually pretty steep so we needed a few minutes before we proceeded.

This is one of the Arches that Matt and Leticia didn't want to hike down to. I forgot the name of it, but the sun was shining right through the middle of it. We'll call it "sunny arch"This is Pine tree Arch. I don't think those are pine trees under the arch, but we just went with it anyway.

This one is Bryan's favorite. It's called Landscape Arch. It is VERY long and skinny. Pretty amazing that it can hold up after all these years! This was a tough, long hike and it wore us out, but we were determined to see this last arch. It's the one on the Utah license plates.

Delicate Arch! We hiked up to see this one right at sunset. There were a lot of people there to see the sunset. I can see why! The sun hit the red rock so perfectly and it illuminated to vibrant colors. This was a tough hike! It was 3 miles round trip and it is a gradual uphill slope all the way there. It was fun to hike to because you come around the corner and you get to see this arch just sitting there by itself--steep cliffs surrounding it on all sides. The hike was worth it to see this one!
Bryan and I under the arch. This gives you an idea of how huge it is! It was absolutely amazing!

And here are the triumphant outdoorsmen (and women) with the Delicate Arch behind us.

We went out to eat that night at a cute little Italian Restaurant called Pasta Jay's. Cristie Bryner suggested we try it out. It was just the carbohydrates we needed after a long day of being active. Bryan and I stayed the night with Matt and Leticia in Grand Junction, CO afterward. Bryan bought some two-way radios for us to use for our trip and we kept in touch with Matt and Leticia as we drove to CO. Thanks to Ryan Kump for the Cabela's gift card! It was the only "non girly" present we got for our Wedding.

We were able to go to Stake Conference with Matt and Leticia and then we played "Puerto Rico" with them afterward. All-in-all it was such a fun weekend! We were able to get a lot of time out in the beautiful weather, spend personal time with Matt and Leticia, see the town of Grand Junction and Arches National Park, and use our walkie-talkies as we caravanned back to Colorado. Good times with the Bryners!

Trials

As I sit here pondering this rainy Sunday morning, my mind turns back to the difficult trial I went through last month. It was a hard time for Lindsay and me, but we've definitely learned a lot from it and have grown closer to each other.

It all ended last Friday at 2 pm when the judge adjourned the case after five very long days in court. I had spent the week in Price, Utah trying a very complicated case involving oil & gas mineral rights with other attorneys from my office. Although I spent the week away from Lindsay, the demands on my time began long before the trial when I had to put in many weeks and late nights of intense preparation, writing and researching. Lindsay was such a wonderful supporter for me - she even got me excited to make objections and cross-examine witnesses. (She's very good at those too.)

The judge ultimately (or, more accurately, ahead of time), did not rule in our favor. But I still had a good experience. I examined two witnesses and did the closing argument. It was a great experience, but the time demands and stress it caused were more than I had bargained for, especially for just my second month of marriage. I hope Lindsay will forgive me for it and realize that cases of this magnitude are not of a frequent occurrence. Now if only I could have her inject some of her humor into this post. . . . I think the trial dulled my sense of humor last month, but Lindsay is getting me back to normal very quickly.

Who killed Mr. Anton Powar?

There was a murder (mystery party) at Powar Films Studio Saturday night. Mr. Anton Powar, the owner of Powar Films Studio, was murdered in his apartment. There were multiple bullets in the apartment but only one hit Mr. Powar: one that ricocheted off the bronze statue. All the actors, writers, and producers were gathered into one room (over a delicious dinner) and talked over what went on the day of the murder and the weeks prior to it. There was murder, intrigue, scandals, and inheritance attached to mystery. Mr. Powar was a greedy man and was using his power to get gain.

Eight of Mr. Powar's closest associates were suspected in the murder. They were all invited to the dinner that night.

Denise Ann Dayer (starring Lindsay Bryner) was Mr. Powar's niece and was going to inherit the studio upon her uncle's death. Hack Ryder (played by Bryan Bryner) came from Paris as a young, poor Bohemian writer who found his fortune in Hollywood. Rumors say he was in a bad contract with Mr. Powar, but that Hack had some malicious secret that he used to blackmail Mr. Powar.
The niece and heir, Denise Ann Dayer, and Hack Ryder, the Bohemian screen writer

Savoy Fayre, the British actor who starred in many of Mr. Powar's early films, had a beef with Mr. Powar about his dying acting career. Mr. Powar had some dirt on him. Tat Eltale, a gossip columnist, was previously a star but her alcoholism diminished her career to nothing. She quit before she was fired to start her gossip column.
Savoy Fayre, the British actor, and Tat Eltale, the gossip columnist

Heidi Voltage was the newest star in Hollywood and was the lead in the newest film, "Powar and Greed". Stu Dyron, the "Carrie Grant" of Hollywood, had a way with the ladies and Mr. Powar had it out for Stu.
Stu Dyron, the "lady killer" actor, and Heidi Voltage, the rising star

And, finally, the director of Mr. Powar's films, Sel U. Lloyd, came along as well with his own arguments with Mr. Powar over contract agreements. Mr. Powar's greed seemed to extend to each of the people involved. Ivonde B. Alohn, the Swedish actress brought to America, had a long career as the star in many of Powar Studio Films. Ivonde was losing stardom though due to a few of the other rising starlets.

Sel U. Lloyd, the director of Powar Films and Ivonde B. Alohn, Swedish actress

After a couple hours of deliberations and accusations the truth came out. Mr. Powar was poisoned by the jealous Tat Eltale, whose career was destroyed by Malissa Ann Greede and Mr. Powar. She poisoned him well before he was shot down in the apartment. He was dead before the shots rang out. Hack and Danise planned to kill Mr. Powar and run away to be married with the inherited fortune in their hands. Ivonde was in his room when the bullets flew. Heidi accidentally killed the butler while firing shot into the room. Everyone was on their way to get him, but Tat Eltale got to him first.

And so the mystery was solved over a three course meal. It was a night full of scandals, intrigue, and dessert.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

Last Sunday the weather outside was frightful! We received our first snow on Oct 12th after having a week of highs in the low 70's. Impossible, you say? Not in Utah! It was cold by Friday and snowing by Saturday night. We received an inch or so of snow and this is what we woke up to on Sunday morning:

Brett has been in town the last couple of weeks finishing up a Calculus class and has been staying with us over the weekends. We all woke up that morning singing Christmas songs and Bryan even played a few songs for us on the piano! There's nothing like a good Christmas in October :). It was fun while it lasted (which was only a few hours. When the sun came out all the snow melted quickly). I think it may be foretelling our Utah winter this year. It's going to be another long one!

We're back in the high 60's, low 70's again....for now!

Bryan's going to Trial! Dun Dun Dun!

Bryan has been working very hard lately in preparation for the big oil and gas trial they have at the end of the month. He's scheduled to be in court, along with a few other lawyers from the firm, from October 27-31st. In an effort to keep him pumped up for trial I've found a few comics! (some funny, some just silly.) Go, Bryan, go!