For Girls Only

Ok, someone sent me this website, and I normally don't get sucked into these silly internet quizzes, but this one only takes a few minutes and it was fun!

Which Disney Princess are you?

the answer can be found at http://www.greatestjournal.com/

I won't reveal which Princess I would be, but let's just say I will learn to love swimming. Lots of swimming. In the ocean. 24/7. And I'll be using a dingelhopper to comb my hair.

Kate & Neil new contact info

Just thought I'd post the new contact info for Kate and Neil - they are doing well and are becoming quite the Californians. They even went to DISNEYLAND, no less, with a family from Iraq!!! Can't wait for thier posts on their blog for that one!

Kate Kelly & Neil Ransom
5506 Riley Street
San Diego, CA 92110

For now they are keeping their Utah cell phone numbers:

(801) 836-2869 Kate
(801) 472-1339

ADIOS Los Dos Locos!!!

"Where is the "good" in "goodbye?" is a line from "The Music Man" that comes to mind.

Some good things I can think of:
Numero Uno: Sea World. Sign us up for annual passes!
Numero Dos: Old Town Mexcian food. Lots of scrapbook photos of us wearing large sombreros.
Otros: beaches, lots of beaches; warm and sunny Januaries and Februaries; one day drive from Utah.

On the downside -Kate: who will prod us into living the law of consecration in our daily lives? And introduce us to people from all over the world? And keep us informed on current issues? And keep Dad out of custody of the IRS?

Neil: Who will I use for a sous chef? And who will feed us fine cheeses? And make us cool silk-screen tee shirts?

And, now that you're gone, who will go crazy shouting "CLUB CRANIUM!!!" with us?

It has been so fun having you two live near us and seeing you every other day or so. Man, I will miss that.

But please know that we love you and think of you every single day and are praying for your success and happiness always.

And, remember that the highways run both ways - come back and visit us, too.

We love you more than the world.

Where is the "good" in Goodbye???

We had a farewell fiesta Saturday nite for Kate and Neil, who took off this morning for their latest stop in their quest to save the world: San Diego.
We are all most sad, of course, but we try to keep in mind that in January and February we will not be sad, we will be shouting for joy that we now have two more good reasons to escape to sunny southern California! Sea World here we come!
Kate, we will miss your fashion sense (see above photo) and . . . who will be around to prod us into living the law of consecration more fully?
Neil, I will miss my favorite sous chef/culinary advisor/test kitchen taster. Who will be here to feed us fine cheeses and homemade veggie burgers?
But, never fear. Sea World and La Jolla snorkelling (and you, too) becon us all westward for frequent visits!!
You are gone but not forgotten!

Zen and the Art of Airport Maintenance

For those of you too young to have been reading hip "pop" pyschology in the early '70s, a trendy book was "Zen and the Art of Morotcycle Maintenance." It was a novel written by a man who took to his Harley with his son on a cross-country road trip. He was trying to get into the "zen" of it all, roughly defined as that state of being happy and peaceful and living fully in the moment. But the inevitabilities of life kept interfering: motorcycle breakdowns, bad weather, no motel rooms, etc., etc., etc. His conclusion: life is just imperfect on this planet and we all have to deal with that. Some of us deal with it unhappily and others seem to rise above it all and still find "zen," or inner happiness, despite those pesky inevitabilities.

So, anyway, I chose to be an observer of the approaches of these two classes of people recently in two experiences at airports.

On my way to Tucson last Wednesday night, Hurricane Dolly created mass chaos at airports all over the South and West. My flight was delayed to Denver, then the inevitable domino effect: I missed my flight to Tucson. I had to pay to stay at an expensive hotel in Denver because all cheap motel rooms were filled up in the whole city. I got a total of 3 hours of sleep.

Then, on the return trip, I flew to Phoenix but then got stranded there because there were "mechanical problems." (Thank God we didn't find out about those "mechanical problems" after takeoff!) So, once again, I was stranded overnight. I missed a television appearance I was supposed to make on Monday morning in Salt Lake. I was late getting to work, and again I was out more money.

OK, so I am really not writing this post to whine. Really.

What was interesting was to watch people's reactions both times while standing in line for hours trying to get rescheduled. Some folks paced and worried. Some folks were angry and pounded their fists on the counters. One guy, a young gentleman sporting skulls and snakes tattoos, threatened loudly "I'm going to "f--- you up!!!" Some went into an empty corner and slept on the floor.

Regardless of our various reactions, all of us got onto the very same rescheduled flights, all of us arrived at the same delayed times.

I remembered a little plaque that was on the wall of the home of my Grandma Greenhaw. It had a clown face on it and these words: "Don't take life too seriously. You'll never get out of it alive anyway." My Grandma Greenhaw was a woman who reached "zen" every day. She found joy in things like sliced ripe tomatoes fresh out of her garden and putting pigtails in her grandaughters' hair. She was a person who was a joy just to be around. If she had been in Denver or in Phoenix stranded, she would have no doubt taken it in stride and found "zen" in playing with a stranded new mother's toddler or doing a crossword puzzle to kill time.

For me, I tried to achieve "zen" by repacking my suitcase in an airport restroom because my stash of ripe prickly pears picked at the Hicks hacienda had leaked all over the contents of my suitcase. . . . Yikes! . . .

BTW, you're all getting Prickly Pear - Strawberry jam for Chirstmas. I'm thinking of naming it "Zen jam."

Thaya's Tea Party

For Thaya's b-day Alexys decided to do a traditional tea party! It was great fun, and super super hot. I just wanted to post this funny photo..mainly because Mom and I were the only two adults who dressed up. We sure do love a good reason to dress silly!

Jake's U K report

Here is Jake's report from the UK - he's having good times -

Hey there! Sorry I haven't been very good about keeping you guys posted. I've been busy. :/Anyway, here's what I've been up to:First day, we went to Legoland. I know. Then we did typical tourist-y things in London. The eye, big Ben, all that.The next day, we went to A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Globe.Sunday, we went to evensong at Westminster Abbey.Monday, we went to the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, and Spamalot, which was hilarious. On the way, we ran into the world premiere of Mamma Mia. We saw Meryl Streep, Collin Firth, Pierce Brosnan, and Tom Hanks. (!)We then went to Glastonbury, which is where all the awsome new age freaks like to hang out.On our way, we saw Stonehenge, which I did a presentation on, Winchester Castle, Cadbury, which may or may not be Camelot, and Roman Baths in, well, Bath!At Glastonbury, we saw the Glastonbury Abbey, the Tor, Chalice Well, and Warwick Castle. We then went to Cornwall, where we saw Tintagel (the place where Arthur is said to have been conceived), stone circles, Mount Saint Michael's Mount (it POURED rain), Penzance and the Scilly Isles (and yes, we were as silly as possible there!). We also biked from coast to coast and saw the Alchemist at the Minack theater, which is carved into a cliff by the sea - wowzers!We arrived in Cardiff, Wales yesterday. So far, all we've done is go to Cardiff castle and meet up with the BYU wales group, where both of the group leaders spoke to all the students for a while.So yeah. It's been so much fun, and I think about you guys all the time.Much love!-JakeP.S.- Mom, can you email me the tofu mac recipe? I wanna make it for the kids here. XDLove ya!