Fan or Foe?

An interesting thing happened in September shortly after we got our new car, it was still hot and we had decided to take a drive up the canyon to do some 4-wheeling, well we forgot to take some hats and since we didn't want to sunburn our heads (espeically Darin he is bald on top) we decided we needed to buy some hats, well we were already close to the turnoff for the canyon and we did not want to back track, we needed gas anyway so we stopped at a Chevron and to our great surprise and pleasure they had some hats, unfortuneately though they only had these two styles and colors, off white Y and black Utes. I didn't mind the white, but since Darin uses his hats a lot for work and sweats a lot we decided to buy one of each.

We have had a great time going places each wearing their hat, you would not believe the comments, people can't believe that we could be married and be fans of competitive teams, well the thing is we are both BYU fans, but the fact of the matter is they are only hats. We had a lot of fun yesterday because Darin could not find the BYU hat (of course this week we would wear BYU) and we had to go out, so he put on the Ute hat and ventured to Dan's (grocery store) and DI, of course people asked about the hat and we admitted that we were BYU fans, but it is interesting to see how heated people can get over this rivalry especially here in Utah, even in Sunday School the day after the game, yes arguements have insued.

The thing is mine and Darin's families are all die hard BYU fans especially the one who graduated from the U, we also find it interesting to note that the Utes President graduated from the Y and the Y's President graduated from the U. Football is a lot of fun and while it would be beyond awesome if the Y could win this game and move way up in the poles it is still just a game! With that said I'd like to say GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO COUGARS!!!!!!!

The Ending of a Perfect Day!

Our Sabbath started out on a good note this morning, we even made it to church before the song or the prayer, which is a major accomplishment for us, since I get off work anywhere from 7 to 8 in the morning on Sundays and we have to be to church by 9. We had some wonderful talks on accepting the Lords will for us even amongst trials and one on virtue. Darin gave his priesthood lesson and was a little disappointed how it turned out but it must have went well since the Elders were the last ones to get out. We went home and had lunch then our Home Teachers came to visit and then while Darin went Home Teaching I made a pie recipe I wanted to try out before Thanksgiving it was a Sour Cream Blackberry pie.

Finally just after 4 we got down for our Sunday nap before work, generally we like this nap to be 5 to 6 hours because of our graveyard shifts that night, but today we only got about 3 1/2 hours sleep.

When we arrived at work and were getting out of our car we hear some screaming and yelling in the apartments behind our work where we park. At first we thought maybe it was a child being beaten because the man was so much bigger then the person he was beating, he was man handling her and would not let her go while she was screaming for help and for him to leave her alone and let her go. Darin immediately went to her defense and was ready to jump the fence as we could see what was going on because they were out on the patio of their apartment while this was taking place. I told him I was going to call the police and not to go over there, I had a sick feeling in my stomach. Meanwhile Darin and one of my co-workers were yelling at him to stop and that we had called the police, he started cussing at them and somehow the girl got away and started to leave, he started to go after her, but was distracted by those yelling at him to stop, he was yelling threating remarks towards them and at one time raised his shirt which revealed a gun tucked unto the waist of his pants. In the meantime I was out front waiting for the cops, which got there pretty quick by the way, I explained to them what was happening, the guy when he saw that the police were coming quickly turned off the lights of his apartment and slipped out the front to avoid being caught by the police, anyways to make a long story short he got away and here we sit tonight wondering if he is going to come back and retaliate in some why towards us. On a brighter note, we both are so tired and were concerned about how we were going to stay awake tonight, needless to say the problem is solved, I don't think we have to worry about falling off to sleep. Even amidst the fear in a world of guns and a lack of value of human life, I am grateful for a husband that didn't think twice about his own safty when someone else was at risk.

Looking forward to the Holidays!

With Halloween and the true signs of fall setting in I am getting excited for the Holidays, of course there are somethings I wouldn't mind skipping this year like raking the leaves. On Saturday we decided that we needed to get the leaves raked because we were suppose to get snow Sunday and Monday. Well we spent 4 hours raking until it got dark and were only able to get the leaves raked into piles, we ended up with 57 piles of leaves by the time we were done and decided that we would have to finish moving the piles of leaves down to the garden area on Monday, fortuneately we never did get the snow, but unfortuneately it has rained everyday since and we have still not gotten around to moving the piles, rain or shine we will have to do that on Friday.

