Pictures

I put some new pictures in picasa. There are a ton of Christmas morning, so they might be kinda boring, but we figured some family members that didn't get to see us for Christmas might think the pictures of Halle opening presents are cute.
Our plan was to go to Mesa to see friends and family the day after Christmas when Jason got off work. But there ended up being a HUGE storm that blew in on Christmas night so we couldn't go and Jason couldn't even work that day because of the snow.
So we were really disappointed. But it has been sunny all this week so far. So we are going to go to Mesa soon. :)
Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

December 2008

4 More Days!

Merry Christmas!

From Jason, Hartley & Halle

Brennik & Emma's Wedding

Maxwell Wedding

Congratulations Clint & Jodi!

Clint & Jodi got married on 11/11/08!
We are so glad that we were able to be there.
Halle had a pretty dress and matching necklace to wear and Chandra got some REALLY cute pictures of her!
Thank you, Chandra!

For the entire album, click below:

Halle at Clint & Jodi's Wedding 11/11/08

From Halle at Clint & Jodi's Wedding 11/11/08

From Halle at Clint & Jodi's Wedding 11/11/08

From Halle at Clint & Jodi's Wedding 11/11/08

From Halle at Clint & Jodi's Wedding 11/11/08

From Halle at Clint & Jodi's Wedding 11/11/08

Pray for our new President

In Relief Society yesterday, a sister shared an experience she had when she had mentioned to someone that we should all pray for our new President. She got a response like "Why would I pray for him?". Whether we voted for him or not, he is going to be the President of the United States of America and we need him to be able to make the right decisions and changes that need to be made to improve our country.
Instead of being afraid of the future, we need to have faith and know that Heavenly Father will help us through it and that everything happens for a reason.

SNOW!

It snowed for the first time tonight!

From November 2008

From November 2008

From November 2008

The Gay Marriage Debate

Yesterday when I heard about the protesters in California, and posted a blog about it, I changed my status on Facebook to: Hartley thinks the protesting in CA is funny. Mormons aren't the only ones who voted against gay marriage.

I wasn't trying to start a debate or anything. I don't like contention. But the next thing I knew, there were a bunch of comments on my status.

Apparently a guy from Utah that I know from a Mormon chat site (The Mo-Board - http://mormonboard.proboards84.com), who happens to be gay, was actually protesting in SLC and commented on my status. He stated that the gay rights activists were not protesting against supporters of the proposition, but against the Church's involvement.

This started somewhat of a debate with my best friend, Adree. The guy from Utah sent me a message apologizing for starting a debate. Adree posted some quotes that are also in the last blog that I posted.

Andrew commented on your status:
"We aren't protesting against those who voted for proposition 8; we are protesting the Church's involvement in the proposition."

Adree commented on your status:
"Allegations of bigotry or persecution made against the Church were and are simply wrong. The Church’s opposition to same-sex marriage neither constitutes nor condones any kind of hostility toward gays and lesbians. Even more, the Church does not object to rights for same-sex couples regarding hospitalization and medical care, fair housing and employment rights, or probate rights, so long as these do not infringe on the integrity of the traditional family or the constitutional rights of churches."

http://ldslivingonline.com%2Farticle.php%3FarticleId%3D81321

"Some, however, have mistakenly asserted that churches should not ever be involved in politics when moral issues are involved. In fact, churches and religious organizations are well within their constitutional rights to speak out and be engaged in the many moral and ethical problems facing society. While the Church does not endorse candidates or platforms, it does reserve the right to speak out on important issues."

Lol it wasn't my own words...it's from that article. But anyhow, it's true. and that's how I feel.



That's how I feel too. :)

Protests Over Gay-Marriage Ban Escalate in California

I don't usually get into politics but Prop 102/8 is something that is really important to me. More important than who the President is. So I'm really glad that it passed. I think this protesting is ridiculous, but also kind of funny. Mormons are not the only ones who voted against gay marriage. And it is our right to believe that marriage is ordained of God and should only be between a man and woman. I don't think the government should be able to tell us otherwise.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,448825,00.html

Protests Over Gay-Marriage Ban Escalate in California
Friday , November 07, 2008

Angry gay rights activists in California continue to protest the Election Day passage of Proposition 8, which amended the state constitution to restrict marriage to between a man and a woman.

A diverse coalition of social and religious conservatives campaigned to overrule a state Supreme Court judgment six months ago that legalized same-sex marriage and saw 18,000 gay and lesbian couples marry in the Golden State.

Ballot initiatives to illegalize gay marriage also passed in Florida and Arizona on Tuesday.

Supporters of same-sex marriage are aiming their wrath at the Mormon church, which raised $20 million of the overall $75 million that was spent to promote the California initiative.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also encouraged its members to volunteer their time for the campaign.

"The vote's been passed and we're happy with that result, obviously," said Kui Gomez, a member of the Mormon church. "And you gotta remember it wasn't just the Mormon church that donated money. Evangelicals, the Jewish synagogues, Catholic churches" also contributed, Gomez said.

A group of protestors plans to rally Friday in front of the headquarters of the Mormon church in Salt Lake City. Protestors demonstrated Thursday outside a Mormon temple in Los Angeles. About 1,000 gay-marriage supporters waved signs and brought afternoon trafficto a halt.

"This is a very disruptive, small group of fanatics protesting because they were unable to persuade Californians of their position," said Frank Schubert, the campaign manager for Protect Marriage, the leading group being Proposition 8.

