I am thankful for (but not necessarily in this order)...

Mike wonderful friends Hope my education my parents financial security a great ward Abby Mike's education and good jobs siblings a beautiful world the temple my home Baby Brother the mountains nieces and nephews vacations prophets Mike's family material possessions the USA prayer and personal revelation the gospel grandparents my marriage scriptures Jesus Christ memories health ease of transportation good books

I hope you all had a lovely day!

I feel obligated...

...to share a good customer service experience. (I can be fairly critical of poor customer service so I owe the good experiences equal time.)

A week or two ago I bought a photo book from Snapfish. They were doing a big Oprah promotion where you could get the book for shipping only!!! Well, as you can imagine, the web site was fairly slow because I wasn't the only person on the planet taking advantage of the promo. Long story short, I had to reenter my credit card number twice because it didn't take the first time. They didn't charge me twice, but they did charge me full price when it actually went through--quite disappointing.

The book arrived (and my baby is as cute as ever in it). I really wanted my money back though.

I emailed.

They said something like, "Sorry you must have ordered the wrong book." (I don't think so.)

I called.

The recording said something like, "If our phone system doesn't throw you off beforehand, you'll be on hold for about an hour." (I hung up.)

I was sad, but happy to have a cute book?!?

Now the good part...

Today I was checking my credit card balances online and...they credited me $21.35 a day or two ago! Why? I am not really sure, but they really did, and that is fabulous!

So, I'm a fan. Thanks, Snapfish!

Traditions

One of my favorite holiday traditions is that every year my family cuts down Christmas trees from the property surrounding our cabin (we know the property owners:). It's so nice to have a fresh, nice smelling tree in my house! So that I don't feel guilty misleading you all, though, I must admit that I stayed behind in the cabin this year while several of the others traipsed around on the mountain. (I'm pregnant, right?) Here are a couple shots from this year's journey:

What is asked of us...

Today I read Elder M. Russell Ballard's talk from last month's general conference. I thought that these thoughts were worth remembering:

The Lord isn’t asking us to load up a handcart; He’s asking us to fortify our faith. He isn’t asking us to walk across a continent; He’s asking us to walk across the street to visit our neighbor. He isn’t asking us to give all of our worldly possessions to build a temple; He’s asking us to give of our means and our time despite the pressures of modern living to continue to build temples and then to attend regularly the temples already built. He isn’t asking us to die a martyr’s death; He’s asking us to live a disciple’s life.

The Big Game

Marinda is a Cougar fan. Mike is a Ute. The big question is what will Abby turn out to be?

Tonight, he taught her during the game to call out "B-Y-Utes". I thought that was fairly diplomatic.

I was quite disappointed by the outcome of the game, but in all fairness, it'll be nice to have a hometown team in a BCS bowl again.

Little Daredevil

Abby has always been daring. She loves to climb. Lately, she'll see something up high she wants and push the closest stool or chair over (that usually doesn't get her much closer) and then climb on the next most accessible shelf or counter.

In this picture she was jumping off the stairs. Not too high, I know, but it was very cute. She'd say "Ready, go!" and then kind of throw herself off the stairs.

Mike also taught her to do somersaults. She learned after one demonstration! What a smart girl.

What was really fun was when she decided to combine the two and throw herself off the stairs and do a somersault at the same time. We might need to discourage that one!

Happy Veteran's and Birthdays!

Happy birthday yesterday to my mother-in-law! We hope it was a great day!
Yesterday was also Veteran's Day and my grandpa was honored at a ceremony, along with 12 other veterans, at the U. This is the nice write up that they read at the ceremony and here is a story that a local NPR station did on my grandpa and dad. Here is a picture of the two of them. It was fun to see my dad in his Air Force dress blues.

We made a snowman yesterday

Then added a baby snow robber?!?

And this is all that is left of them today!

I am so glad we live in a country where there is a way to express our opinions and participate in the law making process.
I appreciate that many of us share similar opinions and that many of us will disagree. That is OK. It is good to look at the world through different eyes on occasion and try to see someone else's viewpoint.
We are so blessed to be able to vote as a way to express opinions.
I am deeply saddened when that right of a people or an organization are protested and, in effect, denied.
My church and fellow church members have every right to express their views on moral positions.
They should be treated with respect by those whose views on those moral issues differ.

Many of you know that the LDS Church has been targeted by opponents of Proposition 8 for their involvement in its passage. It seems very unfair to me that they are being targeted this way. Here is the church's statement with regard to the opposition's protests.

Incidentally, I still feel strongly that our country has spoken with regards to our elected officials and now we pray for them and do everything in our power to help us all succeed!

Elections

So, I will throw in my two cents on the election results. Most of the candidates I voted for won, but a few key candidates didn't.

It's kind of weird though because in the past I have been very passionate about election results--getting very worked up about results that I "approved" or "disapproved" of, but tonight I'm not (except for the individual who beat my dad in a race a few years ago and it looks like he might lose his seat tonight--I'm feeling a bit smug about that).

My main thoughts:

I need to just pray for my leaders--old and new, regardless of party, and try to make my corner of the world a tiny bit better. We live in a great country and I am proud to be an American. I know that with our prayers and our efforts we can accomplish much.

Right now that is how I feel, but maybe tomorrow morning I'll wake up feeling differently--more upset about the upsets or giddy about the wins. We'll see.

By the way, Mike and I showed up at the polls at 6:55 this morning (woke the baby up to beat the rush). There was a pretty good line when we arrived, but by the time we left at 7:20ish the line was almost gone. Strange...I heard that the lines were quite short most of the day...nothing like the early voting lines (so I hear).

That's our girl