New Footage of the the Main Street Plaza Church v. Gays Confrontation

The Salt Lake Tribune has released footage of the now famous incident when LDS Church security guards confronted two men they accused of being inappropriately amorous on the Main Street Plaza in Salt Lake. There is no footage of the conduct that made the security guards uncomfortable, but there is plenty of evidence that the two men (or at least one) were quite resistant, verbally and physically, to the guards' invitations to leave the area. Interesting footage, and probably not something we've heard the last about:

The Perfect Picnic

A few weeks ago we were sitting around on a Sunday afternoon with Ali, when somebody had the idea to go up a canyon for a picnic. A half hour later we were headed up Emigration Canyon with a carful of kids, some drinks and some food. Over the summit of the canyon is a beautiful little reservoir called Little Dell, mostly for canoe-ers and serenity seekers.

We parked, walked for quite a ways to find a good spot. Ali complained for a little while about being scared of "wild animals," which the rest of us promptly laughed off. Finally, we found a pretty meadow right by the water, and spread out our picnic there.

About one minute after we sat down, Macy started at a noise behind her. No big deal, it was just this:

Fox at the Picnic from Ryan on Vimeo.

Problem was, he was looking for a handout, and could NOT be dissuaded. Even by me yelling "Get out! GO! GO!" in my very meanest voice. So we picked up all of our stuff and headed back to find a more civilized picnic table closer to the road. The second we set our stuff down, a huge squall kicked up out of nowhere. Big winds and rain blew in, and we had to run back to the car. And Macy dropped the cornbread in the dirt. Man, I was looking forward to that cornbread. After 15 minutes, it turned back into a beautiful day, so we sat right near the car and tried to finish the picnic in peace, with Ali, Macy and Rex looking over their shoulders the whole time for the wild animals (Happily, Lucy was just plain charmed by the fox, and wanted to name it and take it home). Molly found an open coke that had been left on the picnic table, and enjoyed it until the rest of us noticed what she was doing.

Anyway, we didn't deal with a single ant the whole time, so it was pretty much a perfect picnic.


Hotly debated bonus question, for the commenters to ultimately resolve: What is the proper reaction to a fox at close range at a picnic? More like how you'd react to a kitten, or how you'd react to a bear, and why?

LegoLand

Well, yeah, we could be accused of taking a few too many pictures on our trip to California. But this is the final post. Some pics of a really fun day in Legoland:

California Dreamin'

Just a few more favorite photos from the trip.