This Story Is About Us...

Great Grandma Joyce

2012-01-15T19:07:00.000-08:00

I have been a terrible blogger, and a lot has gone on since I last posted, but I'm not going to post about that right now.

You see, in December my Great Grandma Joyce Savage passed away. She was the strongest, most graceful and classy woman.

When my Great Grandma was young her appendix ruptured inside of her body and, while she was lucky that it didn't kill her, she was unable to have any children because of it. So, she adopted 13 children - some of them were a little bit older, like my Grandma, and some as infants - and was the type of mother who had dinner on the table, kept the house clean, mended the socks, ran her own successful real estate business, and did it all in pearls and heels!

She endured some incredible trails. Her husband left her after 50 years of marriage, she has buried some of her children and watched others fall away from the gospel. Through it all she continued to hold her head high.

My Great Grandma never judged anybody. She only said nice things about people and would tell us that if we couldn't say anything nice we shouldn't say anything at all. People knew that my Great Grandma loved them because she wasn't afraid to show it.

At the end of her life she lived at the nursing home where I work, so I was able to help take care of her and I was able to have a lot of one on one time with her to discuss things. I am so blessed to have had that special time with her.

I could go on and on about what an amazing woman she was, but I will just say that she was and remains one of my greatest heros and I hope to be a quarter of the woman she was.

I love you Great Grandma.

This was taken at our wedding. It is a picture of my Great Grandma, my Grams, my Mom and me - 4 generations of 1st born girls.

October

2011-11-14T09:56:00.000-08:00

It may be the middle of November, but I am just now blogging about October. But you know what they say, better late than never right??

October just flew by! I guess I should get used to that as the holiday season gets into full swing - is it just me, or did it sneak up this year? Phew!

Anyways, it started with my 24th Birthday on the 2nd. Every year my "Birthday weekend" falls on conference weekend, so Saturday night Jon and his dad and brother, Brenden, went to the Priesthood session of conference. I was at work - and afterwards we were all going to meet at Mom and Dad Saline's house. I showed up and they surprised me with this absolutely adorable cake!

Isn't it so darn cute!?
Well, apparently our nephews weren't that interested in the pink purse cake....they were way more interested in Tangled.....
Here's Keagan and Kaleb.

And here's Collin.

Trust me, when it was time to cut the cake, the movie got paused and they were fully present and accounted for! Yum!
Well, our niece Heidi had a hard time waiting for the men-folk to get home from conference - she was trying so hard to get her hands in the cake and when she was finally able to get a piece, she loved it!!!!!

It was so great to be able to spend time with Jon's parents, Shaunalee and her sweet family, and Brenden and Nikki and their babies. Jon especially loves all of our nieces and nephews, and he is so great with them.

After cake and ice cream, we played games and laughed and just had a wonderful time! It was a fantastic birthday party!! Thank you Mom Saline!
The next day (my actual Birthday) my Daddy invited us over to their house so he could make me a Birthday Breakfast (kind of a tradition). Well, he went to get the eggs out of the fridge, and here's what happened........

Look at his sad face! Luckily we still had enough eggs for breakfast and my biscuits and gravy were so darn good!!! Yum!!!!!!!!!!
We spent the rest of the morning lounging around and watching conference (and maybe sleeping a little bit......oops)
It was wondeful!
Later on we went over to my Grams' house. Her Birthday is the 7th of October, so we decided to have a double birthday party. We had a great dinner and then, instead of cake, we had an ice cream sundae bar complete with chopped up candy bars, graham cracker crumbs and peanuts - so good!
I love spending time with family and friends!

It was a really great Birthday!!! Thank you to everyone!
Later on in the month, Jon and I noticed a cat that kept hanging out around out backyard. Well, we have a built-in grill in our backyard with a big counter top area that, it turns out, is hollow underneath. That is where the cat started living.
Just when we were about to run the cat out of our yard, we discovered this

Yup, that's right. The gal-dern cat had 5 baby kittens under our grill! Ugh!!!!
Mamma cat was doing a really good job of taking care of the kittens, and Jon and I were trying to figure out what to do. We didn't want to hurt the kittens or make Mamma leave them. We considered calling the Humane Society, but they are completely full, and we were sure they would euthanize them. So we were just letting them live there while we thought about it.
Then we noticed that we no longer saw Mamma cat anymore - or the 3 bigger kittens. It was just these last 2 kittens, and they were literally dying. They couldn't even stand up anymore. It was absolutely heartbreaking.
Even though we aren't necessarily cat people, and I am allergic, we decided to bring them inside and nurse them back to health.
I even named them...the gray one is Luna and the orange one is Lottie.

That is a picture of them right after we brought them in - don't they look so unhealthy. After a bath, some food and some time, they perked right up.

They are so stinkin' cute, but they are baby kittens which means that they were in to everything! Not to mention the fact that they were abandoned by Mamma before she taught them to clean themselves, so (warning, this might be too much info) while they were easy to litter box train, they always had terrible dingle-berries! Ugh!
They were a full time job and Jon and I simply aren't home often enough to deal with it! Molly is trained, so she is easy, but baby pets are a lot of work!
We kept saying a lot of prayers because we wanted to do what was best for these sweet kittens, but we didn't think we had it in us to keep them
Our prayers were answered and I met a girl who was looking for kittens to keep in the house - she absolutely fell in love with them and we were so relieved! Phew!!!

Finally, October ended with Halloween, and Jon's incredible costume! He spent the entire month making this entire suit of armor out of just duct tape and poster board! All of his "hinges" actually bend, including the fingers!

Isn't he absolutely amazing!! He never ceases to amaze me with how talented he is! He stood outside the door when trick-or-treaters came up, and he would pretend like he was just a decoration - then he would move or jump out at them and scare them! Don't worry, he didn't do it to the really little ones - but it was so darn funny! He's an incredible man!!!!

All the while I have been in rehearsals for "Grease" at NPC where I play Patty Simcox. We just opened this past weekend and we have 3 more performances this Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

October was super busy, super fun, and super fast!!! Bring on the Holidays!

Superheros, Candyland, Homecoming, and Dinner

2011-09-26T09:31:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was wonderful! It was also very busy!
Jon and I went on a little date on Friday night. In classic "white mountain style" we got some dinner at Samurai Sam's and then headed to Wal-Mart to walk around and pick up a few things we needed for the rest of the weekend.
While we were there, we decided to see what is new in the world of toys (since we don't have kids, we don't always get to see the hip-happenin' new toys), and that is where Jon turned in to Thor....

...and Captain America.

I told him that we should put the Captain America picture on a campaign sign someday, "Vote for the Real Captain America!"
He didn't go for it......hmmm......
One of my very favorite things about Jon is how he can make anything fun! He is always making jokes, doing silly things, and making me laugh! I love that guy!

While we were at Wal-Mart, we found the game Candyland on sale! Since our nephews would be coming over later in the weekend, we decided it would be a fun game for them to play.
Turns out it is fun for adults too!! Jon and I played a few rounds after our date, and I won every time - he says it's because I went first every time - because the directions say that the youngest player goes first....
But, he is excited to turn it into high stakes Candyland! hee hee hee

On Saturday night Laney and our new friend (and my next door neighbor) Julie came over to help me get some baking done for Tanner's homecoming group (they were going to come over after the dance), and after the cupcakes were finished (we made chocolate peanut butter cupcakes and oreo cupcakes - yummy!) we got out Candyland! It turned intense fast! If you don't remember how to play, you basically draw a card that has a picture of a colored square. You move your gingerbread man to that color. Some cards have 2 boxes, so you move 2 times, and some cards have a picture of a sweet - ice cream, cupcakes, licorice - which means you have to move to the square with the matching picture. This can be really good or really bad depending on how far you are in the game and where the pictures are located on the board.
Well, while we were playing, we would get to the very end, and get sent back to the beginning....it was a really long game and it was very exciting!! So darn fun!

Around 11:30pm, Tanner and his Homecoming group came over. Apparently the fire alarm went off at the dance because of the fog machines, so they decided to leave when they evacuated the dance - but that meant that they didn't get pictures taken. So, my fancy husband got out his professional lights and started taking pictures. Meanwhile, I got some snapshots with my iphone....

This is Tanner and his beautiful date Brooklynn. She is such a nice girl and it looked like they were having a great time!

I was so impressed by this group of kids. They were so polite - even the young men asked if they could help me in the kitchen when I was getting some food on some plates for them, and then again if they could help clean up before they left! They were so appreciative, and just all around great kids!
It was kind of a whirlwind because they all had to be home by midnight (curfew), but I was so happy that Tanner had asked if he could bring his group here. He is such a great guy and I am so proud of the young man he is becoming!

On Sunday I got up and started making bread dough. It was fast Sunday in the Snowflake stake, and we are trying to get a tradition of having a Saline family dinner every fast Sunday, so Mom and Dad Saline and Beau and Shaunalee and their kids were coming over for dinner - and I was making Navajo Tacos.

After church I started making the fry bread...

Then the family showed up. Poor Dad Saline couldn't be there because - as a surprise to all of us, including Dad Saline - Taylor Stake did not have fast Sunday, and since he is in the Stake Presidency, he ended up at meetings for the entire dinner. We missed him and we felt so bad that he wasn't there.

But it was so nice to visit with Mom Saline and Shauna and her wonderful little family!! They all got to see our house, and we got to talk about Shauna's new house and how the renovations are coming. I can't wait to go see it! It was so fun to see Keagan, Kaleb, and Heidi. They are so sweet and they also loved Candyland! I'm telling you, it's a game for all ages.

Unfortunately, I was a lame-o at taking pictures at the family dinner, but trust me when I tell you, it was so darn fun and the kids were so darn cute!

Finally, yesterday was Jon's older brother Brenden's birthday. Jon got to talk with him on the phone, but we did miss not being able to celebrate with them. I hope it was great Brenden!

And that was the weekend! Phew!! It was absolutely fantastic!!!

P.S. On Saturday morning, Jon and I went to the rummage sale at the Catholic church and we found the most darling chairs for only $4 a piece. Don't have pictures of them yet, but I will post them soon....they are fantastic!

Blog Makeover

2011-09-22T15:15:00.000-07:00

Well folks, over and over again I have said that I was going to give my blog a makeover, but I have never gotten around to it. My Blogging Genius sis-in-law Nikki gave me a bunch of pointers, but did I actually use them - no, I kept them on hand for "someday".

I am pleased to announce that "someday" is today!

With the help of Nikki and a newfound blog site that I am in love with called Shabby Blogs (shabbyblog.com), I have beautified and organized my online life.

No, I still don't know how to make my own backgrounds and fancy things - I am still using other people's brilliance for that - but I have learned some fun ways to personalize, and it's a really exciting jumping point for me!

The most exciting part to me is the discovery of "pages". I have now been able to organize some of my favorite blogging ideas! This "home" page will be the page for all of my personal stuff. Stories about Jon and me and the house and the dog and the family, and everything else. Then I am bringing back "The Tasty Club" blog. Some of you may remember the story behind it - if not, I will give you a refresher on that page. You will also find that I have an entirely new page for "Malori Reviews All Sorts of Stuff" where, if you're not familiar, I do precisely that, I review everything in the world. And, last but not least, I am trying out "The Good In the World" again. This is the page where I post the good stuff I see taking place in the world - because it is still there.

Anyways, this will be great because then, if you aren't particularly interested in any of these things, it's much easier to avoid reading them!

Basically, it is going to be a lot of fun for me. I enjoy writing down my thoughts and I hope you enjoy reading them.

What The Hail?!

2011-09-13T15:38:00.000-07:00

Today started off normal. The sun was shinning. The sky was blue. Absolutely perfect weather.

I even had a conversation with the oldsters at work about how nice the weather was. They noticed that the little decorative windmills in the courtyard weren't even moving.

On the way home from work, we turned on the air conditioner.

Then I went to my mom's house to visit, we heard some thunder, and then......

WHAM!

It sounded like rocks were being shot into the house! It was so loud and kinda scary.

We looked out the window (and what did we see - can't help but finish that phrase that way, but this was not popcorn), and this is what we saw!!

Yes, that's right, it looks like it snowed!! The hail was a little bit smaller than marbles and I picked them up and they were solid ice!

It was crazy because it only hailed/rained for about 15 minutes, and it looked like this! The roads in our little neighborhood are running with water and the roofs (is that what they are called?? Or is it rooves?? Hmmmmm...... you grammar geniuses need to help me out with this one. While you're at it, what do you call more than on rhinoceros?) are covered in white.

Well, all of this insanity happened about an hour ago, and now the sun is shinning, there is hardly a cloud in the sky and not even a breeze. We have come completely full circle!

I guess that's why they say that only a newcomer or a fool tries to predict the weather in Arizona!

Sneak Peek!!

2011-09-07T09:46:00.000-07:00

It's official!! Jon and I are homeowners! Yep, you heard it, we closed on our house on the 26th of September, and we have all of our stuff here. It is still in boxes and still mostly in the garage, but it is all here and we are slowly getting all moved in.

Here are a few pics of our house from our moving day!

This is the kitchen and the living room area - it is all sort of a big great room and I love the open floor plan!

This is a picture of our new fridge. The house came with all of the other appliances, but we had to get our own fridge, and this is the one we chose! It just got delivered yesterday (after spending an entire week without one - you don't realize how much you miss it when you can't have things like milk, butter, eggs, or even ice cream!) and I keep opening and closing it just to look!

Of course I will post more pics as I get the rest of the house put together - I am so excited about decorating and maybe even painting some walls!

Jon and I are absolutely in love with our new home and we feel so blessed because things just went so smoothly. We have heard horror stories about buying homes - things just not working out, or having so many stressful bumps in the road, but we didn't have any problems and the whole process went so fast!

Come visit us!!! We would love it!

Catch-Up

2011-07-19T08:19:00.000-07:00

It has been since the very beginning of May since I last posted - Wow!!! It seems like instead of moving to Snowflake, I fell off of the face of the planet (as far as the Blog world is concerned).

So I'm going to give you a nutshell catch-up of what we have been up to...it's picture-less, sorry.....

We moved up here to Snowflake and we both started working right away. Jon is working for the Taylor Law Office, and he really enjoys it! It us such an improvement from his last job that was so high stress and kept him at the office until 3am! It is only him at one other attorney, so Jon is able to learn a lot more and take on a lot more. We really like everyone who works there and Jon is a much happier guy!

I am working at the Carriage House - a nursing home for the elderly that my Grandma owns. I had worked there before (about 5 or 6 years ago) so, after a brush up training course, I was back in the groove of things (who knew that taking care of the elderly was like riding a bike....). It's a good job and such a blessing to take care of these wonderful people who can't take care of themselves anymore. I get to hear amazing stories, and I have absolutely fallen in love with the residents!

I know I promised to send you pictures of the cute little house we are renting - but I haven't had a chance to do that yet, and hopefully we won't be living here much longer (I know, another move - ugh!!). You see, our house recently switched owners (long story....) and since we are no longer bound to our lease, and another house is up for sale in our same neighborhood, we are looking into buying it. This other house is much bigger and it is a short sale, so it is going for very cheap! We love it so much! We are currently working with the lender and doing all of that stuff....paperwork that goes for miles....but we are really hoping to get it and be moving into it in the next couple of months. And this move won't be nearly as bad because it is just up the road (and we have been so busy, a lot of our stuff isn't unpacked from the last move!!).

In other news, Jon and I have also started adoption paperwork. We have spent a lot of time thinking and praying over this decision and we feel like it is the right thing to do. We have always wanted to adopt whether we could have our own children or not, so this seemed like a perfect time (when we seem to be delayed on our own). Now, this process is very long and we are only in "phase 1" so don't expect any exciting news for a very long time - but we are excited to be moving forward toward a family.

Speaking of family - it has been so wonderful to be back home and around our families! It's so nice to have the love and support so close by! We are always doing fun things - I had really missed them. Of course, it has been hard to leave our family in the valley - I miss my nieces and nephews (still haven't come up with a word to combine those - I'll let you know when I do) and my brothers and sisters-in-law...but we aren't too far away from them so they can still visit.

Well folks, that is the world's fastest catch-up, but it gets us back up to speed.

I'm going to do my best to not go another two and a half months before my next post!!!

Welcome to Snowflake

2011-05-03T08:06:00.000-07:00

This past Friday and Saturday we officially moved to Snowflake. Dad Saline and Jon's cousin Michael were nice enough to bring down a giant horse trailer and they helped us load our wall-o-boxes (which had grown quite a bit since my last post) and all of our furniture. It was a big job! In fact, Michael's mom Beth, his sister LaRee and her boyfriend all came over with their trucks to help us load some stuff! It was so nice of them to take the time to do that!

On Saturday morning, we got up and unloaded everything. This went way faster! My Mommy and Daddy were there too and we were able to unload in just about two hours! Then Mommy and Daddy and my sister Buggy Butt (Laney) helped us start the unpacking process. Phew!

I actually enjoy the unpacking part. It's fun to find new places for things, and it gives me a chance to re-organize my life. A perfect way to start a big change in our lives.

Jon's first day at his new job at the Taylor Law Offices (working as an actual attorney!!) yesterday, and he really enjoyed it! And I begin my new job at the Carriage House next Tuesday. I have worked there before - a few years ago - and it will be fun to be back.

Oh - let me tell you a little bit about our house! It is an actual house! We have lived in an actual house on campus, but it still felt like an apartment because of the way the community is set up. This is an actual house in a neighborhood with people who are established, with new families...it's just a "normal" neighborhood instead of such a temporary neighborhood. Does that make sense?

We have 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, a huge backyard with grass and a sprinkler system - and our fridge has an ice/water dispenser on the door!!!! It even does crushed ice!!! Wow!!

We are so excited about the new chapter in our lives!

I will post pictures of our house and stuff when we get unpacked....right now it's just boxes everywhere! :-)

Growing Wall-O-Boxes

2011-04-15T17:31:00.000-07:00

Well folks, as you can see, the wall-o-boxes is gradually getting bigger and bigger. We still have two weeks until M-Day (Moving Day), but between classes, Jon's work, and Easter, we are really trying to get as much done as we can early. This weekend is going to be a big push, and by the end of it, we will probably be living out of suitcases. We already only have 2 cups to use, but that is perfect - why do we need a whole cabinet of them when we aren't expecting any company, and we can just wash these two over and over again.

We had a little bit of a delay on the packing last weekend, but it was for a great weekend! The entire Saline family was down here in the valley for little Heidi's Birthday and little Elle's baby blessing. We did the birthday party here at my house, and it was great! Everything looked so cute! Shaunalee had great ideas and my entire dining room was decorated in pink and green for her "sweet pea" theme. No, I didn't get a picture of it - I was busy - but trust me when I tell you it was really cute!

Sunday we went to Elle's blessing. She looked beautiful in the amazing dress my sister-in-law Nikki made. Can you believe that? She made a blessing dress!! And it was an incredible dress!! She is simply amazing!
After the blessing we went to Brenden and Nikki's house for a little lunch/dinner party.

It was so fun to see everyone and watch all of the little kids playing with each other.

I am getting anxious to move. I don't really like the "in-between" stage. It will be nice to be up there and settled. It will be nice for Jon to be at his new job. I will be so happy to have a job again to be bringing in some extra money. It will be great to be up there with family (though I will really miss the family we have down here).

I can't wait to post pictures from our new house! Only 15 more days (not that anyone is counting....)

2011-04-01T08:58:00.000-07:00

Thank you all so much for your sweet thoughts you wrote about my last post. We really are excited about this new job and this move - everything is just working out so smoothly, and we just really feel like this is the right move for us - and we can't wait!

As you can see, the packing process is well under way. These are not the only boxes we have finished so far, some of them are just in other rooms, and they are too heavy for me to want to move them to our wall-o-boxes....so they are waiting for Jon and his muscles to come home!

Now, I have some thoughts about moving (I know, you are not surprised - I have thoughts about everything!) and I am going to share them with you:

1) I do not like packing! My dad says that the first punishment given to Adam and Eve after eating the fruit was having to move out of the Garden (as you can tell, he does not like moving either!)

2) Even though I don't like packing, it is nice to go through all of our stuff and get rid of a lot of it. Our goal is to not have to buy any new boxes....it's amazing how much junk you collect after even just a few short years!

3) This is our 4th move in 3 1/2 years, so we have a little bit of a system. Our boxes are already labeled, so most of the time we can just make sure we fill the boxes up with what it says on the outside - we already know that the stuff will fit, and we don't have to waste more Sharpie ink

4) Sharpies go dry much quicker when you are writing on a dusty cardboard box.

5) Clothes make really great bubble wrap. Bubble wrap is kind of spendy - and, we have used paper towels in the past, but that's a huge waste! Of course newspaper works great, but when you run out - clothes or spare material are a great alternative! It's summer, so it's not sweater season, so why not use those sweaters to wrap up your breakables? You need to bring your sweaters with you, and this way your breakables get padding, and you don't have to waste an entire box on sweaters! (Dirty clothes are great too.....of course none of you have enough dirty clothes just laying around to use for a move like I do...)

6) Last time we moved we ended up moving all of our stuff at least 4 times! We would stack everything in one spot, then we would need to clean that area, so we would move everything to a different spot! When we were finally moving them into the truck, they were in a back bedroom and kind of hard to get out. Not very bright on our part! This time we are stacking everything right next to the front door - duh right? Live and learn I guess.....

7) Finally, the last time we moved a lot of our pictures and picture frames (you know, the ones that go on the wall) got all scratched up or broken...and I am trying to figure out a better way to pack them. The problem is that our pictures are all different sizes and they don't fit in boxes very well. Do any of you have ideas about packing these difficult pictures?

So, those are my (incredibly boring) thoughts about moving. I am really excited about getting up there and unpacking - I think unpacking is fun because it's always nice to put your things in a nice new place.

If any of you have any brilliant moving tips that you have learned - I am all ears! Anything to make this process easier would be so great to hear!

Movin' On Up

2011-03-23T08:01:00.000-07:00

That's right, we are movin' on up the mountain. To Snowflake that is.

Jon has accepted an offer from Shawn Taylor, of the Taylor Law Offices in Snowflake so we will be heading up there in May.

We met with Shawn and his wife last weekend. Jon talked with Shawn for a while and then we all went to dinner at Eva's (where else?) so we could all get to know each other. I really like the Taylors! They are incredibly nice and I love how family oriented they are and the office is.

Jon was given an offer at Weisburg and Meyers down here in Phoenix (where he is working as a clerk right now), so we had a big decision to make. Don't get me wrong, we have felt so blessed to have a choice between two great jobs - there are so many people who can't even find one decent job! We are really blessed.

We weighed the decision and did a lot of praying and fasting.

In the end, we felt very strongly that the move up to Snowflake is the right one for us.

So, we are going to start packing up the house (we are going to start now - there is only about a month and I really don't want to be rushed! Then we can go through stuff and get rid of the things we don't need. It would be really nice to do some deep cleaning) and head out.

It's an exciting change for us! It will be nice to be closer to family, but we will really miss all of our friends and family down here.

Look Out Snowflake - Here We Come!!

Finally!!!

2011-03-13T18:36:00.000-07:00

I just posted that I would keep you updated on Jon's law paperwork, but I didn't realize that I would have something to talk about so soon!

Well, last night we checked the mail, and there it was...Jon's certificate that says that he has officially been accepted to the Arizona State Bar! That means the is officially an attorney!
We not longer have to qualify it with "well, he's still waiting for his paperwork, so he's not an attorney quite yet..." because he is official!

I am married to a full fledged attorney! Holy Cow!

Our entire lives together have been in anticipation of this. When we started dating, Jon was just starting to get his acceptance letters back from different law schools and he was trying to figure out which one to attend. While we were dating he (well, we...) decided to go to ASU and he began to prepare to go. We got married and two days later he started his first day of law school. Three years later he graduated (with honors), and began to study for the Bar Exam. A few months later he found out he had passed. Then we waited for his Character and Fitness paperwork to go through. We got a letter to tell us that he passed that, and we turned in his Oath of Office paperwork....and we waited again.

But now, here we are almost exactly four years later (since we began dating and the law school process) and we have reached the goal!

I could not be more proud of my husband. I know that you probably get sick of hearing me say that, but he has gone through so much to accomplish this. It has been so hard on him, it has been really frustrating for him, it has been stressful and exhausting - and now he can breath a sigh of relief because he is finally Jon H. Saline, esq.

So fancy!

Now he just needs to figure out where he wants to work and what he wants to do with this new title!

And so another chapter in our story begins!!

Malori Reviews All Sorts of Stuff

2011-03-11T10:40:00.000-08:00

First of all, this does not include the video that I keep promising.
Second of all, I was recently told that my posts are way too long...and I have been trying to take that advice and shorten my posts...but this post is going to be long. If you get tired of reading, please feel free to stop. You do not have to read the entire post, it won't hurt my feelings.

In my last post I mentioned my yoga class and how much I love it! I ended up needing one credit in order to stay in our student housing, so I found a yoga class that fit my schedule. I was really nervous to take it at first. I was afraid that I would be the chunky chick who had only done a "Yoga for Dummies" video in her living room and had zero flexibility. I had no idea what to expect from a real yoga class.
I was so thrilled to discover that nobody else in the class had ever taken a yoga class before! There are ladies in there who have 3 or 4 kids and are trying to lose the "baby weight". There is a middle-aged man who is trying to recover from a car accident, and many other people who are just learning. So, I was not the only one with no experience.
My teacher is incredible! Of course she is absolutely beautiful and I don't think she has an ounce of fat on her - solid muscle - but she is so patient and she doesn't judge us on our lack of flexibility. She is understanding and she modifies for our levels of ability. But, she is also very good at pushing us. She doesn't let us get away with keeping everything super easy. We break a sweat each week and we get really great stretches every week!
Now, I don't know if a class would be this fantastic if it were in an actual yoga studio place where the people who attend are hard-core yoga folks, so I might continue to take it at a Community College....but I would recommend that everyone take it! I want to take a yoga class continuously for the rest of my life - it just feels so good!

There are only two seasons of this show on Netflix. I don't know if those are the only two season ever, but I wish there were more! This show is so darn cute! It is like a giant chick-flick! Christina Applegate is absolutely adorable!
Here's the basic idea - Samantha Newly wakes up from a coma after having been hit by a car, and she had amnesia. She can't remember anything about her life before the accident. She doesn't know her friends, her parents, her boyfriend...anything! As she is going about her life, she learns, both through other people and memory flashbacks, that she was a terrible person. She was mean to people all the time, she cheated on her boyfriend, she didn't have any problems with hurting peoples feelings or breaking the law.
Now she is trying to start over as a good person, but her past keeps sneaking up on her.
This show is so funny. You absolutely fall in love with Christina Applegate's character and her best friends and boyfriend.
I really recommend it!

