My Little Guys

Jackson and Sam had an opportunity to participate in a school poetry festival this week. They both worked very hard in the past month to choose and memorize their poems. Jackson recited "The Night Before Christmas" and Sam recited "Snow Toward Evening." I am totally not being biased when I say they really were the best. :)

President Gordon B. Hinckley

How I love President Hinckley. He was such a great man and such a great prophet. I looked forward at every conference to hearing his inspired words and clever wit. Seeing his face always brought a smile to mine.

When I was a student at BYU he gave a devotional that I was smart enough to attend (since I rarely went to the weekly devotionals.) I still remember where I sat and the amazing spirit that permeated the giant Marriott Center that night. His talk, "This I believe," encouraged me to be a better person and has stayed with me ever since. He said

"I belive that I am a child of God, endowed with a divine brithright. I believe that there is something of divinity within me and within each of you. I believe that we have a godly inheritance, and that it is our responsibility, our obligation, and our opportunity to cultivate and nurture the best of these qualities within us. I do not have to be a scrub. Though my work may be menial, though my contribution may be small, I can perform it with dignity and offer it with unselfishness. My talents may not be great, but I can use them to bless the lives of others. I can be one who does his work with pride in that which comes from hand and mind. I can be one who works with respect for associates, for their opinions, for their beliefs, with an appreciation for their problems and a desire to help them should they stumble. I believe in the principle that I can make a difference in this world. It may be ever so small, but it will count for the greater good. The goodness of the world in which we live is the accumulated goodness of many small and seemingly inconsequential acts."

I will miss President Hinckley. I know he is standing in the presence of previous prophets. I know he is overjoyed to be with his loving wife again. I know someday I will once again be able to learn from his great wisdom and feel of his tremendous spirit. That knowledge brings me so much joy and comfort.

Speeches Website This is a link to an audio recording of the talk "This I believe"

Guitar Hero

I sort of hid my guitar hero obsession from the world because I was ashamed, but lately I have been hearing from lots of grown ups who are also caught up in the hard-rockin fun. The other girls, however, seem to be on a much higher skill level then I am so I think I need to increase my daily jam sessions to a couple hours. One day we will have to have a giant Guitar Hero neighborhood tournament. We can even have kids bracket. Mya would totally smash the other 2 year olds.

Maybe I should set that up.....seems like a lot of work though. Maybe I'll get to it tomorrow.

What is up with tagging?

Darn it Brittany. Tagging reminds me of those books we used to pass around in middle school...does anyone remember what they were called?.....same concept but looooong before internet (yeah we all know I am old.) Well I suppose there are worse things, but not many.

1. What's his name? Rollin
2. How long have we been married? 13 years
3. How long did we date? It's embarrassingly Mormon, but we dated for 3 months before we got engaged and were engaged 7 months before we got married.
5. Who eats more? I eat more often but Rollin eats bigger servings
6. Who said I love you first? I did
7. Who is taller? Rollin
8. Who sings better? Me
9. Who's temper is worse? That's probably a tie but might lean a little my direction.
10. Who does the dishes? ME always always me
11. Who pays the bills? Rollin
12. Who cooks dinner? Me and many times no one else in the family is very happy about it. Hey I'm a good cook, just those little terds are picky eaters.
13. Who drives when we are together? Rollin
14. Who is more stubborn? We both think we know everything and are always right so...both I guess
15. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Neither of us really "admit we are wrong." We just stop arguing about it and move on to another topic.
16. Who's parents/family do you see more often? Mine
17. Who has more friends? Probably Rollin. He is a lot more outgoing than I am.
18. Who has more siblings? I do: 5. Rollin has 2
19. Who wears the pants in the family? We all wear pants every day except on Sundays when Logan, Mya and I wear skirts.

I am not tagging anyone and I hope that no one who reads this blog feels any obligation to fill out this survey. Love you anyway Brittany!

Logan's Dance

Logan is taking dance lessons this year and today was her first performance. Her class did their thing at the Safe Kids Fair at the local expo center. She did a great job and we are so proud of her.

Sam climbed the rock wall at the fair and got all the way to the top. He was quite proud.

Curling

In an effort to find a "thing," I signed up for curling lessons with the boys. For those of you not familiar with curling, it is a sport played on ice...sort of like bowling or shuffleboard. We went to a curling match when the olympics were in town and I was intrigued so when I saw that the olympic oval was offering learn to curl lessons, I jumped at the chance. We are having a blast learning and we are getting better each week. Last night my friend Alicia came with us and we got her hooked too.

Skinner B.L. Competition

Rollin and I are big fans of the show "The Biggest Loser." We enjoy watching the transformations and getting the little ego boost that comes from realizing that although we aren't Mr. and Mrs. Universe, at least neither of us has 100 lbs. to lose. We also pacify our guilt at the crap we daily eat by seeing the crap the contestants eat. I enjoy having a nice bowl of cheetos while I watch. Well I enjoy it for a minute and then the trainers make me feel guilty.

After watching B.L. last night, Rollin and I thought if these guys with 100 + pounds to lose can look that great after 6 months, how hot would we look with minimal effort after 3 months? So, in the spirit of New Year's resolutions, we are engaging in a weight loss and body shaping challenge. We weighed ourselves this morning and took our body fat percentages (ouch) and are ready to go. Rollin believes that if we put our stats on our blogs then we will be more motivated to do better. I hate the thought but maybe he is right. So in the interest of forcing myself to stop eating handfuls of chocolate chips at 11 p.m., I will add my info and update it each week. (But I reserve the right to change my mind at any time and take it off.) I absolutely put my foot down on no posting of our bikini before and after pictures though. Well maybe just this one.



If any of our friends in electronica land would like to join in our challenge, please do! We would love the competition and the support. Maybe we will even come up with a prize for the winner.

New Year

It is already a week into the new year and yet I have not set any resolutions. I have never really been big on it, but Rollin is and he wants to talk about our resolutions for F.H.E. tonight. What should I resolve to do? Watch less T.V.? But it brings me so much joy. Be a nicer mom? Is that possible? Work out more? I barely drag myself to the three aerobic sessions I go to each week. Eat better? But crap tastes so much better than bird seed. This resolution stuff is hard.

Rollin has been telling me for years that he wishes I were passionate about something, that I had a "thing" that I got all crazy about and poured some of my excess energy into. So I think for this year I am resolving to find a passion. I am taking suggestions.

Here are some fun Christmas pictures of the kids. It was Rollin's year to do Christmas his way so we opened all the gifts Christmas Eve.

Fighting the Fuddy-duddies

So I guess I am behind the times not already having a blog. I wondered if I would have anything of interest to say, and maybe I won't, but I gots to stay hip with the kiddies.