MeriNate

Kidney Market

2011-12-16T23:30:00.000-08:00

We like to watch White Collar on Netflix. Tonight we saw the episode Vital Signs, from season 1. Frankly, I sympathize with the bad guy. I went in expecting people waking up in a bathtub with their organs harvested. Nope. It turns out the bad guys are evil because they buy kidneys from willing donors and sell them to willing buyers. Wait a minute, isn't that a good thing? Apparently not, because bypassing the donor registry and a wait list makes you a white collar criminal.

The bad guys contact June when her granddaughter is bumped from her position on the wait list. They basically offer to get her a kidney for $100,000.00. When June tells Neil about this, the FBI comes in to save the day.

Let's look at the kidney market. There are about a hundred thousand people on the kidney transplant wait list. According to kidney.org, 4,573 kidney patients died in 2008 waiting for a kidney. You know why nobody is out there donating kidneys? It's because NO ONE IS PAYING THEM TO DO IT. Why is no one paying them to do it? BECAUSE THAT MAKES YOU A WHITE COLLAR CRIMINAL. We should let people sell their kidneys. Lots of people out there are willing to pay good money for a working kidney, and the donor has one to spare. The donor needs cash, so he would willingly sign the dotted line to feed his family--or his vices (IE. gambling, drinking, investing etc).

Currently, if you have money, and you need a kidney, your only option is the black market. Unfortunately, the black market is full of cutthroats, snakes and charlatans, not to mention extortionists. An open market with reputable channels would improve the quality of the product and allow more people to get what they want and need. Having willing donors also alleviates demand for unwilling donors.

You would think someone who could bring compatible buyers and sellers together would get a reward, maybe even a Nobel Prize. Instead, the guy saving lives and feeding families by lining up kidney transplants goes to prison. Here's the kicker, the show magically glosses over this problem. Everyone feels good about the happy ending in which the FBI pulls some strings to get the grandchild back to her original spot on the wait list. The ending doesn't satisfy. First, it means the FBI unjustly bumped a more urgent recipient off the list. Second, there is no guarantee the grandchild will EVER get a kidney. Even if she does, she will suffer through years of bad health waiting for it. If the FBI had just allowed the bad guy to facilitate a kidney transaction, the grandchild would have a new kidney within weeks.

Oh, and I want to be his lawyer. The FBI obtained their evidence against the bad guy illegally. They also committed some pretty serious crimes and torts against him. Kidnapping, assault, extortion, intentional infliction of emotional distress, interference with chattel, etc. He's got a pretty good pay day coming. I would represent him for a contingency fee.

30

2011-11-08T21:08:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Nate turned the big 3-0. We had a good time. Nate decided to be excited to turn thirty and when Nate is excited, he becomes spontaneous. We dropped our kids off at Angie's. He decided that we were going to go to Olive Garden, but first he started telling me about the Mushroom Swiss burger at Burger King, and he decided that we should go buy one right then so I could taste it and so we did. We got to Burger King and the order taker asked him how he was. He replied, "I'm doing great! It's my birthday!". We then go to the window and the girl tells us that her manger was going to pay for our meal because it was Nate's birthday. She even gave us a BK birthday crown. The mushroom burger was very good. Then we stopped at Classic Sports and bought Nate some shoes for ping pong. This seemed really spontaneous to me, but apparently Nate had been thinking about getting these shoes for at least a day. So we bought some very nice shoes, and then we headed to Olive Garden and ate dinner, and ordered a few extra things on a whim, and they all tasted delicious.

So, in honor of Nate turning thirty, I've decided to list thirty things I like about Nate:

1. He helps me take care of the kids.
2. He's good with the kids and they're still alive and {pretty} healthy when I return.
3. He {and about 200 other people including me} thinks ping pong is a serious sport.
4. He can cook his own dinner and it usually turns out surprising well.
5. He loves cookies and ice cream.
6. He loves instrumental guitar.
7. He writes his own music on the guitar.
8. He wants to go to New Orleans, Venice, and Guatemala with me someday.
9. He knows the difference between larceny, theft, robbery, and conversion.
10. He doesn't know the difference between black and navy blue.
11. He cares as much about the dodge ball game as the 12-13 year old boys he's playing with.
12. He "doesn't like chocolate", but he loves the chocolate ribbons in moose tracks ice cream.
13. He still likes super heroes.
14. He helps calm the storms in my life.
15. He believes in me.
20. He plays ping pong with himself in the garage--I mean ping pong dojo. (He has this whole set up were he hits the ball against some rubber attached to a big board and then the ball returns back to him.)
21. He is incredibly loyal.
22. He reads his scriptures everyday.
23. I like the sound of his laugh when he laughs with his mouth closed.
24. He sings with me in the car.
25. He thinks I'm a good cook and never complains about any food given to him (unless he had to pay for it at a restaurant and he wasn't impressed).
26. He's working on some novels.
27. He is steady.
28. He has no desire to do dangerous things like, hang-gliding, motorcycle racing, bungee jumping, stunt driving, etc.
29. He sends me emails from work occasionally to let me know that he loves me.
30. He likes to watch movies with me late at night when the kids are in bed.
[And for a year to grow on]
31. Nate is wearing his Burger King birthday crown around the house for fun.

Washed Up

2011-10-16T18:11:00.001-07:00

I was looking back at our posts from a couple years ago. We used to be pretty cool. We were like, blog all-stars. Now we're has-beens. We haven't posted in months, and I can't think of anything cool to say.

I'm making ranger cookies. That's pretty cool.

Ok, I'm done.

Payment in Popsicles

2011-06-29T21:24:00.000-07:00

I think I read it on Nie Nie. Popsicles in exchange for child labor. It works. At least it did for my kids today. Let's hope it lasts. And that the police approve. The end.

The Songs I Cannot Sing

2011-06-08T17:48:00.000-07:00

Basically we've had the plague, ie: PINK EYE. And now we are finishing off (actually some of us started off) with a cold. And then for a day or two I lost my voice.

One of the saddest things about losing my voice is that I can't sing.

Whenever we go on any kind of trip, whether it be to the store or to Australia, one of my favorite things about the entire trip is to get in the car and listen to music and to SING. I look forward to being into the car because I get to listen to music. And I enjoy the music most by singing along with it. It's not the same if I can't sing it.

Do you ever drive down the street and take a peek into the other cars to see what kind of people are in them? If you do, have you ever caught anyone singing their head off? I have, and it makes me laugh that I caught them looking just a tad bit foolish and they don't even know I caught them.

But then I realized that I may just be one of these "foolish" looking people.

I try not to get caught singing in the car. When I pull up to stop lights, I try to not be in direct eye sight of the person next to me so that they don't see me singing. If that isn't possible I try to sing covertly, and then am disappointed because they are cramping my style, causing me to have to postpone my joyous full singing moment until the light is green again. If it was my favorite part of the song, sometimes I start it over so I can enjoy it while my car is moving and therefore minimize my chances of being caught.

I've actually been wanting to write this post for many months. Am I a weirdo? Do you sing in your car? When you're driving alone? When you're driving with your kids? When you are driving with friends? (I actually rarely sing when I'm driving with friends. The radio is usually off, and we talk. MUCH safer that way--I've learned through scary/embarrassing near wreck experience...don't want to talk about that...moving on).

I guess it boils down to this simple question: Does the average person sing in their car on a regular basis or only enthusiastic singing weirdos?

Well at any rate, at least I'm not like that weirdo at SUU who likes to ride his bike around campus, listening to his i-pod (or similar device), singing at the top of his lungs songs only he can hear. I'm serious. He made me laugh on the inside and smile on the outside. Granted, there was some nervousness in that laughter, but when I see people of similar nature, I have to laugh, and I think of that SUU guy.

Blogger had a bad day

2011-05-15T11:01:00.000-07:00

Probably all you of you know that blogger had an infamous bad day, that has been mentioned in much of blogdom. Well this bad day extended itself all the way to this blog. I know that I lost some of your comments. Some of which I never got to read and I wanted to very badly. I've been waiting around to see if blogger would remedy this problem, but I think it is a lost cause. If you would like to repost them, feel free to do so. I just wanted to let you know that I promise that I did not delete them. :)

Josie Starr Reeve

2011-05-11T14:25:00.000-07:00

Josie Starr Reeve

May 6, 2011
7 lbs 11 0z
20.5 inches

On Friday morning I was running around like a crazy person. My friend Brooke came over to help sew and she even mowed my lawn! I was beginning to have some contractions. There were kids all over, and I took Ellie to school. I came home and started having regular contractions. Brooke strongly encouraged me to go to the hospital. So after a little more than a half hour of timing I called Nate. He got Ellie from school and we headed to the hospital in Cedar City. On the way the contractions got a little less regular but STRONGER. I was definitely feeling lots of pressure. My mom picked up Ellie and Will at the hospital. We went in and I told them that I thought I was in labor. We got ready and they checked me and I was at a 6 (I had been at 4 and 80% effaced for over a week) but it was hard to tell because my bag of water was getting in the way. They checked me again a little later and decided to break my water when the doctor came a few minutes after that. Everything was ready to go. (And I was feeling PAIN and PRESSURE.) So NO epidural. (Secretly this was my wish. Go fast, save money, no drug after effects. Forced to do it because it was taken out of my hands.)

So basically I had Josie completely natural with in 25 MINUTES of entering the hospital building. I would say my entire active labor was 3 hrs give or take a little. CRAZY. I would do it natural again if I knew it was going to be that short. ;)

The hospital people were surprised I was so calm. I give credit to God for that. They were even surprised that I didn't scream. What they didn't realize is that when I am in severe pain, even talking is too much. I whispered the answers back to all their questions.

Josie and I are both healthy. This is the best recovery so far and it did feel good to be drug free after it was all over. ALL my nurses were the BEST! I loved them.

Josie is so sweet. The nurse called her Queen Jose (not the Spanish boy's name, but jOs) because she was a screamer, but that is only because she was hungry we figured out. So that smart nurse help me supplement Josie with formula. Now she is very chill and trying out all sorts of facial expressions, going through a lot of laundry, looking curiously at us from time to time, and of course SLEEPING. She has this tiny little girl scream sometimes that is adorable even if she is mad. She is already looking different from the picture above which we took the day she came home. The kids love her, but Will is having a hard time adjusting I think, and he's a little too enthusiastic about helping her. He feel asleep and I am so HAPPY right now. Ellie just got home, so I better go.

Don't forget to see Nate's post below and suggest a movie/TV show/documentary you like. :)

netflix

2011-05-05T22:35:00.000-07:00

So we are doing the netflix thing. I think it would be cool to have a bunch of suggestions from you fine people. If you would be so good, leave me a comment telling me your favorite movie and why you like it so much.

Thanks.

I Want to Live in Word World

2011-03-24T11:46:00.000-07:00

"Welcome to the place where words come alive!"

Word World is a wonderful kids show that that teaches children the fun of reading and phonics. Frankly, I like because it is somewhat of a pleasant show to listen to in the background.

Every time I watch it, something astounds me: Pig has a cooking show. I always think "Why?" We have cooking shows on our planet because cooking is something that half of the population has trouble with at one point or another. On Word World all one has to do is find the letters that spell a particular food item, "build a word", and the food magically forms! How wonderful is that? If I want a pie, I only have to find three letters, "p", "i", and "e", squish it together, and WAHLA!: blueberry pie. (At least that is what it looks like in the show. I'm sure you could spell out pumpkin pie if you really wanted to.)

How EASY and MESS FREE! This is why I want to move to Word World.

Not to mention that if I want to build a rocket ship, all I would have to do is find the letters for "rocket". Or if I wanted say, a Jeep Wrangler, all I would have to do is dig up a few letters and I would get a JEEP! What a great world!

And Word World has letters floating around all over the place. They keep them in buckets in their homes. Dog digs them up out of the ground. Pretty much, this is a win-win situation.

Take Two: The New Poll Should Work This Time.

2011-03-21T15:09:00.000-07:00

Sorry. It works now. If you would be so kind as to leave your feedback, that would be nice. :)

New and Refined Poll

2011-03-20T20:33:00.000-07:00

Please check out our new and refined poll on the right, and let us know what you think if you so desire.

Please note that the legal disclaimer on the previous poll applies to this poll as well.

Time to be Funny

2011-03-07T16:14:00.000-08:00

So the last post I made was about pain. And after pulling up my blog for several days to check what was up with YOUR blogs, I got to thinking that it was time for something less painful up on mine.

Then, Nate posts, "A Time to Kill". Ironic? Well I'm not sure about that, I still haven't figured out the true definition of irony. It's a tricky one.

Well, not to belittle Nate's post in any way, in fact he made some good points, but I think it is finally time to get back to something a little more fun and happy again. Nate's post was really a review for the second Batman movie. This post is going to be about the Singles 2nd Ward movie.

Just as I thought, the movie had a little cheese in it, but as I also thought it had moments of great humor. I have to share my absolute favorite part.

Dallin was visiting Hyrum's ward for Sacrament meeting. Hyrum now has 6 kids and one on the way. Hyrum's wife is the chorister, and is holding a sleeping baby while leading the music. Hyrum hands his 6-7 year old twin boys kraft singles to eat, and after the boys open them, one of the twins flings his cheese at the man in front of them. Hyrum peels the cheese off his face and says, "Sorry Chad." Chad responds with an annoyed, "We do this every week, Hyrum." And about about two minutes later, Hyrum has to take the twins to the bathroom and he drags Dallin along with him. Hyrum starts telling him about what going to church is like with the kids (you know what he means), and all of a sudden you hear the sound of the toilets flushing and you see water rapidly creeping out from underneath both stalls, and then Hyrum says, "WHAT are you DOING?"

This is where I laughed my head off.

The inflection in his voice was absolutely perfect because it contained many inflections at once. The incredulous-ness in his voice, seeking to understand why. What would possess you child to come up with such a thing?? The shock at what just happened and yet he can remember when the twins probably squirted all the glue all over the kitchen floor last week. The horror of having to clean the disgusting mess up. All contained in one sentence.

Well after typing this, I realize it's not going to be as funny as watching it. I hope you find it funny. Perhaps I thought it was so extra funny because it was so late and I was tired. But I suspect the real reason why I thought it was so funny because William flooded the bathroom about two weeks ago.

"WHAT are you DOING??" If I didn't utter it aloud, I was definitely screaming it on the inside. :)

A Time to Kill

2011-03-06T01:29:00.000-08:00

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
3 A time to kill...

Ecclesiastes 3:1-3

I’m watching a movie as I type this. The movie involves widespread chaos and mayhem. Most of it is caused (directly or indirectly) by one man. That man could have been stopped on multiple occasions. The only problem is that the way to stop him on those occasions would have involved killing him.

They should have done it. Of course there is an argument to be made that they did the right thing by not killing him. It just isn’t the right argument.

There is a law that says, in essence, “Thou shalt not kill.” That law must yield to the higher law whenever it would cross it. What is that higher law? That is a fair question. The first answer is the easiest for me--that God’s will in any given situation is the higher law. That answer is easy for me because I have faith in God. I have bought into the rhetorical appeal to God’s ethos. I trust him for who he is. If God says it is time to kill, then I believe it is time to kill. We won’t go into the can of worms that opens–e.g. the “God told me to do it” defense to murder.

The next answer is that societies have set up governments and endowed them with the right to take life. This answer is harder for me because I don’t know that society has the right to break the laws outlined in Exodus 20. It isn’t hard to think of governments that have abused the right to take life. For me this is a utilitarian consideration. Society comes together and decides certain rules under which it will function, with certain punishments attached. By making the rules and enforcing them, society prevents chaos and its children, including murder.

A complete discussion of the pros and cons of capital punishment is outside the scope of this post. There are several theories of punishment. One is retributive justice, which calls for punishment that will set at right the disturbed moral balance. One is deterrence. Deterrence can be broken down into general and specific deterrence. General deterrence envisions punishment as a means of discouraging everyone from breaking the law–stocks come to mind. Specific deterrence is designed to stop the criminal himself from breaking the rules in the future. The single most effective form of punishment for specific deterrence purposes is capital punishment–kill the criminal. I maintain that for certain criminals, specific deterrence is society’s highest priority. This is especially true in the world of mass murder and comic books. Take one life lawfully to save the unlawful taking of many lives.

