Christmas Lights at Temple Square

Every year we have a tradition of going and seeing the lights at temple square. We usually go early in the month, but this year it took us a lot longer to get there. We went and parked the care and then rode Trax into downtown. The kids thought that that was fun because both of them love trains. The lights were beautiful like they always are. I think Dallin and Isaac just like to go there are run around. We went and saw the Christus in the north Visitor Center and when we asked Isaac who was that. he said."Wow, that is big." Which we found very funny. He did know who is was, but I thought it was funny that he first commented on the fact that it was big. Below are some of the pictures that I took from that night.

Cancelling of a few TV shows

I heard today,(I know I am a little slow) and a couple of my shows have gotten the axe. Those are Pushing Daises and Lipstick Jungle. I have watched Pushing Daises since it started and have loved the Ned and Chuck and how they try to have a relationship where no touching is involved, except when something is between them, which usually is plastic.

For those of you that don't know Ned has the ability to bring things back to life and they have passes. He found this out when he was a kid and his mother died and he touched her and she came back to life. He also found out that if they touch him again after that, they die again and he can't bring them back. Another consequence to bringing someone back to life is that after 1 minute if he doesn't touch them againg someone in the area will die in that person's place. He goes around with his only friend on earth Emmett and solves murders, because he touches the person who died and asks if they know who killed them or how they died. They they both go and solve the crime, which there usually is one. The show is different from others out there and I loved watching it and wondering if Ned and Chuck will ever accidently touch and she dies again.

Anyway, Lipstick Jungle I would watch but I wasn't as big of fan as I was with Pushing Daises, but it had a good plot. Three women in different points in their life trying to make it work in New York City. I will miss this show as well.

Eragon book Series.

Well about a week ago I finally finished the third book in the Eragon series and I thought that I would write about it. The Series was good and I enjoyed reading them. For those who haven't read it. It is about a teenage boy who finds a dragon egg in the forest. He then goes around his world and learns more about being a dragon rider and how he will try to bring down the emperor, who happens to also be a dragon rider. I do have to be honest and say that there were times in all three of the books that I was bored and wished that the story would move along, but all in all it was a good book. For those who don't like romance, you would be happy to know that there is only a few cases of relationships, but Christoperh Paolini doen'st go into a lot of detail about them.

My Thoughts

For the past couple of days I have been thinking about a couple of things. Today's post I will like to tell you about them. The first is that I am not that happy. I have been feeling this way for awhile now and it is not that bad, but it comes down to the fact that I don't have any friends. I have a couple of people that take pitty on me and let me do things with them now and again, but when it comes to someone (other than my husband) who wants to do things with me and not me just trying to tag along with other people. I have no one. In fact there has only been a few people in my whole life that I have been able to do that with and I have lost contact with them or they have moved on to friends that live closer to them.

I don't know why, but I have never been one to make friends well. When I was growing up I never had any birthday parties, because there wasn't really anyone there for me to invite to it. After Jeff and I got married we started to make a couple of friends, but they were all couples and the friendship came about through Jeff and I just tagged along as usual. But now I guess I have rubbed off on Jeff, because he has no desire to have people over anymore. I don't know why both of us have suddenly become like this.

For the few of you who read this, please do not fret, I like that you read this and just writing this down makes me feel a whole lot better. I am not writing this down because I need you to do better, but I really am writing this down in hopes that putting it down on paper will help me do it better. You have been great. It is I that doesn't know how to be a good friend. I never learned.

The next thing that I have been thinking about is moving. I know that when you ask me I say that we are not going to move from our lovely home, but the more Jeff and I talk we come to the point that we are not happy here. We just stay home. Jeff doesn't have anyone that shares his passion for games (Video or Board) and in fact he is going to try to go to his work once a month so that he can play the games with other people rather than just me. My callings in my ward are great, but unfortunatly I do not want to be in them forever, but that will not happen for a long time. Jeff loves his callings and does not want to leave them.

Another hindurance is that Jeff doesn't want to go through the moving process again. He wants to stay in our house. which is a great house, but when we bought it he got what he wanted in the house and I didn't get what I wanted. This is mainly because when we were looking I was 8 months pregnant and was tired so put my wants on hold in the hopes that we would move to be able to get what I wanted. But now I am slowly coming to the conclusion that it will never be.