Ok, this picture is a little bit scary, but it is the cover of the book. I have read a few of Steven Kings' stuff in the past and have been extremely impressed by how darn talented he is as a writer. That having been said, I have not enjoyed all of his stories. I'm not a huge fan of horror, so "It" and "Carrie" were not my cup of tea ("Carrie" wasn't so much scary as it was depressing). He does have a book called "On Writing" that is awesome. It is...well...on writing. He writes about how to write. Defiantly worth picking up if you have any interest in writing.
About "'Salem's Lot" - obviously this is a vampire book, but it is nothing like "Twilight". It is set in a very tiny town that is out of the way of anywhere. Steven King has an incredible way of making you remember everyone in the whole town and you actually feel for them.
I don't want to ruin the book for you, and I think that anything I say might mess it up for you. But, it is a really great book. Not too scary and it really sucks you in. Steven King is so darn talented!

Jon and I just got some refurbished iPhone 3Gs and we also switched to AT&T. AT&T was running a sale for $50 iPhone 3G's, but we looked at the refurbished ones and found them for $20! So we got 2 for half the price of one - on sale! We didn't switch to AT&T because we wanted iPhones though. We switched because we can get two phones with data plans for less that what it costs to get two phones with no data plans with Verizon. Not to mention how unimpressed with have been with Verizon's customer service lately. When I was ordering our phones online I was able to chat with a sales representative and she was so darn nice! I was really impressed with how kind and helpful they were and they stayed online with me until I was able to check-out and complete my purchase. I know that is just a way for them to get sales, but I am telling you that they were way more pleasant than Verizon has been to us.
Now we are still really new to AT&T so I will let you know how it goes, but I am loving the iPhones! My last phone didn't have any games or anything - texting and talking and that was it! Now I don't even know what to do with everything I can do!! It's almost overwhelming! Plus, texting is way more phone when it pops up in little "thinking bubbles" - I don't know why that makes it so much more fun, but it sure does!!
What is the most exciting about this switch is the fact that we actually have phones that work! Jon's old phone would only stay charged for 3-5 minutes, then it would turn off and you would have to plug it in for 15-20 minutes in order to turn it back on! This got really frustrating when we were trying to figure out plans for the day or when Jon has to work late and he has no way of letting me know or whatever. It also makes me worried to drive without phones ya know? What if something happened?
So now, we both have phones that work and I don't have to worry about my hubby as much! Yay!

Finally, this isn't so much a review as it is me venting a little bit. As you know, Jon graduated from law school in May. He then studied like crazy and took the bar exam in July. We waited for months and finally learned that he had passed the bar exam! Then we waited (less than patiently) for his Character and Fitness report to be approved by the Supreme Court (it's a report full Jon had to fill out that told them every place he has ever lived, people who knew him in those places, and every place he has ever worked, and people who knew him there. We had to wait for the Supreme Court to mail a letter to each of these people and they had to mail a letter back about Jon's character, and they had to do a complete background check of him - which was easy since Jon has never even had a traffic ticket!).
Finally a letter came in saying that he passed the Character and Fitness part. He should be an attorney by now right? Nope, not yet. He had to fill out another form that he had to get notarized because it was his oath of office and he had to send that in to the Supreme Court. Now we are waiting for his certificate to come in to say that he is actually, finally an attorney! That should come in any day now, and it is feeling like an eternity! This has been such a long process and it is getting so frustrating for Jon because he is so ready to actually work as an attorney!
It will be so exciting when we finally get that paper - stay tuned for updates!
I'm so proud of Jon and everything that he has accomplished! He is such an incredible man and I am so lucky to have him as my guy!

I hope that wasn't too long and boring.....

Contemporary Cinema

2011-03-09T09:36:00.000-08:00

I know I promised that I would post an awesome video of a dumb idea I had at the lake - but I don't have the video and I am waiting to get it so I can post it....

So, instead I am going to tell you about my Contemporary Cinema class.

I don't know if I told you about my scheduling nightmare this semester, so here is a really, really brief synopsis of that story:
The advisors at CGCC don't know what they are talking about, and after speaking with 3 of them and getting a huge run around, I didn't end up with any of the classes that I needed, except for the math class. Still, I needed to have at least 6 credits in order to stay in Student Housing, so I filled it in with a couple of classes that just sounded fun - yoga and Contemporary Cinema.

Well, I absolutely love my yoga class and I would like to take a yoga class every semester for the rest of my college career - shoot, for the rest of my life!

As for my cinema class - I am actually really enjoying it. I wasn't sure how I would feel about it, but it turns out I am actually really interested in film. We started out with movies in the late '60s and we have just progressed through the movies that have made an impact on culture through time. In fact, I think I could see myself looking into a future in film, like majoring in film or something.

Here is my dilemma - most of the movies we have watched are rated R. It's not as though my teacher specifically picked rated R movies, it's just that a lot of the big movies that have impacted society have been rated R. Movies like "The Graduate" and "The Godfather" and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". Some of these movies I have enjoyed, and some of these movies I haven't particularly cared for, but more than the movies, I really enjoy learning about how they reflected society's attitudes, or even how it molded society's attitudes towards everything. It's amazing to see.

But, I know that we have been counseled by our prophets not to watch rated R movies. I have been trying, and succeeding in this for a long time now. You see how this is a problem? Name one movie that was nominated for Best Picture this year that was not rated R (Ok, "Inception"- name 2 movies that were not rated R....). It's impossible to study film while not watching rated R films because, whether we like it or not, the big films that make an impact, are, a lot of the time, rated R.

So, while it is fascinating and probably something I could see myself going into, I don't believe I will take anymore film classes after this one. But, I am glad that I am taking this one because it truly is fascinating.

I Love Being An Aunt...

2011-02-16T10:41:00.000-08:00

I am the oldest of 3, and my sister and brother are not old enough to be having kids yet (but it will be so darn fun when they are!!!), but I inherited the title of "aunt" when I married my amazing husband! When I first joined the Saline family, I had two nephews, Keagan and Kaleb. In fact, my Mom-In-Law was in Alaska with my Sis-In-Law Shaunalee when Jon proposed because Kaleb had just been born.
Then, about a year and a half ago, my Sis-In-Law Nikki had Collin.

-quick little story about Collin, the other day after Nikki's surprise baby shower (which was a success by the way) I stopped by her house to drop some things off that had been forgotten. Nikki opened the door and Brenden came to the door with Collin in his arms. Collin saw me and reached his arms out to me. I took him from Brenden and he gave me the biggest hug! Both of his arms with wrapped around my shoulders and his head was buried in my neck. Then he gave me the sweetest kiss on the lips (he doesn't know how to kiss anywhere else yet...I love it!) and another big hug! I thought my heart was going to explode! He is so sweet!

Then a year ago (on the 22nd of this month) my other Sis-In-Law Kimbalie had my sweet niece Emerie.
A couple of months after that, Shaunalee had another baby - the cute little Heidi.

Well, last night Nikki had my sixth niece/nephew (they should come up with a word that combines those...like niephew...or nephiece...ok I will have to work on that one...)

Welcome to the world Elle Lane Saline!!!!!

Isn't she absolutely beautiful!?! I haven't met her yet, but I'm already in love with her! She looks so much like Collin! I can't wait to get to know her like I have the rest of my niecephews (no, that doesn't work either).
Congratulations Brenden and Nikki!!!!!

Since I'm talking about my nieces and nephews (I gave up on combining the words...for now...) I had to post this picture of Emerie. I am so blessed to be able to babysit her on Tuesdays, and yesterday I was trying to catch her doing this face that she does where she grins and scrunches up her nose and her head and it so so cute...but she stopped doing it every time I aimed the camera at her....but I caught this face and it was priceless!

I love being an Aunt and I can't wait until Laney Bug and Tanner Man are old enough to have some little ones too (Ok...I can wait you guys....I can wait a long, long time! hee hee hee)

PS - I have some really great videos to post...here is a teaser: Freezing cold water, sweat pants, and a bet....do I have your attention??

Little Wonders...

2011-01-20T15:31:00.000-08:00

If you read my last post you saw that Jon and I went to "As You Wish!" and painted some ceramic dishes. It was so darn fun!!! I promised that when Jon picked them up I would put a picture of the finished product on the blog.
So here it is!

This is my plate. My house is decorated with reds and blacks, so I wanted something that would match. I don't know if I have told you the story about "Little Wonders" before, but if I did, I will tell you again!
Jon and I met one a blind date. We went out on a Wednesday and we went out another 2 times within a week!! Needless to say, we were really interested in each other. Well, we are both just grown-up kids and the movie "Meet The Robinsons" was coming out. If you haven't heard of it you should hurry up and see it!!!! It is a Disney Pixar film and it is pretty great. Anyways, before the movie, Jon told me that I could hold his hand if I got scared (in a cartoon! Isn't he cute?). Well throughout the movie, I kept my hand available. You girls know what I mean, setting your hand on the arm rest, palm facing up...but in a way that doesn't look too desperate, but that is noticeable enough for the guy to see it....
Well, even when the movie got intense (for a cartoon movie), Jon didn't hold my hand. As we were walking out of the movie theater (by this point I am feeling kind of discouraged...) it was as though he got the courage and he just grabbed my hand....and I got chills through my whole body!!!
He tells me now that he had told me to hold his hand, but I was never the type to make the first move....
Well, that movie has a song in it by Rob Thomas called "Little Wonders" and after we had been dating for a little while, we both fell in love with it and then after we got married, we felt like this song was perfect for us. It has sort of become the theme of our marriage...the theme for our lives. And - bonus - it has a great memory attached to it for us!
If you haven't heard the song, look it up and listen to the words - it is a great pick-me-up!

This is Jon's. You have to look at his from all different views because it is so fancy. He liked this bowl with the different shape and he meticulously drew out this pattern, traced it, and then filled it in. He made it so we could put our keys in it (we don't have anything to put our keys in, so we are always losing them), but it looks so cool I don't want our keys to scratch it or chip it! Jon says that's silly, but...can you blame me? It is so darn fancy!

And finally...
I feel like I need to start an entire new segment called "things I have burned" because this is twice in a row that I have had a picture of something that I burned!
This is actually something of a miracle. Yesterday I made spaghetti for dinner. I was planning on finishing the dishes this morning and I completely forgot to go in and put the leftovers in a tupperware....well this morning Jon went in to the kitchen and he realized that the stove had been on all night! It was on the low setting with the pan over it all night long. It is a miracle that we didn't burn the house down or die of inhaling the gas or something! We made certain to include that miracle in our prayers this morning. We were so blessed that even our pot came out of it unscathed......which just brings me back to all of the little wonders in our lives.

As You Wish.....

2011-01-17T07:56:00.000-08:00

On Saturday Jon took me on a fun date to As You Wish! That fun place where you paint the ceramic stuff and they put it in a kiln and make it all shiny and fancy. We went there for my birthday with my family, and we had a blast, so Jon wanted to go back.

Jon is always so fancy, so while I just painted some big letters on my plate - he drew his design out on a piece of paper, and then he drew it on his bowl with a straight edge and then he traced around it with paint, and then he filled it in.......he is just such an artist!

We had a blast! I love going there! It is so nice to get out of the house, sit together at a table, and just talk while we work on a fun project.
Jon is picking them up on Tuesday - I will post a picture of the finished products when we get them home!

In other news, Jon got a giant Nerf gun for Christmas from my Grams (along with all of the other boys in the family). When I say giant - I mean GIANT!! This thing is huge and it uses 4 D-batteries to power it because it works like a machine gun! You just have to hold the trigger down and it unloads a clip of darts! It is some serious Nerf-power!

Now I need to go get me a Nerf gun so I can protect myself from sneak attacks! Imagine coming around a corner and seeing that face and that giant Nerf gun!! Eeeeeeeek!!
(Note:: The darts don't hurt one bit, and Jon let me shoot him first so he could see if they hurt before he would even dream of shooting me....isn't he a gentleman)

So,I saw the craziest show ever the other night! I flipped on TLC around 11pm (yup, way to late to be awake on a Saturday night....that might explain why were late to church the next day....oops) and there was a show called "Extreme Couponing" and, while I thought it would be a show about a bunch of eccentric people and their crazy coupon habits, I ended up being inspired!! There was a 24 year old lady who clipped coupons and researched store sales and stuff - she had a huge binder filled with coupons, and they were all organized by sections of the store (ie; health and beauty, refrigerated, frozen...etc.). Well, she took her binder and a "battle plan" (she had a list of what she was getting and how many of each product) and headed to Safeway. She loaded up her cart with Barilla pasta, Ragu sauce, deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, A&W Root Beer, 7Up, Sprite, and tons of other name brand things. Her total came to over $600.00. Then she handed the cashier her coupons, and as he rang them up you could literally watch the total roll down...and down...and down...until she reached $2.64. Can you believe that???? She left the store with over $600 worth of merchandise (all brand name, not off-brand) and she only paid $2!!!!! I was amazed!!
There were similar stories of other people who did the same things.
The thing that amazed me the most were the year-supplies these people had! Each one of them had enough storage for their families to live, comfortably, for at least 2-3 years! One guy had so much deodorant, he and his wife wouldn't have to buy any for 150 years! Another lady hadn't bought toothpaste or toothbrushes in over 30 years, and she had enough to last her for another 5 years!
One man had a food storage containing about $80,000 worth of merchandise ranging from non-perishable food, to frozen food, to hygiene stuff and he said that he had paid maybe $1,000 for the entire thing.
Now, I have never been one to clip coupons. I have never wanted to be the "Coupon Lady" and I almost have a fear of using them...but when I saw how much money these people were saving on things that I buy on a regular basis for full price, I was inspired to try it out!
So, I am going to start couponing. I don't think I will get as crazy as these people were (one lady dug through the recycling bins to find discarded coupons), but I think I am going to actively pay attention and strategize before I go to the grocery store. It will take me some time to build my coupon stash, but when I do, I think it will pay off.
I am going to document my coupon journey here on my blog.

Which brings me to my last topic. As you know I have a few different "segments" of my blog (reviews, Just Sayin', Tasty Club, The Good In the World...and now my Coupon Journey) and I would like to get them a little bit more organized. I have seen these fancy tabs at the tops of my friends' blogs and I think that is exactly what I need....but I can't figure out how to get them....
So my blogging-genius sister-in-law is going to help me figure it out, and hopefully I will be able to get this blog mess under control. Just another step toward my "Getting Organized" goal!

Brownies, Survival, and I'm Just Sayin'....

2011-01-10T08:42:00.000-08:00

Jon's twin brother Lon taught us how to make Survival Bracelets! They are so awesome! Not only do they look super cool while you wear them, they are also very useful in an emergency. You see, they are made out of really strong cord, and there is a ton of it tied into this tiny little bracelet! So, if we ever got into a bind, we would be able to take the knot out and have a lot of rope! How brilliant is that!?
Lon made a few of them for Jon's sister and her family for Christmas - he also made a really cool belt that has so much extra rope!!
We are really excited about them!

Thanks for letting us use your materials and teaching us this fancy new skill Lon!

In other news, I was making some Mississippi Mud brownies (to take to someone's house, not to eat by myself - just thought I would point that out since I am on a diet) and they had an Oreo cookie crust. I thought it would be really cool to make it in a spring-form pan so that I could take the side off and you would be able to see the fancy crust and the marshmallows on the sides. It works for cheesecake, so what could possible go wrong??
Well, I didn't take into account that the mix was a lot more liquid-y then cheesecake mix. And, I didn't think to put a cookie sheet underneath just in case....so this is what I found at the bottom of my oven when I started to smell the burn.....

No, they are not little pieces of poop, they are little pieces of scorched brownie.
Luckily, the majority of the batter hardened up and the brownies were a success.....phew!

Ok, I am going to start a new little segment on my blog called "I'm Just Sayin'" where I am going to share my thoughts and opinions about politics, religion, current events, or just...ya know...whatever. I really hope that, during these little segments, you will comment about your thoughts on the topic - whether you agree with me or not. I am really interested in what you think and I think we all sometimes like having an outlet to share our opinions without a fear of being judged or having to worry about offending someone.
So here goes......
We have all heard about the tragic shooting that happened in Tucson over the weekend. I was absolutely in shock when I first heard about it. It was so horrible and I truly believe that that man was completely disturbed. On Saturday, the day that it happened, Jon and I had the news on all afternoon to see the new details and the updates of the case. I was very impressed - on Saturday - by how bipartisan all of the networks were being. They weren't bringing up Gabrielle Gifford's political views aside from the fact that she is a democrat. Everyone simply announced the facts and how tragic it was.
Unfortunately the attitude has changed since Saturday. Today the tragedy has suddenly become the fault of the Tea Party, Glenn Beck, the Republican Party as a whole, and Gun-Toting Arizona instead of the fault of a deranged psycho who literally lost his gal-dern mind!
Come on Media People - what Right-Wing-er really believes that the "English Grammar" is a form of brainwashing by the government? Seriously people?? I mean.......seriously?
This has moved way past a Right or Left issue. This man was really unstable. His issues were so out of the realm of political parties. He does not make up the mind-set of the "average" American. I mean, he was expelled from Pima Community College pending a psych evaluation to prove that he wasn't a danger, the military deemed him mentally unfit to join......one of his classmates said that he gave her the creeps and that he wold be "one of those guys you will see on the news after he brings a gun to work". But of course the politicians are already starting to talk about making it a federal offense to say things that "might sound like a threat" against the government or any politician or whatever.....and, of course they are talking about re-evaluating gun laws.
If we outlaw things every time some crazy person does something crazy, we will have absolutely no freedom. I hate that this horrible thing happened. I hate that people died and were injured. I hate that Loughner (the shooter) felt enough hate in his heart that he felt like this was the right thing to do.
That having been said, I don't think that making new laws is going to prevent these types of things from happening. I mean, if you are determined to kill somebody, you have moved past caring that your weapon of choice is against the law.
I don't have a solution to keep things like this from happening. I think it is very important for politicians to be out among the people to understand their concerns and thoughts. I think it is important for us to maintain our freedoms. And I think this is just a really horrible tragedy and Loughner should pay for his crimes.
This is not the fault of a political party, a political commentator, or a lack of laws - it is the fault of an unhinged psycho.
I'm Just Sayin'.....
Tell me your thoughts.

Finally, this is a picture of Jon and I from when we were dating. I love this picture so much and it has been my wallpaper on my phone since we took it.
I love my husband so much and I think he is just do darn handsome! So, I thought I would share!

2011 and Stuff

2011-01-06T07:06:00.000-08:00

Christmas was incredible this year! Jon and I had a great time with family, and we got so spoiled! It was awesome and we are so blessed to have such incredible families who love us so much! We love you guys!

Now it is 2011. Did that sneak up on you like it did on me? I mean, I felt like Christmas was sneaky this year, but New Years really just jumped right out there, and...BOO! It was 2011! Wow! I feel like 2010 was the fastest year of my whole life!

There are a lot of people of people who don't like New Years resolutions - they feel like you shouldn't have to set goals at the beginning of the year but they should instead be setting goals throughout the year. I agree, we should be setting goals throughout the year. Still, I am what Jon likes to call, a "Monday girl". I won't start a diet or a new goal until Monday because that is the beginning of a new week and I like to start things fresh. If it is really close to a new month, I won't start a new goal until the new month (and if that new month starts on a Monday...well, I am just really ready to go!), and so you can see how a whole new year gets me really excited for goals and resolutions. I love them and I really try to keep them.....for a while....until I forget....or get distracted....and then I realize that Christmas is upon me and I haven't actually kept my goals. It's a vicious cycle.

So, I am taking a new approach to my goals. I am going to tell you about my goals and then at the beginning of every month I will report back on how I am doing with them. That way I will be held accountable to somebody. Now, I am asking my dear readers to keep me in line. Be tough on me. Don't let me become a slacker. If I don't report one month - remind me! I know, it's not entirely fair to burden you with keeping me on track - but I think this might actually help me accomplish some of them.

Ok, here is my list of five resolutions complete with a brief explanation of either why or how I am going to accomplish them.

1) LOSE WEIGHT - Yes, this is a stereotypical goal for New Years, but I really need to jump on this bandwagon. I have gained about 40 pounds since I got married. This is certainly not something I am proud of. Of course I had help from fertility drugs which encouraged probably about 20 pounds or so on their own (pounds that were practically impossible to lose while I was still on the medicine), but I am not without fault. I have virtually stopped exercising and I don't eat great. So, I am determined to exercise for at very least 1 hour, Monday through Friday. I am also going to watch what I eat. I am not going to follow any specific diet plan, but I am going to be aware of the calories and serving size and cut back. My goal is to lose those extra 40 pounds by the end of the year. I think this is a realistic goal and I will only become healthier by doing this. I need to get new batteries for my scale, but when I do I will post my weight weekly. Yes, it might be shameful, but I think it will be very helpful.

2) READ SCRIPTURES AND SAY PRAYERS - Now, Jon and I do a pretty good job at saying prayers. We pray together all the time. The problem is that I tend to count those "together" prayers as my personal prayers. I mean, I say prayers all day long for different things, but I don't do great at the morning and night, on my knees, by myself kind of prayers. So I need to do better at that. As far as scripture study goes - Jon and I do really great when we have a routine, but as soon as that routine gets jostled (ie: Christmas in Snowflake) we get off track and we struggle to get back on track. So, we are going to make a point to not get off track...I am going to make it a top priority in our day.

3) BUDGET - Jon and I need to do better at setting up a budget. We have always just sort-of mentally evaluated how we are going to spend each paycheck, which bills, how much we can spend on groceries, etc...but we haven't been great at actually sitting down, building an actual budget, and following it. I have a great system in mind and I am excited to start it and see that extra financial stress calm down a little bit. I think that is our biggest stress and we need to do something to help it subside a little bit.

4) STAY ORGANIZED - I want to get my life organized. Every aspect of it. Or at least I am going to really try to. I want to stay on top of things as well as I can so that I don't get stressed or feel overwhelmed. I want to keep a good schedule and keep on top of things like laundry and stuff. I am hoping that this will cut out the extra stresses and help me prioritize my life a little bit better.

5) REMEMBER ABUNDANCE - At Time Out For Women a year ago there was an incredible woman named Emily Freeman who really touched me with her talk about abundance and counting our blessings. So I bought her book called "The Promise of Enough: Seven Principles of True Abundance" and I read it in one afternoon. It was an incredible book and it has such great stories and lessons about realizing our blessings in the midst of difficult trials, or just life in general and about being happy with where we are in life and not waiting to be happy when...(something happens). I could go on and on about how great this book is, but instead I am just going to tell you to read this book and I am going to tell you that I am going to make a point to count my blessings and be happy with where I am in life. I am going to stay positive, give people the benefit of the doubt, and not dwell on my trails. I know this might be hard because it will require an attitude overhaul, but I think I can do it!

So that is it - my five resolutions. I will report each month on how they are coming. I hope that it doesn't get super boring for you guys, but I really think it will help to have the extra support.

Happy New Years Everyone!!! I hope you have a great 2011!!

Christmas Thoughts...

2010-12-20T19:35:00.000-08:00

This Christmas just sneaked up on me this year, so I have had a hard time - between school, Jon's job, trying to get things ready for Christmas, and other busy things - really getting in to the Christmas spirit. But, for the past couple of days, now that (most of) my shopping is finished, wrapped, and ready and I am finished with this semester of school, I have been able to really focus on Christmas and I have had some thoughts - so I am going to share them with you now:

1) I'm gonna start off a little bit serious. I was able to go to Young Womens in my mom's ward this past Sunday (she is a Mia Maids advisor) and the YW President was in charge of the combined lesson. She is an incredible woman and she had gone in early and decorated the room with a beautiful nativity, some incredible lights and some other things that invited a sense of reverence right when you walked in. We started by watching the Nativity movie by the church. Afterward everyone was able to share their testimonies about the season in a special way and it was a really touching lesson. But, I thought of something that I had never really thought about before - Joseph. I was thinking about how much he must have loved Mary. I mean, imagine being told that your girlfriend was pregnant and it wasn't your baby, but you had to raise it as your own (ok, it was the Son of God - so that probably helped, but still...). Then, when she is about to give birth he can't even find her a decent room and he has to take her to a barn to have her baby. I know that it would be devastating for Jon if he couldn't do better then a barn for me to even just spend the night, let alone have a baby! During the Nativity video, I couldn't help but think about Jon and how much he loves me. Then I couldn't help but thing about my daddy and how much he loves my mommy (and me) - and I just thought about how lucky I am to have such incredible men in my life and for Joseph who took care of the Savior.

2) I love my Savior and I never get tired of hearing the Christmas story. I am so grateful for His birth and His life! I am so grateful to be able to reflect on that during this season.

3) On a lighter note - I have decided that nothing is fattening during this holiday season....yes, that means I might gain a few pounds, but I am determined to enjoy every moment of this holiday season, and that includes not stressing out about how fattening things are. Don't worry, I'm not going to gorge myself, but I'm not going to worry about it. There is just a few days before I get to start my New Year's Resolutions which include weight loss (don't worry, I will post about all of my resolutions when it is closer to Christmas) so I am just going to enjoy the fudge, cookies, and candy canes.

4) I have an incredible family! I am so grateful to them for everything that they do for Jon and me. Both sides of our families go out of their way to help us when we need it, and to encourage us and cheer on our successes! I love that they get excited to see us - it always makes me feel so special and I hope they know how much I love them! I am so excited to be able to spend so much time with them during this season!

5) Christmas trees are beautiful! I love my Christmas tree, I love my mom's Christmas tree, my mom-in-law's tree is beautiful every year, my Grams and Granny have really fantastic trees - - and I love seeing them in stores and outside! Christmas trees really bring in the season!

Well, those are my only thoughts for now...but I very well might have some more before Christmas....but I thought I would share what I have been thinking so far!

I hope you are all having a Merry Christmas Week!!!!

I'm Thankful For....

2010-11-24T06:15:00.001-08:00

I have so many things to be thankful for this Thankgiving season. SO many things! I truly am incredibly blessed - but sometimes don't we all need a season like this to help us remember how blessed we truly are?
Here are a few things I am thankful for (these are in no particular order):

**Jon**
Even though I said that these are in to particular order, when I think of things I am thankful for, my amazing husband is always the first thing I think of. I am so lucky to have met him, to have fallen in love with him, to have him fall in love with me, and to be married to him for time and eternity. He is my very best friend. Thank you for being mine honey!

