I just finished watching President Obama's speech he gave to k-12 students this week and loved it!

I can't believe that so many opposed the President of the United States speaking to American school children for 18 minutes. And not only opposed it, but showed great disrespect for the Office of the President. Even if we don't respect the person elected, we should all respect the office he holds.

In my opinion, the speech is not promoting a political agenda.... President Obama is encouraging students to stay in school and work hard. He's telling them to achieve their dreams through education and diligence.

Here are a few excerpts from his speech that inspired me:

"And no matter what you want to do with your life, I guarantee that you'll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You're going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You cannot drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You've got to train for it and work for it and learn for it."

"No one's born being good at all things. You become good at things through hard work. You're not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don't hit every note the first time you sing a song. You've got to practice. The same principle applies to your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right. You might have to read something a few times before you understand it. You definitely have to do a few drafts of a paper before it's good enough to hand in."

And my favorite was one of his personal stories about education and sacrifice:

" When I was young, my family lived overseas. I lived in Indonesia for a few years. And my mother, she didn't have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school, but she thought it was important for me to keep up with an American education. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday.

But because she had to go to work, the only time she could do it was at 4:30 in the morning. Now, as you might imagine, I wasn't too happy about getting up that early. And a lot of times, I'd fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I'd complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and she'd say, "This is no picnic for me either, buster."

Since Bella was getting very fluffy, we had her groomed on Saturday.

The Before Pic.... she's so cute when she's fluffy!

And the After pic....now Bella looks like a poodle again.


We had everything cut close except for a poof on her tail and a small poof on her head. We even had the hair on her ears cut really short....which kind of makes her look like a little lamb.


(In case you're wondering, Bella's bare ear is flapping next to her cheek.)

Bart had surgery on his nose yesterday to correct his deviated septum (septoplasty) so he could start breathing and sleeping better. This is the first picture taken after the surgery while he was in post-op.....he looks a bit miserable.



He's looking better now and should be completely healed in a few weeks!

ps. no, he did not get a nose job, just surgery on his nose.

I found this picture in some old family photos of my mom and grandma (my dad's mom) quilting. I grew up with my grandparents...both my grandma and grandpa... always working on a quilt.

This is a wonderful video on why The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) build Temples. As I watched the video, I just felt calm.....and wanted to go to the Temple right then to feel the peace that comes by being in a Temple of the Lord.

One of my favorite parts of the Temple is the writing on the outside of each one that says: "The House of the Lord, Holiness to the Lord." I know the Temple truly is the Lord's house on the earth, and that He wants all His children to go inside someday.

I originally wanted to make a blog post about our new puppy by trying to trick the reader into thinking that we adopted a child, but too many people know about our new addition to make that worthwhile. Plus, I am not terribly creative and couldn't come up with anything....notice how Amber mostly writes the posts.

When we got married, I understood that Amber was not a fan of pets. Thanks to exposure to my Mom's dogs and the opportunities to dogsit them, Amber relented that she would only be open to having one type of dog, a Poodle.

Fast foward to last Friday. We got an email from someone at church that a STANDARD POODLE needed a home. I talked Amber into responding to the email. The dog's name is Bella, has papers, has shots, is spayed, and was FREE. After visiting Bella, we were in love. Here are some pics of her.

Well, I decided to stay with the blue background for now. But looking at all the different templates is so much fun, I'll probably change my mind in a few weeks anyway and try out something new....

While visiting my sister's blog the other day, I noticed her cute blog template (click here to see it)....and decided I needed to change my blog a bit. Well, I went to Delighful Dots and picked out a new layout.....

The header....
and the body of the blog.....


But Bart was not a fan....thought it was a little too girly. Being the charitable wife that I am, I changed it to a more neutral blue color. Which one do you like better? Pink or Blue?


ps. you should check out the Delightful Dots blog...way cute templates and they're all free!

So, I decided to make this list for a Facebook note that's going around....maybe you've already done it yourself. I've really enjoyed reading everyone's list and decided to make my own. And I was extremely surprised how fun it was. All last night, I kept on thinking about other things I could have put on my list....don't worry, I'll just keep it to #25 since it's already a bit too long. Hope you enjoy learning a little more about me and decide to make your own list....


1. I love reading blogs. I am just not a fan of writing on my own blog….hence the once a month (if I’m lucky) blog post.

2. I listen to NPR about 90% of the time I’m in the car. And as a consequence, I start quite a few sentences with “I was listening to NPR the other day…..”

