Happy Thanksgiving!

And here follows the obligatory gratitude post. ;)

But seriously, I have a lot to be thankful for. If you're friends with me on Facebook, you'll notice that I don't do the daily gratitude thing in November because, well, why try to do something I know I'll forget to do two days in?

So here follows some things that I am grateful for this year.

1. My family. Daniel is the most amazing husband and father ever. My boys are gems (most of the time). I'm so lucky that I live near my sisters and that my parents are able to come visit us, as well as being not too terribly far from Daniel's family. Oh, and Happy, I love my dog. :)
2. My job. I'm so grateful that I get to be a stay at home mom. As hard as it can be sometimes, I love being home with William and Jacob. Also, I love being able to spend a whole day in my PJ's. ;)
3. Writing. I love to write and create new worlds and characters to populate those worlds. I love coming up with stories. Again, it's not always easy, but it's worth it.
4. All the material things I take for granted. I live in a nice place. We have a good car. I'm able to buy food, clothes and other, less essential things. I love the internet and the TV. And books, so many books!
5. My religion. I'm grateful to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-Day Saints. It gives me peace and direction in my life, as well as connecting me to good people and new friends.

Well, I think that about covers it. I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving (if you celebrate it) and try not to over eat.

Oh, a programming note: Starting next week I'm going to start a series of writing tips over at Kricket Writes. I've been thinking about doing this for a while and I finally figured out a plan. So look forward to that. :)

And Happy Thursday! Thanks for reading!

Kricket's Happy Korner: Family & Books

Last week was a very busy week. Lots of running around, lots of cleaning, lots of visiting with people. I think this week will be more relaxed.

So here's what I'm thankful for:

• I got to see my day last week. He was in town on business and we got to celebrate his birthday with him as well. The boys loved hanging out with Granddad and we can't wait to see him and Grandma again in July.
• Will got his new glasses and he loves them. It's nice to have frames that fit and lenses that work.
• I love good books and I love finding new ones.

Speaking of good books, here's a review!

I'm giving The Enchanted Forest Chronicles 4 Stars. I used to consider this five stars when I was younger, but now that I'm an adult and a more experienced writer I see flaws that I didn't notice before.

This is a four book set that is a quick and easy read. It's very funny as it takes a lot of the classic fairy tales and turns them around on themselves. It's a great series and pretty solid story telling. What got to me was the third book. It felt like there were just too many characters in any given scene and they all had to say something. You have a pregnant queen, a witch, a magician, a King of the Dragons (who is female), 2 cats, a  talking rabbit that got turned into a blue floating/flying donkey, a fire witch, and all the villains. That's a lot of useless talking.

But the whole thing picks up again by the fourth book.

It's a great read and I highly recommend it to anybody, but especially middle school age girls.

So there's a dose of happy to take with your drink of choice as you continue to face this day. Happy Monday!

Kricket's Happy Korner: A Slice of My Life

Hello lovely readers and welcome to the first episode of Kricket's Happy Korner! This is where I share the stuff that made me grin or laugh or whatever happy response you prefer. Let's get started shall we?

To start things off, I'm grateful for long weekends where I get to have Daniel home for an extra day and we all get to play together as a family.

Ke$ha's new CD. I've been listening to it non-stop for like a week. It's a great mix of peepy and soulful songs and it just makes me grin and want to dance or sing along when I listen to it.

So You Think You Can Dance is pretty much the best competition show on TV. Who wants to watch mediocre singers stand on a stage when you can watch amazing dancers fly across one? I mean really. Also, way better than Dancing With the Stars because these dancers actually know what the hell they're doing and they're damn good at it too.

I've become addicted to this game on my Kindle Fire called Dragon Story. It's a game were you hatch, raise and breed pretty dragons. The dragon designs are great and very diverse. I find it great fun, but I'm pretty easily amused.

