I voted!

I love early voting. I voted on Tuesday after Music Makers and it was so nice. No long lines, I took the kids in the double stroller and everyone was so accommodating. I got to use the handicapped person room and sit down and they gave the kids stickers. The voting machine was a computer that was touch screen and it was so easy. I was in and out in 5 minutes.

Now I do not belong to a party and I never vote straight ticket. Our church does not subscribe to any party, but teaches us that we should vote the way we see is right. They teach us correct principles and hope that we will vote accordingly I think. I usually don't talk about politics or like to speak out on policy things, but I can't help but share my thoughts on some things tonight, since election day is so close.

I'm thankful to Megan who wasn't afraid to say something. I loved Elder Nelson's article in the Ensign too. I've been thinking about the same things a lot lately. Especially when I read on one of my favorite blogs, Light Refreshments Served (by LDS women) this:

"Let me begin by saying that I am planning on voting for Barack Obama. Feel free to comment about how inexperienced he is and how you think it’s a mistake but just be aware that I am not persuaded by “arguments.” I don’t “watch the news” or “read the paper.” At first I didn’t want to vote for him because he smokes. But he quit so now I’m on board." -Kacy

What the heck?!!!! Go ahead and vote for Obama - but for better reasons than that!!!! Not only was I disappointed in that but more LDS women left comments like, "You go girl", and " I'm voting for Obama too, and I still have a testimony"... It made me really sad.

A lot of people just brush over the topic of abortion in this election, like it's not an important issue. It is important and it will always be important. Especially now when some states - Colorado, Oklahoma, and South Dakota are all trying to pass legislation that in some way or another goes against Roe Vs. Wade - so there is a very good chance that it will be under scrutiny again.

I would have voted Libertarian in this election if it weren't for this issue. Bob Barr didn't come out and say what he believed but I think he would leave it up to states to decide and I think it needs to be more universal than that. As much as I appreciate and have used gov't resources (Pell Grants, Wic, Medicaid), I feel that government needs to get smaller. I can't stand the idea of my tax dollars going toward funding abortions (Planned Parenthood). I agree with the Libertarian logic that if we are given more tax credits for charitable donations, our money will go where we want it to. Pregnancy Crisis Centers, for example, are all over Texas. These privately run organizations focus on helping low-income women and encouraging adoption or becoming more self reliant. I want to be able to choose where my money goes -like to Pregnancy Crisis Centers - instead of the government spending our tax dollars on things that Lobbyists want them to - like Planned Parenthood who encourage abortion as the first alternative to an unplanned pregnancy.

When I found myself pregnant and Aaron was without benefits soon after, I looked for ways to get maternity care. It took about as long to get approved for Medicaid as it did for us to get health benefits from Aaron's work (three months). I checked out Planned Parenthood. They basically said right away that if you can't afford to have and raise this child then you need to abort it. What about adoption being the first alternative instead of jumping in and saying it's o.k. to abort? It's just plain wrong.

So what I'm trying to say is don't vote just because someone smokes or not... There are other issues a little more important than that on the table here people! Watch the news! Read the paper! Learn about the issues at hand and how each candidate feels about them. I know that sometimes it feels like you need a PhD in each candidate to know which way to go. Have you looked at the candidate's Health Care Agendas? Yikes. Talk about complicated. I think that I finally understand and I actually like McCain's ideas... Anyway, I'm not going to judge or say anything bad about anyone who votes for Obama. Just don't vote for him because he's cool or he quit smoking, or because you think it's about time we had a black president (I thought that when I first heard he was running) but because in your heart you feel he's the right person and he'll make the right choices for our nation.

FHE tip

For those of you who have little ones and want easy but effective gospel lessons for Family Home Evening. We have found that the new Nursery Manual is a great resource. We've done the first three lessons so far and they have all gone really well with Claire. What are some of your FHE ideas that have worked for your family?

Happy Pumpkins

We got this ghostie hat from Aunt Jenny a couple years ago and I thought I'd put it on Noel for fun this morning... Yep... still cute....


We took a trip to a pumpkin patch Friday morning. It was a good time. Johanna drove and we all piled in her mini-van. It was about a half hour drive but the kids just chilled watching Finding Nemo in the back. Luckily the babies slept. Here is Claire on the hayride. The girl is not afraid of much. She just climbed right on and made herself comfortable.