Of course, society’s rules should include enforcement mechanisms and procedures. Enforcing the laws without following the proper procedures is a violation of society’s rules because law’s necessary companion is order. I don’t advocate vigilantes taking life to save life, but self defense and defense of others are situations in which society has approved the taking of life without following procedure. I advocate shooting the guy holding a gun to someone’s head--if it makes sense under the circumstances. For example, if the guy holding the gun is going to escape and kill lots more people–kill him. Another example is when you have the villain in custody, and he is likely to escape or direct further mayhem and murder from jail. In that case, go through the procedure and execute him swiftly.

This is taking longer than I thought by the way.

Sure, refusing to kill someone is noble and can separate hero from villain, but killing someone can also save lives. The greater good is served by taking the life of the one who will take the lives of many, and it is not noble to stand by while people die just so you can avoid being the one to pull the trigger. There is a time to kill.

Ok, one last thing. The movie ends in a lie, because “sometimes the truth isn’t good enough.” At first it really bothered me, but then I thought, “what greater irony than the atonement?” Punish the one innocent man as if he were the most guilty, to make the guilty innocent. I think the ending may be an intentional (and imperfect) atonement reference. There were some interesting lines at the end. “Why is he running?” “Because we have to chase him.” “He didn’t do anything wrong.” “We’ll chase him, because he can take it.”

Just so we're clear, I think the truth is good enough and the atonement is the truth.

"You mock my pain!" "Life IS pain, Highness. Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something."

2011-03-01T11:15:00.000-08:00

So I was eating my lunch, and needed something to read while doing so. I decided to once again attempt to read about hypno-birthing. It lasted about two minutes.... :)

{Now before I begin, on this little "discussion" about my hypno-birthing reading experience, please know that I am not against it or other forms of natural birthing. If it works for you, I am so happy for you. Please do it with my un-needed and/or un-asked for blessing. }

So why did it last for only two minutes? Well, I'll tell you. I made the mistake of once again beginning with its premise. Towards the beginning of the book, the author tells a little story (true story) about a doctor at the turn of the century in England. He worked in a hospital with educated women and he saw a lot of well to do women, come in to the hospital and give birth. It was a loud, painful experience for them. Then he went into the English slums to help a woman give birth without a sound except her steady breathing. She refused any kind of drug to help with pain. After the birth the doctor asked her how she did it. Wasn't it painful? And she told him that it didn't hurt. "Was it supposed to hurt doctor?" she asked him. Then later the doctor had a similar experience with another woman and he began to ask the question "Why?"

And I'm thinking, "Why!?! I'll tell you why! Because those women are incredibly LUCKY that's why!!! Something is wrong with the pain sensors in their uterine muscles, that's why!"

Of course I know what is coming on next....he is going to blame society's and medicine's unnatural attitudes about birth.

Now please let me state here that to a point I actually agree with him. I do believe that I personally make my own pain worse because of stress and fear. This is why I bought the book (for a $1.50 at a yard sale) in the first place. I want some pain management skills to help me get through the labor in a happier manner.

But today with a little help from The Princess Bride, I remembered why this whole thing upsets me so: They mock my pain. Or at least I feel that way. I feel that the are telling me that the pain I felt was unjustified. Well let me tell you. I felt pain. The biggest pain of my life. I didn't expect it to hurt as bad as it did. It did it all by itself. And you are trying to make it sound like it isn't a real thing. Do you think this makes me feel better? When you go through a painful experience, physical or emotional, do you want to hear someone tell you that so&so went through the same experience in a dignified and painless manner, and you should be able to also?? NO! You want some sympathy! And furthermore, nice MALE hypno-birthing enthusiast doctor, why don't YOU give birth sometime and tell me if it doesn't hurt.

Anyway, sorry. As I stated in the paragraph before I got away with myself, I REALLY do believe that if I could stay calmer it wouldn't hurt as bad as it has in the past. But I am NOT trying to say that it wouldn't hurt at all.

My friend Clair, who I admire, is a firm believer in natural home birth, not that it is exactly the same thing as "hypno-birthing", but it is still a natural attitude about birthing--that a woman's body is built to accomplish this task. I think it was a very smart decision for her to give birth that way. (I think it was a smart decision for pretty much all the people I know who have felt good about it and then done it.) But did she tell me that it was pain free? NO. It hurt her too. But it was worth it to her to give birth naturally at home, and she knew how to manage the pain.

I want a little realism like that here. One of my favorite stories about this, that I read in a magazine, goes like this. Some details I am fuzzy on now, but I will do my best. The story is about a woman (and her husband), and I think she was some sort of athlete, perhaps even a little famous. But the point is, that she and her husband were completely into hypno-birthing. They went to all the classes, they had her mind visualizations all set. Very prepared, they went to the hospital to do this hypno-birthing thing. Well it turns out that during the labor process, she felt what many women feel at this time in their lives: PAIN. Her helpful husband tried to help her visualize her favorite visualization, "the fawn in the forest." Well, I won't repeat what she said because she swore, but let's just say she chose to get the epidural. Now, I'm not promoting the epidural here. She said in the story, that next time, she might want to try hypno-birthing again and more power to her. All I am saying is that the pain is REAL. That's all. If you find a way to manage it, that works for you, go for it even if it is hypno-birthing. But don't try to tell me that my pain is ALL in my head.

Perhaps I need to go somewhere else to learn pain management skills......I don't think hypno-birthing and I are such a good combination. It's a shame though, because that book was really a good price.

too funny

2011-02-26T23:19:00.000-08:00

This was just too funny to keep to myself.

The Dance

2011-02-20T21:24:00.000-08:00

For her last story tonight Eleanor wanted to "dance to music." I enjoy dancing with my kids. Usually we rock out, but this is Sunday night. We danced to some elegant, churchy songs. There is something about dancing with your little girl. I really like my Ellie.

My thoughts wandered a bit, and I thought about Ellie's wedding reception. My only demand will be one dance with Eleanor...and one with Meridy. I really liked dancing with Meridy at our reception. That was almost seven years ago.

Name a Reeve

2011-02-05T10:41:00.000-08:00

We've got a short list of names that we like, but are not sure which one to pick. I am curious to know what the general populous thinks. So please feel free to vote! If you have any comments you are more than welcome to leave them here.

Now for some background on the names, and perhaps some insight on why we can't decide and what the heck we are thinking.

Josie Adelle Reeve
Josie is a great-great-grandmother of mine. My uncle loves to do genealogy work and he passes on names to my mom. My mom liked the name and suggested it to us. Nate really liked it from the first. We are trying to find out more about her. If it turns out she was a bootlegger, I might feel differently about the name, but I am banking on the fact that she was probably a great lady. I have always loved the name Adelle so I would like to use it somehow. This name is probably on the top of the list at the moment.

Anika Starr Reeve
Frankly, I just like the name Anika. It's a little different while still being a "real" name. Starr is a family last name on the Reeve side.

Macy Starr Reeve
Macy would be a fun name because she will be born in May (all things going according to plan). I think it's cute and a little different.

Liberty Grace Reeve
This has a long story to it, which I actually don't want to completely delve into, because I actually don't remember all the details. I think that is a little bit "out there", but not too far out. We would call her Libby. Grace is a family name. But then we found out that celebrity, Joey Lawrence, named his daughter..."Liberty Grace". I felt shocked and betrayed! For crying out loud----WE made it up! Well, it lost some of it's charm, but I haven't quite let it go.

I'm not opposed to mixing it up a little bit, to Josie Starr Reeve, or Macy Adelle Reeve, etc.

So what do you think?

Legal Disclaimer: We maintain the right to listen to your opinions and then not follow them. We maintain the right to come up with a completely different name out of the blue, and then shock you by naming our child that name instead. We acknowledge your right to name your child what you like. We maintain the right of giving you our opinion on your name if it is asked for.

Twenty-Eleven

2011-01-01T17:33:00.000-08:00

Welcome 2011! I'm hoping for a good year.

But....

I have to ask: Why are we still saying Two-Thou-sand-and-E-le-ven? I mean, it made sense the year Two Thousand, when it was 2000. It was actually somewhat short, an what else was there to call it? And it even kind of made sense in Two Thousand and One. We were still just getting used to this "Two Thousand" thing. But now? Do we really need to drag "Two-Thou-sand-and" into it?

I motion that we that we turn a new leaf and all start saying Twen-ty-El-e-ven. It's easier to say--well at least a little bit. And it's easier to think. You write down a '20' and then an '11' for the date. When I thought "Two-Thousand-and-Ten" this past year, I was always trying to remember where the zeros went. It would have been so much easier to think to write a '20' and then a '10'. And there is a precedent for this sort of thing we used to say Nineteen-Ninety-Nine. We refer to the year 1492 and the year Fourteen -Ninety-Two. See? It's perfectly logical.

Hey, remember back when it was '99. That's all we said: '99. We never even thought twice about it. Heck, lets just call the year 'Leven. The '20' will be there for a hundred years. The only thing that will change will be the last two numbers. They are the only ones worth mentioning over and over again.

What a great idea! Any one out there with me???

It's a...

2010-12-28T22:12:00.000-08:00

Girl! We are very excited. :) So far she looks similar to the other two little people running around here, and I'll get really mixed up. That will be fun though. ;)

Christmas Cards

2010-12-23T10:43:00.000-08:00

I love to get Christmas cards. It's so nice to know that someone was thinking of you, and took the time to send you a note at Christmas to tell you.

So why can't I ever get them sent out to people myself?? Something comes up every year.... At the end of this November, I pulled a tendon (or something like that) behind my knee and couldn't walk for a week. (I did this buy locking my knees whilst I did dishes for too long. The joys of pregnancy!). Last year I don't think my excuse was as good......but still, the card thing just didn't happen.

So here is a Christmas blog-card to all of you nice readers of this blog. We hope you are having a Merry Christmas season and the the Light of Christ is touching your hearts.

If you don't celebrate Christmas, we hope the same for you, but also that you are enjoying what holiday you do celebrate this time of year.

Antlions vs. Lester update

2010-12-21T15:41:00.000-08:00

I sure hope they all made it to higher ground. This is the bridge in Rockville Meridy and I were playing under with the antlions.

Soft Rock Stars

2010-12-19T09:18:00.000-08:00

First of all. Isn't soft rock an oxymoron? If a rock is soft, shouldn't it be classified as sediment? What geologist out there can give me a good definition of "rock" that would include anything soft? I'm waiting, because I know I'm wrong. I just want to see the explanation.

Secondly, I just realized last night that Meridy and I are like rock stars. Well, except that we don't usually perform rock songs. We haven't done a rock song since "Wanted Dead or Alive" with Zach and Dad (Shella, were you singing too?) at the big Pope Family Reunion show. This realization came to me after I had finished singing "Far Far Away on Judea's Plains" in the ward Christmas program. William was having a hard time seeing me in Shepherd garb, so I started wondering what our kids think about all the performances we've been doing. We did our smash hit cover of "If I Had $1,000,000" (Christmas edition) at Hurricane's Festival of Trees earlier in the week. Meridy also performed a couple numbers with the Reeve Family Band at that event. She's been doing flute numbers in primary, sacrament meetings and a funeral in recent weeks. For example, she'll be playing a flute number for the ward choir today.

So yah, we're practically soft rock stars.

Merry Christmas everybody!!

Paparazzi Open House

2010-12-14T12:17:00.000-08:00

I am having a Paparazzi Open House. It's a jewelry and hair accessory party at my house this Friday from 2-4pm!! No sales pitch, just come and see all of the cute items for sale. Your kids can come play upstairs if you need to bring them, so please don't let that stop you from coming. If I didn't get an invite out to you, please know that you are invited. If you need my address please leave me a comment. Hope you can come!

Great Christmas gifts for: moms, daughters, friends, piano teachers, and any other woman you can think of. Tons of items for only $5!

Baked Apples

2010-11-12T16:11:00.000-08:00

I'm finally starting to come to terms with something that I have felt bad for for a long time: I don't like to bake. There I said it. Even if it is in small print. I'm finally realizing that it's okay to not like to bake and own it.

I think the greatest source of guilt comes from the fact that my mom is a fabulous baker. I grew up loving the holidays, to a major extent, because of the goodies my mom would bake. She would turn on the Christmas music and start baking. She gives many of her goodies away, but there's always a little left over for the kids. :) So many of our family traditions are centered around special food, and I can't always duplicate it, and my kids are missing out! Perhaps I need more practice, but I'm too impatient to practice.

Cheryl is a fabulous baker also. She makes some of the best rolls in the world, and she bakes them quite often. Then she turns some of the dough into cinnamon rolls. I love cinnamon rolls....

I hate baking because it makes a huge mess, and then I'm hardly ever satisfied with what I just made, and then I end up eating most of it, because I went to all the effort, and someone better eat it!!!! Then you gain weight on something that wasn't all that tasty anyway. To be fair, my kids and husband will eat what I bake and like it pretty well, but I somehow end up eating too much of it even though it's not up to snuff.

So finally to the owning it part. I have decided that I will bake things that are easy to bake! Like those delicious three ingredient chocolate chip pumpkin cookies. Those are easy and tasty enough to be worth the effort. And like baked apples. I just tried these making these recently. So easy and so good, like apple pie, without worrying about a crust. All you have to do is:

Core some apples. (The only really tricky part is not piercing the bottom)

Peel away a little peel around the well you created.

Fill them with a mixture of brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, chopped pecans, and cornstarch (for thickness).

Top with a dab of butter. (I forgot this part and they still turned out well).

Get the sized baking dish needed for number of apples. Fill the bottom with just enough water to cover. Place apples in pan. Bake at 350 for 30min give or take depending on size and hardness of apples. (Mine were small and took 30 min).
Top with vanilla ice cream and enjoy warm!

Unfortunately, my kids didn't totally go for this recipe, so I need more EASY and LOW mess baking recipes that taste a little better than out of the box. Do you guys know any????

And do you guys have holiday traditions that don't center around food? I know my family does have some, but I want more ideas. We need to start some personal family holiday traditions!

Nate's Birthday

2010-11-09T08:58:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Nate! We had a good time celebrating Nate's birthday. These are pictures from a quick little party we had at home. We just had ice cream with candles, and the kids and I went shopping for Martinelli's, fancy cheese, and crackers for a "present". Nate already knew I was going to get it for him so that we could use it in a fancy dinner at home with no kids. (Thanks for watching them Angie!) I loved how he hammed up the photos anyway. The kids had a good time.

Below is a photo of our fancy cheese, crackers, apples, and Martinelli's for the first course of our fancy dinner.

Halloween 2010 (Updated)

2010-11-02T14:19:00.000-07:00

First of all thanks so much for all your well wishes, and happy thoughts. We are very excited about our newest little surprise coming in May. Today I bought my first little baby item for our new one. I have lots of hand-me-downs from my previous two that this baby can use, but it's always fun to have a few things of your own--you know? So this is what I bought yesterday:

If the baby is a boy I can keep it just how it is. If the baby is a girl I am going to find some really cute ribbon and make some little bows to put on all the bats. :)

So anyway.....we did have a fun Halloween. We missed the ward party in the end, which made me sad, but we went to my mom's house and had a good time. Here are two pages I have finished: (I have had way too much fun scrapbooking on my computer since it came back from the computer ER doctor, Garry. He is AMAZING. Other people talk about their children's pediatricians, I talk about my computer's techie.)

{An UltraSound} Picture Says a Thousand Words

2010-10-26T12:54:00.001-07:00

Well, actually no, an ultrasound doesn't. Don't we all wish it did? Too bad we need a professional to interpret what each little fuzz ball is and which way is even up. Fortunately for us, as average citizens, we're still pretty smart and the ultrasound to the left gives us a rough idea of what will be coming to Merinate around the 16th of May.

{The labels in orange are what I remember of the professional interpretation given for my ultrasound.}

Boys are different from Girls

2010-10-14T21:43:00.000-07:00

These are some old baby pictures I found of Ellie at her Aunt and Uncle's wedding when she was five months old. She still has that "new baby" look--she looks like she's still trying to get used to the world. She has those dainty little baby girl hands. She's wearing a bow! She is wearing a beautiful bright pink, homemade dress. Very innocent. (But, she wasn't very innocent I assure you. She kept me up half the night at age five months. )

I have some really cute pictures of Will in a Baby Tux when he was only a month or two old. I wish I had them on this computer. Maybe I will have to edit this post later...
He looked handsome. Even though he had baby hands, they didn't look "dainty." He was not wearing a bow, but a bow tie instead. He looked innocent then too. He wasn't so innocent a few days ago.....

