Proposition 8 Update

For those who have been following our blog for a while, you know we are strong supporters of California's proposition 8 and traditional marriage. We believe that marriage is defined between a man and a women. We are grateful that proposition 8 passed in California this past November. The sad news is that proposition 8 is still under attack! Next Thursday, March 5, the California Supreme Court will hear oral arguments to determine whether the sovereign will of the people should be upheld, and whether marriage between only a man and a woman will stand. Here's a quote from an e-mail we got from the chairman of the yes on 8 campaign and ProtectMarriage.com:

"We are declaring this Sunday, March 1, to be a Day of Prayer for Marriage. Proposition 8 was supported by over 7 million voters, and we call on those who support traditional marriage to pray for it to be upheld. Please ask the Lord for wisdom for the Justices of the California Supreme Court. Pray, also, for those who oppose this amendment to our Constitution, that they would understand our motivation is to affirm traditional marriage, not to offend any person or group."

A Beautiful Message

This video has a beautiful message. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

The Buffalo

Maybe someone out there can figure this out for me. I haven't so far. Curious George has been calling the middle loop that you thread Jesse Bear's seat belt through a "buffalo." It's very cute, but I can't for the life of me figure out where he got that!! Any ideas?

Showing Love (Continued...)

In a previous post, I talked about showing love. I asked you if you think it's important to show love for those that you love. I read this quote today by Spencer W. Kimball and thought it was very applicable to this topic:

"Love...cannot be expected to last forever unless it is continually fed with portions of love, the manifestations of esteem and admiration, the expressions of gratitude, and the consideration of unselfishness" ("Oneness in Marriage," Ensign, Oct. 2002, 40).

I think that's very true. When love is fed, it grows. When it is not, it diminishes. I think that's the reason it's important to show love for those that we love. I believe that love can last forever between couples and families when it is continuously nourished by manifestations of love. Feel free to leave any ideas or comments.

Measuring Cups

I found a fun activity for Curious George today. We got out 2 glass bowls and filled one with water and put blue food coloring in it. Then I gave him some measuring spoons and cups and had him measure out the water. He explored things like how many 1/3 cups were in 1 cup, how many tablespoons were in 3/4 cup, etc. He loved it. It worked well because he's old enough that he keeps the water pretty much contained most of the time. If you don't want to use water, you could also let them do it with rice or beans or something. After he got bored with that, I had him stack all the measuring cups from biggest to littlest. That was challenging, but he had fun with it.

Bathroom Remodel

I've been meaning to post pictures of our bathroom remodel project that we undertook in December. Brandon had 3 weeks off and he spent a lot of that time tiling, installing toilet and cabinets and trim work and painting. We finally finished!

Here's the before picture (actually this was about 4 years ago - since then the medicine cabinet had cracked - it was designed poorly - and the wallpaper was peeling off the walls):Here's during:These were taken before it was painted and the finish work was done:

Here's the beautiful finished bathroom!

Showing Love

In honor of Valentine's Day tomorrow I've been thinking about this topic as I've been wondering what to do for Brandon. I know that people show love and feel loved in different ways. Some people like hugs and others like gifts. Some people like to do something nice for the ones they love. Others like to hear that they are loved. So this is what I decided to do...I actually go the idea from this article. I hope he doesn't read this before tomorrow or the surprise will be ruined. :)

I decided that for Valentine's day this year I'm going to ask him what makes him feel loved. Oh sure we've discussed this over the 7 + years since we've been married, but I'm going to ask him to write 10 things down that complete this sentence: "I feel loved when you _____." (Fill in the blank). I want to paste this list somewhere I'll see it often to remind me what to do to show him that I love him (in the way he feels loved).

I posted around Christmas about meaningful gifts - I've been thinking a lot about how to make gifts and giving more meaningful. I think if we show love to our spouse in the way he/she wants to feel loved, that is meaningful.

What about you? What are you doing for Valentine's Day for the ones you love? Do you think it's important to show love for those that you love?

C.G.'s Firehouse

I got a great idea from a friend's blog. She keeps her kids entertained by making toys out of things lying around the house - cereal boxes, paper towel and toilet holders, etc. So yesterday when I was trying to come up with something to entertain Curious George I remembered her idea. We decided to make a firehouse for his firemen that he had gotten in his stocking (from the dollar store). It was a blast. I made it out of an old shoe box and some paper towel holders. He loves it and has spent many hours enjoying it - he likes to slide the firemen down the paper towel holders. I got so into it that I even made a firetruck out of a shoe box and some toilet paper holders. The wheels don't spin and it looks kind of tacky, but he doesn't care. The wonderful thing about children is that their imagination fills in the gaps. To them it's as good as the real thing. They don't need expensive toys - the nice thing about these is that it's like you are recycling twice - you make use of something that's been used for something else and then send them to the recycle center when the kids get tired of them. I know we're going to be making a lot more toys like this in the future.