Gay rights activists produced a commercial that portrayed Mormom missionaries rifling through the home of a lesbian couple and marching off with their rings and their marriage licenses.

Schubert called the commercial a "blatant show of religious bigotry" because the protestors feel comfortable attacking a group that makes up a small percentage of the population.

"They think they can get away with it," he said, adding that other religious denominations are condemning the commercial.

The Mormon church denounced the ad.

"The church calls on those involved in the debate over same sex marriage to act in a spirit of mutual respect and civility towards each other," the church said in a statement. "No one on either side of the question should be vilified, intimidated, harassed or subject to erroneous information."

Gay rights activists accuse the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints of violating IRS rules prohibiting churches from donating to a political cause. The Mormon church says the money came from its members, and not the church as an institution.

More protests are expected to take place in Los Angeles and San Francisco. But gay rights activists acknowledge that their only hope of getting Prop 8 repealed lies with the California Supreme Court, which will consider at least three lawsuits seeking to keep gay marriage legal in the state.

Halloween Pics!

Halle picked out her own costume this year and she wanted to be Snow White. She got to dress up twice. Once for the ward party on Wednesday and then again for Halloween. She hated it at first and threw a huge fit but she ended up having a lot more fun at the ward party than on Halloween.

From October 2008

From October 2008

From October 2008

From October 2008

From October 2008

From October 2008

From October 2008

From October 2008

From October 2008

The Treatment of Bush Has Been a Disgrace And Some Great Glenn Beck Quotes

From the point of view of an investigative reporter and lawyer who previously interned with John F. Kerry's legal team during the presidential election in 2004.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122584386627599251.html

The Treatment of Bush Has Been a Disgrace
What must our enemies be thinking?
By JEFFREY SCOTT SHAPIRO

Earlier this year, 12,000 people in San Francisco signed a petition in support of a proposition on a local ballot to rename an Oceanside sewage plant after George W. Bush. The proposition is only one example of the classless disrespect many Americans have shown the president.

According to recent Gallup polls, the president's average approval rating is below 30% -- down from his 90% approval in the wake of 9/11. Mr. Bush has endured relentless attacks from the left while facing abandonment from the right.

This is the price Mr. Bush is paying for trying to work with both Democrats and Republicans. During his 2004 victory speech, the president reached out to voters who supported his opponent, John Kerry, and said, "Today, I want to speak to every person who voted for my opponent. To make this nation stronger and better, I will need your support, and I will work to earn it. I will do all I can do to deserve your trust."

Those bipartisan efforts have been met with crushing resistance from both political parties.

The president's original Supreme Court choice of Harriet Miers alarmed Republicans, while his final nomination of Samuel Alito angered Democrats. His solutions to reform the immigration system alienated traditional conservatives, while his refusal to retreat in Iraq has enraged liberals who have unrealistic expectations about the challenges we face there.

It seems that no matter what Mr. Bush does, he is blamed for everything. He remains despised by the left while continuously disappointing the right.

Yet it should seem obvious that many of our country's current problems either existed long before Mr. Bush ever came to office, or are beyond his control. Perhaps if Americans stopped being so divisive, and congressional leaders came together to work with the president on some of these problems, he would actually have had a fighting chance of solving them.
Like the president said in his 2004 victory speech, "We have one country, one Constitution and one future that binds us. And when we come together and work together, there is no limit to the greatness of America."

To be sure, Mr. Bush is not completely alone. His low approval ratings put him in the good company of former Democratic President Harry S. Truman, whose own approval rating sank to 22% shortly before he left office. Despite Mr. Truman's low numbers, a 2005 Wall Street Journal poll found that he was ranked the seventh most popular president in history.
Just as Americans have gained perspective on how challenging Truman's presidency was in the wake of World War II, our country will recognize the hardship President Bush faced these past eight years -- and how extraordinary it was that he accomplished what he did in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

The treatment President Bush has received from this country is nothing less than a disgrace. The attacks launched against him have been cruel and slanderous, proving to the world what little character and resolve we have. The president is not to blame for all these problems. He never lost faith in America or her people, and has tried his hardest to continue leading our nation during a very difficult time.

Our failure to stand by the one person who continued to stand by us has not gone unnoticed by our enemies. It has shown to the world how disloyal we can be when our president needed loyalty -- a shameful display of arrogance and weakness that will haunt this nation long after Mr. Bush has left the White House.

------------------------------------------------------

And also, some great quotes from Glenn Beck:
(I got this first one from Mike&Joelle's blog)

"Do you believe that Barack Obama is a centrist? No. The fact is he is the farthest left of anyone in congress. He is the most liberal in congress. But that's not the center. Al, that's not the center. You are right. America is the center and I said Barack Obama people are saying that he's going to govern from the center. And if that is true, that's great. Great. And I will support him. Without betraying my own values, I will support him. I will support him as the President, I will support every policy that he forwards that doesn't force me to betray my values. You can label it any way you want. I do label it Marxism when you are talking about the redistribution of wealth. Now, you may say that's hate mongering, you may say, well, how are you going to unite. I cannot unite around Marxism. And redistribution of wealth is Marxism. Look it up. Anyone who is saying we're going to redistribute the wealth and anyone who says they want the Constitution changed to take those blocks away is a Marxist. I don't believe that's where America is.