3. I met my husband when I was bald. Luckily, he doesn’t have much hair himself so it didn’t really matter.

4. I really don’t like politics. I try to keep up with the current events (thanks NPR), but I don’t like discussing it.

5. I lived in Bolivia for 1 ½ years in between my junior and senior year of college. I served as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

6. As a result of #5, I speak Spanish. Not as well as I used to, but I still do all right.

7. I have 4 brothers and 2 sisters. They live all over the place….the closest one lives in Utah (and I’m in Georgia), the farthest lives in Australia. I absolutely love my family and spending time with them. (especially the core four!)

8. I voted for President Obama in November, even though I consider myself a Republican. I guess that’s what comes of marrying a liberal democrat. j/k

9. I graduated from Brigham Young University (BYU) with a major in History and with minors in Zoology and Spanish.

10. I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer when I was 24. After surgery, chemo, and radiation, I’m considered in remission. I’m currently on year 3 (of 5) of hormone therapy. (refer to #3....reason I was bald when I met Bart.)

11. I scheduled my sealing date (wedding date) with the Salt Lake Temple before Bart and I were actually engaged….hey, it’s hard to get a good date and time for SLC if you don’t reserve it early.

12. My elementary school has a swimming pool, and we had swimming lessons every year for P.E.

13. I enjoy playing the piano, but I don’t practice enough to be a great (or even adequate) pianist.

14. I love to drink water….I rarely drink anything else.

15. I've never smoked, done drugs, or had one drop of alcohol….and am really happy that I haven’t.

16. I love Bart! He is my best friend and the best husband. I can be myself around him and not worry about anything else. And we have a lot of fun together….anyone who knows Bart would have to agree that it’s always fun when he’s around. I couldn’t imagine spending eternity with anyone but him.

17. I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly referred as Mormons). My religion is the most important part of my life and makes me who I am.

18. I love music, but am not especially talented. I don’t like to play/sing in front people, but don’t mind singing in a choir. I also have a ridiculously hard time memorizing words to songs (which Bart makes fun of me for it quite often because I’ll start making up my own words while I’m attempting to sing a song). I used to be embarrassed about it when I when was younger, but now I’ve pretty much accepted it. For some odd reason, I can memorize words without music better than with it…I know, opposite than most people.

19. I am the Young Women’s President in my ward, and I love it. I love the YW and the other leaders….it’s such a fun and uplifting calling.

20.I love playing games….especially Settlers, Euchre, Scrabble (speed or regular), catch phrase. I’ve been told that I’m a little competitive, but it’s just because I win a lot and people are jealous. I also enjoy trash talking, but try not to be a sore loser. I do not, however, enjoy video games. On my “what I want in a husband” list, doesn’t play video games was at the top of my list.

21 My favorite gum is Orbit Bubblemint.

22. My family called me “the devil child” when I was younger. I guess I was one of those horrible kids that was just really mean. My dad used to say that I was his greatest accomplishment in life….referring that I turned out well.

23. I also love sports…..especially basketball and football. I grew up in Indiana and played basketball from elementary to high school. I don’t play very often anymore, but I still love it. One of my favorite college memories is of all my intramural basketball and flag football teams I played on….oh, those were the days.

24. I enjoy cooking but don’t do it often enough because I’m lazy when I get home from work and like to relax on the weekends. I love to have lots of kitchen gadgets and such, even if I don’t use them very often. I know the Williams Sonoma catalogue a little too well, even though I hardly ever buy anything from it.

25. I love my iPhone… I got it last year, and I wouldn’t want any other phone. I love having my email, scriptures, facebook, google reader, music, games, newspapers, gps….all at my fingertips (literally since it's a touch phone...hahaha). The iPhone really is amazing!

One of my favorite parts of President Obama's Inauguration.

Bart loves to read blogs and subscribes to a ridiculous number of blogs on his Google Reader. He always shares the interesting ones with me so I don't have to sift through so many. It's always interesting to see what he shares....and this is one of the coolest videos so far. I thought it must be fake....but I think it's actually real. It's kind of long, but the guy "flying" at the end is absolutely amazing to watch. If I learn how to do this, maybe I could become Super Woman!



wingsuit base jumping from Ali on Vimeo.