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.