Here the kids check out the pumpkins. Claire kept trying to take home this green one.

Checkin' out the goats

More hayride...

Lookin' natural on the tractor.

A treat for the ride home

The other night for FHE we decided to go outside on our balcony and paint a little pumpkin. Earlier while grocery shopping, Claire found "the one" and kept yelling, "My punkin!" So it had to come home with us. Noel was kept occupied in his jumperoo. He loves this thing just like Claire did at this age. He doesn't have as much baby fat on his thighs to work off though... his legs are so skinny!



I marked a face on the pumpkin and gave Claire some paints. She was excited - even though the picture may not lead you to believe...

The finished product and painted toes

Noel is a Good Brother

We made this video last night at bedtime. We sat Noel and Claire down together for some pictures, that's why there is a spotlight on them for a little while. Anyway, as you can see Noel is coming to understand his role as a little brother to Claire and getting quite a kick out of it. The more he annoys her the more he laughs it seems. You can hear our giggles too, the kids are just too cute!

Decision time

O.k. so we decided to go. We are pretty excited. Thanks for all the suggestions and the babysitting offers! We decided to take the kids (as much as I'd like to go without them, I'm not ready to quit nursing) and meet Aaron's parents there and hit Shedd's Aquarium Friday or Saturday. Aaron's parents wanted us to bring Claire so badly they offered to pay for her ticket. They love their little granddaughter! We'll see how much it will be before this is set in stone, but for now we are planning on taking a mini vacation to Chicago! We can have a romantic getaway some other time, like when I'm not nursing and lose some baby wieght. Thanks to KGSR! I still can't believe I won? I'm thinking I'm going to take this contest more seriously next year... It could happen! maybe...

I Won Something!!??

The other day I got an e-mail from a radio station that I like to listen to. I signed up to be on their survey list so I can rate songs every once in a while for them. It's fun. For those of you who know me well know how much I love music and how Aaron and I kind of were brought together by it. So, they were doing this contest called "Cool Brittania" , where the grand prize is a trip to see Coldplay in London. They are playing a ton of songs by Brit artists and you get more chances to win by listening and telling them the what song by whom was played at what time, etc... They have lesser prizes too for trips to see other Brit artists. So I signed up - never happen that I would win right? I never even did the extra dealy thing like listen and e-mail them a song title...

So, I won a trip to Chicago to see James Hunter. Three nights hotel accommodations, airfare, and the concert tickets!

Is this legit? Could this be real? So I called KGSR directly and they put me through to the program director who informed me that indeed I had won the trip and that it was legit. So I told her that I would talk it over with my husband and we would decide. So what do you think? Should we go? We can take Noel with us because he's under 2 and would fly free, but we'd have to pay to have Claire along and that could be expensive. We've never heard of this guy, James Hunter before, but he seems pretty cool. The kids obviously couldn't go to the concert so what would we do with the kids for the show? On the other hand who cares if we don't get to go to the show its a free trip to Chicago and we could go to Shedd's Aquarium, I have never gone even though I've been to Chicago lots o' times. But food, expenses, TAXES, yes taxes on the prize - who knows what they would be... I don't know if we can afford it. I said yes but now I'm having second thoughts. Any advice?

Hairy Man Festival?

We went to the Hairy Man Festival on Saturday. I guess there was supposed to be a hairy man contest and the winner got $500 or something. Aaron didn't know how to get signed up (he he he), but we thought we'd check it out anyway. We didn't stay for the contest, but we had a lot of fun checking out the different booths and festivities. Claire is growing up (sigh) and able to do more and more "big kid" things:

Claire went on her first pony ride. Since she is only two I got to walk with her, though I think she would have been fine on her own. I couldn't find a way to edit myself out of these pictures, but Claire looks so cute on her pony, Cookie, that I just had to post them.

She is such a fearless girl. She just wanted to ride the pony... no big thing...

Noel hung out here

Our fearless girl wanted to go down the slide. She only got two shots at it, so the second slide she wanted to relish in it and she took her time I guess. She stayed up at the top just jumping and saying hello to all the other sliders. We finally had to coax her down.

After the slide, she actually sat still long enough to get her face painted! This girl will hardly sit still for anything!

So we coaxed her down with candy... Cotton candy... It was her first experience with it, so she didn't understand the concept at first that it melts in your mouth.

But she soon caught on...

Heading off into the sunset...