Toria's Birthday Party

I can't believe that Victoria will be 8 next week! It's so crazy that time has gone by so fast. She was born two weeks after I went into the MTC so I didn't get to know her until she was almost a year and a half old but now we're friends so it's ok.
Tracie and I went down to Orem to help April with the party (she had invited 16 kids so it's a good thing we went. . . .don't worry, they didn't all come). Any excuse to see the kids is ok with me. Tor was so excited, she got home from school soon after we got there and wanted to help me decorate. She told me, "do you know why I have this big smile on my face? I can't wait til my party!" She made sure the backyard was clean and picked up Braydens stuff every time he got it back out. We asked him to play in another part of the yard after the third time. Audrey loved the balloons. She had a pink one tied to her wrist for a while and then wanted it off, and of course, about thirty seconds after I untied it, I hear "oh no! uh oh!" I looked over and she was pointing up at the sky as it floated away. I told her to say bye bye, and she said "no!" Finally, she did, after she jumped a few times and found it to be fruitless.
Brayden had his friend Carlos (that lives downstairs) hang out with him and they loved teasing all the girls.
Tor had a great time, the other kids did great, and it was a lot of fun to spend time with them.


Audrey learned how to play "duck duck goose" today. So cute.
They ate corndogs and cheetos and Brayden's face looked like this too. Side note: Brayden hasn't had any problems swallowing (choking or gagging) since he got his tonsils out. I feel bad for getting after him so many times for not just swallowing his dang food. Mean Aunt Kat.
They played a game where they put eight m&m's on a plate then covered it with spray whipped cream. With their hands behind their backs, they had to eat all of the candies. It was pretty funny.
They liked it.
Tracie did too, don't let this stink-eye fool you.
Then they had cupcakes.
And then opened presents.
Somebody laughed really hard about this one. Unfortunately (or fortunately?), it was filled with Hannah Montana everything. I thought it was clever. I would have done it.
And of course, little bebita. She is wearing the princess outfit I made mom buy in New York "because you're the Grandma, that's why." Sorry about the red-eye, April. Didn't want to edit.
I need to have a birthday party next year.

Fluency Writing

One of my students wrote this for his "free write" at the beginning of class.
"girls. girls are hot, sexy, and quit but not all of them. so are ugly, disgusting, and ugly. And sometimes you like them but if youre gay you like boys I'm not gay so I like girls. Sometimes you fall in love whith them so mouch you cant stand it so you ask them out only if you'r not scared if you are then you'r a chicken."

Patriot Day

In my generation, I have only had a few memorable moments where I can remember where I was when I heard the news. These historical moments have engrained themselves in my memory and I will have them forever. One was when it was announced that the 2002 Olympics would be held in Salt Lake City. I was in the library at Jefferson Jr. High, in 9th grade. You could hear cheers erupt throughout the halls. Another was when OJ was aquitted. I was sitting with the rest of my class on the floor of the small gym crowded around a radio listening to the news. At the time, I thought he was not guilty. I have since changed my mind. Scumbag. Other moments are of a more personal nature, where I was when I learned a grandparent had passed away. Recently, I'll always remember that I was taking bridal pictures at Thanksgiving Point when we received numerous texts that Michael Jackson, king of pop, had died.

One thing that had a particular impact on me, as well as the rest of the world, was 9/11/01. I was preparing to leave on my mission and therefore wasn't working. We had gotten up for family prayer before my dad went to work and I had gone back to bed. I wasn't asleep and heard the phone ring. It was pretty unusual for 6:50 am. My dad called and told my mom to turn on the tv. I went out to the living room and was horrified. I sat there with a blanket wrapped around me (who wears pants) for hours. I was glued to the tv for information for the next three days. On the 14th, I was shooting a wedding for a girl who grew up in my ward. That was also the official day of rememberance and there were programs going on at temple square. We finished with the shoot right in time for me to go to the 12:00 ceremony and because the tabernacle was full, I went to the Assembly Hall on the south west corner of Temple Square. I squeezed into a bench and watched as the program started, broadcasted from the tabernacle. There were songs and a prayer given by the prophet. At one point, the congregation stood and started to sing "America the Beautiful". In the middle of the first verse, down the aisle on my right a man walked to the front of the room. He walked up on the podium and as I watched him, I could see in the shadows (from the darkness due to the broadcast) I saw a flag standing against the wall. The man, who obviously had training in bearing a flag, brought the flag to the front of the room and the most respect and honor I had ever seen, he bore that flag. Tears filled my eyes as the spirit of love, freedom, gratitude and patriotism filled my heart. I had not been directly impacted by the death of a loved one or friend. I was safe in "the shadow of the everlasting hills" and surrounded by feelings of peace and comfort. But I couldn't help but feel a sense of loss for the nation, a concern for the questions that would now arise as I shared the gospel, and a renewed desire to share the Good News to a country who had felt great sorrow. It was later, when I was in the MTC watching conference when President Hinckley announced during an address that the nation had just declared war. We were protected from the news of the outside world, and to hear such worrisome news from a Prophet of God was reassuring as he testified of his knowledge of a loving Heavenly Father.

