A Big Welcome to Christy's Stories and a Visit to BYU

Today M+L Forever visits a new friend and blog, Christy's Stories. Christy asked questions that no one else has before. She's a new blogger so please stop by, make lots of comments, and welcome her to the Michael and Leesie family.

Now that you've seen Phuket and a glimpse of the Similans, it's time to take a look at where Leesie ended up. For some reason, I have no pictures of BYU. And I was just on the campus again in May when my son got married. But my daughter, Rachel, is a much better photographer than I, and she raided her iphoto and sent me these so you can get a feel for the campus and inside Leesie's dorm. She didn't have any pictures of a tunnel sing, though. Maybe I can find one on YouTube.

This is the Y. It's a good hike from campus. You can get a glimpse of Leesie's dorm, Heritage Halls, in the lower left corner.

Here's the Carrillon Bell Towers. It plays every hour to mark the time. But sometimes there will be a concert.

This is my daughter (2nd girl from the left) and freshman friends in her kitchen at Heritage Halls.

Another shot of the dorm kitchen. My daughter is 2nd from left, and my son os on the right. Yes, I taught them to make Christmas Cookies!

This is the Provo Temple. Leesie walks up there a lot and takes Michael. You can see how close the mountains are to campus.

Similan Research and Margaret's Interview Part 2

Today the blog tour returns to Margaret's Blog for Part 2 of the interview I did with her. I hope you enjoy it.

I'm tearing my hair out this morning because the second time we went to Phukett, my husband and I drove up to Khoa Lak to research Similan dive trips. Khoa Lak is a tiny village the boats that go to the Similans dock at. I took all kinds of pictures and videos, and somehow there isn't a single shot in my iPhoto. I wanted to post them today! Oh, well. We'll have to go right to the Similans. I've never been to the Similan Islands or the Burma Banks--actually they are technically now the Myanmar Banks. So I researched the area and diving their online. I found a wealth of material. Even a YouTube video that inspired one of Leesie's poems and led me to order a full-length DVD on diving in the area. I probably depicted those dives better than the dives that I'd actually dove myself. All that expert material. The video is no longer available, but here's the pictures I saved. The first one is a whale shark. Poor, Michael. He didn't ever meet up with one.

This is Honeymoon Bay!

TWO STOPS!

The blog tour continues with two stops today. I'm featured on Bonnie get's a Say's Book Buzzin Tuesday and Everything to do with Books. Thanks, so much for hosting me and helping me celebrate Michael and Leesie FOREVER!!

I'm totally distracted this week because I'm working until the wee hours of the morning on the musical stage adaption of SING ME TO SLEEP. It's such an exciting process to see it transform. I'm collaborating with Harriet Bushman, who composed the music and arranged "Beth's Song" and "Take me Home." Yes, the music is going to be fantastic. I'm transforming chapters into scenes and lyrics. It's exciting for sure.

But I did promise you more Thailand. After I got out of the hospital, we couldn't fly home. I had to wait before I went up in a plane so I didn't wreck all the good work the decompression chamber did for me. My husband got us rooms at the J. Willard Marriott resort. Nice place to recuperate. We loved it so much that we went back on another trip and even ended up buying into their vacation club. That's where Michael teaches those newlyweds that get him thinking about marriage.

We didn't spend all our time on Phuket in the water. We went to an elephant show and spent a day on a jungle tour. And who can resist the beach?

We learned to make fresh green curry.

This is a rubber tree. The milky white stuff in the bowel is raw rubber.

My kids riding an elephant. My husband and I are on the elephant behind them. 

Traditional wood skiffs

A fleet of modern speed boats.

J. Willard Marriott pool area.