We're not the country of Jerry Falwell and we're not the country of Barack Obama, or I should say Nancy Pelosi because Barack Obama appears to be somebody who he's never been before. Let's take him at his face value that he's going to be a uniter, that he's going to rule from the center. Great. That's fantastic. I hope it's true. We're not Nancy Pelosi, we're not, you know, Jimmy Swaggart or anybody like that. We're in the center. We're center-right. Right now we're afraid. And when people are afraid, they panic. We have also raised a generation of people who have given trophies to their kids who came in 18th place. We have told them that there's nothing to strive for. You get it anyway, just by showing up, kid. "Look at you, you're special." No, you're not. No, you're not. Everybody is the same. It's what you do with your life. It's the choices that you make. We're all given the same kind of opportunity. We don't have the same skills. We don't have the same work ethic. We don't get the same results, but we have the same opportunity. That we can all agree on."

More good quotes from Glenn Beck:

http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/17858/

CALLER: You are sending some real mixed signals and I'm kind of wondering -- listen, I've been listening to you for weeks now.
GLENN: For weeks.
CALLER: And I've been listening to you tear down Barack Obama and vent him and state all the reasons why we should not vote for him. GLENN: Yes.

CALLER: Now you are saying that we need to make nice and accept him as our President.
GLENN: Yes.
CALLER: Until he does something wrong.
GLENN: Until what?
CALLER: Until he does something wrong, so to speak, or gives us a good reason, you know, not to stand behind him.

GLENN: Yes.
CALLER: I'm on the other side. He is not my President and I will not accept him as my President until he proves to me that the platform and all the issues and stuff that he has stated so far that he will not do those things.

GLENN: Well, how very un-American of you, Joe. Congratulations.
CALLER: No, I am an American and --
GLENN: No, no. No, Joe, how does America work? How does the election work? Explain that to me.

CALLER: Okay, well, let me -- okay. The election works by people electing who they want as their President.
GLENN: Yes. And when it is done, who is elected? The Democratic President or the Republican President? Or is it the American President?

CALLER: The one that gets elected.
GLENN: And what is he? Is he the Republican President or the Democratic President or is he the American President?
CALLER: I can't accept him as the American President.

GLENN: Well, Joe, then you're un-American because this is the way our system works, and this is -- you are exactly the kind of person that caused so much trouble with George W. Bush. When the Supreme Court decided the way our system works, when the Supreme Court decided you count the way you are supposed to count the votes, you guys set this up, the Democrats were the ones who set it up. So you've got to play by those rules. When they counted the votes the way they were supposed to be counted and even when they counted them the way that they were trying to get them to count, you know, and change the rules, George Bush still won, they still said, "Well, he's not my President; he was selected, not elected. No, the facts are he was elected the President of the United States through the Supreme Court and then the New York Times -- that crazy -- I mean, it might as well be reading the National Review. That crazy newspaper went back and counted them again and Al Gore still lost. And yet people said he's not my President. Well, that was the problem. And Joe, you are now the person that you most likely railed against in 2000. Barack Obama won. He is now our President. We do not sacrifice our values. We are not required to now become a socialist. We're now not required to stand up and fight for the things that he believes in if we disagree, but we understand that he is the President of the United States.

http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/17808/?ck=1

Glenn Beck: No Pity Party?
November 5, 2008 - 12:47 ET

GLENN: Stop the music because we're not going to have a pity party today. That's not where we're going. Today is not a day to have a pity party. Today is a day to look at this in perspective. Today is a day to turn the page, start all over again. Representative John Lewis said this yesterday, last night. Listen carefully to what he said.

REPRESENTATIVE LEWIS: When you really think about it, we have witnessed tonight in America again what I like to call a revolution of values, a revolution of ideas. There's been a transformation of American politics and it will have unbelievable influence on the politics of the world.

GLENN: Okay. He's exactly right. There was a revolution last night. It is the way America has revolutions. We don't have them with guns. We don't have them with violence. We have them at the voting booth, and it was a revolution last night.

How many people voted for Obama that were like, "You know what, I mean, let's just go for it. He's really going to do it." McCain was not a conservative on illegal immigration. McCain was not a conservative on small government, the bailout, capitalism. The only thing he had a record on was earmarks. And America now knows earmarks are ridiculous. Earmarks are a drop in the bucket compared to everything else that's piling up. It was John McCain that lost last night, the values and the principles of Ronald Reagan's Republican party were not rejected because there was no candidate representing them. This election was not about values or social issues. Look at gay adoption. Look at gay marriage. Look at abortion. For the most part the traditional values, anything that was on a ballot that had traditional values at stake, the traditional values stood. Traditional marriage was upheld. Arizona rejected the weakening of its illegal immigration law.

We are not that different. We are not the country of Nancy Pelosi. We are not the country of Jerry Falwell. We're the country of Ronald Reagan. Remember the Ronald Reagan Democrats. That's who we are.

New Car

We have been wanting a new car for a while because the gas we were using in our truck was costing as much as a car payment. We have been wanting an xB ever since they came out in 2004... so we got one and we love it. Our really good friend Rich wanted to buy back the truck that we bought from him almost 2 years ago, so it worked out great. He is involved in almost all of our car sales and purchases though. Before we bought the truck from him, he sold our Lexus for us. And before that, he bought our Jeep from us. He is always helping us out.
The guy we bought the xB from said it was getting 38 mpg in the city. And it only cost us $15 in gas to drive back to Snowflake from Mesa. Much better than $40 each way in our truck. Plus it is really roomy inside. It's a 2006, the last year they made that body style and we don't like the new ones.


