Proposition 8 - Please Read!

Failure to pass Proposition 8 will hurt children. If gay marriage remains legal, public schools will put it on equal footing with traditional marriage. Children will likely receive "age appropriate" information about sexual relations within heterosexual and homosexual marriages.Failure to pass Proposition 8 will hurt churches. The court's decision will inevitably lead to conflicts with religious liberty and free speech rights. Society will become more and more hostile to traditional beliefs about marriage and family. Over time, greater acceptance of nontraditional marriage will be demanded of all people. This could impact the ability of any religion to teach and practice its beliefs. Including adoption agencies.A YES vote will not hurt gays. In California , the law provides for marriage-related benefits to be given to civil unions and domestic partnerships. Proposition 8 does not diminish these benefits.For your information:On Friday, October 10th, 2008 a first-grade class took a field trip to witness a lesbian wedding in California . Click Here for the article from the San Francisco Chronicle.A father in Massachusetts was frustrated when his twin kindergartners were taught about homosexuality at school by the teachers. He insisted he be notified in the future before such things were discussed so he could pull his boys out of school.He was taken to jail. Click Here for the story.A Catholic adoption agency In the UK closed their doors because of the Government's new homosexual equality laws. The Equality Act forbids discrimination in the provision of goods and services on the basis of sexual orientation. The law was forced through Parliament last year despite past Prime Minister Tony Blair's recommendation that Catholic adoption agencies be exempted from the rules. Click Here for more info.Earlier this month judges in Connecticut overturned the state law (just as the judges in California did) to legalized gay marriage. This is not just an issue in California . We voted years ago to keep traditional marriage as the only marriage recognized in the state of California , 4 judges overturned our vote…and we need to fight back. That is what this Proposition is about. This is happening everywhere and the leaders of the church and others have warned that the outcome of California 's vote will affect the way the other states vote. So PLEASE…even if you don't live in California , put this on your blog or email this on. The internet knows no state line. You know contacts in California that I don't…and so do your friends. Please pass this on as it could eventually have an effect on everyone!

November 4th: Election day. Polls close at 8:00pm. Vote by mail must be received by this time and can be hand delivered if necessary.

YOU'VE BEEN TAGGED...Here's what you do: If you feel this is an important issue I ask that you copy and paste this post...and post it on your blog. PLEASE keep it at the top of your blog through November 4th. which you can adjust each time you post under the 'edit post' option. The internet knows NO STATE LINE. You know contacts in California that I do not...as do your friends and their friends...and so on. Please do this. If not for your own children and the effect it could have on them some day...for mine! After you have posted this...email this to your contacts and TAG all your blogging buddies to do the same. THANK YOU!

Halloween on the Horizon

I love Halloween. I think it is such a fun holiday. What's not to love? You get candy, you get to dress up, kids love it, and it's in the fall. Here is a little prelude of what Edmond is going to be for Halloween. Any guesses?

Today we went to our annual ward Halloween party. Papa found Edmond right away and they were happily sitting on the hay watching people.

B was in charge of smoking all the meat. He started it last night and had to get up at 3AM this morning to check on it, and then he had to work on it all day today too. It was a huge job, but it tasted awesome and everyone loved it. He was Mr. Popular at the party, everyone kept coming up to him to ask him how he made it.

Yes, we let our son eat hay. What's it to ya?

Two of our favorite people, Jared and Amber. They just recently moved to Sacramento from Vegas and we are so happy to be reunited with them.

I tried to warn Edmond that uncle Bear is scary, but he wouldn't listen.

Edmond loves Amber. Whenever she is around he always gives her a lot of attention.

I think Edmond looks a lot like me in this picture. Maybe it's that dazed and confused expression.

Here we are on the Spooky, Spooky Haunted Hayride! (Don't you love the word "spooky"? I just can't get enough of it. Once I had a 3 year old tell me she went on a spooky spooky spooky pumpkin ride, and every since then I've decided that whenever you say that word you definately have to say it at least twice in a row.)