Well I guess that is the basis of my thoughts for today. If you got through this long post then I congradulate you. Also, just a small note, which probably be put at the beginning of this blog, but too bad. I am the kind of person that I need to go through all of the bad things in my head and put them down on paper to help myself be happier. I could always use a journal for this, but I type faster than I write so blogging is better. Have no fear I am a little better and the next time you see me. I will be happy. Life is good because the gospel is true and the Lord loves all of us.

Thanks for reading

The economy

The government finally came out this week and said that we were in a recession. Which I agree with completely. The only thing that bothered me was that they said that we have probably been in one for a year. Well what is it with our government are the so blind to there own approval ratings that they will ignore the actual numbers and say that we are not in a recession just though they can get reelected for another term. I don't know all about this topic so some of what I say is not really true and I will be the first to admit it. But it seems that we should have known a year ago that things were not going so well for the American people and helped us out a year ago, instead of letting it all go to rock bottom before doing something.

I also applaud the school district that applied for federal aid for the Trillion Dollar buyout plan. If companies that just have bad business plans can ask for aid, why not the school districts that have seen their budget drop or did not have enough funds to begin with. I truly believe that if the companies cannot come up with a good business plan on how they will pay back the money then they should not get any.

Jay Leno said in one of his monologues that instead of giving the car companies the money needed to help them out. the money should go to the America people with the stimulation that they should use it to buy a car. Jay went on to say that this will help out the companies because their product will be sold and they will be able to get out of the red and the Americans will get a free car out of the deal.

I think that something need to be done for all of the average people in America who are finding it hard to buy food and gas. Gas prices have helped out, but it still won't mend over night because we have been in this downfall for a year.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Well this last Thanksgiving weekend we went on a wonderful vacation. We left Wednesday after work and went to Jeff's parents. We stayed there for Thanksgiving. I made pumpkin chiffon pies. They pies were the ones that my grandma used to make. They were really good and I loved it.

Then in the afternoon of Thanksgiving we packed up and headed up north to Logan to be with my family. We went up there mainly to go to black Friday which was wonderful. We went to JC Penny first, and it turned out they didn't have what we wanted. Then we split up. My husband and my little sister went to Shopko to get her a digital camera that she wanted and I went to Sam's Club to get a comforter and some headphones. Shopko was extremely crowded, but Jeff was able to run across the store to get to the electronics department and get the camera. At Sam's Club they opened the first set of doors so that we were able to be in a heated place. They played music and served hot cocoa. It was a very nice experience. They inside they served a hot breakfast. It made waiting for an hour a lot more enjoyable.

We went to a couple of more stores and got more stuff, but the longest wait that I had was in Joanns. I waited for two and a half hours waiting just to get my fabric cut. they another half hour to get checked out.

It was extremely tiring and I was tired, but I still had fun. It is nice to get good deals on christmas gifts. Now on to Christmas.

Black Friday

Every Year at this time comes the one day that people that store workers hate, Black Friday. The day after Thanksgiving where stores put goods on for really cheep and people come out in droves to save a buck or two.

While some members of my extended family think I am crazy, I like to go to Black Friday. There is something in the air on these days that makes me smile. Even if I am not buying a whole lot I still like to go and watch all of the people. It is funny to watch how people can get so emotional and sometimes violent over a toy for their child.

There has only been one time since I was in high school that I have not gone. That was because there was absoluely nothing and I was in Colorado visiting family and didn't want to drag one of them along just I could go and watch. I did however go out at 9:00 and still found a couple of things to get in the sale, but the crowds were a lot smaller.

What a wonderful time to gather together as families and be thankful for all that we have. I truly have a wonderful family and love to be with them. Let us all be thankful for the country we live in. It is a wonderful place where we can have a voice in how we are governed.

Movie Weekend

Wll this weekend I was blessed to see two movies in the movie theater. (We usually wait to see the movie until it comes out on video so this really was a treat.) The Movies were Twilight and Bolt.

I went to twilight on Saturday morning at 10 and I was glad I chose that time, because other than that I would have to of waited in a long line to get to my seat. The movie was great. It is true that they changed a lot from the book, but the changes were necessary and were not as odd as some of the changes that can take place. It was a very romantic movie and I loved every minuted of it. In fact it kind of was a bad thing, because it made me want to read the books again so that I could get back into the romance. I think that is why they are so addictive to girls. The romance feels so real and that it makes us want to live in it over and over. The romance reminded me of the time when I started to date my husband. I remember the things that he would do for me. When I remember those things it truly makes me love him more, and Jeff is always thankful for that.