**Family**
Well, the next thing that comes to my mind is my family. I have incredible parents who have always loved me and supported me no matter what. I have a fantastic brother and sister who make me laugh all the time (love you guys!). And I have wonderful in-laws! Not many people can say that they actually like their in-laws, but I am happy to say that I love mine - brothers, sisters and parents-in-law! Not to mention my sweet little nieces and nephews and cousins who I am in love with!

**Friends**
Of course my family overlaps into this section. I have so many great friends. Whether I have known you 10 years or whether we just met, thank you for being my friend. Please know that I love you!

**Work & School**
I love being back in school (even though I sometimes complain about math) and I wouldn't be able to be back in school if it weren't for Jon working so hard at his new job. While we sometimes struggle financially, we are able to keep a'float because Jon works his hiney off! We recognize how blessed we are to have a job, especially during the holiday season!

**The Church**
I can't imagine my life without without the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I came way to close to finding out during my dating days when I pretty seriously dated a guy who was not a member of the church. Now I look back and I am grateful every day that I chose not to continue that relationship - my life would have been so much different, and not different in a good way. This wraps back around to how grateful I am for Jon! He has such a strong testimony!

**White Fudge Oreos**
More popularly known as "Christmas Oreos" at my house. These Oreos only come out around the holiday season and they bring happiness wherever they go. Tis the season when the Christmas Oreos come out!

**Sweater Season**
It's finally chilly outside and I can start breaking out my sweaters! "It's the most wonderful time of the year"

**Talents**
I'm not just talking about the talents that I have - though I am grateful for the talents that I have - but I am also talking about the talents of people around me! I love being inspired by what everyone around me is able to do! Thank you for sharing your talents with me! I hope I am sharing mine with you!

**The Thanksgiving Parade**
I love Thanksgiving! I love the food, the family time, and I love, love the parade!!! It is without a doubt my favorite parade of the entire year (that includes the Rose Bowl, which I also love)! I hope to one day actually be in New York for the parade, but for now I am more then content to sit on a warm couch with the smell of a cooking turkey wafting through the house and hot chocolate in my hand......aaaaahhh......And then Santa comes down the parade route and brings with him the Christmas Season!!! Woo Hoo!!

**Blogs**
I love blogs! I love being able to keep up with everything that my friends are up to through blogs. It's hard sometimes to keep in touch with friends you move away from, but through blogs I have been able to keep friendships that are very dear to me. What a brilliant invention!

Oh my goodness, I have a million more things I could add to this list, and maybe I will before Thanksgiving is over, but for now I need to make some pies for Thanksgiving - it's tomorrow ya know!

Happy, Happy, Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!

Grand Theft Auto? Me?

2010-11-22T11:15:00.000-08:00

Let me tell you what happened on Thursday night:

6:15pm - Ran around trying to pick up the house because Jon's parents were planning on coming to stay with us.

6:30pm - Left for class (public speaking)

7:00pm - Arrive at CGCC

7:05pm - Get a Diet Dr. Pepper from the machine that has a place where you can swipe a card. You don't even need cash!

7:10pm - Public Speaking begins, complete with impromptu speeches. I was glad I wore make up.

9:35pm - Finish my quiz and get to leave class early. Yipee!!

9:40pm - Talk to Jon and find out that neither of us have eaten. Decide to stop at Subway

9:50pm - Have my yummy sub sandwich in hand. Walk out to the car. Realize I locked the keys in the car. Call Jon to rescue me.

10:00pm - I'm freezing! Jon shows up with a wire hanger and together we start trying to unlock the car.

NOTE:: Here it is important to mention that we are in a crowded parking lot. There are people everywhere. And the car is right under a street light. Everyone can see us. And, the car that is locked is not a very fancy car - at least, all around us there are way fancier cars.

10:30pm - Suddenly two police cars pull up from either side of the parking lot and park around us to block us in - light blazing. I wave at them. An officer gets out of the car, shines his flashlight on us, and explains that he had gotten a call that someone was breaking into a car.

10:35pm - We explain that we just locked the keys in the car, and it is confirmed that we would be the worst car thieves ever because not only is it a poor environment for car stealing, we are really having major troubles getting this car unlocked. The police officer tells the other officer that he can leave.

10:45pm - Jon's parents arrive at our house and sit outside until we call them and tell them that the door to the house is unlocked (in anticipation of their arrival) so they can go in and go to bed.

11:00pm - Between Jon, the Officer and Me we still haven't had any luck, and we have tried all sorts of tricks! It is getting pretty cold. I find a Superman hoodie in the trunk of the other car.

11:45pm - A Good Samaritan comes out of Native New Yorker and explains that he is a member of the "anti-theft association of America" (or something like that......) so he knows all the tricks. He pulls out some tools and all 3 guys get to work.

11:55pm - They are able to pry the door open wide enough for Jon to hook the keys (which were sitting right on the passenger seat) and pull them out. Door is unlocked! Hurray!!

12:00pm - I say thank you to these nice guys who spent their time helping us. I drive our car while Jon drives the car that got locked.

12:10pm - I am finally home (finally went to the bathroom, I had to go really bad the whole time - probably TMI, but it's true) and I'm waiting for Jon.

12:20pm - Jon comes in the back door and tells me that the car he was driving is stuck at the mailboxes (around the block) because he went to check the mail on his way home. We get back in the car and head to the mailboxes.

12:25pm - Jump the car.

12:30pm - We are both home. Jon's parents are in bed. We finally we get to enjoy our delicious sub sandwich. Yes, it was a little soggy and less toasty then it would have been had we eaten it at 9:45pm, but after all of that work, it was a really great sandwich!

12:45pm - Bedtime!

I am so grateful for a wonderful husband who is willing to come and rescue me (and not even get upset with me for absentmindedly leaving the keys in the car), for a nice police officer who stayed with us until we had gotten the keys, and for a good samaritan who was willing to postpone his bedtime to help us out.

Malori Reviews All Sorts of Stuff

2010-11-09T21:05:00.001-08:00

WARNING - this post is going to be very long. I had a lot of reviews to catch up on, and now that I have figured out my picture problem, I am excited to post about them. Feel free to stop reading at time.

My little sister got a pair of Toms shoes when she was in Florida. She told me all about them on the phone and when she came back to Arizona, she showed them to me, and let me borrow them - and they are seriously the most comfortable shoes ever!!! So, I finally was able to get a pair a while ago, and I am so happy - I wear them practically every day!
These shoes sort of mold to your feet and it feels like you are wearing comfortable slippers everywhere you go - but they are cute too! Bonus!
But wait, there's more!
For every pair of shoes sold, Toms gives a pair of shoes to children in Africa who need them. Their motto is "one for one" - one pair of shoes sold equals one pair of shoes given.
The children's lives are blessed so much by these shoes. Not only are their feet protected from cuts and scratches that can get dirt in them and get infected, but the schools there require that the children wear shoes, and if they don't have them, they can't attend. Simply by giving them a pair of shoes, they are able to have protection and have a better chance at getting educated. It's a really great cause.
There are so many different styles of Toms. Mine are "slate" - just a sort of chalkboard black color because I wanted them to be able to match most of my clothes - but they have everything from burlap to glitter!
You seriously need to check them out - you will not regret it! Just visit www.toms.com

Pillsbury Funfetti Cake Mix. Need I say more? This is like a party in a box! Without a doubt my favorite kind of cake is funfetti cake. When I was growing up I always said that I wanted my wedding cake to be made out of funfetti cake, so, my wonderful little sis who made my beautiful cake made the top layer funfetti for me!
Everytime I make a funfetti cake I get so excited! All of the great colors spread throughout makes me feel like I am celebrating even when I am eating it alone in my house on a typical Wednesday afternoon.
The cool thing is that the colors never run together to make a giant greenish looking blob in your cake like you would expect it to - each little sprinkle maintains it's individual color while still getting soft inside so you don't feel like you are eating a crunchy cake.
AND...this cake tastes like regular white cake - which happens to be my 2nd favorite kind of cake right after funfetti cake!
How could this get any better? Well let me tell you - Funfetti Frosting!

You still reading??

I have had a facebook account for a long time now, but have only been an addict since we moved in to this new house on campus and have the free internet. Before that, I thought that facebook was kind of a nuisance. Why would people spend so much time checking it? Why would people want to publicize everything that they do all day every day?
Since then my feeling have changed. Sure, I still feel like I am sometimes wasting my time when I sit in front of it re-clicking the "home" button to see if anybody has said anything new in the past 10 seconds, but I really see the value of facebook now.
I am a social person. I really like people. I like to think that I make friends pretty easily, and I like to keep up with the friends that I have. I am not, however, a person with a lot of time on her hands (I know that's hard to believe after I admit to re-clicking the "home" button over and over again). This is also the case for a lot of my friends.
I love being able to get on facebook and see what everyone is up to - look at pictures of their families, read about what is going on in their lives, and see what they are interested in now-a-days. I feel like even though I am far away from some of them, I am still able to celebrate successes with them, or lend support when they need it, and I feel that reciprocated.
Facebook also allows me to socialize on my own time. This means that I don't have to try and set up a schedule with other people - I can get on in the middle of the night and post and comment and you can get on whenever you have time and post and respond.
How convenient!
Now, a lot of people have really compelling arguments as to why facebook isn't a good thing - and I have to say that I agree with some of the points - but, I really like facebook and I plan to continue using facebook, and if you are on facebook and we aren't friends - find me!

My family told me about this show called "Eureka" on the SyFy Channel, so when I found the first season on my handy-dandy instant Netflix (seriously, how did I live without this??) I decided to check it out.
What can I say? This show is so fun! It is about a town called Eureka that was set up by the government to house all of these really brilliant people - like super-genius type people. Well, they bring in this sheriff who is really good at his job, and chock-full of common sense and street smarts, but he is certainly no genius. So he and his daughter are trying to live in this town and he is trying to take care of all of these problems that come up from different experiments and other things that go on in the town.
It may sound kinda lame when I just tell you about it like that, but trust me, it is not lame! This show is good clean fun. It never really gets to heavy, it never gets dirty or has bad language - it's just a really fun show. And, the sheriff is a really great character - charismatic, handsome, clever - in a way he sort of reminds me of Captain Mal for you fellow Browcoats out there.
If you get some time and are looking for a fun family show to check out - give this one a shot. It is certainly on my list of favorite shows - right up there with "Firefly" and "LOST"

If you are still reading, I'm impressed!

Just because I didn't post about the election before it happened doesn't mean you are getting off so easily. Of course I have to put in my two-cents about how I feel about the election....but don't worry, I will be incredibly brief.
Basically, I am very proud of our country for taking a stand against a government that had stopped listening to it's people. Hopefully this will give our voices a chance to be heard.
I was a little bit irritated at Mr. Obama when he gave his post-election speech in that he simply would not admit that the people were speaking out against his policies over the past 2 years, but maybe the new direction the House has taken will help convince him of that.
I was excited to see Jan Brewer win. Do I think she is a perfect candidate? No. But who is? She has a lot of rough edges that could use a little bit of smoothing - but the fact of the matter is that she has taken this immigration issue to a whole new level and it has become a personal fight for her. I think that is important in this critical time for our state as we watch while our federal government sues our state government. We need someone who is going to stand her ground, and as it has become a personal fight for her, I believe that she is the one who can do it.
And finally I just want to applaud our state for voting down medical marijuana. Good for us!

Another fun little thing my little sis and little bro introduced me to is "Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-Long Blog". With the help of Netflix I was able to watch this fun little internet show starring Neil Patrick Harris and (our own Captain Mal) Nathan Fillion. Neil Patrick Harris plays Dr. Horrible, a not-so-bad villain who is desperate to make his mark on the world. Nathan Fillion plays the egotistical Captain Hammer, the "hero" who is Dr. Horrible's nemesis.
The music is great and the whole thing is completely hilarious!

***SPOILER ALERT***

It was completely hilarious until the end - I could not believe that they just killed Penny like that! Here I was enjoying this sort-of light-hearted sing-a-long (a lot of hyphens in that last sentence huh?) and then WHAM! out-of-the-blue Penny has this shard of death ray sticking out of her chest! I was so not ready for that!

***SPOILER IS OVER***

It was a good time. I suggest you watch it, I liked it. Of course I like anything with Nathan Fillion in it, and when you add the talented Neil Patrick Harris, I am a fan!

I love Diet Dr. Pepper. I know it's not good for me. I know the caffeine is bad and I know that just because it is "diet" doesn't mean that it is any better for me - in fact it's worse.
I like the way diet tastes. I really enjoy a Diet Dr. Pepper, and I will continue to enjoy Diet Dr. Pepper - at least for the rest of 2010.
I am contemplating making it a New Years Resolution to stop drinking it - but I don't know if I'm ready for that yet.
I just really, really like it.
I'll keep you posted on my New Years decision.

Whoa, you're still with me? You must be dedicated!

Last, but certainly not least, Beauty and the Beast Diamond Edition came out recently. You can bet that I pre-ordered mine at the Disney Store, so I now own a shiny, new, blu ray copy of Beauty and Beast, and let me tell you, it makes a huge difference!
You see, Beauty and the Beast has always been my all-time favorite Disney cartoon of all time, ever! I love it so much that I can literally quote every word through the entire movie (yup, that gets annoying really quick, so I try to only do it if I am watching it alone - but I can't help singing the songs no matter who is around) and I always said that I was Belle when we were talking about who was which princess.
I have the VHS version in my closet right now, and I am here to tell you that blu ray makes a HUGE difference! The movie is so bright, so clear, and so vivid! They took some of the pictures and cut them out so there is more dimension to the movie, and they even added some animation and computer stuff (like really great rain in the scene where Gaston and the Beast are fighting on the roof) to enhance the experience!
Basically, it is AMAZING!!!! I love every darn minute of it!
Please watch the new Diamond Edition of Beauty and the Beast, and if you can't get your hands on it, please feel free to come over to my house and watch it with me - I am happy to watch it as many times as I need to! (Just don't get annoyed if I sing along to the songs!)

You finally made it to the end!! Thanks for reading this entire thing! Now, let me know what you think about these fun topics!

October

2010-11-08T06:55:00.000-08:00

It has been 2 months to the day since I posted. I promise we didn't fall off the face of the earth. We have actually done some pretty fun things, the problem is that I have forgotten to bring my camera to those fun things and haven't remembered to remind my mom to send me pictures of some of the fun things, so I have been trying to wait until I had pictures. But, it's almost Thanksgiving, meaning more holiday things are going to happen, so I need to post about these fun things before it's too late!

So, let me start out with our most exciting news: JON PASSED THE BAR EXAM!!!!! Yay!!!! He found out at the beginning of October. He saw it posted on the internet and he called me from work with the news - and I cried because I was so proud of him and just so happy! It was great because, for those of you who know Jon, he is very humble about things. He doesn't like to toot his own horn and he tries to play down his accomplishments, but you could see the pride and excitement in his eyes when he got home and was telling me all about it! I could not be more happy for my genius husband!

Oh yeah, he also got a job! It's a law clerk position until all of his paperwork goes through for him to be admitted to the Arizona Bar and become an actual attorney. It's with a big firm in Phoenix so it's pretty fancy. And, it's really nice to have a job - after living for even just a couple of months without one, we recognize what a blessing it is! The down side is that it is a pretty long commute (a little over an hour both ways in rush hour traffic) and some of the people above him are a little difficult - but Jon is such a nice and easy-going guy, it is really hard not to get along with him. He is really learning a lot about the kind of law he is working on and he is gaining a lot of experience - and bringing home a paycheck - so we are really content right now.

I have been going to school. Sometimes I complain (about one class in particular) but the truth is that I am loving being back in school! It is so exciting to learn things and be in a classroom. It's even exciting to have homework! The one thing I am learning is that teachers think that they are right about more than just their subject. I have a couple of teachers who think that they can spout off about their political, and life views as though it is fact and we are all supposed to take their word for it because "they are the teacher". Well, that may work on some of the high school kids that are in my classes (I'm at community college for a little while till I finish some classes - so some of the kids are still in high school) but it sort of irritates me. I want to raise my hand and say, "what does this have to do with Public Speaking?" but of course I don't.....that would be rude. By the way, I really like my Public Speaking class.

In other news, I turned 23 at the beginning of October. I want to say thank you to everyone who called, sent text messages, or commented on my facebook. I didn't realize I was so loved! You are all so wonderful!
For my Birthday, my family came down to celebrate with me. We had a BLAST!! My dad (who always makes special birthday breakfasts for us) got up early and made me some biscuits and gravy with granny potato hashbrowns (my great granny bottles potatoes, and they are the best when they are shredded up for hashbrowns) - Oh my goodness, it was so darn good!!!! It is seriously my favorite breakfast! Thanks Daddy!!!
Then we all got ready and we went to a place called "As You Wish!" I don't know if you have heard of it, but if you haven't, it is a place where you can paint ceramic stuff (plates, cups, little statue things) and then they burn it in a kiln and then you have a fancy, one-of-a-kind thing. It was so fun! We all got mugs, except for my dad who found a little box that he really liked, and we painted them. Turns out we are quite an artistic bunch! I didn't realize how talented we all are! Each of us added our own personality and everything looked amazing! It was fun to sit around a table and laugh and joke and paint and just enjoy each other's company.
Then my parents took us to Joe's Crab Shack where I got some king crab legs. All I have to say is YUMMY!!! There is nothing like crab legs!
Of course we had to go to the mall to pick up some Mrs. Field's mini chocolate chip cookies because that is what I wanted instead of a birthday cake. They are so darn good!
It was an awesome Birthday, but it didn't stop there........
On Sunday (my Birthday was on Saturday) we watched General Conference. Jon was able to hook the computer up to the TV, so we could actually watch it on our TV instead of all gathering around a little computer screen. He is so handy. Between sessions my mom made me my traditional lasagna dinner. My mom makes the best lasagna of anybody ever - no contest! And every year she makes it for my birthday! This has been a tradition for as long as I can remember, and a very tasty one at that! And Laney made me a yummy chocolate cake. Am I spoiled or what!?
It was an awesome Birthday!

The other super fun thing that has happened since I last posted was Halloween. Normally, I am kind of a Halloween Scrooge. I don't really like decorating for Halloween, I don't like scary movies or scary things....so I am not a huge fan. But this year we went up to Snowflake. We had gone to the Willis Pumpkin Patch and picked out our favorite pumpkins and we were excited to carve them. Last year we did an amazing job - so amazing in fact, that people in my mom's neighborhood were telling her how great they were and how they couldn't wait to see what we came up with this year. Let me tell you, they were pretty great. As soon as I get pictures, I will post them because I realize how badly I am teasing you!
Then we had dinner (Mom's bacon and egg linguini - yum, yum!) with my Uncle Sam and Aunt Reah, followed by a Rock Band tournament while the trick-or-treaters came. It was so fun!

Since Halloween I have had a head cold. That is not fun. But my sweet husband is so good to me. He has taken great care of me and I am happy to say that I am 100% recovered! Now I have to get back to doing all the stuff I didn't do while I was all stuffed up....like a big homework project that is due on Wednesday....

Well, that is our life in a nutshell up to this point.

I promise to do better at taking pictures and at posting!

Malori Reviews All Sorts of Stuff

2010-09-08T09:40:00.001-07:00

Still no pictures on my blog - for some reason my blog is being very stubborn, and I have tried to figure it out, but no luck. Jon hasn't been able to check it out for me yet, so you get a picture-less blog once again......sorry!

AUTUMN IN THE VALLEY

I love autumn. I am not a huge fan of summer (especially down here in the valley) because I prefer to be cold, and I prefer the outfits in the autumn and in the winter. I like bundling up and wearing sweaters and dark colors. Well, today while I was watching the TV, I realized that the rest of the country is beginning to celebrate autumn. They are starting to wear deep reds (that's the new autumn color - apparently) and sweaters and scarfs and boots......and how does the Greater Phoenix Area notice the change in seasons? We went from temperatures over 100 degrees, to "a nice, cool 95 degrees" - that is a direct quote from the news today. Hold on, a nice, cool 95? What about 95 degrees is nice and cool?? It is supposed to be autumn! We are supposed to starting to wear sweaters, and be chilly, and yet, I see girls at school in their tiny shorts, tank tops, and flip flops!! This is not autumn!!!!!

The sad thing is that we won't be able to "experience" autumn for another month or two at least! Then, we don't ever "really" get to experience winter. I will admit, this is one of the things I really miss about the White Mountains - I miss seasons! Especially autumn!

SO, I MARRIED AN AXE MURDERER

A friend of mine on Facebook told me that I had to watch this movie - I had no choice. So I immediately got on netflix, ordered it instantly and watched it. When I reported on Facebook that I had watched the movie, I had a request from my dear friend Rachel to review it on my blog - so here goes.

This is a funny movie. I laughed more than once. My favorite part was when the main character (played by Mike Myers), who is a freelance poet, is performing his poetry in a little club. It is hilarious!!!!!

****spoiler alert****

Ok, is it just me or is the title kind of misleading? I mean, he doesn't actually marry an axe murderer. The title should have been "So, I Married a Lady Who Has an Axe Murderer For a Sister" but you can bet I did not see that coming. I mean, I thought the sister was weird, but I never thought she was the killer! Man, talk about a surprise!

The Mom and Dad in the movie were also very funny. I especially liked watching Jon watch the Dad because he laughed so hard!

It is a funny movie, and you should watch it - just a good movie when you need a laugh. Not too dumb, but not to smart either -the perfect mix.

BOUNTIFUL BASKETS

I ordered my first Bountiful Basket a week or so ago. I had heard about it from my Mom-in-Law and thought it sounded like a pretty fancy thing, but never got around to it. Finally, after my cousin got one and raved about it, I decided to take the plunge. I got online and ordered.

$15 and a couple of days later, we woke up early and headed to our pick-up spot. I'll admit I was kind of nervous because I had no idea what to do - but it was so painless!! We showed up, gave the guy our name, he pointed us in the direction of the baskets, and we got our stuff. So easy!!

For those of you who haven't heard of it, here is the deal - you get 50% fruit and 50% vegetables in your order. You go to a pick-up spot with a laundry basket of your own and meet with the volunteers who point you to some baskets - you transfer the produce into your laundry basket and you're done! You get a ton of stuff for only 15 dollars! We got probably a dozen grapefruit, grapes, tomatoes, corn, bell peppers, romaine lettuce, and a bunch of other stuff - it is a great deal!!

You really need to check out the website bountifulbaskets.com to get the full picture, but I definitely recommend it!!

PASTOR TERRY JONES

Pastor Terry Jones is the Protestant Pastor in Gainesville, Florida who has decided, and convinced his 49 parishioners, that it is a good idea to burn Quorans on September 11th. I'm sure you have heard about this and have formed your own opinion on it, but as this is my blog, I am going to tell you how I feel about it.....

I think Pastor Terry Jones is a complete hypocrite. How can a person say that he is Christian - preach Christianity from a pulpit - and do something so hateful? Doesn't Christ teach us that the most important commandment is to love one another? How is burning a book that is so sacred to somebody a loving gesture?

He says that it is to protest Islamic Extremism.....hmmm.....how does it make sense to protest extremism with something so extreme? And, how does it make sense to do something that will hurt regular Muslims, you know, the non-extreme kinds as well? How will something so offensive bring peach and love and unity?

This pastor is not only giving himself a bad name, he is also giving our country and Christianity and bad name. The world is in an uproar over this, and all they see is "an American, Christian Pastor burning a bunch of Quorans" - they don't see the millions of people who are also American Christians who disagree with this insanity!

I normally don't agree with Hilary Clinton, but I have to make an exception because, regarding this issue, she said that it is unfortunate that he is making it look like the United States believes that this is the right thing - because we, as a whole, don't. She explained that he is a pastor with a small church in a small town in Florida and the entire world is under the impression that he represents the American way of thinking. She made clear that this is not the way that we as a whole think.

Now, I have to say that I don't like that he is doing this. I think it is hateful and horrible and dangerous - but, I do love the freedom that we have to say what we think and express how we feel in this country. Granted, he will have to deal with the public backlash, but the government has no right to tell him to stop. I don't agree with what he is doing, but I think in order to remain free we have to take the good and the bad that comes with our first amendment rights.....and that means letting this crazy guy burn Quorans on September 11th.

MATH

I am taking a math class this semester. It is not any kind of fancy math, it is only intermediate algebra (MAT 121), but I haven't had a math class since I was a junior in high school (that has been 6 years) and I am extremely out of practice (I have a test tomorrow and should be studying, but I have been studying all day and needed a break before I start burning math books instead of Quorans!).

Here is what I think about math. I have gone 6 years of my life without figuring out the slope of anything. I haven't needed to find the vertical intercept of a single thing, and never has anybody asked me to plot any points on a graph. Now, I understand that some people do these things in their jobs or in life - but I am not one of these people, nor do I ever plan on being one of these people.

And, if by some crazy chance the situation did arise where I was asked to do one of these things, I would simply call someone who did know how to do it, and they could walk me through the very rare situation, and I could move on with my life.

So, why am I paying money, spending a lot of time, and getting pimples and gray hairs over this stuff??!!

Don't get me wrong, I am not really complaining because I am really, really excited to be back in school - I am just really not understanding this math stuff, and am not really sure why I am racking my brain trying to understand it!

Still, I have to learn it to get through the class, and I need the class for a degree - so I better just get back to studying.......

Wish me luck tomorrow!!

Crazy Weekend, True Love, and One Movie Review

2010-08-30T09:23:00.000-07:00

This weekend we had planned to have a Saline Reunion Campout. We were very excited because we haven't ever all gone camping together - and it would be so fun to do it before Joy Lynn left on her mission (she is going to Bolivia).

So, Jon and I left early in the day to go scout out a spot by Christopher Creek. Everyone else had work or school, and we both had Friday off, so we were the"chosen scouts". It was a lot of fun though. We got there and saw two different trails that we could use. We hiked up a ways on one trail and never found a spot that would fit enough tents on flat ground. So, we decided to turn around and try out the other trail. We hiked a ways in and finally found the most perfect spot! It was near the creek but up higher than it, so the kids wouldn't get in, it had plenty of soft, flat spots for tents, and it had a huge fire pit. Perfect! The only down side was that it was across the creek. Not across a deep, scary part, but you did have to walk across some rocks to get there.

We decided that if we built a really good rock bridge, it wouldn't be a problem to get everyone across safely and settled in our perfect spot.

So, we set up our tent, our chairs, the food and water we brought, our sleeping bags, the dog's stuff, and then Jon stacked some rocks across the creek that would make it really easy to cross.

