They Say It's Your Birthday!

(Daughter #1 turns 2 today? Well according to the picture she is! ...Seems like it was just yesterday we were celebrating her 2nd Birthday! Today she is 24? My baby is 24? How did that happen?)

And now to recite The Beatles' Birthday Song...

"They say it's your birthday

It's my birthday too, yeah

(not really! But it will be in a couple of weeks!...here we are together as Daughter #1 enters the MTC)

They say it's your birthday

(Here's Daughter #1 on her 16th birthday...surrounded by the boys! Typical!)

We're gonna have a good time

(Here she is in the 'surfing years'...I don't think she's getting much surfing done in Utah these days!)

I'm glad it's your birthday

(Growing up, this is where you would always find Daughter #1...swimming, diving, or playing waterpolo in the pool!)

Happy birthday to you

(Daughter #1 loved her Grandma and misses her.)

Yes we're going to a party party

(Then Daughter #1 went away to college in Utah and learned all about 'country livin.' She loved it!)

Yes we're going to a party party

(Daughter #1 can have fun anywhere! Even the MTC.)

(having a good time...preparing to serve in Portland, Oregon.)

Yes we're going to a party party
(Daughter #1 loved 'country livin' so much, the Lord sent her to serve out in the country: Oregon. Pictured below, I know she is thinking, "Wow! So this is how berries grow! I thought they just magically appeared at the grocery store!")
I would like you to dance (Birthday)
(Daughter #1 can have a good time...even in a potato pit. Those are potatoes she's standing on. Ghost enthusiasts might think that's ectoplasm in there with her...I don't know what that is!)

Take a cha-cha-cha-chance (Birthday)
(Daughter #1 loved 'country-livin' so much, she married a Utah boy and moved there.)

I would like you to dance (Birthday)
(We miss her...she left The O.C. for 'country livin')



...I'm glad it's your birthday
(I love you and am so proud of you!
...and even though you love 'country livin' so much...don't forget us here in The O.C.)


Happy birthday to you!"
(I love you and miss you, Daughter #1! Happy 24th!)

Happy Birthday Robert Redford!

I just realized what today was! Aug. 18th is Robert Redford's birthday. I have been in love with him since the release of the movie"Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid". I think I was in Junior High at the time and I was in love the from first moment I saw him on the screen.

When I was a kid my family was on vacation in Utah. I made my dad drive us up to the Sundance Ski Resort. I just knew since this was the ski resort owned by the Sundance Kid himself, we'd see him just walking around....just waiting for silly Vivian to get an autograph. As we drove through the Provo canyon my heart was beating so fast. "I just know we're going to see him," I told my dad. I went into the gift shop and bought a postcard. I think I was shaking when I asked the girl at the counter if Mr. Redford was around. She said "No, not today."What! Oh the disappointment. A little girl's dreams crushed.

Still I continued to love him. I kept scrapbooks of all my movie ticket stubs, and pictures of him from all the magazines I could find. Throughout high school was drooling over him in movies such as "Jeremiah Johnson", "The Way We Were", "The Sting."

Then in about 1979 I was attending BYU, not far from the Sundance Ski Resort. One winter, (ok, I was not a very serious student that year) I took skiing classes all day long..morning and afternoon. (was I earning college credit for that?) After a while I became a pretty good skiier. I spent a lot of time at the resort and never once saw Mr. Redford. I was enjoying the skiing so much and soon began to forget I needed keep my eyes open for him. Until one day...

I had gone to the lodge to get a snack--homemade bread with honey-butter--and coming out of the men's room was Robert Redford. What! He uses the men's room like a regular person? I thought he was a god among men! I was disheartened. And he was so short! Wow, in the movies they made him look so much taller! Robert Redford was just a normal guy. I was so surprised I couldn't even say a word. I just stared.

Ok....even though this should have broken the Robert Redford spell I was under all my life up to that point, it did not. Next he made movies like "The Natural", "Out of Africa", "Indecent Proposal", and "Up Close and Personal". I continue to be under his spell. My patient, understanding husband takes me to see all his movies and I sit there and sigh, staring up at the big screen, drooling over him, like I have all these years!

~~~

Charlotte, another blogger, once wrote about seeing Robert Redford at the Sundance Film Festival. I like what she said about him. It made me happy. "...prior to the actual movie being debuted, he announced the film, the producers, and gave a brief introduction. He is very handsome. I think what stood out so clearly to me was the wrinkles in his face. They proved he is a happy man. Also very genuine. He isn't hiding anything. He is just himself. He has a beautiful smile. And he is short!"

~~~

Happy 71st Birthday Robert Redford from your #1 fan always! Love, Vivian