Exactly where General Washington almost lost the Revolutionary War (the Battle of Brooklyn) before it even began, I will be hosting a bloggersnacker of revolutionary proportions. This would hopefully include all of those who have in any way been affected by said Revolutionary War (D.C. and Boston bloggers I’m looking right at you (even you DKL)) as well as those who have profited directly from its spoils (all you greedy New Yorkers).

The loyal patriot John Dehlin will be in town for a conference in May so I figured we could do it then. If we want to include John in the festivities we’ll have to do it either Sunday afternoon/evening May 20th or Wednesday evening the 23rd. If we don’t care about him (and really, who does?) then we can do it whenever it’s most convenient for us.

Let me know in the comments if you’d like to come and when is convenient. I’m trying to get this out early enough that you can plan your family trips to New York in May.

And yes, there will be cheese.

A few lies I’ve told recently (and won’t repent for): (more…)

In my previous post I talked about how I struggle with prayer itself. I also struggle with what to pray about. (more…)

Tithing is easy. Fasting is a piece of cake. Fast offering – no problem. Thou shalt not kill – a no brainer. Love God – sure. Scripture study – I love it. FHE when we had kids at home was a challenge, but not too bad. Home teaching, good companion, good families so it’s done monthly.

But prayer! UGH now that’s hard. (more…)

They’re old enough that you don’t feel stupid when they beat you at videogames. Much.
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Would you rather have a good home/visiting teaching companion and difficult families/sisters to visit OR have a difficult companion and easy families/sisters to visit?

Why?

Maybe its because I’m surrounded by artifice. Maybe its because I was up at 3am meeting a deadline hopped up on cough syrup. Either way, this image on the front page of the New York Times brought a tear to my eye.

I thought of Alma’s words: all things denote there is a God. The earth is one of His greatest witnesses. Lets take care of it.

Yes, I know free agency isn’t free, that it was paid for with Christ’s blood, thank you for the reminder. But guess what, the “free” in free agency isn’t the “100% discount” variety of free, rather it’s of the “freedom” variety. You know, like, you are free to raise your hand in Gospel Doctrine and tell everyone to not call it “free agency” and I’m free to write a blog post making fun of you.

When I saw the title for this article on slate.com, “Teams We Hate: Duke, Eastern Kentucky, and 11 other odious schools in this year’s NCAA Tournament,” I got a sinking feeling. I was sure BYU was going to be listed. Slate is a left-leaning secularist publication that loves to sneer at anything and everything, especially the religious and the Right, and the BYU snark practically writes itself: pasty white religioius freaks who go about bothering people in their homes and who would suck if they didn’t have older players and token blacks. Plus, there are plenty of BYU alums to hate on, both in the basketball world (Shawn Bradley, Danny Ainge) and in the political world (Mitt Romney, Kyle Sampson). Add to that my paranoia that stems from my vivid memory of a mid-90′s Sports Illustrated cover that had the phrase, “BYU is Hated,” highlighted in vibrant red, and I was already composing in my head my response for Slate’s discussion forum before I even read the article. (more…)

A friend of mine in the ward has a 5-year old son who is in kindergarden this year. They were recently learning about Martin Luther King Jr.. The son came home asking his parents about King and then had an important question: (more…)

The results are in, the evidence is clear, the world thinks I rock and you suck. The website Sucks-Rocks rates search terms based on how much they suck or rock. (They say that it searches the web for negative phrases such as X sucks, X is lame, X is crap, I hate X and positive phrases X rocks, X is sweet, X is awesome, I love X)

I love it when scientific polls prove how great I am. The following is just a small sampling of how much you all suck more than I do (the lower the number the more you suck): (more…)

For FHE we took two of our sons to see “Amazing Grace”. What a great movie.

A couple of things came out of our discussion about it. (more…)

Just to be clear, Mitt Romney is probably 5th or 6th on the list of candidates I would vote for in 2008. I offer him this advice only because I wish and hope people would realize the beauty of the restored gospel. Sure, all the mis-understood weird stuff is what the media are really going to throw at him. But as the race heats up, I offer our doctrine of the after-life as the most important doctrine Mitt Romney can share with the country. (more…)

When I attend the Temple I do try and listen carefully or try and look at things differently to get a new perspective. I’ve listened and thought what if everything Satan says is a total lie. Then I would listen as if everything he said was almost totally true.

I thought of something different last night. Which temple covenants am I under? I took out my endowment before the big changes in the endowment took place. (more…)

“Last one there’s a rotten egg!”

To my older kids, this was just a fun way to instigate a race from the car to the front door when we got home from somewhere. To my youngest, this was torture. He hates to lose anything. And being the smallest, he was always the last one to the door.

He also heard it wrong and thought they were saying “a rotten pig.”

After a few times of always being the rotten pig, he began to get very upset. To head off a full-flown temper tantrum, my husband and I acted quickly. We told him it was a good thing to be the rotten pig. We acted excited that he was the rotten pig. Thankfully, our youngest decided to go along with that.

It became the best thing to be the rotten pig. The thrill of racing to the door wore off, but for years the last one in would still gleefully say, “I’m the rotten pig!”

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