Did you know....

...that Arlen Spector (R-PA) has changed his party affiliation and is now a Democrat? This may not sound newsworthy if you haven't been following what is happening in Congress, but it tips the balance of power in our country completely into the hands of a party who has no respect for life, no respect for the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman, no sense of fiscal responsibility, and no hesitation to take our country straight into socialism. They now have a filibusterproof majority.

If you haven't been in the habit of writing your congressman and your senators, now is the time to start. On the side of this page, you'll find a link to "Contact Congress". I hope you'll check it out -- the site it leads to makes contacting them very easy, and even provides suggested wording for your emails regarding various important issues.

More now than ever, we have to prepare for some really tough times ahead.


Here's an article that is not about Arlen Specter but about the financial difficulties our country is in. It's from Meridian.

M E R I D I A N M A G A Z I N E

A Dangerous First 100 Days
By Stephen M. Studdert
This week President Barrack Obama marks his first 100 days in office. Never in my experience as a White House advisor or since have I witnessed such a torrid pace of monumental policy change. Cloaked in economic stimulus language, the astonishing breadth and depth of policy transformation and government intervention into the private economy is nothing short of staggering.

(portion of article cut here)

As a nation, with zeal and haste we are building just such a house – one of unwise and unrestrained federal debt – a house with no foundation that ultimately cannot stand.

With our national house being built on sand, more than ever each of us has a duty, to ourselves and to our families, to be informed. We need this economic information – no matter how serious and troubling it may be. And serious and troubling it is! (emphasis mine)

The grinding daily news unceasingly bombards our senses with gloomy information, and for most of us we end up with feelings of distress, worry, and even fear. It makes me not want to read or watch any news reports.

Yet the Lord commanded us to “seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith” (D&C 88:188)

(another portion of the article cut here)

In these troubled times, the welcome calming messages of General Conference just completed were especially inspiring and filled with hope. The Easter just celebrated renews in each of us a sense of everlasting gratitude for the King of Kings whose Resurrection made salvation and eternal life available to all. These are things of unspeakable joy, peace, comfort, and true happiness.

As we follow the Brethren and listen carefully and heed their inspired counsel, we like the Apostle Paul can say “ We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair .” (2 Corinthians 4:8).

In what is sure to be an increasingly bumpy ride, individual and family peace and safety come only – but surely – when we are inseparably connected to the Prophets and Apostles, in word and in deed.


The rest of the article here

Slackin'

Ok, he wasn't really slackin'. He was resting after this:




This is what he was doing on his day off



Now, if it would just quit snowing, we might have a garden this year!

Best Friends

Carter had a rare meltdown on Tuesday afternoon when I tried to explain that it was too late that day for him to come home with me. I was torn between wanting to make his every wish come true, and knowing that the words "not today" are ok sometimes and can help build character. I told him that I would pick him up the next morning and we would spend the day together.

One reason Carter wanted to come over, hopefully not the only one, was that he loves to play mini-golf and we had started our own little tradition of playing mini-golf on nice spring mornings, just him and me, with no one else around.

So the first order of business on Wednesday was to drive over to Cascade, select the balls and clubs of our choice, and head onto the golf course.


Here's Tiger


We didn't keep score, but this boy is pretty good with a golf club. I know he had a par on at least one hole, and has seen a few hole-in-ones (holes-in-one?)in his short golfing career.

Being the beautiful day that it was, when we were done golfing, we went to Lynne's to spend a little while on the lawn swings with her. Carter decided he would photo-document this outing:

It was a beautiful, clear day.



The flowers were in full bloom.





The grass was green, and well cut, thanks to Phil a few days before.



Speaking of Phil, he was busy with "guy things", i.e. getting soaker hoses unwound and placed for the summer, putting the awnings on the swings, etc. Carter put down the camera to get in on the action:





Carter is a good helper. And Phil is a patient man.

When he wasn't helping, Carter took up the camera once again.





He brought his golf clubs along...



....hmmm. He seems to have misplaced the clubs. They were there somewhere.


I think all the girl talk got a little boring, and Phil went into the house. The camera became all important at this point. Here's life through the eyes of a 4 year old:










He was especially proud of this self portrait:





When we left Lynne's, Carter got into the car and exclaimed, "I had fun!"


The photos above are but a few of the many, many great pictures Carter took on Wednesday. The only photos he did not take in this blog are the ones in which he appears.

My favorite part of the day happened right after mini-golf. We were getting out of the car at the house, and Carter said, "Grandma, you are my very best friend." I took his little face in my hands, looked him in the eye and said, "Carter, you are my very best friend too." I wanted to soak up that moment and write it permanently on the tablet of my heart.

I turned and went ahead of him to unlock the back door. Behind me I heard this little voice, "Grandma, you have a big bum."

What Are They Good For?

As the straggler in a short line of hikers at Snow Canyon this weekend, I contemplated what grandmothers are for.



The answer: Grandmothers are good for nagging Grandfathers to hold on to the hand of the littlest hiker.



Grandmothers should not have to repeat this admonition 1432 times in a 40 minute hike. But Grandfathers have very short memories, and they forget at every turn that little people go where the bigger people go, especially when the "bigger people" are the older brother and sister whom the little person adores in every way.


