White Friday - Nov 24, 2017

What a JOY it was to wait our turn to do ordinance work at the temple this White Friday. The Provo City Center temple was busy! The temple worker said they were afraid no one would come, ha! Such a special time seeing Kaden experience this for the first time!

Damon's "birthday cake" -Nov 8, 2017

 Damon's "birthday cake" about ready to go in the oven! #birthdayweek. #posthalloween #enoughsugar

Some Memories from our BYU days

Tunnel Singing -I did this often

Mormon Swear Word Euphemisms- What do you think?

If you've lived in or even driven in Utah, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about....

"Fetch" "Flip" "Heck" "Fudge" and so on...

I heard once when we'd first moved to Provo that the Stake Presidency had counseled the youth to refrain from using such euphemeisms or substitute swear words. In my opinion, I say it's about time! I totally agree with the Stake Presidency. These words have always bothered me. But, being that they're so prevalent, I even catch myself slipping and using one or two (like in a recent facebook update -oops). Although they seem like innocent and ridiculous nonsense words, they are in reality pretty much insinuating the same thing as the harsher word (although refraining to say the actual word).

We have been teaching our kids not to use these substitute swear words- and that's just us. They're especially not allowed to say "Oh ,my Gosh." In fact, it's kind of funny, but when they hear other kids say that, they totally think they heard a swear word. Same with the word, "Stupid". It's hilarious how many Disney cartoons our kids have shockingly pointed at and said, "Oh!!! He said a swear word!"

Frankly, I think we need to start teaching the youth of today to live and speak with higher standards.
The thing is, Damon and I were just talking about it, but we ALL probably do it... Words like "Shoot!" "Dang!" etc. It's funny how common it is, when you stop and try to just carry on a normal conversation without doing it! It sort of reminds me of when I was a teenager and used to say, "Like" and "Totally" ALL THE TIME. I vividly remember exactly where I was sitting when my Dad was listening to me talk on the phone once and would grunt every time I would say "Totally". Talk about annoying! ...But, I confess he was right, it was a habit I needed to be aware of (probably still do), and perhaps with the swear word euphemisms this is also a habit we could improve on. Maybe Damon and I will see who gets the lowest score by the end of the week, and the loser has to clean Captain's next big catch?

Anyhoo....probably not a deal killer in terms of whether or not you'll be able to get into the Celestial Kingdom...

So, what do you think? Do I just have way too much time to think about stuff?

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse with Donald

One of my favorite childhood memories is building club houses. Mr K and Miss M make it a DAILY event to build a clubhouse somewhere in the house. I thought it was cute how Mr K brought Donald and Mickey to his club house while watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.