I can't put my arms down!

Think of the movie "The Christmas Story" and the little brother Ralphie whinning "I can't put my arms down." Well Lily Sue doesn't quite have the same whine to her voice, but the picture below was pretty accurate.

Before...

After...

Hulu.com

I discovered my new favorite website from a Superbowl ad: Hulu.com

It has links to NBC shows and other movies. I love the show The Office. In the last episode Stanely had a heart attack and this is a bonus clip...enjoy.



This bonus clip is just wrong in so many ways...

Super Bowl Sunday

I rarely watch NFL football from beginning to end. Occasionally I will turn on an NFL game on Sunday nights to help wind-down a bit (isn't it sad that I have to wind down on Sunday nights). My church calling takes a lot of my Sundays, especially Fast Sunday. I spent exactly 8 hours at church this past Sunday...ah the blessings.

When I was teaching marketing classes during winter semester, I loved Superbowl Sunday even more. I couldn't make an assignment out of watching tv on Sunday, but to be honest, I wanted to.

Here is generally how class would go.
(me to students) "how many of you are going to watch the Superbowl this Sunday?"
about half the hands in class would go up, some thinking "is this a trick question, it is on Sunday ya know"
(me to students) "I will definitely be watching, Superbowl Sunday is a marketers dream"
few more students acknowledge that they apparently misunderstood the question the first time around and do admit they will be watching. However there was always one or two students in the class with their arms folded, glaring at me (does that paint the picture of a female student?, if not sorry it wasn't more obvious)
(me to students) "We will be discussing Superbowl commercials on Monday, so do what you can to get a recap of the ads by then"
(arms folded, glaring students says) "What if I have church meetings during the game?"
(me thinking, seriously? Who schedules meetings on Superbowl Sunday? R.S. meeting?)
(me to student) "go online and get a recap of all the commercials"
(arms folded, glaring students says) "all the commercials? even the beer ones?"
(me thinking, yes!, they are usually the best ones, oh and don't forget the godaddy.com ones, you'll love those ones)
(me to student) "watch what you feel comfortable watching, but yes we will generally evaluate all the commercials"

So we sat down as a family on Sunday night and watched the Superbowl with my brother Josh and his wife, Liz. We had a great time. During the commercial breaks, I would constantly hush everyone; we did our talking and eating during the game. I still love the e-trade spots with the talking baby. Overall, its a great family activity with relatively clean entertainment, and the game wasn't too bad either.

JD

Hyrum Smith

I love Nauvoo, IL. It is by far my favorite place to visit. If you have been to Nauvoo within the past 5 years, you have seen this new statue right across the street from the Nauvoo Temple. I have many photos of this statue, but thanks to Tony Mitchell I have a new photo. The statue is of Joseph and Hyrum Smith.

I love Hyrum Smith. He is one of my heroes. I will never be like Joseph, but I think all of us can be like Hyrum. He was so dedicated to his brother, mind you his younger brother, Hyrum was 5 years older than Joseph. We all have heard the quote (or various quotes) from Joseph 5 days prior to his martyrdom "If I and Hyrum were ever taken again we should be massacred, or I was not a prophet of God" but the quote does not end there, the next sentence reads, "I want Hyrum to live to avenge my blood, but he is determined not to leave me." (History of the Church, 6:546)

Hyrum was so loyal to the prophet. Another story I love about Hyrum took place in Kirtland, OH. Joseph requested that each of the brethren to give his views with regard to building a Temple. Some suggested a frame house and others a log house. Joseph politely rebuked the brethren saying "shall we build a house for our God, of logs? No, I have a better plan than that. I have a plan of the house of the Lord, given by himself; and you will soon see by this, the difference between our calculations and his idea of things." Joseph then took the brethren to the to a spot and Hyrum immediately grabbed a shovel and started digging a trench declaring that he would strike the first blow upon the house. (p. 230, History of Joseph Smith by Lucy Mack Smith).

We can't all be Joseph's in this lifetime, but we can be Hyrums; dedicated, loyal, and committed to the cause.

Hanna's Birthday

Still can't believe we have an 11 year old girl. Our Hanna Bug turned 11 on January 11 although at times you'd think she's turning 16 or 17. Anyway, she had a "late night" party. We've been doing late night parties for the last few years, they are wonderful by the way, I can only handle so much girl stuff in one night.

This is a picture of the whole birthday party crew. Hanna is the one laying across the middle. These are all Rexburg kids so I'm not sure what the deal is with the gang flashing signs.

Tasha is so stinkin creative. I've shown posts of her cakes before and she always finds ways to come up with new cakes for the kids. This cake represents a sleep-over, even though they didn't actually sleep over. The little girls are part Twinkies and part marshmallow and vanilla wafers.


Hanna cheesing for the picture with the cake.

Sledding with the Eppersons

The Eppersons came up for New Year's this year. It was so much fun. Total chaos most of the time, so while all three babies slept we needed some big-kid fun. First we headed to the BYU-I sledding hill which was shear ice, truly, I could hardly walk. So no sleds were needed there - wherever you happened to fall down was where your ride began.

This is Ellie coming through the tunnel of death. It looked taller than it was, so everyone that came out had a bruise on their head, and was saying "I bit my tongue"!

Next we headed to Smith Park for a smaller hill and fewer casualties. The kids had so much fun. I had a pretty good laugh myself. They would start out holding on to eachother in a big sled-island, and end up sprawled all over the place. As long as they missed the jump, everyone was all smiles.

We are so thankful that Patti decided to make the trip. It was no small feat, but we really enjoyed having them. We hope they will come back when all their bruises heal, maybe next time we can tackle the sand dunes!

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

Okay, this is just a shout out to my wonderful husband, who is just as particular about keeping our driveway and sidewalks clear in the winter as he is about keeping his lawn looking as good as possible in the summer. I have only had to shovel twice this week while he has been out of town, and although I do enjoy being outside, it is a lot of work!

So, thank you, thank you to my sweet husband who, on Christmas day alone had to snow blow and shovel three times. Not to mention all the neighbors driveways he usually helps shovel while he is out there. JD, I will never again watch you from the inside window and wonder if you are just avoiding us. It really does take that long. I love you.

Love, Tasha