And now for a book review. :)

I'm giving Mockingjay 4 Stars. I really liked it, and felt it was a good ending to the series. Not a happy ending but a real one. I've read other's reviews and understand some of the negative ones but I like that this story didn't end happy for Katniss. At least not fairy tale happy. It's more real. Some reviewers wanted her to be a super hero, but she's not really, she's just a 17 year old girl trying to survive and sometimes only kind of succeeding. I'm really looking forward to the rest of the movies.

I am a big fan of Felicia Day and she just launched a new YouTube channel called Geek & Sundry Vlogs and on it is one vlogger who talks about comics. I'm kind of new to comics and Amy Dallen does a good job of introducing the world of comics to people. Also, she's kind of cute as a button. Here is the first video. You should check out the rest of the channel as well, it's nothing but geek stuff.

And that's all for now, friends! *reads over blog* Yep, that kind of sums up my life and all the things I like to do.

So tell me, what makes you happy? Is there something new you've discovered that you'd like to share? I'd love to hear about it in the comments. *hint hint nudge nudge*

Have a happy start to your week!

What I Am Thankful For

So, as most of you know, yesterday was Thanksgiving.  I got to spend it with my sister and some of her in-laws and we had a great time.  But, because we were there most of the day I didn't get to say what I was thankful for, so I'm going to take that opportunity now.

I Am Thankful For...

• My husband Daniel.  He spoils me rotten and takes such good care of me and Will.  He really is the best husband/father ever.
• My son William.  He is the joy of my heart.  He is so sweet and funny and he is growing up so fast and gets smarter everyday.  I can't believe he's two years old already.
• Being pregnant.  I know I complain about it a lot because I've been pretty sick this go around, but over all, I'm excited and happy to bring this new little life into our growing family.  I feel it is an honor, given to us women by our Heavenly Father, to have and bear children.  I am proud and grateful that I can.
• Our new life here in Colorado.  Daniel has a great job, we live in a decent area and we are in love with our new ward family here.
• My family.  My siblings both near and far who I can talk to and who I know, despite everything, love me.  And my parents, who did a great job raising me and are always there with advice and laughter.
• My membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  I'm grateful for the peace that the Gospel gives me and the truth it teaches me.  I know I'm not always a perfect example of my faith, but I do try.
• Being a stay at home mom.  After having to work for the first year of Will's life, being able to stay home has changed me.  I'm happier and more at peace with my self and I love spending everyday with my Little Man, no matter how many times he makes me watch Cars with him.
• Being a writer.  I love to create new worlds and characters to populate them and then write fun stories about them.  The act of writing is exciting and frustrating at the same time, but I wouldn't have it any other way. 
• All my friends, both in real life and those I've met on the internet *coughAWcough*.  My life just wouldn't be complete without y'all.  You teach me, keep me grounded and make me laugh.
• And finally, I'm grateful for all those little things that we take for granted everyday.  Like having a car or electricity, the internet or food on our table.  There are a lot of people either in this country or around the world that don't have these comforts and we must never forget that it is a privilege to have these things, not a right, and we must strive to be worthy of them.

And that's all folks!  Well I guess I could go on and on, but I'm sure you have better things to do right now.  So thank you soooo much for reading and I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and continue to have Happy Holidays this year. :D

Tolerance, Love & The Family

So I just wanted to share this article I read in the June 2011 Ensign. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's a magazine that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints puts out every month that is filled with lots of great articles. The article that I'll be talking about is entitled: "Defending the Family in a Troubled World" by Elder Bruce D. Porter. I'll only be talking about a small part of the article but you can read the entire thing here on the LDS Website.

The Shifting Definition of Tolerance

Until recently in our national history, tolerance referred to racial and religious non-discrimination. It meant civility in the political arena; in other words, respecting the right of others to express their views, even if we do not agree with them. It meant treating all people with decency and respect. Such tolerance is an important and vital part of our American heritage.