More news:
-Congrats to Emma & Brennik on getting married!!!
-I am working again for the same family.
-Halloween is coming up and Halle is excited to be Snow White. :)

PICTURES!!!

I finally got all of our pictures from the end of July until now into our Picasa account!
I have a little more time this week because I haven't been working. The baby I usually watch 3 days a week is at home with her dad because he is out of work and trying to find something else. So I have no idea when they will need me again... kinda weird.
I posted a lot of cute pictures of Halle, like camping and playing and stuff. So check them out!

August 2008

September 2008

October 2008

Today I made a "Halloween Cheese Pizza" for Halle's lunch from a recipe I found on BettyCrocker.com. http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/recipe.aspx?recipeID=35909
I was surprised that it actually turned out kinda cute. I have been baking a lot more lately and trying to learn to make things I didn't know how to make before. This week I also made cinnamon rolls and Italian herb & cheese bread both from scratch. The cinnamon rolls were a HUGE hit with the whole family. :)

Hooray for new computers

My parents got a new computer! So new pictures will be coming soon!
And in a couple weeks we will have pictures from Emma & Brennik's wedding reception (10/17-18) too.

We still don't have our computer connected to the internet or anything because we don't know how long we will be staying with my parents. But our house in Gilbert is almost finished. Emma & Brennik will be living in it until they buy a house. Then it will be ready to rent and we will start looking for our own place up here. We originally planned to eventually move to Show Low, but that was before Jason found a job in Snowflake. So we will probably try to stay somewhat close to his job for now.

Everything is still going great. We are enjoying our jobs and the cool weather. I am deathly afraid of winter but trying not to think about it too much and just enjoy the 70-80 degree days while they last.

Halle did the sweetest thing!

On Monday night we had tostadas and Halle was eating refried beans. After everyone finished, Halle was in the bedroom watching a movie and wanted more beans so I got some and handed the bowl to her. Then she folded her arms and said "Say prayer again." I said, "You want to say prayer again?" And she said "Yeah", still folding her arms. So we knelt down by the bed and I said a short blessing on the beans and she repeated the words.

A few pictures...

Just a few from my phone since I can't get them off my camera with this old computer.

September 2008

Congratulations to Rachel and Jason!!! Their son Wyatt Cole Harker was born on September 1, 2008. Halle finally has a cousin! He is adorable.

Also, congratulations to Emma for graduating Cosmo! We knew you could do it!

And now for the BAD NEWS...
My parents' computer crashed. So while we wait for them to get a new one, we are using this really old ghetto one that freezes up all the time. So I won't be able to post all my pictures for a while. I can probably manage to post a couple now and then, but that might be pushing it. I have a lot of pictures that I can't even put on this old computer, let alone upload them.
We have our computer too, but it isn't connected to the internet yet. My parents have wireless internet, and we don't have a wireless card or anything. But maybe we will get one soon so we can function.

And more bad news - Lexie ran away. Last Tuesday when I got home from work, she was gone and Nigel was whining. Ever since we moved up here she has been digging out or climbing over the top of the 6 foot chain link fence, but she has always stayed close to the house. My mom saw her at lunch that day, so that means she disappeared in the middle of the afternoon. We are hoping someone saw her and took her in so we are going to put up fliers.
Nigel is really lonely and now I'm afraid if he gets out, he will run off too because he doesn't have a buddy. :(

Other than that, things are going great. We like our jobs, the weather is awesome, and we are making progress on our house Gilbert. We ride our lifted golf cart almost every night and Halle loves it. It's nice to have dirt roads and trails to ride on right around the house. We didn't get much chance to ride it in Gilbert because it was so much hassle to plan out when and where to go.

Emma graduated cosmetology last Saturday and we stopped by to see her on her last day before heading down to work on our house.
Hill got to come stay with us for 10 days before that, while Tyler was in Colorado training for his new job in Las Vegas. So maybe we will get to see them more often than when they lived closer???

Halle loves riding the horses and playing with all the animals. She doesn't especially love the baby I am babysitting, but she probably just gets bored. She likes to play with Veronica & Vanessa, the daughters of our friends in Show Low, so hopefully we will have time to see them more. And hopefully she will make some friends in our ward.

My dad is back in Snowflake now that his job in Safford is finished, so we are glad we get to see him more often. Especially Halle, because he can take her horseback riding more often.

We got to see our good friends Drew & Jessica on Saturday and that was really fun. Halle loved playing with their son Sy, who is almost 5. They played dress up and watched Incredibles while the grown-ups watched Baby Mama, haha. We miss you guys and hope to see you again soon!

August 2008

I'm starting my new job this week! Small towns are awesome. We moved to Snowflake on a weekend, and on Tuesday I got a call from someone who needed a nanny. It is a girl that I went to school with, and she is now a teacher and needing someone to watch her 8-month-old baby girl. Her mom will watch the baby 2 days a week so I will only be watching her 3 days a week, and I will have the awesome school schedule. I will always be off on evenings, weekends, and school holidays. At my last 2 jobs I had to work MORE on holidays. So it will be nice. And just one baby this time, instead of 2-3 rambunctious older kids. I'm excited.

