The new Idaho State Junior Miss...

Madison Leonard

(yes, little sister of yours truly, who in addition to looking fabulous and winning the judges over with her jazzy voice, garnered a bunch of cash-ola for school and a ticket to the Junior Miss nationals in Mobile Alabama! In June!)

Sweet!

We had a great time cheering her on and dressing up for Walmart (what--you don't go in costume in midnight in Pocatello??). Rock on Ruski.




The finalists.



Parental units finally getting to congratulate Madi -- you just can't resist those Leonard girl cheeks.

If you can't get enough of this hottie...check out her talent here. She sang "The Nearness of You", originally recorded by Hobie Carmichael, made famous by Norah Jones. Enjoy.

Ra-ra-ra....goooooooo cougars!!!

BYU 14 Oklahoma 13.

The only time I have ever seen Provo in quasi-rioting car-honking, student-running, impromptu dance party bliss. All that was missing was the tipping over of cars and looting (the almost ubiquitous lack of alcohol making it hard for even the most die-hard fans to break into that group of lawless activity).

So awesome.

Fourth of July - food, family, fireworks..facial lacerations

Ok...so probably not everyone had exactly the same experience with this year's Independence Day celebration. And that's alright - because we don't want too many people realizing that they actually have decent healthcare and that you can go in, get fixed up, and get on your way in under a day, right? I mean, that would put a dent in this whole express lane to a one-payer system, right?

So..the story. We were doing a little homerun derby at some baseball fields and my husband was hitting (would you expect anything less?) and I was in the outfield doing my thing - which consisted mainly of looking good with the leather glove and heckling. The baseballs were flying pretty fast, mostly because my father-in-law and husband respectively don't like to be outhit by each other and the wooden bat and sunny day made for good baseball karma. Then of course, there was a ball that came my way, or really as I remember it, locked onto my face like a heat-seaking missile in a James Bond movie. I remember the ball coming towards me -- and then the nice green grass, while I watched some of my DNA blanket the field. My sunglasses were shattered and I had a nice gash right at the bridge of my nose where the frame had cut my face.

This picture is quite frightening - I'm not sure why I thought smiling would make me look any less disturbing, because quite honestly I think I made it worse but...


Four stitches later, and a fractured nose later, I was feeling alright- I had a good story and I felt like the universe had finally equalized my previous few weeks of baseball and softball activity without an injury. I mean, there are no free lunches, right? But of couse, the swelling made my cheeks reach astronomical-chipmunk proportions.




And of course, it wasn't till a few days later that I started to look like a domestic violence victim and started to worry that going out in public standing next to my husband and insisting that I got hit by a baseball didn't look good. And that's what my eyes looked like WITH makeup, mind you.


Stitchtes are out now, and the matching racoon eyes are gone and hopefully, I can avoid the akward hey-I-know-you-are-staring-at-my-forehead because you notice something happened but then are too scared to ask because I have a large menacing man leering over us. Moral of the story - stand back farther in the field and learn to get the he** out of the way when a six and a half foot man starts hitting homeruns.


We had a great week -- short, but sweet and here are a few highlights:

Mike wake-surfing



Me and baby Mylee at Tubb's Hill

Michael and Suzie at Tubbs

My Mom with baby Ryder at the parade

Me and Madison --or should I say the reigning Junior Miss - at the parade

Michael and I at the parade - in red, white and blue (even the bruises -- now thats patriotism my friends...)

Mike and I out on the boat

Leonards and us celebrating our second anniversary at Ciao Mambo's!

Ironman and family

2.4 mile swim.

The Leonard Ironman groupies! Team B-L-A-S-T (Barnes, Leonard Astine Support Team)!

112 mile bike.

26 mile marathon run.

I am so proud of my little brother - he did awesome! Trey...you are an Ironman!!

Cathie and I going out on the town - nothing like bar-hopping Sherman to bring some HS memories back. Along with half of your high school classmates.

Went to Hannah Banana's dance performance -which was sweet! Seven dances later (and those were just the ones SHE was in...I felt ready to bust a move as well.)

Look at those legs in their Chorus Line number??! Amazing..not a whole bunch of people who can look good in high cut gold spandex, I tell you what.

We have a piper down...

This weekend Mike and I rocked the Scottish Highland Games at Thanksgiving Point. It involved fish and chips, swords, large turkey legs, large men throwing cabers (aka trees) in kilts, and of course in an authentic Scottish tradition --- rain.


Yeah, this guy was in a full chain mail. Awesome. Think of this event as live action role play, Braveheart, and Hot Topic rolled into one event.


A month before I was having fun with my sisters at home - this was taken after Junior Miss. Serious smiles are overrated - sorry Moms.


And this was before that, call it the Dark Ages of my Spring -- the end of first-year finals. While this isn't my desk, I do think this installation sculpture summarizes my feelings about finals, and about the extensive time I spent in the library in a windowless dungeon study room.




Our study table - the pita chips and snap peas are mine but don't think I didn't pop those M&M's like there was no tomorrow. Because I did. Don't you dare judge me.

The only capital movements I see...

While the credit market is still fairly frozen, you could entertain yourself with a frustrating look at a capital punishment case here in Utah that I become involved with as an intern. (and you can see me...well..if you are looking really hard for the loitering group of really savvy looking attorneys/interns hanging out in the hallway talking about the new Terminator movie...we're pretty legit.)

The news story is here. Its a sad case, but watching this guy in court is pretty crazy and the victim's son is a nice guy with an impressive sense of humor about the whole thing. Can't really say more than that...

Throw 'em the fake and then finagle...they'll never know you're just...a bagel...

Props to whoever can catch the reference...I'll give you a hint if you didn't grow up in a Broadway-house...its from a musical set in the 20s...

But anyway, I started my internship today (law schools call them externships...but for the life of me I can't decipher why they are any different other than the obvious grad school thing...I mean...small office...check...no pay...check...but you get credit..check...yep--- sounds like an internship to me!

I am working at the Utah Crime Victims Legal Clinic, which is a great non-profit in Salt Lake that provides free legal services to people who have been the victims of crimes. Think of it as legal aid (you know - what Sandra Bullock did at the end of Two Weeks Notice) with a uber-specialty - helping out just the victims of crimes, and usually only violent or physical crimes of some sort, protect their rights, e.g. getting reparations from the perpetrators, preparing and reading some sort of victim impact statement at sentencing or the hearing, getting a restraining order, etc.

So its cool -- and I think I will get to go to court a lot, which is pretty fun, because you see some fun stuff there, its like the bus stop but with some random people in suits thrown in the mix. And I am excited to be working with such dedicated attorneys - folks who could be making a killing (well in any normal market anyway) anywhere else but do this kind of thing because they really want to help people, especially in a very pioneering area of the law = victims' rights.

I am excited.