There will be more to come after we go up to Park City today. I'm excited to enjoy the festivities up there, and to also visit the Kimball Art Center for Nathan Sawaya's lego exhibit. Yea!
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Happy Halloween!
There will be more to come after we go up to Park City today. I'm excited to enjoy the festivities up there, and to also visit the Kimball Art Center for Nathan Sawaya's lego exhibit. Yea!
Why I love digital cameras
Wow, I would waste a lot on film--or just take less photos, and that would be sad.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
What I've been reading
Last week Elder Dalin H. Oaks, a member of the leadership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, gave a talk at BYU-I regarding how religious freedom is being attacked. I could go into example after example of how that is currently being manifest on a weekly, if not daily basis, but right now I won't. Obviously one of the biggest controversies to date has been Proposition 8 last year in California.
Right now, as Rob's in school for Social Work, this topic and others like it come up all the time. For me, it's difficult to swallow the fact that many BYU students adamantly protest the words of our prophets, but I won't broach that right now, either. For a while, I've been thinking that I need to learn more about why the prophets counsel as they do and what the impact on society really is when moral values slide, or are debased.
Because of this, I did an online article search (scholarly research journals—not just a google search) for gay marriage (since it’s a hot topic):
This is the article I chose to read: The Potential Impact of Homosexual Parenting on Children
Author: Lynn D. Wardle
University of Illinois Law Review -- 1997
There was a lot in the article – and I know that I can’t cover it all in one blog entry, or it would be boring to read, and probably no one would finish it.
Here is a section that stuck out to me:
Among the most important reasons why heterosexual parenting is best for children is because there are gender-linked differences in child-rearing skills; men and women contribute different (gender-connected) strengths and attributes to their children's development. Although the critical contributions of mothers to the full and healthy development of children has long been recognized, recent research validates the common understanding that fathers, as well as mothers, are extremely important for child development.
Experts in many disciplines that have recently been studying fathering have reached "surprising unanimity" in their recognition that "men nurture, interact with, and rear competently but differently from women: not worse, not better ... differently." When fathers nurture and care for their children, they do so not quite as "substitute mothers" but differently, as fathers. For example, some studies show that fathers play with their infant children more than mothers, play more physical and tactile games than mothers, and use fewer toys when playing with their children. Mothers tend to talk and play more gently with infant children. Compared to mothers, fathers reportedly appear to "have more positive perceptions of the more irritable sons and less irritable daughters," and perceive their baby daughters to be more cuddly than mothers do. Mothers smile and verbalize more to the infant than fathers do, and generally rate their infant sons as cuddlier than fathers do. Moreover, "men encouraged their children's curiosity in the solution of intellectual and physical challenges, supported the child's persistence in solving problems, and did not become overly solicitous with regard to their child's failures." One study found that six-month-old infants whose fathers were actively involved with them "had higher scores on the Bailey Test of Mental and Motor Development." Infants whose fathers spend more time with them are more socially responsive and better able to withstand stressful situations than infants relatively deprived of substantial interaction with their fathers.
Erik Erikson noted that father love and mother love are different kinds of love; fathers "love more dangerously" because their love is more "expectant, more instrumental" than that of mothers. Fathers more than mothers tend to appreciate the value of and foster child interaction with extrafamilial socializing influences, to provide instrumental leadership, to establish and enforce standards regarding unacceptable emotions and behaviors, and "absorb hostility" from children, whereas mothers provide more expressive, integrative, and nurturing childrearing, and their love is more unconditional. Fathers see themselves more often than mothers as involved in developing values and discipline in children. Fathers have a powerful influence upon academic achievement of children, and "many researchers today believe that a father's expectations regarding future roles for his child will have an influence upon the child's cognitive competence." Likewise, paternal affection is associated with adolescents having more friends, being happier in relationships, and feeling more secure, calm, and self-confident. Also, "there is a lower incidence of sexual involvement in teens from father-present homes."
Sorry, I didn’t quote in a scholar-appropriate way – it was just easier to cut and paste and not change quotes.
Much of what I read there resonates very well with “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” so it isn’t new thinking to me, but I’m grateful to see it in print, in scholarly journals. I particularly liked this part of the article because to me, it simply points out the differences a father and mother provide, as well as the need for both.
While the prophet and other leaders of our church are older, that doesn’t mean that they are out of touch or old-fashioned. I do believe that they are ahead of the studies sometimes, and that when they speak as the prophets and council us that they are doing so with wisdom, authority, and knowledge—meaning as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that we need to listen and be believing, or at the very least, pray for help to believe.
Right now, as Rob's in school for Social Work, this topic and others like it come up all the time. For me, it's difficult to swallow the fact that many BYU students adamantly protest the words of our prophets, but I won't broach that right now, either. For a while, I've been thinking that I need to learn more about why the prophets counsel as they do and what the impact on society really is when moral values slide, or are debased.
