My friend Jim sent this Email. I don't know the creator.

4224.

This is the number of pages I have read to my sons over the last year or so.

Today we read the last 120 pages in just under three hours.

So, we finished the Harry Potter series. All seven books. Out loud. Voices included! I do a mean Hagrid by the way. Voldemort's voice was a challenge. I don't know if I ever wrapped my voice around the high pitched whisper he exuded!

And what a blast it has been...

It is a bitter/sweet feeling, seeing it all come to a close. It has been riotous watching the boys laugh, jump, sit at rapturous attention, and to see it all come together in book seven was quite magnificent! I would never have read these books if it hadn't been for my boys, but to experience Harry with them has been an unforgettable journey.

It was good to have Alex along to explain what was happening every now and then and even Isaac added terrific commentary as well.

As the book came to a close, tears were shed, everyone hugged each other a little closer, and together, we turned the last page. Thanks Harry, for the great childrens' read and we look forward now to moving onto the Rings.

GOOOOoooooooooooooo Frodo!

Today at Church we were blessed to hear from all the children in our ward for this year's Primary Program. First of all, we have the best Primary Leaders in the entire church because the program ran smoothly, the kids talks were polished, the music was exceptional, and the message was enlightening. So, to all the Primary workers I say "Well done!"

There is a lot we could all learn from the Primary Sacrament Meeting. In other words one might say, "Everything I learned about running a Sacrament Meeting I learned from the Primary Program!"

Point 1- Talks were short and concise.
Point 2- The children focused on Gospel Principles. The testimonies were NOT "Thankamonies", "Travelmonies", or any other "-mony." The kids didn't blabber. They delivered their poignant message and then SAT DOWN.
Point 3- There were wonderful musical numbers that were more uplifting than any talk delivered over the pulpit.
Point 4- Messages were spread around a variety of different speakers and those delivering talks stayed within the time frames allotted. They did not run over so there was the perfect amount of time for all. I daresay that if a child started going long, they would have been yanked down into their seat. I think we should implement this practice in our regular meetings as well.
Point 5- We finished our meeting seven minutes early. Glorious.

I didn't even have to get out my iPhone to help pass the time...

And there it is. The perfect Sacrament Meeting.

Thanks Primary kids for once again teaching us adults more than we could ever teach you!

Let me start by saying Alex has been wanting to have a lemonade stand sort of thing forever. So when the first REAL soccer game opened at the new stadium last week and hundreds of people were walking down our street we decided we would have one.
Yesterday we went to Costco and bought our supplies, today we made posters, and about 2 hours before the game started the boys were set up and ready to go. They had candy, soda, cookies and apples (Isaac insisted we needed to have a healthy snack to offer).
Matt and I sat a way off to observe and just let the boys do their thing. They were great. Yelling out "cold soda, one dollar! lots of candy too! And healthy, healthy, healthy apples (Isaac again)" to all the people walking by. Some stopped and some didn't, but that's part of how it goes when you're running a business.
The thing Matt and I found interesting was which people stopped and which ones didn't. We would guess when we saw them coming down the street if they would stop or not. The thing is, we expected the moms and dads with kids to stop. After all, they have kids and don't their kids set up lemonade stands from time to time?
Well, some of them did. But mostly they passed right on by. Our kids' #1 customers were the young couples out on dates. The guy wanting to impress his date by buying some candy from little kids. Very interesting people study.
So why weren't the families stopping? How, being a mom or dad, do you look at two little kids selling stuff in their front yard and not pull a dollar out of your pocket. I mean, it's easy to ignore the Singular cell phone guy or the green tea girl at the mall, but a five and nine year old that have a sign saying "earning money for Disneyland", come on people. You don't have to buy them out, just one dollar would make their whole day! I really wanted to ask some of them what their reasons for not stopping were, but that may have been a little rude. So I simply sat in my lawn chair quietly judging them instead.
OK, I will now get off my soapbox.
The REAL fans were great. Alex and Isaac had a super fun time together yelling to the people passing by and selling their candy. They had contests trying to convince people what to buy (candy vs. apples), what kinds of accents they could talk in, who could yell the loudest, and who could sneak the most treats into their mouths when mom and dad weren't looking. Then bonus, they made quite a bit of money in the process (as long as I don't collect everything I spent buying their wares).