Now, Ellie is by no means a perfect child, and William is a good little boy. But William does things the likes of which Ellie has never dreamed of or would be too afraid to attempt....

Two days ago William out did himself. In one day, he:

1. Put gobs of toilet paper in the toilet after going potty, and held down the flusher. Water was all over the floor. I only found out about this because I went in to check on him. When I found him he was content to stand there holding down the flusher watching the water overflow. He could have stood there for who knows how long without thinking to tell me.

2. Ripped keys off the computer key board. He's done this before. He's already been in trouble for it. Once he ripped off nearly the entire keyboard. Obviously he thought he would try his luck again. The letter "s" is still missing.

3. Took off his clothes and ran around naked outside. I don't know why.

4. Wouldn't get into his car seat when I said now, I told him that I wouldn't give him any candy next time he asked. I gave him about three seconds to learn the meaning of the word 'now'. It didn't work so I ~~shoved~~ put him gently into his seat, and told him that when I say now, I mean now. Then he asked, "Can I have some candy?" I said, "no." He started to bawl. "Can I have some candy?" "NO." More bawling. It was the only thing I could do to upset him all day. Nothing else made a dent. Now a few days later, every time he gets in his car seat he asks, "Can I have some candy now?"

5. Gave me a scare by nearly ruining the computer, by nearly spilling root beer on it it. He knows he can't have food or drink by the computer.

Add to this the normal, everyday messes, and little sadnesses that come in the day of a three year old. Every time I turned around there was another or near disaster. Yes, boys are different from girls.

Meet the Colors

2010-10-11T15:42:00.000-07:00

Have you ever watched the 1990's version of Sabrina, with Harrison Ford? It is about a business tycoon named Linus with seemingly little sense of humor or heart, his handsome and womanizing brother David, and the girl who lives above the garage named Sabrina. I'm not going to go into detail about the movie, however, because I'm not really posting about this movie. I am posting about two scenes in this movie. In the first scene Linus and David are talking in Linus's office. In the middle of the conversation, Linus whips out a gun from his desk and starts firing at a large flat screen television. David is shocked, and we the audience can't suppress a smile. The catch is that the TV screen is indestructible. In another scene in the move, we see Linus trying to sell this TV screen to some Japanese business men. He demonstrates the screen's qualities by beating it with a stick. He then bows over the stick to the Japanese men, offering them a turn to do likewise. Why have I described these scenes to you, do you ask? It is because I want one of those televisions.

Have you ever watched Meet the Colors? For your sake, I hope it wasn't for very long. Meet the Colors is a very educational show in a family of educational DVD's that help young children learn and memorize many useful educational things. My children LOVE them. They love the colors video even though they have known their colors for YEARS. However, what is good for children does not equal good for adults. The method used in these programs to teach children is REPETITION. In a scene from Meet the Colors, a cute little purple puffball floats across the screen painting a purple picture of grapes saying:

purple, purple, purple, purple.......

(the bold letters indicate where the word is emphasized). That is all the little puffballs say. They only say their color. That is the entire dialog for the movie. Over and over and over and.... By about the seventh purple, I'm about ready to pull out a gun and shoot the screen. Unfortunately this would destroy our TV. I would like to buy that indestructible screened TV so that I can have the satisfaction of shooting the colors without actually harming anything. Violent, I know. But you would want to also, I am sure. For some reason I can handle Dora for a very long time, but if I had my way, Meet the Colors would only last for about 2 seconds.

If we are going to have valuable programs that help our children learn their colors, why not also have some programs that make mom personally happy as well? Mine would be called, Meet the Family Rules. It would involve the faces of smiling and adorable cartoon puffballs repeating things like,

"Mommy is always right."
"Mommy is always right."
"Mommy is always right."
"Mommy is always right."

"You must look both ways before crossing the street."
"You must look both ways before crossing the street."
"You must look both ways before crossing the street."
"You must look both ways before crossing the street."

"You cannot eat ice cream out of the carton even though daddy does."
"You cannot eat ice cream out of the carton even though daddy does."
"You cannot eat ice cream out of the carton even though daddy does."
"You cannot eat ice cream out of the carton even though daddy does."

I think it would be a successful venture, except for the fact the the people who make Meet the Colors, Preschool Prep, would probably sue me. It would still be satisfying though......

Rainy Day

2010-10-04T22:13:00.000-07:00

It was the most amazing rainy day today. It just about rained for three hours straight (and then some more off and on late afternoon through evening.) A monumental feat for Utah, not for Oregon. I lived in Oregon and England for some of my childhood, and it took YEARS of living in Southern Utah before I came to appreciate rain again.

Here are some things that, beyond the obvious (such as, maybe the always-dreaded drought will be vanquished because of this storm), I appreciated about the rain today:

1) That fresh RURAL dessert-rain smell. (Not be confused with a Vegas rain smell--it has a hint of the smell I am referring to, but with Vegas mixed in.)
2) The rain finally washed the nasty smudges from my windshield. (I won't describe them to you, that would be...unpleasant.)
3) The children got to see their first wild snails at ages 5 and 3 because the rain encouraged them to come out of hiding. (Slimy, but still cool. They were by the car and we had to work hard not to run over them. We cheered for them after we backed out without crushing them.)
4) The children got to dance in the rain. (I liked hearing them giggle and I didn't have to get wet).
5) I got to listen to thunder and see some lightning. (I used to love to watch lightning storms off my parents' deck. Still do actually, just don't get the opportunity).
6) Related to number 5 but deserves it's own recognition: We got to drive through the storm and watch the lightning. (Nate and I had a very memorable date once "chasing" a storm in Cedar City. We listened to the Sister Hazel CD, Chasing Daylight.)
7) Our next door neighbors' yard looked like an English garden. (Our yard looked nice, but....it needs a little more love from us I would say...)

ps. I did not take the picture. It is meant to be a general representation of the desert rain.

Behold the Power of Iced Cream!

2010-09-22T07:49:00.000-07:00

Once again ice cream is the unlikely ingredient that breaks down walls and creates camaraderie. The first time this happened to me was on my mission. I was having problems with one of my companions and was praying for help with it. Then I got a prompting to buy some ice cream. I said, "ok," and I picked some up on our way home for lunch. I was about half-way through the carton by the time the 2nd step of the plan occurred to me. I stared at my ice cream and thought, "I'm supposed to share this with my comp." So I told my comp I was done with it and offered him the rest. He looked at me with narrowed eyes and then took the carton. Happily, our companionship greatly improved after that.

Tonight was a similarly surprising answer to prayer involving ice cream. I've been trying to promote unity within my deacons' quorum because these guys are not exactly the Getalong Gang.
The guys really came together for this top secret ice cream restaurant stunt for our combined mutual activity. We used our very own money to buy ice cream and lots of toppings. We met at the church early to prepare all the stuff, just barely getting completing our preparations before everyone else showed up at the church. After the water-rocket launch activity we sprung our ice cream party on everyone. The deacons were way excited about the whole thing, and totally combined forces to get it done. It was almost as good as Remember the Titans.

Shampoo: The Continuing Story

2010-09-15T15:27:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are interested in the continuing saga of my shampoo. I bit the bullet and bought the shampoo to the left. It smells quite nice. I'd even say it smells like pomegranates--just like the freshly opened pomegranate on the bottle. So I am appeased.

I did look at the other 'fancy' shampoos. In my new empowerment I was thinking of spoiling myself. I smelled the Herbal Essences. It smelled lovely. But I just could not purchase it when a perfectly good bottle of Suave was over on the other shelf, larger and cheaper. Add the fact that I go through shampoo far to fast. (The nasty coconut bottle is actually 3/4s of the way gone already.) The contest was over really quickly.

Now, one thing that I do not stint on is conditioner. I love Tresemme conditioner. It is so thick and smells so good and does it's job so well. I try to buy it on sale, but when I run out of my current bottle, I will pay top dollar if I have to. The nice thing is that it takes me so long to go through a bottle of this stuff.

When I did buy the bottle to the left, I spoiled myself. This kind of Tresemme is new to me. Notice how it also says 'naturals'. In this case I do not think it misleading. There is no freshly opened fruit on the bottle to mislead and it says "with sweet orange". Therefore I know that it probably doesn't smell just like an orange although it is influenced by them. As a customer, I feel satisfied.

One note that I have to make about Tresemme right here is that, if you are buying the original line every bottle of shampoo from "for colored hair" to "for fine hair", smells the same. Have you ever noticed that? I wonder if each bottle actually contains the SAME shampoo... Not sure how I feel about this. But as the conditioner works so well for me, I won't worry about it too much.

So, I bought the pomegranate shampoo, but I guess that wasn't empowering enough for me anymore because I also bought the hairspray to the left. In my defense, I really was out of hairspray. I suddenly realized: why care about how your shampoo and conditioner smells, if you buy stinky hairspray (which I usually do because it is cheap). So I bought this one on a chance that it would smell good......and it does! So far it also does what it purports to do on the bottle which is to give you a good strong hold while not being too much like a helmet. It even works in humidity apparently, but until I win a vacation to Florida or Hawaii, I'm afraid I can't test that. The price wasn't too bad either, about a dollar or so more than usual.

Unity

2010-09-13T00:31:00.000-07:00

"Los hermanos sean unidos
Porque esa es la ley primera-
Tengan union verdadera
En cualquier tiempo que sea-
Porque si entre ellos pelean
Los devoran los de afuera"

Canto XXXII, Decimoseptima Sextina

Martin Fierro, de Jose Hernandez

Take Hold of My Strength

2010-09-07T00:11:00.000-07:00

I had my 10 year class reunion over the weekend. We had a really good time. It was good to see old friends and experience that camaraderie we used to feel. The bonfire was a totally fun nightcap, and that couch was practically begging for a pyre. R.I.P. couch, R.I.P.

The reunion made me think about why exactly we feel attached to these people even after 10 years of going our mostly separate ways. I concluded that it was because we influenced each other through shared experiences over time. Some influences were for the good, some not so much. The people we really bond with are the ones that lift us up and strengthen us. We take hold of each other's strength.

As I pondered this, I made it the point of my scripture study that night. I thought about how marriages, families and quorums are supposed to be like that. The ultimate should be our camaraderie with Christ. This verse put it the way that made sense to me, "Let him take hold of my strength..." Isaiah 27:5

On a completely unrelated note, this guy has an amazing voice. It makes my raise my eyebrows and close my eyes and hold perfectly still. Sometimes it seems absurd that voice comes out of that body. He looks like a teenager, but sings like a 40 year old. The more I listen to the song, the more I think it could be like a 10 year reunion--except that instead of an island, its a small town we're coming back to.

Just keeping it random.

I will be happy when....

2010-09-01T13:43:00.001-07:00

......this shampoo bottle in my shower is empty.

Now, you expect Suave shampoo to be just as good as the "leading brand" with all of those commercials they put out urging us to save our hard earned dollars and buy Suave. Now you would hope that a company selling products in our good country would be honest with the people. You would hope that it really does clean hair. Well I'm here to to tell you that it does clean my hair. That is not what I am complaining about. I am complaining about the false advertising that occurred when word "natural' was printed on the bottle.

Why do I complain about the use of this word, when it states on the bottle that it is "infused with coconut extract"? What I am wondering is this: How natural can the shampoo be if it does not even smell like coconuts? Shocking, I know. Do you want to know what it does smell like? Nasty, Cherry, Cough Medicine. The kind that you have to choke down. The kind that I complain about Ellie hating so much (that she throws it back up), even though I hate it too.

I have tried so hard every morning to ignore the picture on the bottle that looks like a freshly cracked open coconut. I have tried every morning to pretend that it smells like a delicious cherry shake. But, sadly, it just does not work. Words can not express the excitement I know I will feel when I am purchasing a delicous smelling, new bottle of shampoo.

Now, if you are going to make a product that doesn't smell/taste such as it is advertised, the least you can do is make it taste as good or better. Like, my new alcohol-free Western Family mouth wash that helps stop gingivitis. It tastes somewhat of root beer. I am pleased enough with it.

Antlions vs. Lester

2010-08-29T09:53:00.000-07:00

Way back when we created this blog, we declared that we would keep it random. I think we haven't been random enough of late. So here is a story about a random antlion date. Last night Meridy and I had a much needed date. We were on our way to Zion/Springdale, but I decided to pull over in Rockville. Meridy and I like to take walks and look at houses together. Rockville has a lot of old and/or novel houses and yards, so we had fun. Eventually, we got to the cool old bridge. We read the plaque and were duly impressed. It turns out there are hundred of antlions under the bridge...right next to some ant holes...go figure. Here are some educational links for antlions.

I decided to show Meridy the wonders of nature, so I started helping the antlions out. Most of those antlions were hopeless. The ants escaped almost every time. One ant in particular was especially wily, clumsy, but wily. He was Lester. Lester kept stumbling into antlion holes, but he always got away. Billy was not so lucky.

Life out of Order

2010-08-22T21:22:00.000-07:00

These are some pictures of our life the past few months, not necessarily in order because it is too difficult to put it in order. Sometimes you just have to let these things go. Like sometimes you have to wear flip-flops to church because, they should just be happy you even made it there today. (I almost wore flip flops to church today, but I could bring myself to do it. So I wore nice black shoes that didn't really match.)

So now you all get to play a really fun game! (This is a phrase that works well during sharing time. You tell the kids whatever you are doing is a game and they usually go along with it.) I'm going to make a list of things of note, that isn't necessarily all inclusive---(I had to say that for legal reasons),and you get to find if there is a picture (or pictures) that coordinate with said item on list. Some items do not have a picture associated with them. Sorry.

Ellie graduated Preschool.

I got called to be Primary President.

Emily came to visit with her kids. Fun times!

We celebrated the 4th of July with a softball game, fireworks in Hurricane and Cedar, whoopie pies, etc.

We did the previous thing all over again for the 24th sans the softball game and Hurricane fireworks.

We celebrated Will's birthday with a pool party and cake, and then again at my mom's house only without a pool.

Ellie got her tonsils removed!! She is looking so much better.

We went to lots of cousin birthday parties that we enjoyed.

We saw old friends, whom we miss.

We got really messy.

We got really messy again trying to potty-train Will.

We grew a garden....and we grew weeds.

We went on a little family overnight vacation to Cedar Mountain.

Nate worked all the time at the law office. His office is nice, you should go see it.

We were silly.

We went to the fair.

Ellie started Kindergarten. She loves it. Will was sad the first day. Then the next day he said, "Today I will not miss Ellie." He still loves her though.

New world, new love

2010-08-03T10:31:00.000-07:00

I really like Paradise Lost (both the song by Symphony X and the book by Milton) but I confess that I can only take the book in small chunks. It is so dense, so full of allusions, so old, and so inconsistent in its sentence structures that my mind starts going numb, and I lose comprehension of what I'm reading.

But it's been calling to me lately, and this morning I read some of the argument between Adam and Eve about whether or not they should split up and go exploring. Adam totally digs Eve and doesn't want her to ditch him, plus he fears the Tempter may attack them separately where he would never dare do it while they are together and able to support one another. Eve says Adam should trust her and that they could never be happy living in fear. Untested faith and love could never be real. Eventually, she wins, Adam proves prophetic, and Eve proves to be wise as she brings about the felix culpa.

Anyway, what I really wanted to say is that I love Meridy, and I'm so glad to have her with me as we enter each new world life offers. Meridy has been looking good recently too. Is it normal for a woman to look better as she gets older? Every day my love for her is new, and better.

I am tired of love triangles in literature!!!!!!!

2010-07-22T09:43:00.000-07:00

I haven't written for a month, and all I have to say is: "I'm tired of love triangles in literature!!!", Yes. That is all I have to say.

Almost.

