Dallyn Bayles sings "Bring Him Home" with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir

I went to see the musical "Les Miserables" at the Hale Centre Theatre this afternoon. It was an incredible performance. This musical always leaves me inspired to love more, have more compassion and remember the great gift of mercy we have because of the atonement of Jesus Christ.  My favorite part of the musical is when Jean Valjean sings "Bring Him Home"  It is especially a tender song if you have a son on a mission or serving in the military.

This is one of my favorite renditions. It is sung by Dallyn Bayles with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Priesthood session of Conference

I look forward to General Conference. It is always so inspiring and uplifting. I forgot though that now the Priesthood Session is broadcast live on TV. I was babysitting 4 of my grandkids so I don't know if I could have paid attention to it anyway, but my husband said it was the best Priesthood session ever! He said I really need to watch it when it becomes available. Thanks to technology that will be possible soon. Can't wait!

St. George Utah | I Should have booked the weekend. (Part 2)

This is one of my favorite commercials. I'm not sure why. Maybe because I love to visit St. George but maybe because I think this commercial does a great job of really getting you hyped up and excited about it.  They use all the right advertising methods we learned in class. Makes me want to go now!

My granddaughter

First Women's Conference for my 8 year old granddaughter

It was the first ever Women's Conference where girls ages 8 and up were invited.  I took my granddaughter who just turned 8 in October.  I loved it when they recognized all the girls around the world by having the 8 to 12 year old girls stand up.  It is truly amazing to be a part of the largest organization of women in the world.

Mom Texting

After the funny "Mom Texting" slides in class on Wednesday, I was remembering a texting conversation I had with one of my sons.  It started out because I wasn't happy that he went to the movies without texting me.  I thought he was at his friends house. When he got home I told my son, "The reason I pay for your phone is so that I will know where you are. You need to text me whenever you change locations."

A few minutes later these were the texts I received from my son:

"In the kitchen"

"In the living room"

"Kitchen again"

"Bathroom"

I had to laugh.

2CELLOS - Thunderstruck [OFFICIAL VIDEO]

One of my favorite uses of media is YouTube. My sister came into town with her two daughters to visit our family. We were playing a game but decided to listen to music while we played the game. We ended up listening to a lot of different music on YouTube. This was one my sister introduced me to. It is more fun to watch it than just listen to it. They are pretty amazing!

Tonight You Belong to Me (Cover) - Me and my 4 y.o.

I love watching videos like this one. Kids are so amazing!!  This one is so cute because she is afraid of fireworks and she thinks she keeps hearing them so her dad is trying to distract her by getting her to sing.  It is just the cutest thing to watch.

Girls Age 8 and Up Women's Conference

This year all women ages 8 and up are invited to the General Women's Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I'm going to take my 8 year old granddaughter up to the meeting in the Conference Center. We are so excited for this historic meeting as it is the first time they are having all women meet together in the same meeting instead of having separate meetings for the Young Women and Relief Society sisters. (We are also doing a little shopping and having dinner together on our way :)

click here  To see details of the meeting

My Son

My son turned 20 today.   He is currently serving a mission in Uruguay. I thought today about what life was like when I turned 20 and especially about the changes in the media over the past 34 years....a lot of good.....a lot of bad.  When I was 20 I was single and in college with much of life ahead.  Most of what I hoped for in a family has happened for me and I couldn't feel more blessed. As children came into my family I became more and more aware of the effects of the world on them and I realized that I had to become much more involved in what was happening around me. I wanted to be a voice for good and to "stand for truth and righteousness" I soon realized that I could do that without having to run for office and without even leaving home.  Even though I have been a leader of many organizations, I never felt like I had to be a leader in government to let my voice be heard.  We have more power and influence than we sometimes realize.  Let your voice be heard!!!

My son Elder Lacey

Russian police — Get lucky cover (Daft Punk)

It's ironic how Russia is invading Ukraine but setting themselves up so we will be sympathetic toward their military.  Media can do a lot to change the view of what is really happening. We must be careful to discern what is really happening.

Miss Representation and Virtue: For Such a Time as This (Esther 4:14)

After watching the video today in class I'm sure many of us wonder what can be done to stop the sexualization of women. I know that we have been born on this earth "for such a time as this" We can make a difference.  How wonderful it is that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches women who they really are. We are daughters of Deity, God, Our Heavenly Father.  We can be an example to other women who do not know the blessings of living a virtuous life. I learned a poem when I was 12 years old that I like to remember when I feel like the world is so big that I simply cannot make a difference. It is titled "I Am Only One"

I am only one.
But still, I am one
I cannot do everything
But still, I can do something
And because I cannot do everything
I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.

The best thing we as women can do to stop the sexualization of women is to first stop watching it.  We are at least half of the population.  Imagine if every woman refused to watch anything on TV that sexualized women.  It's the basic law of supply and demand.  No more demand for it...no more supply. It can happen one conscientious person at a time.