Back to my excitement over the Holidays, this last week I have been compiling a list of the menu for Thanksgiving, we will be blessed with Cynthia and Joe, Benji, Timmy, Logan and Luke. Of course the food will be great, but some of the other traditions I am looking forward to is shopping at 4 in the morning the day after with a couple of the kids, which usually awards us some priceless treasures and a good time (there is just something about standing out in the cold for hours waiting to get in to a store to save 50% on a toy or two that really bonds a family)! Also this week I have been working on a special homemade gift for my married children and Darin's sibblings, we have gotten so excited about this project we are even doing it for Darin's Home Teaching Families.

Of course we will miss not having Kerstin's and Brent's families or Matt with us, but know they will be busy making traditions of their own wherever they are and if there is one thing we are grateful for at this time of year is our children and their families whether they can be with us or not.

Some thoughts on Family, Religion and Country

It seems that these last few weeks a lot of heated discussions have come about regarding these elections, some of the things that I have noticed with mixed emotions have been the division among not only family members but church members alike on topics that our Prophet has made a stand on and has made it clear that there is no debating the issue. I am aware that part of Heavenly Father's plan is that we are allowed our free agency and so difference of opinions is not only natural but necessary, but as members of the church does that agency include disagreeing with a Prophet of the Lord? I admit that sometimes I don't fully understand why the Lord gives certain counsel, but I can promise you this, when I have questioned prayerfully and with faith, the Lord has ALWAYS given me the answer. The fact that these events are happening does not surprise me, because the scriptures have prophesied our day, but it does sadden my heart to see so many of the ones I love be caught in the adversaries snares. I am grateful for the wonderful examples in family and friends who have stood tall and honored our Lord through sustaining our Living Prophet, and I testify in these latter days that is the ONLY way we will survive the storm. I don't know where our country is headed with so much political uncertainty, but I do know that if we stay true to the gospel and stay worthy of the covenants that we have made we have no need to fear. I would also like to thank those faithful saints in California who made an effort to follow the prophet and showed that we really can make a difference by supporting and voting to restore the definition of Marriage on the law books of California to be between a man and a women. With that said I am proud to be an american where the voice of the people can still be heard.

My weekend!

You will have to excuse me for this post being so late, I have been a bit under the weather and have not felt well enough to do much. We started our weekend by going to the Library on Friday and voting early, we are guessing it saved us time, as voting during the Primary took us about 2 1/2 hours, compared to the 1 1/2 hours we waited for on Friday, we both felt very good about our vote and encourage everyone else to get out and vote today! That day was Halloween and I could not resist carving a pumpkin I haven't carved one since having the kids around and I really missed it, I found online this program that helped you design your own pattern for the face, I had to hurry to get it done though because I started at about 4:30 and I figured the trick or treaters would be starting soon. I finished just in time, I made pumpkin seeds of course, Darin had never done that before so that was a treat. As we waited for the trick or treaters to come we watched "The Ring", we only got about a total of 20 trick or treaters as it started to rain, I had to be to work by 8 so we had a pretty early night. Last week I had had a sore throat and sore glands on my neck most of the week, but by the time I got home from work on Saturday morning it had caught up to me and was a full blown head cold or whatever, so I rested most of the day and didn't accomplish much. I did have to go to work that night and was pretty miserable but still made it, when I got home Sunday morning I colapsed again and unfortuneately didn't wake up for church, I do not like the way I feel when I miss church, so when we got up in the afternoon we watched a DVD on president Willford Woodruf, we were able to fast though and fasted for baby Seth and Darin's Aunt Alice who just found out she had cancer. Again we had work last night and I felt the worst I had felt yet, I went, but slept most of the night I am afraid, when we got home I once again slept most of the day. This time when I went to work I took some Alkaseltzer Plus and have felt kinda okay most of the night. Pretty much that was our weekend, we did get to talk to Kerstin's kids on webcam on Saturday and that was a lot of fun to have Landon sing to us. It was also nice to talk to Matt and Cynthia too. We sure hope all is well with you and are looking forward to the up coming Holidays!