I Was So Mad!

About the title for this post....Growing up I read a lot of Mercer Mayer books.  "I Was So Mad" was one of my favorites.

Anyway, today I saw an interesting article that was posted on Facebook.  And it made me so mad!

Like the kind of mad where your heart races and your palms sweat.

This was the headline (and you can click on it to read the article):

Rural kids, parents angry about Labor Dept. rule banning farm chores

I couldn't believe it!  And it made me so mad!

But now posted on the article it says this:

Public outrage, eh?  I can see why that would happen...

I guess it's no secret I'm all for kids growing up on farms and doing chores.  That's how I was raised, and it has been one of the greatest blessings in my life!

So don't mess with me about this.  Because now you know...it will make me so mad!

Pearl Harbor Day

Once upon a time (in April 2005) my friend Sarah and I went to Hawaii to visit our other friend Lauren (who was a student at Brigham Young University-Hawaii at the time).

Sarah, Lauren, and me

We had all sorts of fun!  We went to the beach, went to the swap meet, got sunburned, went to a Jack Johnson concert, got stranded after the concert and had to find an off duty taxi driver at a gas station to give us a ride, went to the Polynesian Cultural Center where we learned to play "You are my sunshine" on the ukulele, along with other fun things...  And before coming back to Colorado, Sarah and I visited Pearl Harbor.  (Lauren couldn't come with us due to class...or something...I can't remember...)

Anyway, today is Pearl Harbor Day and I was reminiscing on our visit there.  I wanted to share some of the pictures I took on our visit.

USS Arizona Memorial in the distance.

A map of the memorial so you can see where it is in relation to the ship that lies beneath it.

Part of the ship that sticks out of the water.  (I think this is the base of one of the gun turrets...  )

It was very humbling to see all the names of the people killed that day.

The oil slowly leaking out of the ship.

...December 7th, 1941--a date which will live in infamy--...

-Franklin D. Roosevelt

Musicality

Is musicality even a word?  They use it on So You Think You Can Dance, therefore I'm not quite sure if it's a word or not.  (If you are a fan of "SYTYCD" you will be familiar with Lil' C and his made up words...all.the.time...)

Anyway.

Once upon a time there was a singer.  I really like her voice.  (She does, however, use some language when she's not singing that I'm not so fond of...)  She made a new music video.  And I think it's awesome!

Here it is:  (...well kinda...click the arrow thingy, then click 'Watch on YouTube'.  Then you can watch.)

P.S.  I met Sara once.  Actually twice.  But I only have actual proof of one meeting, so you will just have to take my word for it...

Laura, Sara, and me at the Belly Up in Aspen Colorado...circa 2007...I think...

In other news, Luke has a job interview today for a company in Colorado.  (This is his second interview at this company, so that's really exciting.)  He has already interviewed with one other company and he also has interviews with 3 other companies this week.

Wahoo!  Go Luke!

09/11/01

In 2005 my sister Wendi and I ventured to New York City.  We took in the sights and sounds.  We ate delicious Ray's pizza--but I don't know if it was Original Ray's or Famous Ray's or Original Famous Ray's--I had no idea there was such controversy!!  We also saw a couple of plays on Broadway (Wicked being one of them-AMAZING!)...  

AND, most memorable of all, we visited Ground Zero.

The Iron Cross

Story board of the first WTC attack in 1993

The September 11, 2001 WTC attack

And the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania on 9/11

(I don't have a picture of the Pentagon 9/11 storyboard...  But we can't forget that part.)

The hole that remained...It was very humbling to see this in person.

Ground Zero by Madame Tussauds wax museum in New York.

I remember what I was doing on the morning of September 11, 2001.  I was at work at Anderson Family Dental Care in Highland, Utah.  I was annoyed that the other assistant was late getting to work...again.  And then when she did show up, she was saying all this crazy stuff about planes crashing into buildings and terrorists.  I wasn't sure what to think.

But then my mom called me.  At work.  That's never a good sign.  She asked if I had heard the news.  I said yes--because by then I realized what my co-worker was saying was true.

We listened to the radio at work, so I heard when the towers fell.  But I wasn't able to see any news images until I got home from work that night.  It was one thing to hear things on the radio and see a few photos posted on the internet (this was pre-YouTube-remember?).  It was a whole other thing to see the actual videos and images on the news.  I remember that my heart felt sick.

That night I attended a church activity.  I didn't know if we were even still having it, but after all the things that had happened that day, I figured a church activity was probably the most comforting thing I could do.  

At the beginning of the activity we listened to our Prophet, President Gordon B Hinckley, give an address to the members of our church and to the whole world.  I will never forget the peace I felt when I heard his voice and his message.  It was the first time I felt peace that entire day.

Part of what he said was:  "Dark as is this hour, there is shining through the heavy overcast of fear and anger the solemn and wonderful image of the Son of God, the Savior of the World, the Prince of Peace, the exemplar of universal love, and it is to Him that we look in these circumstances.  It was He who gave His live that all might enjoy eternal life. ... May the peace of Christ rest upon us and give us comfort and reassurance and, particularly, we plead that he will comfort the hearts of all who mourn."

I can't believe it's been 10 years.  It has been good to be reminded to not forget 9/11/01.

Once Upon A Time...

Exactly one year ago tonight, Luke asked me a very important question.  It involved a beautiful Colorado sunset, cheesecake, Cafe Rio, and a RING...(not necessarily in that order...)

And in case you didn't know, I said YES!  I'm so happy he asked :)

P.S. Happy Birthday Cody.

Memorial Day 2011

On our way back to Colorado, Luke and I stopped at the Utahn Cemetery.  It's a special little spot in the middle sage brush and cedar trees near Duchesne Utah.

Not far from this cemetery is where my great-grandfather homesteaded in the early 1900's.  It's also where my grandpa and my dad grew up.

Here are some graves located there:

My grandparents (my dad's parents), and uncle Lynn (my dad's brother)

My great grandparents 

My great great grandparents

Cool huh?  That's a lot of history in such a small space.

Memory Lane

On Tuesday Luke and I travelled to Fort Collins, Colorado.  It was a beautiful sunny day...a great day for a road trip!  Luke went to deliver a resume to a company called Woodward.

Here is the sign at the entrance of the beautiful Woodward Campus.

There's Luke, resume in hand.

I waited in the car.

Hopefully Luke will get to wear a sweet jacket too someday  :)

And as for the memory lane part, Luke showed me the house he grew up in...well the house he lived in until he was 9, before moving to Las Vegas, Nevada.

The house is on Brookwood Court.

And here it is!

We packed a lunch that we ate in the car, and on the way home we stopped in Longmont for gelato.  We weren't really planning on stopping anywhere, but we saw a Glacier Ice Cream place and just had to stop for a treat.  :)  MMMMMM.....soooooo goooood!

Life changing gelato sold here.

I got bittersweet chocolate, and Luke got toasted coconut.