Today, however, the world is in danger of abandoning all sense of absolute right or wrong, all morality and virtue, replacing them with an all-encompassing “tolerance” that no longer means what it once meant. An extreme definition of tolerance is now widespread that implicitly or explicitly endorses the right of every person to choose their own morality, even their own “truth,” as though morality and truth were mere matters of personal preference. This extreme tolerance culminates in a refusal to recognize any fixed standards or draw moral distinctions of any kind. Few dare say no to the “almighty self” or suggest that some so-called “lifestyles” may be destructive, contrary to higher law, or simply wrong.

When tolerance is so inflated out of all proportions, it means the death of virtue, for the essence of morality is to draw clear distinctions between right and wrong. All virtue requires saying no firmly and courageously to all that is morally bankrupt.

Curiously enough, this new modern tolerance is often a one-way street. Those who practice it expect everyone to tolerate them in anything they say or do, but show no tolerance themselves toward those who express differing viewpoints or defend traditional morality. Indeed, their intolerance is often most barbed toward those of religious conviction. But let there be no misunderstanding or deception: the First Amendment right of free speech applies to religious speech as well as to other kinds of speech. Believers of all faiths have every right to participate in and share their convictions in the public arena.

Now let us go one step further. Even in its original and correct connotation, tolerance is surely a secondary virtue in comparison with the far higher virtue of love. Certainly it is good to be tolerant of those who are different than we are, treating them with kindness and civility. But love, or charity, is the highest of all, and it is far better to genuinely love those with whom we differ. When we truly love all of God’s children in a Christlike way, we will desire to bring them unto Christ, the fountain of all happiness. This means proclaiming the truth, defending that which is right, and in a mild voice inviting all to walk the path of Christ. By defending the traditional family, Latter-day Saints bless all people whether others recognize it now or not.

So perfect and exalted was Christ’s love for God’s children that He took upon Himself the penalty for their sins, descending below all things in the Garden of Gethsemane and dying for us on the cross at Golgotha. Yet He never compromised virtue nor tolerated sin in the slightest degree (seeD&C 1:31). He treated the woman taken in adultery with love and respect, putting her accusers to shame; nevertheless He said, “Go, and sin no more” (John 8:11). The Master abhorred sin, because sin is the enemy of the human soul.

God’s love is sometimes described as unconditional. It is true that God loves all of His children on earth no matter how often or how far they may stray. But while God’s love is all-encompassing, His blessings are highly conditional, including the very blessing of being able to feel and experience His love. The further human beings stray from the path of righteousness, the less they will be capable of feeling divine love, because it is conveyed into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. This does not mean that God loves us less when we stray, only that we, by our choices and actions, have distanced ourselves from His love. How wondrous, then, is the gift of repentance, by which we can be brought back into accord with His will and feel again of His love.

I thought I'd share this because I agree with everything Elder Porter says here. And I like the way he defines and explains the way tolerance has changed. My parents were here visiting last week and we got to talking about how some of the very liberal media is talking so loud and saying that everyone has a right to do whatever they want, as long as "no one gets hurt". They talk so loud that it's hard to hear the other side. And some of these liberal people can be very rude when stating their opinion and they refuse to listen to those of us who believe differently.

Now I'm not saying that conservatives can't be the same way sometimes. But I do find it interesting when Elder Porter talks about tolerance sometimes being a one-way street. Where one side just talks and never lets the other side get a word in. I find this behavior annoying and rude, thus why I don't watch much news or even listen to popular talk radio.

And I like how Elder Porter talks about tolerance and love. Tolerance is about respect; respecting other opinions and beliefs which means not being mean or rude or making fun of people for those opinions and beliefs. And then there is love. Loving others who are different from us is harder, but it is also "the far higher virtue". And trust me when I say you can tolerate/respect someone but not really like or love them. Learning to love someone so different is extremely hard, I know from personal experience. And it's something I still struggle with sometimes.

So I strongly suggest that you read the entire article. It covers a lot of different points about families and all the things out there that threaten them. I just wanted to discuss this small bit because it stuck out so strongly to me.