I'm looking up new books to read (a thing I often waste time on) in YA fiction (because they are "safer" in general), and half of them include love triangles. Why?!?! Perhaps I'm too straightforward a person to handle many love triangles. I want a book where boy meets girl, boy and girl may have issues, but boy and girl are not so easily distracted away from each other by some ultra-good looking, shadowy person just-thrown-in-there-to-make-the-book-interesting-to-the-hormone-influenced-teenager. Do you know what makes me mad? Half the time they end up with ultra-good looking guy instead of stable-I-will-love-you-forever-guy. What are we trying to teach here? Maybe I'll go write my own book.....

On Catching up:

Catching up a blog is so daunting, but perhaps I will make an attempt soon. I could at least post some pictures.....

Good Luck Robbers

2010-05-25T09:58:00.000-07:00

Do you ever watch those tv specials about robber bloopers? The kind where a robber is trying to rob a convenience store and it turns out that there is a police officer in uniform trying to buy milk behind him. The unknowing robber is immediately arrested, and thinking to himself, "Shoot! I should have robbed the 7/11 next door!!!!!" Okay, well I made that scenario up, but you get the idea. I think those shows are funny and/or intriguing.

Well good luck trying to rob our house robbers, because by the time you figure out how to get in, the prize that awaits you will not be worth the effort. Let me explain. (No wait, it is too long. Let me sum up.)

For those of you who I have neglected, we have been living in a new house since March. We've enjoyed our time here in the house. We love our new ward. (I still miss the Legacy ward very much and we did enjoy the Hurricane 3rd Ward, but it is wonderful to come to such a good ward here.) Our living room looks like this:
The picture immediately above this text, showcases the prize aforementioned that the robber would receive. It is the only thing of marketable value we own: a very nice tv and dvd player. Everything else you see in the picture is either not marketable for large sums of money, is not currently owned by us, or if it was owned by us is not easily portable. I suppose the robber could try to steal the lighting, however, I think it mostly fits into two of the categories listed above, so we will discount it. I leave it up to you to decide what categories it fits into. ;) So, a nice tv and dvd player, but is it worth jail time? I leave you to decide this as well.

This is why the robbers cannot get in:
The dead bolt of the front door is stuck in the locked position and I cannot for the life of me figure out how to get it unbolted. If you come over to my house you will be waiting at the front step for some time. I might actually be grateful to the savvy robber who could untangle my little problem. I would consider giving him my dvd player for a reward...maybe. However, if I am to believe in the documentaries of robbing bloopers, most robbers are not that quick on the draw, if you know what I mean. (Please know I mean no disrespect to robbers and others of that culture.)

Now, please don't leave a bunch of comments about how having a front door in that state of affairs might actually make it easier for a robber to enter my house. Please don't leave any comments about how robbers never enter through a front door and probably would enter through the back door. (Actually my back door deadbolt was really sticky this morning too. I was lucky to be able to turn that one.) And please no comments about robbers breaking my windows to enter the house.

Frankly, it ruins the story.

After the angel

2010-05-02T21:38:00.000-07:00

It's another cool name for a song or a band, but I digress.

1 Nephi 3:31
Do we still have faith when the angel is gone? We should.

Privileges

2010-04-29T01:14:00.000-07:00

Meridy despises basketball games on tv. Mention the Jazz game--her grey/green eyes will narrow, her regal brow will furrow, her beautiful lips will frown and her saucy shoulders will fall.

The problem has come to a festering boil with the onset of the playoffs. Fortunately, we have come up a workable solution.

Since we don't have cable, I get to visit my parents' house for the games. For the new routine, I take the kids with me and call Meridy at halftime. This gives her some alone time before she joins us. Unfortunately, she has begun to abuse her alone time privileges. She has been taking more time getting over after halftime. For the latest game, she conveniently left her phone downstairs and didn't come at all.

She must be desperate for some time away from those children. We'll see how this develops.

The Jackpot

2010-04-26T14:08:00.000-07:00

I'm sensing that parts of my last post might have been a little too "extraordinary" for some of you. Not to worry this post is much less extraordinary at the sacrifice of being more boring. However, people are neither boring or extraordinary all the time, so I guess it's okay to keep posting no matter what the weather of life dictates. Wow, what a sentence that was. I leave it up to you to decide if it was profound or just "interesting"....

The point is: I hit the jackpot today. I found a box of old clothes LOVE. Happy Day!! And it was free.....if you don't count the original cost of the clothes. But the happiness was free. I found a few darling shirts that I forgot I even had. Do you know what this means? I have too many clothes. I love clothes. I've always loved clothes, but didn't have the ability to really explore it until college, and I think for the past few years I've been a little crazy. Good think I get a lot of my clothes at Ross and thrift stores...

Speaking of clothes....I've decided that women who have two 1-4 year old children should not have to wear dresses to church. You mothers know what I am talking about. Nearly every Sunday is a struggle to promote modesty when your two year old is pulling at your skirt. If you see me coming to your ward, watch out. If I thought I could get away with it, I would lobby for a change with a good case I think. However, I'm sure I'm missing a point somewhere. There. I'm glad I finally got that said.

Speaking of children at church......Do any of you other mothers feel like you just survived a battle of immense proportions after sacrament meeting? It takes me nearly half of Sunday school to recover. That William. He crawls all over me, messes with my skirt as discussed in the previous paragraph, chucks his cars half way down the aisle, and when he is finally holding somewhat still and resting on the ground, he is kicking the wall.

Extraordinary Measures

2010-04-24T01:23:00.000-07:00

It being "earth week", I shall answer a question posted to our blog quite awhile ago: What can you honestly say you are doing to help the earth?" Or something to that effect. I have pondered on this. This is what I have come up with. I swear I am not making any of these up.

1. I helped plant a tree in my backyard.
2. We throw our fruit and veggie hides and carcasses as "compost" for our struggling "garden".
3. I put a stop to my husband and children "feeding" the pigeons sand. (I must admit I am guilty of thinking it funny to see all those cute pigeons come running for their "food." But I didn't let it last longer than five minutes....)
4. I use biodegradable tampons. All you who use plastic ones should think twice about what you are doing. All you men......get off easy.
5. I try to keep the lights off as much as possible because I am cheap, but I will count it in my list because it so conveniently fits in.
6. We keep our empty freezer unplugged, except on special occasions.
7. I buy almost all of our clothes second-hand. Not only am I recycling, I'm getting highly-fashionable, very-sturdy, name-brand clothing for much less!
9. I taught two nine year old boys about recycling. Actually I taught one boy, I don't think the other one was paying too much attention.

Well there you have it. It's insanely late, and I am going to bed.

The "Geezer" Advantage

2010-04-15T00:04:00.000-07:00

Our ward's young men thought they would "own" the Elders' quorum in ultimate Frisbee. As an experienced participant in the ways of young guys vs. old guys match-ups, I had a pretty good idea how it would turn out. We destroyed them. So I'm wondering which variable most strongly accounts for the geezer advantage--matured bodies, experience, or fully functioning frontal lobes?

I read a description of the teenage problem recently that said teenagers have a hole in their heads. That is to say, their frontal lobes are immature. They have a harder time making sound decisions and maintaining focus. We definitely had the mental edge, and I'm not sure experience can account for all of that. They were unable to function as a team. They were scatterbrained, looking where they might throw the Frisbee before they had caught it. Now, old guys did that a couple times, but we seemed to learn from it. We also developed strategies, noted player tendencies, and exploited tactical advantages.

It also helped that we were taller and could knock them over to win position.

I like Frisbee, and Ultimate is fun. Does anyone have a league I can join? Oh yes, they have leagues and even a national governing body.

NATHAN PASSED THE UTAH BAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-04-10T11:48:00.001-07:00

Thanks be to God!

Catfishin' with Aunt Helga

2010-03-11T12:13:00.000-08:00

My 10 year high school reunion is coming up this summer. I guess a lot has happened since then. But we won't get into that right now. Right now I'm kicking off a mini-series of anecdotes and trips down memory lane that should lead up to my reunion. If anyone reading the series has any related or competing recollections, I'd love to hear about them.

So, Monday night we were driving through Leeds by way of I-15, and I was reminded of our adventures with Catfish Charlie's. Ok, this story is actually post-high school. That's ok, I think of anything pre-mission (can somebody please set me straight on the proper use of hyphens?) as a high school memory. Back to the story. One day I was in Leeds, probably accompanying my family as they indulged their yard sale fetish, when I saw a small restaurant called "Catfish Charlie's." Slowly, a mania grew within me. I had to eat at Catfish Charlie's. I had never eaten catfish. I wanted to try it.

I summoned the posse (in this case that would be Seth Gubler, Alex Gubler, Kelcey Loveland, Danny Frost, Cole Blair, Dalyon Ruesch...am I missing anyone?) who collaborated with me on a racquetball/Catfish Charlie's outing. The racquetball was fun, and Catfish Charlie's was quite an experience. Once we got in there we couldn't speak normally. Some force settled upon us, forcing us to speak like hillbillies. Somewhere between the hush puppies and the Louisiana Sauce tales of an unforgettable character began flowing from the warped minds of Seth Gubler and Nathan Reeve. Her name was Aunt Helga, and she had...issues. The entire ride home and the subsequent weeks were filled with tales of the incredible Aunt Helga. We had to keep her in whenever the moon was out. The bears were scared of her. She went a courtin' from time to time--beaus beware.

I think we visited Catfish Charlie's once more before I left on my mission. They did have good catfish and hush puppies, though I got reports as time went on that the gang was getting disenchanted with the place.

Catfish Charlie's is long gone, but the memories live on.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-03-06T01:01:00.000-08:00

Six best years of my life ago, I woke up, got ready, grabbed my temple bag and got married.
That was an amazing day, spring had sprung out just for us. There were some blossoms out and the air was warm with new sunlight. I'm sure they must have taken us aside and tried to give us some advice, but neither Meridy nor I can remember a word of it. I still remember the way the celestial room looked with the sunlight shining in on friends and family assembled to witness something special happen. Magic, the atmosphere was absolute magic. I had never been so high. The Sealer actually began to tremble and quake as he performed the ceremony. I remember them showing us the corridor to the exit. They left us to ourselves for a time. There was a mirror we looked at for a while; something about that moment was very special for me. Then we opened the temple doors to find friends and family awaiting us, supporting us.

Thanks for making me so happy Meridy and for always being my vision. Thanks friends and family for continuing to support us. Thank God for such a mysterious, holy and joyous institution.

Finished

2010-02-24T16:26:00.000-08:00

Nate is finished with the Bar (hopefully forever). He feels pretty good about his performance, but we have to wait until April to see the results. Thanks for your prayers and kind words!!!

To Conquer

2010-02-22T09:03:00.000-08:00

Nate just left to take the Utah Bar in Salt Lake City. It is on tomorrow and Wednesday. Good luck Nate!!

What Gender is Sheri's Baby: Please Cast your Vote

2010-02-18T10:16:00.000-08:00

My friend Sheri finds out what color her baby is today, but she's not going to say what the gender is until more people give their gender vote on her poll on her blog. I want to know what she is having! So if you would like to participate in helping ME (gosh I'm selfish :) )find out what her baby is vote on Sheri's poll: click here.

A Few Good News Minutes

2010-01-27T15:32:00.001-08:00

I never take advantage of these in Relief Society, either because I am feeling shy at the moment, or my "Good News Minute" doesn't seem grand enough to share. But it is fun to hear about some good news. So here are three of them in my life at the moment

1) My brother, Aaron, got his mission call!!! He is going to Eugene, Oregon!! Which I think will be the perfect climate for him. And it's far enough away to be different, but close enough that my mom doesn't have to worry about her first missionary being half way across the world. I was going to take his picture opening it, but I forgot my camera (In fact I'm not quite sure where it is, hence no pictures of my kids yet on the blog. I know it is somewhere safe though.), and he would NOT have appreciated me posting it. But he is happy about his call.

2) Not nearly so important, but happy for me, I got a new cell phone! The zero button actually works! I'm so happy. Did I say that already? I bought a pretty cover for it it.

3) Cheryl bought an exercise machine at Bee's Boutique (DI), and while we're living here, I get to use it. So I am exercising again, and inside a warm house too!

Pickles

2010-01-12T21:57:00.000-08:00

This post is not really about pickles. Lately, when I'm looking for a creative word to use, I eventually come up short with the word pickles. I don't know why I think of the word "pickles". Maybe it is just so fun to pronounce. Maybe my body secretly needs pickles. People say love is the answer, but maybe it is really "pickles". Elder Bednar did give a really good talk about pickles, once. So maybe it really is a sort of answer. Guess what? This post just turned into a post about pickles.

The truth is that I am really tired. Nate has been gone ALL day in Vegas and I miss him. And he saw a few friends that I am missing very much today. (And to everyone that he didn't see, he loves you too. I am missing ALL of my friends in/"from" Vegas. Especially today).

We had a great Christmas. Someday when I find my camera I will try to post pictures.

Ellie had a great birthday, and Will wishes it was his. My kids are playing pretty well together and sharing their new Christmas. Ellie is having fun at preschool. I was worried that since the Christmas break was so long, she might have some trouble adjusting, but she got right back into it without a glitch. Will loves to play outside lately, I think I keep him inside too much in the winter. My kids are cute, and of course I would say that.

I've been making shrink plastic jewelry which is fun but sometimes frustrating. I've been trying to clean up sometimes. ;) I still want to write some books. I had another interesting dream the other night. I hope it turns into a cool story. It was a pretty cool dream. But I think it has been hard for me to sit down and write my books because then I have to face the fact that I may not be able to actually write a good story, or that other people may not like it, or that I might get stumped, or all of the work it takes. But I'm going to keep it a goal because I think it is important to write these books for some reason. I'm trying not to worry and think in the worst case scenario--this is a personality thing that comes and goes for me. But when it hits it's just like breathing, and the air is somewhat toxic emotionally speaking. I've dealt with it most of my life. I hope someday to be free. I spent too much money on some boots and a pair of jeans. Actually jeans were a good price for what they were--Lucky Brand for only $22, but I didn't really need them. So I was feeling down about that. Then I remembered that my grandma gave me Christmas money that will totally cover it so now I feel a little better. I took another pair of jeans I own today, and made them two sizes smaller. They look pretty good on now. Sewing like that makes me feel powerful. I still like to drink eggnog after Christmas. It is delicious.

There's a little snapshot of how I feel tonight. (In a very tired state.)

Christmas Greetings

2009-12-21T11:29:00.000-08:00

I sent out this smilebox as a "Christmas Card" to a whole bunch of people we don't get to see very much anymore. I'm posting it here to catch anyone I missed. If I did miss you, and I'm sure I did miss someone, I'm sorry, and we do love you! (I also may not have your email address).

But also for those who do get to see us, just in case you are interested ;), because we love you too!!!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

He Said/She Said: Church Ball......

2009-12-16T22:02:00.000-08:00

Meridy's take on Church Ball:
Takes a long time to play. Children are hard to put to bed by oneself.

Nathan's take on Church Ball:
"Takes a long time to play." ???? Are you kidding me? 6 minute quarters and a 5 minute halftime. I am sorry Meridy had to put the kids to bed by herself (I was astounded she was able to tame the Wild Ones alone), but the game started at 9:00.

Moreover, furthermore and while we're on the subject. I made the comment to Richard Hirschi that church basketball is the most intense sport. He said wrestling is more intense. I said that church wrestling would be the most intense sport. He agreed. Church basketball is cRaaaZy. It is a bad mix of call-your-own-fouls and refereeing. I didn't hear any swearing tonight. That was good, but there was much murmuring about fouls/violations or, alternatively, the lack thereof. The referees had stripy shirts on, so they looked pretty official. I think that helped a little.

Meridy's Take:
Church Wrestling is a BAD idea and not supported by the wives of the Elders' Quorum. Not only will this take more time away from bedtime stories, but it will take DAYS away spent in the ER. And who gets to change the diapers day AND night? The wife. If you are lucky, your oldest daughter. So, now wives and daughters are against Church Wrestling.

Nathan's Take:
The good news is that we won. It took a third quarter buzzer beater from beyond half-court (by Skyler Spendlove) and clutch free throw shooting on my part, but we got the job done. Ok, those are my thoughts on Church Ball.

Meridy's Take:
No, the REAL good news is that Nate came home, uninjured. AND we ate pumpkin frozen dairy dessert, which has half of the fat of regular ice cream, AND it tastes BETTER then unpumpkined regular ice cream.