Jason's new job is going really well. He gets to travel all over the White Mountains, and sometimes a little farther, like a couple weeks ago when he had to go to Gallup and Halle & I rode with him. Gallup was pretty scary, but it was fun going to see Greer afterwards. It is really pretty there. Jason doesn't have to do any hard labor like he did at his old job. And the people he works with are laid back and easy to get along with.

We are still living with my parents until we get our house in Gilbert finished. Then we are hoping to rent it out. With the market being so horrible right now, we figure we will just hang on to it until things get better.

We were able to go to Mesa on the 2nd & 3rd for the blessing of Brenton & Adree's baby, Bryson Brenton Lanar Jensen. He is adorable! It was so good to see them and be able to share the special occasion with them.

Last week we just got the news that my sister Hillary and her husband Tyler, are moving to Las Vegas! He is graduating Golf Pro school on the 16th and already has a job in Las Vegas starting on the 25th. We are really happy for them, but also sad that we won't get to see them as much. At least Las Vegas isn't near as far as some other people we know that live in PROVO! :) I am also a little jealous that they will get to go to my favorite Temple whenever they want. I guess I will have to go visit a lot.

Halle is still adjusting to being up here and sometimes wonders why we aren't going "home". But she is having fun with all the animals and the 8 acres to run around on so I think she'll be ok. She is making new friends, too. Last weekend we had dinner with our friends Greg & Susana and their 2 daughters, Veronica, who is almost 8, and Vanessa, who is almost 5. I worked with Greg at the Pawn Shop in Show Low before I got married (6 years ago!) and got to be friends with their family. Their girls are a little older than Halle but they didn't seem to mind and neither did she.

We hope everyone else is doing great too! Don't forget to keep in touch!


P.S. More pictures will be posted at the end of the month.

July 2008 Pictures

I finally got the rest of the pictures off my camera that have been on there for over a month.

June 2008

July 2008

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Moving 7/10:


Lunch at Sweet Cakes Cafe in Mesa 7/11:


Pioneer Day Parade 7/19:


Pioneer Day Fireworks 7/19:


Rainy Day in Snowflake 7/21:

We Moved!

Yep, it actually happened. Jason started his new job on Monday and I am trying to unpack all the stuff that we need while we are staying at my parents' house. Luckily they had enough room for us to store most of our furniture and stuff in the garage. Halle keeps wondering why we aren't going home but other than that she loves running around the huge yard and playing with horses, dogs, cats, tortoises, quail, toads, and bugs. We still have some things to do at our house in Gilbert so we will be there on weekends a lot. But not this weekend. This weekend is the best weekend of the year! In my opinion, anyway. It's pioneer day, our family reunion, and the celebration of my mom's birthday. We always all get together and go to at least the pioneer day parade and whatever else we can. There are tons of activies all day on Saturday and some on Friday. We didn't get to watch fireworks on the 4th since we were too busy packing up our house but we will get to watch them tomorrow. :) My family has been coming to Snowflake for the pioneer day parade ever since I was little and we lived in Mesa, not every year but often enough for me to remember it. And for some reason I just love it.
The next 2 weekends after this one, we will be in Mesa/Gilbert working on our house and getting some more stuff. And Adree & Brenton are blessing baby Bryson on the 3rd so we will definitely be there for that.

Congrats to Adree & Brenton on their new baby boy!
Bryson Brenton Lanar Jensen was born on Tuesday, July 15, 2008 at 5:19 AM - 7lbs 9oz and 19.5 in.
I'm an aunt! Kinda...

Moving!

It all happened pretty fast... Construction work has been slow in the valley and we had been talking about moving to the mountains for a couple years... But we really thought it would be a few more years before it actually happened!
The company my mom works for in Snowflake got new management and had some openings, and Jason applied and got an interview right away and got hired on the spot. They said he could start any time, but we wanted to give Jason's dad some notice and also have a couple weeks to pack and finish remodeling our house, so he starts on the 14th. It is a really good position with a company truck, benefits, and little to no hard labor, which is definitely a change for the better.
We are going to rent out our house in Gilbert and stay with my parents until we find a place of our own up there.
This is a really huge change for us and it doesn't really even seem real yet. I have already lived back down here in the valley for longer than I ever lived in Snowflake! And we will really miss being close to so many of our friends and family. Jason's parents and brothers and sisters are all down here, both of my sisters, my Grandparents, and all of our friends.
We will definitely have to come down a lot to see everyone. :)

Twilight

After hearing how awesome Twilight was from almost everyone I talked to, including ladies in my ward, I had to read it. Hill bought it and read it fast and then let me read it next. She brought it over on her lunch break on Wednesday, June 11 and I started reading at about 1:30. I finished it on Thursday, June 12 at 10:30 p.m. I get kinda addicted to books I read and tend to forget that I have a life other than that. :)
But besides the fact that I already liked vampires and love stories, I could actually kinda relate to this story. When I was a junior in high school, I moved from a big high school in the Phoenix area to a small town high school where people had already heard of me and knew my family. At my new school everything they were teaching was review of what I had already learned at my old school. I don't like snow. I'm not athletic, I'm not outgoing, I drove an old truck for my first vehicle. :) Too bad there weren't any vampires at my school.
I couldn't wait for my sister to finish New Moon, so I bought it the next Monday and finished it on Wednesday. I bought Eclipse too, but I decided to pace myself since Breaking Dawn isn't coming out until August.
Now I am reading Gone with the Wind again. I have always liked it a lot but it is not a page-turner like Twilight.

