Maryanne

I am sure this post wont be very exciting for anyone but I was excited and had to share. So I was reading a really morbid book (Deaths in the Grand Canyon) which in a round-about way got me back into researching Mary Ann. The book talked about William Leany that lived in Harrisburg and the theory that he was in some way involved in the murder of three people in the 1869 Powell Expedition down the Grand Canyon. I will be researching this because other books and sites have listed it as William Laney. I think there is a different person but this book got it confused with the Harrisburg William Leany. Anyways that made me think of Mary Ann.

For those of you who don't know.... I was a bit obsessed with Mary Anne when I was 16 yrs old. She was a pioneer that lived in Harrisburg. She also died in Harrisburg at the age of 16 and was buried in the cemetery there (which happened to be across the street from where I lived). The fact that she had died so young and at the same age I was at the time... my curiosity got the better of me and I started researching her. I had a lot of fun researching things about her. I Even went as far as to contact one of her sisters great-granddaughters in Virginia. I got some interesting stories about the family. One thing that bothered me though... was the discrepancy in dates. Her DOB, the date she died. The family stated she died in 1867, but the headstone states 1868. I was starting to think the headstone was wrong.

Anyways last night I did something I never thought to do. I pulled up archives of the Deseret Morning News and found her obituary. It confirmed that she did die on February 10th 1868. It doesn't specifically state how she died, but I know it was related to childbirth since she had a son 9 days prior (who happened to die 2 days before her). Plus the family in Virginia states women in the Harris family had issues with blood clots after pregnancy. It has taken more than one women's life in that family.

I was so excited when I found that obituary. I wasn't sure I would find it. I also can't believe I never thought to look there before. I of course saved the picture of her obituary so here it is...

I am now back full swing into researching this. I spent all day yesterday researching. Some of the neat things I found out is that her Grandfather Moses Harris (who founded Harrisburg) came across the plains with his family in 1849. They travelled across the plains with the Aldridge Family and had two of their sons marry Aldridge girls. Mary Anne's uncle Silas Harris married Sariah Alldridge at Independence Rock, WY. The families all ended up in Sessions Settlement (later to become Bountiful). Mary Anne's father John S. Harris married Nancy Lydia Aldridge (the sister to Sariah) in Bountiful. Mary Anne was their first born child who was also born in Bountiful.

I think it is neat that is how her parents met was during the hard trek across the plains. It is just fun finding out the different things about her life. I am determined to find out the events going on in the world around her life time and to try to reconstruct that events she lived thru and the activities she may have participated in. I love history!

Gotta love YouTube!

Ok, So I was on Youtube moments ago. I was a bit curious how many people were able to sneak in video cameras. Surprisingly, there are quite a few people who did. So I picked the best three I could find to post on here for your viewing pleasure. Anyways I hope you enjoy these few clips from the concert last night....

Cemeteries of London


Fix You


Lovers in Japan

The best group ever!!!

I am so excited! I got to go see my favorite group in concert tonight. Who is my favorite group you ask? COLDPLAY of course!!!! I have loved them ever since high school. I have almost all their CD's and know almost all their songs. I found out they were coming to Salt Lake earlier this year and was quick to get tickets. I think I got the tickets in the summer time and just had them sitting on the shelf waiting for the day to come. We happened to be in the nose bleed section which cost $120 for Mike and I. They may be my favorite group, but I am a bit of a tightwad, and couldn't imagine spending more than we did on tickets. Lucky for us, our seats were the front row of our section so we had a perfect view. There was nobody to stand up in front of us and block our view.

My one and only complaint about this concert, was how long it took Coldplay to actually start playing. We had to sit thru two opening acts. The first group wasn't at all that good. The second guy did some remix DJ stuff. It was pretty neat music, but one song lasted a half an hour. The whole time they had some weird psychedelic screen going that was making me motion sick. By the time that ended, I was half asleep and frustrated. The concert started at 7:30, but Coldplay didn't start playing until I would guess about 9:30. Add to that, the fact that Mike and I got to the Energy Solutions Arena an hour early. I was very tired when Coldplay started, but they definitely woke me up.

They started out playing Violet Hill (one of my favorites on their new Album). Next, they played (in my opinion) their best song of all time.... In My Place. I was so excited when they started playing that! I didn't expect that. They also played Cemeteries of London, and all their popular ones like Fix You, Clocks, Speed of Sound, and of course Lost, and Viva la Vida.

It was interesting because at one point they exit the stage and end up at the back of the arena on a little platform setup in the middle of all the seats. They were probably about 50 feet from us at that point; which doesn't sound all that close, but I could actually see their facial features. I was excited!

They were awesome! They had confetti pouring down on the audience while playing Lovers in Japan. I have never seen so much confetti in my life! They also did an encore (don't they always?) and played Yellow. That song was one I liked back in the day.. but it was very overplayed. Mike actually highly dislikes that song. It was neat though. I was very impressed. Mike was a little disappointed that they didn't play his fav song Green Eyes, but It is not one of their well known ones, so I didn't really expect them to.

The whole time I was sitting there thinking, "Holy Cow! I am in the same building as Coldplay. I am watching them actually play everything live!" I honestly never thought I would get the chance to see them. It was incredible. I am very relieved to know that my favorite group actually has talent. Some groups sound horrible live, but not Coldplay. They sounded awesome. Plus Chris Martin is awesome on the piano. I was very amazed. They also interact with the audience, which I like. Overall... it was a great concert!

Anyways... I just had to brag. I am in shock right now. It is hard to believe I really got to see them in concert. I am glad I did though. These guys are the one group I have always wanted to see in concert. Hence why I couldn't pass when I found out they were coming to Salt Lake. They were awesome!

Productive Saturday

Today turned out to be a rather productive day. This morning Mike ran a 5K with his sister Heather and her girlfriend Julia. I went and watched. Anyways we then came home and I was feeling like I wanted to do a project today that would better our house. So for some odd reason, I was in the mood to paint our small little bathroom. So off to the store we went to pick the paint color. Mike and I were both a bit nervous since our shelves in the dinning room didn't turn out the color we had hoped. We decided that we needed to go with a blue because thats the theme we have going in that bathroom with our mats and hand towels. So we decided on Cornice Blue.

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I assured Mike it would be my project so he could go do his own thing. He decided to finish raking the leaves (which was a huge job!). It didnt take all that long to get the bathroom painted and it was rather fun. When I first started painting, the paint looked purple. I was really worried about it. It looked more blue once I got it all on the walls. I had Mike come and reach the places I was unable to reach. His first reaction walking in was one of dismay. I could tell he hated it and didnt want to hurt my feelings by stating the fact. I will admit i wasn't too sure about it either. Anyways it dried and the imperfections were less noticable. I then went to work putting the bathroom back together. When I got everything put back... the bathroom looked really good. Mike came in and seemed much happier about it, and I decided I love it! Of course I have before and after pictures, so here it goes...

Before

After

Before

After