It was so perfect - the sun was shining, not a cloud in the sky, but enough shade from all of the trees to keep it nice and cool in the afternoon. We were excited.

Eventually, Mom and Dad Saline showed up with Joy Lynn and we started unloading the tables and chairs and tents that they brought. It was starting to get a little cloudy, but we had had a soft drizzle earlier in the morning and figured this cloud was merely a repeat of that wimpy storm. We lugged a bunch of stuff across the creek and started setting up.

Then it happened, the clouds burst open and it started pouring!! They were huge drops and we were getting soaked! Not only that but it was already 8pm and the sun was going down, but with this giant black cloud in front of it, it got very dark, very fast!

Then Beau and Shaunalee showed up with their kids, who were really excited to go camping. We tried to set some stuff up, the it got so dark and it was raining SO hard!! So, we decided to pack it up and give up on camping.

This was easier said that done.

We were trying to roll up sleeping bags, take down tents, carry heavy stuff across the creek (that was now raising and our lovely rock bridge was covered in slippery water) and things were muddy......it was really rough.

By the time we got everything loaded and we got in the car, Jon and I were covered in mud and our clothes were so drenched you could literally ring them out - and we were tired.......

Everyone decided that we would drive up the mountain and get some dinner in Heber (no, we hadn't eaten yet because we were going to cook out at the camp site.....). This was a great idea except that we were soaked and had mud all over us. So I changed into some sweat pants and a hoodie (my dry clothes) and bundled my hair on top of my head - and hoped I didn't see some long lost high school friend that I haven't seen for 5 years (that always happens when you don't look great, and they are always dressed to the nines.....). Luckily the town of Heber closes up pretty early, so there weren't many people at the restaurant and we were able to get some great food, and visit with the family and play with the babies. It was very nice.

Then we all drove up to Snowflake and "camped out" in real beds at Mom and Dad Saline's house.

PS - I brought my camera, but it was raining so hard it would have gotten ruined, so no pictures.....sorry!

The next day Jon and I got up and got ready for my dear friend Alex Brown's wedding. He married the beautiful Katie Evans and it was a wonderful ceremony. It was so nice to see so many friends that I haven't seen in a long time!
Congratulations Alex and Katie!!

PPS - I would have a picture of them on here, but my blog is being stubborn and not letting me post pictures - if you have any suggestions as to why this is happening, it would be great to be able to figure it out!!

* * * * * * * * *

ARRANGED

Now that I have Netflix, I have access to all sorts of documentaries and independent films. Some of them do not look interesting, but Netlix suggested that I might like an independent film called "Arranged" based on some of my other selections.

Netflix was right!

The movie is about an Orthodox Jewish girl and a Muslim girl. They both end up teaching at the same school, and are treated differently at work because of their "strange" customs. Eventually they become friends because they can understand each other's situations - and become even closer when they realize both of their religions share a similar custom - arranged marriages.

The story shows them both going through the steps of finding a "match" - and learning about each other and growing closer and closer.

I loved this movie!! I loved the positive light it cast on both religions. I loved how it explained that even though you would think that they would be polar opposites - the two religions were actually very similar in their customs. And I especially loved how, in spite of their differences, and even the bigger political differences their cultures have, these two women were able to lean on each other and learn from one another, and encourage one another in their beliefs.

There is one scene where the Jewish girl is feeling very discouraged about finding a match, and the entire process, and she explaining her feelings to the Muslim girl who isn't having much success herself. The Muslim girl listens to the Jewish girls' concerns and then says, "we both have faith that God has a plan for us" - how interesting that they could encourage each other in faith.

Basically I loved this movie and recommend that you get your hands on it and watch it!!

Malori Reviews All Sorts of Stuff

2010-08-12T20:13:00.001-07:00

Ok everyone - for some reason my computer is being stubborn about posting pictures....I need to spend some time researching what is causing this problem, but for now you get a picture-less post. Sorry!

LOST

Jon and I got Netflix (which is amazing!! We hooked our Wii up to the internet and we get all sorts of instant movies and shows!! So worth the $9 we spend a month on it. Netflix should really pay me for my mini commercial....) and we have been working on getting caught up on our new favorite addiction - Lost.

We just finished season 5, and are at a bit of a standstill because the next season isn't available until August 24th (and yes, I have been going crazy!) but I can say that we are absolutely loving it!!!!

I can't even pretend to explain the story to any of you "Non-Lost Watchers" I wouldn't even be able to! The story is so darn involved! Each character's story is so detailed. You learn their past stories, and their future stories all while telling their story in the present!! Crazy!

When we first started season 1, I never could have imagined how the story would evolve. It has gone in so many crazy directions - between The Others, The Freighter People, Locke's group, The Dharma People in the 70's - I mean, it is all over the place! The amazing thing though is that the story is not confusing. If you have been watching since the first season it is not hard to follow at all! You fall in love with the characters - and actually hate some of the other characters! It's amazing to feel so strongly about television show characters!

So, I suggest that you find the DVDs of this show and start watching it! But make sure you don't have a whole lot of stuff you need to accomplish because suddenly watching the next episode to "find out what happens" becomes more important than other things - like sleep!

RED ROBIN (yum)

Jon and I are big fans of the restaurant Red Robin. We really enjoy the food and we also enjoy the prices. If you want a great burger, great fish and chips, great clam chowder - all in a fun "sit-down" environment, for not very much dinero - Red Robin is the place.

We love going there with friends and family because it is so fun and low-key!

A couple of weeks ago my mom and I went there and we got this amazing waiter named Chad. He was so nice!! I was looking to try something new and I asked him if their macaroni and cheese was any good, and he flat out told me that he didn't like it and I probably shouldn't order it. I really appreciated his honesty (that's not to say that their other food is not spectacular!). He was very helpful at suggesting things - for example, I asked for some ranch for my fries and he brought me ranch, but he also brought out some "onion ring sauce" just so I could try it - and it was awesome!!! I loved it! It was sort of like ranch mixed with bbq sauce and I'm sure they mixed some happiness in there.......I really appreciated him bringing it out for me just to try!

Then, when we were getting ready to leave - after we had already paid - he asked us if we wanted some to-go cups for our drinks. I said that would be very nice, and instead of bringing out a styrofoam cup for me to dump the rest of my drink in - he went over to the bar and made us brand new drinks (I had a freckled lemonade - yummy!) in these giant 32 oz cups so we could take it home!!! It was so nice!!!

Anyways, if you go to Red Robin by the San Tan Mall - request Chad! But if you can't make it to that Red Robin location, or Chad isn't working at the time you go, don't fret - we have never had a bad waiter at any Red Robin and the food is great!

Thanks Chad!

THE LAST AIRBENDER

M.Night Shyamalan directed The Last Airbender and I loved it. I am a huge fan of the cartoon on nickelodeon so I was excited and a little bit skeptical about this movie. There are a lot of critics who did not enjoy it - they say it didn't stay true to the show - but as a fan of the show, I can say that I was not disappointed in what they did. There are practically a million seasons of that show by now, so the fact that they could bring as much of the story in that they did was impressive. I thought all of the actors - in spite of how young they were - did a pretty darn good job.

I was also excited that they left it open for a sequel - if only the critics would just lay off and let us enjoy.

PS - after you watch this movie you will wish that you knew how to do tai chi........just warning you.

INCEPTION

Inception - starring Leonardo DiCapro - was a mind-excercising good time. I was hesitant about this movie because I had seen a review that claimed that the story was too complex and hard to keep track of. Heaven knows I don't want to watch a movie that takes so much effort, so I wasn't sure that I would like it.

I was pleasantly surprised!

The story was not too complex. Sure, the total concept - breaking in to people's dreams and planting ideas - is complex by itself, but they do such a great job of explaining all of the "rules" and everyone's jobs - you feel like this is something that can actually happen because the rules make complete sense!!

Not all of the characters had in-depth back stories, but that didn't make you care about them less. Leo had some deep background stories that seeped into his sub-consious and caused them problems in the dreams, but it never got confusing....

I appreciated that the story was not all blowing things up and running around shooting things - it was a good story for an action movie and Jon and I both enjoyed it!

SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE

I am watching the finale of So You Think You Can Dance right this moment - yes, as I am writing this blog I am watching the show. They have not announced the winner yet - but we are down to Kent and Lauren - my 2 favorites!!!! I was sad when Robert went home, but I had to agree because I think Kent and Lauren are just a little bit better, but I could not have agreed with the bottom 3 more!!

I have to give you my opinion before we find out who actually wins - I think that Lauren is a better dancer and I hope she wins, but I love, love Kent and what a cutie-patootie he is!!

Oh man, here it comes.........waiting.......this is intense........stop talking and just tell us Kat.......it's...........it's LAUREN!!!!!!

Yipee!!!!!!!!!

I am seriously so excited for her right now, she is so stinkin' good!!!

This season of Dance has been so great! Such talented dancers, great dances for them to perform - it was a good time!

Tonight, I think the most novel moment was when Ellen DeGenerous came out and danced with Twitch. She is actually pretty darn good for having never been trained! Makes me think that somebody could teach me how to dance! LOL!!

Now it's time for the next season of American Idol....and I'm kind of scared of it without Simon.........we will see.......

Happy 3 Years Jon!!

2010-08-11T07:03:00.000-07:00

My Dearest Love,

Three years ago today I was blessed to marry my very best friend, and I have only grown to love you even more since that day. In our three short years I feel like we have gone through a lot! Law School, the Bar Exam, moving three times, calling, jobs, late night studying, fertility treatments, being completely broke......and I have loved every minute of it because I have been able to spend it with you! I know that we are perfect for each other because our trials have brought us even closer together.

Jon, I love you with all of my heart. I have never known anyone who can make me laugh like you do, who can comfort me like you do, who will put up with me like you do. You are everything that I ever dreamed I would find in a husband plus so much more!!

I admire you so much. You have an uncanny ability to love everyone. You are so smart - you always know the answers to my questions no matter what the subject. You are incredibly patient. You blow me away with how talented you are. You honor your priesthood and are always prepared to use it if called upon. And, you always love me no matter what.

This next year is full of changes for us, but I am so excited to be able to spend another year with you. I am excited to spend eternity with you!

So, Happy Anniversary Jon. I love you more than all the things!

Always,
Me

Bar Exam Is Over!!

2010-07-29T09:33:00.000-07:00

Well everyone - Jon has finished the Bar Exam!!!!! I am probably more excited than he is right now because he is still kind of in his "test-coma" - but it will hit him soon and he will be really excited too!

He says he feels pretty confident about it, but is still nervous about his results. He told me that he could tell that he was getting a little bit of "extra" help. He said that things would just pop into his mind, and that he had plenty of time to spend on each question. He knows that Heavenly Father was watching out for him.

Thank you all for your prayers and positive thoughts and wishes throughout this. That and his overwhelming amounts of studying has made all the difference!

Long Time Gone

2010-07-27T08:30:00.000-07:00

I have not posted in a very long time! So I have a lot to catch up on.......

I have been in Snowflake for most of July because Jon was studying for the Bar Exam, and I have a hard time being quiet and letting him study, so it was better for me to go stay up there and give him some peace. Unfortunately, I did not bring my camera with me because it got packed up with the rest of our stuff! So I have some stories, but no pics! Lame, I know....

So here is the month of July - in a nutshell:

Anyways, I went up to Snowflake for a couple of weeks and while I was there my mom and I worked at the Carriage House doing laundry. I didn't think I would enjoy doing laundry all day (I don't like doing it when it is my laundry!), but it was really great knowing that I was helping elderly people to have nice, clean clothes. Not to mention the fact that it was kind of relaxing because it was kind of mindless work.....which was a nice change from my old job at the school!

Then I came back down to the Valley of the Sun so that we could move out of our apartment and into a house on the East Campus of ASU. Moving is not fun. It is stressful and busy, and it was very hot outside!! We are really grateful to Jon's parents and Lon and Brenden for taking time out to come and help us. They were so great!

We got all of the boxes moved in, and a few things put away, but I needed to leave and Jon needed to get back to studying, so I left most of the boxes just stacked in the house.........poor Jon huh?

I got to go hang out on Lake Roosevelt on Grams' houseboat with my family! It was so fun and so relaxing!! We went out on the jet ski and Laney and I rode in the tube behind it over the wakes and stuff! It was crazy!! We finally got flipped out of the tube and Laney flew over me and into the water! It was so funny! Then it was Dad's turn, and he started getting a little cocky. He started putting his hands behind his head as if he were bored - so we told Mom to make things a little bit more exciting.....and soon after, he got flipped out of the tube!! Hilarious!

We came back down to the Valley for an afternoon where Mom helped me put some things away in my new house. We got some more pictures hung and it started to feel more like our home......still boxes everywhere though....

Then we went back up to Snowflake, only this time we had Tanner with us. He had spend 3 weeks in Washington state visiting my Uncle Justin and Aunt April. He had so much fun, but we were happy to have him back.

The day we got back we (Laney, Tanner and I) went and saw "The Last Airbender" - and it was AWESOME!!!! We really loved the movie and it was so fun to go with my brother and sister!

The rest of the week we hung out, helped Grams clean out my Great Grandma's house, and had a ton of fun!! Then it was time for Pioneer Days in Snowflake - which is always so much fun!! Snowflake knows how to celebrate!

On Friday, we went and helped set up the craft fair at Pioneer Park. Grams is the President of the Chamber of Commerce, so she was in charge of the festivities and we were happy to help her. There were some amazing vendors with some amazing things they had made! I am always so impressed by how talented and clever people are!

That night we all went over to Hebrews - a restaurant in Snowflake - and had dinner and listened to this super fun band! Grams and Gramps got up and danced with each other and it was so incredibly sweet! We had so much fun!

On Saturday we got up and went to the Parade. Mom, Dad and I were judges for the parade and it was so fun! We had a great seat up on top of a trailer so we could see everything! Snowflake always has a very good parade - people work really hard to make their floats creative and entertaining. And, JD Hayworth was in the parade, which I was pretty impressed with - I couldn't believe he showed up to such a small town's celebration.....good for him!

Next was a couple boutiques that were going on, and back to the craft fair where is started raining so hard!! They closed up the fair at 4, and by that time it was pouring! Tanner had promised that he would help some of the booths pack up (because he is a good guy!) and he was soaking wet!!

After we changed our clothes, we headed to Grams' where we had a little hot dog party and we spent time with the whole family. Shakira and her family were back in AZ so they came and it was great to see them - they have been in New Mexico because Luke is in the Air Force.

Now, I am back in the Valley, but I am staying at a hotel with my mom (she is down here for meetings, and the school pays for her hotel room) because Jon is taking the bar today and tomorrow!! I have been so impressed with him, He has been really stressed, but he has been working so hard to stay calm and positive. He has put so much time and energy into studying for this test and I know he is going to do so great - but if you could say a little prayer for him that would be great!!!!

So that brings us to the present - it was a really quick recap of what I have been up to, and now that I have internet in our new house, I will be much better at posting - and as soon as I find the box that holds my camera, I will try to take more pictures of the fun stuff that we do!

Don't worry world - Jon and I are back!!!

Thanks for sticking with us and for all of your support!

Independance Day

2010-07-02T19:42:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,
I know I have been a total blogging lame-o, but I do have a couple of good excuses: 1) I haven't really had access to the internet, but never fear, that will all change on the 14th of July (then you will be sick of me!) when we move over to ASU's Polytechnic Campus Family Housing and 2)After Jon graduated, he immediately started studying for the bar - so we have been kind of boring since bar studying is all-consuming. Don't worry world, I promise we will come back.....just 28 more days!!!

But I am not going to talk about all of the stuff I have been doing lately (mainly keeping up with "The Bachelorette" - does anyone else think that Kasey had a screw lose?? - and "So You Think You Can Dance") and instead talk about Independence Day and this great country.

I have always considered myself to be pretty patriotic. I have had incredible examples of real patriots who have sacrificed in one way or another to preserve our countries' freedoms and liberties. I have always proudly stood for the National Anthem and put my hand over my heart for the pledge. I have always loved America.

But I think that this past year in particular I have grown a whole new respect and deep love for America and what it stands for. As some of you already know, I am a self-proclaimed politics junkie lately. I love watching the news and listening to political radio. I, of course, have my own firm opinions on things and tend to lean towards certain analysts more than others - but I really just like knowing what is going on in the world and, more particularly, in our country. I feel like this in depth knowledge and extra-curricular study of current events, and the founders of this country, and the history of the great men and women who have given their lives for it, as well as learning more about the constitution and what an inspired document it really is has given me a whole new outlook on what it means to be a true patriot.

I have so much more to learn and study - and I am so excited to dive right in - but I can say that I love my country. I am so proud of what it stands for. I am so proud to say that I am an American. I consider it to be more than just where I live, I consider it to be my nationality, my race. This country is in my heart.

How can I put into words how grateful I am to my family members and your family members who have fought for my freedom to worship how I want, to marry who I want, to have this blog and say what I want on it? There are no words.

Now when I stand for the National Anthem or put my hand over my heart for the Pledge of Allegiance, I stand a little straighter and listen a little closer.

On this Independence Day, let's not get so caught up in the parades and the barbecues and the fireworks that we forget to remember what the day is really about.

God Bless America!

Law School Graduation! Finally!!!!!

2010-05-18T09:27:00.000-07:00

On Friday my brilliant husband graduated from the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at ASU!! I was soooooo excited!
Unfortunately I don't have any pictures right now because I put everyone else in charge of taking pictures, and I haven't gotten any yet - so that will have to come later - but let me tell you all about it.

Jon has been so calm about all of this! I, of course, could not stop smiling and telling him how excited and proud I was (and still am)!!

He got all dressed up and he looked so handsome! He wore his Grandpa Saline's vest because he wanted a little bit of his Grandpa there with him. I thought that was so sweet!

When we got to the Gammage, he put on his graduation robe and his hat and I almost cried right there!

He left to line up and I met all of the family (thank you all so much for coming and supporting Jon in this!) and we waited patiently for the graduation to start.

Finally it started, and all the graduates walked in - and Jon was smiling so big!!!!!!

The Dean of the school spoke, and then some students and then the Honorable Judge Berch from the Arizona Supreme Court spoke. They were all actually pretty decent graduation talks, and they were not too long which I really appreciated!

Then it was time! The graduates started filing through, and as they got closer to Jon's name, my heart started beating faster and faster! Then they called his name, and he got his hood put on and he received his book and he was smiling the whole time!

Yes, I cried.

Jon is so fancy! His name was in the program 3 times! Once with the rest of his classmates, once for "Highest Pro Bono Distinction" and once for "The Order of the Barristers"!!

The next day we got together with some friends and family for a BBQ to celebrate! It was so fun to see everyone and we were so grateful for all of the support!

It was such a fun celebration!!

Thank you to everyone who came and who helped with bringing food and setting up. I could not have done it without everyone's help!

Jon and I are so loved and we are overwhelmed by the amount of love that has been shown to us as we celebrate this HUGE accomplishment!

**

In other news - Joy Lynn got her mission call and she is going to Bolivia!!! Crazy!!! She will be Spanish speaking which is soooo cool!
We were all guessing where she was going to be called to before she opened it, and none of us guessed Bolivia!

Also, my sister is home from Florida for good! It's so fun to have her home! Yay!

And, my little brother has his Driver's Permit, so if you live in Snowflake - stay off the roads!!

So that's about it for me right now!

I will post pictures of the graduations as soon as I get them!

Malori Reviews All Sorts Of Stuff

2010-05-03T09:57:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone,
We had internet in our house for a few months (and it was wonderful) but then our neighbors moved and we suddenly didn't have internet anymore........so that is why I have been a blogging lame-o.
So, I am blogging at work (so many shameful confessions today!) and for some reason my computer is not allowing me to add pictures - something to do with the filter thing to keep the kids off bad web sites - so I am going to review stuff, but you can't see pictures of it. So there! (hee, hee, hee)
* * * *

THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG

If you haven't seen this fantastic throw back to the original (and wonderful) Disney Princess movies - you need to! It is classically animated - none of this computer generated stuff (that is great, but don't you miss the regular cartoons), full of singing and music, and has a great story! I actually cried (for those of you who know me know that isn't a huge thing - I cry in TV commercials...like that one for Kodak with the dad and his new baby and he is sending a picture to "grammy" - yup, I cried like a baby the first couple of times I saw that one).
Princess Tiana grows up in a poor family in New Orleans, and she and her dad have a dream of opening a restraunt called "Tiana's Place". When her father passes away, she dedicates her life to working hard and making enough money to make their dream a reality.
Unfortunately the work of a voodoo man turns Tiana into a frog and she and a handsome prince have to go on a crazy adventure to become human again - and meanwhile they fall in love.
Just add this one to my list of favorite Disney movies ever!

* * * *

CHIPOTLE

I love burritos. That is all there is to it. I am a huge fan of burritos - and a huge, HUGE fan of Chipotle's burritos!
I always order a chicken burrito with black beans, rice (that they make with lime and cilantro...and a bit of happiness) green sauce, lettuce and extra cheese.
Rip off the tin-foil and be prepared to smile from ear to ear (which is hard to do when you mouth is full of goodness, but you will do it anyways).
Jon prefers the barbacoa - and it is really good too.
We can order just one burrito and cut it in half and be completely full!
Their only downfall is their chips. Jon loves them because they are dusted with some kind of lime powder stuff that Jon really likes and I think is gross, but you don't have to order them and the problem is solved.
Show Low doesn't have a Chipotle, so I had never heard of it until we moved down here, and I was missing out.
If you haven't been there - go there!

* * * *

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON

Seriously, if you don't see any other movie this entire year, you must see this movie! I loved it, loved it, LOVED IT!!!!!
It is so funny. It is so well animated. It is so touching. The morals are great. The writing is great. The voices are great. It is just great!
I cried in this movie too, but because I was so happy! The ending is probably the most touching endings I have ever seen on an animated movie.
I went into it thinking I was going to see another Dreamworks "Kung Fu Panda" type. That wouldn't be bad, I liked "Kung Fu Panda", but it didn't change my life or anything.
Needless to say, I was very pleasantly surprised!
I am not going to tell you about it, because I don't want to spoil anything for you.
All I am going to say is watch this movie. It is seriously that good!

* * * *

IMMIGRATION BILL IN AZ

I'm not going to focus on this too much because I don't want to bring the mood down or make this a political blog (even though it would be so cool to have a political blog!) but I do want to say that people need to stop saying things about it when they haven't even read it.
This bill does nothing but do more to enforce already standing federal laws. It gives authority to law enforcement to enforce immigration laws and does not include racial profiling or anything unconstitutional.
We are all required to carry documentation - I am required to produce a driver's license when I get pulled over - and it has been a federal law since 1946 that legal immigrants have to carry their visa or green card with them at all times. This has been a law for over 60 years, the problem is that nobody has enforced it.
Yes, this should have been taken care of on a federal level, not a state level. But, nobody was doing anything on the federal level and meanwhile people in Arizona are being murdered, cops are being shot, drugs are being smuggled in, gangs are growing, and people who are not citizens are taking away jobs, demanding free education and health care, and that we learn Spanish to accommodate them.
I also agree with the argument that this will take time away from our regular law enforcement so they won't be able to spend all of their time fighting regular crime - but again, if this had been taken care of on a federal level, we would not be forced to take action as a state.
And in conclusion, why is Shakira suddenly an expert on all of this? Why should we even think twice about what she has to say about it?
I could go on and on, but I am just going to say, read the bill and learn for yourself what it actually says instead of depending on what the alphabet networks and celebrities are telling you to believe.

* * * *

TEACHER APPRECIATION DAY

Tomorrow is Teacher Appreciation Day - so tell a teacher how much you appreciate them.

* * * *

AMERICAN IDOL

I can't review all sorts of stuff and leave out American Idol!! I have really enjoyed this season, especially since they got rid of the not-so-great singers that they seemed to have in abundance at the beginning of the season.
Now I am torn between Bowersocks and DeWyze. I love them! Don't get me wrong, Big Mike is really good, but not my style. Still really talented though.
I was sad that Siobhan got kicked off before Kasey the blonde lame-o who can't sing, and is not a cute as everyone says he is, and Aaron. Sure he is talented, but as far as stage presence goes....he just does not have it!
So, this Tuesday make sure you call in and vote for Mamma Socks and Lee so they can be down to the bottom two! If they were the bottom two I would be thrilled with either of them winning!

* * * *

In personal news, Jon's last final is on Wednesday! I don't know who is more excited - him or me! I can't wait until he is all finished!
His graduation is coming up soon! I know I am going to cry when he walks across the stage in his cap and gown and receives his degree! It is going to be so awesome!
My Little Sista is coming home on the 12th! I am so excited for her to be home, and to hang out with her and the rest of my family in July (even though I will miss Jon like crazy!)
We are going to celebrate Mother's Day with my mom when they come down to pick up Laney so we will all be together! It will be so nice!
Lon and Kim are blessing their new little baby Emerie on Mother's Day. It will be so nice to see all of Jon's family!
This month is going to be crazy, but I am so excited for all of the big events!!
Yay for May!

Fun News

2010-04-10T09:31:00.000-07:00

We have some fun news!

First of all, Jon's little sister Shuanalee and her husband Beau had their third baby yesterday. She is a beautiful little girl named Heidi and we are so excited to have her as part of the family!!
Everything with the labor and delivery went perfectly (and kinda quickly)! We already love her and we love Shauna and her whole family!! Now Keagan and Kaleb have a new little sister to take care of!
I will wait to post pictures because I don't want to steal that thunder from Shauna and Beau, but trust me when I tell you that she is just adorable!
Congratulations!!

Also, for those of you who aren't on facebook, Jon got a very prestigious award at school. It is called the Order of the Barristers and it is one of only 2 honors programs offered by law schools. This is a national award and he can use it for his entire career! I am so proud of him!

In other Jon news, he also passed the MPRE - a huge ethics test required to be permitted into the Bar. It was a 3 hour test and Jon studied very hard. He is so relieved that that hurtle is over!!!

That is pretty much it for us right now, but it was all so excited I had to report it!!

Patience Is a Virtue

2010-04-04T19:41:00.000-07:00

Some of you already know this story. Some of you only know bits and pieces of this story. Some of you don't know anything about this story. But I feel like I should share it with you, not so you will feel badly for me - that is not my intention at all - but instead to just get it off of my chest and help me feel better about it, and maybe to help someone out there who is feeling alone in their trials. Beside, how would this family journal be complete without every story of our family?

