Good Job Tyler!

Today was Tyler's last day of work for his internship! Hooray! Tomorrow morning we begin our month long journey to visit people. First, we'll visit my sister Melanie and her family in Illinois for about 4 days. Next, two days in Nauvoo. Then, after two days of driving interrupted by one night in Lexington, Nebraska, 2 days with my sister Holly in Utah. THEN--we're not even close to being done yet--a few days with our sister Kara and husband Joe in Utah for Tyler's graduation and a Merrill family reunion. This will be followed by a week and a half in Pendleton visiting family. Then, two days of watching my nephews in Utah. FINALLY, we will return to home sweet home the 29th in just enough time to get set up for school on Monday. Phew! So if my blog is seldom updated or if I don't get to visit yours, you'll know why.

I want to give Tyler the credit he deserves for all the hard work on his internship. Although paid hourly for only 40 hours, he usually went to work early and stayed late, making in more like 45-50. But he never complained. And he did a phenominal job. He recieved many compliments from his superiors about the quality of his work and his ability to get along with everyone, definitely one of his strengths. He even got compliments from those he managed (not a frequent occurance). Everyone really liked him and wanted him to return after he finished school. Not only this, his boss essentially extended a job offer to him to work for Sodexo. He said Tyler only needs to say the word and he will be hired on to start after school. What city and what position will be determined in the future, but he told Tyler that he will not have to worry about whether he will have a job when he graduates, a huge blessing! So here's to Tyler, the best husband and manager ever!

The Real Deal

I wanted to share a concrete example of some of the suspicious activity going on that I always make reference to. Remember the secret combinations bit I wrote?

If you don't know a lot about the people and organizations Glenn is referring too, feel free to research them more, but suffice it to say they are powerful bullies, especially SEIU and ACORN. Did you catch the bit about Apollo essentially drafting some of the so called "stimulus" bill? And Obama putting a communist in charge of "green jobs"? People who have hidden agendas to take your freedom while you are distracted are mobilizing and ever growing in power and wealth. We need to in essence mobilize as well if we want to stop this from happening. Pay attention to what your gut is telling you. This is the real deal folks!

Things We've Learned

The time has come! Our final week of Tyler's internship has arrived. This week will pass quickly and we will find ourselves driving out of Alabama (hopefully for good). I have had mixed feelings about our stay here. It isn't a culture we grew up with and having no family anywhere close makes it uncomfortable and lonely. However, new experiences make us grow and learn, especially the uncomfortable ones. Tyler and I made a list of things we have learned from our stay in Alabama.

• We like the southern accent and have learned how to use it. In fact it is good to use when you want people to think you're local.
  
• The name of any woman, regardless of age or marital status, is prefaced with "Miss," like I am Miss Mindy. I especially thought it was cute.
• Strangers may call you "baby" or "honey"
• People in the south like to lounge and have a good time. Everyone has camping chairs, etc. and are always ready for a nice sit together at a baseball game, picnic, or tailgating (which we will unfortunately miss, I hear it's quite the experience where everyone brings their RVs and parties for 2 days!)
• Troy University informal dress code: white girls-tee shirts and short running shorts, black girls-clubbing wear, white guys-shorter shorts, tee shirts tucked in (especially in mesh shorts), black guys-extremely long tees, wife beaters, fancy tennis shoes.
• Every house has an immaculately furnished front porch, such a great idea for cool summer southern nights. Yet I only ever saw them in use a handful of times.
  
• Healthy food is not a concern in the south--you will have a hard time finding anything but plain white sandwich bread and fat free milk makes up about 5% of milk at a store; but snacks get two whole aisles.
  
• Anything, especially meat and potatoes + lots of butter, oil, cream = Southern Cooking
• Anything can be deep fried, and usually is.
  
• Grits!!
• Chick-Fil-A is a BIG DEAL. I used to wonder how they afforded a whole BCS bowl. I no longer wonder.
  
• Carls Jr is called Hardees.
  
• The children are surprisingly overweight (seriously, are we surprised?)
  
• I've seen more rain fall these three months than the past 10 years of my life. It comes quick and hard and can stop about as quickly too.
  
• We experienced two tornado watches/warnings complete with blaring sirens.
  
• I have never lived in such a diverse population. Oregon and Utah naturally do not provide much.
  
• I have usually been a racial minority while here. I haven't minded it and didn't notice after a while. I was really glad for this experience; it is something I needed to understand for myself.
  
• Social groups and neighborhoods are still largely segregated, I think mostly by choice though now. We tend to group with those like us.
  
• A small church branch reveals who is serious vs. social about church.
• I was for the first time able to help with real missionary work! Tyler got to baptize a young man for the first time since his mission. What a neat experience!
• You always hear about southern hospitality. The people are generally very nice here (everywhere has a few sour people). Of course you sometimes need to be the first to say hello, but they are quick and easy to be friendly with you once the ice is broken.
  

It's funny the things that stand out to you in the end.

