How Redheads Charm People Who Aren't Redheads

Boycotting: A Definition

Yesterday Caleb got home from walking Ellie to her friend Marissa's house. For those of you who haven't heard about the Adventures of Marissa, she's not exactly Caleb's favorite playmate. Last month he learned about "boycotting" because of Black History Month and the Civil Rights Movement. But just to clarify, he asked me again yesterday what it meant. I explained that it's when you choose not to do something, like the black people who chose not to ride the buses anymore because they had to sit in the back.

He asked, "So...it's when you don't like something, right?"
"Sure..." I said. Where is this going?? I 'm thinking.
"Well then I boycott Marissa!"

'Nuff said.

Funny how dad's blog is about Caleb's latest quotation, too.

Fear of Water?

Last night I had a really eerie dream. The kind that make you wake up and think, "Dang I'm glad that was just a dream." This is how it all went down:
My grandparents on the Livingston side were taking Ike and I on the usual camping trip we always used to take every summer. Only this time we were going to a lake on the outskirts of Seattle (p.s. IS there a lake on the outskirts of Seattle? Because I would really like to know how my brain came up with that one). In order to get to this lake we had to drive through a very dense forest with absolutely no light except what was coming out of the headlights of the car. Everything about this dream was dark, let me tell ya. Then when we got to the lake there was nobody else there. The shore was totally abandoned. We were staying in this little shack that looked a LOT bigger on the inside. Ike kept trying to get me to go swimming in the lake but I refused over and over. At one point in the dream I went up on this bridge going over the lake (where I could see Seattle off in the distance) and could see down to the bottom. I don't know about you, but when I can see all the way to the bottom of a deep surface, I get kinda creeped out. It seems like you shouldn't be able to SEE all the way down there. I've always been this way, even with public pools, because I just don't want to imagine what could be down there. It's dark. It's too far down for me to breathe. The End. Anyway, I could see piles and piles of cars that had sunk to the bottom of it. There was even a separate pile of the discarded license plates. I could also see eels and other creepy-crawlies swimming around at the bottom. And Isaac kept swimming right into swarms of them. And yet he'd keep saying "Come in! Come in and swim!" I woke up really glad that I had not stayed asleep long enough to actually listen to him.

This is What I Mean by "Chill Out," Only Funnier

Click on me.

My Lizzy

Okay, so she isn’t really mine. I didn’t give birth to her (thank heavens cause we don’t look alike…), I didn’t sign any papers claiming her, but I’ve gotten to be her friend for nine whole years now, and so I think that gives me rights to the “m” word. What was it about us in the pre-existence that made Heavenly Father decide to put us back together again? Did He know we’d need each other during certain events in our lives? Check yeah! I don’t really want to know what kind of a person I’d be like without that girl. Maybe if we did a George Bailey-esque rewind and took her out of the equation, I’d be a bit more serious. A bit more socially awkward…okay, better make that a lot more socially awkward. A lot of things wouldn’t seem silly to me (examples: bagels, WinCo, goldfish, toilet paper, corn nuts). A lot of things would feel too serious and ordinary (more examples: grocery shopping, first dates, public speaking)--but all because I met her at that glorious 10th birthday party nine years ago, I don’t have to worry about my life being Liz-less. My mother, of course, was the reason we met in the first place. I didn’t think Lizzy would ever want to be friends with a girl like me. The main reason for this is because she wore Gap Kids clothes. I mean, a lot of her wardrobe was Gap Kids. Why would a Gap Kids girl wanna hang out with a brownish-redheaded, brace face girl like me? I may never know this, but I am so grateful that she did--so grateful in fact, that I don’t even have the right words to express it. I love you, Liz. Happy 19th Birthday!

Chill Out

There is too much sadness in this world! People are worrying too much about life when there is still SO much to be happy about! I decided a few weeks ago to make it my little mission to make at least one person smile every day. The ultimate goal is to cheer up everybody I come across. Why should we be unhappy when the gospel has been restored to the earth? We have a living prophet! We have temples all around us (some more than others, but they are practically sprouting up everywhere!), missionaries in the field, and the power of the Holy Ghost to guide us each day. President Monson said this about happiness: "To find real happiness, we must seek for it in a focus outside ourselves. No one has learned the meaning of living until he has surrendered his ego to the service of his fellow man." If you see somebody that needs groceries carried to their car, or someone with a sad look on their face, or even somebody who is in a really bad mood, you should throw them a smile or a helping hand. It makes all the difference in the world! You won't worry about the state of the world because you're built on the "rock" mentioned in Helaman 5:12 (if you haven't read that scripture recently, look it up). Yeah, we're going to have trials and bad days and even times when we don't think we can go any further. But that's when the one who already went through it all will carry you. All I want for this world is for people to just chill.... and look around at all of the things we can be happy about!

Infinite Valentine

For God
so loVed the world, that
he gAve
his onLy begotten Son, that whosoever
beliEveth
iN him should
noT
perIsh, but have ever-
lastiNg
lifE. John 3:16