Because of this, I did an online article search (scholarly research journals—not just a google search) for gay marriage (since it’s a hot topic):
This is the article I chose to read: The Potential Impact of Homosexual Parenting on Children
Author: Lynn D. Wardle
University of Illinois Law Review -- 1997
There was a lot in the article – and I know that I can’t cover it all in one blog entry, or it would be boring to read, and probably no one would finish it.
Here is a section that stuck out to me:
Among the most important reasons why heterosexual parenting is best for children is because there are gender-linked differences in child-rearing skills; men and women contribute different (gender-connected) strengths and attributes to their children's development. Although the critical contributions of mothers to the full and healthy development of children has long been recognized, recent research validates the common understanding that fathers, as well as mothers, are extremely important for child development.
Experts in many disciplines that have recently been studying fathering have reached "surprising unanimity" in their recognition that "men nurture, interact with, and rear competently but differently from women: not worse, not better ... differently." When fathers nurture and care for their children, they do so not quite as "substitute mothers" but differently, as fathers. For example, some studies show that fathers play with their infant children more than mothers, play more physical and tactile games than mothers, and use fewer toys when playing with their children. Mothers tend to talk and play more gently with infant children. Compared to mothers, fathers reportedly appear to "have more positive perceptions of the more irritable sons and less irritable daughters," and perceive their baby daughters to be more cuddly than mothers do. Mothers smile and verbalize more to the infant than fathers do, and generally rate their infant sons as cuddlier than fathers do. Moreover, "men encouraged their children's curiosity in the solution of intellectual and physical challenges, supported the child's persistence in solving problems, and did not become overly solicitous with regard to their child's failures." One study found that six-month-old infants whose fathers were actively involved with them "had higher scores on the Bailey Test of Mental and Motor Development." Infants whose fathers spend more time with them are more socially responsive and better able to withstand stressful situations than infants relatively deprived of substantial interaction with their fathers.
Erik Erikson noted that father love and mother love are different kinds of love; fathers "love more dangerously" because their love is more "expectant, more instrumental" than that of mothers. Fathers more than mothers tend to appreciate the value of and foster child interaction with extrafamilial socializing influences, to provide instrumental leadership, to establish and enforce standards regarding unacceptable emotions and behaviors, and "absorb hostility" from children, whereas mothers provide more expressive, integrative, and nurturing childrearing, and their love is more unconditional. Fathers see themselves more often than mothers as involved in developing values and discipline in children. Fathers have a powerful influence upon academic achievement of children, and "many researchers today believe that a father's expectations regarding future roles for his child will have an influence upon the child's cognitive competence." Likewise, paternal affection is associated with adolescents having more friends, being happier in relationships, and feeling more secure, calm, and self-confident. Also, "there is a lower incidence of sexual involvement in teens from father-present homes."
Sorry, I didn’t quote in a scholar-appropriate way – it was just easier to cut and paste and not change quotes.
Much of what I read there resonates very well with “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” so it isn’t new thinking to me, but I’m grateful to see it in print, in scholarly journals. I particularly liked this part of the article because to me, it simply points out the differences a father and mother provide, as well as the need for both.
While the prophet and other leaders of our church are older, that doesn’t mean that they are out of touch or old-fashioned. I do believe that they are ahead of the studies sometimes, and that when they speak as the prophets and council us that they are doing so with wisdom, authority, and knowledge—meaning as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that we need to listen and be believing, or at the very least, pray for help to believe.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
I made my first pie!
I'm not a big pie fan, in fact, I really don't like pastry crust. I also don't like pie filling, either (the jelled stuff, from a can). I've eaten it before, but I really don't like it. For Thanksgiving, I always make apple crisp for me to eat while everybody else digs into the pie.
Last November I had to get the four hour blood test for gestational diabetes done at the hospital. It was brutal. Rob was kind enough to go with me to get it done. In the waiting area was a Martha Stewart magazine Rob looked through. He found a triple-chocolate pumpkin pie with a graham cracker crust. It looked promising, so we thought we'd try it. Didn't get to it last year, so two weekends ago we finally made it for the first time. It was pretty good. Not my favorite ever, but I do feel accomplished in that I made a pie.
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/triple-chocolate-pumpkin-pie
The photo is courtesy of the above website since I forgot to take any.
Next we're going to try an apple pie. We're going to create the recipe by combining parts of other recipes. Of course it'll have a graham cracker crust and this time we'll do a "crisp" topping. I'll take photos for sure.
