The Dreaded Subject: Politics

I usually make it a policy to not discuss politics with friends, family, or just about anyone but lately the subject seems to come up again and again. We were with some friends last weekend camping (lots of fun, more on that later), when the the presidential election came up. There was a lot of discussing and people trying to figure out how to find out the truth about the candidates and what they say. After we got home, I couldn't help but wonder how do we find the truth? Well, I am reading the biography of President Hinckley, Go Forward With Faith, and I actually recalled a quote by President Hinckley which answered my question. He was on an airplane talking with someone about the church and the man admitted to President Hinckley that he had received all his information about our church from his own church. President Hinckley asked what company the man worked for and he said IBM. So President Hinckley replied, "How would you feel if your customers learned about your products from a Xerox representative?" So I applied that thought to the election. If I want to find out what Obama and McCain really stand for why not hear it from them? I listened to both of their acceptance speeches and have been reading their views and plans for the country on their own websites. Of course, it is hard to trust politicians so I found a non-partisan website called factcheck.org. It is a great website and states the truth about what each politician says. Check it out for yourself. Anyways, I feel it is important to vote, but we should not vote based on the rumors, lies, and slander plastered across the television and email. Our country needs a good, strong president and we need to vote for the person not the R or the D behind the name. That is just my opinion.

I just had to take a second to let those of you who are following my little sister Staci's love life know the latest news. She went to visit her boyfriend, Blake, a couple weeks ago up in Washington and came back engaged! (Needless to say I was not surprised) They are planning on getting married in Jan in the Bountiful Temple. So congrats to you Staci!!!!!!

School is Here Once Again

Okay I decided I should probably update my blog. My computer was acting funny last week so I wasn't able to get on, stupid windows vista. Anyway, yesterday was the first day of school. Alexis started second grade and Camryn started full day Kindergarten. Sometimes it is hard to believe I have kids that old. It was kind of weird to only have Marina and me and home, it was also oddly quiet. But at 3:00 we went and picked up the girls and life was crazy and noisy once again. After driving my girls to two separate schools everyday for two straight years, I have to admit it is pretty nice to only have to go to one school. Another benefit this year is that they changed the school starting time from 8:15 to 8:00 so some days Josh can drop the girls off on his way to work. How sweet is that?

Here are some pictures of the first day of school.

I went to my ten year high school reunion a couple of weeks ago. They had a lunch at the park for the families and then a dinner at night. At the lunch I was able to see a couple of good friends so I am glad I went. Then at the dinner I saw my best friend from high school Kelley Walker and her husband Scott. It was great to see her. It was just the same as 10 years ago. She was just as sarcastic and cynical as I remember, unlike me of course. Okay maybe I was a little bit sarcastic and cynical as well. We really need to stay in touch better. I also saw my good friend Jay and his wife Ginger. Jay is still Jay and I was really glad I got to see them.

I have to make a couple of comments on the Olympics. I have always been a fan of watching the Olympics, but this year I struggled with a few sports. The gymnastics were difficult to watch because the judging was so obviously off. More then once did a Chinese girl get way more points then she deserved. Also what is up with the lip-syncing seven year old? The girl who really sang at the opening ceremonies wasn't cute enough so they had a different girl stand in and lip-sync. That really irritated me. And some of the fireworks on the tv were computerized in. So I did enjoy the Olympics, especially Michael Phelps, but come on Chinese government lets not destroy the Olympics, okay?

While we were down in Utah we went to the dinosaur park with my sister, her son, and my parents. It was a lot of fun. For being girlie girls Alexis and Camryn sure love dinosaurs.

I thought this was pretty picture. It is at Rock Creek.

Josh got to go on the pioneer trek with the youth a couple of weeks ago. I don't think I have written about this yet, but I don't know. It ended up being about 30 miles in two days. Josh had to quit a couple of hours early because he got huge blisters on his feet. The trek ended at Rock Creek where the Willie Company spent the first night after they were "rescued." A lot of people died that night and were buried there. Now there are monuments for the pioneers and the graves are marked.
Josh and Ron together again. They had a blast playing guitar hero. It was so great to see the Ronco's.

The stake put on a short program at Rock Creek when the trekkers came back. The girls are singing some pioneer songs with the Primary. The kids had the option of wearing pioneer clothes, but alas we did not have any, I don't sew, and I did not want to buy clothes for five minutes of singing.

I finally have a picture up of the girls in their dance costumes. They danced at the county fair last Saturday. I have to say they are pretty cute.

Marina is such a ham. She loves to have her picture taken anytime, anywhere.

I have to add a few extra comments to add to my previous post. I do enjoy some fiction. I really liked Harry Potter and I hate to admit that I am addicted to the Twilight series, although I also have to admit that I found myself thinking more then once that the books are rather cheesy. But it makes a quick, fun, easy read in between my heavy history books.

