Thursday, March 18, 2010

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

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?
No
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?
No
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?
No
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

Monday, March 15, 2010

Graduation!!

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??

Thursday, March 4, 2010

The Evolution of Stress

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!

Saturday, February 27, 2010

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

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".

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

New Niece!! Baby News!!

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!!!!!!

Sunday, February 21, 2010

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

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!!