I can't wait to see the movie in December. And I found some other interesting info on the http://stepheniemeyer.com website...

How she thought of the story:
http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/twilight.html

Pictures of a forest near Forks:
http://www.terragalleria.com/parks/np.olympic.3.html

The Forks website:
(I had been wondering if Forks was real and what it really looked like)
http://www.forks-web.com/index.html

Info on the movie:
http://www.twilightthemovie.com/
http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/twilight_movie.html

Clip from the movie:
http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?vid=237340

New Furniture

Yay! We have been needing new couches for a long time and Jason found these awesome ones on craigslist. Our first couches we bought since we've been together. :)



I love craigslist. We have bought and sold so many things on there. Tortoises, stove, pianos, refrigerators, 4 wheeler, couches, beds, tables, tile saw, TV...

Baby Born Twice

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/24999650/?GT1=43001

Medical marvel: Baby Macie Hope was born twice
Returned to womb after life-saving surgery, she arrived 10 weeks later

By Mike Celizic

When Chad and Keri McCartney say their infant daughter, Macie Hope, is born again, they aren’t referring to religion — the month-old miracle baby really was born twice.

The first “birth” was about six months into Keri McCartney’s pregnancy, when surgeons at Texas Children’s Hospital took the tiny fetus from Keri’s womb to remove a tumor that would have killed Macie before she was born.

The second time was on May 3, when the McCartneys welcomed their surgically repaired — and perfectly healthy — baby girl into the world.

The happy couple talked exclusively to TODAY’s Ann Curry on Friday from the hospital, where they were joined by Dr. Darrell Cass, the fetal surgeon who led the team that performed a surgery that has been successfully completed fewer than 20 times around the world. In Macie’s case, he said, “We were very, very fortunate. It really turned out perfectly.”

The McCartneys’ story began in Keri’s 23rd week of pregnancy, when the couple took their entire family to their obstetrician’s office to discover the sex of the baby Keri was carrying.

“We had our whole family,” Chad McCartney told Curry. “Our four kids had piled into the van, and we headed to our routine ultrasound to find out what the sex of the baby was going to be. That was the big discussion on the way up, so there was lots of excitement.”

A deadly revelation
Everyone went into the ultrasound room, eager to see the image of the fetus displayed on the screen. “All of a sudden the ultrasound tech had a very concerned look on her face,” Chad said. “She rushed our kids out of the room and then informed us there was a large mass on our baby.”

The ultrasound image showed what looked like a balloon growing out of Macie’s tailbone — except that it was full of blood vessels and was as big as the fetus itself. The tumor was noncancerous ... but still deadly.

“This tumor was gigantic,” Cass said. “It was the size of a grapefruit.”

The McCartneys’ obstetrician had never seen such a tumor in all her years of practice. After some research, she discovered that Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston — six hours away from the family’s Laredo home — was one of only three hospitals in the world that specialized in such conditions.

“This is incredibly rare. It’s about one in 40,000 births,” Cass said. “Many times, these tumors can grow and remain small and they don’t really affect the fetus very significantly. In Macie’s instance, this tumor grew incredibly rapidly … and basically it was stealing the blood that her body needed to grow. She would have died if nothing had been done.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/24999650/?GT1=43001

A fitting name Keri and Chad went home with the desperate prognosis and decided they needed to name their infant right then.
“We both made a decision that we have a name for her, because we had been told that there was less than a 10 percent chance that she was going to make it,” Chad McCartney said, fighting back tears as he told the story. “We wanted to pick a name that would be appropriate, so we named her Macie Hope — because that was all we felt we had.”
They went to Houston for the surgery, which Cass described, with a surgeon’s understatement, as “tricky.”
“It required that Mrs. McCartney went under a very, very deep anesthesia, about seven times deeper than the average operation,” he said. “That’s necessary in order to have the uterus very, very relaxed.”
He and two other surgeons opened Keri’s abdomen and brought her uterus entirely outside her body. “We had to find an area of the uterus that we could open safely so that we didn’t disturb the placenta,” he explained.
When they found such a place, they opened the relaxed womb and extracted about 80 percent of Macie Hope’s body — which weighed no more than a quarter of a pound — leaving just the head and upper body in the womb. Exposing the fetus to the air carried the danger that she would go into cardiac arrest, and the surgeons worked quickly to remove the tumor and return Macie to the safety of the womb.
That part of the four-hour procedure took about 20 minutes. The surgeons then had to carefully close up the uterus so that it would be watertight, to keep the amniotic fluid from leaking out.
“Then we had to hope that the pregnancy was going to last,” Cass added.
Born againThat hope was also answered. Macie Hope didn’t make it the entire nine months, but, Cass said, “The pregnancy lasted another 10 weeks, which allowed Macie to recover from this tumor that had been killing her.”
On May 3, Macie Hope was born again, this time to stay. She and her mother have remained at Texas Medical Center since as they both fully recover from the miracle surgery. Macie still has a large scar on her backside, which surgeons say can be repaired when she gets older.
Keri and Chad McCartney were expecting to take their miracle baby home on Saturday, and they couldn’t have been happier.
“We are doing great,” Keri McCartney told Curry. “I am so excited to think that we’re leaving tomorrow.”
She cradled Macie Hope in her arms. The infant, sporting a thick head of hair, slept through it all, prompting her mother to say, “Obviously she is completely at peace and content with it all.”
More on this story
Slideshow: Baby Macie's incredible journey