In August of 2008 Jon and I decided that we wanted to start a family. We had prayed and fasted and gone to the temple and we felt that it was the right time for us to have a baby. Naturally we were both very excited about the idea. We had stopped taking birth control pills a few months before and were using other methods of protection because the pill was making me feel cranky and unpleasant all the time, so we thought that we were ready - my body was free of birth control and we would soon be pregnant.

A few months went by...we were casually counting the days of my cycle and trying to determine ovulation just based on that, and we were not too concerned. It takes a while for this kind of thing to happen after all, and we weren't sure that the birth control was entirely out of my system.

I continued to try to eat good foods and avoid anything that would be hazardous to a pregnancy (if I were to become pregnant, I didn't want anything in my system that would be dangerous). I refused to take any medicine, I never drank caffeine, and was trying to eat things that I knew would give me the vitamins I would need to carry a healthy baby.

A few more months went by and we started to get a little bit worried....this was taking longer than we planned. Still, we didn't get too freaked out. Sometimes these things take time and we would just wait. Besides, we were still getting the kinks worked out about our financial plan for a baby, so we could wait.

A few more months went by. We got the fanciest insurance plan available through my job so we were sure to be covered when we did get pregnant. We discussed what we would do financially. We moved in to a cleaner apartment with an extra bedroom and I daydreamed about how I would decorate it for a nursery. Why was this taking so long?

A year went by - and by this time we were a little bit concerned. My sister-in-law suggested we buy the 20 day ovulation kit. for those of you who aren't familiar with this, it is a kit with little sticks you pee on (kind of like a pregnancy test) that indicate when you are ovulating, so you are sure not to miss it. I used the kit faithfully, but there were many months were the sticks never "turned blue" to indicate that I was ovulating. Naturally, this made me a little nervous.

I scheduled an appointment with an OB/GYN that I had never heard of, but that was close to my house. I was due for my annual visit anyways (girls, don't we love that annual visit) so I decided to kill two birds with one stone and ask him about pre-conception and why my sticks weren't turning blue while I was there.

It was without a doubt the worst doctor's appointment I had ever had! He was the worst doctor I had ever had and I was very uncomfortable and angry when I left - but that is another story. When I asked him about the ovulation sticks, he asked if I had periods - I said that I did, and he said, in a tone that suggested that I was the biggest idiot on the planet, that if I had periods I must ovulate so I had nothing to worry about.

Ok.....so we continued to do the counting. I continued to research. I read everything I could get my hands on - every article the internet had to offer, every youtube video, every book from the library or Barnes and Noble - everything! I am an expert on getting pregnant! And we followed all the rules. I ate cinnamon almonds and made Jon eat tomato soup and popcorn as these things were certain to increase fertility, and that is only the tip of the iceberg. Poor Jon had to do so many crazy things!

Then we went to another doctor. This one was much better, but she said that we had to get Jon tested first because we have to rule the man out before we even test the woman.

This was a problem.

You see, we had gotten insurance for me because I was the one who would be getting pregnant, but we could not afford insurance for Jon as well. How would we be able to afford a test like that?

So, we waited and counted and more months went by.....

Then it was time for my next annual appointment (ok, I was really late for it, but I was fed up with these doctors and their lack of answers, so I was not jumping for joy to make that appointment) so I scheduled it with yet another doctor.

While we were there we again asked about our problems with getting pregnant. By this time it was 19 months, and we were very concerned - we are young and healthy, why are we having these problems?

This doctor ordered some blood tests on me and explained that they would test me to see if there was something obvious in my blood, and if it looked like I was fine, then we would test Jon. This was music to our ears!! Finally a step in the right direction, and it wouldn't break the bank!

I went and got my blood work done, and a week later went back to the office for an ultrasound and the results of my blood work. The doctor came in and explained that I had a cyst on my right ovary, but that it looked like it was going to go away or burst on it's own so they weren't too worried about that, but what they were worried about was my progesterone level. She explained that the progesterone level should be at an 8 or higher (10 or 11 is average), but that mine was at a 1. This means that I rarely, if ever, ovulate. Finally an answer!!!

She wrote me a prescription for Clomid - a drug that triggers something in your brain to help release eggs - gave me the instructions on how to take it and that was that.

Well, I finished my round of Clomid about a week ago. This coming up week I go back for another blood test and then it's back to the doctor where I will see if my progesterone level is higher and if they need to up my dose for the next month.

The medicine makes me feel pretty crappy. Very tired, sometimes nauseous, extra moody and emotional - but in spite of that, I am so excited to be on the right track towards starting a family! A few nights ago, Jon and I were driving home when I just burst into tears. He asked me what was wrong, and I didn't have an answer because I didn't know why I was crying - but I did tell him that I was so grateful for how terrible I was feeling because I knew that the medicine was doing something!

This has been the greatest trial for both of us, but we have been so blessed in so many other things. We can't help but recognize the Lord's hand in our lives - we know that He hears our prayers and knows the righteous desires of our hearts. The best we can do is keep praying, keep living the commandments, keep being positive, and put our trust in Him.

Maybe He is trying to teach us that patience is a virtue.

The Good In The World - New Blog!

2010-04-04T10:51:00.000-07:00

BYU TV has a new slogan - See The Good In The World. This inspired me to create a blog dedicated to the good in the world.

It seems to get harder and harder to see good in a world where there is so much bad, but I believe that if we practice, we can get better and recognizing the good things - they are all around us!

My new blog will be a group effort to see the good in everything around us!

Together we will can practice seeing the good and we can help each other!

I am so excited to see the good things you will share with me and so excited to start looking for my own good things!!

Won't this be fun!!!! Please check it out!

thegoodintheworld.blogspot.com

I Made Jon Take An Online Quiz - Here Are His Answers

2010-03-18T15:12:00.000-07:00

50 Random Questions

1. Where were you 3 hours ago?

At Home

2. Who are you in love with?

My wife who left a cracker on the ground

3. Have you ever eaten a crayon?

4. Is there anything pink within 10 feet of you?

Yes - a pink cup

5. When is the last time you went to the mall?

Ummm...last weekend (?)

6. Are you wearing socks right now?

Yep, regular white ones

7. Do you have a car worth over $2,000?

(head nod) Toyota Corolla

8. When was the last time you drove out of town?

I don't remember - but we went to Snowflake

9. Have you been to the movies in the last 5 days?

10. Are you hot?

Oh Yeah!! Yeah I am!!!

11. What was the last thing you had to drink?

Water

12. What are you wearing right now?

Underpants

13. Do you wash your car or let the car wash do it?

I let the rain do it since I'm too poor to afford a car was (giggles)

14. Last food that you ate?

Tomato Soup and Crackers

15. Where were you last week at this time?

At the Attorney Genera's Office working

16. Have you bought any clothing items in the last week?

17. When is the last time you ran?

Tuesday night...unfortunately (he has been sore ever since)

18. What's the last sporting event you watched?

Ward softball game

19. What is your favorite animal?

White Tiger - growl

20. Your dream vacation?

Going to...um...Belize and to that island that The Bachelor was on.

21. Last person's house you were in?

Aaron Brown's

22. Worst injury you've ever had?

Broke my finger...and a torn meniscus

23. Have you been in love?

Yes I have and still am!

24. Do you miss anyone right now?

My Grandpa

25. Last play you saw?

Wicked

26. What is your secret weapon to lure in the opposite sex?

I'm not in that business anymore

27. What are your plans for tonight?

Have fun.....

28. Who is the last person you sent a MySpace message or comment?

No idea...it has been 3 years since I used MySpace

29. Next trip you are going to take?

To Wal Mart

30. Ever go to camp?

Yes, Boy Scout Camp

31. Were you an honor roll student in school?

Sometimes....

32. What do you want to know about the future?

If I'm going to have a job

33. Are you wearing any perfume or cologne?

Not right now

34. Are you due sometime this year for a doctor's visit?

Probably....

35. Where is your best friend?

About 3 feet away from me (he means me!!)

36. How is your best friend?

She's really cute...

37. Do you have a tan?

Yeah - a nice farmer's tan from being in school 8 hours a day

38. What are you listening to right now?

Special Report with Bret Baier

39. Do you collect anything?

Kisses from my wife

40. Who is the biggest gossiper you know?

I don't run in gossip circles

41. Last time you got stopped by a cop or pulled over?

2004 - A police officer from the Indian reservation pulled me over, but he forgot to sign the ticket, so I didn't have to pay it.

42. Have you ever drank your soda from a straw?

Yeah

43. What does your last text message say?

"You will love me so much anyways" (it was from me. He told me he would love me so much if I made brownies for his home teaching families...)

44. Do you like hot sauce?

I like "mild" hot sauce

45. Last time you took a shower?

This morning

46. Do you need to do laundry?

yes

47. What is your heritage?

Americano

48. Are you someone's best friend?

I hope so (yes!! he is my very, very best friend!)

49. Are you rich?

No, I'm in student debt up to my eyeballs!!

50. What were you doing at 12AM last night?

Sleeping

Credit Repair Companies

Surveys and Quizzes for MySpace

Graduation!!

2010-03-15T07:44:00.000-07:00

Jon graduates from Law School on May 14th of this year! We get so excited the closer it gets!

This week he got his cap and gown and I was so excited I couldn't even wait to see it! I told him to put it all on immediately so I could see it!

He didn't want to, but I won and I got these fun pictures!!

Of course I can't wait until he is wearing it for real! I am so proud of him! Doesn't he look handsome??

The Evolution of Stress

2010-03-04T20:20:00.001-08:00

Working at a school has helped me to realize what I like to call "The Evolution of Stress" - allow me to explain:

One day a little 2 or 3 year old girl came in to the office with her mom to sign out one of our high school kids for the day. This little girl was absolutely balling her eyes out. You would have thought the world had fallen down right on her head. She was very, very upset.

I asked her what was making her so sad, and she very seriously said, "My Balloon".

Mom explained that her balloon was left in the car while they came in to pick up brother and the little girl was not happy about it.

Oh, wouldn't it be nice if our biggest stress was a balloon!!??

Another day, my little first grade friend, who visits me every day after school, came in looking very distraught. I asked him what was wrong, and he explained that he had had a very bad day. I asked him why and he simply said, "I got on yellow". Now, for those of you who don't speak "first grade" let me explain what this means: each kid in the class has a card with 3 colors - green, yellow and red. If the kid is good all day he/she will stay on green. If they start acting up and have to be warned more than once, the teacher will ask the kid to turn his/her card to yellow. When the kid continues to get in trouble, he/she will have to turn the card to red and more drastic measures need to be taken.

Well, my little guy has very good parents who give him consequences at home if he gets in trouble at school, and since he "got on yellow" he would have his Nintendo DS and television privileges revoked for a week (What to go parents!!), and my little guy knew that this was probably one of the worst things that could happen in his little world.

Oh, wouldn't it be nice if our biggest stress was getting on yellow!!??

Then you have my junior high kids who come to school tardy and their only excuse is "I woke up late". The rules say that they are to be issued a detention, and to some of them, losing their lunch period is the most horrible thing ever!!!

Then I think - sometimes I don't even get a lunch break and I show up on time to work!!!

Oh, wouldn't it be nice if our biggest stress were detention!!??

Now we get to High School, and all I have to say is one word - Prom. Will I get a date? What will I wear? Will he be able to match? Where do we go for dinner? Do I have enough money for tickets? What will the theme be? How will it be decorated? Will my mom and dad let me borrow the car?

Oh, wouldn't it be nice if our biggest stress were prom!!??

Then our high school kids graduate and they officially become grown ups - where most of us are now...

It's true that some of them will continue to live at home, or they will still be supported by their parents while they go to college, but eventually (and sooner than they know it) they will be living the "grown up life" and they will have brand new stresses: money, bills, higher education, marriage, kids, gray hairs (caused by kids), jobs, cars breaking down, gaining weight (our metabolisms slow down when we get older), midlife crisis, menopause, 401 Ks, sleep deprivation, stock market, politics......the list goes on an on.......

But then I realized, we have been trained for this stuff - we have had the balloon stress and the yellow stress and the detention stress and the prom stress! Each of these stresses has been a little bit bigger and more "grown up" than the last, so we are now able to handle the actual stresses life brings!

So, we can handle this! Whatever we are going through, we can handle it because we have had years of practice!!

Doesn't that make you feel good??

And, somewhere there may be someone who has already gone through what you are going through and saying, "Oh, wouldn't it be nice if my biggest stress was (insert thing here)" because they are on to bigger and better stresses!!!! And there are some people who are just there to help you out because they know what it is like.

I guess my point is, it's all good!! There is stress in life, but we know how to deal with it and there are people there to help and support us, so it's all good!!!!

It's all good!

ASU will be getting a letter......

2010-02-27T14:36:00.000-08:00

I don't know how many of you Sun Devils read "The State Press" - ASU's school newspaper, but Jon picked one up the other day, when he had nothing else to read on the bus. He came home and immediately told me that I needed to read a few of the articles, because there are 3 offensive articles and a horrible comic strip and he couldn't believe somebody wrote it, let alone got it published!!

The first article is called "Missionary works double sided" and it is written by Austin Yost.

Yost apparently believes that missionaries do not deserve the respect, honor or admiration we give them because they have alternative motives. He claims that missionaries (from any church) only perform acts of service for two reasons: 1) to "sell" their religious subscription and 2) because they want to impress God.

"Missionaries seem to think they have a special relationship with god, such that they feel as though it is their responsibility to dedicate part of their lives to helping people. I find the good work they do commendable, but cannot avoid taking issue with the intent on which many of them act, as explicitly declared by many people and organizations that promote and engage missionary work." Yost says.

He goes on to quote Elder Dallin H. Oaks when he said, "We do missionary work in order to baptize and confirm". He also quotes the New Tribes Mission who said, "NTM exists to ... evangelize unreached people groups, translate the scriptures, and see indigenous churches established that glorify God".

He goes on to say, "In other words, many missionaries are not doing good deeds for the sake of doing good deeds. They are not helping people for the sake of helping people. Rather, their specific intent is to spread the words of the holy book they subscribe to because it is what they think their god demands of them [...] This realization makes the good things many missionaries do seem less convincing, less sincere and less worthy of praise."

This lends itself to his next point. He asks you to compare the way missionaries act to the work place. "Consider an example. Suppose two people work for a company. The first employee says she is going going to volunteer because she wants to help other people. The second employee says that he is going to volunteer because the boss asked him to help unemployed people by giving them a job. Because he wants to please the boss, he complies with the request and does not take into consideration whether unemployed people he finds were even looking for work [...] Many people would think higher of the first employee because her motives seem to be significantly more sincere than those of her counterpart."

He concludes by saying, "When people commit the fatal error of ignoring the intentions behind actions, it allows them to reach the sometimes unjustified conclusion that missionaries should be honored, admired or respected."

Now, I don't care what religion you "subscribe" to, this is one of the most offensive articles I have ever read - and for it to be in the University's newspaper really makes me uncomfortable.

The point that Yost fails to realize is that missionaries serve people and help people, not because they want to "impress" God, but instead because they love Him and his children. They believe that by sharing their message of the Bible and of Heavenly Father, they are providing a service in itself.

I can only speak for missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints because I am most familiar with them, but I know they they are doing good deeds because they realize that every person is their brother and sister and they want to bring them the peace and happiness and love they feel.

I don't know where this guy came from, but I think this is an extremely one-sided and extremely offensive article.

Another article is called "Introducing loaded guns into Grand Canyon an abysmal idea" that ends up not really talking about how guns in the Grand Canyon would be bad, but instead how guns are bad all together. Whether you are pro-2nd amendment or not, the author, Kartik Talamadupula, will surprise you with his lack of research, his one-sided argument, and his poor writing.

Finally, the last offensive article is called "Extreme evangelists pose threat" where Max Feldhake is trying to make explain why Extreme Evangelists are very dangerous, but he ends up talking about regular Christianity. He tries to make is seem as though Christians are worse than other radical groups - his first paragraph says, "A shadow looms large over America and what's more, the world. It is neither radical jihadist or Islamic movements, nor neo-Nazism or neo-Fascism, but rather extreme evangelical Christianity."

I can't believe this guy!!

So, by the time I get to the comics in this newspaper, I am certainly ready for some fun - but then I see a comic strip that I simply could not believe!!

It is called "Blah" and here is how it goes....

Square One:

Character 1: (punching Character 2 in the face) Knock! Knock! Anyone Home??

Square Two:

Character 2: What the hell?! What was that for??

Character 1: Ha Ha D'you know how they say like the eyes are doors to the soul?

Square Three:

Character 2: (With a very angry face and holding Character 1 by the shirt) They also say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach.

Character 1: (smiling) ha ha, yeah? I heard that one bef.....

Square Four:

Character 1 is on the ground with a knife pointing out of his stomach with a puddle of blood.

Ha ha - that's super funny right? WRONG!!! It is probably the most disturbing thing I have ever seen!!! Add to it the fact that the author's name is Qa'ed Tung and I am officially freaked out!!!

All I have to say is, who is the editor of this thing?? Who is the staff advisor who allows this crap to be distributed to the student body of ASU and why doesn't the student body ban together and demand that these people can no longer write!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, all I can say is that Jon and I will be writing a letter to let people know exactly what we feel about this issue of "The State Press".

New Niece!! Baby News!!

2010-02-23T06:44:00.001-08:00

Last night at 11:45pm Lon and Kimbalie welcomed their first baby into the world! Emerie Saline weighed 7lbs 5.8oz and was 21 inches long. I haven't had a chance to go see the baby yet (it was almost midnight when they had her, and unfortunately, I am stuck at work until 4), but I am sure she is absolutely beautiful and Jon and I are so excited to have our first niece!!!!

We have another niece on the way - Jon's sister Shaunalee and her husband Beau are expecting their 3rd child, but first girl the beginning of April!

So many babies!! I just love them!!!!

Congratulations Lon and Kimbalie!!!!!!

Malori Reviews All Sorts of Stuff - Percy Jackson, The Hunger Games, The Bachelor, Southern Cookin'

2010-02-21T20:54:00.001-08:00

Let's start of with "Percy Jackson and the Olympians - The Lightening Thief" - the movie and the book.... I read all of the books and love, love, LOVED them all to pieces! Percy Jackson is such a likable character and you truly want him to succeed and be a hero. You really love Annabeth and the relationship she has with Percy is so cute and fun to witness. Grover is so fun and always doing funny things! Camp Half-Blood is a fun place where everyone wears bright orange t-shirts and train and fight and hang out and just have fun together. It is fun and magical and exciting! I certainly suggest you read the books.

Now, when I heard they were making a movie, I was naturally out-of-my-mind excited! You know how it is when you love a book so much and they make it into a movie. So sweet Jon took me to see it - and during the first scene, I was already a little bit sad. Now, I understand that you can't make a movie exactly like the book because books are much longer and sometimes things happen that are hard to show on film, but there were so many details, so many small little things that would have taken zero time and zero budget to make it more accurate! (ie: in the book, all of the food and snacks Percy's mom makes are dyed blue with food coloring - read the book to find out why - well in the movie, Percy is in the apartment and he pours a glass of lemonade...that was yellow!! A few drips of food coloring and a stir and it would have been perfect, but nobody thought to add that small detail that would have cost less than a dollar).

Still, if you haven't read the books, you will think it is a good movie.

So, watch the movie and then read the books and you will be very happy. Either way, you love the characters and the story.

* * * * *

Speaking of incredible books, "The Hunger Games" is one I simply could not put down! It was very bad, I couldn't get anything done because I couldn't stop reading!!! Now, it isn't what I would call a "super happy" book, but it is very suspenseful and you grow to deeply care about the characters and the unfortunate situation they find themselves in.

You see, Katniss, the main character, lives is a sort-of futuristic world that has been overthrown by the government. The continent has been divided into 12 Districts - each with a certain trade (ie: District 12, where Katniss is from, is the mining district) and each is under the control of the Capitol. The way for the Capitol to continuously show their authority and to keep the Districts from having an uprising, is with The Hunger Games. All of the kids in the District, ages 12-18 have to put their names in a bowl. One boy and one girl are chosen from the bowls to be the "tributes" and compete in the games.

They are put in an arena - a dense forest, a desert, a jungle - with all of the other tributes from the other districts and their objective is to be the last one alive.

Are you already intrigued? I don't do a great job of describing it, but seriously - it is so great!!

The only bad thing about this book is that there are only 2 out right now. There are going to be more, and the second one certainly lends itself to the 3rd book and I am going crazy waiting for it to come out!!!! So you might want to wait until more of them are out before you start reading this book.....but you must, must, MUST, read it!!!!!!!! There is no choice!!!!

* * * * *

Alright, this season of "The Bachelor" has been very entertaining. Jake came from the last season of "The Bachelorette" and he is very determined to find the woman of his dreams. He is determined to cut the crap and find his future wife. He has surprised the producers and Chris (the host) by cutting girls early, asking to not give out all of the roses because he knew that more than one girl were not right for him.

Then there was the drama with Roselyn who slept with one of the staff of the show and was asked by the producers to leave.

Not to mention all of the drama with Ally leaving because of her job and then wanting to come back, and Vienna talking crap behind the girls' backs, and this season has been a fun one!!!

Now we are down to 2 girls: Vienna and Tenley......
Here is a picture of Tenley - my favorite from the start. Sure she has had a rocky past (she was married before and the stupid guy cheated on her...even though she is gorgeous!) but she is so genuine and she is so perfect for Jake. She has strong morals (she was a virgin until her wedding night) and she is ready to be in a solid marriage and have children and live happily ever after. She is so cute and their personalities match so well!! The problem is that Jake feels like there isn't as much "physical chemistry" between them - but how can there be when you have a floozie like Vienna around......
Here is Vienna - the most fake and two-faced girl this season. I don't really understand why she is still around, other than that Jake wants to spend time with the "bad girl" type that he would never date in the real world before he settles down and starts a family.

He says that he is really into her, but he also says he is really into Tenley (of course he is supposed to say that) but I don't know how he can possibly want to spend the rest of his life with her............

Drama, Drama!!! I can't help myself - "The Bachelor" is without a doubt my little guilty pleaure...

If you are interested in seeing who is going to win Jake's heart, tune in to ABC at 7pm next Monday! You can bet I will be plopped down on my couch intently tuning in!!

* * * * *

This weekend we took a very quick trip to Snowflake because Sister Shirley Salisbury from my parent's ward invited my family to dinner, and specifically asked for us.

Now, this normally wouldn't warrant an entire trip clear up to Snowflake, but her dinners are infamous, and for good reason!

We show up and the entire house smelled great!!! She had invited the missionaries and few other people from my parent's ward, so we listened to a nice message from the missionaries while we waited for dinner to be finished.

Finally it was time to see what we had been smelling - and I have never seen so many different main courses at a single house party before!!!

She had made fried chicken and mashed potatoes and pork tenderloin and barbecue beef and shrimp and noodles with a great sauce, and homemade baked beans, and a casserole thing and green beans and deviled eggs and an entire veggie platter and more!!! And it was all soooo tastey!!!! I was stuffed to the brim with such fantastic food, and then it was time for dessert!! She had made like 4 different pies and a chocolate parfait kind of thing and it was all amazing! I had never seen so much food cooked for one dinner party, and Sister Salisbury certainly has an amazing talent for cooking! The sad thing is that she is allergic to gluten, so she couldn't even eat most of what she had made, but she says that that doesn't stop her from cooking and having a great time entertaining and inviting people over, which is her favorite thing in the world to do.

Well, it was a great night with great food - certainly worth the trip!

So the moral of the story is, if you are invited to have dinner at Sister Salisbury's house, you do whatever you can to make sure you can make it!!!

Thank you Sister Salisbury!!

My Sweet Husband

2010-02-07T18:42:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago, we were sitting in church and I noticed a pure white hair sticking straight out of Jon's head. I tried to smooth it down, but with no luck. So, I tried to very nonchalantly pluck it from his head (it turns out, the best place to pull hairs out of your husband's head is at church because they can't scream).

When I showed it to him, he immediately said, "Whoa that is crazy - do you have a bag we can put it in?"

I looked at him like he must be crazy - who wants to keep their "first white hair" - but any of you who know Jon, know that he was not kidding. I searched in my purse and all I had was this box:

and this is the white hair....pretty long huh??
This white hair is certainly hard-earned. Jon is one of the hardest workers I have ever known.

This semester certainly proves this. Not only is Jon taking his regular 13 credit hours of law classes (these are not just "show up and get an 'A' classes - all of his professors function as though the student is only taking their class and is doing nothing else, so they must have all of the time in the world for homework), he is also one of 10 students chosen to take a free bar prep course. This is a really great blessing except that the class requires just as much work as any other class. He is also doing an internship with the Attorney General's office, and this requires he take a class a the law school to "discuss it". He is also part of the Moot Court board and is in charge of running an entire competition by himself. Now, if this wasn't enough he is also working on a video and a web site for the law school to earn pro-bono credit, and he is working at ASU's school of business to earn some extra money for us. He also magnifies his church calling - never missing a month of hometeaching and dropping everything he is doing if someone in the ward or family needs his help.

All of this on top of being married to me (which is a full time job) and my sweet husband deserves a white hair. No wonder he wants to keep it in a box for a little while!!

I can't tell you how much I appreciate the work that he does. I know that he is doing it for me and for our future family. It takes a toll on him - he doesn't get a lot of down time, and sometimes he doesn't sleep much. He misses family things and he misses spending time with me. He sacrifices so much in order to succeed so he can get a good job and take care of his family and I love and admire him so much for that.

I am so proud of him! Only one more semester to go!!!! YAY!!!

I love you Jon!

Thank You!!

2010-01-16T11:05:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to thank all of you who commented for the sweet things you said and your wonderful advice!!! I can't tell you how much I appreciate it and how special it made me feel that you have so much confidence in me! I am so lucky to have such great people who care so much about me in my life.

I'll admit that I am still working on reaching a decision, but a have a few months left to think about it - and your advice helped TREMENDOUSLY!

I will be sure to let you know what I decide when - and I might not actually reach that decision until I have to write it down officially!

Love you all!!!!!

What Should I Do?

2010-01-08T17:04:00.000-08:00

As most of you know, Jon will be graduating at the end of this year (Whoo Hoo!!!!!!!!!!) and that means that it will be my turn to head back into the world of academics. I am so excited about this, but I have to admit that I am a little concerned.....because I don't know what I want to major in.

So many people say that I should just start something, and if I don't like it then I can switch - but that is easier said that done. You see, we will be paying for school (hopefully with the help of grants and/or scholarship) on our very own - as most of you can relate to - and I would like to get in and get it done so that I can focus on things like a family too...so I don't really want to start something that I am not sure about, and then switch to something completely different and have to start over with different, expensive classes that will take even longer. I want to start out with a somewhat sure idea of what I want to be when I grow up.

