Baking Day

This year my Grams decided that instead of having us all bake stuff in separate houses and bringing it to Christmas Eve, we would just all get together and bake it at her house. So all of us girls did precisely that.

I tried to stay out of the tough stuff and do the simple stuff to keep us from having any major catastrophes, but I was able to help out a bunch and I got to do the fun stuff like helping the little girls build gingerbread houses!!

It was sooo fun!!!

Nutcracker and Presents

Last year Jon and I started a tradition....we open our presents to each other before we drive to the mountains to be with family. It's a really fun tradition! 

So this year Jon did a fantastic job picking out my present! He got me a pink iPod nano! It is sooooo cool! It plays movies and TV shows and has games and does all sorts of nifty things! The best part of it was not the iPod though - it was what he had engraved on the back...it says "more than all the things" because that is how much he tells me he loves me.....isn't that so sweet!

I got Jon a Garmin GPS system - he has been wanting one........It looks like he liked it! YAY!!

Then we came up the mountain and went to see Laney dance in the Nutcracker. She was a soldier this year, but the last time she was in it, she played Clara, the main girl. This year the show was pretty cute, but nothing compared to the last time! Laney was a great soldier but you should have seen her as Clara!! That girl can waltz!! I guess she is just a great dancer no matter what part you put her in! 

...and so photogenic!

Tanner just got his braces off - - lookin' good!

This is the curtain call!!! Laney is over on the left side, but it's hard to make out faces - we were kind of in a bad place for pictures......

Thank You Soldiers

I found this site on Laurie's blog and it is amazing!!
Xerox is sending letters to the troops and you can help! Just go to www.letssaythanks.com and pick out one of their cards. Then you can choose a pre-written message or write a message yourself and they will send it to a soldier overseas.
This is completely free and it would be really appreciated!
Tell all your friends about it too!!!!!

A Great Day!!!

Today has been a pretty great day!!
Let me start with a little preface story and then I will let you know why today is so fantastic!
Once Upon A Time.....Jon sent a bowl in to a church-wide art competition to be judged. The competition asks for work that represents the Savior or a scripture story, or another aspect of the Gospel. It has 4 levels: first, you send in a picture of the art work and it gets judged. If you pass that judgment you then send your piece to Utah to be judged. They then choose just a few pieces out of the thousands of entries and display them in a museum in Utah. This is very prestigious. They will then give awards to certain entries.....
Jon has had a piece that made it clear to being displayed in Utah a few years ago. Here is what that piece looked like:

So the competition rolled around again and Jon decided to make a platter with the story of Lehi's Dream depicted on it.
This morning he got a letter telling him that he had made it through the first stage of the competition (the picture portion) and can now send the piece in to be judged!!
We were so excited!!! Of course he was trying so hard to stay "cool", but I could see the excitement in his face!
Here is what the piece he sent in looks like:

Isn't it beautiful!! You can see the tree and the iron rod and the darkness - You should see it in person!!!
So that started the day of really, really great!!
Then, I headed off to work and Jon headed off to do his very last final of the semester.....
So, I just got a phone call from him telling me that he finished his final and he felt pretty confident about it, so that is great! And now he is officially finished with his 3rd semester of law school and we are half way done!!!
Then, it started raining!! I love the rain so much and it really puts me in a good mood, and then I learned that I might have snow on Christmas!! YAY!!!!
Then (as if the day couldn't get better) I found a great web site that lets you know when they are having sales at grocery stores and gives you coupons - it is called mygrocerydeals.com - it is seriously the most amazing web site!! It is free to sign up and you get to choose your favorite grocery stores. Then it shows you the sales that store is having and when they will be over - - but wait, there's more - - you can choose items to add to a grocery list and it will keep a total for you of how much money you will spend and how much money you will save if you go grocery shopping and buy those things!!! I don't know how well I explained it, but it is really neat, so seriously go look at it!!
So you can imagine - especially now that there is only 2 hours and 15 minutes left of work - how happy I am!!!!
It has been a pretty great day!!!!!!!!!

Our Christmas Door

Last year we started a tradition last year (stolen from my creative mother who was once a poor college student with limited funds to decorate a small apartment for Christmas - just like we are now) of decorated our front door to our apartment like a giant present. I really love doing this because it looks so pretty, but Jon and I have so much fun doing it!
Here is a picture of us and the finished product (masterfully taken by Lacie Crandell)
Don't you just love Jon's big, cheesy smile?
We are really in the Christmas spirit!!!

My Talented Husband

Now I hate to brag (ok, I don't hate it that much) but my husband is the most talented guy on the face of the planet. Not only does my husband play the guitar and sing, write his own music, know how to grow Saline Sweet Corn (the best sweet corn in the world!), still hold the pull up record at Snowflake High School (and he graduated 10 years ago), have such a quick wit and knack for making people laugh, and go to law school, he is also the most amazing wood turner you have ever seen in your life!!! Now, he is so humble and will not admit that he is so great, but if you check out his web site (jonsaline.com) you will see his artwork.
Here is one example of the talent that he has. He took a piece of wood from my parents wood pile out back and turned it into these beautiful bookends for my dad for his Birthday:

Aren't they beautiful!!!
I can't help but gush and gush over the amazing man I am so blessed to be with for the rest of forever!
Plus he is really really handsome!!!
I am sooooo lucky!!!

