A Worthy Cause

This is something my sister in law wrote on her blog but feel I need to share with as many people as I can. Again...please get out and vote this year.

Those of you who are from or have family in California are probably familiar with the importance of the upcoming vote on proposition 8. I know the same measure is on the ballot in a few other states as well all though i am not sure of the number. But all should be informed. The proposition seeks to restore the definition of Marriage. This is not an attack on gays and in NO WAY does it eliminate their rights. "domestic partners shall have the same rights, protections and benefits" as married spouses. (Family Code Sect. 297.5). This will not change. This is about protecting our children.
In 2000 proposition 22 was voted on and 61% of californians voted to reaffirm the traditional definition of marriage as being between a man and woman. Then after a lot of money and lobbying, 4 activist judges in our state supreme court overturned the will of the people in a contoversial 3-4 decision.
You might think- who cares? This doesn't really affect me. So untrue. First and foremost the Prophet and First Presidency of the Church have asked the members of the church to give of all of the time, money and resources they can to help pass this initiative. Every stake has been instructed to organize routes with the help of a coalition of Christian churches to go door to door on saturdays to encourage people to register and vote yes on prop 8. It is that important. If you're familiar with the LDS church, you know that the leaders very rarely involve themselves in politics in any way. This is different. This affects us as members of the church, immensely.
Some of the consequences of a failed proposition would be:
-Children in public schools will be taught that families can be 2 dads or 2 moms or one of each and all are ok. ( education code 51890)
-churches and clergy can legally be sued if they do not allow same-sex marriages in their facilities or do not wish to perform them.
-religious adoption agencies(church social services) will be restricted from placing children only in homes with a father and a mother.
-religions that sponsor private schools like BYU will not only no longer be able to deny admissions to gays based on the honor code, but will be required to provide housing for same-sex couples.
-ministers who preach against homosexuality could be sued for "hate-speech" and can be fined by the government. This has already happened in Canada.

Please get involved where you can. Vote Yes on proposition 8.

I have been tagged

Okay I have been tagged now a few times and have always managed to get out of them but I am actually going to do it this time. Both Lisa and Linds tagged me with 2 different lists so I am going to combine them and make my own! Here it goes...

8 T.V. shows I love to watch:
The Hills
Heros
The Office
30 Rock
Desperate Housewives
Ugly Betty
Lost
Oprah
...thank goodness for DVR. There are still so many more shows.

8 Favorite Restaurants:
Olive Garden
Red Robin....mmmmm bottomless fries!
Ruby River
Carrabas
Outback
Cafe Rio
Chef's Table
Tahoe Joe's

8 Things that happened yesterday:
Woke up at 8:30
Cleaned the kitchen
Took kids to the park
Ate lunch at the park
Went to see Melissa and the kids
Went to another park
Went to Taco Bell
Gave kids a bath (I also showered yesterday)

8 Things I look forward to:
Halloween
My birthday
Thanksgiving
Anniversary
A vacation with my husband
Christmas Shopping
Seeing my kids on Christmas Day
Seeing "Twilight" the movie.

8 Things I love about fall:
Changing Leaves
Sweaters, boots and scarves
Pumpkin carving
Hot Chocolate
Thanksgiving
Cooler Temps!
Baking Day
Apple Cider

8 Things on My Wish list:
Another baby...someday
Good health for my family
Someday more money
A house with a yard
Kids that get along
Obedient kids
Traveling with my husband
A vacation with my sisters and Mom

8 Joys:
Brian
Braxton
Peyton
Family
Holidays
Sleeping in
Going on Dates
Good Friends

Fears:
Car accidents
Loosing someone I love
Me leaving me children motherless
Spiders, bees, cockroaches, and all other insects
Going outside when it is dark
Sleeping in my house alone
Raising Children
Large amounts of water

Current obsessions/collections:
Playing with Photoshop
Eating!
This one is hard...pass

Surprising facts:
I am #8 of 11 children (That might not be that surprising)
I can do formal up do's for hair
I collect shoes. I have had some shoes for years that I have never worn but plan on it someday.
I have a hard time getting rid of things or throwing things away.
I love to cook and bake but don't because I hate to do dishes.
I don't try things if I know it is a guarantee I will not win or succeed. I am trying to change that.
I can sew
I love making lists

I tag Carrie Kindt and Brittany Walker

Poor Baby!

My poor baby was sick this past week. It started on Saturday. Tuesday I took him to the doctor and he said he had the flu. He had really high fevers over the next couple of days and his stomach aches seemed to worsen. He just laid in pain on my bed all day long crying and rolling around in pain. It was horrible to watch. On Friday I took him back to the doctor when I saw he had a 103 fever. By the time we got there it was 105. Their thermometer came back as "too high to register". We had to do some blood tests and a couple of other tests. Then they sent me to the hospital to do some x-rays. He was such a good boy and said "CHEEEESE" when we laid him on the x-ray table. It came back that he had pneumonia. We went back to the doctor for some shots and medicine. When the nurse gave him the shot he said, "Did you cut my leg open?" He was crying and said "That's okay...I'm not mad at you!" He is doing much better now! I accidentally over dosed him so he was able to get a really good 17 hours of sleep, was awake for an hour and then fell back to sleep for a while. I called my Best Friend Lindsay who is the best pharmacist that I personally know and she told me the amounts I gave him were wrong. I was only to give him 10 mls in 24 hours tops. I had given him 12 in 18 hours. Ooops. In my defense I think he really needed the sleep!

