You say it's your Birthday...

Happy Birthday to my mom... who, I can't believe, is closer to 100 than to 1.

She's been such a motivation and support to me.



Loving and loyal...



...her kindness and concern have touched and changed so many lives.



Her greatest gift to me is her example.



Her testimony and faith is a true light that pierces through the dark.

I love you, mom!

tournament pool...

will the cougars get past the first round? the seeds were made public today. the mountain west conference only got two teams and their teams were seeded well below what their rpi dictated.

oh well, the dance begins. i set up a bracket for all readers of our blog to join in on. here's the info:

go to this link.
before clicking the 'join group' button (see below) you will need to sign up for a yahoo account. it's pretty easy and quick. i just used the same user id and password from my hotmail account. it is a bit inconvenient, but well worth the interactivity of the bracket we get to use...after getting your yahoo id and password then follow the next three steps:
click on "join group" button.
group id#: 85242
password: cutestevie

good times...

for whom would you vote...

i want to start by reminding you of my prediction for the election result. there were doubters among you, but he has taken some big steps in recent weeks. even ann coulter agrees--and i would take her word over jon stewart's anyday. my newest caviat is that romney will beat clinton. he probably wouldn't beat several of the other democratic candidates that won't win the democratic primary.

so, todays exercise is one some of you may be uncomfortable with. pretend you are democrat. don't take this lightly; really delve in. if the democratic primary were held today and you feel the current president (a liar, unilateralist, polluter, bigot, oil stealing, gun wielding and stupid white man--among his finer points) has brought our nation to the brink of destruction (not a religious, armageddon destruction. religion is for weak, unintelligent people. it is a bigoted and hateful relic of the dark ages. this destruction will be a pragmatic response of reasonable muslims who have been bullied by a big texan).

DISCLAIMER: if you really are a democrat, please realize the paragraph above was just a joke and i don't believe you personally believe what i just wrote. and who's to say i'm not a democrat at heart?

anyway, whatever your reasons, you are democrat through and through and you get to pick from one of the candidates below. do you know any of them? whom do you know? for whom would you vote?

(i'll give you 50 green house gas credits if you can name them all right now without google--in order, by number)

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

is it time for a new party in the white house? what are the issues that are most important to you? is there one issue that means so much that it would cause you not to vote for a candidate? are there reasons you would or wouldn't want a mormon in office? do you feel our country is headed in the right or wrong direction?

she walks...

cue the 'amahl and the night visitors' score.



bekah has been taking steps for over a month. however, this week she has decided that she prefers walking to crawling in most instances. my schedule has kept me out of the house during their waking hours, so it was fun to sit on the floor today and have the girls circle around me and 'talk' to me.

as i drove home from the hospital post-call today i almost headed straight to the church building for the last 40 minutes in my scrubs. after that thought crossed my mind with all its attendant fashion concerns, i had a new-found respect for my father. i don't recall all the details, but as a child i remember seeing him at our church in ventura in his scrubs to teach his lesson to the youth. the hospital was next door and he would sneak over during call to teach. that type of defiance of fashion (and dedication to a calling) demands respect.

these are a few pictures from last sunday. i thank jill for teaching us how to 'corn syrup' bows to poor unsuspecting girls heads. amy faithfully affixes these ribbons on their hairless heads to give their heads the femininity their dresses require.

the results are fun:


it's a shame i had to mess up the view in this picture by jumping in between them.



and finally, a few random thoughts.

i turned on the first ten minutes of 'flags of our fathers' and i cannot wait to watch it. i was riveted from the get-go.

'friday night lights' is the second best drama on television (not that i have seen any other television dramas besides 24 this year). tivo it. watch the last three weeks on nbc.com.

my brother is pretty witty.

i heard an NPR listener impune rush limbaugh because he openly admitted to conducting his show to get an audience and hold them. i then sat through 'mail' from NPR listeners who skewered all things conservative. what about NPR's spinning their coverage with the aim of holding onto the listeners who are donating during membership drives? i'm not a rush fan (rush's funding sources are the least of his concerns. peter, am i wrong?), but there is a smug arrogance in thinking because you use big words and feign impartiality that you have the corner on 'the truth'. i listen to NPR everyday on the way to work and i prefer the depth of their coverage to grant and amanda's treatment of our world (not to mention the graphic content on other southern california morning radio stations--i've been shocked). however, my skeptic meter is often tested on the way to work...

