General Conference

I love how the internet allows us to watch General Conference at home, especially when we do not have a television. Also, my husband speaks Haitain Kreyol and General Conference is already online in Kreyol. That is absolutely amazing to me. I am also grateful that Conference is online because I got the stomach flu yesterday and was not able to watch the Sunday sessions, so I am grateful I do not have to wait for a month for the Ensign to come out to be able to read and listen to General Conference. Such an amazing blessing.

ABC Family

Dear ABC Family,

For many years I have watched ABC Family and enjoyed the new movies that would come out, especially around Christmas. In recent years, I have felt the need to really monitor what I choose to watch on ABC Family because the content was not the most appropriate. Therefore, I am writing this letter to point out a few areas where I feel your station could improve in the message it is conveying to its audience.

I am currently a student at Brigham Young University in Provo, UT and this semester, I participated in a group research project where my group members and I decided to look at the amount of relational aggression on ABC Family television shows. Relational aggression, for those unfamiliar with the term, is behaviors, such as gossiping and teasing, which harm the relationships of individuals. We chose ABC Family because the title of your network claims that your network is family appropriate and we wanted to see if that was really true. Even though this study was not formal by any means, it did open my eyes to the amount of relational aggression that is shown on your network. In many instances, individuals were not punished for using relational aggression. This is extremely troubling to me because if children and adolescents are watching these shows, they may begin to think that it is alright to gossip, tease, ignore, and use psychological manipulation on those they associate with. Also, these behaviors could be quite harmful when used within the family because they could lead to fighting and lack of respect, which could lead to poor family relationships. In addition, relational aggression is the only thing we looked specifically at, but there was also physical aggression, sexual scenes and innuendos, and messages concerning the importance of having a perfect body when it is almost impossible to look like the women in the media. I do not feel that any of these messages are appropriate for families, but yet you are conveying the message that they are appropriate.

Thus, I send to you a call for action. I feel that the name of ABC Family should be changed to a title that better fits the content of the station or that the content of the station should be changed so it is more appropriate for the audience that ABC Family is trying to reach. I know that change is not easy. These changes will bring about a loss of audience and money, but they could also bring more viewers that are more willing to watch family oriented content, which could also bring more money to the network. I would ask you to think about your families and whether or not you want your children doing and saying the things portrayed in your programing. If the answer is no, why are you endorsing a network that is sending negative messages to families throughout America? Please, really consider what I have said and be willing to make changes where they are necessary.

Skype

My husband has been in Connecticut for a few days visiting Yale University and I have been staying at my parents' house with the baby. So, the other day my mom sat the baby down next to me when I was chatting with my husband on gmail and the baby was so darn cute sitting by me like a little man that I had to skype his dad. It is amazing to me that even though my husband is in Connecticut, he can instantly have a live video of his 3 month old son just chillin' on the couch. Love it!!!

Dividing Ourselves

This past week in my adolescent development class, Dr. Walker mentioned a quote from Elder Ian S. Ardern's talk from Oct 2011 General Conference where he said, "Let us be as quick to kneel as we are to text." I was glad to be reminded of this statement because there are many times when I get so focused on watching television, or reading emails, or checking facebook or blogs I follow, and I forget to stop and take the time to turn to Heavenly Father in prayer. We are generally very quick to check all our media, but are we willing to turn to the Lord in prayer as frequently as we turn to our media? How much closer would we be to Him if we did so?

Wedding and Baby Registries

One of the amazing uses of the media is wedding and baby registries. Before I got married, I loved being able to scan the items that I wanted and needed for our new home. My favorite part was being able to log on to my account online and see what people had bought me. So great! When I was pregnant, I again enjoyed scanning items for my baby and having people get them for me. I don't know what people did before registries. This past week my friend had a bridal shower and it was easy for me to go to Target, print out her registry, and easily get something that she needs and wants. Enjoy using the wonderful medium of registries!

What is real beauty?