Now, I have a few different things that I am interested in - and when I say different, I mean different. None of them are even close to each other!!! And there are a lot of reasons why I would love to do them, and a lot of reasons why I am not so sure.

So this is where you come in - I am going to tell you what they are and the pros and cons for each - and hopefully you will post with some advice. Everyone who reads my blog is so smart and knows me and so I know that you will be able to give me some really great advice full of wisdom and love.

Here goes (in no particular order):

Law

Pros: I really like the drama of law. I love the idea of being in a courtroom, questioning witnesses and yelling, "I object" and giving very convincing and heartfelt closing arguments to a jury who will eventually find my side victorious.

I also like the idea of being able to give advice to people and help them when they are dealing with the unjust things in the world. And....Jon is almost a lawyer and that means an in-home tutor!

Cons: After witnessing Jon go through law school, and reading some of his books with him and going over some of his papers, it is very apparent to me that studying law is very boring. Jon says it gets better when you can understand the books and the language of law, but I am not sure that stick with it long enough to find out. Also, I don't know that I would be very good at figuring out the puzzles, like finding that one piece of evidence that will prove your case, or asking that right question. And, there are so many policies and procedures to practicing law - I wonder if I am too creative to be stuck in so many boundaries.

Theater/Musical Theater

Pros: I love, love, love to act and be on stage! I also love writing plays and watching plays. I just love being in an auditorium. I grew up doing it since I was little - my mom was a theater major and she let me be in the plays she directed, or audition and be in the plays she was in. It was so fun and it makes up a huge part of my growing up years. It is so fun!

Cons: What do you do with a theater degree? Teach theater in high school? I don't think so! It seems like if you aren't going to make it big-time (which I don't really want to do, since I want to focus more on family) all you have left is teaching. Also, I would be required to do plays - and if I were going to do plays, I would naturally want leading roles and I would work really hard to get them - but how am I supposed to get leading roles when I refuse to kiss anyone but my husband? It just seems like choosing theater would be fun for now, but would lead to a very uncertain future................

Medicine

Pros: Being a doctor has always been something I have thought about doing since I was very little. Now, I will admit that that dream has evolved from being a doctor to being a Physician's Assistant, but it is still the same idea. It has always been so interesting to me to learn how the body works, and to understand why it doesn't work. I love the idea of working in a hospital and saving lives and uncovering mysteries and seeing every day just how amazing the human body actually is! Besides, it would be really cool to have that knowledge when I have kids.

Cons: First and foremost, I am not very good at chemistry and math - 2 very important classes in medicine. I am also not sure that I would be confident enough to make decisions that could cost someone their life. That is a very big responsibility.

Political Science

Pros: Anyone who knows me knows that I am a self-proclaimed "Fox News Junkie". Ever since my dad started listening to NPR (the only talk radio available on the mountain), I have been hooked, and being married to a Political Science major who did an internship for the RNC and is very interested in politics, I have been hooked!! I listen to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity...all of them like a crazy person!! The station in the car never changes from KFYI and if I can sneak it at work, you can bet I will. I was excited to get cable in the house so I could watch Fox News and give Jon the report of what is going on in the world every day (he is in class so he can't hear it as much as I do). I have to ask Jon questions about how things work a lot of the time and I get so irritated with some of the things going on in the world, and I wonder if I could do something to change it.

Cons: Even Jon will tell you that there isn't much to do with a degree in Political Science besides go to law school, teach Political Science, or go into politics. We already talked about law school, I am sure I don't want to teach anything, and I am not so sure I am brave enough to go into politics. It takes up a lot of time and again, I really want to focus on family too.

So anyways, those are my top 4 choices and I am torn between them all! They all have so many good things and so many bad things. One of the main things I am scared of is that I will do one and wish that I had done the others - I want to do them all!!!!

I need your advice - what do you think I should do?

It's The Holiday Season!

2010-01-02T09:23:00.000-08:00

The holidays are over and they were soooooooo fun!! We went up to Snowflake the week before Christmas to visit with Laney who was visiting from Florida! It was so great to see her!

On the Thursday before Christmas, we went to Grams' house for our annual "baking day" with the ladies. Here is everyone saying "Merry Christmas!"

The rest of the time I was very bad at taking pictures. For some reason my camera ended up in all the places I wasn't. Oops.

So let me tell you about it...

Laney opened her Christmas presents. We got to get

to her know her Roommate (who I named Roommate, but her real name is Allison) and she is very sweet. The two of them were so funny!

On Friday Laney and Roommate had to head back to Florida so they could go back to work, so Grams, Mom and I drove them to the airport. It was sadto say goodbye, but Laney is experiencing the opportunity of a lifetime!

The rest of the day, we went shopping and went to lunch at the Cheesecake Factory (yummy)! It was sooooo fun to hang out with the girls!

Sunday we went to Grams' ward's Christmas program

that she is in charge of every year. It was really nice - she does a great job every year!

We spent some time just hanging out with the "Rhineheart" side of the family, an we went to the "Saline" side and spent some time with them! It is so fun to spend time with the families!!

Then, Christmas Eve came!

We headed over the Great Granny and Papa's house to see the entire extended family. I can't believe how big the kids are getting!! They used to be so tiny and now the girls are starting Young Womens! Holy Cow!!

After that we headed to Grams' house for our PJ's and annual Christmas program stuff. The little ones did their live nativity, and I got to be in charge of it in Laney's place (she is usually in charge, but since she was in Florida, I took over - she does a much better job, but it was fun to do it!) Here is a little video of it:

Then, we sang some Christmas songs and opened our "drawn name" gifts. We had drawn Aunt Mindy and Uncle Jason and Jon made a beautiful cutting board that we put in a basket filled with gourmet treats and a pretty little knife and stuff. I thought it looked really nice and I think they liked it

Uncle Sammy and Aunt Reah drew our name and they made us

this amazing picture of the Snowflake temple with pictures of us around it and our names and the date we got married! It is soooo a

mazing!!! And...the wrapping was pretty cool too! :)

After that we headed over to Saline's to play a Bingo/White Elephant game that was so fun! When you got a Bingo you got to pick a present and when someone else got a Bingo, they could choose to steal or get a new present. It was really exciting!!!

Then, Shaunalee, Beau, Keagan and Kaleb all went in and put on their pajamas - here is a picture of the cute little family in their feetie pajamas!! Doesn't Shaunlee's belly look cute? She is pregnant with her first little girl!

Then, we went over the Rhineheart's to do our "Christmas Ever Slumber Party". This year I was outnumbered by boys, so I told Tanner and Jon they could pick the movie as long as they didn't spend the night playing video games - bad decision!! They chose an anime movie called "Princess Mononoke" - it is the strangest, longest, most miserable movie experience ever!!! But it was so fun to stay up all night and watch it together (and make fun of it at every opportunity) so it was a great night!

At 3:30am Christmas morning, we got Mom and Dad up and headed in to see what Santa brought for us!!! Just like always, we got totally spoiled!!

Then around 5:00am we went up to Show Low to visit Granny and Papa and eat some breakfast! Every year Granny makes biscuits and gravy

and it is soooooo yummy!! It was great to visit them!

Around 7:15am, Jon and I headed to Saline's where we set up the rocking chair Jon had refinished for Lon and Kimbalie (who are expecting their first baby - a little girl) and we watched Keagan and Kaleb open what Santa brought them and we opened up our presents. Again, we got totally spoiled!! Especially by JoyLynn who drew our name. She made the most amazing journals! They are covered in leather and it has gold letters (mine says "Memoirs of Malori Jo with a beautiful crown in the middle, and Jon's says "Adventures of Jon Saline" with a really cool compass in it) They are so cool!

At noon, we went over to Grams' house to see what Santa dropped off there, and again, we were totally spoiled!!!!

Christmas was awesome!!!!!!!!! Thank you everyone who made

it so special!!!!!!!!!!

Eventually we came home and tried to catch up on housework and laundry, and then, before we knew it, it was New Year's Eve.

Jon's family all came over to play games and eat snacks while we waited for the clock to strike midnight.

Here are some pictures of everyone playing, the little boys hanging out (Kaleb fell asleep early) and everyone just hanging out. It was really fun!

That night, Shauanlee, Beau, Keagan, Kaleb, Keith, and Shelly all stayed the night at our house. It was really fun in the morning when we got up and ate some breakfast!

Later on New Years Day, we all went to the movies! Most of the "grown ups" went to see the Avatar movie, but Jon and I had already seen it, so we went with Shaunalee and Beau and the kids to see Alvin and the Chipmunks (and I was singing "All the Single Ladies" for the rest of the night!)

So, the holidays have been wonderful!!! We have had so much fun!! Sadly, we have to head back to work and "real life" on Monday....wish us luck....hee hee hee!!

The Christmas (Insert Object Here)

2009-12-12T09:14:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again. The time when everywhere you look you see books titled "The Christmas (Insert Object Here)". Some of you may remember my mentioning this last year, and I am afraid it has only seemed to get worse this year.

Don't get me wrong, I am not a Scrooge when it comes to "The Christmas (Insert Object Here) books - in fact there are a fair few that I really enjoy (ie: The Christmas Jars, The Christmas Sweater, The Christmas Box) I just wish that they would come up with a more creative name.

That having been said, it is time for my own little "The Christmas (Insert Object Here)" story.

The Christmas Song

by:

Malori Jo Saline

"This year our class is in charge of the manger scene for the Christmas Concert! This is a huge responsibility and I know you will all do great!! I will assign parts on Wednesday."

Mrs. Sneebs' sixth grade class could hardly contain their excitement! Every year the manger scene is rotated between the five, sixth grade classrooms, so this opportunity only came around every five years! The manger scene was the center of the Christmas Concert. All of the other sixth graders only got to sing in the choir wearing blue jeans and red and green turtlenecks, but the manger scene kids got to dress up in elaborate costumes made by the PTO and they had lines, and some of them even got to sing solos! This was a big deal!

At recess the playground was buzzing with talk of who would be given what part. Only three kids could be wise men (naturally) and they got to sing "We Three Kings" all by themselves. They had the fanciest costumes, so that was a pretty great part. Then there was the Angel, who got to stand on top of the manger and wear really pretty wings and a halo that really lit up! Baby Jesus was always played by a Cabbage Patch Doll dressed in swaddling clothes. Then there were the Shepherds and Animals, played by all the kids who didn't get picked for the major parts. It wasn't bad to be chosen as an animal, the cows and horses got to have two people (one for the head and one for the rump) and all of the animals got to wear cool face paint.

The big parts were, of course, Mary and Joseph. These parts were always given to the smartest and most well behaved and liked of the class. It had to be that way, because if no one liked Mary and Joseph...well, it wouldn't be very good.

Nobody was really sure who would be selected to play which part, but there was one part they were sure of...the pig. Naturally the part of the pig would be played by Ann McPherson.

You see, Ann was quiet and awkward. She was very small with a mousy face. Her hair always hung in her eyes and her clothes were always two sizes too big. She never ate lunch with everyone else - she always sat in the corner with her book and half a peanut butter and cheese sandwich. Not only that, but Ann had a smell about her. It wasn't a terrible odor, but not something you wanted to accidentally rub off if you spent too much time with her. She was the perfect choice for the pig.

Sarah Hamilton was sure she was going to be given the part of Mary. After all, she had straight A's, had never had her name written on the board for bad behavior, was friends with pretty much everybody, and was very pretty. Not to mention the fact that her singing voice was much better than everybody else's. Nobody would be able to sing "Mary's Lullaby" quite like her.

On Wednesday Mrs. Sneebs' class sat in their desks anxiously waiting to find out who had been chosen to play which parts. Finally Mrs. Sneebs walked to the front of the room followed by Mr. Parkins, the principal, and Mr. Delphi, the choir teacher. Mrs. Sneebs unfolded her reading glasses and set them on the very tip of her nose so she could see both the paper she was now holding up and her class, and she began to read, "The parts of the Wise Men will be played by Mike Bell, Sammy Mackintosh, and Billy Reed..."

Mike, Sammy and Billy all did "air high fives" while everyone in the class patted them on the back and murmured their congratulations.

"The parts of the Shepherds will be played by Frank Rosenthal, Margaret Southerland, Daniel Howards......."

One by one Mrs. Sneebs read the list...Millie and Bobby had been chosen as sheep, Victor and Dave had been chosen to be a camel while Howie and Josh were chosen as the cow.

Now it was down to the final three roles - Mary, Joseph and the Angel.

"The roll of Joseph will be played by Jimmy Benson. The roll of the Angel will be played by Sarah Hamilton, and finally, the roll of Mary will be played by Ann McPherson."

"WHAT!?" Sarah jumped out of her chair in astonishment. How could Ann get the part of Mary? Ann was terrible for the part, she was so.....strange!!

Sarah tried to talk to Mrs. Sneebs about what was obviously a huge misunderstanding, but to no avail. Mrs. Sneebs said that the choice was made and she needed to be happy with the part she was given.

That afternoon Sarah was walking home with her best friend Brittany (who was given the part of a sheep, which she was happy about because she hated being in the spotlight - that's why she could be such good friends with Sarah) and she was explaining why Ann should not have the part and she should, "I mean, look at me and look at her! Besides, have you ever heard her sing? No you haven't because she it too quiet. She never talks to anyone! She doesn't have friends, she doesn't fit the part!!"

Brittany let Sarah continue to talk during their walk home and when they arrived at Brittany's house she asked if Sarah wanted to come in and watch the newest video from their favorite band.

Sarah explained that she couldn't, "I have to go to the stupid Soup Kitchen with my parents. The other night Oprah was saying that parents should teach their kids to be more active in the community, so my mom decided this was the way to do it. I will call you when I get home though."

They said their goodbyes and Sarah walked to the corner of the street to her house.

"Sarah, you can stand here and hand out the biscuits. Just one per person at first, we need to make sure we have enough to go around."

Sarah grudgingly took the tongs and stood in her assigned spot behind the giant glass sneeze guard. If her friends saw her now she would never hear the end of it. She was wearing a plastic apron, giant plastic gloves, and to top it all off, a hair net!! She looked like the lunch lady at school!

One by one people started walking through the line and one by one Sarah set a biscuit down on their tray next to their bowl of hot chicken noodle soup.

The people looked tired, like they hadn't had a good night's sleep in a long time, and their clothes looked worn. Sarah had never seen any of them before and she wondered where all of these people lived.

A young girl walked through the line behind her mother with her head down. Sarah set the biscuit on her tray.

"Say thank you." The girl's mother encouraged in a tender voice.

Just then, the girl looked up a little, a small thank you came out of her mouth, and she quickly walked off to join her family.

Sarah stood frozen. That little girl was Ann.

Sarah finished serving, all the while watching Ann eating her soup as though it was the best food she had ever tasted.

After she had pulled off all of her plastic gear, Sarah and her parents got in the car to go home to their nice warm beds.

"Sarah, you seem awfully quiet, are you alright?" Dad asked sounding concerned.

Sarah thought about it for a minute, "Dad, those people, they need a lot of help right?"

Dad nodded.

"Well, there was a girl from my class there, and I was thinking, if they can't afford food, the probably can't afford Christmas present either."

Again, Dad just nodded.

"Well...." Sarah seemed to hesitate for just a minute "Dad, would you mind if I gave Ann the presents you were planning on giving me? I mean, I'm grateful for them and everything, but I already have a lot of stuff, and Ann doesn't have anything."

Dad and Mom looked at each other and finally Mom said, "Sarah, it is your choice what you want to do with your Christmas present, but you need to know, if you give Ann all of your gifts, we won't be able to afford to get you anything else. You won't have anything for Christmas."

Sarah thought about this for a moment and then she looked at Mom and Dad with resolution and said, "That's ok, she needs Christmas more than I do."

The night of the Christmas Concert, Sarah was ready early and rushing her parents out the door, "Come on, we need to get to Ann's house before she leaves, Hurry!"

Sarah arrived at a small house located at the end of a dark road. The house had not lights. It didn't have a Christmas wreath hanging on the door. There was no sign of Christmas anywhere. Sarah knocked and waited.

Slowly the door opened and there stood Ann in her Mary costume. She looked as though she had been crying.

"Hi Ann, we have a surprise for you! Can we come in?"

Ann nodded looking very confused and opened the door wide. Sarah walked in and gestured to the car. Ann looked to see what Sarah was doing when she saw Sarah's mom walk up the steps carrying a box filled with brightly wrapped gifts. Then she saw Sarah's dad walk up with a freshly cut and already decorated Christmas tree. He set it down in the living room, plugged it in and suddenly the house was filled with a warm light.

Ann's mom heard the noise and came down the stairs to find Sarah stacking the gifts under the tree and Sara's mom and dad unloading the making of a Christmas feast on the table.

"Oh look at what time it is, Ann we need to get going we will be late for the concert!"

Ann just looked at Sarah, tears in her eyes, and again she just nodded.

The Christmas Concert was going great. The choir sounded wonderful, the Wise Men were a little off key, and the Shepherds and Sarah did a great job with their song.

Finally it was time for "Mary's Lullaby" and everyone looked at Ann as the music began.

Ann started off very soft, you could barely hear her, but as the song went on her voice grew. She held the Cabbage Patch Baby Jesus and sang to him. Her voice was filled with gratitude and love. The music seemed to fill the hearts of everyone in the room, but Ann didn't seem to notice any of them. She was singing to her Savior.

When the music ended, Ann slowly lifted the Baby Jesus to her lips and kissed him, and she whispered, "Thank you". Then she looked up at Sarah, who was overwhelmed with tears and she smiled as she had never smiled before.

People still talk about the year Mrs. Sneebs' class was in charge of the Christmas Concert. Never had they felt such a beautiful Christmas Spirit. But no one ever knew what inspired that music. No one ever knew about the Angel's love that inspired Mary's Christmas Song.

So that is my "The Christmas (Insert Object Here) story. I know the punctuation, spelling and grammar aren't great...but I hope you enjoyed it.

Have a Very Merry Christmas!

Crazy Life!

2009-12-07T07:59:00.000-08:00

Life has been so insane lately and I realized that I haven't posted in practically a million years!! So, here is a brief nutshell of what has been going on in the life of Malori and Jon Saline:

1) Thanksgiving: We went up to Snowflake for Thanksgiving and it was wonderful!! We went to both sides of the family and had amazing dinners at each and I am sure I gained 20 pounds just from turkey and potatoes!! Of course I brought my camera, but I forgot to take any pictures! It was so fun to play with Collin at the Saline's house and to play Apples to Apples with the family! It was fun to watch the parade and play games with them! We had a blast!!
2) Work: Work has been especially insane - but that is how it always is at the end of the semester and right before the holidays. It is like a full moon every day - the kids get a little weird and a little crazy. That on top of getting everything ready for the end of the semester and it makes for some craziness.
3) Finals: Jon is right in the middle of finals. Naturally he is stressed and nervous and very busy with studying and getting his papers done and finishing his projects. Poor guy! Luckily he has already finished his graduation paper and turned it in, so he can check that off of the list and he won't have to do it next semester - his very last semester!! (his graduation date is May 14th!! YAY!!)
4) Getting ready for Christmas: This year both sides of our family are doing homemade gifts for our drawn names. This is such a fun tradition! It requires everyone to really think about that person and spend time on something special and that makes the gifts much more special! It does make for a little bit more work for the holidays, so that does take time -but I wouldn't trade it! I love the tradition!
So, just like everyone I'm sure, we have been running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to get everything done and trying to be where we need to be and finish everything we need to finish. It sounds like things are out of control, but it is organized chaos and we are enjoying every minute of it! I love the holiday season and I can't wait for Christmas!! My sister is flying in from Florida for a week before Christmas and I am so excited to see her!
This Christmas is going to be awesome!!!!!!!!!

Taylor

2009-11-17T09:37:00.000-08:00

Sunday night my cousin Taylor Hancock passed away. He was only 15 years old. They aren't sure what exactly happened, but it has been very difficult for my family.
I just wanted to write and tell my Aunt Annette, my Uncle Tim, and my cousin Trey that I love them and that we will all get through this together. It will not be easy, but we will get through it.
Last night I was talking to Jon about it - I had just spoken with my Aunt on the phone and it was very difficult to hear her grief and pain. Jon told me that we shouldn't worry because his Grandpa Saline is up there taking good care of Taylor...I know that is true....
If you could all keep him and our family in your prayers (especially my Aunt and Uncle and my cousin) these next few days and weeks.
Taylor will be deeply missed.

2009-11-10T08:09:00.000-08:00

I am finally getting around to blogging about Halloween!! I know, it's a little bit late, but here it is!
We went to Snowflake and spent the day with my parents. We went out to the Willis' pumpkin patch and picked out some pumpkins. Jon and Tanner had to search the entire patch for the two biggest and roundest pumpkins, but the rest of us found our little ones pretty quickly.
The first picture is Dad's pumpkin. He had the idea of shaving the skin off of the teeth to make them look more scary. Brilliant huh?

Here is a picture of mom and dad's together. Mom's looks so happy huh? It's because it is eating a Snickers! During the day though, we looked and the Snickers had disappeared. We were really worried that a dog got it and is now very sick...I hope not!!
Ok, this is a picture of our pumpkins before we carved them....all of our pumpkin heads!

These are all of our pumpkins at night - you can't really tell, but Jon's is the one that is laying down. It has "brains" falling out (the pumpkin insides) and Tanner's looks all mean and has some "brain" coming out of his mouth like he is eating it....it looked so awesome!!
This is a close up of my little pumpkin - he is so happy cuz he is all in love....hee hee hee it's pretty silly.
That night my parents got trick-or-treaters for the first time in 11 years and they were so cute!! We were playing a board game and every time the doorbell would ring both my mom and my dad would jump up and run to the door. My dad was especially excited about it. He was so cute!!
It was really fun!

Malori's Movie Reviews

2009-10-27T13:19:00.000-07:00

Let's start with one of my all time favorite movies of all time ever!!! I seriously know ever line to this movie and can start at the beginning at any moment and quote to the end without any prompts - ok that makes me sound a little bit lame, but that is how much I adore this movie!!
First of all, who in their right mind doesn't love a good Jane Austen story? She writes the most romantic and heart wrenching stories and creates the most amazing characters that you can't help but fall in love with!
So, turn an amazing Jane Austen book into a movie and cast Emma Thompson (my favorite actress!), Kate Winslet and Hugh Grant and you have an automatic winner!! But it doesn't stop there...who would have thought that Ang Lee - director of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - could create such amazing moments!!
My favorite scene by far is when Elinor (Emma Thompson) who is in love with Edward (Hugh Grant) is talking with Lucy (Imogen Stubbs) who is Edward's secret fiance of 5 years - who he is not in love with...because he is truly in love with Elinor, but he can't break a promise to Lucy - so anyways, Lucy and Elinor are visiting and suddenly, who comes to visit but Edward!! How awkward for him to have his true love and his fiance sitting in the same room! Then, to make matters worse, Marianne (Kate Winslet), Elinor's sister, comes in and starts asking all sorts of questions about why Edward hasn't gone out of his way to visit Elinor.....
The scene is filled with the most silent and awkward humor and everyone does such an amazing job in it!! I just love watching it!!
So...if you have not seen this movie, please, please, please find it and watch it immediately - it will change your life!!
Ok, we are going to go from a great movie to a not-so-great movie. Jon and I rented this movie from the redbox because the commercials looked promising and because I think that Michael Cera is so darn funny!! Well, Michael didn't let me down (he is super funny), but the writers did. This movie had it's moments but was mostly sacreligious and offensive. It also contained the stereotypical "Jack Black" kind of humor - cheap gags, slap stick, and "potty jokes" that are geared toward human beings with the maturity of a 6th grader.
Needless to say, I do not recommend this movie......not at all.......
Normally I don't like Renee Zellweger so I was not sure if I wanted to watch this movie - that is why it is now a year after it came out and I am just barely seeing it. And, I only rented it because they were out of The Proposal in the redbox and I wanted to watch something girlie....
Luckily, I was very pleasantly surprised! Let me just say that I have a little bit of a crush on Harry Connick Jr. (don't worry, Jon knows and he is ok with it) so that certainly helped....
But this movie was very, very sweet. Kind of a typical storyline - big city girl comes to small town and learns to adapt to the small town lifestyle and ends up preferring it over her big city experience.
What I loved about this particular movie is that the big city girl doesn't end up giving up her dreams and her success to live in the small town - instead she becomes more successful and ends up making her dreams a complete reality!
This movie made me laugh so hard and it made me cry and feel really good inside when it was over. It was a really a good time!
Last, but certainly not least, Love Happens. I was very excited for this movie because I really like Jennifer Aniston and I really like Aaron Eckhart (from what I saw of him in Batman - I have never seen him in anything else) - or so I thought.
This movie's storyline was really sweet and I really enjoyed watching it. However, I did not like Aaron Eckhart in it. I guess he isn't the type of guy who should be in chick flicks. Whenever he was feeling strong emotions (in love, stressed out, upset) he would breath really heavily - as though he had just run a marathon - and whenever he was serious, he would show it by pressing his fingers to his forehead. He never looked happy either....maybe I am being to picky.
So it was an alright movie, but not fantastic. I did cry like a little girl in it, but I didn't laugh or think it was a good time. I would suggest getting it at the redbox - then you only spend a dollar and it is a good time.

So those are the movies I have seen recently - I hope it helps you in your movie renting decisions.

Patriotism, Birthday Fun and Random Acts of Kindness

2009-10-09T19:44:00.001-07:00

To start I have some making up to do - so we are going to go clear back to September 11th. The Tempe Town Lake Park displayed 3,000 American flags in honor of those who died on that historic day.
Jon and I went and I was in awe of how beautiful it was.
Jon was especially touched - he is truly one of the most patriotic people I know.

Jon took these pictures at sunset - aren't they stunning? (Yup, he takes great pictures too!)
I was so moved by this experience. As we walked up and down the rows of flags, I couldn't help but think about our amazing country and how blessed we are to have the freedoms and liberties that we have. I was so proud of the members of my family who have fought and served this country in the armed forces in various wars all over the world. I was and am so proud to call myself an American!

In more recent news, last weekend was my 22nd Birthday. I took the day off, so the day before my Birthday (Thursday) my office really spoiled me. My friend decorated my desk with streamers and balloons and big Happy Birthday banners! My boss got me flowers, and all of the kids sang to me and wished me a Happy Birthday. It was so sweet!

Then the day came!

All day long I received the sweetest phone calls and text messages from friends and family wishing me a Happy Birthday! Thank you to all of you who remembered me and were thinking about me - you have no idea how much it means to me!!

