Lameness, Not Lameness and Random Rants

Man! I am so lame. When I started my blog I swore I would not be one of those people that pooped out and got bored with it.
Sorry! I need to implement cute/inspiring themes like some of my friends do, whose blogs I am obsessed with, but then I would feel like I'm totally ripping them off.
We'll see.

Anyhoo! Let's give an update of the last month, shall we? Well, you can't answer because you are cyberspace that I hope will turn in to real people reading this, but alas, for now you are inanimate.
So I will answer with resounding fervor - yes!

July was a wee bit more relaxed for us, we didn't have something going on every weekend! The highlight of the month was for sure our trip to California with our best friend, Dan. At least I hope he is still our best friend after an entire week spent with us. Here are a few highlights from the trip.

This is us with Thelma and Johnnie Johnson - the cutest, sweetest, spunkiest couple you could ever meet! I want to be like them when I grow up.




They had these hideous sunglasses all over San Francisco! If you can't see, mine have Michael Jackson and Alex's have Obama. HAHAHAHAHA!


What would a photo album be without the funny face game? (For those of you uncultured swine (jk -that's from Toy Story) the funny face game is when you make a continuously changing crazy face and you snap the picture in the middle of it. Classic).


We stayed on this gorgeous beach with cute flowers everywhere.



And the last night we were there I threw up a few vital organs, so this is a shot of the morning on the way home. I didn't think I looked that bad! And this was after I felt a million times better.


So that was our fun, much-needed vacation. There was a lot more to it than those few pictures, but I won't bore you.
What I will do now is bore you with my rants on current events/politics.

Prop 8. I can't even tell you how much I hate how much animosity towards the church has been cultivated because of this. Why does everyone blame it on this single entity? The state of California VOTED. They voted. 50% of California is NOT made up entirely of Mormons. Do the simple research - scores of other organizations and religions supported this proposition just as valiantly as the LDS church did. AND - again, do the simple research - those opposed spent just as much money on their campaigning as did the proponents.
Also - who the heck does this judge think he is to OVERTURN a majority vote?! The people voted - they voted you in to office, mister! Who are you to sit on your high horse and decide what is "really" the right thing to do? Ugh.
Lastly, I don't care what the issue is, LEAVE ME TO MY BELIEFS and I WILL LEAVE YOU TO YOURS. Don't ostracize me and tell me that I am a horrible person because I believe what I do. We don't walk around vandalizing people who support animal rights. We don't spit on people who support organizations for the needy. But don't you realize that by protecting animals those people are denying the rights of people to beat their dogs?! GASP!
Listen, I realize this is different - but do you see the correlation I'm trying to illustrate? I believe one thing, you believe another. This does not make us bad people. Either one of us. I'm sorry that you didn't get what you wanted, but guess what? Obama is in the white house, I don't like any of the Supreme Court Justices, abortion is still legal, the ACLU is up in my grill ALL the freaking time telling me what I CAN'T do. That's life. That's America. It's called democracy. That means you don't always get what you want, but keep on voting and maybe it will come to pass.
Deal with it and don't freak out on me just because of what church I belong to.
Mmmmmmkay?!?!

"Your Voice is Giving Me Mono!"

Whoa, sorry about the hiatus.

Here are some highlights of the last few weeks:

- Making cards. I'm pretty much addicted. (The first one is a wedding present. I just had to get the whole package in the picture because it's so cute.)


This is my Father-in-Law's Father's Day card. He plays guitar :)


- Making a delicious pie! Look how pretty it is!!


- Crafting.


- Saying goodbye to Grandpa Seegmiller. He was such a sweet and amazing man. His legacy has blessed my life and will continue to do so.

- Sealings! We haven't been to one or done any for the dead since we've been married, and we did both in the last few weeks. Congratulations to Kortni and Jonathan! They are such a cute couple.

- 5-year highschool reunion. It was a lot of fun, but the 100+ people who said they would come ended up being under 50 so the planners had to fork over $50 each to pay for the extra food we ordered. Nice, people. Reaaaal nice.

