I've Been Tagged

This post was started Friday. Friday, friends! I'm having a horrible time getting to the internet lately. Even with it going everywhere I go with the new wireless broadband card. . .

So, I had all sorts of good ideas for blogging this week, but it seems like the weeks with the most to talk about are the weeks when I never get a chance to even check my email most days, let alone blog. The weeks when I have nothing to blog about are the weeks when I have tons of time to blog. I should just use that time to write all the things I didn't write about in the other weeks, I guess. Well, I was tagged by my friend Kristene last Tuesday (the 15th), and I haven't responded YET! Gee whiz. Sorry Kris. So here's my response.



Best Meal: I think one of the best meals I know is either Japanese Steakhouse, where they cook on the grill in front of you. I love that! I usually order steak and chicken, and they have that great seafood sauce. It's SO yummy. On top of that, I love the show. Jackie and I are always very animated, and the cook usually loves having us at the table as well. It's either that, or going to The Melting Pot where you get to do your own fondue. The chocolate fondue is some of the yummiest food on the planet. IMHO.



Best Hobbies: One of my very favorite hobbies is to sew. If you haven't seen my website (a shameless plug, but it is mine) is http://www.elliebelliebaby.com/ I also love to play my instruments. My favorite being my marimba.



Best Vacation: Well, my very best vacation was my honeymoon. But since we didn't have any kids with us ;) I will reserve that for the next one. The next best vacation must have been Catalina Island when I was a freshman. I went twice. It was really fun the first time, and we had fun with a whole bunch of friends. It was even MORE fun the second time when my friend Katie and I went with a whole bunch of eighth graders. We ended up just getting to go around Disneyland with only the two of us, and we got on almost every ride almost as we walked up, it seemed. It was one of my very favorite times in an amusement park. Thanks Katie! Since we were kids, we were with a whole bunch of other kids.



Best Vacation Without Kids: The very best vacation I've ever been on was my honeymoon, and my husband and I were just the two of us. My husband and sister call it planes, trains, and automobiles. We flew from Salt Lake City to Boston and then took a train from Boston to NYC. After spending some glorious time in NYC, we drove to Hershey Pennsylvania.

Hershey park is my very favorite amusement park that I've ever been to. The roller coasters are big and fast, but not too scary. The air of the park is great, and there's a wonderful, family friendly feel to the park. I loved it, and I'm very much looking forward to a day when we can go back. From Hershey, we trained to Williamsburg, VA. If you want a town with character, Williamsburg is IT. Colonial Williamsburg is set up to be always in 1774, two years before the declaration of Independence was signed. Williamsburg used to be the capital of Virginia, and the old houses are well maintained. If you're a United States history buff, Williamsburg is definitely a place to go.

From there, we flew to Atlanta, GA so that we could have our second wedding reception. It was great fun, and my mom-in-law is a gem. The reception was basically just a big dinner where everyone could chat and get to know people. It was lovely, and I found out that my husband has some wonderful, true friends. This could have been a post all on its own. . .



Best Job I Ever Had: It was definitely being the RA in the dorms my second year of college. I made wonderful friends, helped out the other girls, and all-in-all just had a wonderful time, while getting my housing and food paid for.

Best Thing To Buy If Money Wasn't An Issue: I guess it would be my house. I would pay it off very first if money weren't an issue and then, money would not likely be an issue much again. Just think about how much money you'd have if you had no house payment or rent to pay each month??? www.daveramsey.com.


Best Age Growing Up: The best age growing up for me was probably six. I had some really great friends, and it was before people started getting mean. Trina was a true friend, and we loved to go to the pharmacy in my home town and buy penny candies. Have you ever eaten those fruit tootsie rolls? Have you ever eaten 500 in one hour? At the age of six, that's living.


Best Toys When I Was a Kid: I guess I would have to say that I loved my Lite Bright. Either that, or my bike. When I was about 12, I bought myself my first mountain bike, and that thing took me everywhere I wanted to go until I was a sophomore and got my drivers' licence.


Best Date Before I Was Married: Well, if you can call it a date, it was when Rob came out to meet me my second year of college. Since I can't really call that a date, (I carefully made sure that we had tag-alongs pretty much everywhere we went.) I think my favorite date was Prom my senior year. Sitting on the back of the four wheeler while we went through the mud puddles was wonderful. My date and I got back to the group, and the other girls were appalled that my date would drive through the puddles. I was grinning from ear to ear.