Football Update

Ok guys, I went to the game ready to follow the lead of the other Stallion fans, but, sadly, I never needed to know anything about stuff like touchdowns or point scoring at all actually. You see, Jon and I showed up a little bit late - ok, it was half time when we got there, but don't worry guys we hadn't missed anything - in fact our team hadn't scored at all, but the other team had scored 30 points! 

Well, I am sad to say that the second half didn't get any better. One of our players got kicked out of the game (we think it was because of a comment to the referee) and one of their guys got hurt so he was out for the game too. 

The ending score was 52 to 3 - in the last couple minutes one of our guys did this thing where he kicked the ball and it went between the posts and we got 3 points (sorry, I can't remember the technical football term for that cool move, but it was a really great kick - even I could tell that!)

There were 2 big problems that caused this loss:

1) Three of our best players were suspended this week and were therefore not allowed to play in the game - dumb kids getting suspended right before the state game!!

2) The other team's players were twice as big as all of our little skinny guys - I mean, our guys would be hanging on them and the guys kept running. One time, one of our guys was holding on to a big-o-boys britches and the big-o-boy swung him around in a circle - our guy was completely off of the ground!!

Don't worry everyone - the night was not a complete loss - I learned some very important football terms - here is are my new vocabulary words:

End Zone: the part of the field where you run to get a touchdown (which is a word I already knew, yes, be impressed!)

Sack: When the quarterback gets tackled by a bunch of big-o-guys before he gets to throw the ball and they lose yards.

Running Back: The guy that catches the ball when the quarterback throws it

Even though our team didn't even come close to taking the State Championship - everyone was full of Stallions spirit right up until the end. They were rooting and cheering and pretty supportive all the way. And we still get to bring a slightly smaller trophy home to our school to proudly display in the office for all to see.

Yay Stallions!!!! #2 in the State for Division 1 schools!!! (pretty nifty title huh?)

Football and the Fight Song

When I was in High School I never missed a home football game. I would be in the stand every other Friday night with my fellow Cougars dancing to the marching band, chanting with the cheerleaders, and chatting up on all the newest "who's dating whom" and "who hates whom" stuff that high school inevitably brings.
Now, just because I went to the football games and was even really great friends with most of the football team, I don't understand one thing about the game. Sure I get that there are a bunch of big guys in big, pad-filled outfits running in to each other as a ball that's shape makes so sense at all to me gets passed back and forth. After a few minutes of this, the game stops and everyone unravels from the giant pile of sweaty guys and the game is set back up again in a different spot on the field.
Then when the ball gets ran through the giant posts that means touchdown and the runner then throws the ball on the ground, does a little dance right before getting knocked to the ground by his excited teammates - and the game sets up again......
When I was in high school I operated on the knowledge that it didn't matter if I was actually watching the game - when the fight song played, that meant there was a touchdown and we all cheered and sang along with the band, "Hail! Hail, You Cougars, Pass The Ball Right Down The Field!!"
Well, now I work at a high school and all season I have gotten out of going to the football games. The first few I was "busy" and then a miracle happened...one of the teachers was given a jersey to wear at the games all season - finally a good excuse. When I was asked by the coaches and the players if I would be going to the game, I would simply say, "I can't go, I don't have a jersey to wear"
Yup, I know, it's a pretty lame excuse but I was holding strong.
So tonight is the State Championship and yesterday I was asked if I was going. I gave my regular answer and what was their reply - you guessed it - we have a jersey for you to wear.
Needless to say, I am going to the Championship football game tonight. I will pay close attention and cheer when everyone else does and moan when everyone else does and freeze like everyone else. The weird thing is that I am a little bit excited to go. I haven't been to a football game since High School and they were always fun even when you didn't know what was happening in the game. Besides, I talked Jon into going with me, which of course means that he will be studying right up to the game, and right after the game probably all night - but I was so excited when he agreed to go with me!
So I will keep you posted and let you know how it goes.......
Go Stallions!!!!

