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."