Murder at the Deadwood Saloon

Last night Jared and I attended our first murder mystery party, wild west style, as a business man and saloon dancer, respectively. My cousin Aubrey organized and hosted the party: Murder at the Deadwood Saloon. I really won't give any details about the murder, but I will tell you that after Jared's character paid $10 to dance with me, promised to take me out east and support me financially, he was shot and killed. I wasn't too upset because I found his mustache repelling and I knew I wasn't the only girl he had been sweet-talking in Deadwood.

Celebrating the winner of the Deadwood poker tournament

We were each given a list of tasks to accomplish and people to talk to. At one point I had to approach another girl and tell her to stop talking to so many of the gentlemen, as she was taking away many of my dance partners. I later had to confront her and insist that I had seen her spending lots of time with Jared's character, and she admitted to dating him.

My uncle played the role of the federal marshal and was very good at keeping information from me. I thought I could get him to talk during a dance, but when I invited him to join me he stated that he "could not afford me" and did not participate in "sultry activities". Well! saloon girls are very respected in their towns so I told him that if he continued to speak to me like that, I would have him thrown out of the saloon.

"Well ma'am, then I will come back here with a warrant and shut this saloon down!"

"Oh marshal, I do apologize for what I said. You enjoy yourself." I was trying very hard to keep my job.

Federal marshal and Saloon girl Taffy

As the night went on, we found that no one could be trusted as we worked to solve the mystery. Jared became a ghost, haunting the saloon while also trying to uncover his killer, and in the end he was one of three people to correctly guess the murderer.

Presenting the evidence

Aubrey did a great job with this party. The food, music, decorations, costumes, and accents were all fantastic, but I'm glad my days of soliciting dances is over. Ten dollars a night isn't much to live on.

Two Months in Review

About a week after the family reunion, I drove to visit my sister for her big birthday. I brought along the recipe book Your Cup of Cake, and let Ami choose the cupcakes I would make: Reeses Peanut Butter (click here for the recipe).

Because Ami and I both have August birthdays, we cashed in on several free meals and ate out somewhere every day. We also went to a Safari park for free, where we fed a giraffe and a tiger.

On my last day we tried to take family photos, but Little L didn't agree with that....

On August 11th Jared and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary. I left Ami's house in the morning and met Jared at the Cheesecake Factory for dinner and dessert.

In mid-August I had a two day, hands-on training for work. I only mention this because in the training I learned how to block kicks and punches, and escape from biting and grabbing children. Yes, I need to know this for my job.

As an end to Summer and a hurrah for me before starting a new job, Jared and I went on a four day cruise to Catalina Island and Mexico.

We celebrated my birthday on the cruise with room service breakfast, a walk around Ensenada, and a two hour nap. Here's 26 year old me with my birthday sombrero. I'm just now noticing all the bird poop on the rock in the picture. Ew.

Although I now work and come home exhausted each day, we have still been able to squeeze in some fun. In September we went to our first Angel's game,

saw Ami (again!), and went with her to Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm.

We also joined a book club and spent a day in San Diego with family.

Wow, that really sounds like a lot now that I've written it all down. But the last two days have been relaxing as we've watched our worldwide Church conference - eight hours of spiritual music, talks, and guidance, which I will later re-visit here. I hope you will too.

Now on to October!