The Christmas Underpants

Last week I got a book for a really good friend called "The Christmas Jar" - It's a great book that is full of Christmas spirit and inspiration, as all of those Christmas books are. Jon's mom and I then started talking about the book "The Christmas Shoes" and Jon thought it was so funny - he said "there are always books called 'The Christmas This' and 'The Christmas That' - Next thing you know, there will be a story called 'The Christmas Underpants'!"
Now of course we all laughed at this ridiculous notion, but my crazy brain could not let the idea go....
So here you have it, the debut of my own little Christmas story:

The Christmas Underpants
by:
Malori Jo Saline

Jeffrey was a very intelligent little boy. Ever since he turned the ripe old age of 4 1/2 he was already writing his name and reading chapter books. He enjoyed doing simple multiplication in his spare time, and especially enjoyed Sherlock Holmes and other mysteries.
As Christmas approached Mom started her usual preparations for the holiday. She started baking and decorating and hanging up the stockings. Jeffrey was sure this was very ridiculous - who wants a tree in their living room?
One night Mom asked Jeffrey if he would like to write a letter to Santa. "Who is this Santa fellow?" Jeffrey asked.
"Well, Santa is the Father of Christmas! He lives at the North Pole with Mrs. Claus and the elves who make the toys. Every Christmas Eve he loads up his sleigh with gifts and the eight flying reindeer take him to every child in the world guided by the glowing red nose of Rudolph - the lead reindeer. The sleigh lands on the rooftops of the children and Santa comes down the chimney and fills the stocking and leaves gifts. We are going to have to leave some cookies out for him because he loves sweets! Isn't that exciting Jeffy?" Mom got more and more excited as the story went on.
Jeffrey thought this over for a few minutes. His look was puzzled. Finally, pushing his glasses up on his nose, he replied, "How does one sweet-loving fat man get to ever child in the world in one night? How does his fat belly - it must be fat after eating cookies from every child in the world - fit down the chimney? What if you don't have a chimney? How do reindeer fly? It seems a little suspect to me mother. Not to mention, nobody can live on the North Pole, the climate simply won't permit it."
"It's magic dear." Mom explained patiently, "Now you go work on your letter telling Santa what you would like for Christmas and we will put it in the mailbox before dinner."
Mom walked off quietly humming "Jingle Bells" and leaving Jeffrey alone with his thoughts.
At dinner Jeffrey was unusually quiet during dinner dismissing the questions about his Santa letter. He left the table very quickly and headed to his room before dessert.
Billy, Jeffrey's older brother, noticed his odd behavior and (after eating dessert) followed Jeffrey. When he opened the door he saw the sweet little boy holding his teddy bear and crying. Billy walked to the bed and sat down, "What's up little brother?"
Jeffrey looked into the calm eyes of his teenage brother and started sobbing, "Our mother is planning on letting a complete stranger - a magical stranger named "Santa"- into our home in the middle of the night after we are all asleep! She actually trusts him to leave us presents, but I have read numerous books about robbers posing as do-gooders only to murder everyone in the house! I just can't believe that she would endanger our lives this way!"
"Jeff, that is ridiculous. Santa doesn't murder people, he leaves presents. He is a jolly man with a belly like a bowl full of jello! What is so bad about that? Trust me brother, you don't have anything to worry about."
Jeffrey was obviously not convinced, so Billy told him to wait right there. He left and a few minutes later returned holding a pair of flame colored boxers.
"Do you know what these are?" Billy asked, sounding mystical.
"Your dirty laundry."
"No, these are the Christmas Underpants! If you wear these underpants on Christmas night, Santa won't see you and so you will have nothing to worry about. You will wake up and see all of the presents and know that Santa is a good guy."
Christmas Eve came and after a large dinner, some singing next to Mom's piano and reading the story of Christ's birth in the Bible, they all headed to bed. Jeffrey wasn't entirely convinced that the underpants would work, but he wasn't going to take any chances. He pulled on the flame boxers. He had to tie the waist in a not to keep them from falling down, and he had to roll up the legs to keep from tripping. He climbed in his bed and waited.
He waited and waited and wai.......fell asleep.
Jeffrey awoke to a loud crash followed by the ringing of bells. Quietly he climbed out of bed, down the stairs and hid behind the couch in the living room - and he saw him. The big fat man with a long white beard and the strangest red suit Jeffrey had ever seen. He watched the stranger pull his giant sack up to the tree and then he bent to lift something out of it.
Jeffrey let out a little squeak. He was sure it would be a rifle, or a ninja sword or something equally as dangerous. Santa turned around and looked for the source of the sound, but didn't see the little boy with too-big-for-him flame boxers. He turned and set the first brightly wrapped gift under the tree.
The little boy was so startled by this magical man. "Billy was telling the truth! He must have been telling the truth about the underpants too!"
So, he climbed out from behind the couch and walked right up to Santa.
"You can't see me because of my Christmas Underpants, but I can see you and I am so happy you aren't a murdering robber!"
Santa didn't look at the boy but continued to work with a little smirk on his face.
Jeffrey climbed up on the couch and settled in and watch the man. Soon he was fast asleep.
The next morning Billy jumped on the couch waking his sleeping brother.
"So, how'd it go? Nobody was murdered and we weren't even robbed...do you believe me now?"
Jeffrey was so excited to tell Billy what he had seen! He explained every detail of the story "...and he didn't even see me! I walked right up to him and he didn't even see me! Thank you so much for these magical underpants!"
They started opening their presents - Billy got a new snowboard, and a new pair of underwear, Jeffrey got a complete Encyclopedia set, and Mom got a brand new cookbook. It was the best Christmas Jeffrey had ever, or would ever have thanks to his Christmas Underpants!
And you can bet that every Christmas, no matter how old he got, Jeffrey always wore those flame boxers, and Santa never saw him......