The second movie I went to was Bolt. The whole family went to this one. We are a dog family so everyone really liked the movie. Dallin has been talking ever since we came out of the theater that he wants this movie for christmas. We try to tell him that it will not come out on video before christmas but he doesn't believe us. The movie is about a dog that has been fooled to believe that he is a super hero dog that has to save his human Penny. When the show starts to do cliff hangers, Bolt doesn't know what to do so he goes in search of Penny from the evil people that capture him. When he does this he goes out in the real world and then has to face the facts that he is not what he thought he was. It is a good show and if you want to you should go to it.

Isaac is awesome

Well for the last couple of weeks we have been trying to potty train Isaac. It was slow at first, mostly because I work four hours a day and can't really keep up the pace of having Isaac go to the potty. But, I held my own. We tried it first with diapers, but that never seemed to work. So I decided that we would put Isaac into underwear and at the end I would go through and clean all of my carpets if I had to. Well Just one week after putting Isaac into underwear, he now stays dry all day. I am so excited for my little man.

My mom would always tell me that the second child was easier because they had the first, but I wasn't sure because I had taught Dallin to go pee in the potty before taking a bath at 18months. So when it came time for him to be completely potty trained he already knew what had to happen, but it took forever for him to realize he needed to stay dry.

But with Isaac, I had seen on the Today Show that there was a women who could potty train your child in one day. I watched that and on conference weekend I tried it. She says to put a potty in the kitchen or a place where it is easy to clean up after accidents. You bring your child there and keep them there. You then supply them with salty snacks and juice. The salt so they want to drink a lot and the juice to make them go potty more often. You have them in their underwear and you let them eat and play. With Isaac we had my laptop there to watch movies. Then every half an hour I would have Isaac sit on the potty while watching the movie. That first day we had some successes and some losses. but it looked good. for the next week we kept up the pace of having him go every half an hour. Which with my work was not very good. So the next couple of weeks I had to dial it back so that I would not become too frustrated while at work. Well with the dialing back we also put him into pullups instead of underwear and Isaac was still making some progress but not a lot.

Finally a week ago, Jeff and I started to notice that whenever we asked Isaac to pee on the potty he would on a consistent basis. So that was when it was time to put him back into underwear. We would still put him into a pullup at church or when someone else was watching him. But after a week of being in underwear during the day. Isaac started to tell me that he needed to go, instead of the other way around. Oh, what a wonderful boy he is.

So I guess my mom was right. It was a whole lot easier to potty train Isaac than it was to potty train Dallin. But Jeff and I think it is only because we had a different attitude about the accidents that would happen and that made a better environment for Isaac to learn. Just shows you that when it comes to teaching your children having a calm presence of understanding when they make mistakes helps them more than if you tell them what they did wrong.

My views on Same Sex Marriage

I was watching Entertainment Tonight last night while I was exercising and on the program they interviewed Melissa Etheridge and her views on Prop 8. In that interview she said that is should never had gone to a vote of the people.

I just don't understand her thoughts on that. America is a wonderful place where very citizen 18 and older has a right to vote in laws to our country on the state level and nation wide. At the state level we directly vote on amendments to the law and on the national level we vote in people to do that for us.

I am appalled that some people would have that right taken away because it does not let them have what they want. Can't we come up with a compromise that will let them have the rights under the law that they want and still have marriage be between a man and a women.

Another thing I don't quite understand is why the church is getting protested for supporting proposition 8. It has a right just like the individual to make it position known. That is the glory of the first amendment. It is true that most times it does not say anything about politics. But when something completely against the beliefs and would be the wrath of God, it has an obligation to speak out.

I seriously wonder if the reason why so many people are mad at the church could be just because the church helped so many people who were already against same sex marriage to go to the poles and vote yes on proposition 8. Or could it just be that the church has never said anything before and they thought that it never would. What I would really like to say about this is that the church believes what God has set forth. and since the Adam, marriage has always been between a man and a woman. So please stop all of the vandalizing of churches. It does not look well upon you.

The lights are up!

