Mormon Bloggers

Hey all! Just updated my blog theme. It’s quite similar to the last one, but I’m also changing my chashathaway.com website soon and wanted to make my blog match it a bit. What do you all think? Does it need any tweaking?

I did a photo shoot today with Kailey and pink tulips, for her birthday invitation I need to get out soon. The pictures came out amazing but I can’t post them until I get out the invite because that would spoil it. 
Kailey is about 22 pounds now as of last week..so it might be higher now from how she has been eating. She can stand without holding on to anything and can cruise around the furniture and can now walk around with her little activity, push walker. She sometimes forgets she can’t walk without holding on because she will be cruising along the couch and then go to follow Dorian and crashes to the floor laughing. She is pretty tough physically, Dorian has made her that way with all the boy handling he forces on her, and the hugs that are soo tight that they both fall over. But she is as sensitive as she can be about other things. My little girly girl with massive curls growing in and front teeth trying to push out. Here is some inspiration I’m using for her small party I’m planning.

Ok…… I will show you just one picture from today!!!!!

Get it? Its like I am saying I am awkward everyday, not just on Thursday like Ms. Sydney!

HA HA….ha…

Awkward= Me. In every sense of the word. Awkward in the dictionary yesterday may have simply said my name for the definition. I should have checked, huh?

Awkward- Successfully embarrassing myself not 20 minutes after walking into the gym by dropping 84 note cards and loud keys on the ground.

Did I mention there were 84 of them?

Awkward- When attempting to gracefully (durr, what’s that word?) dismount the elliptical to retrieve said note cards, tripping and almost joining them on the ground. I didn’t though, thankyaverymuch to the 2 weeks of ballet class I took!

And that is why the gym is evil and I should never have to go again.

Awkward- Calling my mom off Coopers phone only to realize 2 minutes into the one sided, really embarrassing conversation, that I was indeed talking to Coopers mom, not mine.

A facepalm won’t even do that one justice.

Maybe a nice huge hole and some Oreos… …and nachos.

Maybe.

Awkward- Being told recently that I have big eyes. Well shoo, I didn’t think they were THAT big…

…maybe they are

Awkward- Planning my life around dogsitting in May for one of my instructors only to have her call me and tell me I had misunderstood and that I have to dogsit next week. Awesome

Awkward- Having yet again another conversation with a Spanish speaking patient whom I didn’t know couldn’t understand me.

Awesome- Everything is okay now because I had nachos for lunch. I just knew it would work. Carbs are friends.

Awesome- MINI ROAD TRIP tomorrow with a spanking new playlist

Awesome- The show “mobbed” LOVE IT!
Awesome- General Conference this weekend! I love inspirational messages and a weekend full should do the trick! Check it out!

Awesome- We have sotra kinda a giveaway winner…who shall be announced shortly being since I am too lazy to count the number of eligible entries right now and figure out how to get the random.org result box onto my post…

Lets add that confession to the awkward section

Peace, love and knowing that there is always a tomorrow!

If you subscribe to the LDS Living magazine, you probably read the recent article on David Ciemny, who formerly managed Lady Gaga’s tour schedule.  He has quite the resume and experience in the music industry and has managed to keep his morals in spite of the surroundings he has been with from being in his own band all the way up to managing major tours.  When he reached the peak of success as Lady Gaga was bursting onto the scene, he could see his touring would keep him away from his family for more than a year.  He decided to quit at that time and stay with his family.

I thought the article was interesting, but it was the comments below the article from readers that got me thinking.  It appears that people were divided on supporting David with his career.  Some people applauded him for being able to keep his morals and be a “light on a hill” or “salt of the earth” so to speak.  Others criticized him for mingling with the “wrong” people.  After all (those who criticize say), how can a “good” LDS guy be really that good if he is touring with the likes of Lady Gaga or opening for Metallica?

In Sunday school I teach the 16-18 year olds and we are studying the New Testament this year.  Over and over Jesus is criticized for mingling with the “wrong” people such as sinners and gentiles who are not of the Jewish faith.  In my opinion, those who criticize this guy for being Lady Gaga’s tour manager fall into the category of the Pharisees who judged Jesus.  If David was able to keep his morals and be a good example, then he probably was planting a lot of seeds and who knows who he may have blessed? 