Trying to gain an understanding of real beauty is difficult in the world today. Thin is the ideal and women are so nipped, tucked, painted, and edited that they look absolutely perfect. How can we compete with that? I think the key is remembering that we are sons and daughters of divinity. We are not just ordinary people walking around. We truly are divine and have the ability to accomplish many great things. One of my favorite scriptures is found in  1 Samuel 16:7, "But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." The mormonad for this scripture states, "Be your own kind of beautiful." It is always important to remember to not judge the world or ourselves by our outward appearance. We all have amazing beauty to offer the world and trying to be like the men and women in the media will only hide that beauty.

 

General Conference Talks

There is a girl in my ward that works for the Church Office Building, specially for the Ensign and Liahona Magazines. This weekend she was talking about the role she plays in the editing process of the conference talks. She said she checks for punctuation and then the talks are sent off to be translated into many different languages. The talks then come back to her department and they check the grammar again and make sure the translations have been written correctly. I think this process is amazing and eventually we get to read these talks in the Ensign  or on the internet. I also find it amazing that in a few weeks these talks will be sent throughout the entire world in many different languages and to many different types of people. The media is such an amazing thing!

Dance Moms - Reality TV

This weekend my sister-in-law was watching this show and so I was exposed to it for the first time. It had a ton of relational aggression which was mentioned in class about reality TV. Also, the movie Miss Representation came to mind as I was watching these young girls putting on tons of make-up and wearing outfits that were very revealing. These girls are being taught at a very young age that appearance and status are what is important in life, which is very frightening. As, I watched the last few minutes of the show, I really feared for these young girls futures and it scared me that their moms were encouraging relational aggression and negative body image, probably unknowingly, because they have learned that from the worlds view of women. Needless to say, I have no desire to watch that show again. I hope that I will be able to teach the women and young girls that I associate with and/or raise what is really important in life instead of what the world has labeled as important.

The Amazing Internet

My husband and I have been looking at places to live in Connecticut. At first we were looking at apartments and then realized we could buy a house for cheaper then paying rent for 5 years. We have been able to look at all sorts of homes over the wonderful medium of the internet. It is absolutely amazing! Not only were we looking at homes, but my husband was chatting with his mother, who knows a lot about buying homes, over the internet. It never ceases to amaze me what we are now able to do and accomplish because of the internet. The internet has saved us so much time and money as we are trying to figure out our new life in Connecticut.

Meet the Robinsons

I watched Meet the Robinsons with my husband this weekend and I liked it. My husband had seen it before and he said it was a cute movie. He has good taste for sure and I had wanted to watch it after we talked about it in class. It definitely has a lot of prosocial behavior. The focus on the importance of family was refreshing because usually the family is portrayed in a dramatic, arguing way. Meet the Robinsons shows that each family member has quarks, but they can still get along and do things together. I really enjoyed that! If you have not seen Meet the Robinsons or want to watch a fun movie, this is a good choice.

Long Distance

My husband got accepted to the Yale Economics PhD Program (I am very proud of him) and so I was talking to my mom about it over the weekend. She mentioned how kids, adolescents, and even young adults today do not even know the meaning of long distance phone calls. When my parents were first married, my dad went to boot camp in Texas while my mom was living in California. She said that their phone bill was easily $600-$700 a month. That is so crazy! With cell phones nowadays, we do not even think about long distance phone calls. We just put in the number and away it goes. Also, there are things like skype that not only allow you to talk to your family across the country, but to actually see them. The media is an amazing and fascinating thing, and I am excited to be able to easily keep in touch with my family while I am on the other side of the country.

Favorite Movie of All Time

The Man from Snowy River is probably my favorite movie of all time. I love the story line! I love Australia! I love horses! I love the romance! And I love the music. This movie also reminds me of my dad. It is one of his favorite movies and he is the one that introduced me to it. Also, my dad is the mountain man type; thus, I could totally see him depicted in this movie especially since he is ruggedly handsome. My mom does not really understand why we like the movie so much, but I would not peg her as an outback, horse type anyway. At one point in time I dreamed of owning a ranch, which was partly inspired by this movie. The ironic thing is that I know very little about horses and I have only ridden a horse in a circle when I was quite young. I just think they are amazing creatures and maybe one day I might own one, but probably not a whole ranch.