****Meridy and Nathan love to hear from their readers. You can leave them a comment in their designated commenting section.

Cue the Funeral March (Worst Case Scenario Grand Finale)

2009-12-09T22:58:00.000-08:00

Well I have some good news and some bad news and some really bad news. The good news is that three of you answered the first question correctly (answer: a). The bad news is that all of you answered the last question incorrectly (answer: a). The really bad news is that all of you are dead. Hopefully the rest of us can learn from your mistakes so that we can have the glory of winning, being alive, and being socially competent. So here's to you and your noble efforts. Way to take one for the team. Stiff upper lip and all that.

Worst Case Scenario Results and Next Question

2009-12-06T21:34:00.000-08:00

Wait. What does that say above the title in small print? Does that say Dec 6th? Really? I could have sworn it was still the 4th.... Sort of takes the "officialness" out of the game doesn't it? Oh well, here we go:

The survivors are:

Anna
Shella
Lori
Sheri
Zach

Your Next Challenge: The dating scene!!! To stir things up you must answer the next 2 questions correctly to stay in.

Question 1:

How to greet your daughter's first date

(a) Shake hands and stare for an uncomfortably long time. If he breaks off and looks away, that's good. You've established dominance. If he stares back, you're in trouble.
(b) Open the door wearing a dirty t-shirt and offer him a beer. If he takes it, you're in trouble.
(c) Ask him point blank if he has ever killed anyone. If he says yes, that's good. He's got a great sense of humor.
(d) Open the door and act like you've never heard of whomever he asks for. If he laughs at the prank, that's a good sign.

Question 2:

How to walk through a revolving door on a date

(a) The man goes first, pushing the revolving door to get it started.
(b) Regardless of the type of door, the lady always goes first!
(c) The man goes in first to get the door revolving, exits the door, allows the lady to enter and then follows behind her.
(d) Look first for a handicapped entrance to the side of the revolving door. If there is one, avoid the trouble of the revolving door altogether. The man opens the door for the lady. If there is no side entrance, turn around and go eat somewhere else.

The survivors will be regally announced on the Ninth Day of December, Two Thousand and Nine, as the clock strikes twelve pm. Really. They will.

Scrabble Tiles Are Here...

2009-12-03T10:19:00.001-08:00

....just in case anyone is interested.

Check out my shop at www.themoderncottage.etsy.com

Worst Case Scenario Results and Next Question

2009-12-01T23:55:00.000-08:00

The answer to the first question was a. The answer to the second question was b. The survivors are:

Lori
Anna
Sheri
LeAnn
Shella
Zach (He answered the first question and grace question correctly so I had to let him back in. *sigh* Just kidding Zach, I'm glad you're back. :) )

From here on out there is no more mercy. So read the questions carefully and thoroughly before choosing your answer. Please make sure to fill in the coordinating bubble to your answer on the scantron fully with your number two pencil to ensure your personally safety.

The question:

What to do when kidnappers are tying you up:

a) Make your body go limp.
b) When the perpetrator is behind you, tying up your wrists, throw your head back into his/her nose.
c) Take a deep breath, puff out your chest and flex your wrists against the bonds.
d) Hide a piece of broken glass in your hand and use it to saw through the bonds.

On December 4, at 5pmish (maybe), we will reveal how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie pop and who is still alive.

Worst Case Scenario Results and Next Question (If you want to play and didn't get a chance to last time: This is your LAST chance)

2009-11-29T22:24:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all of you who answered the first question. Sorry for the delay. The answer was number b. The survivors are:

Anna
LeAnn
Sheri
Lori
Shella
Ashley

Your next question, should you choose to answer it, and I would answer it if I were you because otherwise you're toast, is:

How to survive on bugs:
a) Maggots can be eaten raw or cooked.
b) Centipedes can be eaten only when cooked and are considered a delicacy.
c) Crickets contain high concentrations of the poison belladonna and should never be eaten.
d) Go find some natives, hope that they aren't head hunters, and barter the bugs for their roast boar.

IF YOU MISSED THE FIRST QUESTION BECAUSE YOU WERE PASSED OUT AFTER EATING TOO MUCH TURKEY AND WANT TO STILL PLAY, THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE. BUT YOU MUST:

Answer the question above correctly AND the question below correctly. (Please remember to specify which answer goes with which question in your comment).

(Previous Players do not answer this question.)

How to clip your baby's nails:

a)While your partner holds the baby's arms down to avoid injury, trim his/her nails.
b)Wait until the baby is asleep after his/her bath, then trim his/her nails.
c)Wait until the baby is feeding, then trim his/her nails.
d)Take the baby to your mother's and ask her to do the job.

At five o'clockish on Dec. 1, We will reveal who is right and who is dead.

Worst Case Scenario Blog Game Show (Come Play!)

2009-11-25T21:43:00.000-08:00

This episode: "How to flee a forest fire."

a) Head away from the fire, toward higher ground.
b) Head downhill, away from the fire.
c) Head away from fire, toward flat ground.
d) Find Smokey Bear and ask him what to do.

Please give your answers in the comments section of this post. The winners, survive. The losers, in this case, burn and die. If you don't answer, the fire caught you unawares and you are a goner. We will post the correct answer and indicate the survivors for this question by Nov. 29 at 5pm-ish. We will continue our little game until there is one survivor standing! The survivor gets the glory of winning, being alive, and being socially competent.

(DISCLAIMER: The answers come from a very official source, that I swear I did not make up. I did not arbitrarily choose the correct answer. If you complain to me that your answer is the correct one, instead of the one that I said was correct, I'll just say, "I know! I thought so too! But the reliable source CLEARLY indicated that mine was the correct answer by typing that choice in bold font. There's just no accounting for it!")

PS. HAPPY THANKSGIVING TOMORROW!!

A Fascitating Halloween

2009-11-05T12:05:00.001-08:00

Gosh, I think I am like my dad....(actually, come to think of it, probably a lot of people are this way)..... Anyway, he has so many interests. He will really be into something for awhile and he loves it so much that it consumes his personal free time. After awhile, if he is like me, he burns himself out on it, and he finds another hobby to love. After a little while, especially if something new and intriguing about it sparks his interest, he will pick up on the old "something". And so he goes through phases of MANY different things. Let us compare this to my blogging and other pursuits. I tell myself that I will try to be better at blogging (how do you spell "blogging"?) again, but to be honest I think I've moved on for a little while. Don't despair kind readers! I will be back, I'm just not in blogging phase right now, just to let you know. Right now I am on a crafting phase. I've learned how to make Scrabble tile charms. They are so fun! You glue cute paper, pictures, jewels, etc on the back side of the tile and make charms out of them. You can use them wherever you want. I'm thinking about making a bunch and selling them in my Etsy shop. They make for inexpensive gifts. I'll let you know about that if it happens. I'm also in a scrapbook phase. I'm scrapbooking for my SIL, Emily, and having a good time. And then there's the sewing phase, the book writing phase, the "children STEALING my computer for their own uses" phase, the reading phase, the getting ready for Christmas phase, etc.

So the last post was pretty sad. I was pretty sad when I wrote it, but I think the silence from us after that post may be giving of the wrong impression that we are in mourning. This is not true. We have been quite happy, and doing fun things. We've been having fun living at Grammy's and visiting my family. We went to my Mom's for Halloween. It was fun to dress up the kids and take them door to door. They were really good at saying "trick or treat" and "thank you". I was also impressed with how far they were able to walk. I made a fascinator hair clip for Ellie's hair because she was a fairy princess and I didn't have a crown. I thought this would be really natural and fairylike. Annjilla, I thought of you and knew you would be proud (There's a pic of it in the Halloween Smilebox below). And my other favorite thing was that Will's dinosaur tail wagged as he walked! It was simply, just so cute! There were so many photos that I wanted to post, that I decided to just make a couple of smileboxes for your quick enjoyment should you desire.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Sad News

2009-10-22T13:57:00.001-07:00

Nate didn't pass the Nevada Bar. He took the news well. I guess I still don't believe it. But he is signed up to take the Utah Bar and we have high hopes for that one.

It was the best of times, It was the worst of times...

2009-09-23T10:18:00.000-07:00

Okay, the title is actually overdramatic, but it helps to illustrate what I've been feeling, in as much as it describes the push and pull of my life right now. It's been difficult to want to write because of this, but I think it is about time that I do because I feel discontected from people. I read your blogs at least once a week (even if I don't comment--except Jenny I still need your blog, could you email me again? I promise that I'll get it taken care of this time!), and I feel like I still know you, but that you don't know me because I'm not sharing--I miss my friends, but I love Hurricane and being with family. I want to know right now if Nate passed the bar so he can FINALLY be a lawyer of his own right, but he has a job working for a lawyer in town and got a paycheck with his law degree. (happy day!) I'm so happy that we have a wonderful place to live here with Cheryl, but I am patiently (I hope) waiting for a house of our own in Toquerville. To be happy about living in a place I love and with family I love, makes me feel guilty for not mourning the loss of such great friends more than I already do. To miss my friends makes me feel like I'm beytraying my family. To complain about the downside makes me feel like I am betraying those on the upside. So to sum up I've been really happy and really sad.........I know! Why don't all you Vegas people move to Hurricane?? We have the happy small town atmosphere, grass, desert, trees, mountains, fields, Zion National Park, Wal-Mart, the quilt shop, with St. George and the DI not too far away!

On a very happy note I'm actually looking foward to the fall here. I keep getting the sent of it on the wind. I loved fall in Vegas which actually equals "second spring", spring being my favorite season, so I am surprised that I'm so excited for a "real" fall actually durring the fall months. But I'll go with it and try not to think about the coming much colder winter. Yes, focus on fall. Fall, fall, fall.

And here are some recent and random pics:

"It's a funny joke sweetie"

2009-09-07T23:38:00.000-07:00

I woke up chuckling and quite proud of myself. My dream was another crazy one. I was chasing a guy around chewing up his legal documents. He offered me a motion to dismiss or something like that, and I cleverly said, "I'd better not--I might get motion sickness."

Yup, that was a pretty good one.

Just keepin' it real.

Scare Tactics

2009-08-27T23:04:00.000-07:00

Like Inigo Montoya , I've been starting conversations in strange ways of late. "Let me see your hand. Hold it up like this. Let's see..." Then I compare the respective lengths of index fingers and ring fingers. After I have aroused sufficient curiosity, I refer to this article.
I think I have been mixing up the diagnoses. The short index finger has nothing to do with Alzheimer's. Sorry to those of you who may have sustained irreparable emotional damage through my small talk.

Sorry, I just thought we should post SOMETHING.

Terralocomophobia

2009-08-02T16:54:00.001-07:00

Imagine my joy today as William pulls out all of the videos and tosses them on the floor. Then imagine my ultimate delight as he pulls out Gumby. Yes, I am being sarcastic. I have already posted a while ago that I do not like Gumby. (Please forgive me if Gumby is your hero!) I was groaning on the inside. I tried to get Will to choose another show, and I almost had him. However, my supreme dedication to my son's happiness prevented me from preventing his enjoyment of the show. (And I didn't want to admit to myself that the reason I wouldn't let him watch it is because I have a Gumby phobia.) I quickly ran to my laptop after I pressed the play button, put on my earphones, and cursed my playlist for not starting quickly enough. I didn't even want to hear Gumby playing! I don't even want to post his picture and taint my blog!

I looked up "fear of Gumby" on the Internet. I recommend not doing this. While I saw many eye opening and even unpleasant views on Gumby, it seems no one else on the world wide web is afraid of Gumby. It seems I am alone in the universe. Who will go to therapy with me??? I have decided that you will now be in my therapy session. I'm going out on a limb here, sharing a deep inter part of my soul.......

Hi. My name is Meridy.
(Hi Meridy.)

I am afraid of that little green claymation figure named Gumby. In fact, I am afraid of all early claymation.
(Really? Why do you think Gumby has this affect on you?)

I think it is because it seems unnatural to me that objects, that look almost humanesc, but not human enough, are moving in strange environs, doing strange things, and having strange things happen to them. I imagine it is similar to how it would feel to see a zombie mother grocery shopping with her children one morning--strange and disconcerting, but not enough so that it causes absolute terror as it would if zombies were coming after you at night.

Actually, I've never been to therapy....what happens after the confession?

My Head A Splode

2009-07-30T23:04:00.000-07:00

Be careful, it could happen to you.
More information on a sloding head syndrome.
It's a good thing I don't have too much mental capacity to begin with because I have certainly been overtaxing my poor brain of late. The last three days of my life have been especially mind-blowing. The bar exam is no picnic, so I wouldn't recommend that anyone take it...unless you want to be admitted to the bar...in which case you may have to take it. I hear the Utah bar exam is less demanding. I'm going to try that one next.

Another thing, why can't they tell us our dang MBE scores? 1/3 of the test is a multiple choice exam called the Multistate Bar Exam. We're talking fill-in-the-bubble here. It would take 2 seconds (give or take) to put it through a little machine, but we have to wait until October 22 to know how we did on it.

I'm just going to assume that I passed. That will make the next 2.5 months more enjoyable. Anyway, it's over now.

No Peaches

2009-07-24T19:24:00.001-07:00

I haven't blogged in ages.

Obviously.

I don't know if I even know how to write a blog anymore. Nonetheless, I march onward and my fingers continue to to strike the letters on the keyboard. Often they strike the wrong ones, and I have to go back and erase a few letters, and type the proper ones in. I have never been that outstanding as a typist. And then I go back and reread what I've already written. Type a little bit more and then reread again. Then after I post it, I reread it again and try to fix all the mistakes I made, that I should have caught the first few hundred times, before anyone in the outside world can read them. It takes me a long time to type a good post.

I'm feeling contemplative. I think it is because we've had cloud cover all day, and because I just read a really interesting book. It's called The Guernsey Literary and Potato-Peel Pie Society. (I got a $22 hardback book for $1!! It was a steal!) Except for some swearing, it is one of the best books I have ever read. It is thought provoking and has heart wrenching moments, but has enough humor and good feeling to make the book completely enjoyable. Very thought provoking, insightful, great characters. But I don't want write a book review. Sorry.

We have been really busy. We have been going to dance class, getting ready to move, visiting old friends, visiting family, having birthday parties, winning medals, attending funerals (Zach's mother Krysti, and Nate's Grandpa Reeve passed away recently. Two wonderful people who will be missed!), getting ready for a wedding, getting ready for the blankity, blank, blank BAR exam, getting bit by a horse in the face (A horse bit Will, but don't worry he's fine. That horse is just ornery.), and playing "Grassy, Grass, Go Away" in which you think of grassy things to do. The last person to think of a fun thing to do in the grass wins. (Ellie made this game up, with help from Nate.) Here are some pictures. They are by no means all inclusive, but it is the best I have to work with right now.

Ellie and Will keeping it cool in the car. We've been in the car a lot lately.

Ellie has been sporting braids lately. I think they suit her well, and it looks like I cared enough to do her hair. ;) She still will not let me do her hair, but braids are apparently okay.

This is Will opening his Dinosaur Rar! at a little party we had at home. Denise, a friend of mine and Sheri's, came on Will's birthday, so we just had a fun little party with her and her two boys, Tristin and Ethan. We played with balloons, had snow cones, blew bubbles, had ice cream cone cake (Thanks for that idea Denise), and opened presents. Thanks for your gifts!

Darling Rachel.

Will and Ethan.

Gary, Tristin, and Will.

This is the cake from the little party we had for Will at my mom's house. He loved his gifts from her. And thank you Emily for the birthday gift you sent to Will. He and Ellie both loved the drums. And thanks to Cheryl for the books. Will and Ellie will enjoy those as well!

Nate with his Gold Medal for first place in his division for Singles in Table Tennis at the Utah summer games!

Will and my dad.

Ellie about to go to dance class.

And what, do you ask, does "No Peaches" have anything to do with all that? Nothing. However, I will honestly tell you that it IS a secret code........

Eating Grass & Fire-Resistant Pajamas

2009-05-27T23:13:00.000-07:00

First, really quick, my friend Annjilla is trying to find someone. She is looking for a database, or a resource like unto it, or really anything, to find someone who rented a house next door to her when she was a little girl. If you have any advice or help for her please leave a comment on her blog post, click: HERE. This is really important to her. Thanks!