Now it’s your turn.  Cast your vote.  Do you praise or criticize David Ciemny for being Gaga’s tour manager?

Salt Lake City | 2011-03-31 |

Unique historical artifacts from the archives of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will be on display to the public during general conference weekend. The Church History Library will host a “Treasures of the Collection” open house on Friday, April 1, from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. and Saturday, April 2, from noon to 2 p.m. and from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Today is the last day of the first quarter. I wonder if I’ve reached my goals. I wonder what my goals were. I know I wanted to lose weight. I think my goal was roughly 20 lbs. I lost about 4 lbs. Another goal was to be able to do a pull up. I still can’t do a full pull up from a full hang but I can do two half pull ups from a bent arm. I feel really good about that. If I lose that 20 lbs I’m sure it will really help my pull up progress. Another goal I met this quarter was to run 2 miles in under 16 minutes. As you can tell I’ve been working on my fitness pretty well. You can even follow my journey on my YouTube Weight Loss Channel.

In Q2 I want to broaden my horizon. I want to focus on personal development, mental and spiritual goals as well as improving my fitness. Earlier this month I discovered my passion and got a glimpse of my purpose in life you can read a little about my Micah 3.0 Project. For the past month I’ve been figuring out how I want to approach this project. There were some unknowns about my work situation and I was considering leaving the 9-5 by the end of May to pursue this project full time. This week I found out that my best option is to stick with my day job until the end of the year. My schedule will get more flexible when I start working from home this Summer but I will still have to balance my efforts with my full time job. That’s okay, as long as I stay focused on the end goal and continue to make progress I am okay with that. If anything it will force me to be more efficient and to focus on what matters most for every free moment.

One quarter of a year is equivalent to 13 weeks. I will set 12 week goals and allow for a one week buffer because “stuff” happens. For example, during the next 12 weeks I will be taking a 5 day boy scout trip to Southern Utah. I am really looking forward to that and also hope to work on my goals while on the trip.

So here are the goals.

Mental

1. Read 3 books:  The Thank You Economy, ReWork and Delivering Happiness
2. Develop 1 iPhone application:  This will be a simple app that I want to make for the youth group I lead to help them reach their personal development goals.

Physical

1. Reach 200 lbs
2. Run 5K in under 24 minutes
3. Do a full unassisted pull up

Spiritual

1. Develop a habit of daily prayer and scripture study
2. Visit the temple at least once per month
3. Help at least one boy in my group achieve Eagle Scout

Social

1. Meet 3 people I look up to online (Adam Baker, MrArturoTrejo, TheRenMen)
2. Attend Fitness Bloggers Conference in Colorado

Family

1. Weekly date night with lovely wife.
2. Weekly family night

Career

1. $5K revenue for Octonerd LLC
2. Outsource at least two projects
3. Establish weekly interview schedule for Thintopia

Recreational

1. Trip to San Diego
2. Trip to Zions National Park
3. Practice Photography Weekly
4. Learn to play a favorite song on Piano

Financial

1.  Create and stick to a family budget.

There you have it.  How did I come up with these goals?  I first tried to picture where I want to be 10 years from now.  I tried to get a picture of where I would be physically, mentally, spiritually, financially, etc  I then jotted down the eight categories above and began thinking of measurable and realistic goals.  These goals aren’t perfect and I need to be more specific with some.  Part of me sees this big list and gets overwhelmed but then I realized that I’m not going from couch potato to ultra productive.  I am just upping my game and getting organized.  This really just represents an overall goal to stop wasting time.  I read a post recently by Brandon Pearce who has done a great job balancing his time over the past few years.  He shares down to the minute how he spends his time in a typical week.  If I am going to succeed I am going to need to be aware of how I use my time and be very strict with not wasting time on activities that aren’t helping me reach my goals.  Several of my goals have to do with daily or weekly habits.  The next three months I will be developing a routine that will allow me to be much more productive.  I plan to work hard and play hard.  What are your goals?  Am I too ambitious?  I have much more that I want to do. This just represents what I think is realistic.  My next post will go over my routine and how I plan to accomplish each of these goals.  Stay tuned and don’t forget to subscribe.