Another thing I have decided after living here is to find ways to embrace and adopt the good and unique things about the local culture where you live, no matter where it is. Let your life and style reflect a little about all the places you have been, like a scrapbook of your travels through life.

k10 p10 k10 p10

My first completed knitting project! I just had to share. A basket weave boyfriend scarf. Only it's not for a boyfriend, it's for me.

I knitted some gold thread in also to add subtle sparkle.

So it ended up being a little wider and shorter than a regular scarf, but I like how it looks more like a neck wrap now. "It looks trendy" in Tyler's words. I will pin it together with a wooden stick, I think. All I had on hand for the pics was my knitting needle, that's why I'm covering the long ends. (Please disregard my double chin.)

Admittedly probably my last garment I will ever knit because of how time consuming it can be. Next I am going to knit some toys from a book Tyler gave me last Christmas! It's nice to learn a new skill. I can check "Teach myself to knit" off of my goals for 2009.

Shout Out to Tyler's Work Skills

Tyler has been kept very busy at his internship with Sodexo. (I keep reminding him that it is better to have a lot to do than nothing to do ;) ) And I am sure, although he doesn't say and probably doesn't even realize, that he is doing a phenomenal job. Everyone I know of who he has worked for has loved him and basically given him an open invitation to work for them in the future should he need it.

One of his projects he has recently wrapped up was project management of a small home remodel near campus that the university plans to rent out to students, or the CFO's daughter but we won't get into ethics here... Anyway, I love the house, it is adorable and just what I want someday: a small, old cottage with a large amount of quaint charm. In fact, I have already decided exactly how I would set up the house if it were mine and think about it more than I care to admit. Tyler's and my favorite feature are the huge windows all around the house.

Here are some before and after shots. I know he is proud of the job. And I am proud of him.

Some before shots of the kitchen (well, after demo). The house was built in the day when kitchens still had 4 walls.

After shots of the kitchen. Just a basic kitchen since there was a budget to stick to, but much nicer than before.

Through the door in the kitchen (see first before shot of kitchen) there was a rickety add-on for a laundry room. Don't ask me what they did for laundry before.

They had it ripped down and built an entirely new, more sturdy laundry area. They also built this big back porch. Tyler and I weren't fans of how much of the budget went into the deck but it was mandated from above. He also had a privacy fence constructed around the back yard that you can barely see in this picture.

Here is a before shot of the main bathroom. We don't have an after shot, but suffice it to say it looks much better. Tyler had to have it stripped all the way down and have all new appliances (do you call tub, sink, toliet appliances?) and fixtures put in both bathrooms.

Tyler had the whole house fitted for blinds. A shame to cover the adorable windows with regular blinds but it is the most practical solution and the house isn't mine to decorate. (I had to keep reminding myself!) The floors were also all redone with laminate faux wood flooring.

One of the bedrooms (the children's room to be exact, if it were mine). Tyler had the whole inside painted a neutral tan color and the outside pressure cleaned and painted.

Not a part of the remodel but worth mention, the old fireplace is such a neat feature but someone decided it would be a good idea to shove this ugly stove in it. You'd better believe that would come out if it were my house. But I have to remind myself it's not...

"Good job with house daddy!"
Yes, good job Tyler! Now you're ready to do it for us, right?

Nibbler's Books

"Thank you Grandma Neal for my new Bunnies book! I love it and read it several times a day!"

Books are an important component to a child's education and therefore collection of toys. In fact, I learned in my emergent literacy class that you should store a child's books with or right next to their toys. That has worked very well for us as Cameron will pull them down every day and "read" through them all. (The days of him allowing me to read to him are past for now, but I figure he is still getting what he needs!) The only downside to making Cam's books so accessible to him is they get treated like the rest of his toys and spend a lot of time in his mouth.

The Snowy Day: From now on I will wait to get the more expensive artistic books for when he is older. When I took this picture unbeknownst to it and me it had about 2 hours left as one piece.

On his Good Night Hawaii book he has actually managed to make a hole in the middle of the last page crease/back cover spine. He has completely nibbled away the spine. He seems to know which of his books were the most money and accordingly mangles them the best...or loves them the most?

Another of his faves, Baby Einstein Neighborhood Animals now goes without a cover. The spine has been almost eaten completely away. Note the gradual nibblings taken out of the lower left corner. This nibble goes on for pages. Delicious.

Patriot

For our nation's 233rd birthday, after spending the first half of the day participating in the traditional food and friends, we drove an hour to the closest Tea Party. Unlike the tax day Tea Party I attended, this gathering was less about making noise and more about celebrating our country and first amendment rights. It was also about education and motivation. And to let the powers that be know we are still serious. Those in attendance, about 1,000 people from what I can estimate, gathered together--many in lawn chairs--and listened to speakers, including radio show hosts, a veteran, a doctor, a political organizer, and even an African American talk show host (yes, tea parties are not racist like they're accused of) for about an hour.

First time protestors: Cameron and Tyler.

Even Tyler, whom I think I had to convince to come with me so far, agreed it was something that felt right to be doing on such a special date as Independence Day. We agreed that its meaning has been lost over the years and decided our family would be sure to give the holiday its due respect and honor in the future as well.


