Afternoon Delight

I woke up this morning around 6:20am, went outside, and I actually felt a cool breeze blow over me! I looked at the temperature and it was 78 degrees. I had to smile knowing that cool weather is soon approaching for us here in Arizona.

Of course along with the cool weather is always college football season! Those who know me know that I really don't like football, at all, I'm not a fan. BUT since Joe bought The Mountain TV network, we're the only ones in the family that have the BYU games to watch. This Saturday, we hosted the game at our house. I have to admit, I made a touchdown of a dip! Here's the recipe.

FOOTBALL DIP

1 lb. ground beef
1 can Frito Lay bean dip
Small jar of taco sauce, medium or hot
2 c. shredded cheese
Nacho chips

Brown ground beef, drain. Put into 13 x 9 baking dish. Stir in bean dip and taco sauce. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake in 350 degree oven for 20 minutes or until mixture is hot and cheese is melted. Serve with nacho chips.

All of it goes in the cute football bowl.
J

Twilight Zone Ashley

Okay, so I did a Twilight Zone theme to this photo, only because the look on my face says, "The world is going to be abducted by a giant alien and I'm in on it."

We decided to bring a blanket out in the backyard and relax on the grass for a while. These are some photos I took of my boys. Priceless. Then the ants started to come out crawl all over the blanket so we decided to call it a day.

This is where you'll find me on your typical day. I like to hang out on the floor with Ethan while we build forts or plays with cars. Barbie seems to find a way to wiggle herself into any nook or cranny that she can find on me. Silly girl.

We should have named her "Cinnabon" because she can curl up in the smallest little coils you've ever seen! Wow, that cinnabon makes me HUNGRY!

Pay Attention

Maybe I should wait until I cool down before posting this, but I am so angry right now at people who choose to hurt innocent babies, because they are just that, innocent. After having a child of my own, I become emotional anytime I hear about these things happening!

Barack Obama is the only presidential candidate who supported killing of babies who survived abortion. It's called infanticide and a woman can make the decision to be induced into labor, have the baby, and then the baby is left to die. These babies can survive for minutes or hours.

Below is a video that you can watch, if you are emotionally stable. The fact that this is real and is happening is reason enough for me to become educated.

We can stop this from continuing by voting 'no' to Barack Obama and 'yes' to life.

You can register to vote here: http://www.rockthevote.com/

And on another note 'Last year alone, U.S. law enforcement identified over 300,000 criminals who were trafficking in movies and pictures of young children being raped and tortured. Experts say that one in every three of these criminals has local child victims. Child pornography trafficking over the Internet has given us a trail of evidence that leads straight to their doorsteps, but the vast majority of these children will never be rescued because investigators are overwhelmed, outnumbered and underfunded.'

This was taken from oprah.com where you can take a stand on child predators that are trafficking pornographic photos and videos over the internet. This is becoming more and more wide-spread, and we can do something about it if we can urge our senators to vote
yes on Senate Bill 1738—The PROTECT Our Children Act."

The PROTECT Our Children Act will:

• Authorize over $320 million over the next five years in desperately needed funding for law enforcement to investigate child exploitation.
  
• Mandate that child rescue be a top priority for law enforcement receiving federal funding.
  
• Allocate funds for high-tech computer software that can track down Internet predators.
  

Go here: http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20080911_tows_predators for more information and remember that we only have a couple of days before it goes before congress.

Sometimes it's difficult to live and pursue happiness in a world where these types of things are allowed to happen. The only thing that appeases me, is to know that there's something that I can do about it, from my own little corner of the world.

Thanks for listening.

God Bless America

I remember where I was on this day in 2001 when I heard about the plane crashing in to the first tower of the world trade center.

I was living at my Mom and Dad's house in Mesa, just getting ready to leave for college, I was happy to spend a few more weeks with my family before I left. I was asleep when I was startled by my sister Aimee, who came in my room and told me that a plane had just hit the world trade center. I was very groggy and I didn't know what to think of it all, but I stumbled in to the living room and saw one of the memorable sites I'd ever seen. It was the smoke billowing out of the first tower.

My Dad is so smart and he was sort of narrating the whole thing for us all, explaining to us what may have happened and how this is going to affect the future of America. We all sat stunned in front of the television for quite some time, and then we watched again and again as they showed footage of the second plane hitting the second tower. I remember feeling like my stomach was aching and there was no way to fix it!

Then when stories of the plane hitting the pentagon and flight 93 came out later on that day we were so confused as to who would plan and carry out such an atrocity! So many people became heroes on that day, and so many people suffered great pain! All the while I sat in the comfort of my home with my loved ones.

Recently Joe and I watched flight 93 for the second time. (The first time I saw it, I was pregnant with Ethan and he literally turned in my stomach at the end) Well the second time we watched it, we were in the living room so we had time to discuss things as they progressed through the movie. And one thing Joe mentioned was, "The Islams have another thing coming to them if they think that they have virgins and riches waiting for them when they die." As true as that is, I feel that because they were taught these things from childhood, they had no choice but to follow through with them!

It makes me grateful for what I have and what I know. I know that the Lord wants me to be happy, and wants good things for me, and the tragic act against America by those men on September 11^th was anything but happy and good.

I just wanted to take the chance to say that I remember what happened on that day, I'm proud to be an American, and God Bless America.