Miscellaneous Useful Information

 

Peel a banana from the bottom and you won't have to pick the little 'stringy things' off of it. That's how the primates do it. Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster. Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not mold! Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating. Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking. Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking. To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up. For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints in double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty frosting.  (You can also place the unwrapped mints right on top of the hot brownie.  When they melt just spread them around.  I've got a cookie recipe that does it this way.  Much easier.) Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic. Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simple chop them up with the food chop per. Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes!!! Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream. 1. Reheat Pizza Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works. (This works real good.  I usually spray the skillet first.  Also a good way to reheat French fries.) 2. Easy Deviled Eggs Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done easy clean up. 3. Expanding Frosting When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving. 4. Reheating refrigerated bread To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster. 5. Newspaper weeds away Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will not get through wet newspapers. 6. Broken Glass Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't see easily. 7. No More Mosquitoes Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away. 8. Squirrel Away! To keep squirrels from eating your plants sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it. 9. Flexible vacuum To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings. 10. Reducing Static Cling Pin a small l safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and -- ta da! -- static is gone. 11. Measuring Cups Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out. 12. Foggy Windshield? Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car. When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth! 13. Reopening envelope If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Viola! It unseals easily. 14. Conditioner Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's a lot cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair... 15. Goodbye Fruit Flies To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass fill it 1/2' with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid, mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever! 16. Get Rid of Ants Put small piles of cornmeal (or uncooked grits) where you see ants. They eat it, take it 'home,' can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works & you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed! 17. INFO ABOUT CLOTHES DRYERS The heating unit went out on my dryer ! The gentleman that fixes things around the house for us told us that he wanted to show us something and he went over to the dryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean. (I always clean the lint from the filter a after every load clothes.) He told us that he wanted to show us something; he took the filter over to the sink, ran hot water over it. The lint filter is made of a mesh material - I'm sure you know what your dryer's lint filter looks like. Well,...the hot water just sat on top of the mesh! It didn't go through it at all! He told us that dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh that's what burns out the heating unit. You can't SEE the film, but it's there. It's what is in the dryer sheets to make your clothes soft and static free -- that nice fragrance too, you know how they can feel waxy when you take them out of the box, well this stuff builds up on your clothes and on your lint screen. This is also what causes dryer units to catch fire & potentially burn y our house down with it! He said the best way to keep your dryer working for a very long time (& to keep your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out & wash it with hot soapy water & an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six months. He said that makes the life of the dryer at least twice as long! How about that!?! Learn something new everyday! I certainly didn't know dryer sheets would do that. So, I thought I'd share! Note: I went to my dryer & tested my screen by running water on it. The water ran through a little bit but mostly collected all the water in the mesh screen. I washed it with warm soapy water & a nylon brush & I had it done in 30 seconds. Then when I rinsed it the water ran right thru the screen! There wasn't any puddling at all! That repairman knew what he was talking about!  We tried this and it's really true.  (When I sent this to my cousin she immediately replied to tell me her daughter had a fire in her dryer from this very thing.  We tried it and the water didn't go through.) PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO OTHER PEOPLE IN YOUR ADDRESS BOOK. NOT ONLY COULD IT SAVE SOMEONE'S HOME, BUT IT COULD SAVE SOMEONE'S LIFE.   I'm adding a few other hints I have used and really like.   Treating Sunburn - Mix equal parts of olive oil, cider vinegar and, yes, rubbing alcohol.  Place in a spray bottle and spritz on the burn.  It is very healing and soothing.  The alcohol helps to dry up any little blisters.   To get onion smell of your hands simply rub a piece of stainless steel flat wear on your hands and the smell will be completely gone without even washing your hands.  It's unbelievable!  I have a stainless steal sink and sometimes just rub my hands on it.    A really good facial cleanser - Mix equal parts of Witch Hazel, and once again,  Rubbing Alcohol.  I've used this for years and it's really cheap as well.

 

 

Bananas

A professor at CCNY for a physiological psych class told his class about bananas. He said the expression 'going bananas' is from the effects of bananas on the brain.
Read on:
Never, put your banana in the refrigerator!!!
This is interesting. After reading this, you'll never look at a banana in the same way again.
Bananas contain three natural sugars - sucrose, fructose and glucose combined with fiber. A banana gives an instant, sustained and substantial boost of energy.
Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout. No wonder the banana is the number one fruit with the world's leading athletes. But energy isn't the only way a banana can help us keep fit. It can also help overcome or prevent a substantial number of illnesses and conditions, making it a must to add to our daily diet.

Depression:

According to a recent survey undertaken by MIND amongst people suffering from depression, many felt much better after eating a banana. This is because bananas contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, known to make you relax, improve your mood and generally make you feel happier.

PMS:

Forget the pills - eat a banana. The vitamin B6 it contains regulates blood glucose levels, which can affect your mood.

Anemia:

High in iron, bananas can stimulate the production of hemoglobin in the blood and so helps in cases of anemia.

Blood Pressure:

This unique tropical fruit is extremely high in potassium yet low in salt, making it perfect to beat blood pressure. So much so, the US Food and Drug Administration has just allowed the banana industry to make official claims for the fruit's ability to reduce the risk of blood pressure and stroke.

