Who should be allowed to vote?

So my mind was wandering while we were wandering (lost?  I'm always lost in those things) in the corn maze last week and I was thinking about voting.  Its not a weird as it sounds.  The maze was a political theme and there were some idiots throwing corn at each other (no they weren't teenagers, they had their kids with them) so I started thinking about how these people have just as much right to vote as I do.

Should everyone be allowed to vote?  Is that really going to end up being what's best for our country?  I don't know very much about economics, in fact I hardly know anything!  I don't understand foreign policy.  I'm not even sure I should be voting! (But I will be!)  Shouldn't these decisions be in the hands of people who have studied it for years?  Don't we know by now what works and what doesn't?

I mean obviously the answer is "no" or else why haven't we done it yet?

And so we allow everyone, as long as they are 18, to have their say in who leads us.   That's scary. 

You know what else is scary?  Not having a say. That's called a dictator or something.  I guess we all just decide what we think our government "owes" us.  More tax cuts?  More health care?  More military?  Less war?  And we vote for the person we think will give us more/less of that.

But shouldn't it be about what is really best for everyone?  I once asked my dad how he balanced being a public school teacher (known for being liberal) with being a republican.  He said when he votes he does what he thinks is best for the nation, not just for himself.  

Food for thought, is all.

Happy Halloween! (a story)

Four years and a couple weeks ago there was a boy I liked.  I met him at church and we worked together for a few months, visiting the people who were new to the area.  He was so friendly to everyone.  One night I went to an institute meeting (basically its like Mormon Bible study, I'm guessing.  I've never actually been to a Bible study before. . .) with some friends.  A famous woman in the LDS community was speaking so we got there early to get good seats.  I was wondering if I would see him there.  Five minutes before this lady was about to start speaking the place was so packed.  If he did come, chances are I wouldn't even see him.  But fate played a hand for me that night and even though they showed up just minutes before it began somehow he and his friend got seats right in front of me!  For a moment I had a slight heart attack when I saw him sit next to my gorgeous friend Tiffanie, but soon I realized she wasn't there to sit with him, but with his friend.

After (certainly not during!!) the wonderful lesson by this sweet lady was over he turned around to chat with me a bit.  I asked about his Halloween plans.  He said he had some, but nothing set in stone.  So I invited him to my Halloween party.  He said he might come.  Soon after that we left to go home.  When we got in the car I informed my roommate Elise that we were now having a Halloween party!

Elise invited her boyfriend (now husband) and a few of her friends.  I had one or two of my friends show up as well and we carved pumpkins, ate food and played Nintendo.  By 11pm I was about to call it a night.  He hadn't shown up and probably wasn't going to.  Seriously seconds before I went to bed I got a text.  Was my party still going on??  YES! 

He came over fully dressed in Billy Idol garb.  I was wearing ghost earrings with my non festive everyday attire.  It was a little awkward.  We played wii.  We partied with our three party guests.  At 2am he decided to call it a night.  Right before he walked away, he paused and asked me out for that Saturday.  I said yes!

And that is the story of how my husband was wearing eye liner the first time he ever asked me out. 

Kids have some pretty morbid views on death. . .

If you're dead you don't get to go anywhere!-- Ty, 4

They will use your skin to make another person.-- Max, 5

No, they take your hair to make a wig.-- Hope, 7

Only if you donate it.-- Me

Yeah, I'm going to donate my hair and skin.-- Hope

All of this conversation occurred with out my prompting.

Who would you hire if you could?

I was just thinking of a friend of mine, wondering if she was going to have any more kids.  Then I thought: They're pretty well off, maybe they could just hire a nanny if it became to much work.  Then I imagined myself with a nanny (and not a job).  I don't think I would like that.  I only have one kid, but I know taking care of her is one of my favorite things.  And even when its not (like making lunch, I don't care for making toddler lunches) I'm still not sure I would feel right about passing that off to someone else just because I didn't want to do it.

But taking care of kids is not the only thing moms do.  Maybe I would want to hire a cook.  Can you imagine a nice healthy dinner every night?  Hmmm, that might be nice.  On the other hand, coming up with new creative dinner ideas and grocery shopping is a fun creative outlet for me, so maybe not.

Or a housekeeper?  Someone to clean the bathrooms and the kitchen?  Wash the sheets, fold the clothes?  I could get used to that.

Who would you hire if you had the need/money?  Or would you?

When you get pregnant

If you've never had a baby, I sincerely hope you look like this when you're pregnant.  But you probably wont, so don't feel bad, okay?

Source: flickr.com via Kassandra on Pinterest

Pumpkin Butter

Have you heard of this stuff?  If you have, and you haven't told me. . .  I don't know if we can be friends anymore.  Basically pumpkin butter is like pumpkin pie jam, and contrary to the name it doesn't actually have butter in it.  One minute I was playing on Pinterest, having never heard of pumpkin butter and an hour later I was whipping up a batch on my stove top.  So easy and I had all the ingredients (except apple juice, which my MIL had.  The benefits of living with parents).

So far I've used it to make pumpkin french toast and as an apple dip.  (I've eaten two apples dipped in pumpkin butter just while writing this post) On cinnamon swirl bread toast?  I would probably die of happiness.  Topped on pancakes or muffins?  The possibilities are endless.

Ingredients:  (I followed this recipe exactly except I didn't have any mace, so left that out)
1 (28-oz.) can pumpkin puree
3/4 cup apple juice
2 teaspoons ginger
1/4 teaspoon cloves
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmege
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar

Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan.
2. The recipe said to bring it to a boil, but all it really did for me was blow up bubbles and splatter my kitchen with yummy smelling orange goop.  So I kept the lid on the pot, cracked with a wooden spoon to let the steam out.  I stirred it every minute or so for about 45 minutes.  It was only supposed to take 30 minutes, but maybe I had it turned down too low or maybe keeping the lid on made it take longer.  Still the yummiest thing I've ever eaten.

I put some in small jars to give away with this tag and the recipe for pumpkin french toast.  I used the pumpkin clip art from this site. When I printed it out I just folded it accordion style into thirds with the pumpkin on the top and put a small hole in the upper left corner to tie it on.

This is pretty much the best thing I've discovered this year. 

Tradition!

Did the title of this post just get a song stuck in your head?  Because it did in mine.  I'm practically dancing in my chair.

Something about this time of year makes me want to have more traditions.  Its so fun to be a new family because you get to start things now that your kids will remember and look forward to forever! We don't have a lot of them, but we make new ones every year.  Some are Adam's, some are mine, some are ours!

• My cousin Cait started a new tradition of hot cocoa, doughnuts and a scary movie on Oct 1.  Next year, I'm taking that one!

• Buy pumpkins at the small local pumpkin farmer near Adam's childhood home.  (We live like five minutes away from there now.  I assume we'll have to do away with this one if we move out of state. . . )  This is one we got from Adam's family.

• One we started this year is pumpkin french toast bake on the first day of Fall Break (I think Fall Break is a Utah thing, so if we move out of state maybe we'll just do it on the Saturday before Halloween)

• Chili on Halloween night!  This is from my family.

• Crepes for breakfast on Christmas Eve morning.  This is one I started the first year we were married.

I'm sure there are more, I just can't think of them right now.  They're a little Halloween centered and I'm guessing that's because we celebrate Halloween on our own (or with my brother and his wife) instead of visiting one family or another.  It allows us to do more of our own thing.  I don't have any traditions for Thanksgiving (except the obvious huge dinner).  But again, its hard to start something when you're not really in charge.

So what are some of your favorite traditions?