amy isn't going to know what to think of my late night, post-call ramblings, but indulge me please. we enjoy all your comments and are glad you come to visit us on the web now and then.

vacation...

have vacations always existed? do farmers take vacations? whatever their roots...i love vacation.

this month's rotation is general surgery, so we strategically placed 5 days of vacation right in the middle. it didn't hurt that valentines fell in the middle of the week either.

the original plan vaguely revolved around 'wicked'. however, 'wicked' is sold out in LA for months (we managed to get two random tickets in may, but that is a story for another time). anyway, we have lived in california for 7 months now (can you believe it?) and hadn't seen anything of brian, taryn, mckenna (sp?) and taylor. we decided a santa barbara vacation was a must--the beauty of santa barbara was only an afterthought :)

comments and pictures that follow are random family picks on favorite vacation moments:

we got to stay there.

taylor was there too.


i like playing sand castles with taylor.

it was so warm so much.


the bike ride was bumpy, bumpy, bumpy, bumpy, bumpy with bekah and abby with me.

i liked our breakfast on the beach.

having dinner with brian and taryn.


stress relief and exercise with an ocean view.

being at the beach...all day


beach tar on hands and feet.

the sunset from our bike ride was beautiful/amazing.

fun to see how excited michael was about sleeping in new spots.


i climbed up that wood ladder.

fun to have the cabins.


two girls that are too much fun.

talking to grandpatty on the phone for an hour.

stargazing with michael for the first time.

body boarding at refugio.


mountain biking on the wet beach sand...a first.


so in closing. anyone have any good ideas for our next vacation? what is your dream vacation? what vacation meant the most to you? do you think vacations are waste and sin? let us know...

articles of faith...

at the world wide leadership training yesterday president monson talked a lot about the aricles of faith. my mom taught me the songs as a kiddo and i have remembered them ever since. lately, i have been singing them to michael in lieu of a bedtime story--when i'm home. the other night we asked him if he would sing one for us.
here is video of the article he chose and his first vocal performance of it (you'll notice that before he started singing he walked up to the 'pretend primary pulpit' in our front room):



incidentally, if you made it to this post, thank you. we decided to make the blog private and therefore invited as many people as we thought might be interested in reading about our time here in california--no matter how remote we thought your interest might be:) feel free to comment and thanks for stopping by.

Happy Birthday...Part I

Here is a report of Thursday's Birthday Celebration: The First Birthday.

The morning was busy with preparations. Michael helped with the birthday cakes...



...and with the decorating (the balloons are playing a football game, of course!).



Bekah even got into the spirit and helped blow up the balloons.



Two sugary cakes for two sweet girls. The (very) ametuer cake decorator was mostly satisfied with the results.



Then we just waited for Dadda to get home from work.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY... Part II

After the song was sung and the Dadda and brother Michael helped blow out the candles, the sisters experienced the first taste of birthday cake. (To get the video to play, click the "Google video" button on the lower right side, then the "go to google video" button that comes up.)



Abby busily worked on creating a large hole in the middle of her cake...




... while Bekah was mostly content to smear and taste the frosting....



...and then she took a taste of Abby's.



The "after" shot (with pieces cut out for Michael):



They both decided they like birthday cake... and so did Michael.



Presents were fun, too!



Here's to the beginning of a new year of life! You know, almost everyone who has given me advice about mothering twins has said: "Just work on surviving the first year." Now what???

February 6th

One year ago they shared a womb that morning...



and a bassinet that night.



Two beautiful, healthy babies.



Now they share food...



playtime...



bathtime...



and so much more.

Happy Birthday to Abby and Bekah! Stay tuned for pictures from the actual birthday celebration--to be had on Paul's upcoming post-call day.

life changes...

i've been thinking lately about change. people go through awful and wonderful things everyday and often these events cause change. others only change incrementally for years, even decades of their lives. our lives are a sea of interactions and we drift and bump about in that sea--drawing closer and further from those around us. this drifting can be pleasant, nauseating, dull, exhilirating and gut wrenching. i feel the voyage is worth it. change happens and is the stuff life is made of.