I'm Feeling Grumbly

Brent is on the 6p to 6a shift this week. So, he's gone all night and sleeps all day.

I'm feeling grumbly.

So, I'm going to refrain from blogging until I don't feel grumbly anymore.

Just two more things:
1) I spent the most I've ever spent on a hair cut and it turned out AWESOME! I even can kind of do it the same way he did. Awesome!
2) My parents will be here on Saturday. That's awesome too.

But...I'm still grumbly right now. Good night.

California = Aggressive Drivers

When I think of California, especially Southern California, I think of:
Disneyland (of course)
Sunny Days
Sandy Beaches
Aggressive Drivers

I've always known that California drivers are aggressive. That's just something you know, right? I could bring up a really funny story about my dad wrecking a rental car here in California, but he's still a little touchy about it, so I won't bring it up. But it's funny.

I learned how to drive in one of the least friendly driving places in the country. I know you would think that Utah would be a friendly driving place, but it wasn't where I grew up. If there is a merge, people will speed up so you won't get a head of them. They will also never let you in when you're trying to change lanes. When you drive there, you just have to learn to sometimes use your car as a weapon (Yes you will let me in!). May I say, I realize that there are good and bad drivers everywhere, it has just been my opinion that driving in Utah can be very frustrating.

Because of my years in Utah, I have become a somewhat aggressive driver. (I have slowed down a bit now that I know that I'm not made of steel.) It doesn't bother me too much, especially if there isn't snow on the ground. Moving to Kitsap County was a little hard for me because people there are not aggressive drivers. I mean, they stop and let people out. What's that all about! To happily drive in our little county, I have to turn off my aggressiveness.

And now, I'm in California, where everyone else is aggressive too. It's awesome. Because I've had a little more time to drive around on my own, I've come to realize something about the aggressive California driver. The roads here MAKE you be aggressive. There are TONS of those dumb on ramp/off ramps where you have about 100 yards to change lanes. There are a TON of places where you have to fly across at least 2 lanes of traffic in order to get to your exit. It's a little crazy! And exciting.

I feel like I should have one of those bumper stickers that says, "Get in, sit down, be quiet." Hold on and enjoy the ride. I hope my parent's will feel that way next week when they're the ones that have to deal with my driving. Get ready guys! Like I said, it's kind of fun. It would be even more fun with my old '77 Camaro that I drove in high school. Now that thing had some get up and go! My Saturn's nothing to sneeze at, but it's no V8!

More Prop 8 Backlash

I don't know about the rest of the country, but here in California, the Prop 8 (banning gay marriage in California) stuff is still going strong. People are still angry and are still attacking my church about it.

Our friend who lives here in California found this great article by Orson Scott Card. (He wrote Ender's Game along with a lot of other scifi books.) I enjoyed it so much, I'm encouraging everyone I know to read it. It's worth it.

:)

The Rule Broken

I love Christmas songs. Maybe it's the choir nerd in me, but I think Christmas music is the best music out there. I know all the words to all the Christmas songs there are and I sing them all the time. Sometimes, this bothers Brent. Especially when it's July. He just doesn't think Christmas music and July go together. So, he instituted a rule. No Christmas music until after Thanksgiving. That doesn't mean that I don't still sing Christmas songs all year, I just can't start listening to the Christmas CD's until then.

Well, this year, he mentioned in passing that I could listen to Christmas music after Veteran's Day. I don't think he thought I heard, but I did. So, if you will notice the (for lack of a better word) icon on the left of the page, it will play Christmas music so you can join me in celebrating the season with song. I'll try to change the songs often, so sit back and enjoy.

(I wish there were good songs for Thanksgiving. Then it might not get forgotten so much.)

I've Chosen My Side

When I was young, I learned from my Grandpa that there were two things that you never discussed....religion and politics. The reason you didn't discuss them around my Grandpa was that no matter what you thought, he would argue with you until the cows came home. And sometimes it would get heated, so...I have a hard time discussing religion or politics.

Having said that, I just wanted to say... I'm glad Proposition 8 (whether to change the state's constitution to read that marriage is between a man and a woman) passed in California. I was worried that it wouldn't and it was quite close, but it did pass.

Now my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, is being attacked for it's involvement in the campaign. The "No on Prop 8" people are picketing in front of our Temples and our Churches. It's very scary and sad to me.

So, I wanted to publicly say that I'm on the Lord's side. I will "stand as a witness of God in all times, and in all things and in all places." He directs this Church and I want Him to direct my life. Marriage is between a man and a woman. We have been taught that and I believe it. This does not mean that I hate anyone who doesn't think the same way I do. And it doesn't mean that I am a bigot. Sometimes I feel like being "open minded" just means that I have to think the same way you do.