Guy is 8 Months
This post is about a week late, oops. Guy is now 8 months, and just starting to fit in his 6 month old clothes well (while at the same time weaing 12-18 month shoes that are a little big, but not by too much). His checkups have always been fine though we do know he's on the smaller side (25th percetile or smaller). As tall as Rob and I are, we do expect him to have a growth spurt sometime--and his foot size gives me that hope. :) Guy seems to be a pretty mellow kid. He loves people and getting a reaction from anyone he's looking at.
A little before 8 months he got his 2 bottom teeth within 5 days of each other. 
Less than one week before Guy turned 8 months he finally started crawling really well. He's moving all over the place now. I love that he now crawls to me when he's crying (wanting to be held) and everytime he sees me eating.And now he's starting to pull himself up on furniture, too.
He has been waving for at least a couple months, now and he's just started clapping a lot, too.
My seemingly largest feat on a daily basis is getting him to eat baby food. He's been watching our food since he was four months old. A little before 6 months we started feeding him baby food. He was okay with that for a little while, but now he wants anything and everything we have. He LOVES everything, including avacados and tomatoes (even with garlic on them). . . making him less of a picky eater than his mom was until she was in her 20s (yea!).
We have a happy baby. He babbles, smiles, and laughs a lot. We love him and feel incredibly blessed to be his parents.
Friday, October 9, 2009
For a Good Laugh
My friend Colin is hilarious, and today I can't stop laughing because of it.
a
If you don't already know, today Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. This may not seem like such a weird thing if the nominations hadn't been closed 12 days after he got into office in February of this year. I've already seen all sides of it - Obama supporters thinking he rightfully won it and others also thinking it was too soon and not yet deserved. I've also seen those that aren't fans of Obama share both those sentiments.
a
I know nobody asked me, so I won't say much, but I will say I don't think it was deserved. And here's where I should put a disclaimer - if you think Obama deserved it, you should probably stop reading here - sorry.
a
As Colin put it (his first status update I read today on facebook), he said: "The Nobel Peace Prize is officially meaningless. Al Gore's political win over a Holocaust survivor who saved 2,500 children (look up Irena Sendler) put the prize on thin ice, but this year's ridiculous award belittles all previous laureates. Sorry Aung San Suu Kim, Theodore Roosevelt, and MLK and other worthy laureates. No wonder Pope John Paul II and Gandhi never won, this prize is a joke."
a
Apparently he's on one today--more status updates:
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"Still, I'm sure they made the right choice. These people all have a soapbox from which they can spread peace throughout the world, they don't need the award. However, Mr. Barack Obama, from Chicago, USA, wouldn't be able to 'aspire to spread peace' any other way." with this link:
a
"Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize for talking about talking to people about peace but really doing nothing so far. 1st runner up: Peace-a-Pizza restaurant in Abington for spreading peace through pizza. 2nd runner up: Miley Cyrus and her powerful peace...... sign. 3rd runner up: that guy on the bus who hugs everyone."
a
"Did you hear? I won the Nobel Peace Prize. Yep, just put a quarter in the machine and out it came. I also won a bouncy ball, a spider tattoo, and a multi-colored eraser."
a
AND THE BEST, I think:
a
"I'm starting a fundraiser, entitled 'Send Kanye West to the Nobel Peace Prize Awards Ceremony.' We pay for his plane ticket, he takes care of the rest. Give what you can."
*don't get the Kanye West reference? see below
a
Jenn, Colin's wife has also posted a few good status updates today as well:
a
"From Dave: In honor of Obama's Nobel Peace Prize win and deferring to the standards set by the Nobel commission, the NHL has decided that they will award this year's Stanley Cup Championship to the Philadelphia Flyers, based on their potential and the fact that the Flyers players believe they can win. - Okay, thats just funny. And I bleed orange and black"
a
and
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"someone said he's becoming Jimmy Carter faster than Jimmy Carter did - it made me laugh out loud."
a
I met Colin while working at Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) - as the Director of Communications and Public Affairs. We used to eat lunch together every day, until he got wrongfully fired by a jealousy ridden scoundrel of a boss, but that's another story. While I'm so grateful that Rob's in school (and more than halfway done), and that I get to stay home with Guy everyday, this is a day when I miss our lunches--and the laughter--and even the one or two times I laughed so hard my drink came out my nose--ouch.
a
*Kanye West made an uninvited stage appearance during some MTV music awards. Taylor Swift was the recipient of an award that Kanye apparently thought Beyonce was more deserving of. In a drunken rambling tirade on live TV, he let everybody know.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Moving Mischief
It doesn't matter where Guy starts out, in this room he ALWAYS ends up next to this table, continuously banging his head on it, or his newest feat--getting stuck underneath it.
Before he realized he was stuck, though, he did look up and try to reach through the table to get the goods a few times. :)
Sunday, October 4, 2009
I finished!
