Dan at the Utah State Republican Convention

Daniel was selected by our precinct caucus (that's Greek for "meeting") to go to the Republican State Convention as a delegate. He ran into, amongst others, an old college friend of both his and Britt's, Brian Henderson. Here, they are posing for a photo to be posted on the party's blog for the event. Brian has been in charge of fund raising for Mitt Romney and at Mitt's request is helping McCain, now. Hence the McCain signs in the background. An interesting little tidbit the Brian told us? They can raise more money for John McCain if they send the President and Mitt Romney to Utah, but not McCain. To that end, the McCain fund raiser to be held in Salt Lake City at the end of this month will feature both, but not the presumptive candidate. In other news, after two ballots, Bill Dew was selected as the candidate to take on Jim Matheson for Utah's Second Congressional seat. News of Daniel's past experience working that territory must have gotten out, because he got a call tonight at 8:30 PM from Bill, asking Daniel if he would be interested in political consulting. Needless to say, we're dubious about where Dan's going to fit another project into this summer. Stay tuned.

Who Brittany Voted For and Why…

Joe Demma for County Council – My husband has known Joe for awhile. He’s a good man and seems like an independent voice, with no strings attached.

John Dougall for Auditor – Dougall is Frugal!! John is a clever guy with lots of great ideas. He wants to make sure our tax dollars are spent well. He’s done a great job as a state legislator for the past ten years and he’s been endorsed by every CPA that is currently in the state legislature. John's Website.

Mark Crockett for Salt Lake County Mayor – He did a great job when he was on the County Council and he understands how the county works as a result of his experience there. Mark has made his living helping companies save money. He has tons of experience cutting costs without cutting jobs and not hurting programs that help people. He’s honest (he doesn’t have any nom-de-plumes or ‘secret identities’ i.e. Richard Burwash, see here) and he’s not currently being sued for defamation (his opponent is, see Winder's response to defamation charges here). Mark's Website.

Sean Reyes for Attorney General – Sean has been given numerous state and national awards and recognition for his accomplishments as a lawyer. He’s got a ton of courtroom experience. He’s honest and not a part of a political machine. Sean has spent his entire career as a lawyer, not a politician, which matters since he would be running the state’s largest law firm, the Attorney General’s office. His opponent has spent most of his time in politics and as a lobbyist, which is fine, except that the office of AG really requires legal prowess and someone who is free to execute the law rather than someone who is deeply in debt to a political machine, someone who isn’t just interested in helping out their friends.  

There is currently some question about his opponent being part of an FBI investigation for doing shady stuff in the AG’s office (where he currently works). Learn more about it here and here and here. And some other questionable Swallow stuff here and here and here.

You may have heard a radio commercial saying that Sean paid some money to his campaign manager illegally. The radio ad takes what really happened out of context. The Lt. Governor cleared him of all allegations before Sean even went to the Republican Convention in April.

Here is a great endorsement for Sean from the Salt Lake Tribune that will lay things out even more for why you should vote for him. Sean's Website.

Dan Liljenquist for Senate – When Dan was a state senator, he saved Utah hundreds of thousands of dollars through his pension and Medicaid reform. He’s smart. He’s cares about Utah and this guy is fired up and ready to breathe some new life into the Senate. Dan's Website.

A few reasons why I didn’t vote for Hatch: When Hatch first ran for office, he ran on the platform that the incumbent had been in Washington too long (that guy had been a senator for 18 years) and we needed new, fresh energy in the senate. Orrin has been in the senate for 35 years. So… he’s kind of a hypocrite.

Hatch is not a Utah native, and for the last 36 years has spent most of his time living in Washington D.C. I think he’s disconnected from Utah and Utah voters. He’s part of the ‘Good Ole Boys’ network and I hate that about D.C. and politics, I think it corrupts a portion of our political system.

I am for term limits and I believe we need to reform our Social Security and other entitlement programs and I do not think Hatch has any motivation to do either of these things and he has done little to do either of those things during his 36 years as a senator.

President – Well, I'm just going to keep you guessing about who I voted for President...except that this link might give you a hint.

All of the people I voted for have great websites that you can visit. If you have any specific questions about who I voted for, shoot them over to me.

Go to this link, select what county you live in, and it will give you a list of early voting locations. You can vote at ANY of the early voting locations. There's also a link on that page that you can click, that will tell you where your polling location is if you plan to vote on election day. Don't forget your ID. In order to vote in the Republican primary, you have to be registered as a Republican. Now go vote my friends!

I Haven't Figured Out This New Blogger Format.

Daddy-Daughter reading time.

We got a double Chariot and I got a bike so we've been riding around. Ironically Abby is more likely to doze off during rides.

Loves food.

The closest our family will come to a puppy in the next few years.

Cuddle Bear.

Houndstooth Quilts

So back here I showed you Olive's baby quilt when it was a work in progress. Here it is finished:


















I liked the finished product so much, I made another Houndstooth Quilt for my mom.
























The machine quilter did a fantastic job and I love how it turned out (so does my mom).



















This is the current WIP:


















I'm in love with Kaffe Fabrics; they totally inspire me.

Abby reads to Olive.

I caught Abby reading to Olive. Sort of. She made up her own words to the story. 

ABCs

Britt would never show off how much she does with Abby, or her successes, either. So I'll post these for her:

So Abby is up to 'G' in the alphabet, if not always able to recall with great consistency which is which. On occasion, though, she manages to remember them when it counts (like when Grandma Bowen dropped by the house).  

And last night she asked when we were going to do 'H,' which was especially odd since we haven't taught her 'H' at all...which begs the question--do we need to do 'H' if she already knows it's next?