-------------------------------------

We went on two walks this evening. On our second walk, we went to this place an the end of our condo complex. It is this really picturesque, grassy hill, spiced up with some trees and shrubbery. Situated high above the road, it gives a good view as well. We like to let the kids roam around there on occasion. As we were frolicking about, Nate would often chew on grass stems. The grass there has many opportunities for that sort of thing. Ellie did not like Nate chewing on grass stems at all. She wanted daddy to stop! When enough was too much, Ellie grabbed the grass out of Daddy's mouth, chucked it to the side, and told Daddy to, ".....never eat grass again!!!" Seeing that this was a little too much sass from our four year old, Daddy decided to discreetly pick another grass stem and chew on it. Ellie found out about it. I think we finally did ourselves proud and told Ellie, "No." We told Ellie that Daddy can eat grass if he wants to, and she would just have to deal with it. Ellie declared that we don't eat plants. Daddy reminded Ellie that broccoli, carrots, and potatoes are plants. But Ellie was not fooled. I guess four-year-olds are too shrewd to be tricked into thinking that grass and carrots are the same thing. Daddy tried again, and proceeded to explain that grass is like an herb. "What's an herb Daddy?" To which he replied, "An herb is a plant.......with.......special qualities." "And flavors.", I notably added. This intrigued the young one. The wheels started turning in her little mind. "I want to try it!" or perhaps it was actually, "I want one too." Either way, she ate her grass, and was grateful. William, of course, affably joined in as well.

Don't see the grass? Look harder.....

Later that evening, actually it was closer to midnight than evening, it was time for bed. Finally. I took the opportunity to dress Master William for bed. I picked out those tight pajamas. You know? The kind that you have to buy at least 2 sizes too big just to be able to pull them over your child's flailing limbs. Well, I was thinking about the known fact that they are so incredibly tight because they are supposed to be fire-resistant. What a comforting thought. What I want to know is: Why are we only worried about our children catching fire at night? Why don't we always dress them in fire-retardant materials? Because I am pretty sure, after discussing this with Nate, that our child is more likely to catch fire during the day. At night, he is secured. We keep him locked up at night........in his crib. He has limited access to flammables. Not that I'm saying I let him play with matches, but he is a wily little boy. He'll be one of those little boys at scout camp. You know the ones. The ones who light themselves on fire--perhaps while trying to blow up their plastic cups. Okay, well actually, to give him some credit, Will does have an appreciation for things that are hot. "Hot. Owie!", he says. But that doesn't change the intrigue of the fire itself. Something happens to the twelve year old brains of boys. They suddenly think they can light things on fire and not get burned. And so I think, he is still more likely to catch fire during the day and at scout camp. Will is going to Father and Sons with Nate in a few days. This is like an overly supervised scout camp, with an overly large number of supervisors who still like fire even though they are all grown up. I think I better pack Will his fire-resistant pajamas and nothing else.....

Mike, Charlie, and a tax on the poor

2009-05-18T07:47:00.000-07:00

Three thoughts, two directly from the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, one as a derivative thought.

Mike Teavee
Willy Wonka says, "You. You're Mike Teavee. You're the little devil who cracked the system."
Mike Teavea says, "All you had to do, is track the manufacturing dates, offset by weather and the derivative of the Nikkei index. A retard could figure it out."
and, "Die! Die! Die! In the end, I only had to buy one candy bar."
The fact that he doesn't like chocolate only makes me more impressed by him.
Ok, he has some rough edges. From appearances, he hasn't been brought up very well, but the kid is busting with potential. He's a genius who should be snatched up by the CIA who could turn his powers for the good against various crime cells and terrorist organizations.
Anyway, my point is that Mike is portrayed as a villian who cheated to get the ticket. In my mind, he is the only one who earned it.
So, Meridy tried to help me understand. She said people might think he cheated because he wasn't the "lucky winner" the contest envisioned. This leads us to the lucky lotto winner...

Charlie
Willy Wonka says, "And you, well you're just lucky to be here, aren't you?"
Charlie says......well, I couldn't find any good quotes from him. He did share his birthday chocolate with his family. That is commendable.
But my point with Charlie has to do with his economic mishaps. He is a poverty sticken boy whose father, the family's only breadwinner, is out of work. So he wins the lottery. He gets a Golden Ticket, and he squanders it.
Now you are, no doubt, in an uproar about me saying he squandered his golden ticket. Hear me out. This Golden Ticket has a dollar value on the market. You'll see, if you watch the videos, that he is offered $500 by someone who is trying to sucker him. I'm pretty sure a lot of people would be willing to pay millions of dollars for that ticket. Let's put a price tag on it, say, 2 million dollars. He could sell that ticket, buy a real house for his family out in the country where his grandparents' failing health could improve. He could set up an annuity to support his family for years. He could set up a college fund (for self-actualization purposes if nothing else) for himself and pay for his father to get some training so he could be more valuable in the workforce. Does he do it? No. He spends that 2 million dollars and a trip to a chocolate factory. Talk about fiscal irresponsibility. This leads us to the unlucky lotto victims.

I was listening to NPR the other day --ok, once in a while I listen to NPR, sorry. Anyway, they were discussing whether or not Nevada should implement a state lottery to help pay for education. One guy called in and said that's what the progressive jackpots at the casinos are. I think he's right, but the commentators all wanted a lottery. I wanted to call in and say, "I have never heard anyone put forth this argument against having a lottery, and I think people should hear it. A lottery is like a tax on the poor."
In the name of education, state governments are miseducating the poor. Maybe my expectations of the gov. are too high.
Here is a quote from an article that says what I'm talking about,
"studies show that the heaviest lottery players -- the 20% of players who contribute 82% of lottery revenue -- disproportionately are low-income, minority men who have less than a college education. That has fueled a vociferous anti-lottery movement. "It really is government undercutting what government's role should be," which is encouraging people in financial straits to be responsible with their money, says Tom Grey of the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03MuzHC-mWA&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJuTx3CTXeI&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xad7iOBfI2c&feature=related
http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&q=lottery+and+poverty

Some Pictures of Graduation

2009-05-09T09:43:00.000-07:00

Thanks

2009-05-08T01:29:00.000-07:00

In a few hours I'll be graduating from law school. I'm not going to lie to you--this has been the hardest 3 years of my life. I have been pushed to my limits, held there until I burned out and then kept in the fire to see how long I could keep going when I had nothing left to burn. But what I smell now is not the scent of charcoaled soul. I smell deliverance! Come, rejoice with me! On this day, I close a chapter of my life and prepare to move on.
Before we start the celebration, I should really thank the people who sustained me and made this day a reality.

Meridy: How can I tell you how much you mean to me? After God, no one will ever take precedence over you. Thank you for being with me through all the hard times, encouraging me, keeping me on task and loving me. I knew you were cool when I started hanging out with you. I liked you more the more I explored you. I have come to know you so well, and sometimes you still blow me away. You learn new tricks every day. I am so glad I chose you. Your rock-solid faith and companionship keep my soul alive.

Family, specifically Mom and Dad: Thank you for supporting us in every way. The older I get, the smarter you guys get. I respect your counsel, and I'm so thankful for your example. Should a 27-year old man with a wife and two kids still be running to his parents for help in every crisis? Thank you for financing all our adventures to hospitals, mechanic's shops, and Knott's Berry Farm. We'll pay back the money, but we can never repay you for the help you constantly offer us.

Friends, specifically Peter: Thank you for the fierce frienship, fierce discussions, and fierce loyalty. I'm just glad to call you ally and not enemy. You helped me keep it real, and I look forward to having you in the trenches with me in the future.

God: Thou hast sent me here. Thou hast preserved me. I have come to know thee better in my extremities, and I thank thee for the lessons. I'm sorry for complaining so much. I wish I had taken my medicine with more grace. I will continue to trust in thee. I thank thee for providing me with family and friends to see me through.

Fablehaven

2009-05-07T14:39:00.001-07:00

So, many of you know that I love to read YA fiction. Let me recommend Fablehaven, by Brandon Mull. Personally, the first book was hard to get into, but the series as a whole is sooo worth it. I just finished the 4th book and now I have to wait for the 5th!!!!!!!! I am in agony. Okay agony is too strong a word, but you get the idea. The 4th book had a MAJOR plot twist and I cannot come to closure. He left me hanging! I'm the type of person who HAS to finish a movie because I am so emotionally involved and I HAVE to know how it ends. I hope that I don't have to wait 2 YEARS to read the next one.

Sara, you are in for a great ride when you get your book back! Thanks!

Good job to Brandon Mull. And Brandon, my good friend, if you can somehow read this, as a concerned fan.....oh, how can I say this without giving anything away?......Please cut Kendra a break in the next book. Hopefully you know what kind of break I mean.

Thanks, I needed to share.

Willbo Joe and Doctor Ellie

2009-05-06T20:37:00.000-07:00

Will has inherited his own host of nicknames, Wilbo Joe being on of them. Couple of quick stories for your amusement...I'll keep them short so that you don't get unamused.

The other day Ellie was watching Sleeping Beauty, and Will was desperate for her to be finished. So I tried to get him excited about the upcoming dragon scene. "Ooohh! William, there is going to be dragon! It's like a dinosaur! It says RAR!" The moment the dragon appeared, Will's eyes were glued to the TV. He loved it. Then sadly, as you know, the dragon dies. Will sounded a bit concerned, "Rar? Rar?" What a sick mom am I? I didn't really have the heart to explain it to him.

Will is an interesting character. He likes to wear gold sparkly shoes and headbutt people. He inherited the same head that my brothers did as children. Seriously, he could beat me in a headbutting contest, I wouldn't have a prayer. Thankfully, Will is a kindly Viking, but a Viking nonetheless. We should have named him Ivan, liked we originally planned. If we name the next boy Ivan, we better watch out!

I was playing doctor with Ellie today. She was listening to her unicorn's heartbeat. She asked the unicorn if she had gone to the temple because she could hear temple music in her heart. Then she did that test where you hit the little hammer against the knee. (Do doctors do that anymore?) And she told the unicorn what was in each knee. One had stickers, and chocolate, and all sorts of fun things. The next knee had bugs in it. She proceeded to do this for the other knees.

April Flashback and Mormon Mom

2009-04-29T15:29:00.000-07:00

First of all (I've been meaning to do this awhile), my friend Sarah started a website for the Mormon Mom. It offers great tips for all moms (you don't even have to be Mormon :) This site also features Marvelous Meals. A meal program that you can sign up for $5 a month to gain access to the special marvelous meal website. (click the button below)
Now onto family updates. I am going to do this backwards--most recent working back towards the first of the month.

Perhaps the most shocking thing I did this month is change my hair color 180 degrees. Are you ready for the photos?I liked it a lot at first. Then the next day I still liked it, but I was in a little shock. Now I'm enjoying it. It's fun to try something new. Thanks Monica!

We had a really nice Easter. We had been teaching Ellie about the Resurrection for a few days before Easter, so hopefully nothing at church was too new for her. We had an Easter egg hunt on Saturday at the Baillio's and then a nice Easter dinner with the Adam's on Sunday. Pretty laid back. Thanks for the fun time guys!

Will is wearing two shirts because he didn't want to change out of the first one into something warmer so I told him that we would put a "jacket" over it. He liked the idea.
Ellie and Anwen.Ellie and Jane.Ellie, Will, and Garry.
Our trip to Knott's Berry Farm was really fun! Thanks to the Baillio's for meeting us there! Sorry my kids were a little bit grouchy, by the way. Over all it was a great time though! We also went to the Garment District in LA. That was an interesting experience--we got really close to Skid Row! But other than that close call, I enjoyed it. I purchased some awesome material and a bag. I would post it, but blogger is too tired to comply.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

我是为而部猛

2009-04-25T00:56:00.000-07:00

The title means: "I am awe inspiring, but kind at heart."

和平
peace

喜
happiness

晴海
deep love

Pretty much, I can type in Chinese! I'm doing invitations for a YW/YM activity with a Chinese theme. I wanted to use some real Chinese characters. I downloaded a Chinese font and got my computer to speak Chinese. And with the help of this awesome website (click here), I can write words in Chinese!!! I'm still geeking out about it! I could do this all day. Too bad I don't know the rules of grammar in this language.....

And too bad for you if your computer doesn't speak Chinese. The characters will look like funky rectangles with weird number and letter things. Sorry. If you really want me to teach your computer Chinese I would be happy to. :)

My Job Project

2009-04-24T23:00:00.000-07:00

For my rhetoric class, I did a paper and a presentation on the Book of Job. The book is an exposition on the problem of pain. My thesis is that Job has become such a favored piece of literature because of its ethos arguments. Job argues with his friends for a long time about whether or not he deserved his "punishment," but their arguments don't satisfy. Ultimately God comes and settles the matter, but he doesn't explain himself, he simply introduces himself. The idea is that the best answer to the problem of pain is putting faith in God--accepting his ethos. Essentially, having faith is the same as accepting God's ethos arguments.
Logos=appeal to reason, logic
Pathos=appeal to emotion, passion
Ethos=appeal to personal authority, essence or character of the speaker

If none of this makes sense, just smile and nod so I'll feel better. For my class presentation, I put together a slideshow to introduce the problem of pain:

If God is good, he will want to prevent suffering
If God is omnipotent, he has the ability to prevent suffering
Therefore, God is either not good, or not all powerful

This issue gives a lot of people real problems. They have a hard time accepting religion because of all the suffering in the world. Religious scholars have argued back and forth about this problem for centuries, but like I said, I think the real answer lies in the issue of faith--accepting God's ethos. This life gives us opportunities to test our faith.

WARNING: THIS SLIDESHOW IS HEAVY, SOME MATERIAL MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN. WATCH AT YOUR OWN RISK...
...I'M NOT JOKING

The Near Death experience of my Arm

2009-04-02T09:06:00.000-07:00

Imagine waking in the middle of the night with the knowledge that something is wrong, very wrong with your arm. But you can't find it. So you have to use your other arm to find it. And that arm reaches over and finds a limp lifeless arm in it's hand. Suddenly the brain registers the feeling, "EEeeeAAH!"

Such thing happened to me last night. I had to frantically use my left hand to help my right arm once again obtain a state where blood circulation is possible. This hasn't happened to me in quite awhile. When it happens, and my arm is that limp, I often wonder if I'll even be able to revive it. It kind of scares me actually. It took awhile to work my arm back awake. When I did try to use it, felt like it was floating. It was so wobbly, it was as if it was drunk. The drama of it had me laughing as I went back to sleep again. Perhaps it's strange to laugh at your own horror, but that's what I did. I often find the overstated and understated terribly funny, so at least I'm consistent.

This experience gave me cause to think of how wonderful the human body is. Isn't it kind of your body to warn you when your arm is dead? "Uh...Meridy, your arm is dying. Stop cutting off your own circulation you moron. WAKE UP and revive it!" Can you imagine if you lost your arm because your body lacked this warning mechanism?

On the other hand, why is the body often so self defeating? Let's say, for example, that there is this great piece of chocolate silk pie.... The arteries are desperately trying to communicate, "NO! Don't eat it! Think of the future!! We don't want to be clogged up...." Unfortunately our body's red tape doesn't allow us to hear their thoughts. What we are stuck with is the stomach and the brain. The stomach is chanting, "eat it! Eat it! EAT it! EAT IT!" The brain is a bit more confused. One part of it is chanting, "sugar. Sugar! SUgar!! SUGAR!!!" The other part of it is saying, "How much chocolate silk pie can I eat with out causing lasting damage?....Okay that was really good! Oh! Look! There is still more pie left! It looks goooood. And I should know, I just had some. But I already ate a huge slice and I just don't know if it will be healthy....."

And so man must struggle to survive with himself. But hey, at least we get to have some chocolate silk pie while we're doing it!

Huzzah!

2009-03-31T00:20:00.000-07:00

William sleeps through the night now (knock on wood). The end.

ps. Say by John Mayer is a good song. It used to annoy me actually, because the words are so repetitive. But I finally started listening to the thing as a whole. There are some great chords and instrumentation in there.

pps. Problem Girl by Rob Thomas is also awesome song. Great melody and chords too! And LOVE the lyrics!! Pretty much I think you should scroll down to the bottomish of my first playlist and listen to it.