Truthfully, I think within the year, the vote will be overturned. But, I already know whose side I'm on and I will stay on His side.

Wow, that was hard. :)

(If you would like to read a much more eloquent blog, go here.)

What Fun We Had!

Isn't it great to have a friend who you can just sit and talk to for hours? I just love that about me and Court. We've known each other for more than half our lives. (Sarah was so amazed when Court told her that.) She's a great person and a good friend. I'm lucky to have her in my life. Ok, ok, enough mushy stuff.

Court has lived here in San Diego before. So our goal was to do other stuff that she hadn't done while she was here. I think we accomplished that.

Our first stop was a great hike in Torrey Pines State Reserve. It was so pretty to be walking along and there is the ocean. Very nice. We were glad that we went earlier in the morning because it could have been very hot.

Isn't that pretty? It says in the book that you can sometimes see whales and dolphins from this point. None that day, but wouldn't that have been awesome?

Court and I also got pedicures. Actually the best pedicures either of us have ever had! So nice and relaxing! (I'm actually going back to the same place to get my hair cut on Wednesday. I hope it turns out good!)

We spent a lot of time at Balboa Park, and we didn't even go to the zoo! We went to a Japanese Garden, an Art Museum and this Botanical Building. There are a lot of things to do in Balboa Park.

We thought that it would be fun to do a really touristy thing, so this is what we found. In Seattle there is the Duck Tour that I always thought would be fun. So, we got to go on a Seal Tour. We both thought it was really fun. Our tour guide was funny and VERY knowledgeable. That made it nice.
This picture is from before the tour went out. There was a lot of wind during so my hair looked a lot bigger than it does here. The tour guide showed a picture of Phyllis Diller to show us what we would look like when we got back from the tour. She was right!

While on the tour, they take you by a bait shop where all the pelicans, cormorants and sea lions hang out. I think that's rather smart of them. I mean, that way you will always see animals on the tour. Makes people happy.

The sea lions weren't moving around much when we saw them, but ... we did see them.

We even got to see the area where Brent was working. We waved.

And now I'm back to real life. Now I get to look forward to my parent's visit. It's only 2 weeks away!

Enjoy!

Courtney is Coming...Courtney is Coming

I'm so excited! I'm sitting here patiently waiting for Court's flight to arrive. She's spending a few days here for a extended girl's weekend. This is the first time it will just be us...no kids...for probably 9 years. (We did go to Time Out for Women together, but she was pregnant with Aaron and he was kicking her, so it wasn't really just the two of us.) It will be awesome!

(I wish I was home so I could post a picture from when we were in high school. The one I'm thinking of is of us in Disneyland. We both have really short hair and look a lot younger. I guess you'll just have to imagine.)

Hope you have a good weekend!

My Very Scary Halloween Night

First of all, Halloween is really not one of my favorite holidays. I don't like all the scary/gross stuff you see everywhere. And I get tired of seeing people in basically nothing with cat ears on who are "cats." I think the best part about Halloween is how much kids like it. Usually we go to our ward's Truck-or-Treat (where Brent usually ends up making a kid cry and gives the ones with Star Wars costumes on more candy), but since we're not anywhere near our ward this year, and Brent had to work anyway (sometimes not having kids gets factored into work schedules), I got ready for a pretty quiet night at home...no worries here. I did get some candy, just in case, but it was my favorite kind of candy, just in case.

I got a whopping ZERO trick-or-treaters. Oh well, more candy for me.

I also got a text message from the YW president back in Washington. It said, "Did you get released?" HUH?

After a LONG wait, I found out that I did in fact get released on Sunday. I'm sad because I love those girls. I've been in YW's for 2-1/2 years now - ever since our ward became a ward. There were good times and bad times and silly times and sad times and I loved all of them.

So, now I'm looking forward to seeing what the Lord has in store for me next. It's always a little like Christmas (it's a surprise) and a little like playing baseball when you're a kid (you sit there waiting for someone to pick you). I'll just have to wait until we get back to Washington and then the sitting on the bench thinking, "Pick me, pick me" begins.

And so ends my Very Scary Halloween Night 2008. Hope you all had a great day.

Yesterday was Brent's Dad's birthday. Brent's sister made an apple pie to honor him - he loved pie and shared that love with all his kids. I think we're going to have to do that next year. Thanks, Jen, for the idea. Happy Birthday Dad!