And tell me what you think. Do you see the definition of tolerance changing? Have you experienced intolerance of any sort? And for those that go and read the entire article, what are your thoughts? Do you think the traditional family is in danger? Have we become a selfish people? I've said my small bit, so tell me what YOU think! :) My blogs have been sparking some interesting discussions and I love it.

Road Trips!

The past two weekends, Daniel, Will and I have been doing a lot of traveling. The weekend before last we drove to Denver, Colorado to visit my sister Michelle and her husband Josh; and then over Labor Day weekend we drove to Idaho with Daniel’s brother, Jared, to visit our friends Josh and Calli. I have found that road trips are very educational. And here follows a list of things that I have learned.

1. Cruise control is the best invention since the car itself. When we drove to Colorado, I started the 8 hour drive. After weaving our way through the mountains to get out of Utah I felt my right leg start to cramp up from my ankle to my knee. Holding the same position for that long, pushing down on the gas pedal, my leg was in rebellion. I was looking for a good place to pull over when Daniel asked, “Are you using the cruise control?” “This car has cruise control?” For some reason it never crossed my mind to check, maybe because I thought my car was too old for that sort of thing. So after spending about 10 minutes trying to figure out how the darn thing worked I was set! I could have driven the whole way like that if it wasn’t past 5 pm when we started. I drove a little more than half way though.

2. Short cuts are not always short. So someone in Daniel’s family told us about this short cut from I-80 to I-25 in Wyoming so we decided to take it. It starts in Laramie, WY and takes you to around Fort Collins, CO. Basically keeping you from having to go to Cheyenne, WY. So at first everything was going good, the road we were on was a little slower than the interstate, but it was late at night with no traffic. But at the end of the road we ended up having to weave our way through a bunch of little neighborhoods to get on to I-25. When you’re driving 20mph for 10-15 minutes, it totally negates any time you just saved. Needless to say, we didn’t take the same way going home.

3. Wendy’s doesn’t believe in changing tables, apparently. We stopped at a few Wendy’s on both trips and none of them had a changing table, 0! It was a little bit ridiculous. But, in retrospect, the front seat of my car is probably the cleaner of the two.

4. Formula To-Go is ingenious. Gas stations would make a killing if they sold them.

5. Will loves dogs and dogs love him. I’m sure one of the first things he’s going to ask for as a birthday/Christmas present will be a dog. Michelle and Josh have two dogs and they were very well behaved.

6. There are a lot of cows in northern Utah and Idaho, and where there are cows, there will be flies. Always make sure you have lots of washer fluid and good wind shield wipers, it’s very hard to see through bug guts.

7. Wyoming is quite possibly the most boring state to drive through. There is nothing out there. Just a lot of wind, and scatterings of windmills (which are kind of fun to watch for some odd reason).

8. DON’T FORGET THE STROLLER! Babies are heavy. You should only carry one while walking around a park if you’re trying to get a workout.

9. DON’T FORGET THE DIAPERS! Yes, you can go to the store and buy more, but it’s still a hassle.

10. Tacos are a favorite when you have guest coming over, apparently. That was dinner in both Colorado and Idaho, and both on Sunday night, strange…

11. Be nice to semi’s and they’ll be nice to you. I’ve always had this rule when driving, but it’s always very important to remember while on long road trips. I believe that every time you are nice to a semi you get a couple more points in the Car Karma department and that comes in real handy when you’re milliseconds away from getting in a wreck. Trust me, it works!

And there you have it, the things I’ve learned on our recent road trips.

On a side note, I’m writing this post at work right now, and it’s my birthday. L I hate having to work on my birthday. But I’m 24 today! Yay, I’m old!

The Vacation Log!

Yesterday, Daniel, Will and I returned from our week long vacation to Georgia. We had a blast! But before I start on the log I'll say now that pictures will be coming soon. All the pictures are currently sitting on Daniel's camera, waiting to be downloaded.