Brain Power:

200 students at a Twickenham (Middlesex) school ( England) were helped through their exams this year by eating bananas at breakfast, break, and lunch in a bid to boost their brain power. Research has shown that the potassium-packed fruit can assist learning by making pupils more alert.

Constipation:

High in fiber, including bananas in the diet can help restore normal bowel action, helping to overcome the problem without resorting to laxatives.

Hangovers:

One of the quickest ways of curing a hangover is to make a banana milkshake, sweetened with honey The banana calms the stomach and, with the help of the honey, builds up depleted blood sugar levels, while the milk soothes and re-hydrates your system.

Heartburn:

Bananas have a natural antacid effect in the body, so if you suffer from heartburn, try eating a banana for soothing relief.

Morning Sickness:

Snacking on bananas between meals helps to keep blood sugar levels up and avoid morning sickness.

Mosquito bites:

Before reaching for the insect bite cream, try rubbing the affected area with the inside of a banana skin. Many people find it amazingly successful at reducing swelling and irritation.

Nerves:

Bananas are high in B vitamins that help calm the nervous system. Overweight and at work? Studies at the Institute of Psychology in Austria found pressure at work leads to gorging on comfort food like chocolate and chips. Looking at 5,000 hospital patients, researchers found the most obese were more likely to be in high-pressure jobs. The report concluded that, to avoid panic-induced food cravings, we need to control our blood sugar levels by snacking on high carbohydrate foods every two hours to keep levels steady.

Ulcers:

The banana is used as the dietary food against intestinal disorders because of its soft texture and smoothness. It is the only raw fruit that can be eaten without distress in over-chronicler cases. It also neutralizes over-acidity and reduces irritation by coating the lining of the stomach.

Temperature control:

Many other cultures see bananas as a 'cooling' fruit that can lower both the physical and emotional temperature of expectant mothers. In Thailand , for example, pregnant women eat bananas to ensure their baby is born with a cool temperature.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD):

Bananas can help SAD sufferers because they contain the natural mood enhancer tryptophan.

Smoking &Tobacco Use:

Bananas can also help people trying to give up smoking. The B6, B12 they contain, as well as the potassium and magnesium found in them, help the body recover from the effects of nicotine withdrawal.

Stress:

Potassium is a vital mineral, which helps normalize the heartbeat, sends oxygen to the brain and regulates your body's water balance. When we are stressed, our metabolic rate rises, thereby reducing our potassium levels.. These can be rebalanced with the help of a high-potassium banana snack.

Strokes:

According to research in The New England Journal of Medicine, eating bananas as part of a regular diet can cut the risk of death by strokes by as much as 40%!

Warts:

Those keen on natural alternatives swear that if you want to kill off a wart, take a piece of banana skin and place it on the wart, with the yellow side out. Carefully hold the skin in place with a plaster or surgical tape!
So, a banana really is a natural remedy for many ills. When you compare it to an apple, it has four times the protein, twice the carbohydrate, three times the phosphorus, five times the vitamin A and iron, and twice the other vitamins and minerals.
It is also rich in potassium and is one of the best value foods around So maybe its time to change that well-known phrase so that we say, 'A banana a day keeps the doctor away
PS: Bananas must be the reason monkeys are so happy all the time!

sunscreen

I have always wondered about this and I saw it on the M&J Show this morning. The SPF rating on sunscreen is only for UVB rays, not UVA. UVA's cause aging effects and UVB's cause sunburn. Both can cause skin cancer. There are sunscreens that protect against both UVA & UVB, but they aren't regulated by a rating yet. So it's difficult to really know what you are getting. Consumer Reports did a study on it and found that No-Ad brand SPF 45 was the "best buy" choice for protecting against both UVA & UVB rays.

The price of sunscreen had no relation to how well it blocked the rays. Even brands that can only be purchased from a dermatologist were tested. Creams and lotions worked better than sprays, only because sprays aren't applied as thick. A higher SPF rating doesn't mean better protection. It just means you can stay out in the sun longer before reapplying. For example, if you can usually only stay in the sun 10 minutes before getting burned, an SPF 30 will allow you to stay in the sun 30 times that long, or 300 minutes. So if you have a lower SPF, just reapply more often. And of course, if you will be in the water, waterproof sunscreen is a better choice.

Consumer Reports Sunscreen Report

Consumer Search Sunscreen Report

May 2008

Emma's Graduation
Congratulations, Emma! We knew you could do it! ;)

Graduation got rained out and moved to the gym. I have never heard of that happening before, it was really weird for it to rain that much in May. So it was all crowded and hot and stuffy in there and the talks were long but luckily there were only like 200 students graduating.
Adree's Baby Shower

I only get to see Adree like 2 or 3 times a year now that she lives freakin far! So I was glad that I got to help with the shower. I got this really awesome chicken salad sandwich recipe from Chandra and I made it the night before and it took like 3 hours but it was totally worth it. Emma was also staying with us that weekend so Hill & Emma got to go to the shower too. Adree got lots of cool presents and I'm so happy for her and excited to meet Bryson!
Mother's Day

My mom came down the Friday & Saturday before Mother's Day so we all went out to dinner at Outback with my mom and grandma. Then on Sunday, we had dinner with Jason's family. So we got to spend time with both sides of the family. Jason and Halle gave me flowers and chocolate. :)
More Pictures:

May 2008