This is my favorite song from the movie. I am not a pianist, but I have tried to learn this song on the piano. Needless to say, I still need a ton of practice. Maybe I will get it one day!!!

Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy

My husband inspired this post as he mentioned to me yesterday that advances in technology are helping us better keep the Sabbath Day. He mentioned this because we choose not to watch TV or movies on Sundays, but sometimes there are good TV shows that air on Sundays such as: Once Upon a Time. Well, on Monday it is available on Hulu. How wonderful is that! I had never thought about advances in technology helping me keep the Sabbath day holy, but it is very true. I am glad that my husband pointed that out because it helped me look at the media in a positive light where I feel like it is typically viewed very negatively.

Passage on the Titantic

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I read this book over the weekend. I have always been drawn to stories about the Titantic, which most likely stems from my love of historical fiction books. It is hard for me to open a history book and just read about history. (Honestly, that would be hard for almost all of the human race besides those select few that enjoy reading straight facts.) Historical fiction books allow me a way to learn about history and enjoy a good story along the way that may have romance, mystery or suspense.

I enjoyed this book. One of my favorite things about Anita Stansfield's books is her ability to incorporate the Gospel, specifically the Atonement into many of her books. Also, if you want a good, clean romance she is a very good author to pick. My favorite book of hers is called The Guardian. This book describes the journey a young man takes to come to terms with a car accident that occurred in the family and the help he receives and gives to a convert to the church. It is a story of romance and learning to believe in Christ's Atonement.

Video Games: Friend or Foe?

My mom would not get any video games when I was a young child because there were better things we could be doing with our time then sitting in front of the TV playing games for hours upon end. So, I would sometimes play when I went to a friend's house, but I did not play very much. I thought they were boring and a waste of time. When I was a teenager, my mom got an X-box because my brother was going to all of his friends' houses to play video games and she would prefer him playing at our house. We played X-box sometimes, but not a ton. My grandparents now have a Wii and my brother has a connect. I enjoy playing the active games as a family like the dancing games and the sports. The only time I play video games nowadays is at family gatherings and we end up playing as a whole family. It is hilarious because some of us are not that good so we just end up laughing and really enjoying each others company. I feel that these family gatherings are a good time to play video games, but I am not going to allow my kids to play video games everyday. My family will probably not even have a video game console. I feel that monitoring video games is very important because they have the potential of being really dangerous.

 

Once Upon a Time

Last week I went through the first 11 episodes of Once Upon a Time and I have enjoyed it. The story line is very interesting and I really like how each episode focuses on a specific character and tells their story. I like hearing different takes on fairy tales. The Queen/Regina is quite annoying and Rumpelstiltskin/Mr. Gold freaks me out. He is very deceptive and I am not sure how much Mr. Gold knows. It will be fun to see what happens in Episode 12 which I will watch later today! I wonder how long this series will go because I feel like the fairy tale stories will run out and what will happen when everyone knows the secret of the curse, so it will be interesting to see what happens.With all of these series I have been watching, it would seem that I am obsessed with TV, but in all reality, I like the noise and I am basically home all day taking care of my baby. I am glad that there is good, clean TV shows that I am able to watch and listen to.  

Music Brings Peace to My Heart

One of my current favorite songs that brings peace to my heart and reminds me that I am not alone in my trials is "Not The Only One." I really love this song! It helps me know that when I am struggling or standing up for something I know is right, that I have generations of faithful saints that are standing behind me as well as my Heavenly Father and Savior! I am grateful for music. It touches me in a way that very few other things can.

The Wonderful Joy of Books

Below are the books I listed for the book assignment. I would recommend reading the books if you have not already.

