All Our Dead

Some random musings from church.

I love love love the song, "High On A Mountain Top," but I hate that it ends on the word dead. I don't think any song should end on the word dead. Even though it is a "happy dead," really no dead is a good dead. It's like a really good meal that leaves a bad aftertaste.

For once we had a good combined 5th Sunday meeting and it was all about being good visiting/home teachers. I could improve for sure, and so could Jeff, but I gotta say I'd bet a thousand bucks that our home teachers that we have had for like three years couldn't tell you my kids names. I always get above average visiting teachers though.

So my freshman high school English teacher was a real jerk! I hated this class and the teacher but one day he said something that I always think about. He was an avid people watcher and pointed out that if you watch people you tend to notice that more often then not the listener isn't really listening at all but just waiting to say their part. I have noticed this in others and myself. I am so so guilty of this at times. I recently had a very important conversation with someone in my ward, "(or at least I thought it was important,) and I gotta say that as I was listing my concerns I could see this firm steel wall in this ladies eyes. She was not listening to me at all. She knew what she was gonna say and was not hearing me at all. I almost wish she would have said that from the beginning, but that would have been really rude.

I love the classic lines of our church building, over all it is a lovely building where the Spirit is in abundance, but I need to be honest and say I really hate that Burgundy color of all the benches and seats.

Tee hee hee. I have brought treats for the Library the past few weeks and today when the Bishop came in he said I was magnifying my calling.

My friend Krista teaches Relief Society once a month and it is becoming my favorite week of the month. Her lessons are so touching without any gimmicks or tears. I feel really blessed to have her as a teacher since I am not getting to much out of Sacrament Meeting and I end up in the Library for much of Sunday School.

Mae goes into Nursery in March. I have been counting down for a year now.

Arg! So we now have sisters instead of elders and I want to have them over for dinner, but they don't pass around the calender anymore. Now I was told by the sisters this is because they were in such high demand that the calender was getting full before it got around. Okay, fair enough, but the solution was that the ward mission leaders wife now controls the dinners. NOT COOL! I have to call this chick up and what be deemed worthy to fill a slot? This is WAY WEIRD! It kinda reminds me of last Christmas when we had signed up to feed the elders on Christmas Eve and then got booted very rudely by another family who had a tradition of feeding the elders on Christmas Eve. Yeah well if it was that important then they should have signed up first! We were totally dumped by the elders to accommodate this family. Yeah I am still way mad. But anyway, I feel this is really uncomfortable and so I will probably not get to feed the sisters while they are here, which is sad cause I really loved having them here.

I hate when people ask me to cut strips of paper for them with the paper cutter. I have a HUGE phobia of paper cutters. My parents worked with a family business for many years durning my childhood and we were often in the office. My mom made a big deal about how dangerous they were and well, it stuck. Does anyone else remember a Josh Harnett horror movie called The Faculty? Well I didn't see it, but I remember the trailer where someone grabbed the blade off of one of those things and used it all machette like. I can't use them. If you need something cut please come and do it yourself.

April Showers Bring Mae Flowers

And Mae Flowers bring...pies and gift cards. I would like to thank you all for your comments and continued support of my blogging efforts. For the most part I do enjoy blogging and it just wouldn't be the same if I had no readers. Now as for the good stuff. I had a total of 15 entries in the contest divided between the local pie contest and the far away Walmart Gift Card Contest. Mae was kind enough to draw two names and the winners are ...

Far Away

My cousin Joe. (It probably didn't hurt that he got an extra entry for being the first to correctly identify the pumpkin.)

Local

My friend Hannah (Local being a relative term since technically she lives in Missouri.)

I am excited to deliver both these goodies especially since my cousin Joe is actually coming to visit soon! (Although I promise that this trip did not interfere with the integrity of the contest.)

Thoughts on your comments....

HA! Jason, I have always thought of you as the most Bad Ass person I know so this just added to that identity.

This was a good reminder of how sisters can always find/remember an embarrassing moment of your life to make you remember what an idiot you are. Thanks Lu.

My Uncle Karl and Aunt Barb must really love the beach boys.

Krista E. Yeah that totally sums up my memories of Young Women's leaders.

Kasey After my freshman year at the dorms I had a policy of paying more to not share a room. My first semester my roommate Leilani kept me up one night writing a paper, so I decided to listen to my garbage CD while she was studying for finals.

Max also has songs he loves from Rock Band and Guitar Hero. He loves Slow Ride and Blitzkreig Bop. HEY! HO! LETS GO! He has also replaced the lyrics to Follow the Prophet with Star Wars the Clone Wars. Which is really great cause that has always been my most hated church song. No matter who sings it or how, it always sounds like chanting. Get the organ going with it and you have got a serious cult thing going on. And some of the lyrics are a bit glib so together it is just a really dark sounding song.

Yes, I don't remember what the occasion was, but we were in southern Utah and I believe Billy Jean was also not the Governor.

Lindsay that bathroom was awesome.

Don't Forget!

