Freedom of Speech only applies to some people

Office Depot stores can have posters for their "Be Brave" campaign, in support of the "Born This Way" foundation (which supports same-sex marriage.)

But the president of Chick-Fil-A can't say his opinion that marriage should be between a man and a woman.  He only said it, he didn't even put signs up in his stores about it.

It looks like the only people with Freedom of Speech are those who agree with the liberal agenda.

As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I fear what is in the future for us, as we continue to be champions for marriage and family.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/07/the_left_tars_and_feathers_chick-fil-a.html

Youth Conference is over!

 Our stake put on an entire theatrical production in 3 days.  Previous to that weekend, the choreographer had gone to each ward and taught them their dance, and the music chairmen had taught the main characters their songs.

Then we got the 190 youth together onThursday, Friday, and Saturday, and they learned their parts and their places.  Each kid had 1, 2, or 3 different costumes.  Mireya and I were the costume
co-chairs.  And I survived!

After two whole days of announcing to the youth that they HAD to go to the costume department to get fitted or pick out costumes, we still had youth come up to us in the middle of the dress rehearsal asking, "Where is my _____ costume?"  When we asked if they had brought one or if we had ever assigned them one, they would say, "No, I thought you had one for me."  AAARGH! So we would have to scramble and just tie a scarf around their head or throw some strange skirt on them and send them on stage.  It made me very frustrated.

I put on weight eating the delicious food that Monte, Keeley, Brandon and Wayne cooked. Doing the costumes was so stressful that everytime I saw food I ate my troubles away.

I am very thankful I was able to help out with Youth Conference, it was inspirational to see the hard work put in by all the leaders and adults to make the conference enjoyable and spiritually uplifting for the kids.  We heard a lot of thank yous and also wonderful testimonies at testimony meeting, I think it was a good experience even if it was very stressful and I only got about 6 hours of sleep a night.

Home from trip, Youth Conference coming up

Friday-Monday: Wayne and I drove to Pittsburgh, picked up Marianne and Bryce at the airport.  We drove to Niagara Falls and to the Hill Cumorah Pageant in Palmyra, NY.

We saw the pageant's closing night performance, where Zac was in the Lehi Mob scene and the Restoration scene.

Sunday morning we attended sacrament meeting with all the cast, then took Zac home with us.

We stopped by Pittsburgh to return Bryce and Marianne to the airport, so they could rent a car. Bryce started his new job on Monday.  Their moving van is coming in a week, so they are living in a hotel.

Wayne, me, and Zac drove back to Morrisville on Monday.  We spent an hour at the New River Gorge visitor's center.

Tonight was a big costume meeting for Youth Conference, about a fourth of the youth showed up at the stake center to pick out and to try on their costumes.

Thursday-Saturday are going to be VERY BUSY, doing the last minute costume stuff.  Luckily most of the costumes are done.

Bad Economic Signs

http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/bad-economic-signs-2012_07182012

Great tip for buttering garlic bread

My husband cut partially through the loaf for each slice, and was trying to pry the pieces apart so he could spread butter and garlic salt on them.

He came up with this idea for laying the partially cut bread across a can, and then it worked like an accordian as he slid the loaf along the can.  Brilliant!

Museums in Raleigh

I took Elizabeth and Thomas to the NC Natural Science museum in Raleigh, and the NC Art Museum. We went with my friend Kay B. and her granddaughter.

There was a mirror on the ceiling above the walkway outside the Art Museum, so I took our portrait.

Half of NAACP convention gives Mitt standing ovation

Here's something the media didn't bother to tell us.  I kept seeing the headlines, "Mitt gets booed at NAACP", but they never mentioned that half of the convention gave him a standing ovation at the end of his speech.

Also they failed to report about the number of black churches which disagree with President Obama's policies on gay marriage.  Why didn't Obama speak at the NCAAP convention?  Rumor has it, that he was afraid he would get booed by those religious black clergy leaders.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/07/a_man_for_all_races.html

Tessa's birthday

 Tessa is one year old today!  I took these pictures in our church's foyer.

I think she looks like a Kewpie doll when she puts her eyes sideways like this.

Seth's 27th birthday

We had a family get-together for Seth's birthday, and AS USUAL, we didn't remember to get candles.  Seth scrounged around in the kitchen until he found this "2" left over from Tara's 20th birthday.  And then he just bent a candle to make a "7".  Because thats the way we do things around here.

Yummm!  Cheesecake Factory cheesecake!
It is interesting how Elizabeth is ALWAYS next to any birthday cake when the candles are being blown out.

We're in trouble now

I babysit Anson once a week, and today is the first day he has had the skills to stand against the stairs or attempt to climb them.  It will be only a matter of days before he is crawling all over the house, and up the stairs every minute.

3 poodle skirts

I am one of the costume co-chairman for our Youth Conference theatrical performance.  Our youth are doing a play about the history of America and the history of our church.  We are covering basically every decade from 1776 to today.

Mireya and I have been collecting costumes from all over our stake.  Here are 3 of the poodles from the poodle skirts which will be worn in the 1950's scene.  I made the third skirt, other people made the other two.
It is interesting to see how different the poodles are.

Invisible Pantry

We went to Val and Susan C.'s house last week, and when they showed us around, we were so impressed with their kitchen.

There were floor to ceiling cabinet doors in one area, which one would assume covered up some cabinets.
 But surprise, surprise!  Behind the doors was a deep pantry.  The doors were mounted right on top of the wall.

Zac is Brigham Young

Zac flew to New York yesterday, to be in the cast of the Hill Cumorah pageant.

They received their roles last night, and he called to say that he plays Brigham Young in the Restoration scene (the last scene.)   Zac grew a full beard for the pageant, so he won't have to wear a fake one.   He said his role is actually listed as "apostle", so he isn't ACTUALLY Brigham Young, but Zac said since BY was the youngest of the group in the 1830's, and since Zac is the youngest of the actors playing apostles, he has decided to pretend to be him.

I feel a little sorry for him,  because those costumes are VERY authentic, and he will have to wear the full shirt, cravat, vest, and long tailed jacket, and long pants every night during that scene, even if it is roasting hot.

He is also in the Lehi mob scene (the first scene of the pageant).  So at least his costume is much more lightweight and cooler for that scene.

This is Zac's 5th time to be in the pageant. (With the family 2003, 2005, 2009, on the work crew 2011, and as a young adult on his own this year.)

Did Justice Roberts Pull One over on the Liberals?

After reading this article, I feel a lot more hopeful.  It looks like Justice Roberts wasn't the traitor I originally thought he was.

Written by Richard Bolen.
http://godfatherpolitics.com/5961/did-justice-roberts-pull-one-over-liberals/#ixzz1zWm8Ntwf

Paul Harvey's "If I Were the Devil"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJc8Mzg0C-c&feature=player_embedded  3 minutes long.

He gave this radio address in the 1965.
It seems to me that it has all come true.

Zac's ordination

Yesterday Zac was ordained an elder.  I am so proud!

He has started his mission papers and will turn them in after he returns from being in the cast of the Hill Cumorah pageant.  He hopes to leave on his mission after October 1st.

Happy Birthday Seth

Happy birthday to my wonderful son, Seth.  Here is a story from your life:  

From August 2007.

Seth and his friends went with our family to the Smokies.  On the way home, our trailer's tire shredded, so Wayne unhooked the van from the trailer, and went to the nearest town to get the tire fixed.  The full trailer was sitting by the side of the road, so Wayne left the boys to guard it.

This is what Seth, Michael, Erik, and Stephen did while they were waiting for him to come back.