Just a quick post to congratulate Jesse for beating me at Fantasy Football this past weekend. I lost by 2 points but that is ok because I am still #1! Go me!

Taking a Break From My Celeb Gossip....Maybe Longterm

Today was the straw that broke the camels back for me. As I was going through my bloglines I came across a post by Perez Hilton about the resteraunt owner of El Coyote in Los Angeles, who is Mormon, voting Yes on Prop 8 and he said, "We respect her right to vote however she wishes but we also respect the right to boycott her resteraunt." I then saw another post where Drew Barrymore was out with protesters in front of someones church. Anywho, between this and the craziness that went down during the Presidential campaigns I am taking a break from my celebrity gossip. It is going to be hard but darn it I am tired of all the hate I am seeing. Plus I feel that it probably wasn't the best thing for me to be looking at in the first place, especially since I am a little behind on my scripture study. =)

GO TIGERS! BEAT BAMA!

Here are a few pictures of our little family at the temple the day of our sealing. We were so happy some of you were able to be there to share that experience with us.

Halloween

As the Joker put it, "Why so serious?" I have decided to lighten the mood a little bit and post about our Halloween. We went over to Jesse's parents neighborhood so they could trick or treat with their cousins. Surprisingly Rene and Ben tuckered out first so they went back to the house with grandma to pass out candy. Joe pushed Jackson around door to door to get candy, must be nice. Jesse and I followed and just had a good time watching all of the cute kids in their costumes. Here are a few pictures.

The Last Days

I read this letter written from a member in California to her family and it really broke my heart. Please keep these people in your thoughts and prayers. It is things like this that truly remind me that we are in our last days her on earth.

Dear family and friends, Monday Oct. 27, 2008 I had a very disturbing experience yesterday that I would like to share with those of you that live outside of California (or outside of the San Francisco Bay area). This weekend we have stake conference. Our stake conference always begins with a stake temple session on Friday or Thursday night. Early Friday morning I received a call from the second counselor in our bishopric to let me know that there would be numerous protesters outside the temple, and to remind everyone to stay calm and to drive carefully. The beautiful Oakland Temple is located right across the bay from San Francisco, very close to the city of Berkeley. Apparently the opposition to proposition 8, the amendmant that seeks to make marriage in Ca, between a man and a woman again, has realized the deep involvemant of the church and begun to protest right outside of the temple and harass temple patrons. The fastest way to get to the temple from our house is to take the 680 freeway, but the exit is a bit tricky. The off ramp is extremely short and straight uphill. You then make an almost blind left turn, an immediate right and another left into the parking lot. As we approached the off ramp I realized there would be trouble, there was a backup onto the freeway from cars stalled on the off ramp. As we moved forward inches at a time, we realized this was due to a large group of loud protesters who were standing on both sides of the street, yelling, screaming and waving signs. When we got to the top of the off ramp, ready to make our turn, one protester jumped out right in front of our car. It took my husband all his self control to carefully maneuver around him to the left and proceed to the temple. I tried not to listen to all they were shouting at us, but I was shaking as I got to the temple front door. Several of the sisters, especially the ones driving on their own, were crying (which made me snap out of it and go into the RS President mode to comfort them). Later, as I was sitting in the perfect quiet of the chapel, I couldn't help but think of Lehi's dream, and the people who mocked the Saints from the big spacious building but 'we heeded them not'. It was a truly surreal experience, I'd never thought that I would have to go through an angry crowd to ge to the temple. As we left late at night, the protesters had dispersed, temple security (who all looked very large and Tongan) stood by the gates. I never saw a single police man. Please pray for those of us in California fighting for prop 8--it's getting kind of scary out here!

Should Be An Interesting 4 Years

Well, history was made last night and I think that is great. At the same time Obama was not my choice for president and I am grieving a little today. I usually do not like to speak out on politics because I believe it is just as personal as a persons religeon but I must say I am a little worried as to what the next 4 years might bring. Watching John McCain give his speech last night was hard, it was so obvious that he should have been the next president. This person with so much patriotism and experience. But now I must humble myself and say Congratulations Obama for doing what seemed to be the impossible. For making it to the White House with the least political experience a president has ever had. For being voted into office to "make history" being the first black president. I say this because all of the people I saw on TV last night said their reason to vote for him was to "make history." I am all about making history but I don't do it on the basis of someones skin color. I thought we as a nation were past that. If people were not voting for a person because they were black it would be called racist. To me it is just the same the other way around and even though everyone says they want to be created equal now more than ever I feel the divide. If anything this election has done that. It shouldn't be about what skin color you are, we are all americans, brothers and sisters in the eyes of our heavenly father. I will be happy when the day comes that skin color is not even mentioned. I believe in order to forget the past you must forgive and that means everyone from all faiths and backgrounds. I hope, really hope that my instincts are wrong about you Obama and you aren't going to do half of the crazy things you said you were going to do and actually think about the people in this country and the wonderful soldiers, one being my brother in law, who is serving to protect this great nation. I hope you surprise me Obama.