Another new blog? Yah.

2009-03-24T22:51:00.000-07:00

So I've created a little bloggy thing. It's a music review blog. I want many, many contributors to....contribute. So give me yer email and get on there and tell us what music we should be listening to. I've set the example by posting the first album review.

You can find it here: http://whatsthescore-nate.blogspot.com/

Also, you can now listen to two songs off Chickenfoot's album. I'm a little disappointed in the lyrics. I was hoping for something more like the lyrics on Van Halen's Balance. Instead, it looks more like a mix between rowdy roadhouse blues lyrics and party rock lyrics ala Lynch Mob. I hope the other songs wax a bit more profound, or at least respectable. This is one of the foreseeable problems with Joe Satriani joining a normal band. I normally don't have to worry about his song lyrics...cuz he aint got none.

Are you ready for Chickenfoot?

2009-03-19T13:19:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTEc83jHbq0

see also

http://chickenfoot.us/

Johnny Beeftree (also known as Borris Burgerpatty)

2009-03-10T10:38:00.000-07:00

We were up late. Meridy had just read some sad story involving drawing and quartering, so we decided to write a happy story. Then it got weird. We had a good laugh though. And now, without further ado, here is the classic story of a man and his beef:

Once upon a time, there was a happy world. It ended happily. The end.
Then came the rain. Luckily, there was no drawing and quartering in this story. The townspeople didn’t like violence. They lived in peace with all the vegetables. They ate dirt. Dirt has no soul, so it’s ok to eat it. They all suffered from scurvy, until one day, one man came up with a way to add vitamin c to the dirt. It improved the flavor and their health. And the peasants rejoiced.

But then--there arose a man who refused to eat his dirt. “I won’t do it,” he said, putting down his spade and folding his arms across his chest. Then he spied Old Betsy in the field. His eyes glazed over, he smiled slyly and picked up his spade. He began whistling cheerily as he approached the cow from behind.

Some hours later, another villager commented to his neighbor, “My, somfin’ smells gooood.....” “We aint had nothin’ to eat but maggoty old dirt for three stinkin’ years! [Except they didn’t eat the maggots. Because those wriggling things obviously had souls. Not to mention their unseemly texture.] Let’s saddle up Old Betsy and see what’s cookin’.” Much to his dismay, the villager could not find Old Betsy anywhere.
“Betsy!” he called. “Old Betsy!” Twas then our hero became nervous. “This can’t end well,” he said as he filled his suitcase with personal belongings and hamburgers and fillet mignons etc.

“I must spread my beef everywhere,” said Johnny–for Johnny was his name. “I’ll plant beef trees all along this wilderness frontier!” Sadly, Johnny’s trees never grew. When he got hungry enough, he decided that dirt looked pretty good. “It’s really not that bad after all,” he said to himself as he crunched a savory bite of sediment.

Some weeks later, a curious thing happened to Johnny. He was peacefully munching mud, when a shimmering blob appeared before him. And then the blob spoke. “I am the soul of dirt,” said the blob. Johnny was flabbergasted, exceedingly so. “You mean the soil of dirt, don’t you? Everyone knows dirt has no soul.” “No,” corrected the blob, “I am indeed the soul of dirt. I have come to admonish you to please stop eating me. I do not wish to be digested, I wish to be treated like dirt. I was meant to be trodden upon, but your people desecrate me.” “What can we do? We will starve without dirt. Whatever shall we eat?” Johnny was distraught, exceedingly so. Then the blob spoke yet again. Quoth the blob, “You shall eat cows, and vegetables. Thus shall they fulfill the measure of their creation. You shall combine the cows and the vegetables in a mighty stew, and you shall call it–Beef Stew.” Johnny’s eyes were wide, horror mirrored in his simple expression, “You mean I could have been eating cows this whole time!? I’ve been eating dirt!” Quoth the blob, “Yea, verily yea.”

Soon thereafter, Johnny tracked down another heifer. He chose a nice field, with dark, rich earth, and there he planted the cow. “Mooooo!” the cow protested. Johnny admonished the cow, “Quiet you! You are doing a great service to mankind. You shall spread your beefy goodness over all the earth.” Suddenly, the guiding voice of the soul of dirt came into Johnny’s mind, “No, no, no! You do not plant cows as you would plant a rutabaga. You must form a cattle ranch.” “Oh,” said Johnny.

Fame of Johnny’s marvelous cattle ranch soon spread across the land. In truth, the people were sick of eating dirt. It didn’t take much convincing for them to abandon the vain and foolish traditions of their fathers and to embrace beef stew. The true order of nature was restored, and they lived happily ever after.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Johnny cooly appraised a passing hen....

Roadtrip Anyone? (this means YOU)

2009-03-07T19:17:00.000-08:00

We're looking for a few good crazy people to accompany us on our trip to Knott's Berry Farm. You see, Knott's is extending their crazy-good promotion to March 15th. Read all about it here:

Twogether is Better at Knott's
http://www.knotts.com/hot/index.asp

That's right friends, $50 gets you AND one friend of your choice into the park. I'm choosing Meridy for my friend. Whom will YOU choose?
Other fun things we might do while in California (if you go with us, you'll get to give us your ideas and input of course):
--visit the famed garment district
--the beach
--swap meet
--correct the speeding ticket I got on our Disneyland trip
--what else is there?

We're planning on leaving early Thursday afternoon. We could do Knott's Friday or Saturday. If you choose to come join the festivities, we could meet you there or drive down with you. It would be fun fun fun.

As a parting thought, we're taking our kids with us. If you come, you may be called upon to watch them while we go on a couple rides. We will gladly return the favor for you. If you want to go with us (it would be so fun) give us a call or an email or a comment or SOMETHING.

One last note--we are deathly serious. I'm not even joking.

Job 23:10

2009-03-07T07:36:00.000-08:00

But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

When you give a dad a Barbie book.....

2009-02-23T22:37:00.000-08:00

There comes a time in every man's life when he is solicited to read a girly book by one of the most treasured females in his life: his daughter.

Tonight was such a night for Nathan.

The book was entitled Glam and Glitz. It is a highly fashion conscious book about Barbie and her best friend Emily (I personally don't know where she keeps digging up all of these new "best friends") and they "...can't believe it! They won tickets to the Mega Music Awards!" And then, "Barbie and Emily couldn't believe their ears!", Ken is assistant to the director and is going to introduce them to the Mega Music Award stars! Now Barbie really has to get a glam gown!!!!! Well, in this happy version of the story Barbie and Emily are best friends forever and Barbie lands on the front page of the newspaper because her gown was the most "glam" even after she had to make last minute sewing repairs because the dress suddenly tore!

Nate's version of the story was a bit different....It involved Ken shamlessly flirting with Emily, Emily deciding to ditch Barbie for Ken, and Barbie buying some new friends and then trying to show them off to Ken and Emily. Emily didn't want to hang out with Barbie's new friends because they were prettier than she was. Then Emily was dismayed because Barbie picked out the same dress to wear to the Awards. Barbie said, "I like it too!" Barbie's dress mysteriously tore (I think she secretly blamed Emily) and she wasn't quite able to fix it. It turned out okay though because everyone thought it was ripped on purpose and it started a new trend in formal wear!

I was laughing my head off! Ellie kept asking me, as she is OFTEN wont to do, "What's so funny mommy?" I just kept telling her that Daddy is funny.

After the book was over, Ellie said, "Sometimes daddies do it wrong. But mommies don't. Mommies always read it right." Then she proceeded to hand Daddy the Clifford book so that daddy could read that one "wrong" as well.

That Hideous Strength

2009-02-22T23:01:00.001-08:00

I like to read the works of C.S. Lewis...usually. I can't say I enjoyed every chapter of his Narnia series, but a lot of that was good. If any of you want to catch some more of his science fiction/fantasy books, he has a trilogy for "grown-up" readers. Here is a link for those of you interested in looking into it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ransom_Trilogy

I was drawn to the series through Iron Maiden. Yes, that Iron Maiden. They actually do a lot of songs about great works of literature. One of those songs I particularly like is Out of the Silent Planet. I figured I might just like the book too. While researching it, I learned that it was part of a trilogy. True to form, for those who know me, I decided to read the last book of the series first. The last book is called, That Hideous Strength.

I liked a lot of things about it. I'd probably give it an 8.5 out of 10. Some of the science in it was cheesy, and the ending is pretty weird. In some instances, I thought the author was going for that The Man Who Was Thursday feel without really attaining it. Other than that though, it was a good read.

It has a lot of insights into good vs. evil, secret societies, and human nature.

Word Verification

2009-02-15T22:51:00.000-08:00

So, I know you all have been wondering what happened to me. "Where did she go?", I'm sure has been your first thought before bed and your last thought before waking up. I assure you that I've been here, in my house.....doing junk.....quite happily most of the the time...

To answer a request, I shall now post pictures of what I've been doing, and I do this at the risk of revealing that I like to read YA fiction, fairytales, and sometimes books that are a *tiny* bit cheesy:

This book was awesome, not cheesy, and mostly clean. It's great book for young adults and older adults alike. 4 and 1/2 stars out of five. In other words: I think you should read this book.

This is actually a children's book, but really very good for what it was. I enjoyed it.

One of my favorite Lori Wick books of all time. Perhaps unrealistic in a few ways, and maybe even cheesy sounding, but good. It's about an arranged marriage that works out--Another weakness of mine is books about arranged marriages that work out.

I've also been reading various other books, but not all of them worth mentioning so moving on....

Nate and I have been obsessed with this two player card game:I've been working on blog designs for various people, here is one example:

I've been working on belated birthday cards which I will NOT post because it will give away the long awaited punch line to the the three of you who have been waiting for them.

I've slowly begun a few sewing projects which are not completed, and therefore impossible to post pictures of.

We had Abigail and Peyton come over to play and I captured this video, delightfully illustrating that kids are funny even when they aren't really funny at all:

OKAY, actually it won't load! Blankity, blank, blank. (I mean....ah shucks!) So I will just have to tell you: The kids were telling knock-knock jokes that weren't funny, but then that in actual fact made them funny, if you know what I mean. You'll have to come to my house to watch it, or check back later.

And, we had fantabulous Valentine's Day where I gave Nate (and me) this:

And I gave the kids this, plastic bags of chocolate chips (yes, somewhat pathetic but they enjoyed it):
Nate and I went out to lunch on Friday AND Saturday. Very delicious and fun. Nate found a Gautemalan restaurant that is very good, and I got a Gyro sandwich from another restaurant that is obviously NOT Gautemalan but Greek. I don't get those often because Nate doesn't like Greek food or baklava that much for that matter. And then we got root beer floats, which we thought were only going to be 99 cents each. But if you want to to have them in the Frosty mug they are $2.19. And, I mean, what is an A&W rootbeer float without the frosty mug?!?! Hello.

And now for all of you that are still with us and awake, you must be dying to know what the title "Word Verification" means. "What is the significance of the title?", you ask? Well I'll tell you: almost nothing....except for the fact that while I've been trying to catch up on your blogs and post comments, I've noticed that my sweet computer has been trying to help me accomplish the tricky task of "word verification". For example, your blog requests that I type in the letters: "blaqdn". Then, I type in the letter "b" and my poor sad computer, so willing to help, gives me a list of "word verification" tasks previously entered in such as: bksljf, buijaiiun, banpli, etc. Little does the computer know that it is missing the point entirely. And so in order to help it maintain it's self esteem, I say to it (in my head): "Good job computer! That's great work!"

Ok, I can't wait anymore

2009-02-07T10:59:00.000-08:00

Meridy has had a slide show of our Disneyland trip prepared for a few days now, but she can't seem to get around to posting it. I've decided that enough is enough. I've chosen a song and posted the show myself.

Here it is:

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Defense Against the Dark Arts

2009-01-28T11:30:00.000-08:00

I went through my Negotiation Professor's article about lying in negotiations. His point is that we can't stop people from lying in negotiations, and it behooves us all to defend ourselves against it.
Here is a sampling of his defense tactics:

Conduct Thorough Background Research
Network to Choose Your Negotiation Counterpart
Create Rapport
Demand the Use of Objective (third party) standards (eg. Bluebook values for cars)
Establish Long-Term Relationships and Watch for Signs of Deception
Ask Come-Clean Questions at appropriate times

Negotiation Continued

2009-01-23T10:19:00.001-08:00

I kid you not, someone in the class discussion said, "Why not just lie? I mean, seriously." This started the professor talking about the interesting subject of lying in negotiation--I should probably read his recent article on the subject. He said it is often a really effective thing to do, and that there is a fine line that you probably shouldn't cross. The official comments in the ABA ethics guidelines make it plain that lawyers will be lying to some extent in negotiations. The nice word for it is puffery.

This reminds me of a class in my first year of law school. The professor was trying to demonstrate the difference between lying and puffery. She gave a scenario and asked the class if it was lying or puffery. I answered that it was lying, but most of the class disagreed with me. Then the professor thought about it and said, "Actually...it is lying. Nathan, can you tell us why?" I said, "Well, it's not true, and you said it."

Lawyers don't always think in such simple terms.

Negotiation

2009-01-20T10:53:00.000-08:00

You might think that, being raised by the famed Cheryl Reeve, I would be an expert negotiator. You would be wrong. I've learned a thing or two about negotiation over the years, but the most important thing I've learned is that I need improvement. My current strategies are: 1. give in quickly (while thinking "Maybe he'll appreciate this and help me out later." and 2. Hold my ground to the point of absurdity--like when I personalize the negotiation and don't want to give in on moral grounds or because I'm mad. Ideally, I could have some ability to assert myself in a reasonable way.

And why do I bring this up? I'm taking a class on negotiation. This class is like unto a weight training class. It isn't very fun for me, but it will be really good for me. Of course, I dropped out of my 9th grade weight training class, but there will be no dropping out this time, not with graduation so close. Have I mentioned that I'm in my LAST SEMESTER?!

Merinate was Tagged for Randomness and proof of Toquerville's Greatness

2009-01-11T13:40:00.000-08:00

Random Things About Nate
by Nate Reeve

1. I wanted to get some direction for this project, so I looked up random in the dictionary.

2. I conclude that random, though it appears to modify "things about yourself," is actually intended to describe the way in which said things are selected for inclusion. That is, the items on the list are to be selected with no definite aim, reason, or pattern.

3. I like the word nonetheless.

4. Lately, I have been declaring at random times to friends and family that I invented and/or made up various concepts, devices, and people. Adults have been very understanding of this latest symptom of my mental illness, but children have taken great delight in contradicting me.

5. I cook by whim and nose. The results vary.

6. I'm not sure, but I think my right leg is slightly shorter than my left. My best evidence for this is how my pants fit, which leads me to wonder if my hips are just uneven. Either way, I'm not exactly balanced.

7. I enjoy reading Lao-Tzu's Taoteching. The version I have comes with commentary by various other ancient and modern Chinese philosophers. One of them, Huang Yuan-Chi, provided me with my theme for law school: "The ancients said, 'Two or three years of hardship, ten thousand years of bliss.'"

8. I met Meridy in the class where I learned about the Taoteching.

9. I also have a soft spot in my heart for stars and planets because we had Astronomy together that same semester.

10. I just remembered. I may have done a randomness post in the past. Now I'm terribly curious to see whether I am repeating anything.

11. The previous post was about "quirks." I guess its a similar thing, this post being less structured. Mer now requests that I link our previous quirk-style points....which means I'll hand her the computer and let her link the posts.

12. But not yet, because I tend to procrastinate.

13. I have one attached and one unattached earlobe. So, is that the sort of thing that gets fixed in the resurrection? If so, which lobe will change? If not, can you imagine going through the eternities with mismatched earlobes? Weird.

14. I love to eat cereal. In fact, I'm eating cereal right now.

15. The words, "Fifteen men on a dead man's chest," keep running through my mind. I thought about it and decided you could do it easily enough, provided you didn't have to have all the men on the dead man's chest at the same time.

16. I wonder what is society's facination with piratas y vampiros. If anyone has any thoughts, let me know.

This is actually Meridy for a sec, starting....now.