You can still enter to win a $15 walmart gift card or home made pie by going to the post, "Another One Bites the Dust," and sharing your funny/interesting music story. Family and friends are eligible to win, cause really who else reads this thing.

Hold On to Your Hats and Glasses

Cause this here's the wildest ride in the wilderness.

Ahhh it saddens me greatly that it has been over seven years since I have been to Disneyland, (Big Thunder Railroad is where the title of this post comes from.)

Often at night Jeff and I will look at each other and remark about how Mae's personality is defining itself more each day. While only a year old, it is quite clear that she has inherited her father's temper and her mother's stubbornness. Whaaat? Jeff has a temper, you ask. Yeah, me too, but he and his family swear it is so. I honestly haven't seen it in our seven years of marriage, but I am told it was really really bad, like get this kid to counseling bad. I am sure his family can fill up the comments board on this subject. Hmmm I don't suppose there will be any protests on my stubbornness....oh well. Mae will do what she wants when she wants to. And don't mess with her. As I have mentioned earlier I signed us up for Baby and Mom swim class at the fitness center as I did with Max when he was her age. She likes the water but that is it. She HATES doing anything. She doesn't want to reach and pull, kick her legs, or blow bubbles. When I try to engage her in these activities she just looks at me annoyed. At one point the teacher comes around with a bag of toys which the babies are to choose from. Mae likes this, until the activity continues. They are supposed to throw the toy around and reach and pull to get it. She does not want to throw the toy. She fights me and you can tell she thinks this is a very STUPID game. WHY ARE WE THROWING THE TOY JUST TO RETRIEVE IT?!?

This afternoon she had finished a snack and I detached myself from her to get her something else to eat. She started squawking as soon as I left. I was off and on my way back from the kitchen when I saw that she was walking after me. When she made eye contact with me she dropped to the ground and threw a tantrum. What are we in for? I suppose this is just what happens when you get one super mellow good kid.

Acceptance Speech

We won! A huge thanks to all my friends and family who voted for our picture. Our prize, a photo shoot with Erica that includes many free prints. (A several hundred dollar value.) I am really excited, but now stressed about what to wear and getting everyone haircuts...there will always be something to stress about. A few thoughts on the contest. I learned a lot about my self and others in this.

First, I need to read more carefully. I didn't pay that much attention to the judging part only the entry part, so I don't know if I would have entered a popularity contest.

As some of my family will recall I have never been popular. I was actually cruelly bullied in Jr. High School. This did bring up a few of those feelings of inadequacy and lameness.

But on the flip side, when people started to vote for me it was awesome. Just as I thought being popular is all it is cracked up to be. Good Self Esteem Boost.

Conversation between myself and a friend Friday....

ME: "I feel like I am running for Homecoming Queen."

MEG: "Yeah, but this is way better, you get a photo shoot and all Homecoming Queen got was pregnant!"

I was surprised by which people voted for me easy-peasy. My sister-in-law Megan was like the first person to vote. THANKS!

Some people were total BUTTS about it! Now I can understand if you do not look at your account that often. Some people don't, or if you have a hard time working facebook. But for the few of you who moaned about this, REALLY?!? How hard was it, you were already on facebook, just slide over a few pages and bounce your finger a few times. If you hate liking stuff then just unlike later!! It is so easy to hide feeds on facebook. One friend just out right refused cause he thought it would set a bad precedent of helping others....whatever.

But the large majority of my family and friends were very supportive. A big shout out to all my cousins! Toblers Rock! I knew having so many first cousins would pay off some day. And as promised, if I ever need a kidney, I will seek elsewhere. And I only had one side to hit up.

Another shout out to Jeff's extended family cause he isn't even as close to them as I am to mine.

A big thanks to my ward. See we were really working with a large disadvantage from the start. Most of the other entries came from the photographer's home ward. So people from her ward were already fans and getting updates so of course they would vote for her. Way to best the Cenerton Ward guys!

Thanks to all my friends who were friends with my main competitor who voted for me, or voted for me and her. Also I respect my friends who knew us both and just choose not to vote at all.

Dan Flemming you are dead to me. We have known each other for almost six years and you voted for someone else, they had better have given you a kidney! But thanks to his lovely wife Tara who voted for me.

It was a very close race, and I got a smidge desperate at the end. I promise that I will never hit you guys up for anything on facebook ever again. I really wouldn't have done it, if it wasn't so close and such a small race anyway. I mean I always enter my kids in the GAP KIDS model contest, but I never ask anyone to vote cause it is such a pie in the sky thing. This facebook thing was possible. And WE WON!

I am now going to retire a bit from facebook. I will post the pictures once we have them taken, and if you need me to vote for you for something feel free to email me and I will get on and do it. Thanks to everyone. And all my ward members can expect treats in the library today and probably for the next few weeks.*

(I do have a strict policy of not giving library treats to those under 18. That is what Primary and Young Women/Men is for.)