I always love having a project to do on General Conference weekend - something that I can do while listening. Two and a half years ago I started a cross-stitch pattern that I bought right before a General Conference weekend. Since then, I've pulled it out every conference weekend and made some progress. Today I finally finished it.
I can't wait to frame it!
I can't wait to frame it!Friday, October 2, 2009
The Best Chocolate Cake EVER
Finally, the Cake Doctor recipe that I raved about in August.
Chocolate Bundt Cake
1 box chocolate cake mix
1 c. water
1/2 c. oil
8 oz. sour cream
1 small box instant chocolate pudding
3 eggs
1/2 bag milk chocolate chips
Chocolate Glaze
1/3 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 T butter
2 T light Karo syrup
Bake at 350 for 45 minutes
I've used many different chocolate cake mixes for this recipe, and they are all great. I've also used different chocolate chips for the cake and the glaze. I've also used this recipe in round and square cake pans, too - I just change the bake time accordingly (using the back of the box as a beginning bake time), and check it with a toothpick.
Enjoy!
Chocolate Bundt Cake
1 box chocolate cake mix
1 c. water
1/2 c. oil
8 oz. sour cream
1 small box instant chocolate pudding
3 eggs
1/2 bag milk chocolate chips
Chocolate Glaze
1/3 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 T butter
2 T light Karo syrup
Bake at 350 for 45 minutes
I've used many different chocolate cake mixes for this recipe, and they are all great. I've also used different chocolate chips for the cake and the glaze. I've also used this recipe in round and square cake pans, too - I just change the bake time accordingly (using the back of the box as a beginning bake time), and check it with a toothpick.
Enjoy!
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Guy Time
I love snapping photos, and they are just too fun not to share.
a
He's started playing with balloons lately, but has a hard time keeping them within range of his little arms before they bounce away. Our remedy--we've tied a couple to his exersaucer and when he's in it he spends almost all his time playing with them.
It seems that there is nothing that he doesn't try to put in his mouth - a couple favorites are cords and my flip flops (yuck!).
I wish this photo wasn't blurry. He's a strong little boy and for as strong as he is, it seems that he should be crawling around more. Last week he started sitting up on his own and now almost every time we get him out of his crib he's already sitting up. He rocks in the crawling position, and rolls and scoots to get places, so he's getting there. Today he moved across our bedroom and unplugged my clock.
Though he isn't crawling, he's managing to get places. In the past week, I've moved our bookshelves around so that he can't reach Rob's school papers that he loves to try and eat. Good thing our trash just had paper in it.
It seems that there is nothing that he doesn't try to put in his mouth - a couple favorites are cords and my flip flops (yuck!).I wish this photo wasn't blurry. He's a strong little boy and for as strong as he is, it seems that he should be crawling around more. Last week he started sitting up on his own and now almost every time we get him out of his crib he's already sitting up. He rocks in the crawling position, and rolls and scoots to get places, so he's getting there. Today he moved across our bedroom and unplugged my clock. 
Though he isn't crawling, he's managing to get places. In the past week, I've moved our bookshelves around so that he can't reach Rob's school papers that he loves to try and eat. Good thing our trash just had paper in it.Birthday Fun
Probably my favorite thing about birthdays is having the chance to catch up with people - I always appreciate the phone calls and messages--just great opportunities to visit. :)
aThis year for my birthday . . .
aI got beautiful flowers from a very good and dear friend--thank you!
I thought that there wouldn't be a better way to spend it than with my two favorite people. Since Rob had school, Guy and I went down to Provo for lunch. We ate at Stan's, an old hamburger joint on 9th East. Lunch was good, though I did miss the fabulous limeaid I was hoping for (under their new-to-me management they now put one slice of lime in Sprite and call it good).
a
Rob actually had a two and 1/2 hour break between his classes, so we had lots of time to just be together. It was a beautiful day (what might have been the last this year) and I thouroughly enjoyed our visit.
We left Guy at home with Eden (thanks, again!) in the evening and we enjoyed a dinner and dessert (of course) at The Cheescake Factory. Wow, do I love their Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake!
Oh, and birthdays were low-key on our starving student budget this year - but Rob did surprise me with two pairs of nice earrings that he picked out himself. :)
I thought that there wouldn't be a better way to spend it than with my two favorite people. Since Rob had school, Guy and I went down to Provo for lunch. We ate at Stan's, an old hamburger joint on 9th East. Lunch was good, though I did miss the fabulous limeaid I was hoping for (under their new-to-me management they now put one slice of lime in Sprite and call it good).a
Rob actually had a two and 1/2 hour break between his classes, so we had lots of time to just be together. It was a beautiful day (what might have been the last this year) and I thouroughly enjoyed our visit.
We left Guy at home with Eden (thanks, again!) in the evening and we enjoyed a dinner and dessert (of course) at The Cheescake Factory. Wow, do I love their Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake!
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