- Ward pot luck. We have some pretty awesome and funny people in our ward. New discovery of an awesome made-up word: "Bumclock" - the ring you get around your butt when you've been on the toilet for too long.

- Singing. A lot. We sang a surprisingly pretty arrangement of "Home on the Range" at Grandpa's funeral and then sang "Jesus, Lover of My Soul" in church yesterday.

- Awesome dinner with the soon-to-be Hanleys... well, one already is a Hanley, but the other one is soon-to-be... Glad to have some more couple friends :D And another awesome dinner with the Abbotts and their really cute kid. I made a freaking delicious roast. Who knew I could do that?

- CHOIR CAMP!! So much fun. I absolutely love being around those incredibly talented kids, they are so special! It's also been really fun to see the vision that Brent and Andrea have for the camp and look forward to years and years of impacting the community for good. I love being a part of something so important and valuable.

- Reading. We're both pretty reading-happy right now. He's reading some historical fiction and I'm reading Brave New World... and Up From Slavery :)

That's pretty much all I can think of. Other than those things we have been working, letting our house get dirty, spending time with family and awesome friends and not getting any hiking in there. So much for our Every-Hike-In-Zion goal before the end of the summer.... We're just so darned busy! And this weekend we are going up to Provo for a wedding and Lagoon! Woot! I'm way excited for that. But, alas, there will be no hiking and my tummy and thighs are suffering from the lack thereof. I wish I had a work out buddy!! Someone other than my husband, because it's way too easy to say no to him :)

I Am Woman

This movement is so powerful. I get chills when I read about it and see the pictures. I will let it speak for itself.



Visit the website
stirrupsandstories.mosaicglobe.com/

Be sure to check out #9 on the first set of stories.

Awesomeness of Late

For a week or so I couldn't think of anything to blog about, and then all of a sudden I realized that I have a billion things to blog!
I'll go in chronological order, cuz that's just how I roll, mmkay?

So last Wednesday Dan, Al and I went to the last concert of our high school choir teacher, Norm Lister. I can't even begin to tell you what an amazing man he is and how many people's lives he has changed. He brings music out in kids that sometimes they didn't even know was there. He cultivated a love for music in me that I will never forget or be rid of. He was paid tribute to in so many ways that night and he went up to the mic and said "It's never been about me, or anyone else, it's always been about the music." And I wanted to shout from the audience that he WAS the reason that so many of us have the music!! Needless to say, there were many tears and touched hearts. This community has been changed because of him and he will be missed.
This is us at the concert (before all the tears).

The next night (yes, it was a very busy week) I had craft night with my lovely lady friends. I love craft night! It is so much fun to get together and be girly. This craft was kind of difficult to get the hang of, but since then I think I've gone a little overboard. I was up until 1:30 one night doing them.... Here are a few, and I've made more since this :)


Close-up of some of my favorites


Then it was Alex's birthday weekend! I was in a Lieto! concert Saturday night, which was also accompanied by tears for Mr. Lister, especially as we sang a song called "The Awakening". If you have never heard this song... well, you should! It is even more powerful to sing it, though. It talks about a silent dream, with no music, no choirs, a world filled with pride. And then it says ... okay, I'm just going to post all of the words because I just can't do it justice otherwise. Well, I can't do it justice unless you sing it for yourself, but I won't rob the words of their incredible power.

"I dreamed a dream, a silent dream of a land not far away where no bird sang, no steeples rang, and teardrops fell like rain. I dreamed a dream; a silent dream. I dreamed a dream of a land so filled with pride that every song, both weak and strong, withered and died. I dreamed a dream No hallelujah; not one hosanna! No song of love, no lullaby. And no choir sang to change the world. No pipers played, no dancers twirled. I dreamed a dream; a silent dream. Awake, awake! Soli deo gloria! Awake, Awake! Awake my soul and sing, the time for praise has come. The silence of the night has passed, a new day has begun! Let music never die in me; forever let my spirit sing! Wherever emptiness is found let there be joy and glorious sound. Let music never die in me; forever let my spirit sing! Let all our voices join as one to praise the giver of the sun! Awake, awake! Let music live!"