The Dress List

There is this new website called thedresslist.com Some friends of ours have started it so people can sell or rent their wedding dresses or formals. There is no cost to post or sell. I know that I have had some old formals in the closet that I will never wear again. I think it is a great idea. I have a friend who wants to post all of her old pageant dresses. I actually rented my wedding dress because I didn't see any point of buying when I was only going to wear it once. If you are interested click

here

They also have places for you to advertise your services for a low cost. If you are in the wedding business at all, it is a great place to do that as well. The website is just getting started but I think it is going to be big in no time. They are going to a lot of schools and cities to get the name out there. Check it out.

I found this on Dani's blog. I thought it looked like fun.

You Belong in 1956

You're fun loving, romantic, and more than a little innocent. See you at the drive in!

http://www.blogthings.com/whatyeardoyoubelonginquiz/">What Year Do You Belong In?

Happy Birthday Dear Braxton....

I know this sound totally cliche but I cannot believe my baby is 4 years old. I really have taken so much for granted and wish I could go back to days that I will never have back.

We tried to make Braxton's birthday extra fun for him. We have been planning it for weeks now. Braxton and I started a couple of weeks ago looking for a cake. He decided on this dinosaur one. I was kind of scared thinking it looked a little hard, but it ended up being really easy. I have tried to make it a tradition for my kids to make their birthday cakes. Not that they care but I really want to make their birthday's special. His first birthday it was a puppy, second-elmo, third-train, and now a dino. I theme it around what they are interested in that year so I can always remember what age they liked different things at.

I had to wake up super early....well 7:00 to run to the store to get powdered sugar so I could finish making the frosting. Braxton woke up shortly after. I sang happy birthday and he ran into our bedroom to wake Brian up telling him he wanted to open his presents. I always go over board and this year was no exception. It makes it all worth it when you see the faces light up though.

We later had a party with some friends and cousins that he chose to come (it was his first friend party and I don't know if I want to ever do another one). We went to Jumpin Jacks then back to the house for a dinosaur hunt and pin the horn on the triceratops. We had a lot of fun and really enjoyed every bit of it. He loved all the gifts he received from friends.

He did receive an early gift from Grandma Hawkins and Aunt Missy yesterday. I told them he needed winter clothes more than toys. He asked me if he could open it up (it was in a bag). He pulled the tissue paper out and said, "where is the present?" I told him that was the present. He pulled out the shirt with a weird look and said, "No this is a shirt!" and then put it down and ran off. I loved the present though. Thanks Grandma and Missy.

First Day of Preschool

Well today was the first day of Braxton's second year of preschool. He was really missing his teacher Miss Tiffany and was happy to be back. He was really excited when he found his name all over the class room. He told me "Miss Tiffany knows my name!"

Boyz II Men

I absolutely love Boyz II Men. We bought tickets for the concert and then Brian and Tim had were given VIP passes a couple of hours before from someone they do business with. I was so excited!! We went to a dinner before and met the Boyz. The concert was a lot of fun as well. We had great seats and I know they were singing to me the whole time.

I know it looks like Tim was just trying to jump into the picture to be cool but he really was invited.

FHE

We had a really fun Family Home Evening with some friends on Monday. We went into the canyon for a small hot dog roast and smores. We attempted to tell them the Joseph Smith Story and then let them find some of their own brass plates (or in this case, cheep silver aluminium plates). They had a lot of fun playing together.

I love Brian's face in this picture.

Goofy pictures

Braxton wanted to be silly and take funny pictures of us together. I tried letting him do it but every picture had his thumb in it. He thinks these are pretty great.

Little photographer

Braxton's new favorite thing is to take pictures with my tiny little camera. He is getting really creative and trying out new things by getting the dramatic look of close-ups. I love that he tried new things by changing the camera mode to Black and White. Something he did all on his own! Whether it was intentional or not...who knows.

Mama Mia!

Brian and I went to see Mama Mia and loved it! Well I loved it and I loved watching Brian's face every time a new song came on. I was planning on going with girl friends that would enjoy it as much as me. I then changed my mind when I needing a brutal punishment for Brian after buying himself something that I did not think was a good purchase. I decided that part of his punishment would be to sit through the movie that I knew he would despise most. It was worth every minute. He was especially embarrassed when I started dancing and singing, (there were only 4 other people in the theater...not because the movie was bad but because it was very, very late in the local theater that does not get much business).

Needless to say I think he learned his lesson and will think twice before making a purchase like that again. Or at least call me first!

Family Reunions

We had a lot of fun going to family reunions for both sides of the family this past week. The time with Brian's family started off with golf for the guys, and spa treatments for the girls.
We then headed up to Idaho to stay in a cabin on Lake Cascade. We were able to go jet skiing, water skiing, wake boarding and get pulled on the tube. It was Braxton's first experience on the tube and he loved it. Especially when I got thrown off and he managed to hold on. Thanks Aunt Jenn.

(Peyton enjoying himself once again!)

Noorlander Family Reunion

It has been so long since all my siblings have been together. I don't remember a time that every single cousin was together. With the exception of Kyle who is on a mission all my siblings were able to meet together this weekend. We started off with a girls night out (Tiffany could not make it)

and then a day full of fun on Saturday. Paintballing, a huge breakfast, swimming, a magician, 4 wheeling, basketball, kite flying and a BBQ to end the day. My kids were lucky enough to have been with all 26 of their cousins in one weeks time. I was proud of my husband who made it into the public pool for the first time since I have been married to him. He has a phobia with public pools but got into the spirit by doing a couple tricks off the diving board.