I thought I was going to be an artist

I was visiting my parents' when they pulled out all of the many creations of mine that they have been saving all these years. When I saw this picture that I drew of my family when I was 3 and in the recent wake of my nephews discovering their artistic abilities, I thought I'd take this opportunity to brag about my own abilities. Tell Evan and Taylor to keep reaching for the stars. One day, they'll be as good as I was!

Dogs 'n bed

Eric always likes to take pictures of me sleeping but I loved this one because Roscoe was snuggling with me. I always fall asleep at night with Roscoe or Frankie in my arms but usually in the morning they have moved. However, this morning when I woke up Roscoe was laying on me in my arms! I love my dogs! Roscoe is funny because when he is really tired he is completely lifeless. You'd think he was dead because you can move him around like a sack of potatoes. This is when we were having a good time with him one morning because he was trying to sleep and we were trying to get him to sit up but he just ended up all hunched over and squished up like an old man. The picture really doesn't do it justice.
This was Frankie's first injury. He somehow cut himself in our car on the way to Grandpa and Grandma's house on Super Bowl Sunday. He wore the bandage for 2 days and then when we tried to take it off, he totally flipped out. I think he was mad because he looked so tough with it on!
And finally something not about our dogs... we got a new bedspread set! Our bedroom looks a little less like a college dorm room now!

Dedicated to Eric (and Brittany)

Just last week we celebrated Eric's birthday with a crab boil! I took a lot of good pictures of Payton and Parker though so that is why this post is also for Brittany. A crab boil, for those of you who've never been fortunate enough to participate in one, is a very festive way to eat and entertain. First of all, you have to have the proper cajun spices, which have been named "CAJIN INVASION" by Danny Sorensen, who introduced us to the crab boil originally. Once you have the spices, the rest is easy. You need a huge pot, like the one pictured. You just throw all of the food into the boiling pot (in a certain order) and let it cook in the cajun spices. When everything is cooked, you drain the pot and throw all the food out onto the table (lined with newspaper or a disposable plastic table cloth). You will also need melted butter to dip everything in and a drink but otherwise, omit all other table settings. Then, you just dig in! I think everyone, with the exception of Payton, really enjoyed it. Payton was completely disgusted. As soon as Eric dumped the food out onto the table, Payton covered his eyes and asked Brittany if he could leave the table. It was pretty funny, but he still came back for dessert. I was very surprised at how much Parker enjoyed himself. He loved the crab, I think he ate a whole leg himself! Thanks to Eric for turning 25 and deciding on such a fun way to celebrate his birthday!

A Few of My Favorite Things

My cousin Morgan sent me this email so I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone and reply to her email while updating my blog!

1. Color: Purple
2. Food: Watermelon & popcorn
3. Drink: Cherry Coke/Pepsi
4. Song: "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now"
5. Band: To name a few: The Format, Ben Lee, Bright Eyes, Belle & Sebastian, Elliott Smith, Ryan Adams
6. Movie: Dirty Dancing, Only You
7. T.V. Show: The Office, 30 Rock, Scrubs & House
8. Theme Park: Universal Studios Islands of Adventure in Orlando, FL
9. Dessert: Homemade oreos
10. Restaurant: Tepanyaki
11. Ice cream: Haagen Daz Coffee
12. Person: My husband
13. Actor/Actresse: John Cusack, Audrey Hepburn
14. Scent: Fabric softener & Eric when he smells nice
15. Animal: my dogs
16. Place: home in bed snuggling with Eric & Frankie & Roscoe
17. Website: jenbugsworld.blogspot.com
18. Store: Target/Anthropologie
19. Sport: Basketball/Dance
20. Candybar: Butterfinger

"Thank you"

Reflecting on my past week, I have been very humbled by several tender moments that I have experienced. I am so thankful for all that I have. I experienced one tender moment when viewing an email clip of Glen Beck giving a tribute to Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley. His tribute really touched me as I thought about what an honor it will be to one day meet Pres. Hinckley in the hereafter (this is something I have never had the opportunity of doing in this life) and just to simply say, "Thank you." He is a very real example of enduring to the end. He never stopped serving us. He never stopped working. He never even seemed to slow down. I just can't imagine my life being anything close to what his was but I can do my best in following his example and I am truly thankful for it.

Another moment for me was last night, Eric and I were invited to go hear a church historian, Brother Turley, speak on the making of the "Teaching of Joseph Smith" manual for church. One thing I learned is that I will be reading it and studying it on my own because I now have a greater appreciation for it. The reason it wasn't the first book in the series is due to the fact that it was the most difficult to develop. It was painstakingly researched and poured over until every single thing that was printed could most aunthentically be traced back to an actual teaching from Joseph Smith. The real problem is that there was a real lack of record keeping in his time. By Brigham Young's time he has scribes that would write everything he taught in shorthand and historians have very accurate records of Brigham Young and every other prophet moving forward. Even Joseph Smith's own personal journal was often kept through a scribe. One of which was a doctor (who stereotypically had very poor script). And the scribes would interchangeably use the word "I" for themselves and Joseph! This is just the beginning of endless confusing, incomplete or difficult to decipher texts that these scholars poured over to produce "the most accurate compilation of teachings of the prophet Joseph Smith written today." (This was a direct quote from Brother Turley.)

In addition to my appreciation for the manual itself, Brother Turley bore testimony of the miraculous work of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. There is absolutely no other explanation that makes sense other than the one that Joseph Smith and the witnesses said. That he translated the gold plates through the gift and power of God. He did this in a matter of less than 90 days! He did this with a grammar-school education. He did extremely little revision or correction and a lot of that was a matter of grammatics and spelling. He did this without any modern technology that writers today would use. He did this using many different scribes and he would pick up right where he left off without having anything read back to him. My own dad, bless his heart, is an apologist (of many things, one of them being the church) and has studied the translation and history of Joseph Smith in extreme detail and has shared with me many of the "little" things that happened during the translation. He has also studied the original printers' manuscripts which can show every single correction that occurred between that and the current book we have today and I have to say, it is remarkable how little they have changed. It is a book that due to its modern translation and development, we know the detailed history of, which cannot be said for any other book of scripture. I know that it could not have and truly did not come to pass by any other means than through Joseph Smith by the power of God. I am so thankful for the Book of Mormon. I am thankful for the blood, sweat, tears and sacrifice that so many people put into it and I know that I take it for granted the majority of the time but I am always thankful to be reminded of this amazing miracle that lays by my bed each night.

Deep Thoughts

One of Eric and my favorite things to do is read "Deep Thoughts" by Jack Handy. They are full of words of wisdom such as, "Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself. Basically, it's made up of two separate words — "mank" and "ind." What do these words mean? It's a mystery, and that's why so is mankind." There are several others that are equally as thought provoking and hilarious but Eric brought up a good point the other day when he said, "What would it be like to be Jack Handy's kid and say, "Dad, I need some advice..." and he would reply with something totally ridiculous like the above comment. I am sure glad that I am not Jack Handy's child. But he sure is funny!