Well, last night's debate solidified the next President of the United States: President Obama.

Get used to it.

McCain just couldn't hang. Obama was smooth, polite, professional, and impenetrable to McCain's weak attacks. Obama held his composure while McCain's impersonation of a rabid dog nipping at the heals of America's next boss, was less than convincing. Any other candidate could have done a better job than McCain. His little smirks, goofy smile, and stuttering comebacks were distracting and disheartening. Obama owned McCain, now he owns the presidency.

Also, the same is true with the VP pics. Beiden is a professional politician while Palin is a fresh, but unfortunately shallow, showcase. If asked honestly who I would want to become president if something were to happen to POTUS in an assault on America, whom would I choose? Well, Beiden would be my answer. That really hurts to say. The same argument could be made about the VP debates as well. Being a politician for SO long, Beiden knows what to say and how to act to be liked by the American people. I think Beiden owned Palin due to his slickness and better political composure.

The Democratic candidates are better. Period.

But the messages that define them definitely are not.

I have a list of things that disturb me greatly about the Democratic platform (like every MORAL issue on the table) that I have mentioned on this blog in the past, so I won't delve too deeply in this post, but something was made very clear to me last night by McCain: Obama fosters mediocrity. He wants to give something for nothing. He wants to simply 'redistribute wealth'. He wants give money to many for not earning it. He wants to create more of a socialistic society by taking over health care and taxing more big business and just giving it to those 'less fortunate.'

Now before you go crazy in talking about the poor and billion dollar surpluses for big business, it is the ideology about which I am concerned.

America is built upon capitalism. It is this concept that has made us successful. Capitalism, through business, fosters growth, success, jobs, AND taxes that pay 98% of our bills. When a President wishes to stunt our economical growth by punishing the entities that are moving this country forward, then our growth suffers and our economy becomes stagnant.

Obama's 'spread the wealth' approach encourages laziness, stunts economic growth, is the first step towards Socialism and even further down the road, Communism. Let's get government out of our pockets and let Capitalism work.

I'm afraid we're going to have to wait 8 years before we can clean up the mess.

My friend Jim wrote the following post and I loved it. Thought I would share...

http://thebloggeries.blogspot.com/2008/10/what-mccain-must-do-and-say-this.html

Matt here.

So, Alex is nine. Isaac is 5. Both are now in school. Both feed themselves, don't need help going to the bathroom, and can clean their room plus put away their own clothes. They have jobs around the house to help lighten the load. They clear the table after dinner. We can have meaningful conversations with them. They can make me laugh. They watch sports with me and understand the games. They can both play catch. We like the same things and I can only imagine it getting better.

Many would say that we have arrived. The hard days are over. They are now contributing members of our family and not just requiring constant care. We can now start living it up!

Twins?

Of course the twins are an answer to our prayers, but are we really ready for this? Jenny and I have been having a fantastic time with the kids, and for those of you who don't know what it is like to say "Go to bed!" and the kids listen, trust me, you have NO IDEA how good it can be! But the idea of starting over scares me to death! Sleepless nights, crying, and non-stop care-giving, TIMES TWO? Heaven help us...

But in those quiet moments... when my mind calms and my heart stops racing with anxiety, I think of Daxton and Elsie. I think of the road ahead. I think of sports and games, dance recitals, and Family Home Evenings... I think of still having kids that want to snuggle when the others are too old. I think of still having buddies in the house when Alex is off to BYU and Isaac is on a mission...

Maybe I am grateful that our empty nest just got extended for another 18 years...

Maybe twins this late isn't so bad :)

So it's finally getting a little crisp outside. I think fall might be getting here. Time for jackets, soups, and hot chocolate at night. And time for curling up with a good book. Problem. I don't have one and I desperately need one. So any of you out there reading this... Help! Suggestions? (Oh, and by the way, this is Jenny. Not Matt. Please keep that in mind. I don't need to read the biography of Clay Aiken)