I did a few new things this summer which I had to write about. I tried wakeboarding for the first time. I actually did okay and I really liked it! Josh really liked to hear that, he has been trying to get me to wakeboard since we got married. I also learned to drive a boat. It was kinda scary at first, but I at least I can drive well enough for Josh to wakeboard behind me.

I haven't posted in awhile so I just thought I would take a minute to write down some thoughts. I am kinda tired so this won't be long. I would like to blog more, but by the time the kids get to bed I don't really feel like sitting at the computer. So anyways, the other day I realized once again that I am not like a lot of my friends. I am in certain ways, but definitely not in hobbies. I am the only person I know that does not like to scrapbook. I just don't enjoy it. I started scrapbooking our marriage pictures right after we got married and realized that I really didn't enjoy it that much. My wedding photos are still not finished and I have been married for almost nine years. I just don't have the time and if I did I would rather research, read, or write history. I know I'm crazy. I have realized I miss out on a lot of time my friends spend together because they get together and scrapbook. But what can I say, I don't like it and I can't force myself to do it. I'm not saying scrapbooking is bad, it is just not for me. Another area I differ is in reading material. People always ask me, "so what are you reading?" and recently I have said, a book about Abraham Lincoln. I then get looked at like I am crazy. I have a hard time with fiction. I can read fiction and I enjoy some of it, but reading about real people with real stories far surpasses any made up story. In fact, I have never been able to finish Little Women and I have tried twice. I just can't stand it. I am okay being different, I mean nobody wants to be the same, but sometimes it would be nice to sit and talk with somebody about historical issues.

More pictures

Here are some more pictures from our vacation. This one is all of us at the San Diego Wild Animal Park. It was slightly different from a zoo. A lot of the animals were all together in a huge area to better simulate what life would be like in Africa. The girls had a great time even though it was hot.
This is Alexis and Camryn at the beach. As you can tell they totally got knocked over by a wave.
Marina is helping Staci by putting sand on her back. When Staci stood up it went straight down her shorts. I had to laugh.
At first Marina hated the beach. She would not let me put her down on the sand. So we put her on a towel and she started sticking her finger in the sand, then her toes, and eventually she was rolling around in it.

This is at the Sea World kids play area.
Also, Sea World. Josh doesn't like the spinning rides so I took all the girls.
This dolphin came right up to the glass to look at Josh. It sat there for about a minute and just looked and him and chirped a couple of times. I love dolphins.
Here are the crazy animals at the Wild Animal Park.

As most of you know, I am an avid fan of history, especially Civil War history. I really love reading about Abraham Lincoln and currently I am reading Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. In it she has a Lincoln quote that I really like so I thought I would share, "No man resolved to make the most of himself, can spare time for personal contention. Still less can he afford to take all the consequences, including the vitiating of his temper, and the loss of self-control. Yield larger things to which you can show no more than equal right; and yield lesser ones, though clearly your own. Better give your path to a dog, than be bitten by him in contesting for the right. Even killing the dog would not cure the bite." It reminds me that sometimes it is best to just let things go then dwell on them and bring myself down.

Disneyland

Once again it has been a long time since I have posted a blog. But we have been really busy with the end of the school year and then we went on vacation and I did not have reliable internet at the place we stayed. Anyways, at the end of May the girls had their dance recital. It was a lot of fun to finally see the girls dance. They both love it and do pretty good, I will post of pictures later. On June 18th, we left to go to California with my family. Well it was supposed to be with my family. My sister and her husband ended up not being able to go because of work and some other issues. My parents went, but left after just a couple of days because my grandpa was on the verge of death. He did die on June 26th which made the vacation not as fun, but he was ready to go. My grandpa was a great guy and I will miss him, but at least he is in a place where he is no longer sick. Therefore, the family trip ended up being my little family, my little sister Staci and her boyfriend. He also had to leave early for work. But thanks once again to Staci for being there and helping us so much!! You are AWESOME!! Back to the happy stuff. We went to Las Vegas for a couple of days, then on to Disneyland!! The girls loved it, of course. And I have always loved Disneyland. I thought it would be so busy and hot, but it really wasn't too bad. We went on everything we wanted to and then some extra. We also went to Sea World and the San Diego Wild Animal Park. I will post some more pictures over the next week, I just wanted to get a few up. I took a ton of pictures and I will post my favorites. One thing I have learned over the past years is that I love to travel, even with three kids. It is so fun to go new places, or old places, and play and have fun. It is worth the hassle of packing, repacking, unpacking, etc. Just a few more comments. As I mentioned my grandpa (my mother's dad) passed away while we were gone so we came back Sat and on Sun went to the viewing and then the funeral on Monday. It was hard to see someone close to me die, but I was blessed to see him one last time. We had planned to leave for vacation after Josh got off work on Wed the 18th, but I knew my grandpa wasn't doing well and I was prompted again and again to try and leave early. So Josh changed his schedule so we could leave at 1:00 in the afternoon. We drove straight to grandpa's and saw and talked with him. We were able to say goodbye. I am grateful for that.


Here are the girls on the tea cup ride. They loved it!!

More pictures soon!!