Anyway, we flew out to GA on Saturday the 24th at about 1am. Will slept the whole time; he was restless, but he slept. Daniel and I watched Date Night (very funny) and got an hour of sleep here and there. We landed in GA about 6:30am local time (it's a 3 & 1/2 hour flight) and my parents came to pick us up.

This was the first time my dad has ever seen Will. My mom got to see him when he was three weeks old, but my dad wasn't able to come out to Utah then. We went back to my parents house, ate breakfast, talked and napped. My sister Carrie came in from Valdosta, GA around noon and then my mom, Carrie and I went shopping.

I got a new shirt for work and then feel asleep in the dressing room while Carrie and Mom tried on clothes. Went back to the house and took another nap, dinner, talk and then to bed for the night.

The next day, Sunday, we all went to church and it was nice to see some of the people from the old home ward. Carrie left later that afternoon and the rest of us spent the day packing for our road trip to Louisiana the next day.

So, around 7am Monday morning, we drove to Slidel, LA (a 6 hour drive). Most of my extended family lives there and that's where my parents grew up. I hadn't been there for about 4 or 5 years; not since before hurricane Katrina. We stayed at my Grandpop's house (my dad's dad), visited my Grandmother (mom's mom), and played a lot of Wii 100 pin bowling with Grandpop.

On Tuesday, Daniel got to meet a couple pairs of my aunts and uncles and learned the art of poker (they don't play with real money anymore, but trust me, they used to :P). And then we drove back to GA on Wednesday.

On Thursday we went to the Georgia Aquarium where Daniel took about 500 pictures of fish and Will was captivated by all the color and movement. Daniel and I bought a couple shirts and got a cute little book about dolphins for Will that he can play with in the bath.

On Friday Daniel and Dad went shooting (any reason for the boys to play with Dad's AR 15) and I hung around the house with Mom. That evening Daniel and I went to visit my old friend Gina, her husband Josh and their little boy (who's only a month younger than Will) Breyden. It was so much fun to reconnect and catch up on each other's lives. We stayed there way too late and we still had to pack to go home the next day.

So Saturday, we headed home. Our flight was delayed, but not much, and we got back to Utah around 10am. Will was awake most of this flight and only a little fussy because he got tired of being stuck on Mommy and Daddy's laps.

Over all, it was a fantastic trip! Will was in a good mood 90% of the time. He was happy and smiling and friendly and I am so proud of him. He got dragged all over the country and was pretty easy going about all of it.

But I know we're all glad to be home. I love Georgia and I miss it all the time, but it's good to be back in my own space and not be living out of a suitcase. I know Will is glad to be home, and we got back just in time because he's teething again.

It was a very successful trip and everyone was happy. And now i's time to go back to work and back to the real world. Boo! :(

Home

I am currently sitting at one of my old computers at my parents place back home in Georgia. It has been over a year since I have been here. Last year, Daniel and I came for my sister's wedding and I was 4 to 5 months pregnant. Now we're back with an 8 month old. A lot happens in a year.

Yesterday we got back from a short trip to Louisiana to visit a bunch of my extended family. I haven't been down there in about 4 or 5 years. It was nice to see my Grandpop and some of my aunts and uncles.

We now have a couple more days left here in GA and I'm hoping to be able to hang out with some of my old friends here before Daniel, Will and I head home to Utah.

I love being on vacation! :)

Wild Feral Baby!

Daniel made this video this afternoon and I had to post it! There's two parts, an intro and then the main program. Enjoy!

NTech Duo Podcast!

Today I helped my brother Michael and his friend Zach record an episode of their podcast, NTech Duo. I got to do the intro and closing lines and put in my random, non-tech, opinion. I was surprised that my voice actually sounded decent and I made a few intelligent comments.

So here follows all the shameless plugs you can handle!

NTech Duo Blog
The Podcast
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