in defense of the priesthood.

npr is usually on my radio when i am alone.  no one else can stand it i guess.  so it happened that while on my way to pick up the boys from art in henefer tonight i was listening to the utah version of natl. public radio and caught a snippet of a few women discussing the idea of women receiving the priesthood. a few of them pushing for women to receive it...and one soft but firm voice of reason in honoring the way things are.  the way the Saviour himself has set up His church.
 i have heard of  Kate Kelly.  a mormon mother and human rights lawyer who lives in DC.  she has started a quiet movement to petition the leadership of the church to, as she says it, "" ‘Let us have the priesthood’  ‘We are capable of doing more. What else can we do to help?’ "  i respect everyone's right to respectfully voice their opinions...so let me respectfully state mine.
since when do we not help?  since when do women NOT do just about everything?  since when do we need more to do?  if we are lining up to ask the culture, the country, the world  for major changes,then i would submit a few things that i actually need. 
i need help with the dishes at night.  i need more sleep.  i need an extra driver.  i need a miracle cream that shrinks my double chin.  i need women to love themselves.  i need them to show less skin and more brains.  i need to be respected, praised, and honored for cleaning up pee pee toilets and scraping puke out of the carpet and doing the dishes and making the beds, and ironing the white shirts, and not strangling my pre-teen, and wiping tears while little voices scream bloody murder in my ears.  i need our culture and country and our world to look at a womans seemingly unimportant and astoundingly, as some people call it:  "demeaning" role as something not to be ashamed of but as something to be cherished, something to strive for, something to aspire too, & something to be grateful for.  a PHD in motherhood would be nice.  what d'ya say byu? i think i will petition the Lord's university to offer that.
i don't need to be the bishop, i don't need to pass the sacrament, collect fast offerings, heal the sick or raise the dead.  i need the men in my life to be that strength i rely on in the middle of the sleepless night when i can ask for a blessing and finally get some rest. and when that preisthood is not available....  well in the words of dear Pres. Packer, "there are few things more powerful than the prayers of a righteous mother." 
our responsibilities are like our bodies.  they are different.  one is not better than the other. when our differences and strengths and weaknesses combine... beautiful things are created.  there is no doctrine that says mike can't clean, nurture, or cook.   there is no doctrine that says women having the priesthood is impossible...but motherhood is not mike's job and holding the priesthood is not mine.  and i for one am so okay with that.

i've a bone to pick...

on oscar night i dared to try and watch a little...with my kids.  so when the"you showed your  b o o bs song came on...well i learned my lesson. and quickly abandoned the oscars.    awards season is about the pretty dresses for me. and i can see them easily enough the next day.
so today i happened upon an article where the children's book author and one time b o o b baring actress jaime lee curtis was whining about the offensive song...in which she was mentioned.  and it sooooo bugged me.  yes the song was offensive.  but HELLO so is b o o b baring.  and guess what jaime lee curtis...you showed your b o o bs!   in the article she laments the "fact" that she was only doing what she was asked (by men she so critically points out)  and that those films in which her decolletage was featured enhanced her career.  so there seth mcfarlane...you are gross and jaime lee is an artist.  NOT SO I SAY!!!
dearest hollywood actresses....how 'bout you stand up for yourselves and SAY NO!!  NO! i will not show my b o o bs.  NO! i will not have multiple intimate scenes where my body is subjected to the known world and all we see of a man is hairy armpits and toned biceps.(i am not suggesting we see more of a man's body thanks, i am merely pointing out that we honor men for much different assets.)   NO! i will not let all the hard work we have done for the advancement of women's rights be reduced to the right to show my b o obs!! NO! i will not bare all at the suggestion of a man who clearly has found a fascinating loop hole in the never ending male quest to see some b o o bs. make him earn it...duh!  it just kills me how these women we glorify are being awarded for blatant disregard of so many men and women's efforts to honor a woman for more than her body and looks.     so dear actresses in pretty dresses, show us your BRAINS!!  show us you HEARTS!! show us your pretty dresses for crying out loud...and for heavens sake show us your GUTS!!  ladies of the academy... how 'bout you, JUST SAY NO!!!

10 things.

                               1# this sweatshirt.   i used to despise pink now...i embrace it.  life is funny that way.

#2.  this salad.  i am also trying to embrace the fact that i can't eat like a horse any longer...but i can still eat well.

 #3. this bag. everyone needs a good leather bag.  i no longer haul around diapers, but i still have 10 lbs of kid/mom paraphernalia at any given time.

 #4.this book series.  it's about an 11 year old chemistry genius who solves murders and lives in an English estate with her titled family. sort of downton abbey for the mystery lover.  plus flavia de luce (the genius) is hilarious.

 #5. these shoes.  too expensive...but why has no one put pattern on the wedge before?  genius i tell you. genius.

#6. this side table.  which mike insists is NOT a side table. but i find it fun to teach him all the wonderful things you can do to break the rules.  side table it IS! only maybe in red.....

 #7.  i think you may have to take a trip south to buy this stuff, but once you go with mexican vanilla...you'll never turn back.  all  my baking is enhanced by it's subtle coconut notes.  it'll change your life.  or at least those few seconds the cookie is being eaten.

 #8. this chapstick.  i've used up 3 or 4 tubes since i discovered it.  best ever.

#8. old team photos.  this is a picture of mike's great grandpa...not sure which one he is...anyway i have found a few team photos that i am using in the boys sports room...i'll show you in a different post what i'm doin' with them!

#9.  this non-fiction book.  i never thought i'd laugh about death.  mary roach writes a respectful, witty and so hilarious history of corpses.  awesome book.

#10. these socks.  i love too run. but my feet hate the blisters that  make my feet look like a lepers.  i found these socks that magically reduce friction and therefore blisters.  yay!  kinda spendy but worth the extra.

dogs are mammals jace.

jace: avery see that dog...i wish we had that dog.
avery: jace that's a big dog, we don't want a big dog we want a puppy.
jace: well avery, she could just lay some puppies.

a nice day for a hike....provo river falls.

today mike had a little golf tournament.  and i am not crazy enough to be stuck in my house with only chores and bored kids on a sunny saturday.  so the kids and i headed to the uintahs and the spectacular provo river falls.  it was our first time there, but definetly (sp) (i seriously cannot spell definetely...definanately....whatever at least i know it's wrong.) won't be our last.  the rocks are perfect for climbers, the water is not so swift moving that i'm worried about kids falling in, (which they did and it was freezing and they STILL didn't want to leave.)   it was heaven.  and we didn't do chores or fight or argue, and we defanitely (defanitly?)  were'nt bored.  i'm already planning summer outings in my head. 

nieghh! bors.

we have had the pleasure of leasing our field to other horse owners. it is nice to have them grazing in the field. it enhances the view. our leasers gave the kids (avery and jace) a ride the other day and they loved it! quinton and austin are city born and raised and they think horses stink.  in fact when we told them that the horses were coming to live in our field one of them (who shall remain nameless) started to get teary because he was concerned our house would stink.  it looks like we moved to the country just in time. but oh, dear jace and avery. don't get any ideas.

Jace is 5.

                         

time to start blogging again!  it's almost my most favorite time of year.  (15 hours to go) and i'm gonna start by posting jace pictures cause jace is 5.  this is old news acutally.  as jace reached the big 5 in june.  but tommorrow my last little runt is off to school.  whoa.  and even though i cannot wait to get my kids on that bus, a little part of me is so sad that they are all growing so fast.  5 years is such a long time, unless you are raising kids. so when that bus takes my last little munchkin away, i will jump for joy that i made it through another summer and then i will go snuggle under the covers and cry for the chubby faced past.