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• Utopia Through Self Actualization
• Micah 3.0
• Free MIT Education – MITOpenCourseWare

Yesterday, my Aunt Maurine hosted a bridal shower for me. I had never even been to a bridal shower for someone else before, so this was my first one all around.

Some of my Mom’s sisters and my Grandmother came, but it was mostly women from my Dad’s side of the family…most of which I had never met before. They were all very sweet and helpful (which was needed since I had spent the night before in the hospital and was still running on some morphine). We snacked, talked, opened presents, you know, the regular. It was great!

Just like getting our engagement pictures done last week, each piece makes it more and more real. Now I have a bedroom full of things for our new apartment and the wedding seems that much closer.

Thanks to everyone who could come! I had a great time.

Yesterday, my Aunt Maurine hosted a bridal shower for me. I had never even been to a bridal shower for someone else before, so this was my first one all around. Some of my Mom’s sisters and my Grandmother came, but it was mostly women from my Dad’s side of the family…most of which I had never met before. They were all very sweet and helpful (which was needed since I had spent the night before in

Outside my window…there is sun and warmth. No sweater needed today.
I am thinking…that I have a zillion things to do today and instead I am blogging. I do hope I am not addicted to blogging.
I am thankful …that my sweet daughter was able to tolerate a medical test that she had to have today. I am very grateful that my 97 year old Aunt who broke her hip last Sunday was able to tolerate the surgery. I am grateful that I could spend some time with both of my Aunts this week.
From the learning rooms…I am learning so much from being around my Aunt Della who is 97 years old and my Aunt Alene who is 90 years old. I interviewed them this week and I will be creating a blog on their thoughts on life.
From the kitchen…there is nothing coming into my mind for dinner tonight. I think take home pizza sounds good. I am really bummed out that the price of Chocolate is going up. I don’t know how I can survive without it. I wonder if there is a way to store it. I need a year’s supply for sure.
I am wearing…stretch brown Levi’s and I need the stretch today – a brown flowered tee shirt and light blue slippers.
I am creating…a list of all the things I need to do to begin Spring Cleaning. De junking is number one on the list.
I am going… over to the Riverton Hospital to visit a friend that had knee surgery on Tuesday. I may take a moment to see if I can find a blouse or sweater to go with a new skirt I bought.
I am reading…“Snow Rising”. I thought I would have plenty of time to read while I was sitting with Aunt Della; but I didn’t get any reading done at all. I am just slowly plugging a way on this book. I finished the short book on the temple and it was so inspirational, I plan to read it again.
I am hoping…that the sunshine will stay for a couple of day. I am praying that my daughter and son in law will have a safe drive to Idaho Falls. My son in law, Brandon’s father passed away after suffering with cancer. His father was a very good man and will be greatly missed by his family.We will be driving up to Idaho Falls for the funeral on Monday. We love this family and pray for them to be comforted.
I am hearing…the TV, my fingers typing this post, and the cars going by. I have been listening to the birds each morning and it sounds so good. I feel spring is coming!!!
Around the house…I need to dust!
One of my favorite things…llately, is reading other blog posts. I am so impressed with all of the beautiful thoughts that are expressed by so many. I love those who write about their beliefs, family events, and just their musings. I love making new blogging friends.
A few plans for the rest of the week: I plan to catch up on my journaling and work on some genealogy – Maybe a Friday date night with my hubby – Enjoy every moment of conference – Drive to Idaho Falls for the funeral on Monday
Here is picture for thought I am sharing…



Here is our sweet Suesue and Sammy Take a moment and drop by and enjoy other Simple woman Daybook entries here: http://thesimplewoman’sdaybook.blogspot.com/ 

As is often the case in the spring, today at the UCR campus we had visitors, visitors who brought posters with them, posters that were gruesome, graphic and frankly rather disgusting.  They depicted death and dismemberment in a manner that even the most shocking purveyors of torture porn usually avoid.  The wielders of said posters?  Good, Christian folk out to put the fear of God into your sons and daughters. (But mostly your daughters I suspect.)  I speak of course of the Anti-Abortion placards that prominently feature the images of mangled fetuses.  I get the whole argument here.  Abortion is murder, sanitizing it just makes it palatable, it is better to show all the gory consequences of an act to the public to shock them out of their jaded stupor… etc, ad nauseam.