The End

Ok, it's not going to win any prizes - not even worth publishing - but hopefully it brought a smile to your day and a little Christmas spirit into your world...........and now Jon, there is even a Christmas Underpants story!!

Christmas Tree!!

Last night for FHE Jon pulled the tree out and we set it up and decorated it - and I have to say, it is probably the most beautiful tree ever decorated since the dawn of time!
You can't see it in the picture but we have a very eclectic group of ornaments on our tree....We have some very tiny pink balls that came from when I was a teenager and decided to put a tree in my room. We have some very pretty medium sized silver balls that reflect the pretty white lights so nicely. Then we have some transformer ornaments, some precious moments, some cat in the hat, some candy canes, a pretty heart that says the year we were married on it, all sorts of random things - - and our pretty little Precious Moments Angel on the top....
Needless to say, it is the most beautiful tree ever and I am so excited about it!
I was especially excited because I wasn't sure that Jon would have time to help me decorate it, because of finals coming up, but he took the time to have FHE with me and it was so wonderful!
Tonight I am going to work on getting the rest of our decorations up. We have a lot more this year because my mom went through her Christmas stuff and picked out a few things she didn't want to put up! I am especially excited about these cool plug-in things...you put the little adapter in the light socket and then you suddenly have places to plug lights outside!! (I don't know if that makes sense, but the just of it is that I get to put lights outside on my balcony!!)
I love the Christmas season so much and I love being able to spend it with both sides of the family and especially with Jon!
Merry December!!!!!!

Turkey Day - Parades, Food, and Family, Can A Day Get Better??

The Great, All-American Holiday - Thanksgiving!! I love this holiday! It is my favorite holiday in November (it's the only holiday in November - hee hee hee). But seriously, don't you just love Thanksgiving? Little did those Pilgrims know that their peaceful dinner with the Indians would change the course of history and give us one of the best holidays ever invented!!! 

So yesterday was the blessed holiday and it was fantastic! My bad luck took a break for an entire day, and I was so happy because I had some major cooking to do.

We started out at my family's house - we got up early and started watching the Thanksgiving Parade...

We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Program To Bring You This Important Message....

The Thanksgiving Parade is the number one best parade ever in the entire world! They have giant balloons, a million marching bands with baton twirlers, and, most importantly, broadway performances and the Rockettes!!! I look forward to this parade all year long! I mean, as soon as Christmas decorations his the shelves in my local Wal-Mart, I could feel the excitement for the parade just start building and building! I feel like this is as close as I get to the broadway world I love so much, especially lately since I am in a bit of a "theater drought" in my life (don't worry, I get to see Lion King on broadway in January). In fact, my dream is to one day have a studio apartment, right there on main street, and be able to cook my turkey and look out the window and see the giant Snoopy balloon floating by! It would be like magic!!

Now Back To Your Regularly Scheduled Programming.......

We turned on the Thanksgiving Parade and then started the cooking....I made my New York cheesecake and then got started on my "assigned dish", vegetables. Now, I don't really like very many vegetables, so I don't know many fancy vegetable dishes. Had it been an "every day" type of dinner I might have just opened a can of green beans, a can of peas, and a can of corn, nuke them in the microwave and call it a day. But this was Thanksgiving - the dinner of all dinners! So I had spent some serious time before hand doing some homework, and Better Homes and Gardens gave me some recipes that sounded full of stuff that people who eat vegetables might like...I picked two of them and that was that. 

So anyways, I started my gourmet vegetable dishes (with a prayer in my heart) while Laney worked on her rolls and mom and dad buzzed around making other various dishes essential to a perfect Thanksgiving feast.

Finally it was time! Granny and Papa came first and then came Grams and Gramps. You should have seen the spread! The house looked beautiful, the food looked beautiful and everyone looked so happy! 

We stuffed our bellies full of goodness, with barely enough room for dessert!

Right after a clean up, Jon and I headed to his house for another giant feast. I felt a little bit bad because we got there and everything was already finished - and it looked great! MomS had worked really hard and everything was so looked so nice! It was nice to have most of the family there too - we hadn't seen Keith since last Christmas! The food was fantastic, and yes, Jon and I found room in our stomachs for everything - including dessert.

After dinner everyone went in to the living room with the intent of chit-chatting and catching up, but it wasn't long before everyone was unconscious!

Later we did some singing around the piano and then watched Kung Fu Panda (a fantastic movie for all ages - I give it two thumbs up!) and headed to bed.

Talk about the perfect Thanksgiving! Two perfectly traditional meals, Two fantastic families, One great parade, and One long nap!

Perfect Day!!

Bad Luck!