Biking and Prop 8

This morning B, his brother Jared, and his dad took off to go biking. Lee just got a new bike and so did Brian. When I saw them all standing together getting ready to go I just couldn't resist forcing them to let me take their picture. They go biking at least once a week.

Edmond and I stopped in to see Grammy that morning, and then we went for a walk with Amber.

I just had to take a picture of this. Right now in California we are working hard to get Proposition 8 passed, which will make marriage legal only between a man and a woman. So B's parents have a sign up in the front yard that says "Vote Yes on 8" and the next door neighbor has one that says "Vote No on 8". Right now the polling shows we are pretty much neck and neck. It's going to be close!

Mama Sydney

We had Dan and Paige over for dinner the other night. Their daughter Sydney is 2 years old and she loves Baby Edmond. She calls him "Bedmon" (Baby and Edmond combined into one word). She wanted to rock "Bedmon" in his rocking chair. She likes to help me give him a bath and she always tries to give him a blankie. He is her little baby...even though they're practically the same size.

Edmond and Papa

We went over to Papa's house last Saturday to visit. Edmond loves to see his Papa. Here's Papa, B, and Edmond...three generations.

Edmond and Papa are like two peas in a pod. They love Saturday college football.

37 Wedding Dresses

And so it happened that my mother inherited 37 wedding dresses...some new, some slightly used. I volunteered to try them on so that we could take pictures and post them on craigslist. If any of you have ever had the joy of trying on wedding dresses, you will remember that each one weighs like 50 pounds and have a million buttons, so it was no small task to try on each dress...it took hours. Here are pictures of some of my favorites. If you know someone in Utah who wants a sweet deal on a wedding dress, my mom is asking between $100 and $300 for most of these. She just wants to get rid of them because they are a pain to store.

2 Weeks in Utah

At the last minute I bummed a ride to Utah with my mother-in-law. I spent the past two weeks hanging out with friends and family and watching them get to know Edmond. He was so happy and social the whole time we were there and it was fun watching everyone fall in love with him.

Here's Edmond and his Aunt Janiel. She would pull the scariest faces at him (seriously, they were freaky) and he would just watch her and laugh.

Edmond and his cousin Halle are two months apart and so cute together. They kept trying to touch each other's faces and claw each other's eyes out. We had to protect them from each other.

One morning Brian brought his two boys over and they found some change in dad's car so we walked down to Maverick and bought some candy with it. It reminded me of being a kid, when I would walk down to the gas station and spend all my babysitting money on candy. Isn't that what money was for?

The cousins of '08: Halle, Vincent and Edmond

It's so awesome to be able to see my girlfriends when I come into town. It was crazy trying to supervise the kids and try to have a conversation at the same time, but we managed to laugh and have fun just like the old days. Here I am with Nicole and Melissa.

Ok, if you live in Utah you need to go over to Gardner Village and see their "Witch Hunt". They have all these life-size witches positioned all over the shopping center and they are so cute! I saw dozens of moms there with their kids, and they had a great time running around trying to find all the witches. I met Liz and Cherolyn there and we loved it.

Edmond and I met Annette down in Utah county for two days to see B's grandma and sister. Edmond was (naturally) Mr. Popular.

Here is Edmond playing with his cousins, Vincent and Sebastian.

Ah, Hogle Zoo. It had been years since I've been there. They had some fun new additions, like the carousel and a train ride. We met Brian and Amber there and we had a great time. I especially liked the ginormous ice cream cones.

Don't you love it when you buy yourself a new outfit and you have shopper's high all day long on the first day you wear it? Well, I've noticed that as a mother, you can get the same high when you put your kids in a new outfit.

This is Edmond and his 2nd cousin Brady. They are 3 weeks apart.

Here's the fam checking out Brian's new camera.

Edmond was so good the whole way home. He was perfectly happy...as long as I made pig noises for the entire nine hour drive.

We had an awesome trip, but I think we both missed B and we were happy to come home again.