We were tagged to do this random list Nate accomplished above, by our friend Annjilla. I love things like that, and I love learning interesting facts about other people (as you know). However, in order to spare many of you from reading yet another one of those all about me, I had decided to post one somewhat impressive random thing, and that was going to be the new Shoe Tree (see POST BELOW and for original shoetree post click here.) Obviously, Nate stole my thunder. (But I'm glad he listed 16 random things himself because he is so interesting.) What I did decide to do, for those who have not read them and/or are interested, is create a link list to my many posts devoted to my uniqueness.

If you want to read 100 things about me: click here.
If you want to read my first list of quirks: click here.

If you want to read my second list of quirks: click here.
If you want a personality readout that I developed myself from a personality test that I took and then posted: click here. (This is very informative and accurate, it may even help you get along with me at the optimum level. :))

But since we are on the topic of that lovely place named Toquerville, I have decided to post some pictures of how beautiful it really is, because I know that some of you (named Sheri) were not previously convinced of Toquerville's greatness.

Shoe Tree 2.0

2009-01-11T08:21:00.000-08:00

Those who joined us in our sorrow at the loss of Toquerville's Shoe Tree will be happy to know that another miracle is taking place in Toquerville, where man's indomitable spirit is on display. A new shoe tree is springing up on the north side of Toquerville. You'll have to look closely because I couldn't remember how to zoom in with our camera, but there are shoes growing on that tree--in the dead of winter no less. They can destroy our tree, but not our spirit. The Shoe Tree's legacy lives on!

A shout out for Recipes!!!!! AND a Husband Tag

2008-12-30T16:50:00.000-08:00

First of all I hope that you have all been having a Merry Christmas! We sure have. Once again I have camera troubles--I forgot to bring the cable to upload my pics onto the laptop. So you'll just have to hold your horses and wait for pictures. ;)

Second of all: We are starting an EASY recipe blog. The easier the better, although I will personally be adding a few that are "moderately easy"......eventually. One of my personal New Year's Resolutions is to get the family eating healthier. But that won't happen unless the meals are easy. :) I'm talking EASY--like "five to ten minutes and I'm all done recipes". Or even "five to ten minute prep and then I can walk away while it cooks" recipes. We will accept easy dessert recipes too, after all, what is life without dessert??? If you would like to glean from the blog feel free to do so! Click HERE. It is just getting started, and we need recipes! Please leave me a comment and let me know if you would like to contribute.

Third of all: Just a quick update on what the kids are doing. William started pretending that he was a cat, a cow, a horse, and a sheep today. He got down on his hands and knees and said the animal's sound. That was cute. :) I made some rice as part of dinner tonight (it was easy, tasty, and fast---Uncle Ben's). Ellie didn't like the rice, however. I offered her a bite and she said something like, "I don't want any. It's too expensive." I thought that was funny. She knows that expensive="not good". I also like how when I ask her if she likes an idea I have, such as, "Ellie let's eat and then we'll read a story. How would that be?" And she responds, "Perfect."

Last of all (but not least), Lori (Nate's cousin and our friend :) tagged me. So here goes:

Husband Tag:

1) Where did you meet? A better question would be: "Where didn't you meet?" I first saw Nate in our Eastern View, English class. I was looking over the class for "marriage material" and I saw Nate. Although I thought he was a farmer (because he was wearing plaid), he was the only one who fit the basic requirements for "marriage material" :). I saw him next in my astronomy class and I thought to myself, "Is that the same kid??" I thought that I would wait until English the next time to make sure it was him, and it was. Then I had this feeling that I should talk to him--it was actually a Spiritual feeling. And so I worked up the courage and did it. It turned out well. :) I always have felt pretty comfortable with Nate. Like he was a long lost old friend. Then I saw him in my ward family home evening group. This was really surprising because he didn't even go to our ward. He went home on weekends, but he lived in the same house as the guys in our FHE group. I think I said something to the effect of, "It's you again!" or "You're everywhere!" when I first saw him at FHE. Then for Astronomy we had a lab. I was hoping that Nate was taking the lab portion of the class also, and that he would carpool with me. I liked him, but I also get lost easily and I didn't want to be lost alone. :) I was relieved when I asked him and that he seemed fine with the idea. So to finally get to the point: We meet all over the place. I think Someone was trying to tell me something.

2)Our first date: Was lunch at Godfather's pizza. We had hung out a lot and my friend Sheri kept asking me, "When is he going to ask you on a DATE!?!?!" And so finally we went to one at Godfathers. We still love their buffet. :)

3)How long did you date before your were married? We "officially" dated for five to six months before Nate asked me to marry him the first time. (I thought I was ready for the question but I wasn't and he gave me more time :). Then we started looking at rings online a few months later. And he asked me again at the end of October I think. (I wasn't paying attention to time and place back then ;) Then we were married in March. We had known each other for over a year before we got married.

4)How long have you been hitched for? Five years on March 6, 2009.

5)Favorite feature: He has too many. I would have to say personality, although he is rather dashing....

6)Favorite quality: He is very kind and gentle.

7)His nickname for me: Mer.

8)His favorite color: RED.

9)His favorite sport: PING PONG. He LOVES ping pong. Basketball is a close second. Ah the time he devotes to those two things......

10)Who said I love you first: I'm pretty sure he did.

11)When and where was your first kiss: Under a flowering plum tree in front of the house he was living in, in Cedar. It was just beginning to blossom I think. Neither of us had been kissed, so it was interesting. :) We have only kissed each other.

12)Favorite couple thing to do: Go out to eat at interesting, but affordable places. Curled up together reading a book. Talking together. Playing parchisi.

13)Hidden talent: Some of you probably know this, but I'm sure some of you don't: Nate is really good at playing the guitar and writing his own music. I love to listen to him play the guitar---that should also be listed under question 12. Nate is also really good with kids. One of the best Sharing Times EVER was a puppet show put on by Nate.

14) His favorite music: INSTRUMENTAL GUITAR! His most favorite artist has been previously mentioned: Joe Satriani.

15) What I admire most about him: He is patient and loving. He always sees my positive traits. He has faith in my continuing growth.

16)His favorite pastimes: PING PONG, listening to music, fantasy basketball, playing basketball, and watching basketball. AND, of course, hanging out with me and the kids. :)

17)Will he read this. Yep. I'm sure I'll show him and look to see how he reacts. :)

18) I tag whoever has been itching to fill it out since reading my most intriguing answers. :D

Lawsuit

2008-12-22T15:06:00.001-08:00

You know that Coldplay song, Viva la Vida? My favorite musician--Joe Satriani--is suing Coldplay for plagiarizing it. It's funny because most of you know Coldplay and have never heard of Joe Satriani. I've own pretty much everything in Satriani's catalogue, including the song in question If I Could Fly. I honestly don't think I had even heard the Coldplay song until I saw a youtube video accusing them of copying it.

Joe says he wants to preserve the integrity of his art, and protect something he holds dear. He tried every alternative to a lawsuit, but Coldplay didn't want to talk about it. After the lawsuit was filed, Coldplay decided to say something. Here is their public statement:
"With the greatest possible respect to Joe Satriani, we have now unfortunately found it necessary to respond publicly to his allegations. If there are any similarities between our two pieces of music, they are entirely coincidental, and just as surprising to us as to him. Joe Satriani is a great musician, but he did not write or have any influence on the song Viva La Vida. We respectfully ask him to accept our assurances of this and wish him well with all future endeavours. Coldplay."

I think the suit will either end in a settlement or Joe will win. The songs are just too similar. Joe is a musical mastermind. He would not have brought the suit if he didn't think he would win it. Did Coldplay really copy Joe's song? I don't know. Youtube is full of videos arguing the point back and forth.

Here's what's really weird. Earlier this year, some unknown band posted a video accusing Coldplay of stealing Viva la Vida from them. Their video immediately smelled like a hoax to me (don't ask me what a hoax smells like). It just seemed like that band was trying to get their moment of fame by pretending to have written a hit song. The court basically agreed with me as their suit was thrown out for a failure to prove their allegations. Anyway, here are some videos:

Music Theory Analysis
(Part Two)
Song Samples
A Lawyer and Musicologist Weigh In

Bedtime for Bozos

2008-12-12T10:50:00.000-08:00

So, we were all pretty dang tired by the time we went to bed last night. Meridy was trying to put William to bed, but soon he wandered out of the room and came and said "hi" to me. Then he went and played with some toy. After a few minutes a tired, groggy Meridy came out and angrily plopped down on a chair next to me. "He didn't headbutt you. He was supposed to come headbutt you." Apparently Will had been headbutting her, so she told him to go headbutt Daddy. I guess he hasn't learned the word "headbutt" yet. Lucky for me.

Then I plopped down on the couch to read some scriptures. I was having a hard time keeping my head up and focusing on the words. When I finally managed to read a couple verses, this is what I was told, and yes, it came to me as direct instructions from heaven above:
I perceive that ye are weak, that ye cannot understand all my words which
I am commanded of the Father to speak unto you at this time.
Therefore, go ye unto your homes, and ponder upon the things which I have
said, and ask of the Father, in my name, that ye may understand, and prepare your
minds for the morrow, and I come unto you again.

"Look Kid, you can't handle this right now. Go to sleep and come back tomorrow."

What do Lincoln Hawk and I have in common?

2008-12-11T22:59:00.000-08:00

Over the Top
This was the best video that came up when I typed in "finals" on youtube. Yah, it pretty much sums up how I feel now. I took my last final of the semester at 6:00 tonight. Who's up for some holidays?

Happy, Happy Brithday Ellie Dear!!

2008-12-11T14:17:00.000-08:00

Today is Ellie's birthday (Dec 11). Nate has two finals today and was gone all day. So we had a birthday party for her on Tuesday.

I blew up most of a balloon package and had them hanging out on the floor. I let the kids play with those for awhile. Nate stuck half of them to the ceiling. Then we played Duck, Duck, Goose. Ellie was excited for that game but when we actually started playing, Ellie decided that she didn't like the chasing part of the game. She thought it was fun to watch everyone else run, but she didn't want to run herself.

Then we played Hide and Seek. Everyone loved that game. I hid behind the bathroom door and it took them forever to find me. I found this hilarious at the time.

Nate hid under our desk and all the kids found him at once.

Then we played this crazy game that Nate made up. We all sat in a row and covered our faces. Then when our feet were touched we revealed our silly face and got our picture taken.

After that we played that game were one person draws the head, folds it over to hide the drawing, and then passes it on to the next, person to draw the body. Then you pass it on again and the last person draws the legs and feet. Here are some of the results:

Then Ellie opened a present from Nate and I. We gave her a Cinderella and a Belle doll. They are small and have rubber dresses they dress up in. It was fun to give her a toy that I would have enjoyed as a child. (She opened presents from Abigail and Annjilla when they arrived, but we neglected to take pictures of it. Sorry! But thank you for your gifts! We will enjoy them. And Cheryl, thanks for the card you sent! Ellie is excited to get an Ariel doll to go with Cinderella and Belle with what you sent her. ;))

Ellie wanted a strawberry cake. "Oh great." I thought. "How am I going to do that?" I decided to make two white round cakes and to do a layer of frosting and strawberry jam in the middle and then frosting on the top of course. I made the same kind of cream cheese frosting I make for cinnamon rolls. Therefore it was a little bit runny so I stuck it in the freezer for a few minutes and then in the fridge. Ellie wanted one strawberry on top. She ended up liking all of the little strawberry slices that I put on top. It wasn't until after I made it that I realized, duh!, I made a strawberry shortcake. ;) I was glad that it turned out so well for a first attempt.

We've had a fun time! Thanks everyone!

Hick Town at Home

2008-12-05T11:15:00.000-08:00

So pretty much I feel like we are bringing home some "hick town" to our Las Vegas condo.......

As many of you know we have a very old TV. Some of you have gently told me it has passed it's allotted time here on this earth. This TV is perhaps the equivalent of 128.3 in people years. But hey, it's still going on pretty well for how old it is! Well, we have a some generous friends and family who have each offered us their old TVs. Their TVs may be old, but they are far newer than ours. :) We appreciate this. We just haven't gotten around to actually bring their offers into fruition. In fact, we ended up trying to bring my brother and sister in law's TV home with us, but it wouldn't fit in our car. What we did end up with was an extra TV that Cheryl had kicking around her attic above the garage. It fit in our car and we thought it might at least work better than the one that we have at the moment. We haven't actually decided yet, if that is the case. What I'm actually wondering is this: maybe it's the VCR that is causing some of the problems on the TV screen as well as the TV itself. The DVD might be broken as well. We can't get it to work on the old or new(ish) TV. I don't know for sure though about the new TV, because I can't turn it to channel three to test my hypothesis. I haven't been able to program the remote yet with all of these kids and projects about. Someday I may get it to channel three. This is starting to turn into a rambling sob story...ANWAY. We now have two very old TVs. The kids have been using the older one as a bench.

Well, I came home last night to Nate reading the kids a story with a backwoods accent. He claims he was doing this because he has a cold and it is easier to talk in a deep voice with a "hick" accent. Not only is he reading this book with a hick accent, the old TV is on the floor turned on and tuned in to static. He said that he couldn't get the new TV to work with the VCR anymore and he was trying to get it to work again on the old one. It wasn't happening. Let me just say, technical genious that I am, I was able to get it to work on the old TV on the floor. With all of this going on at once, I felt that I had brought a piece of hick town home with us. So pretty much, we now have two very old TVs. The one on the TV stand is turned off. And the old one on the floor, next to the stand, is the one we use.

Then later on last night we put on Spot or some similar show for Will. He was so excited. He grabbed is blanky, shouted "YAY!", and sat right up to the TV, with his nose two inches from the screen.

(NOW LET IT BE KNOWN: I love our little "hick" towns. I'm glad we have the opportunity to visit them often. We mean this term "hick" in a non-offensive and loving way. As Kermit the Frog says on Muppet Treasure Island, to the tribal boars, "We mean no harm to your culture. We embrace all creatures of differing nationalities...." Then the boar yells, "Silence!!" And they proceed with their elaborate introduction of Miss Piggy. Ah, what a great show....if I had it on tape, I might be watching it with the kids on the floor.)

MeriNate

Kidney Market

30

Washed Up

Payment in Popsicles

The Songs I Cannot Sing

Blogger had a bad day

Josie Starr Reeve

netflix

I Want to Live in Word World

Take Two: The New Poll Should Work This Time.

New and Refined Poll

Time to be Funny

A Time to Kill

"You mock my pain!" "Life IS pain, Highness. Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something."

too funny

The Dance

Name a Reeve

Twenty-Eleven

It's a...

Christmas Cards

Antlions vs. Lester update

Soft Rock Stars

Paparazzi Open House

Baked Apples

Nate's Birthday

Halloween 2010 (Updated)

{An UltraSound} Picture Says a Thousand Words

Boys are different from Girls

Meet the Colors

Rainy Day

Behold the Power of Iced Cream!

Shampoo: The Continuing Story

Unity

Take Hold of My Strength

I will be happy when....

Antlions vs. Lester

Life out of Order

New world, new love

I am tired of love triangles in literature!!!!!!!

Good Luck Robbers

After the angel

Privileges

The Jackpot

Extraordinary Measures

The "Geezer" Advantage

NATHAN PASSED THE UTAH BAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Catfishin' with Aunt Helga

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finished

To Conquer

What Gender is Sheri's Baby: Please Cast your Vote

A Few Good News Minutes

Pickles

Christmas Greetings

He Said/She Said: Church Ball......

Cue the Funeral March (Worst Case Scenario Grand Finale)

Worst Case Scenario Results and Next Question

Scrabble Tiles Are Here...

Worst Case Scenario Results and Next Question

Worst Case Scenario Results and Next Question (If you want to play and didn't get a chance to last time: This is your LAST chance)

Worst Case Scenario Blog Game Show (Come Play!)

A Fascitating Halloween

Sad News

It was the best of times, It was the worst of times...

"It's a funny joke sweetie"

Scare Tactics

Terralocomophobia

My Head A Splode

No Peaches

Eating Grass & Fire-Resistant Pajamas

Mike, Charlie, and a tax on the poor

Some Pictures of Graduation

Thanks

Fablehaven

Willbo Joe and Doctor Ellie

April Flashback and Mormon Mom

我 是 为 而 部 猛

My Job Project

The Near Death experience of my Arm

我是为而部猛