You know the old superstition about breaking mirrors? They say that one broken mirror equals 7 years bad luck.
Now I have never been a believer in superstitions until last week.......
Before I start the story we need to go back...way back to a time before I was married.....
Now my parents bought this camping trailer and I decided that I wanted to turn it into a little "dorm room" type home so I could have the illusion of moving out without actually moving out. I was cleaning it all out and getting ready to paint, but there was a big mirror in there that I wanted out. I tried to take it out carefully, but alas, it fell out of my hands and shattered into a million pieces on the gravel outside. Of course we all laughed and made jokes about bad luck, and we went of with our cleaning.
Fast forward to last summer.
My sister-in-law Joy Lynn was in the Miss Navajo County Pageant, and, of course, I was all about helping her out. Long story short, I let her borrow some things including my little full body mirror that I had taken to the State Pageant. When we were bringing it home from Snowflake, you guessed it, it broke - a big crack right down the middle!
Again we laughed and joked about my imminent bad luck and threw it away.
Little did I know that all of the bad luck would attack me at one time!!!
Monday night I was heading to the Institute Building at ASU because that is where I pick up my sweet husband after work. I had just pulled to a stop in the turning lane and I settled in for a long wait - that light is really long!
Just then I saw a car pulling out of the gas station on my left and it was heading straight towards me!!! I honked my horn, but to no avail - he ran right in to the front of my car! I was so shocked!
We pulled in to the gas station to get out of the road (which, I found out later, was a really bad idea) and he gave me his name and phone number - then he tried to leave. I demanded that he show me his insurance information, and he reluctantly did, but was rushing me the entire time. I then asked him to wait for me to call the police (mistake #2 - I had left my cell phone at home to charge) and he told me that he had to leave. He was slurring his words and he was very messy so I assume he was drunk. I asked him another 2 times but he just got in his car and drove off!!!
I was so upset!!!!!
I called Jon who immediately started walking from the institute to the gas station.
Now there was a wonderful man there who helped me out. His name was Melvin and he was an older gentleman who asked if I was ok. At first I was a little nervous because of stranger danger and all of that, but when he started talking about his daughters studying business and medicine at ASU and about the flower shop he worked at, I became very comfortable and I was so grateful that he was there with me while I waited for Jon.
Jon tried to call the police who refused to come because the other guy already left - which was very rude! So we just headed home.
When we got home Jon tried to call the guy who hit me to ask for the phone number to his insurance company. I had written down the name of the company and his policy number but not the phone number. The guy then told Jon that he had already taken care of it - we would pay for our car and he would pay for his. He said that this would be fair since it was partially my fault. Jon asked how it was my fault and he explained that I was trying to pull in to the gas station and didn't have my lights on......such a lie!!!!
Of course I was very upset that he would lie!! How dare he!!!
Anyways, we called his insurance and set up a claim and they came out to look at the car and everything - and now we are waiting for them to get a hold of him. He hasn't been answering the phone when they call.....shocker huh?
So that is the story of our lives right now. I have been asleep for most of the past 4 days because I have had some neck pain that is pretty much whip lash that caused muscle spasms....so I have had some pretty serious prescriptions that knock me right out!!!
In happier news, my daddy came down and stayed with us Thursday night and then we got to spend time together all day on Friday! He took me on a date for lunch and we walked around a few stores. It was so fun to spend time with him! I miss him a lot and I miss spending time together just talking and stuff! He is without a doubt the best daddy ever!!
That is it for the news of the Salines right now - but this weekend is Turkey Day and I am so excited!!

Thank Goodness It's Friday!!!

Remember back when you would go home on Friday nights, order a pizza and settle down on the couch for a nice long night of ABC's TGIF - teeny-bopper shows like "Boy Meets World" would fill our televisions sets in less than HD quality and we would laugh and cry along with Cory and Sean.
Then on Saturday mornings we would wake up early (in spite of staying up late to watch TGIF) so ABC could once again grace our televisions, this time with One Saturday Morning where you would watch cartoons like "Pepper Ann", "Doug", "Recess" - Disney classics!! What a perfect moment to sit in front of the tube in your PJ's with dad's Micky Mouse shaped pancakes covered in Jif Peanut Butter and Log Cabin syrup.
Those were the days!!
Now a days you turn the TV on on a Friday night and you can watch some evangelical preachers (on the Christian channel), or some re-runs of shows like that one with George Lopez.
Saturday mornings are even worse! You can catch some weekend reporters (the ones that are still sort of learning) talk about stuff that happened the week before and about important things like "how to stop bloating with Dr. Melvin the leading bloatation doctor in the country", or an infomercial on the newest exercise phenomenon hosted by a washed up actor.
Now, I'm not trying to put a negative spin on ABC and its lack of great weekend programming, all I'm saying is that I miss the good stuff!
So I am petitioning the TV networks to bring back weekend television for the sack of all of the people out there who want to spend a nice date night with pizza watching teeny-bopper shows!
Who's With Me??