            "I have always read a lot of books, so it is hard for me to pick an absolute favorite, but one of the books I really enjoyed when I was a teenager was Fishers of Men by Gerald N. Lund. Fishers of Men is the first book in the Kingdom and the Crown series. Fishers of Men is the introduction to the Savior in Galilee. Simeon is a Zealot who is an amazing warrior and very bitter over what the Romans are doing to the Jews. Miriam is the daughter of a Sadducee and Simeon rescues her and her father from thieves. Simeon and Miriam begin their road of romance, which takes two very long books to come to fruition. A book that I really love now is called Bound by Honor. It is historical fiction just like Fishers of Men. It describes the cruelty of the Romans on tribes in Britain. Alana is taken from Britain as a slave and sold in Rome. Her and Valerius, a young Roman commander, fall in love but are forbidden to marry because it will disrupt social class. After many trials of faith and morality, Alana and Valerius do pursue their relationship and begin to learn of Jesus Christ.

            Fishers of Men was one of my favorite books because it allowed me to learn more about the life of the Savior while enjoying a fictional story. That is one of the reasons I love historical fiction. I also love this book because it shows the different struggles that individuals go through to gain a testimony of Jesus Christ. Some people easily believe while others struggle for a long time to finally realize that Jesus Christ is the Savior. I also love romance, so that is a wonderful aspect of the book. This book impacted me as a teenager because I was a hopeless romantic and it helped me put together a list of my “dream guy.” It also helped me to learn more about my Savior and better understand his life. It gave me a greater desire to learn more about the life of my Savior.

            Bound by Honor is currently one of my favorite books because of the frustrating love story. It takes the whole book for Alana and Valerius to get together and sometimes it is quite annoying, but for some reason it sucks you in and you just want to finish the book so you can see them together. Also, I enjoy this book because it teaches me about different parts of history that I might have never looked at otherwise. This book has impacted me in a few ways. First, it teaches amazing morals and the importance of being true to your spouse no matter what. Second, Alana is a very spirited individual that is not afraid to stand up for what she believes in even in the midst of persecution and death. I really love this part of the book. Third, the book teaches the importance of friendship. Despite different backgrounds, individuals are able to work together and produce much good."  

What do I really want to be exposed to on TV?

When I was growing up, my parents did not allow us to watch PG-13 movies and I did not think much of it at the time. When I was finally able to choose what movies I wanted to watch, I realized the importance of choosing clean, wholesome television shows. Therefore, when I was attending Snow College in 2006, I decided that I would not watch PG-13 movies anymore. At times, it seems slightly restricting, but it has really helped me to pick more wholesome entertainment. I love watching something that leaves me with a good feeling and allows me to still feel the Spirit. I feel that TV can be good for many things (e.g., entertainment, education, moral lessons), but we have to monitor what we allow into our homes.

This movie is kind of cheesy, but it teaches really good morals!

Disney channel is another excellent source of wholesome media.

Psych

So, my husband has been watching Psych for quite a while, but for some reason I never started watching it. What was I thinking? I made it through season 1 over the weekend and am now working on season 2. It is such a funny show and it is very clean, which I love. I love the relationship between Shawn and Gus. They are such a funny little combination of friends. Also, I enjoy how Shawn is able to fool everyone into thinking he is really psychic. He reacts in such crazy ways when he is having a "vision". He just gets to make a total fool of himself on TV and the audience loves it. My husband said that he stops having crazy reactions in later seasons, so I should enjoy it while it lasts. I am excited to get through all the seasons. Psych gives me another show to watch when I am up in the wee morning hours with the baby! Woohoo!!!

Scripture Power!

This morning I was reading 1 Nephi 17 and this chapter never ceases to amaze me. Nephi is commanded to build a ship and his brothers think he is crazy, but Nephi does not back down from what the Lord has asked him to do. In verse 51, Nephi says, "And now, if the Lord has such great power, and has wrought so many miracles among the children of men, how is it that he cannot instruct me, that I should build a ship?" In the midst of so much persecution, Nephi does not forget the power of God and he puts full trust and faith in what the Lord has asked him to do! Nephi is an amazing example to me of faith and courage. I know that he witnessed many miracles and received many blessings because he did not doubt the power of God. I am so grateful for the power of God that manifests itself in my life! I know that Jesus Christ lives and that the Book of Mormon testifies of Him.