Well this weekend we finally did what we have been saying that we were going to do for a couple of weeks. We have put up the lights on our house. It was nice and sunny on Saturday so we got out the lights and Jeff got to go up on the roof. He had fun up there on the roof. He likes to go up there and look at our roof. He doesn't like hanging off the roof to put up light though I wonder why. Well I took a picture of Jeff up there on the roof and thought y'all would like to see it. I know what some of you might be thinking. It isn't even Thanksgiving yet. But for those of you who wait until it is really cold outside and probably ice on your roof. I feel sorry for you. Even though the lights are on the house they will not be turned on until after we get back from our Thanksgiving holiday.

Weekend Activities

On Saturday I got to spend most of the day playing volleyball. It was fun and I played well most of the time. We got out in the quater finals. I think the reason that we did, is that we started to fell a little pressure, we stopped joking with the other team and we started to treat it like a real competition. and plus we have been playing for close to 3 hours so far. so we were tired. But all in all we had fun.

After the volleyball I went home and tried to figure out something for me to do. Because I have been active all day. I didn't really feel like sitting around all day and watching TV or watch Jeff play video games. So I decided to go out and work a little on the tables for my mother-in-law. I got a little bit along and then realized that the wood that I was using wasn't going to cut it with the table. So then I had to go out and buy some different wood, but it will work and all will be fine. The best part of this is that I didn't have to waste money on the previous wood, because it was just left over wood from some of my other projects. I might be able to have a better update for this next weekend when I get some time to finish the first table.

Another thing that was on my mind was all of the protests around LDS temples in California and one here in Utah. I just don't really understand why our church us the only place getting protested when we were just one of many that joined the cause to pass proposition 8. Also, the only thing that the church really did was make a statement to all of the congregations saying that something needs to be done about this, and from there the members took over and did what they thought would be right. Just to clarify, I love the fact that they are letting their voices be heard. It is part of what makes are country great, what I don't like is the fact that they are singling out one group as the cause of their problem, where the church was just one of many.

Projects that I have completed

I have had some interest in the woodworking projects that I have done. So I have decided to put up some pictures. I am currently going to work on two end table for my mother-in-law, but I haven't started them yet and will post more when they are completed.

This is the latest woodworking project that I finished. I took a toy cabinet that I saw at Ikea that I loved and redesigned it with doors so that I could lock up the toys. It looks great, and if my husband ever decides to finish the closet room in our basement where it is going to go it will completely finished

This is a coffee table that I made for my mother-in-law. She loves the table and that is why I am going to make the end table for her. Also, this was a mother's day gift to her from all of her boys. They all chipped in so that I could pay for the supplies.

This is a table that I made for my master bedroom. it is like a small dining room table. I like to sit at it and think.

This is my husband's desk that I made for him at the beginning of the year.

This is a group of nine fabric covered cork boards. I was asked to make up a project for supper Saturday and this is what I came up with. I made nine of them and they hang on the wall above my computer so that someday I can put little reminders on them. but right now they are empty.

In the above picture there are actually two wood projects the first is the square bookshelf. I put that there so that some of the things that Jeff and I use on a daily basis for the computer can be put up there and out of the way. The next is my desk, which was just a little to big to fit in just this one picture, but you get the point. It has 11 drawers and on one end a small bookcase. I designed this desk to be able to do every craft thing that I wanted and to hold a lot of the supplies so I don't have to run downstairs every time I change the project. I haven't used it to its full potential yet, but I will soon, right now the most it gets used for my computer needs.

I love working with wood. Even though I am not the best at it, I am learning as I go along. I want to actually go and take a class from the SLCC to be able to learn better skills so that I can make a nice entertainment center for our downstairs. But that probably won't happen until next fall.

Why I voted Barack Obama

I am extremely excited for Barack Obama to be our new president. I think that his views on how to run the country in these times of financial crisis will help. John McCain had some good ideas. But no matter how many times he tried to tell me about it seemed that he had to tell me that he knew best because he was in congress for a very long time. I guess it is just because I am at such a young age (below 30) that I don't like being talked to that way. I don't care how long you have been in a place, if you can't do what I think is right, you do not get my vote.

It's about time

Well I started a blog a couple of months ago. and found that I did not feel the need to sit at my computer and type what I was feeling. Well things have happened that I would like to talk about to anyone who will listen and so I have started a blog. My hope is that I will be able to get a few things off of my chest and celebrate accomplishments. My husband gets tired of me doing that to him. This blog is mostly for myself, but if someone can get anything from my thoughts then I say more power to them.