Halloween Pictures

I finally have some Halloween pictures to you put on here! I think Jon looks fantastic and we had so much fun!! He really had fun playing with the giant fake sword!
There was a kid from Jon's primary class at our trunk or treat who was dressed up like a pirate. He pulled out his little sword and wanted to fight Jon. Jon was so excited because he pulled out his giant sword and the kid ran off - it was so funny!!

Yes! on Prop 102

As we all know, the big Election Day is coming up tomorrow. This is my very first election (I was too young to vote in the last presidential election) and I am very excited to let my voice be heard. This is also, as the EIB Network calls it, "the most important election of our time".
While I do have many strong opinions on who should be the next president and vice president of the United States (Go McCain/Palin!) I don't really want to talk about that too much right now.
What I really want to address is the very important Proposition 102. I wish I could tell you how much this is going to effect our country and the things we believe in, but I am sure I don't know the half of it! The effect is going to monumental! I believe this because the General Authorities are asking us to vote for marriage on this important proposition. They wouldn't ask us if it wasn't important!!!
We all know what will happen if this doesn't pass - we all know what has happened in other states already.....from Catholic adoption centers being closed down for not giving children to gay couples, preachers being sued for not marrying gay couples, and probably the scariest of all, children being taught that being gay is acceptable and having to celebrate "gay day" and read books where Prince Charming marries the prince from the other kingdom and not the beautiful princess.
I don't know about you, but this terrifies me!
Don't get me wrong, I have friends who are gay, and I love them very much. I honestly don't care what they do in their spare time - it is their decision and I am not going to judge them for what they do.
Still, I do not condone their behavior and I really do not want my children to be taught that it is acceptable behavior that should be celebrated.
I really feel very strongly about this and I am asking you, the devoted readers of my blog, to please, if you haven't already, go to the polls tomorrow and let your voice be heard.
Vote Yes on Proposition 102 - for my children and for yours.
We have a great opportunity to stop evil like this from infecting our great nation!
God Bless America!

Halloween: Ghosts and Goblins and....Spartans?

Last weekend was our Trunk-or-Treat at the Evergreen Ward. Now, it was a week before Halloween so you can bet Jon and I had our costumes all planned out......just kidding!! We are not that organized lately - -
So that Saturday (the day of the Trunk-or-Treat) my parents came down. Dad had a "Principal Class" (because apparently running a school isn't enough - you must also go to classes to learn how to run a school) so my mom took Jon and me to Party City where they had a HUGE selection of Halloween costumes and ideas. All 3 of us were running down each aisle picking out different ideas - "I wanna be a fairy", " I want to be a whoopie cushion", "I want to be an undead pirate!"
Finally we decided on Spartans. Jon got this amazing costume with arm and leg bands and a sword, and I got this beautiful toga lookin' thing with all sorts of pretty, gold chains and bracelets.
That night (after a fantastic day of Christmas shopping and "not looking" while mom picked out Christmas presents for us kids) Mom helped me fix my hair and make up (and it looked beautiful!) and we got strapped in to our costumes.
After some safety pinning and stapling (thank you Mom for being a theater major!) we were a beautiful Spartan couple!!
We went to the Trunk-or-Treat where we saw some really great costumes. There was a family with 2 little ones dressed up like chickens and mom and dad dressed up like farmers, there were a lot of Star Wars, and one family in particular who were the most amazing pirates I had ever seen!!!
It ended up being a great Halloween party (a week early)!!!

NOTE: We are in Snowflake right now, but there will be pictures of us in our costumes as soon as we get back to Tempe!

Be Prepared!

One of my favorite Disney movies is The Lion King (in fact, I am going to see it on Broadway because my sweet husband loves and spoils me!). In that movie there is a great song called "Be Prepared" sung by the evil uncle Scar to his pack of hyena minions.
Well, it seems that we are hearing the "Be Prepared" tune sung more and more by our church leaders and now even popular public figures!
There is a great article that Jon found - you can find it at: http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/16799/?ck=1
It is by Glenn Beck and it is all about being prepared temporally, spiritually, and intellectually. He addresses the importance of having a 3-6 month supply of food, clothes and other necessities and talks about how to go about building it. He talks about Family Home Evening, reading good books, and he talks about voting for someone in the next election who is going to help us pull out of the man-made mess that we are in right now.
It's a great article and worth a read.....
I am really feeling the pressure of being prepared lately. Our Bishop told us that the time for warnings are over - and that just really hit me! It's time to seriously get things together to get prepared for the perilous times that are to come.
Last night Jon and I went to the grocery store with the intent of buying groceries (obviously) and buying the finishing touches to our 72-hour kits. We got things like First Aid Kits and a Compass and stuff like that. It feels so good to know that we are at least that prepared. We figured that 72-hours is long enough to at least get up to Snowflake to our families who can then take care of us.
Lon and Kim have really great 72-hour kits!! They brought out their back packs the other day and we were so impressed!!! They are on top of things!! My sisters are always on top of things!!
We really want to get a 3 month supply together in our back room and we started working on that yesterday at the grocery store too - we stocked up on Ramen Noodles and Rice - not entirely healthy, but we are working on it slowly....
The pressure is on and I am feeling it - it's time to take this preparedness stuff to a whole new level!
Feel free to turn on The Lion King to get a little inspired to start up your own!!!
Be Prepared!!!!