Chills. Chills, I tell you.


So anyway, after that we went to dinner with friends and fam and Alex got a birthday treat.


Then on Sunday (his birthday) we just hung out and then I threw him a surprise party that night. He was super surprised! This is us cutting his cake because we didn't cut the cake at our wedding :D


And this is a panoramic view of the decorations (and me, working on flowers!) taken with our freakin awesome camera!!



It was a really fun time, but both of us were exhausted all day yesterday, and we probably will be today because we didn't go to bed early last night, either.

How fun is our life?!

Oh, What a Beautiful Morning!

This is what I get to plant in front of my house this week!

Wish me luck, because I kill pretty much every plant I breathe on.
I have massacred like 6 plants in my office over the last 3 years. But I like to blame it on the Sahara-Desert-like conditions in the heated glass encased place they like to call "the lobby".

Isn't it funny how much you change after you get married? And by "you" I mean "I".
I was never one for cooking, crafts, gardening, being homely-ish, etc. And now I am all of these! Even homely, as I basically never do my hair anymore. Up in a bun with a headband. It's my trademark. I'm working on a copyright.
Any-hoo, the point being that I love to cook, I love crafts (sometimes to a ridiculous amount... of money), and I am starting to feel the itch for gardening. I read a quote the other day about the mother coming into existence once the child is born, for before she never existed. I kind of feel the same way as the wife. I specifically remember telling Alex that I was not the "Sure, I'll get some snacks together for your friends while you sit on the couch and jam" kind of wife or mother, and to be prepared for that. Guess what I did just two days ago? "Here you go, boys. Chips and dip, bread and dip, and ice-cold Mountain Dews." (Then an internal wink to myself - yes, I just scored "best wife ever" points.)

Sometimes I wish I was more eccentric. Poll: do you think I'm eccentric? I feel like sometimes my life is kind of blah. I wish that I had something that I was like killer passionate about. Like my sister and child birth. Or my mom and indexing (ha!). Or Reagan and bikes. Or - or! It would be totally awesome if it was something that would guide me in choosing my education. I so envy those people who have known what they've wanted to do since they were 10.

So that's my rant for today. Tonight: Quality time with friends and delicious food. (Didn't that sound like a horoscope? I should write those).

Blip

Sometimes I read other people's blogs and love how funny, witty and intelligent they are and I don't even like my blog and feel no desire to try to make it interesting because I feel like it will be to no avail.
The end.

Thursday Things

Just a few things to report on.

First of all, Alex and I made an INCREDIBLE dinner last night. I made a yam soup (sounds weird, I know. And there was peanut butter in it!) and it was delish. It turned out very southwestern-y, with rice, salsa and garbanzo beans. Alex made lettuce wraps. He made P.F. Chang's recipe lettuce wraps. Oh. My. Gosh. Soooo good!! Albeit they were not Chang's exactly, but it's not a two-hour drive and a $50 endeavor.

We bought another camera. It is pretty and I'm super excited to take pictures of stuff again.
We tried using my really old camera but it has a broken screen and so we never used it. It was expensive, but so worth it. This camera has it all.

Next let me tell you about my nightmare that was actually a real experience that I had last night. It was 2:30 in the morning and I was sleeping. Then I woke up because I had hit my face, like you unconsciously do when something is tickling it. It was weird because it felt like food or something (yes, this is my middle of the night brain. I actually thought "that felt like garlic". Literally.) So I got out of bed and turned on the closet light to see if I could see anything. All the while wondering if I had just imagined it. I saw something light on the sheet (it was still pretty dark just with the closet light on) so I touched it.... and it MOVED! So I may or may not have said a curse word and then flipped the light on and saw THIS

Did I yell and squish it very angrily? Yes. Did I run into the bathroom and nearly throw up? Yes. Did I lie awake in bed for the next 45 minutes envisioning it climbing all over my face and so near my mouth and worry about it laying eggs in my throat? Definitely.
I am nauseated now just thinking about it.

On to better things. Tonight I am making cantaloupe bread.