The speakers were inspiring and I must say for me patriotism comes from the same place as faith. ("...according to the Spirit of God, which is also the spirit of freedom which is in them." Alma 61:15) They talked and educated about current catastrophic bills being pushed through Congress such as Cap and Trade and Universal Health Care. But what especially got to me was how they talked about how freedom is not free and how many people have died for it and how fragile it is. Everyone has heard these words, but I really understood them with renewed awe that day. I looked around me to see that by and large Tyler and I were the youngest protesters there. My sister said her experience was the same. We were surrounded by war veterans and middle aged men and women, some in their 30s at the youngest; people our parents' and grandparents' age. (Seriously, enlarge the above picture and find someone young.) These are wise and experienced ones of our society! These are the people who really understand the price of freedom and what works and what doesn't. These people have learned much from experience and aren't so easily distracted. It should scream a warning to us that these protests are full of our elders instead of college students as is usually the case. Clearly ambivalence and accepting and destructive SILENCE is increasingly becoming something we cannot afford.

So can I please continue to beg that those of my generation put down their iphones and ipods, stop twittering, texting, and facebooking for an hour a day and please make an effort to be educated and informed? Spend 10 minutes a day or an hour a week brushing up on politics and world events from reliable sources--the internet makes it especially easy--and I promise that within a month you will sense what these society elders clearly sense. Use your abundant intelligence to piece things together, think analytically and ask questions. And take action. All of us no matter our station or schedule can do something.

I will spare you my theories, but suffice it to say something is not right and your freedom is at stake and in danger of being pulled out from under you without your notice and without a noise. And it will be done by those "secret combinations" and "Gadianton robbers," aka. people from within the existing framework who want power and money and will get it at your expense. (See my sidebar for more on my analysis of secret combinations today.) And if I am wrong, as I hope I am, it is no waste to be educated and informed.

DisNEALand

The long awaited Disnealand post! Pictures of my family having a blast at "The Happiest Place on Earth." Proof my family is the coolest ever. (At least I think so!)

Boys will be boys, girls will be girls. Love this shot. The morning of the first day all together.

Strike a pose. Paige knows what's up.

My sweet little guy Cameron on his first Disneyland ride of his life. The carousel of course; what else?

After naps were finished, the whole family got together after spending the morning in smaller groups. You know despite what one would think, we really had much more fun all 16 of us together even if moving was a bit slower. That's because we are all such big fans of one another!

A newer favorite, the animation room on Hollywood Blvd in California Adventure. Nice and cool and a good place for the kiddies to enjoy themselves while parents are riding rides. We found a good way to ride rides even with small children via "divide and conquer" methods, i.e. one half entertains chillins while the other half rides, then switch.

Fans of one another! We're having fun!

Tuesday we all wore our "DisNEALand" shirts. I was surprised how many compliments we got on them. Just all the sisters together (yeee-hawww!) with Dad going on Space Mountain! Note the wrist bling, sported by two of us a day and then passed on to new wearers (only girls of course) for the entire four days! They work for waving around while on rides. You have to know us...

Disneyland is never absent some form of music. Mom's birthday-observed dinner was filled with music from a nearby parade. And of course we MUST dance!

Cameron's first suckers! All children should have treats at Disneyland. Needless to say it caused a sticky mess of huge proportions but he was perfectly happy every second he was devoring the sucker AND the stick. (yes, he'd also devour the stick down to nothing.)

Getting ready for the MainStreet Electrical Light Parade, a Neal classic favorite! I remember watching this parade when I was 5.

Day three. Mad props to Paige for 1. being adorable, and 2. not being terrified of the characters as is so often the case with young children.

"INTERCEPTED!!" There were always treats for everyone to enjoy everyday, another Disneyland staple.

Did I mention I love my family?? I love this picture of Natalie. She always wanted to be with the children.

Lots of shoulder rides to be had by all! Well, by the kids anyway. Uh, do you see James Larson being a pack mule?!

Here is Cameron going after Paige's sucker. A scene was about to be made...

Until mommy remembered baby's half eaten sucker in our bag. Saved! Hi-larious!

A picture of the whole gang! With 16 we now officially fill an Its A Small World boat. And a whole Pirates of the Caribbean boat.

Grandma in heaven! Thanks to my parents for helping out with grandkids so we could pretend to be kids ourselves again, however briefly.

Last Day. We wore our shirts again to get our money's worth. This is one of my favorite pictures of my little fam. Big thanks to the man of my life Tyler for helping out so much with Cameron!

Official picture of the growing number of grandchildren. Now, here I must mention that Cameron had just calmed after a meltdown from being put in his stroller and would not have stayed for this picture but have been 100 ft in the opposite direction in 10 seconds. I must also admit that he spent a great amount of time trapped in that stroller. But you gotta just trust that the parents knew how to best handle him in that situation.

My dad was a fan of taking us shooting. He's real into that lately. Maybe he's feeling like teaching his girls how to defend themselves is better now than never! And of course there aren't real guns in Disneyland. Maybe next time we're all at home he'll take us all real shooting?

Official family picture! It was an extremely memorable and fun vacation and on my life's highlight reel. A huge thanks to my parents for taking us!