Frankly, I find such arguments to be garbage.  I spent two years as a missionary spreading the gospel, including the inconvenient, and often unpopular doctrines of chastity, and temperance, and while I accept that honesty and straight-talk are always preferable to obfuscation, there is a very broad gulf indeed between having a frank discussion about morality and waving images of pre-birth vivisections.  That gulf, is alluded to in a revelation given to the Prophet Joseph Smith in 1831 wherein the Lord stated unequivocally, “and if ye receive not the spirit, ye shall not teach.” (D&C 42:14)  All forms of proselytizing (and yes, I include what these individuals with the posters were doing in my University’s plaza today as proselytizing, they certainly weren’t doing this for secular purposes) are, at their heart, forms of teaching.  You feel that you are in possession of a truth that would benefit others and you wish to share it with them.  You do this by teaching this truth, but while you may the be instrument of sharing the doctrine, you yourself convince no one.  Conviction (or conversion, to use the more proper religious term) is the province of the Holy Spirit.  Speaking of the Spirit, St. Paul wrote, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith…” (Galatians 5:22)  None of the above-mentioned qualities are generated, strengthened, or long persist in the face of imagery depicting horrific violence, slaughter or dismemberment.  Such images convey only shock and horror, and while shock and horror are sufficient to gain attention, they teach little and enlighten even less.

Indeed one may well ask, what the message of such images actually is?  Or put more frankly, what are these individuals saying to the women who look at them?  For let us be honest, dear readers, the anti-abortion movement has always directed its message primarily at women. To women who have not had an abortion it is a shocking eye grabber: look what it means to be pro-choice!  You don’t want to align your self with baby manglers, do you? Still worse is the message sent to those souls who may have, for whatever reason, had an abortion:  Look what you did you awful, monstrous creature!  You slaughtered a baby!  How unspeakable!

Now, I am no apologist for Abortion.  I find it personally abhorrent, but realize that there are definite instances where it is a justifiable option, and that a world with legal and safe abortion, however distasteful, is preferable to one in where it is illegal and unregulated.  That said, if these individuals really wanted to drive home the idea of the sanctity of life, would it not be more advisable for them to have images of living, thriving children on their placards, instead of mangled dead ones?  Personally, my appreciation for the life of my daughter has been heightened by seeing her smile, watching her play, hearing her sing, talk and tell stories.  All of this weighs far more heavily in informing my understanding of the sacred nature of parenthood than an image of a mangled fetus, and I imagine such imagery is far more likely to get a woman considering an abortion to consider other options (if such options are possible).

Instead, all these horrific images do is convey a sense of shock, horror and guilt to passers-by.  They inspire no sense of the joy or sacredness inherent in life in those who see them, and  provide no hope of forgiveness to those who may feel uncomfortable with their life choices, they are nothing but an endless chorus of rage, condemnation and accusation, which in turn leads to feelings of outrage and defensiveness.  So what is actually achieved here?  Is the gospel preached?  Are souls saved?  Is the kingdom moved forward?  No, but a group of individuals feel justified in their own righteousness by condemning the faults of others, and the Devil laughs us all to scorn.

There will be no progress on the Abortion issue until the two sides can sit at the same table together and discuss the problem without rancor.  To do this, those who oppose Abortion need to be willing to admit that there are actually some cases in which this act, abhorrent as it may be, are actually justified, and that without a decent social safety net, the outlawing of Abortion will not result in its abolition.  Those who favor Abortion rights need to likewise concede that the moral outrage of their opponents stems from something other than mere desire to dominate female bodies.  The pseudo-pornography of mangled fetuses does nothing to advance us toward that goal.

Filed under: Current Events, Musings, Politics, Religion