I love this video.  It talks about the power that even one individual has to make a difference.

Highest Jump off Waterfall, 110 feet

My son Sam is so crazy when it comes to jumping.  I don't know why but he gets such a thrill from jumping off things.  This was insane though, he really could have died.  He jumped off of this 110 foot waterfall.  Some random guy was there (This was in Havasu at the bottom of the Grand Canyon) and he happened to film it and post it on YouTube.

National Anthem by Lexi Walker

I love America!  What a blessing to live in a country where we have such great freedom and where we can especially be free to worship as we choose.  May we stand strong in retaining those freedoms no matter the cost.

Here is amazing Lexi Walker singing our National Anthem.

Divine Institution of Marriage

To read click here

As the political arena begins to encroach on religious freedoms and as the institution of marriage is continually being threatened, it is wise to be well informed on the issues at stake. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recently published this article reaffirming the churches stand on marriage.

Utah Names

I know that we have several expectant mother's in our class so I thought I would post this to give you some baby names to choose from!!

My Missionary Son

My son is serving a mission in Montevideo, Uruguay.  I am so grateful that I get to write to him on Sunday evenings via email.  It would be so hard to have to wait 2 weeks to a month to hear from him via snail mail.  Technology is such a blessing in our lives if we learn to use it for appropriate things.  I'm also grateful for Skype!! It was so awesome to get to see him when we talked on Christmas Day. I love technology

Skyping with Daniel in Uruguay

!!

A man who gave everything he possessed to the church

I'm in St. George this weekend and so we went to the St. George Temple visitors center.  This video was playing in one of the rooms.  I had never heard this story before and I was so touched by it that I wanted to see if it could be watched on lds.org.  Sure enough it was there.  It is the story of John Tanner and how he saved the Kirtland Temple and ended up selling everything he had (even an island) and giving it to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  If you would like to see it click on the link.


Click here https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2010-07-139-treasure-in-heaven-the-john-tanner-story?lang=eng

FaceTime - a new way to use it.

When I was living in New Mexico my granddaughter, who lived in Utah,  FaceTimed me to get my help.  She was only 5 years old and she couldn't find a card that she had received from a birthday party.  Everyone in the house was busy because her parents had company and so rather than ask them for help she FaceTimed me.  She carried the IPad around with her as I talked with her about places she had been.  She held it up so I could look on top of the dresser then under the bed, in the bathroom, up in the play room etc.  We finally found it and she was so happy!  About that time her mother asked her what she was doing and she told her, "Nana just helped me find my card." That brought a laugh from everyone in the room because Nana in New Mexico helped find the card.

Learning to live with the ache

click here Learning to live with the ache

This post by Sarah Bessey was so touching. What a beautiful way to think of the passing of time with our little ones.  I loved being a Mother of young children and I too felt the "ache" when they grew up.  Now the ache of having no more babies is filled with grandbabies.  What a joy that new life and love can be held in our arms again.

The Saratov Approach Official Trailer 1 (2013) - Drama Movie HD

I haven't seen this movie yet but I have heard very good things about it.  I love movies that are based on true stories that leave you with a good message of hope.  I'm hoping to see it soon.

Share the Gospel

A great way to share the gospel here

I love that the church gives us so many ways to share the gospel.  One of the great tools is the videos that we can share easily on facebook or blogs.

lds.org

The website I go to most often is lds.org   Technology is great when you see how much good can come of the right kind of media.  I love how easy it is now to share the gospel with just a few clicks of the mouse.  Today in Relief Society we studied Elder Uchtdorf's talk and it was so nice to just pull it up on my iPad.  By-the-way, it was a great talk so here is a link to it if you need something uplifting to read.

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/10/you-can-do-it-now?lang=eng

MITT - Official Trailer - A Netflix original documentary - HD

I'm looking forward to watching this tonight.  I'm still sad that he didn't win the election and I hope this will change some of the attitudes about him that were promoted by his opponents to vilify him and sway the election. Media is a powerful tool especially during elections.

FAIL - BYU Divine Comedy

My eleven year old son loves to watch video's by BYU Divine Comedy.  This is the one he has watched the most.  I love it too, especially since I've taken tests here.

Modesty shines through

I watched the movie "Enchanted" with my 6 year old granddaughter. At the end of the movie she said, "I think Nancy is prettier than Giselle because Nancy is more modest." I thought that was an interesting perception from a child her age since Giselle is made out to be the "pretty princess" both in her looks and in her role. She has a beautiful voice, she is cute, happy, funny, etc. We loved watching the movie together and it is a very cute and good movie but it's nice to know that a child can see through all that and recognize the beauty that comes from dressing modestly.

The music is great. I especially love this song.