Reading to My Little Boy!

This past week the professor that my husband works for asked my husband if he was reading to our 3 week old boy. My husband felt bad that he had not started reading to him yet and began to do so that very day. The professor mentioned that he could see a big difference in his oldest son that he spent more time reading with compared to his younger children. So, we have started reading to Mazer. For now, we are reading him the books that we are reading, but as he gets older we can read him children's books. I enjoy reading him conference talks and chapters from the Book of Mormon. I feel like reading to him now helps him become more familiar with our voices, and it helps my reading comprehension to read aloud. It is pretty great! Also, it is the cutest thing to see his dad read to him. My husband gets so into the reading and makes all sorts of cute voices. I love it!!!

Breakfast at Tiffany's

My husband and I watched Breakfast at Tiffany's this weekend and it was totally different then I thought it was going to be. My husband told me that he thought the name of the girl was Tiffany and that the movie was about having breakfast at her house. We had no idea that the movie was talking about the jewelry store. I did not think that the movie was amazing, but I can now say that I have watched it. One of my favorite things about the movie was that Audrey Hepburn's cat was named Cat. So funny! I also enjoyed Audrey Hepburn's big hats. They were hilarious! I am glad that we do not wear hats like that nowadays. I do not know if I would want to. Even though the movie was not my favorite, I definitely feel more cultured after watching it.

The Wonder of the Food Network!!!

Why is the food network one of my all time favorite channels? I have loved to cook ever since I was little. I spent a lot of time in the kitchen with my mom and grandma as I was growing up. I learned how to make homemade egg noodles, wonderful french bread, chocolates, etc. When I was in high school, I went to culinary school and loved it. Culinary school helped me learn how to use my imagination to create wonderful dishes and that is what the food network allows me to do. I love seeing amazing culinary creations come to life.

One of my favorite shows on the food network is Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. I love hearing the amazing stories of how different people became part of the restaurant business. It is amazing to see the passion that each of the individuals have for their food and the customers that they serve. I just love food and cooking is definitely one of my passions.

Cell Phones and iPods Are Taking Over the World!

I walk 20 minutes to and from school everyday and most of the time I do not listen to my iPod, but I decided to listen to it today. As I was walking home, I noticed so many people either texting or listening to music. I guess listening to my iPod made me super sensitive to others use of technology. It amazes me how many people are caught up in their own little world. They walk with their heads down as they are changing a song, texting, or checking email. Do they know that there is a world around them? Sometimes I wonder. It would appear that technology is taking over the world. I rarely use my iPod and I might use my phone a couple of times a day, so it is slightly strange to me that so many people on campus can spend so much time using their phones and iPods especially when they are just walking to and from class. So, next time you go to do something on your iPod or phone, take a look around at the technology that is so intertwined in each of our lives. 

  

The Joys of the Disney Channel

I am a major fan of the Disney Channel especially Hannah Montana. I have watched many of the episodes several times and over the last week I finished all 4 seasons once again. Since I have a newborn baby, I needed something to entertain me when I am up feeding him at night. Hannah Montana seemed like the perfect thing. It is one of the few things that is funny at 2am. The clean humor of the Disney Channel is one of the things that I love about it. My husband loves watching the Disney Channel with me because I laugh so much. He thinks it is the cutest thing.

Hannah Montana is one of my favorite Disney Channel shows because it has a lot of slap stick comedy in it. I grew up watching slap stick and it just makes me laugh so hard. I am not really sure why, but I really enjoy seeing people get hurt which sounds completely horrible. My husband loves watching the Disney Channel with me because I laugh so much. He thinks it is the cutest thing. So, if anyone needs some early morning laughter, Hannah Montana may be a good choice for you.