Politics.

I've been wanting to post about Obama's speech to the students for a while. This is my position that I put as a reply to a post on one of my Oakcrest MyFamily sites. Then, as another guest post, I will post what Tracie wrote. I am really proud of the way that she expressed herself.

When we started getting emails from the district about permission slips going out for the speech, based on the outcry from the video in Davis district, I was really surprised. Well, I guess because we're in Utah, I wasn't that surprised. But I guess you could say frustrated. I understand the irritation and frustration about the video, from what I understand it had some influential celebrities which adds to the influence it would have. I don't know much more than that. But when it comes to a nation-wide address from the president, I think that is a different thing. I was talking to my dad about it on Monday and he is a serious Obama non-supporter and gets all of his information from talk radio. He was saying things that he had heard about the socialist ideas that Obama would be sharing with the students and I think he even mentioned that someone went so far as comparing it to when Hitler started with indoctrinating children. Seriously? I don't agree with Obama a lot of the time and I think he spends too much time in the media when he should be worrying about other things, but I don't think he would ever get away with the nation-wide indoctrination of k-12 students. Is this making sense? I might have to edit it tomorrow. I agree with Kazoo that although we may not agree with him personally, it is important to show respect to the office. And twenty bucks says he didn't write the speech anyway, he has people to do that for him. And there was outcry about the proposed lesson plan and a certain line in the speech, but the line was changed and the lesson plan cut. I do think the lesson plan was weird. I read through the talk the night before online and was really impressed. I was really excited for my students to see it because so many of them are Obama supporters, in my opinion, mostly because it was the "trendy" thing to do. Hate Bush, love anything not Bush. (this is based on my students, not everyone's. And remember I am in SLC district. Totally different than I'm sure Jordan or Davis in it's belief system). With Obama speaking directly to them, a speech just for them, impressing the importance of an education, I think there is absolutely no harm in that. If I was a parent (and I say this now with no kids, it might change when I have them) I would encourage them to listen to the president, knowing that I can support the things I agree in and challenge (and encourage my kids to challenge) the things I don't agree in. But there was nothing I disagreed with in the speech. I don't think kids today can hear too much about the importance of education and knowledge and I think it's really fantastic that Obama places so much emphasis on education. I think that you guys have all had valid points, especially with regard to having the right to stand against it. That's what America is about, freedom of choice; in most things. Does any of this make sense? PS Tracie told me that she was in AP US Government during the speech and her teacher decided that they weren't going to watch it because they were behind in the lesson and needed to catch up. I was absolutely floored, I even used caps in my return text. I would think that especially as a us gov teacher you would grab that opportunity to listen to the president and debate what we are debating right now. She did say he tried to find it later but couldn't find a link to watch it. I couldn't believe it.
From Tracie:


Hey gang this is Tracie, Biph's little sister! I'd just like to contribute the opinion of someone directly affected by this, as I am in 12th grade. First of all, my AP Government teacher (who, by the way, didn't put watching it as a priority, and in explanation said, "Stay in school and don't do drugs, that's all he's going to say.") was discussing this with my class, and the point came up about needing permission to listen to the daily teachings of teachers. This is totally true, I have had at least five or seven teachers who are much more worthy of wariness than Obama. Despite some teacher's attempts to be unbiased in their teaching, many end up giving their opinion anyways. Even in a disclosure statement sent home to my parents a couple years ago, a teacher commented that George Bush has a Homer Simpson personality, to which he referred for the rest of the year. Secondly, we need to concentrate on making progress. This means working with people we don't like, finding common ground, and improving our not so perfect country. This is where education comes in. Obama likes it. I like it. We can be friends about it. Maybe not on other issues, but we can't compare apples to oranges. Don't let your previous prejudices affect something that could hinder the future. I think that there is a lot of narrow-mindedness when it comes to Obama, not necessarily here on this site, but in general. He is simply addressing our nation's great need to put education at a higher priority. This is a very important message, and whether you agree with him or not, it should definitely be addressed. Thirdly, we, as children, need to be informed. We can't rely on our parents' political views anymore than we can rely on their testimonies for the rest of our lives. Otherwise I'd wonder why Glenn Beck isn't a General Authority and President and overall Captain of all things bright and beautiful. We need to learn to be critical thinkers, and that doesn't mean the answer gets handed to us. So when Becky said that parents need to explain to their children why they feel that way, she's respecting our ability to think for ourselves. We need parents to guide us with facts, but not blindfold us. Nothing in politics is black and white (haha, pun), so we can't take a staunch position against Obama, because there are good and bad qualities about him. He's our President for a reason, Heavenly Father wouldn't put someone in charge of his promised land if they didn't have something good to bring to the table. But that's just what I think. :)