Jon decided that we should go on a small road trip (and I was so excited!)

So off we headed toward beautiful Sedona (I had never been there and Jon had told me about how beautiful it was, so I was totally excited!!!!!!)

On our way we ran into Montezuma's Castle, and couldn't help but take a look!

Here's Jon sitting on the bench and taking a breather (we had been walking for a whole 15 feet when we came across this bench - hee hee hee)
And here it is, the infamous Montezuma's Castle!! Here is an interesting tid-bit of information - nobody named Montezuma ever lived in, or even near this place.....hmmmmmm........
Here is Jon going Native and grinding our dinner....thanks honey!
He really wanted to climb the mountain up the the castle and search inside the caves, but these very serious looking signs stopped him (couldn't they at least say please?)
Finally we arrived in Sedona and it is so beautiful!!! It looks like a painting!
We were driving around, after having gone to an amazing art gallery, and we saw this.....how can you not stop at a place called "Ye Olde Alien Store"? Turns out there have been some UFO sightings in Sedona.....probably by the fortune tellers they have in abundance around there.
I just loved this sweet little kissing toad....
This was in that sweet little place called Tlaquepaque (yup, I had to look up how to spell that). I loved it in there, it looked like a little Italian village - or what I imagine a little Italian village would look like, since I haven't actually seen one....

Every where you looked there was something to see - it's as though the entire little place were an art gallery!
Jon and I had an amazing day in Sedona!!! Thank you Honey for taking me there!!!!!!

The next morning (Saturday) we got up bright and early (like 4:30am) to head up to Snowflake where my dad greeted us with an amazing biscuits and gravy Birthday breakfast!!! Yum!!!!

Then we watched some Conference until Grams and Gramps came over for the big Birthday dinner!! I chose rice-a-roni (the chicken flavor), steak, Grams' bean dip, and salad. For dessert - brownies and vanilla ice cream with Reese's hardening syrup on top! Oh my goodness it was amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yummy!!! Just thinking about it makes my mouth water all over again!

It was so fun to hang out with the family all weekend and it was so fun to share my Birthday dinner with Grams who's birthday is only a week after mine.

That night, as the boys headed off to the Priesthood session of Conference, mom and I decided to go the the dollar store and look for something fun to do. What did we find? Nail polish and coloring books!!!

When the boys got home, mom and I were sitting at the table, coloring princesses and fairies and just chit-chatting. It was sooooo fun!!!

Ok - here is a brief preview of some of the cool gifts I received (and yes, I know that I am totally spoiled!):
This is the cutest piggy bank!! As you can see, "his plasma screen" piggy bank is much smaller than "her diamond ring" - but it's ok because his piggy bank has a hole in the bottom so all of the money goes straight into her account! I think this is so cute and so hilarious!! Thanks Mom!!!
Mom also did something very amazing - she sewed!! Now, those of you who know my mom, know that she is amazingly talented. She can paint and put together the cutest crafts - but if you can't stick it together with nails or hot glue - she isn't interested. But, she bit the bullet and used a sewing machine to make me this cute little scripture case!! Isn't it awesome!! She made it out of a placemat and ribbon - brilliance!! I might add that her stitches are straight and everything! I am so impressed!!!!!!!
Here are some of the cards I got from (going from left to right) Nikki and Brenden, Granny and Papa and Grams and Gramps - they all had some dinero in them too which has been spent wisely (on some really great clothes and accessories - it was sooooo fun!!) Thank you all!!!
These next two pictures are gifts that mean a lot to me. These are some things my dad bought when he was on his mission in South Africa. I have always loved studying South Africa and hearing his stories and seeing his pictures, but my favorite thing was always looking at his amazing statues and things. I love having a piece of that place and of my dad's life in my hands! It is so incredible to have these beautiful things in my house!!! I love my daddy so much and am so proud of him!!
Thank you so much daddy for trusting me with these - I love them so much!
This shirt is from my little (bigger than me) brother Tanner who plays football for Snowflake - that's right everyone, my little brother is a Lobo and I'm afraid I am going to have to support the Blue and White. I know it makes me a traitor to my Show Low Cougars, but I am very seriously outnumbered (Jon is a Lobo, my parents, my grandparents, my aunts and uncles, now Tanner) and with Laney in Florida I can't hold the Green and Gold banner by myself. So I have given in and I will wear this shirt with pride!

How can I not be proud - my "younger" brother is an awesome football player for the Snowflake Lobos and I am so proud of him.

Besides, it's a really sweet shirt!!

But don't tell lots of people about this treachery ok?? Hee hee hee

Needless to say, it was a pretty darn awesome 22nd Birthday!!! Thank you to everyone who made it that way!!!

* * *

This week has been an interesting one at work - the week before breaks always are (this coming week is fall break - yay!!). The kids are restless, the teachers are ready for a break, and emotions are wearing thin....it is hard on everyone.

Being in the front office, I spend most of my time around the kids who get "sent to the Principal's office" so it's no wonder why I can get a little discouraged when it comes to the choices kids make. But every so often I am surprised by how selfless and kind kids can be. There are two particular instances this week.

1) A senior girl and a freshman girl were putting up some student artwork around the office. Naturally the freshman girl was a little shy around this confident upperclassman. When the senior girl asked for her opinion on how the artwork should be displayed, the freshman girl quietly said that she didn't know. The senior girl kindly suggested some things and they went to work. The freshman girl hung a few of the papers on the wall, and when she was finished, the senior girl praised her as though she had just painted the Mona Lisa. She told her that they were in the perfect place, that she was so smart to think of arranging them like that, and that she should go into interior design because she had such a natural eye for things like that. The freshman girl's face lit up and I could just see her confidence level growing! I was so touched by the sincerity of senior girl - she will never know what an impact she made on freshman girl's life!

2) A young man came into the office asking if we knew which class another young man was in. When we questioned YM #1's motives (was he planning on disrupting the class because of some huge argument they were having over a girl?....things like that have to be stopped before they start and that is our job) he explained that he wanted to meet him outside of his class to give him a Bible.

Apparently YM #1 was talking about a church activity he had attended (he is not a member, but is very strong in his religious convictions) and YM #2 was interested. YM#1 invited him to a youth activity, and while they were there he noticed that YM #2 did not have a Bible. He questioned him and his suspicions were confirmed - YM#2 did not own a Bible.

So YM #1 promptly went out and purchased a beautiful little Bible. He made certain that it was the type that printed the words of Christ in red so YM#2 would be able to recognize those verses, and to top it all off, he paid the extra few dollars to have YM#2's name engraved on the front.

When we called YM#2 to the office and he was presented with his gift, he practically had tears i his eyes...and so did I.

Just when I lose hope in today's youth - they surprise me and I regain hope! There are some really awesome kids out there and I know they will make this world an amazing place!!

I'm Still Here

2009-09-25T13:47:00.001-07:00

I haven't posted in a really long time! Same ol' excuse...I have pictures but it is hard to get them while I am at work, and life has been so crazy that I haven't had a chance to do it at home!
I have a whole ton of stuff to blog about, so don't worry...it will be coming soon! I just wanted you to know that I haven't fallen off the face of the planet or anything!!!

All The Difference

2009-09-15T11:04:00.001-07:00

The last time Jon and I were in Utah, we stopped and visited some people at a store he used to work at. The store is the only real wood turning store in the world!!
While we were there, he let me pick a block of wood for my very own piece of art!!
It was just a giant cubed chunk of wood when I picked it - and he turned it into this amazing piece!
He named it "All The Difference"
I love my sweet husband so very much - he is without a doubt the most talented person I know!!
When I was showing this picture to some people at work, one of the ladies said, "what can your husband not do?"
I couldn't come up with anything!! He is seriously amazing!!!
I am a lucky girl!!!

Julie & Julia - One Of My Favorites!!

2009-09-08T12:22:00.000-07:00

I can honestly say that it has been a long time since I have seen a movie as fun, hilarious, heartfelt, moving and inspiring as Julie & Julia. I laughed and cried (yup, that sounds super cheesy, but it's true!!) and came out of the theater with the desire to be a better person and accomplish something amazing.

The movie simultaneously tells the story of Julia Child and Julie Powell.

Julia Child - as you probably already know - was a cooking legend! She was a brilliant chef, brilliant on television, and had an amazing cookbook, but there is so much more to her than that. She was a passionate person who loved her sweet husband more than anything and loved life no matter what! Still, she was not perfect, she got discouraged, she had her heart broken, she was cranky sometimes, but she was an inspiration.

Julie Powell is a 30-year old government secretary dealing with the after effects of 9/11 - and she hates it. She feels like she is drowning in her meaningless life. She finds her solace in her husband and in food. She loves cooking and soon gets the idea to cook through Julia Child's entire cookbook in a year. During the year she gets overwhelmed, disappointed, and through it all, she finds herself.

Both of these women are amazing, and they have amazing husbands who love and support them through it all. It is hard on them sometimes, but they never stop loving their wives and being excited for them, and their relationships grow stronger and stronger.

This movie inspired me to follow my passions and to cherish my husband.

I encourage anyone who loves romance, fun, and food to watch this movie. I encourage anyone who is married and wants to see a movie where marriage is valued, encouraged, and portrayed as the beautiful bond it is to watch this movie.

Bon Appetit!

The Tastey Club

2009-09-06T22:26:00.000-07:00

I have an exciting new blog with an exciting new goal!!! Please check it out!!! It's called The Tastey Club - and the site is

http://thetasteyclub.blogspot.com

It is also over on the right hand side of this blog!

Check it out and you can see the whole story!!! It is so exciting!!!!

Zip Line and $20.00

2009-08-29T15:54:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we went to Bro. Caldwell's house in Taylor. Over the little creek out there he has built a zip line. It goes in a giant triangle from tree to tree and I was so afraid that I would chicken out! Apparently Jon had no qualms about jumping out there and hanging upside down!!

Luckily they strapped us up in these major harnesses with some very serious ropes and pulleys and stuff - and I made sure that it would hold me!
Here is dad flying through the air!! He kept turning backwards so he had to land backwards!
Here is a picture of a Moo Cow that was just sitting on the wrong side of the creek watching us. We kept flying over it's head and it would watch us and then eat some grass as though seeing people flying was the most natural thing in the world.
Here is mom. She was very nervous because she is very afraid of heights. But she was determined and after a while she didn't have any problems stepping off of the edge!
Here I am!! After some major pep-talking from Jon, I finally was brave enough to step off! It was soooooo exciting!! After I stepped off the first time, I was so brave - not as brave as Jon (no upside down stuff for me) - but very brave.
Here's Tanner Man - he was so funny! You could tell that he was a little bit nervous, but he had to be brave since he is now a big, tough football player. Soon he was a pro!!

It was such a fun adventure!!!! I didn't think that I would like it - but it turns out, I loved it!!!! Thanks Mom and Dad!

* * *

On our trip home from Snowflake (after the zip line experience) Jon spotted something flapping on the road in Star Valley. He said that it looked like a dollar and that we needed to turn around.

Now, I was just thinking that he was crazy and that it was a leaf that looked like a dollar and we were turning around for nothing - but he was determined.

We turned the car around and I got in the drivers seat. Then we pulled in to a little shop near the alleged dollar.

I sat in the driver's seat and watched as my sweet (but hallucinating) husband ran out into the crowded street and picked up this "imaginary" dollar.

His grin was priceless!! He ran out of the road holding up his prize like a kid who just earned hs first allowance!

He climbed back in the car with a big "Woo-Hoo!!!!" and handed me not a leaf, not a dollar, not even five dollars. My husband handed me a $20 bill!

You would have thought he won the jackpot, and of course I couldn't help but be excited! $20 in the middle of the street? We must be lucky!!!!

Woo-Hoo!!!

For All Of You Ensign Readers Out There.....

2009-08-19T18:43:00.000-07:00

As most of you know, my husband is practically the most amazingly talented man on the face of the planet!!! You may also remember that he entered a piece in the Church's Worldwide Art Competition and was selected to have it displayed in the Conference Center in Salt Lake for a year. Well, if that wasn't cool enough, if you turn to page 45 in September's Ensign you will see a giant picture of his the platter he made!! It's huge and beautiful and there is even a quote next to it by him!!!

Well you can imagine that I have been on the phone non-stop since we saw it!

I am so proud of my sweet husband!

So everyone, make sure you check out page 45 (and I guess you should read the other stuff too....)

2 Amazing Years!

2009-08-11T15:25:00.000-07:00

My Dearest Love,
It was barely over two years ago when I received that sweet email - the one where you described yourself as "devilishly charming" and having a "contagious smile". At once I knew that we would hit it off. When we talked on the phone, and you laughed....I was sure that I wanted to meet you. When you pulled up in my driveway and smiled your amazing smile, I knew that you were someone extremely special. And when we were talking over dinner, hitting golf balls into the lake and starting little forest fires, I knew that we were meant to take a long journey together.
You astounded me with your confidence and intelligence (aside from how incredibly handsome you were - and still are!!). I loved hearing your opinions on politics, religion, food, everything! I loved hearing you talk about your family. I was so impressed by the close relationship you have with your parents and that your long-term goals included a family. I was incredibly impressed by your artistic talents! I was smitten from the beginning!!
When you danced with me on the bridge and we told each other that we loved each other - my heart almost exploded! I didn't think I could be happier!!!
Then it happened - you asked me to be your wife! I was so excited! I felt so humbled that you would want me to be your eternal companion - you who are so wonderful!
Our wedding day was a blur of magic and happiness! I remember feeling like I was floating because I knew that we officially belonged to each other forever!
It has been exactly two years since that day, and while we have had our share of ups and downs, I can honestly say that these past two years have been the happiest of my life.
You are my best friend. I love talking your ear off about everything that I am thinking and then turning around and listening to you tell me everything that you are thinking! It's amazing how after 2 whole years, we haven't run out of stuff to say!
I feel like every day brings us closer. Just when I don't think I could love you any more, that love increases and I am not sure that my body can contain it!!!
Jon, you mean the entire world to me. I am so grateful for the man that you are and the wonderful husband you are to me. I am so grateful and proud of the hard work you are putting in to school and work. I know it gets stressful, but you are smart, that you breeze right through it and do a wonderful job on everything you do!!!
I love you, I love you, I love you forever!
Thank you for the most amazing two years of my life - I look forward to a million more with you!

Happy Anniversary!!!

Always,
Me

Aunt Malori and Uncle Jon - BABY NEWS!!

2009-08-02T18:02:00.000-07:00

My sister-in-law, Nikki, just had her first baby!!! I mean, literally, just a few hours ago!!! He is adorable and she looks fantastic!! Everyone is healthy and happy! He was over 8 pounds which is huge for her because she is a tiny girl!

I don't have any pictures yet or anything, but we are so excited for her!!!

Brenden (the new daddy) did really well!! He was nervous (of course), but was so excited!! Certainly a proud papa!!!

We Love You Brenden, Nikki and Baby Collin!!!

The Bachelorette Season Finale

2009-07-28T13:10:00.000-07:00

I am at work so I don't have a lot of time to post, but I had to put this!
The season finale of The Bachelorette was on last night. Now we all know how hooked I was on it and I was on Team Ed from the beginning (Ok, I was also fond of Jacob, but I knew he wouldn't last, so I was rooting for Ed) and last night - she picked him and he proposed!!!! It was so romantic and they were both so happy and the ring was HUGE!!!
I was so excited for them! It was a drama filled episode (helped by the producers and editing I'm sure) as Reed came back right after she broke it off with Kiptyn. She broke it off with Reed again and made Ed the happiest man because he was so in love with her!
Tonight if the "after the final rose" show and I am excited to watch it and find out if they are still in love - I sure hope so, they are such a cute couple!! I like to think that they can last out in the "real world".
But for now, they are living happily ever after!!
YAY ED!!!

He's Just Not That Into You, Star Track, The Bachelorette

2009-07-21T18:30:00.000-07:00

After a long, long time Jon and I finally redboxed (is that a verb?) the movie He's Just Not That Into You. I figured it was a sure-fire hit!! I mean, it's a "chick flick" with an all-star cast (Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Connelly, Scarlet JoHansen, Ben Afleck, that cute guy off of Failure to Launch - not Matthew McConaughey, but his good looking best friend, that girl off of Mona Lisa Smile, etc...), and tons of hype!
Needless to say, I wanted to see this movie really badly, and Jon...not so badly...but I had "movie credit" (when we watch a guy movie, I get "movie credit" towards a girl movie and vise versa) so he didn't have a choice but to watch it with me!
We sat down in front of the tube, my anticipation peaked, and it all went downhill from there.
Girls, don't waste your time on this movie!!
There are a few stories going on in this movie (as you may have guessed by the trailor).

Story #1
Pathetic girl who is always pursuing (and by pursuing, I mean stocking) the wrong guys who are 'just not that into her' meets a guy at a bar who is teaching her how to tell if the guy isn't interested. SPOILER ALERT Along the way, she finds her independence and he falls for her and they live happily ever after. Cute, predictable, not bad.

Story #2
Girl and Guy have been living together for years, but he "doesn't believe in marriage". The entire time he makes her feel stupid for wanting to get married because marriage means that you lack confidence in your love for one another and have to prove it to everyone else. She is unhappy with this and breaks up with him, but after her father has a heart attack at her sister's wedding and she has to go home to take care of him and the family, she gets overwhelmed and who comes to save the day? That's right, the anti-marriage knight in dingy armour.
She realizes that she loves him and would rather live a life with him and not married that without him - but it is obvious that she is giving up something very important to her.
SPOILER ALERT Only after again and again going on and on about his disdain for matrimony does he finally relent and propose - but he makes sure the audience knows that he still doesn't believe in it, he only wants her to have everything she ever wanted. Sweet of him, I didn't like him through the whole movie, this story made me a little cranky.....

Story #3
Girl 1 and Guy have been married for 5 years. They met in college and after dating for while she told him that they needed to get married or she was going to move on. She was ready to settle down and start a life. He was afraid to lose her, so he married her. They are now remodeling a new condo in the city. Things have been rocky in their marriage, but she still loves him.
Along comes Girl 2. She is in a grocery store and he allows her to cut him in line (making up some lame excuse that he has to choose some gum to be able to check her out). She ends up winning a cooler for being the 1,000th costumer and eventually they strike up a conversation about her music career and how he is in a PR type business that can help her out.
You got it, they start sleeping together and he just loves the excitement of sneaking around. She knows that he is married, but she continues in the relationship.
Eventually he tells his wife that he is having an affair and she is willing to work through it. She decides it is her fault and she needs to work harder at her relationship.
I am not going to go into huge details about this story, but needless to say, both girls end up leaving him (which is what he deserves) and neither one find love of their own.
Lame!!!!

I felt a little bit bad for Jon because every time one of the guys from any of the stories did something stupid, I would lecture him. The lecture would go something like this, "If you ever did that I would....."
I was so disappointed by the lack of morals, lack of good story, and lack of anything romantic in this movie.
I am just not into this movie

* * *

Our new apartment complex has a fitness center that has all sorts of workout machines. I am not an expert in the working out feild, but I can tell you that our fitness center has the coolest workout machines out there!! The brand name is Star Track (cute huh?) and they are awesome!! All of the cardio machines (is that what they are called? You know, the stationary bike thing and the treadmill thing and the stair stepper thing) have personal little TV's and iPod docks. You just simply plug your headphones right into the machine and you have the ultimate in entertainment while you work out!! It really helps to motivate me, and heaven knows I need it!!
The first time I went to use these machines I climbed on the stationary bike, turned on the Bachelorette, and went to town!! It wasn't until an hour later that I realized I was still spinning away!! I didn't even realize how tired I was!
These machines might actually work for me!

* * *

Speaking of the Bachelorette - this has been a great season!! Jillian is super cute and super likable, which helps because you really want her to find someone who will be good for her.
I am not going to go into detail about it (that will happen next week after the finale - which is going to be crazy!!) but I will say that I want Ed to win!! He is cute and I think he really likes her. Reed is suppossed to be coming back to try and win her back, but I don't think she will pick him. She didn't give him a rose for a reason. Get over it Reed!!
Good Luck Ed!!
Stay tuned Monday night at 7pm to catch the exciting finale of The Bachelorette!!

Aunt Malori Reviews Uncle Orson's Reviews

2009-07-16T21:36:00.000-07:00

Orson Scott Card is my favorite author. I really enjoy his books, short stories and especially his essays. My favorites are his essays in the Mormon Times (which I have read all of, and wish that he would be faster and writing) and his "Uncle Orson Reviews Everything" essays. I haven't started the "Ornery American" essays yet, but you can bet I soon will!!

Now when Orson Scott Card says that he reviews everything he truly means everything! From books to movies to TV shows to post-its to turtles to restaurants to stores to spaghetti sauce to soap to toilet paper in hotels - he covers it all!!

I just really love reading about how he wanted to buy turtles for his back yard but learned that in his home state it is illegal to buy them, how he thought he was going to get around this problem, and how, in the end, he learned that his state had the right idea because raising turtles is a pain!!

The more I read this essays and articles the more I am inspired.

Now don't get me wrong, I am not, nor would I ever claim to be as talented as Mr. Card. He is completely brilliant!! But he has motivated me to create my own version which I am going to call - Malori Jo Reviews All Sorts Of Stuff!

This is going to be my own little pet project and you are welcome to take it or leave it - but I hope you will take it, because I am sure going to have fun with it!!!

Nothing will be off limits - no thoughts will be held back - I am going to tell it like it is - just the facts......or at least the facts according to me.

So, stay tuned for some crazy posts mixed in with the normal "this is what we are up to" stuff that will still be around. This is going to be an adventure!!

PS - To read "Uncle Orson Reviews Everything" simply go to
http://www.hatrack.com/osc/reviews/everything/ and to read his Mormon Times articles (which are fantastic) go to http://www.mormontimes.com/home/
and simply click on his picture. They are well worth the time!

New Home

2009-07-13T11:16:00.001-07:00

We are officially moved into our new apartment!! I don't have pictures yet, but I will soon. We love it so much!! We went to our new ward and everyone was incredibly nice, so that was very comforting.
I just wanted to give a big thank you for everyone that helped us: MomR, DadR, MomS, DadS, Bug, Tanner, and Brenden especially!!!!
We love you guys and really appreciate everything you did for us!!!
I will send pics soon!!

Birthday Boy

2009-06-26T09:19:00.000-07:00

Today is my dear sweet husband's Birthday!!! He is the big 29 and you can bet that I let him know all morning (just kidding...kinda)
I am so lucky to have Jon in my life. He is without a doubt the most talented, most handsome, most hilarious, most wonderful-est man I have ever met and I am so happy every second I get to spend with him!!!!
Happy Birthday Sweetie Pie!!! I love you so much!!!

Moving

2009-06-17T12:01:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone,
We have good and bad news - we are moving. Our lease is up on the 30th of this month and we are going to be heading to an apartment complex in Gilbert.
It is a little bitter/sweet for us. We are excited to move. The apartment we are going to is bigger and a bit nicer, so that is very exciting.
It's sad because we love our ward! You guys are incredible and we love you all so much!! We have made very close friends, and I hope those friendships will continue in spite of not seeing each other every Sunday.
We still have a couple weeks left, so we are packing like crazy and trying to get things together (this moving thing was kind of sudden) - we didn't realize we had so much stuff!! It's incredible what you can accumulate over the course of 2 years!!
I will keep you all posted on our moving adventure!!

Tweet Tweet

2009-06-16T13:49:00.001-07:00

Ok guys, I have just signed up for Twitter. It's very cool, very trendy, very confusing. That's right, I signed up, but I don't know how to work it, and I don't know anybody who is on it........I just got caught up in the excitement of this new and exciting way to communicate.
So if any of you know how to Tweet - please fill me in. Otherwise, I will continue to be "signed up" as PrincessMaloriJo, and I will continue to be confused!!

What's New??

2009-06-03T12:43:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I have posted, and it's been a while since I have seen some of you, so here is a quick little update on what has been going on in the life of the Salines:

1) Jon's second year of law school is officially over!!! It is such a relief and it's so exciting to think that he only has one more year left!!! Yay Jon!!

2) With the happiness of Jon's second year being over come the sadness of Jon's new internship starting. I won't go in to detail about that now, but just know that I don't like it.....

3) The school where I work is out for summer....finally. Now I am up to my ears in reports and enrollment information and updating student records......just getting ready for the next year. Fun, Fun, Fun.

4) My little brother Tanner was graduated from the 8th grade. He is awesome because in spite of dealing with dyslexia, he managed to get 100% in all of his classes and was the valedictorian of his class...and he was the Class President. Yup, he's an overachiever, but he had a great speech!!

5) Jon's brother Brendin graduated from ASU with a double bachelors in Business and Civil Engineering. He has worked so hard for so long and he was able to graduate with honors! It was so exciting!! They will be having a baby in July (see Brenden and Nikki's Blog for more information).

6) More graduations - my daddy has been driving down to Phoenix all year to take a "Principal Class". I don't know exactly what it is, but I do know that it gives him hours towards his Doctrite and that he is the first class to complete the program. His graduation in next week!!

7) My little sister is leaving in August for Florida where she will be working at Disney World! She is an incredibly talented dancer so she will be perfect there! We are so excited for her!!

8) Jon and his twin brother Lon will soon be turning the big 29 (on the 26th of June - if you see them on or around that day, make sure to make a big deal about it and embarrass him about it) We still don't have set in stone what we will be doing, but it will be fun!

That is about it - There aren't a whole lot of new things in my own life, but I love seeing everyone around me accomplish things and do amazing things!! I am so blessed with an amazing family full of talent and smarts!!

I will try not to be such a lame blogger and keep you updated when new stuff starts happening!!

Observations of a Registrar

2009-05-22T13:58:00.000-07:00

As you may or may not know, I am a Registrar at a Secondary (grades 7-12) School. Because of my job, I spend 10 hours a day, 5 days a week with teenagers ranging from 12 to 19 years old.

As you may or may not (also) know, I am the Activity's Day leader in my ward. This means that I spend 2 hours a month with 8-11 year old girls.

Sometimes when I come home from work I am discouraged. I feel like there is no hope for kids these days. Like they are all out there hardly wearing any clothes, piercing everything, using words I had never heard of till I started working here, making out in front of people and doing heaven only knows what else behind closed doors, making crude remarks, disrespecting teachers, their parents and their peers, getting in fights, shoplifting, doing drugs and drinking and just making bad choices.................

That is not to say that all of the kids here are like that, but a lot of them are involved in one or all of these things and that is cause for concern.