But this Grandmother is very fortunate that she has a Granddaughter who is a Nurturer-in-Miniature, who always looks out for her little brother. Here Granddaugher is saying, "No, Brother. Stay down there!"





And he did.


Grandson definitely listens to Sister better than he listens to Grandmother.



Youngest Grandson says of Sister: "She's my friend. I love her."




Grandmother's nagging paid off....I'm just not sure who it was who listened...not lookin' like it was Grandfather.




Somewhere in the midst of all this Grandmother's angst and her reminding, I thought of Sacagawea with Lewis and Clark. I'm sure Heavenly Father must have planted her on that expedition to be sure these adventurous explorers neither got too close to the edge of anything they could fall off of, or overloaded their wooden canoes. Or got lost. We know they wouldn't have asked for directions.

The thought of that courageous woman caused me to gird up my loins and press forward. Someone had to keep reminding Grandfather about holding little hands and keeping littlest Grandson from the BIG rocks.

Grandpa's remedy:


And we all reached the end of the trail safely. Grandmothers are good for something on these hikes!

Now the rest of the story:

What are Grandfathers good for?

Grandfathers can learn important lessons. For instance, when Grandson (in the car* on the way home from St. George) tells Grandfather that he's going to throw up, Grandfather has learned that the response, "No you aren't. Close your eyes and think of the snow up in the mountains" will not stop the event from happening.

Grandfathers are good for cleaning up messes.

And Grandfathers are compassionate.

This Grandfather helped sickie Grandson to feel better about the incident by telling him a story about the time he threw up in his grandmother's bed and hid the evidence under the pillow.








*Remind me to tell you even more of the story.

Neither rain, nor snow....

...kept thousands of Utahns from the Tea Parties in our state. The sleeping giant no longer slumbers.

The noontime Salt Lake Tea Party had about twelve hundred people attending. Provo had more, though I'll wait for the news to suggest a number. There were also Tea Parties in Layton, St. George, Vernal, and a few other cities. Jason Chaffetz, Mark Shurtleff, Rob Bishop and Chris Herrod were the few political speakers, each limited to just three or four minutes each, and stayed on task regarding the economy and government intrusion and did not use the platform for campaigning. At the Provo Tea Party, organizer David Kirkham included citizen speakers, walking through the crowd asking people why they came. Their replies often drew applause and cheers.

Here's what the Deseret News had to say:


By Arthur Raymond

Deseret News

Published: Wednesday, April 15, 2009 7:36 p.m. MDT

Linda Nelson would do most anything for her children. On Wednesday, that included driving from Lindon to Salt Lake City and braving freezing temperatures and heavy snowfall to join a loud and large tax-day "tea party."

Nelson joined more than 1,200 other Utahns who called for tax relief and reduced federal spending because she is worried that decisions now being made by the federal government will unfairly burden her five children.

"As my kids come out of college, I can't imagine the taxes that they'll be responsible for," Nelson said. Government leaders "are not asking our generation to pay for this. They're going into debt that will take decades to pay off."

Nelson also was bothered by government involvement in private business, citing the forced resignation of General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner as a move that should "never be allowed to happen."

The sign she held over her head at the Wallace F. Bennett Federal Building — "Debt is the problem, More debt is not the solution" — was popular, eliciting honks and waves from passing cars.

Speeches by Utah Republican congressmen Jason Chaffetz and Rob Bishop and state Attorney General Mark Shurtleff were popular, too, as they roundly criticized the federal stimulus package, financial bailouts and the growing budget deficit as missteps by the Obama administration and members of Congress — sentiments greeted with loud cheers by a crowd Salt Lake City police estimated at 1,200 to 1,500.


More


Salt Lake Tea Party held at noon at the Federal Building.




















Provo Tea Party pictures










Click on this link to read what the Herald had to say about the Tea Parties.

The hours I spent at the Salt Lake City and Provo Tea Parties was time well spent. Since before the election I have been concerned about the direction our country has been heading, and the recent economic and policy moves by our current President and Congress have deepened that concern. Just as we have been counseled by our Prophets to live providently, and we do not run up massive debt to leave to our children, it is incomprehensible to me that the government has no qualms about conducting its business this way. It isn't a single administration or one party who is at fault, but rather the Federal Government in general. For example, not a single member of congress read the huge omnibus spending bill which they recently passed. Who among us would vote for something that would impact so many people without reading it?

If we follow the dots, we can't help seeing what is coming if the direction of government doesn't make a sharp turn very soon. Government spending is just the tip of the iceberg. It is a means to an end, the mechanism for completely transforming our country into something which will not come close to what was envisioned by our Founding Fathers and laid securely in place by our Constitution.

I have been sending emails to my elected officials for some time. Attending these Tea Parties was just the next logical step to helping my voice be heard. It was comforting to know that I'm not alone in my concern for our country. I was surrounded by a thousand people at each of these events who feels pretty much like I do, and I know there are thousands more in our neighborhoods. The theme of both of these Tea Parties was the need for each of us to be vigilant and to get actively involved in the political process.