Core Rhythms Dance Videos

Ok, so a few weeks ago I saw an infomercial for a dance video called Core Rhythms Dance Videos. I was completely hooked, but I thought for sure Jon would think it was a silly thing - especially because it is endorsed by the lady off of So You Think You Can Dance who he thinks is super annoying - so I never brought it up.
Then a couple weeks later, Jon saw it too. I told him that I thought it was pretty cool, and he said, "would you actually use it?"
Of course I answered with a very resounding, "yes!!" and he said, "Well, why don't you order it?"
Oh man, I was so excited!!! Unfortunately I missed the number on the infomercial and had to wait till the next day for work to come around so I could order it online.
I ordered, and waited patiently (well...not so patiently) for the DVD's to show up at my house, but they didn't come and didn't come....
Then, Thursday evening, we got the golden ticket in the mailbox! The one that says that there is a package waiting for me in the manager's office! I almost died of excitement!!!!!!!
Jon went and picked it up and I tore it open and immediately started using the special measuring tape (included in the starter package) to measure all my body parts, and I was pouring over the diet and dance information!
Then I put in the video and started learning how to shake my hips to lose inches - and it was awesome!!!
I learned all sorts of real dance moves and I was having a great time doing these sweet little latin dances. When I was done, I was actually sore and tired like I had been working out!!!
Not only is it a super duper exercise, but it comes with a disc that teaches you how to take the smokin' hot moves you learned in the exercise and turn them into actual partner dances!!!
Now I am trying to talk Jon in to shakin' his booty right along with me (it hasn't worked yet, but we will see what happens...)
Ok, this has sounded an awful lot like a commercial, but I am so excited about this new video and I will keep you updated on my progress!!
Let's see if it really works as well as What's-Her-Bucket on So You Think You Can Dance says!

Fall Break

Last week I was off of work for Fall Break. I don't know who came up with Fall Break because there isn't really a good reason for a break in the middle of October - but I am sure glad we have it!!!
It's not like I did a whole lot of amazing things. I had big plans to clean up my house and organize my life....but my week was automatically doomed on Monday when I watched Regis and Kelly, as well as a soap opera called One Life To Live. There went two hours of my day...each day...for the rest of the week!!
Yup, I was one of "those" people. You know what I mean, the kind of people who sit and watch daytime television - - lame, I know, and if I was a "stay at home" lady, I would not be "that"person, but since it was one week of freedom, I thought I deserved to lounge a little.
On Monday my Sisters-In-Law came over and we made some cute little message boards out of pizza pans. They ended up looking really cute.
We spent some time with the Crandells who are great friends!
Jon had his Moot Court competition, which didn't go as well as he planned. I felt bad for him because he had worked so hard on it, and it turned out not being exactly what they wanted. It was a really good learning experience for him, and he can still put it on his resume so that is a good thing. He will know what to expect next time.
He also had an interview at an insurance company. He said that he felt really good about the interview and I was so excited for him!! The job is really great! It would give him a lot of experience and not pay to badly either....so keep him in your prayers!
Friday we went home to Snowflake to help my sister get ready for the Homecoming dance her boyfriend asked her to go to. She left in the morning for the "day date" and we went with the entire "Matyas Clan" on a hay ride to the corn maze at the Willis' farm. It was pretty fun and the little kids were so excited when they found the next point in the maze.
Then Laney came back and we got her all ready - she looked so beautiful!! (I will put pictures on here when I get the pictures off of the camera) and he didn't look to bad either. When she came out of the bedroom, he just looked so amazed and he said that she was beautiful!! It was so sweet!!!
Other than that, I spent the week doing all of the laundry, napping, playing with the puppy and doing Richard Simmons to counterbalance all the sitting lazily.
It was magnificent!

Hiccup....Hiccup....Hiccup....

I would like to start off by sending a "shout out" to my very first blog commenter - Thanks Nikki!!! Yup, that's right everyone, the Great Blog Master herself (not to mention one of the sweetest people you will ever meet in your life)
Anyways, I had the hiccups today. We talked about hiccups at FHE the other night with Lon and Kim and Brendin and Nikki, and I got some good tips from them on how to rid of them (did you know that Lon and Jon are close to holding world records for longest hiccup "sessions"?). So I figured that there was no way these hiccups would last since I had gotten professional advice.
I started with Jon's method - Pay really close attention to not moving your diaphragm - and that did not work....
So, I moved on to Nikki's full-proof plan - Putting a pencil across the cup of water and drinking through it - and that didn't work either.
Finally I went to the advice from Lon - I drank the water upside down and backwards - and it was a success!!! They went away!!! I was cured!!! A miracle!!!
Talk about exciting!!!!

New Stuff!!!!