And now, I'm tagging Melissa and Robert and Todd (I think it would be interesting if both of you did it. Good luck to you!

Boston #2

We've had a great time in Boston. Yesterday, my brother-in-law, the kids and I drove around, so we could cheer for my two sisters who ran the marathon. Even with stopping often for potty breaks and photo ops, my sisters finished the 26.2 miles in just over 4 hours. Way to go.

The first part was written last night; then, I fell asleep. This was written this morning.

We planned at the very first of the day to see my sisters at miles ten and seventeen. My one sister's mom-in-law drove my sisters to the start of the race, so my sister could nurse her baby right before she started. Then, my brother-in-law, the rest of their kids, Ben, and I went to mile 10 in my sister's van. We thought that we might have gotten there too late, but in the end, we arrived just at the right time. With walking the 3/4 of a mile from where we parked to the race, we ended up standing by the street for about maybe 10 or 15 minutes waiting for them to get there. When we saw them, we started yelling their names as loudly as possible, and they ran over to take pictures by us. Right after we saw them run by, we took the kids to the potty and then hopped right in the car for another hour drive to mile 17. Once we got out of the car there, we walked another 3/4 of a mile at least to where we could see the race. Then we ended up waiting a little less than 10 minutes for them run to where we were. Again, we started yelling their names as loudly as we could and they came over. They took more pictures and gave hugs then went on their way. They said that having us come and at those intervals was the best. Those miles were good miles to drive to, but they were also good miles for the runners. It was almost spaced out at intervals of thirds, so they had something to look forward to throughout the race. My brother-in-law and I were hoping to get to see the finish, but due to unforseen events, we missed seeing the finish by 10 minutes. We did get to take pictures of them with their medals. It was really fun. I'm glad that Rob gave me this gift for my birthday.

Yesterday, I took one of my sisters to the airport really early and then I came back and went with the other and her family to Plimoth Plantation. (The spelling is strange because that's how it was written in a man's journal.) The plantation is a small tract of land with houses and cottages built to show what life was like in 1627 Plymouth. The people there act just like they would have in 1627. They do the "scullery" meaning wash the dishes just like they would have then and they plant their gardens. It's pretty interesting. There is also a place where they show how the Native People would have lived then and how it's different for them now. If anyone is in the Boston area, go see Plymouth. Plymouth and The Freedom Trail were amazing.

Today, I fly home. I hope to post on today's hump day for Julie's blog tomorrow.

Boston #1

For my birthday, Rob gave me an envelope with a plane ticket to Boston in it. Two of my sisters are running the Boston Marathon tomorrow, Patriot's Day, April 20. Rob wanted me to be able to have some time with my sisters, so here I am, in Boston! It's been so much fun, and it will still be more fun. We've walked part of the Freedom Trail (I'd like to walk more of it.) and eaten canoli at Mike's Pastries. One of my sisters and I went to Plymouth and saw the Mayflower II and saw how people lived on ships for a long time. Entire families slept in "cabins" about the size of a square kitchen table. Things were different then. There are so many things that I think I need that are really just wants. I'm SO blessed!

Saturday, we went and walked part of the Freedom Trail. It was so awesome. I bought the book, just so I could read about it. If anyone has the chance, they should buy the book, just to read the history even if they decide that they don't want to do all the walking.

Today, we went to church in Hingham, MA (15 miles from where we're staying) and then we went and flew kites on the beach (2 blocks from where we're staying). It's been really great hanging out with the family.

I'm still not quite ready to talk about the past week, but I might do it after I get home. Right now, life is still busy. Tomorrow, I'm off to cheer for my sisters, and if they don't mind, I'll post our pictures in our special shirts on the internet. Good luck Sisters!

The Nest, again.

My appologies to anyone who has been checking in with my blog for awhile with no positive results, but I've had a pretty rough little while. I may post on that tomorrow, but it's sort of a sensitive subject for me right now, so I may not post on why I've been absent. Just know that I love you all and I am again committing to posting regularly.



Julie Pippert's Hump Day Hmm topic this week is Earth Day and taking care of our world. To me, taking care of our world has a lot to do with celebrating life and being grateful to God that he has made life possible for all of us. We need to try to help each other out by working to take care of the world a little bit at a time.