Yup, I'm that person

Yup, I'm the person who dresses up like a cow for free food. Cause hey, free food! I am the person who knows the names of the employees of the Walmart Associate Store cause I am there so frequently. I love a good bargain. Now I do have limits. I would not take a free left shoe if the right one didn't come with it.

A lady who was in my ward is a very talented photographer and recently had a "Christmas in October" contest for her business, Erica Kirby Photography. The rules were simple, take a photo of your family and somehow display the words Erica Kirby Photography or the letters EKP in the photo and be creative.

Yesterday, Jeff and I took our annual trip to the Right Choices Pumpkin Patch in Missouri and decided that their Cow Train would be the perfect back drop for our contest entry. I wish the words on the sign I made had come across more clearly, but all four of us are looking at the camera so I say it is a good photo. I think it clearly deserves to win the contest cause

A. it is the only photo that has both the whole family (some people just did the kids)

B. we embarrassed ourselves to show the sign, giving her the free advertising, (Most of the other entries photo shopped the words or letters in.)

There are only seven entries total, so I think we have a shot, but I need my readers help. It is so easy to help me. Go to facebook and vote for us. Two easy steps.

1. Become a fan of Erica Kirby Photography

2. Like our family photo in the Christmas in October contest.

You don't need to leave a comment or anything; just "like" it. And pass it on to anyone else who may know us, or people who you know who just do stuff like that. Do not feel like you have to strain any relationships over this. Special attention to my parents and Jeff's since they will no doubt be getting copies of the winning pictures.

BLOG CONTEST: Another One Bites the Dust

I love music. Yes, that was a really groundbreaking announcement. No other medium can get me to calm down a relax quite like music. Part of the reason I go into town almost everyday is because I love to hop in the car and listen to the radio. Yes, I could just listen at home, but then I feel like it is a waste of time. I enjoy it more if I am going somewhere. I love the memories that music evokes. The following songs remind me of loved ones and times.

My dad worked at Hasting Entertainment Store for several years at the end of the 90's and the beginning of the new millennium. So being forced to hear pop music he picked up a few he liked. Every time I hear them on the radio I totally think of him.

Closing Time by Semisonic

How Bizzare by OMC (he even bought the CD!)

and of course any CCR song

The summer I came home from my first year at BYU my mother added a new song to her aerobic routine. There is nothing quite like waking up to the walls shaking to Cher's Do You Believe, every morning. My mom and I also share a love of the Bee Gees and I always smile and think of her when they come on.

My sister Suzanne is a total romantic and her musical tastes swing that way, or at least they did in high school. Whenever I had the house to myself I would get out her CD's and pop in Sophie B Hawkins, As I Lay Me Down.

Krista and I have lots of musical memories. Driving home from Disneyland listening to the Wallflowers, One Headlight. (What happened to Jakob Dylan? I really liked him.) We first really started hanging out together in Provo my sophomore year of high school when Fastball's, The Way, was all over the radio, so that song is really special to me.

Remember when Ally Mcbeal came out and suddenly everyone had a theme song? Yeah well Krista's was The Police's, Don't Stand So Close to Me. Of course when she got her mission call to Brazil we switched that to Dave Matthew's Band, Don't Drink the Water. My theme song is Queen's, Another One Bites the Dust. Still fits after all these years.

Songs also remind me of specific places. I am sure you could do a study and find that at all times there is at least one Utah station playing the Cranberries, Dreams during the hour. I couldn't go a day at BYU without hearing this song. When Jeff and I first came to Arkansas The Reason by Hoobastank was playing here and I have always liked it since. My daily commute to and from teaching at my Utah alternative High School always forced me to listen to Pink Floyd's, Another Brick in the Wall. "HEY, TEACHER! LEAVE THOSE KIDS ALONE!" Thanks oldies 103.5 that really helped me feel good about myself.

What about Jeff you say? Well we dated for such a short time, two weeks, that I don't really think of him separately. He likes Savage Garden, shudder, (I blame the mission in Australia for that.) but since I really don't I quickly turn from them when alone. Again our dating time was so short that we never had a song, so a year after we got married we came up with something we thought would be good to dance to on our 50th wedding anniversary, so our song is Hot in Here by Nelly.

So readers I turn this over to you. Today's post comes with a giveaway. Two actually, one for my local readers and one for those farther away. Rules, post a comment telling me about a song that evokes a memory for you. The funnier/unique/more bizarre the better. Now don't just tell me your favorite song, I want a memory and story. The Prizes: The local winner will receive their own Emily Apple Blackberry Pie. The far away reader will receive a $15 Walmart Gift Card, cause now matter how far you get from Bentonville, AR, Walmart will be there to get you. errr make that serve you. Submissions must be received by Saturday October 30th for a Halloween announcement. Winner will be picked randomly out of a hat by Mae. One entry per person.

The picture was of a pumpkin Lu and I dropped off at a friends house one Halloween in college. Bonus entry to the first person to recognize the pumpkin pop culture reference. Or to the first one of the poor ladies that got a fright from it, I think a few of them read my blog.