Today I was spending some quality time with this blog and I was able to find all sorts of cool new stuff!!! Look on the left and side and you will see a picture of our sweet new addition (mentioned in the previous post)!! Sadly, I have yet to figure out how to move any of the cool stuff from the left column - as of right now, everything has to go on the left side - sorry.
I was looking at Nikki's blog and Shaunalee's blog and they are so beautiful!!!
Someday I will be that talented......Someday!
Wish me luck as I continue to figure out how to make this worth looking at!!

Molly Mae

Last Friday I got a new addition to my family....we got a sweet little puppy who we named Molly Mae! She is the sweetest most beautiful puppy you have ever seen before in your life!!! She is black with white spots and red highlights - already potty trained and she doesn't whine at the table or anything! She is very well behaved!!
Jon was a little hesitant to get a puppy, but we had made a deal and it came to the point where he had to give in. But....you can bet that she loves him more than she loves me and he sure loves her a whole lot!!
Sunday morning I woke up earlier than Jon so that I could take the puppy out to....ahem....do her business....Anyways, when we came back in the house I was all excited to play fetch with her (she got a new ball and it is really pretty), but you can bet she walked right over to the bedroom door and sat there and waited for Jon to come out!! It was so funny!
As soon as I learn how to stick pictures on this blog, you can bet I will have her plastered all over this page.
I want to take a pretty picture of my family of four: Me, Jon, Molly Mae and Sven (the fish).
Stay Tuned for Pictures!!!!

Birthday

Yesterday was my Big Birthday Bash! I turned the ripe ol' legal age of 21!! Now, I was a little worried that it would be a boring Birthday because - let's face it - Mormon's don't have a lot to look forward to when it comes to our 21st Birthdays - we don't drink, we don't gamble.....but my Birthday was awesome!!!
Jon gave me tickets to see Lion King (broadway)!!! I was so excited because that show is #1 on my list of shows to see!!!
When I showed up to work my desk looked like a carnival tent! It had streamers all over and posters and balloons!! It was awesome!!!
Some sweet little girls who stay late after school with me everyday pulled their money together for a cake for me and they got their entire class to sing to me, and another student made me some brownies, while yet another student brought me some cookies (sugar overload, but it was sooo sweet of them!!) If that wasn't enough, I had 4 phone calls with classes singing happy birthday over the speaker phone!
All of that was just at work!
When I got home, Jon took me to Joe's Crab Shack where I got crab legs -- YUM!!! - and they sang to me.
Then, just to add to the deliciousness of the day - we then went to the Cheesecake Factory and got entire cheesecakes! Snickers and some fruity flavor that Jon likes - that I am sure will kill you -
Lacie and Sam, Ben and Tara, and Brendin and Nikki (yup, the Blogging Guru) came over and we had cheesecake and I got some amazing gifts - they really were too generous!!! I got beautiful old books - The Scarlet Letter (it's a bright red book!!), The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Moby Dick - and Jon got me the most amazing Complete Works of William Shakespeare!! Nikki and Brendin got me a gift card to a great shoe store!
I was really soooo spoiled this year! I am so grateful for all of the time and effort and money everyone spent to make my Birthday special!!
Whoever said Mormon's can't have a rockin' good 21st was crazy!!!!!!!

Starting Fresh

Ok - so this is my third try at making a blog - but you know what they say, "Third time's the charm" so here goes.....wish me luck!
Now I must warn you that I am still not good at the inner-workings of blogging, but I am going to spend some quality time with my sister-in-law Nikki (aka Blogger Extraordinaire!) sometime soon and learn how to make this the coolest - or maybe second coolest (after Nikki's of course) blog you have ever seen in your life! So stick with me through my "lame" stages, I promise it will get cool someday!
Let me spend some time to explain why I have such a desire to have a blog and why I am so persistent even though it seems to be a very difficult thing for me.....
There is the article that my dad got me hooked called called "The Back Bench" (http://www.nauvoo.com/thebackbench/). It is written by Aaron Johnston, a Mormon guy with a bunch of great thoughts and a magnificent talent for putting them into words. Well, one day as I was reading an article by him, I thought to myself, "Self, you have some thoughts and ideas and you like to share them with people (sometimes when they don't want to hear it) you should have a place to do that!"
But does such a magnificent place exist? I mean, my friend Aaron is endorsed by big-wigs like Orson Scott Card (I am a big fan of Orson!! Have you read his short story "Lost Boys"? If not, you should - it is amazing!!!), and I am endorsed by....uh......lets see.....well, my dad has read a lot of Orson Scott Card, does that count?
But then I was looking at my sister-in-law, Shaunalee's blog and it hit me! It was as though angels were singing and a great pillar of light shone down up on the computer - EUREKA!! This was it! A free venue where I can rant and rave, or just spill out the stuff in my brain, and people might actually read it!!! Sweet huh?
So that is the reason for my persistence -
For now all that will be featured on my blog are my thoughts because of my sincere lack of ability in the hip new blogging world - but stick with me, and you can bet I will get some cool stuff on here!!
NIKKI HELP!!!!!