I am concerned because I don't want my future children to get wrapped up in all of the craziness of adolescents, but I am not entirely sure how to prevent it. It sometimes seems like a hopeless cause.

But then I go to Activity's Day or a church function and I feel so much better! I mean, here I have 12 year olds who still act like 12 year olds! They are still innocent and naive and happy and seemingly untouched by the world. There are 15 year olds who don't go to prom because they aren't going to date until they are 16 and there are 16 year olds who don't go on single dates because they aren't 18.

These kids get good grades, they wear stylish, modest clothes. They have friends, they have morals, they don't get in trouble. They smile and laugh and have fun hanging out. These are good, happy kids.

This group includes my sister and brother and Jon's younger siblings - heck all of us kids - we were all good, modest and extremely happy children.

So what is the difference between the delinquents at my school and these "normal" kids? I think I have it figured out and the answer may already be extremely obvious to you - it's the family.

Now, your "typical Mormon family" has regular family home evening, scripture study, they pray together, uplift each other, they get to know each other's friends and they encourage each other in worthy activities.

It's not just Mormon families who participate in this kind of behavior - we just have names for things like "family home evening" so it is easier to explain.....

Basically good families are involved in each other's lives, even borderline nosey, and that naturally creates normal, well-balanced adolescents.

I am not a mom, I'm not an expert, I am just a Registrar and an Activity's day leader, and this is just an observation.........

2 Down!!

2009-05-13T15:03:00.000-07:00

Jon finished his very last final today!! That means that his second year of law school is officially over!! That's right - only one more to go until my honey is a full blown lawyer!!! Jon H. Saline Attorney At Law - sounds pretty nifty huh??
I am so proud of him. I know that there have been times when he has felt discouraged or just overwhelmed. Law school is not an easy thing to do, especially with a wife who demands so much attention.
He is such an incredible man and he does an amazing job of balancing out his school and his family and succeeding at both!
I love him so much!!! I am the luckiest girl ever!!!

Heros

2009-05-12T15:47:00.000-07:00

Our TV broke. Not the whole thing, just the part where you plug the cable cord into it. This means we have not had cable (yup, no American Idol - it's making me crazy - doesn't the TV know it's close to the end!!???) and have had to fend for ourselves.
Luckily, we stumbled upon the first season of Heros - a show we have been interested in, but never had a chance to catch up on.
Let me tell you a little bit about this show:
The idea is that evolution will take over and the human race will die out because of the natural progression of things - but, evolution will take over and there will be a few normal, average Joe type of people who will be born with a slight difference in their DNA which will allow them to survive the extinction and move our species forward.
These people have special "powers" because of their DNA and they have to figure out how to use them and how to adapt to them.
At the same time there are people in the "company" who are trying to get them and study them (their entire intentions have not yet become known to me, I just know that they are bad) and there is one "special" guy name Sylar who is killing all of the "special people" and stealing their powers so he can have a bunch of them.
All the while they are trying to save New York from getting blown up which is destin to happen because Isaac - the guy who can paint the future - painted it.........
It is like Xmen meets soap opera meets steroids.....and it's awesome!!
I totally recommend it - but watch a happy show before you go to bed cuz it is intense and can cause some strange nightmares!!

Baseball and Dog Diapers

2009-04-28T19:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Jon took me on a tour of Chase Field (or, as I like to call it, the baseball field formerly known as Bank One Ball Park - aka - BOB) Home of the Arizona Diamondbacks! His Private Property Law Professor was one of the lead attorneys when they were trying to get the land for the park, so he has some pull when it comes to getting stuff.......

He arranges a tour for his students and their families every year - so Jon took me.

It was so neat to see all the ins and outs of what goes on there - how things are run, where they hide offices and things, and what the "rich fans" get to do and see.

Below you will see the championship ring and the world series trophy. They come from Tiffany's - I thought that was exciting because I knew what Tiffany's was and so I could pick it out of a bunch of baseball terms.

Then we saw the pool. I sat next to the pool (in those seats you can see in the picture) in high school when our senior class got to go to a game. It is is neat because when the D-Backs score a home run, giant pillars of water shoot up and it all lands in the pool. This is a great picture of the pool, and Jon was very proud of it.....he is so talented!!

Here is the view of the field from one of those expensive and super nice and super ritzy party suites. It's a pretty darn good view and the suite is pretty darn nice - catered and full of marble and flat screens......

This is the view from the media lounge, room, place......where the news people sit in order to see what is going down on the field.

This is the view from the Diamondbacks' dugout!

Here is Jon in the dugout!

Here I am sitting right on the D-Backs' ergonomically correct bench! Can you believe Luis Gonzalez (a huge high school crush of mine) sat on this very bench!?!?!

Here we are being very excited!!

We got to see background rooms and all sorts of different views of the field. The entire time I kept thinking that my Papa (my dad's dad) would have loved to be there! He played in the Minors and has always had a passion for baseball. He has loved the D-Backs since they were first invented! He loves to watch them on TV and yell at the coach because he is sure he would do a better job! Hee hee hee!

In other news, Molly is in heat. Yes, we are bad pet owners and have not gotten our pet spay or neutered (sorry Bob Barker), so she is pretty gross right now.

We went to Pet Smart and got her a little re-usable diaper and some little puppy maxi-pads. They work really well, but Molly hates them!! She is so embarrassed when we put it on her! He hides in the back rooms or under the furniture and won't come out for anything! We have tried to get her out with treats and everything, but she has no interest in anything when she has that thing on. We feel so bad for her. She waddles around the house looking so ashamed. Poor little girl!

Here is a picture of her little diaper on her hiney.

Here she is hiding her face from the camera

She finally looked up, but as you can see, she is not happy about it!

My poor little girl.....

Viva Loco - Crazy Life!!

2009-04-23T14:28:00.000-07:00

It has been a million years since my last post (at least that is what it feels like) and things have been crazy!
Here is a quick little update of what is new in our lives and what is making things so crazy!
(it will be pretty darn quick cuz I am at work, so.......I have to post while my boss isn't here.......evil laugh)
Well, things at my regular job have been really busy - and getting worse! Not only is it the end of the school year, so everything is wrapping up and getting ready for graduation and kids moving on to the next grade, and getting things set up for next year while still trying to keep this year functioning - they have been doing some mean things as far as budgets go to schools. You all know that our lovely state government is cutting out our funding SUBSTANTIALLY!! This means that we, along with all of the other schools in the state, are forced to cut back on employees and other things that are essential to a smoothly functioning school. This makes more work for those of us who are still around (don't get me wrong, I am more than grateful to still be around, it is just getting really busy 'round these parts!)
After the 8 hours spent at my regular job I head off to cheer practice. Some of you may remember my post about cheer a few weeks ago. At that point I had 7 or 8 girls - we were small, but peppy. Now we have grown to have 16 girls and 2 boys!! And we are still peppy!! We are huge, but they are really good! The problem is that they are also really chatty. I am having to work on being a little tough in order to keep them focused!
Still, the team is awesome and they are really working hard - - GO STALLIONS!
After work I head to my casa where I start making dinner - then Jon comes home and we eat and right after that, Jon heads off to the library where he lives until midnight when they close.
During this time, I work on Mary Kay stuff - either making phone calls, going to meetings, or just trying to learn the stuff!
Finally I fall asleep on the couch around 11:00pm (ok, sometimes it is more like 10:00pm, but it feels a lot later!) and Jon comes home and moves in to the bed.............
And before I know it, the alarm is going off again and it starts all over again!!
So that is (briefly) why I am a bad blogger lately!
Give me a couple weeks for things to start settling down and I promise to come back to my fun blogging friends!
I miss you guys!

Mary Kay

2009-04-09T21:42:00.000-07:00

That's right - you are looking at Mary Kay's newest consultant! I will be getting my "starter kit" in the next couple of days and then I am going to be "thinking pink"

Now, I am not really sure that I am the saleswoman type, but I am really excited to get started. I really love this company because it is more than just make-up.

Mary Kay is all about women. It's all about empowering women and helping women become better. Mary Kay also gives major funding to Breast Cancer awareness and ending domestic violence.

I went to a meeting on Wednesday and it was incredible! My sweet friend Brooke came with me and we both got facials in order to train the other consultants. That was really nice!

The ladies there were fantastic! Everyone was so encouraging and they were all about lifting each other up and helping each other do and be better! I loved the atmosphere!

I am also excited to sell Mary Kay to help bring in some extra income. Maybe some date money, maybe some "pay the bills" money, maybe some shopping money, and eventually, maybe some big money!!

So - for those of you who are interested in Mary Kay make-up - let me know!! Feel free to contact me at msaline@marykay.com or at malorisaline@gmail.com. I am also planning on having a party soon so I will keep you updated!!

This is really going to be a great blessing in our lives and I am so excited about it!

2009-04-07T11:56:00.000-07:00

I read this article by Orson Scott Card (My FAVORITE author of all time!!) and I really enjoyed it. I hope you enjoy it too!

Are New 'Puritans' Gaining?
by Orson Scott Card

It was interesting to see how many American religions had lost ground in the past two decades, according to the American Religious Identification Survey.

With all our missionary work, we Latter-day Saints merely managed to keep pace with population growth in America, remaining at a steady 1.4 percent of the population. In fact, Mormons were the only group to show no change at all, relative to the America as a whole. We're swimming as fast as we can -- just to stay in place.

The two groups that showed the largest growth in numbers -- by far -- were "no religion" and "don't know/refused."

The report in USA Today on March 9 thought this meant that America is becoming "less religious."

I don't think so. I think that hiding within those "no religion" and "don't know/refused" categories we can see the growth of a powerful new religion.

A fanatical religion -- one that does not proselytize so much as insist that it is already the established church, to which all others must bow and make way.

It is a religion at war with all others, confident of victory, contemptuous of any church that does not fight them, savage against any that shows a sign of resistance.

Its adherents feel themselves to have risen so far above all other faiths that they claim they are not a religion at all -- they are post-religious. Therefore the rules that govern the behavior of other religions in a multifaith society do not apply to them.

They refuse to admit that they even exist. Instead, they claim to believe in "science," though they have no idea what the methodology of good science is, and reject the findings of science when they contradict treasured dogmas.

Having no authoritative group to define their ideology, they embrace opposite and contradictory dogmas and simultaneously believe in all.

Their doctrines spread like dandelion seeds on the wind, taking root wherever there is empty ground.

Has there ever been such a religious movement as this before?

A very good example is Puritanism in the 16th and 17th centuries.

There was no "church" of Puritanism. They were led by orators and pamphleteers, poets (John Milton was one) and politicians (most notably the dictator Oliver Cromwell).

In Shakespeare's day they were a constant annoyance to those committed to putting on his wicked, worldly plays, for the Puritans always had the aim of using the power of the state to enforce their ideas of strict Christianity.

And when they finally seized power after the execution of King Charles I, they set about remaking society as they believed it ought to be. Gone were frivolous holidays like Christmas; gone any decorations in the churches; gone, too, the plays that had once distracted idle people from their labor and worship.

Having once been themselves dissenters, they allowed no right of dissent to others. They had power, and knew that they deserved it.

In America, the Massachusetts Bay Colony was founded by Puritans, and they were determined to hold sway in New England -- and everywhere else, if they could manage it.

Puritanism insisted on its exclusive right to prescribe the behavior and thoughts of all, until, after the death of Oliver Cromwell, the groaning people embraced the return of the monarchy.

Throughout the history of the movement, it had no hierarchy, no organization, and in some senses could be said never to have existed at all. When it fell from power, Puritanism quickly evaporated -- as if it had never existed at all.

No one wanted to claim responsibility for the excesses of Puritanism. It had functioned like bees, swarming and stinging in relentless pursuit of their enemies, but when finally defeated, dispersing and going about their innocent business, flower by flower.

The astonishing thing was that active Puritans were never very numerous. But few dared to argue against them, so they carried the day as if their numbers were far greater than they really were.

Today, the New Puritans embrace a hodgepodge of dogmas drawn from feminism, environmentalism, gay activism and militant atheism.

They bristle at the slightest sign of Christians laying hold on the machinery of the state -- while having no compunction about using the power of the state to establish their own dogmas in the schools and in the courts.

Believing in no god, they have no law to check them; whatever they think to do, they will try to do, and their fury when they are resisted knows no restraint.

Yet when you ask them why their vision of the public good is better than any other, they have no reasons. They can produce no viable evidence of superiority.

They gesture toward "science" as their authority, but refuse to allow anyone to conduct or report research that might contradict their absurdest claims.

They strike down old laws and institutions without regard for the cost. Where they have prevailed, only misery follows; but they are sure that the misery they caused can only be treated by enacting even more extreme measures along the same failed lines.

The New Puritans are the fastest growing sect in America, but they are still a minority. This does not bother them; they care nothing for democracy or majority rule.

The New Puritans insist that their opponents' very status as believers in God disqualifies them from the right to advance their ideas by democratic means.

They largely control the bar associations, the faculties of universities, the national media, the entertainment industry, and judges routinely strike down laws that offend the dogmas of the New Puritans.

And yet they are the majority almost nowhere. They prevail because they have no restraints -- their attack on their enemies is instant and savage, and ordinary people, wishing only to be left alone, keep their heads down and try to stay out of the way.Except a few. We hold up our hands and speak of democracy, of tradition, of the need to know where we're going before we race there. We speak of evidence and logic, and we are answered, not with argument, but with screaming; for asking questions or contributing money to a cause, we are threatened with boycott, fired from jobs, denied tenure.

Here is the great advantage of the New Puritans. Because they have no organization, their numbers can never be measured. They claim to speak for "all intelligent people," and the very claim pressures anyone who wishes to be thought "intelligent" into silence.

With all the mercy and reason of the Taliban whenever they get any kind of authority, their revolution is already almost complete; their hands control most of the switches of the machinery of the state.

Meanwhile, they excoriate all religions as responsible for every crime in history, never noticing that the worst moral excesses of all time -- the mass-murdering rulers of Nazi, Fascist, and Communist states -- were all converts to and adherents of "post-religious" ideologies.

Their only authority is their own will to rule over the minds and acts of others. It will never be satisfied; every victory only makes them hungry to rule more closely and punish more savagely those who are not sufficiently pure.

If sometimes our 1.4 percent seems to be very, very small, an archipelago of tiny islands, let us remember that most people subject to the rule of the New Puritans hate it, and only go along when no one else is willing to stand against it.

We, however, stand even when we stand alone, because God has said, "You shall ever open your mouth in my cause, not fearing what man can do, for I am with you. Amen" (Doctrine and Covenants 30:11).

All Sorts Of Super Stuff!!

2009-03-30T16:44:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I have talked about all of the exciting stuff that we have been up to - so this is going to be a long post.....stick with me!!

We had Cassidy and Clint Bills over to play some games a week or so ago. They put their sweet baby Parker on the floor and Molly couldn't seem to figure out what this new "toy" was. They spent some time trying to figure each other out....

But finally they became good friends! Molly even gave him kisses! Isn't that sooo cute!!

In other news - we took a trip to Utah because Jon's art piece is being displayed in the conference center! Awesome!!

I learned something very exciting on the drive - you can see the Grand Canyon!! I was soooooo thrilled because I have only seen the Grand Canyon once and I loved it so much!!! There is a bridge where you can stop and see a big dam and Lake Powell and the Grand Canyon! Very awesome!!

This is Jon reminding us not to throw objects off of the bridge....he is very serious about this....

Isn't it pretty!!

Please excuse my scary look - it was my traveling - no make up, scary hair look....and I don't know what is happening with Jon's eyes in this picture - - ok, why am I putting this on my blog, it is not an attractive picture!! Hee hee hee!

We were trying to find some food in Utah, but we lost an hour when we got there, so it was "late". We stopped in Panguich (spell check) Utah to get some gas (and we were hoping for food) and the entire town was closed and dark - it was 8:00pm in Utah.....you would have thought it was 2am! We did find a gas station that was open, and across the way there was this little "coefee shop" - I thought it was so funny that "coffee" was spelled wrong!! I guess they would probably make fun of me for not knowing how to spell Panguich though huh?

Friday morning we left Salt Lake and headed to Provo to visit a store Jon worked at while he was going to BYU. This is the one and only wood lathe store in the world - pretty cool huh? They were all so excited to see him and they were all so proud of him for his piece being in the competition. Jon picked up some wood and other "wood lathe-y" stuff that he needed.

That night we headed to the conference center for the opening of the 8th International Art Competition for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The theme was "Remembering the Great Things of God". There was a little ceremony thing where they thanked the artists, recognized some special awards and said thank you to those who helped put the exhibit up. Then we got to go look at it! Here is Jon and his piece titled "Steady Course".

It was in the coolest little glass box and it looked great!! You can look at the piece closer on the church web site - lds.org. It will show the piece and the little paragraph that Jon wrote about it. You can also see it on his web site - shown on the side of this blog....

Here is the little plaque thing that had his paragraph on it. It is on the podium that holds his piece.

The entire exhibit was awesome!! I would have taken more pictures, but they sort of asked us not to take pictures (I know, I know - I should have listened, but how do you not take pictures of you husband in front of something so cool?) I was soooo proud of him!!

If you are in Utah anytime before October 11, 2009, take some time and go up to the second floor of the conference center and check it out!!

The next day we did the "Salt Lake Experience". We didn't do a session in the temple, but we did see the two visitor's centers, the art history museum, and the Joseph Smith building. We watched the movies - "The Testaments" and the new Joseph Smith movie (which was a bad idea to do back to back - there is a lot of crying....) and they were so touching!! I loved them!!

It was amazing to see all of that history and see all of those amazing Latter-Day Saints and the trials they went through. I was so proud to be a member as I looking at everything and feeling the Spirit everywhere!

This is on the wall of the Salt Lake Theatre. I loved this because it is beautiful and also because of the quote in the middle (you can't see it in this picture) - it says, "The People Must Have Amusement As Well As Religion" - Brigham Young

We were hungry, but we didn't want to leave the parking lot, so we walked around trying to find a place to eat. We found the sweetest little place called "The Lion House Pantry". It is a little cafeteria style restaurant actually in the Lion House itself!! It was amazing to sit there and think about how Brigham Young and his family had been in that exact spot!! It was amazing to feel the Spirit so strongly at lunch!! And the food was good too!!

Right after lunch we headed next door to take the tour of the Beehive House. It was amazing!!

Here is a picture of a wedding dress worn by one of Brigham Young's wives. I loved it because it is sooooo tiny!!!

We got home and headed back to work and school....

So today is Monday - here is a quick little recap of this weekend......

Jon and I went to the Tempe Art Festival on Saturday. It was pretty fun! Some of the stuff was fantastic, some of the stuff was strange, and some of the stuff was a little silly - but I guess that is to be expected. It was really fun to walk around and see everything that people can make!

Saturday night we went to the opera - that's right, Jon went to the opera!!

His brother Brenden has a school group that is doing a project to figure out what "type" of people attend the opera. We went and stood by the door with clip boards and kept a count of the age and ethnicity of the people that walked through the door. It was actually pretty fun because everyone was all dressed up and it was great to see them looking their best!

We then went in to the opera - Tosca. It was a tragic love story in Italian! I loved every minute of it - Jon was not so convinced....

All I have to say is, if you get a chance to see an opera - Take It!!!

Thank you so much for taking us Brenden!!

Sunday night we went to Lacie and Sam Crandell's house for dinner. Lacie is a great cook and we had so much fun visiting and playing games! All I have to say is that I think Sam cheats at Uno, but I am great at the pig tossing game (hee hee hee)!

It was so fun!

Well, I guess I should wrap this up and help Jon with dinner...........

More Movie Review by Malori

2009-03-16T18:02:00.000-07:00

TAKEN

This movie totally freaked me out!! I mean, it is just scary because it is "real life". Awful things that that really do happen all the time and that is really scary!

That having been said, there were things I liked and things I didn't like. Now, I'm not one for violence, but I liked that Liam Neeson was really hard core, and he didn't care who he had to shoot up to get to his daughter. Sure, we all like a good guy who doesn't really kill people (Batman, Superman) but you can't tell me that if your daughter were taken by people doing those awful things, you wouldn't be willing to kill anyone in your path to save her....yup, it's not something you want to think about, but it's true!!

The thing that bothered me was that this movie had an opportunity to be great - if it had been 1/2 hour to an hour longer. Everything felt so rushed - especially the end.

(Spoiler Alert!!!)

And, if you were a young, cute girl who had just been drugged and sold for sex - would you wear little tank top and be all smily and giddy right when you got home? No, there would be some serious issues going on in your head, and you would need therapy. That girl is just way too happy and "normal" right when she gets home......that ruined the realism for me!

But, worth watching - and watch a happy movie after so you can sleep.

TWILIGHT

Yes, I finally saw Twilght, and I have to admit, I was a little disappointed. Ok, lets talk about the positives first - it stuck with the book pretty well....and.....well, that is really my only positive.

I loved the book and I was super excited for the movie - and I was let down! Kristin Stewart (Bella) was awful! She couldn't close her mouth the whole time and she was depressing every second!! As I recall, she was in love and they had happy times, not everything was so awful! Edward wasn't charming or interesting, he was just weird. Their undying love for each other was made to feel like a high school crush!

And, my biggest problem with the movie was the severe lack of Alice! Alice is everybody's favorite character! Who in their right mind doesn't love her? But this movie barely gives her any lines at all!

All in all, I was dreadfully disappointed.

Will I see the next one - of course I will........I just love those gol-darn books!

RACE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN

I never saw the original "Escape to Witch Mountain" so I didn't really have any expectations of this movie, and I was pleasantly surprised. Now, The Rock - Dwayne Johnson - is not a great actor, and this movie will not win him an Academy Award. It also had some cheesy special effects. In spite of this, it was a pretty good time. The two kids are pretty good and there are some really funny parts! I think it would be a great movie for kids - just a good family night flick.

Worth watching with your kiddos!

HELLBOY II

I have never seen all of the first Hellboy, but it is not a requirement to watch the second one. So here is what I think they were trying to do with this movie - fit an many weird monsters as possible and still have a working plot. There were a million climaxes - you kept thinking the movie was almost over...and then it would just keep going.....

I didn't feel like this movie was very smooth - it jumped from one big random fight thing to another, and I didn't really identify with the characters that much. In fact, I was basically bored while watching it.

Ok, I giggled a few times, but that is not to say that it was funny. You know when you are watching something that is so not funny that when you hear something kind of funny it is suddenly way funnier........that's what it was like.

The make-up was pretty impressive, but other than that, this movie was a total flop.

I had wanted to see this movie since the first time I saw the trailer. I liked the main guy (Jim Sturgess) in "Across the Universe" and so seeing him in another movie was very exciting! Plus, I like movies about smart people and their quirks, and I like movies about crime, especially set in Vegas (yup, I was a fan of the "Oceans" movies) so this was the movie for me.

Take a nerd from MIT who wants nothing more to go to Harvard Med. Add a desperate need for money to make his dream come true, and a hot girl to help persuade him. Mingle in some exciting card playing, some sweet little best friends, a harsh life lesson, and a happy ending - and you have a great movie!

I wasn't bored at all! Everyone did a fantastic job! I never even knew that "card counting" existed, and I am simply not smart enough to ever pretend to do it, but this movie makes you feel like you totally know how and you are right there in the action!

I give this movie two thumbs up!

CORALINE

Last, but not least, Coraline. The story of an unhappy little girl who finds a magical world where everything is perfect....or is it?

This movie was fantastic! Artistic and creative and the story was insanely brilliant! The characters really draw you in and you end up loving their quirkiness. I loved it.

Now, that having said that, I do not suggest that you take your kids to see this movie! It was, simply put, scary!! If I were a small child - or even a middle sized child - I would have nightmares for sure!! The movie is dark and a little morbid and totally creepy - but worth watching!

That completes Malori's Movie Reviews - Take it, or leave it!!

The Talking Pencil

2009-03-11T14:00:00.001-07:00

My daddy is the principal at a school in Linden. His third graders had an assignment to write a two-paragraph story about a talking pencil, and they asked my dad to write one.
Here is his brilliant masterpiece!!

Talking Pencil
by Mr. Rhineheart
Do you ever have the feeling you are being watched? Well, I had that feeling this morning when I went into my office. I kept looking over my shoulder and under my desk to see if anyone else was there. I didn’t see anything so I began to work. I was typing a long email to a parent when I thought I heard some giggling. I jumped to my feet and again looked all over the office. The more I looked the more giggling I heard. Obviously, someone thought this was very funny. Finally, in frustration, I lay my head down on my desk thinking I must be going crazy. That is when I found out who was laughing at me. My pencil was giggling, and when it saw me looking at it and knew it was caught, laughed even louder and said, “Good Morning, Mr. Rhineheart.”
Now, I almost fell off my chair. It isn’t everyday that you hear a talking pencil. Feeling a little silly for talking back to a lead filled stick with a rubber eraser for a hat, I asked, “What do you want?” The little voice told me that it was there to warn me about a secret, evil plot by Mrs. Warren and the third grade class to get me to write a story. The pencil said I needed to be ready because they were going to ask me to write a funny story so they could laugh at me. It said that pencils and pens at the school are always watching out for sneaky teachers and classes, and Mrs. Warren’s third grade class was the sneakiest! The pencil offered to help me write a story right away.
What should I do? I thought quickly and made my decision. There is no way I could trust a talking pencil. I just couldn’t believe my wonderful third graders would try to trick me into writing silly stories. But just to be on the safe side I wrote this story… but I typed it instead.

Isn't he so talented!!! I love my daddy!!
Now, of course I couldn't pass up an opportunity to write a silly story, so I decided to share write one! Here is my slightly lamer contribution....

Once upon a time there was a beautiful Pen named Bic. Bic had a long, lick lid and her ink was always a nice pink stream. She even had a comfort grip on her neck. She was lovely. The whole kingdom of drawer loved Bic. The young gentlemen Pens were always trying to take her out for a twirl around the paper, but Bic wasn't impressed by any of them. She didn't like that strong blue-inked type. They were too set their ways – never admitting their mistakes, never trying to erase the problem, but moving on or crossing them out instead. Bic was sure she would never fall in love.
One day a new guy came to the kingdom of drawer. Someone unlike anyone the pens had ever seen. He was taller he was orange, he didn't have a lid, instead he wore a pink piece of rubber on his head, and he was ergonomically correct. His name was HB the second. Bic was entranced. Never before had she seen someone so handsome! She approached him and timidly asked him what the pink thing on his head was used for. When he tenderly explained that it was for the erasing of his mistakes she was in love. The two of them went for twirls around the paper and eventually they were inseparable!
And they lived happily ever after!

Who doesn't love a good talking pencil story??