Many people, when they find a bird trying to build a nest in their house, will evict the bird ASAP, so it's not in the way. We, however, have been so excited about it and have anxiously watched it day by day.



Today, we had a miracle at our house. Some of the baby birds are hatched! They are so CUTE... They open and close their little mouths. I tried to take a picture of them with their mouths open, but I couldn't. But I got one that shows the egg opened and you can see one of the birds. It looks just like a big fur ball.



I can't wait until they start to fly. It will be so neat! Here's the picture of the nest.

America's Next Top Model

I have really enjoyed the show America's Next Top Model, and sometimes when I've been upstairs sewing, I have watched several episodes in a row. It's interesting to see that world. However, as a parent, I am upset. I don't feel like anyone should show any type of nutidy during family hours. I'd prefer that no one showed nudity on TV at all. I guess after the famous Super Bowl incident where a nipple was exposed and very little was done to the performer or the station because "It was an accident," I have little faith in the FCC. However, I have signed this petition to the FCC and I encourage more people to sign it. I have watched this show many times in the past and a couple of times, Jackie watched it with me, but there has never been anything like this on it before, and I would encourage it to never have anything like this on it again.

America's Next Top Model aired a nudity shoot. A NUDITY SHOOT! I'm sorry for yelling at all of you in internet land, but there it is. I'm furious. Here is a link to a petition by the Parents TV organization where you can fill out a form to file a complaint with the FCC. There is also a place where you can watch the clip. I didn't watch it because I don't want that garbage in my head, but if you don't believe, feel free to watch the clip. Here is the link.

https://www.parentstv.org/ptc/action/antm/main.asp

Hump Day Hmm April 2, 2008-- Atonement

The word atonement carries many different meanings. To some people, atonement means to try to fix things they did wrong. To other people, the word means means that someone else did something wrong to me, and he/she should pay for his or her mistakes. To me, every time, I hear or read this word, I think of Christ. His atonement was truly infinite. And for that I am truly grateful.

Isaiah wrote a beautiful passage on what Christ's atonement was, (Isaiah 53:3-5) He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes, we are healed.

"He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows." There is a lot of pain and sadness in our worlds caused by other circumstances or people. Also, "He was bruised for our iniquities," we sin and cause other people pain. Christ already suffered for all of this pain. He loved us enough that even when we hurt him and reject him, he chose to bleed, suffer, and die for us to keep us from all sorts of pain and suffering. He also chose to atone for our sins and mistakes, so we can go to live with God again.

Every person has the opportunity to choose to accept or reject this wonderful love of Christ. When we accept it, though, we are choosing to try to live like him. When Christ was choosing his apostles, he told them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." In following Christ, we choose to forgive others. God commanded us to "forgive all men." (Doctrine and Covenants 64:10.) I'm not to judge whether or not someone else is sorry for their sins. Luckily, that's God's territory. However, I'm supposed to forgive every person for any sin or pain they have caused me.

The problem is that this is easier said than done. I'm supposed to forgive them, but do I have to set myself up to get hurt by them again? No. I don't have to put myself in danger to forgive someone. However, I do have to work to forgive that person and avidly work to keep away negative feelings, anger, and hate from that person.


Julie Pippert has a wonderful post on this same topic at her blog. Feel free to come over there and join us for this week's Hump Day Hmm.

Due to Rudeness

I'm sorry to those who are dyslexic and have a hard time filling out the words.

I'm beginning to be intolerant of spammers' inconsiderate nature and am tired of removing their comments. Word recognition will be enabeled until further notice.

Here to stay. . . I think

The bird is back to stay I think. Last night, Rob and I were working on sorting the junk we removed from the cars yesterday. They were full of junk and trash, and we were afraid to bring everything into the house. Both cars were NASTY! Therefore, we were sitting in the garage sorting junk. I went back to look at the nest, and there were four eggs! FOUR! Well, yesterday early, I had walked right up to the nest and looked in to see the eggs, but I startled the bird (who was so well camoflauged that she flew right out, but didn't fly at me.) So I wondered if that was it. Last night, the bird flew around the garage a few times as if deciding whether or not to stay on her eggs. She finally flew out, and I peeked in at the nest. I'm still suprised by FOUR eggs!!! :)

If you look in the middle, you can see the bird's eyes. She's in there hanging out, sitting on her eggs. Isn't she beautiful?