Day Fourteen: Your Siblings

I am SO EXCITED about this post because I get to brag about how I have the GREATEST sister on the entire planet! 

Though she is 3 1/2 years younger than me, I've always wondered if she was really supposed to be my older sister and somehow we got switched around one day in the pre-existance!  Wise beyond her years, she has always been a shoulder to cry on, my therapist when times are bad, my cheerleader, and often my best friend.

My sis is probably the smartest person I know.  Constantly educating herself about what is happening in the world, having political coversations with her is mindblowing..in a very good way!  Working on her Master's Degree, she wants to help people with the problems in their own lives. 

She is absolutely HILARIOUS, by far the wittiest person in the room, and constantly keeps people smiling.  A wife, mother of three AWESOME KIDS, (I'm not biased at all!) a sister, and aunt; she holds many roles in life, and finds a way to balance them all.

And don't even get me started about how talented she is!!!  Her musical ability is amazing.  Years ago I challenged her, saying she couldn't play a piece of music on the piano because it was too difficult.  That's all it took:  she was determined to learn how to play it.  And holy cow, not only did she learn how to play it, but to this day is the best pianist I've ever met.

Grandma, my sis, two of her three children (youngest had "ants in his pants" and wanted to run around!) and her husband 

YouTube Friday!

Yeah for Friday!  I get to show you another YouTube video that I enjoy.

Today, I'm going to take you back in time to the year 1989.  I was almost 12 years old and the biggest thing on the planet was the group New Kids On The Block.  Girls went crazy for these five guys, treating them like the Beatles of our generation.

I will gladly admit, I was a HUGE NKOTB fan.   My sister, my friend Sara, and I were in love with them.  I loved Jordan, Sara loved Joe, and my sister loved Jon.  Sara and I were able to go to a concert in Fresno.  We were in the "nose bleed" seats, but we were in the SAME ROOM as them!!!  oooooo!!  I still enjoy them, but their posters aren't plastered on my walls anymore!!

In 1992 they released the album "Step By Step" and by 1995 they had broken up.  This first video is one of my favorite NKOTB songs, and is the title track from the "Step By Step" album.

After 1995, NKOTB fans were left with nothing but memories.  But then, 13 years later in 2008, those same girls, now in their early 30s, had another reason to scream:  NKOTB was reuniting.  They released a new album and toured that year. 

It was amazing what the reaction was to their reunion:  people went crazy!  There was so much excitement and anticipation.

The next video is the first single from their reunion album.  The song is titled "Summertime".  The lyrics and end dance sequence are a tribute to their fans.

13 years later they're even more handsome!  They still "got" it!

Oh, and if you haven't seen the show "Blue Bloods" on CBS, Donnie Walhberg is wonderful!

Happy Friday everyone!

Day Thirteen: Your Beliefs

I'm going to assume that most of the people who read this blog know all about my religious beliefs.  For those of you who may not know, I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The 13 Articles of Faith, written by Joseph Smith, are the basic beliefs of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and are located in the volume of scripture called The Pearl of Great Price.


Here they are:

We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost

We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression

We believe that through the Atonement of Christ all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel

We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ;  second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost

We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof

We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth

We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, and so forth

We believe the Bible to be the words of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God

We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God

We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory

We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same priviledge; let them worship how, where, or what they may

We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law
We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul.  We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things.  If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things

Day Twelve: Whatever Tickles My Fancy

Reality Television.  These shows have so many people glued to their television sets each week.  I am one who enjoys reality television, but only some of them.  I hate the reality shows that rely on the people deciding who goes and who stays each week.  Many times people have NO IDEA what talent is and the wrong people leave and stay.  For example:

Clay Aiken should've won, not Ruben Studdard.  Clay was, and still is SO MUCH BETTER.  Adam Lambert should've won instead of the guy who did win.  The fact that I can't remember his name should say something!  I will give Idol some credit though:  at least their judges (up until this last season; I mean really, Ellen DeGeneres?!?) are involved and have credit in the music industry.  I gave up on this show last season.  I'm not too comforted by the new panel of judges, but at least they went back to the 3 judge panel.  I might check it out just to see how crazy Steven Tyler gets!!


That brings us to the next show:

AGT makes blood shoot out of my eyes!  This is one of the most ridiculous reality competitions on television.  They send the DUMBEST acts through to the next round of the show, giving the people false hope that they could actually win the competition!  I gave up on this show after the second season.  They were smart, got rid of David Hasselhoff but replaced him with Howie Mandel?!?  Where are his credits in the industry?

This is my favorite of the "people decide" reality competitions.  There are three legitimate dance judges, whose own personal score is added together with the votes from the people.  Where this show works is that the majority of the time the best dancers make it to the end and win (with the exception of a few years ago when Cheryl and Giles should've won!)

However, I have a few problems with this show.  First off, as the weeks go by, and there are less dancers, the Monday show should be cut down to one hour.  They put so much "fluff and stuff" in to fill two hours, it's ridiculous.  Second:  the results show needs to be cut down to half an hour.  Again, they fill it with so much "fluff and stuff" that it's faster to just check the internet to discover who's going home.  Third:  more often than not the people continue to vote for the WORST DANCERS, forcing the rest of the world to continue watching them each week. 

A few seasons ago, Cloris Leachman was around for way too long.  She was beyond horrible, difficult to watch, and had the mouth of a sailor.  But she stuck around because people thought she was funny.  Kate Gosselin from Jon & Kate is another example of someone who was around way too long!  Luckily this season the people seem to be making the right choices.  However, Florence Henderson and this Kyle guy need to go soon!

(Breaking news:  Florence Henderson was sent home last night!  The people seem to be getting it right this season!)

The reality shows where the judges decide who stays and who goes, or the shows where the contestants themselves decide, are my favorite. 

Project Runway is so fun to watch.  I love watching the contestants create clothing so quickly, and often with the strangest materials.  What cracks me up about this show is that during the runway portion of the program, I'll be commenting about how awful something looks and the judges will be in LOVE with it; or I'll like something and they won't!  I'm not the most "fashion forward" person, but at least these are legitimate judges who have been in the fashion industry their entire careers!  And they are the only people who decide who goes home. 

I'm relatively new to this show, having only watched it the past three, maybe four times they've started a new show.  Survivor gets it right because the contestants on the show are the people who vote each other off.  Players will end up "loosing it" at tribal council and the team will vote them out.  No one is safe.  And you never know what's going to happen.  Villians can make it to the end, good guys can as well.  This is such a fun social game to watch as people play mind games for their own benefit. 

And finally, my favorite reality show where the judges are the only people to decide who leaves:  Top Chef.  I want to be inside the kitchen with these chefs.  They make me want to eat all the food they're cooking.  I get frustrated at times because I can't just stick my hand through the television set and grab the food!  I get jealous of the judges as I watch them taste the food.  Even when the judges say it's bad, I want to taste it myself to see if I agree.  Is my pallet like theirs?

So, there's my take on reality television.  It has it's flaws, but people are hooked on it because it takes us away from our own reality and into another world, helping us forget about our own problems for just a little while.

Day Eleven: A Photo Taken Recently

More photos?  Man, haven't we seen enough photos of me?

Since I think we have, and it doesn't say it has to be a picture of me, I'm going to take this post literally.  It says to talk about a photo taken recently, so that's what you're going to get!!!

I took this picture of Nick and Brandon riding on the outside of Grandpa's truck back in August

Grandma snapped this shot the day we took family pictures at the CSU Stanislaus campus in the beginning of October

And I took this picture a few weeks ago.  Daddy and Brandon wanted their picture taken while eating apples together!