The Best Birthday Cake Ever

Mason had his birthday party a little early this year, since we thought it would be fun to have the party with the SLC crew. When asked what kind of cake he wanted he said he wanted a pirate cake, and Michele indulged him with the best birthday cake ever. Look at the execution of the concept! Look at the attention to detail! It tasted good too!

A walk with the boys

Some shots I took today while on a hike with the boys. I took these shots with my new Canon 60D which I am learning how to use. All of the pictures except for the first one were taken with a 40 year old Nikon 50mm manual lens. I am really liking mixing old lenses with the new camera body.

Statistical Analysis

Spring Break! Yeah, no middle-schoolers for an entire week. So why do I feel so stressed? And why am I wondering what the statistical probability of two people having the same birthday while writing a paper about the history of discrete mathematics meeting on a train traveling 75 m.p.h towards New York City could possibly be?

Oh yeah, I am in a Master's Program! I am not actually on spring break, instead I have a whole week to read, write and compute for my program. It is bitter-sweet my friend, bitter-sweet indeed.

All is not lost though. Douglas and I enjoyed a fabulous date night last Saturday evening. I was completely surprised. He arranged for a sitter and everything. We drove down to Hollywood to listen to live music at a little place called the Hotel Cafe. It was one of those, someone he knows at work has a band, and was playing, and there we were, surrounded by twenty-somethings in fedoras. It was a lot of fun. And I learned that I need to get me some skinny jeans and some hot boots! Boo-yah!

Happy Spring.

I Blame It On the Cat

When the cat kneads me for food at 3 am

Is he surprised when he is tossed out the door?

The restless dreams that follow my rude awakening

transfer my anger at being awoken to

my poor sleeping husband.

When I wake, I am determined to continue

the argument in real time.

The poor bewildered man cannot know that he is

Fighting a battle he has already lost.

Hey, Whatta Ya Know!

Look at me. Writing for two weeks in a row.

Being Mormon, we don't observe Lent in an official way. But I do love the idea of Lent. I see it as an opportunity to become spiritually prepared for the celebration of Easter. I love the story of Jesus fasting in the wilderness for forty days, preparing for His ministry and mission. Certainly, one take home lesson in His story, is that we could all use more spiritual preparation in our lives.

So with the idea of spiritual preparation, I spent a few days asking myself what spiritual need did I have. The answer came to me suddenly on the morning of Ash Wednesday. I had already decided what I thought I should give up for Lent. But, as we gathered for family prayer, the thought came to me that I waste my time. Not only do I waste my time, but it bothers me that I am not spending my time as wisely as I should. And I knew that one huge time sucker for me was playing games on Facebook. So I gave it up. Cold turkey. I let all my crops die, my buildings go unbuilt, and my game missions left uncompleted. And guess what? I am okay.

It turns out, that I can get a lot more done with my time when I am not frittering away precious hours on frivolous, virtual realities. Of course, you who are so much wiser than me knew that already. But this is my life and I am slowly learning my own lessons! Thank goodness I am learning.

This quote seemed appropriate to me:

The prophet Brigham Young said: 'We should never permit ourselves to do anything that we are not willing to see our children do. We should set them an example that we wish them to imitate.' Each of us can start today by being that good example” (Mary N. Cook, “Be an Example of the Believers,” Oct. 2010 general conference).