Tragic snowmobile accidents, Alzheimer's, cancer, complications from surgury/diabetes/other illness, "unexpected death," etc, etc

Reading nearly 200 obituaries over a span of 12 hours tends to get to you.

Not so sleepless in Seattle … but snowy

Thanks to Bill and Diane (Ben’s great parents), we were able to fly to Kent, Wash. to see our nephew Ethan get baptized, and stay with Ben’s brother Matt, his wife Dani and the rest of their kids! We had a lot of fun and really loved the Seattle area, even though I about froze to death the entire time.

Seriously, it was around 25-30 degrees, and – even though Logan was 0 today – Washington felt WAY colder to me. I’m part wimp, but I think the humidity had something to do with it.
We were so lucky to experience a rarity in the Seattle area: A snowstorm! It only accumulated like three inches, but it totally shuts down the town. School and church cancellations and everything. Because it’s a rarity, no one is prepared for the layers of ice plastered to the hilly, curvy roads it creates. I think I saw one snowplow, and NO salt. But Dani was a great host, and braved the roads to show us some of the sights!

The trees are my favorite things we saw. They are so thick and tall and green. Everything is green with moss, which I think is beautiful, but I learned can get pretty annoying when it grows on your cars and stuff. My jaw drops when I see the trees; they are so glorious.
By Monday, the skies miraculously cleared, the sun came out, and we were able to squeeze in a trip to the top of the Space Needle to be greeted by furious freezing winds but a very awesome view of the city. We also got to drive along the waterfront, a nostalgic place for Ben and me. And would a trip to Seattle be complete without stopping at Ivar’s? I don’t think so. It was the last place we went before heading to the airport.

View from the Space Needle.

And, thanks to Sidney letting us sleep in her bed, Ben and I both slept better during the trip than we do at home! It was awesome!

We are still missing the kids – our little apartment seems too quiet after being with them! We hope to see them again soon! Thank you to all the Wilson’s who helped us have such a great time!

Close your eyes! Close your eyes! Aaggg! The top of the needle is just so romantic.

P.S. I want to give great big CONGRATULATIONS to Ben for getting EXCELLENT grades this semester! Way to go Benji! One left to go!

"Sure, sure."

Fellow pining Twilight fans will appreciate this post's title, unless they're Jacob-haters.

Which, sadly, I used to be. But, since my second reading of the saga, I feel like I've grown empathetic for "the child," as Edward often refers to him. He pretty much saves Breaking Dawn, in my opinion. I much prefer listening to the story through his thoughts than through Bella's. He is so funny and way more logical than she is. The best parts are his chapter headings ("What do I look like? The Wizard of OZ? You need a brain? You need a heart? Go ahead. Take mine. Take everything I have.").

Jasper, I think, would be an extremely interesting and entertaining narrator for the story.

Any other Twilight narrator suggestions?

Goodbye, Elder Wirthlin

We heard the news of Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin’s passing this morning. As always with this kind of news, a shock of sadness went through me.

Last week we read his talk from October’s conference, “Come what may, and love it.” I remembered watching him give the talk, and how much it stood out to me. He was so sincere and the Spirit was especially strong. The steps he advised taking to overcome adversity were very clear: learn to laugh, seek for the eternal and understand the principle of compensation. He shared some memorable stories from his life and his family.

I read that during this, his last conference talk, Elder Wirthlin suffered from a case of locked knees, and his muscles started twitching. As soon as he started shaking, Elder Russell M. Nelson stood and helped brace Elder Wirthlin by placing one hand on his back. I must not have even noticed this, because I can’t remember seeing it. But it’s very touching.

I hope to never forget that talk as well as all the counsel he gave throughout his life.

As with all the leaders of the church around the world ranging from prophet to nursery leader, I am very thankful for Elder Wirthlin’s willingness and sacrifice he made for the church and the world. I don’t know what I would do without his and others’ examples, words of counsel, and motivations for hope they provide me with. I can only continue to hope that one day I can be half of what they are and he was. I feel like the road is long and winding ahead of me.

Thank you Elder Wirthlin.

When Bushes go BAD!

On Sunday Maddie and I went for walk up 600 North. During our walk I (being the nerdy landscape architecture student that I am) took notice of some of the landscaping faux pas along the way.

Bushes that were once small get big

Some of them get really BIG, the house above is when we thought "bushes gone bad"

Don't plant a tree right next to your house, not only is it a fire hazard. It just doesn't look right.

This image is a good example of Xeriscape gone bad. It is a good thing to cut down on water use, but if you decide to do something like this you have to be dedicated to keeping it looking nice. Nothing is as easy to maintain as grass! I know it is hard to believe but someone tore out lawn to put in this ugly wood chip pit.

Bowling balls are NOT yard art!

Again here we see the sad effects of plants growing, its not their fault the don't get to choose where they are planted. When trees meet powerlines they generally lose.

"Everything is good for something, even if it is just a bad example."

We also saw a really cool Ent.

This view of the Wellsville mountains from Old Main Hill in the morning is one of the best parts of my day.

He knows what's good for him

Although I've seen childhood pictures of Ben wearing horrid Y attire -- he denies he was ever a real BYU fan, but I don't believe him -- he has learned a thing or two since we've been married. The most important being that the U is pretty much the only team out there that won't let its fans down.

Way to go UTES!!

Blackmail?

I found Lauren, Natalie and Peter quite attractive in this picture from Chloe's "mission farewell" party. I may or may not save it for future weddings. It all depends on whether or not I magically find some Utah-BYU tickets in my possession before the game tomorrow.

Alas, this picture brings to my being some painful memories. Lauren and I were looking for our dear mother at this party, and could not find her anywhere. We looked through the living room, squoze (squeezed? hmm) our way through the kitchen and over to the stairs where the extremely strange smell was lingering. We looked downstairs, outside. People told us, "She was just here" and pointed us in the direction she went. No luck. Someone said, "She's sitting on the porch next door at John's." When Lauren went over, Mother dear was mysteriously gone yet again. Mother is surprisingly sneaky despite her stumbling tendencies. Finally, upon giving up and about to shed some tears, we spotted her in the kitchen doing something.

Oh Mama! Thank goodness! We were two very scared little girls without our Moma.

What In The World!

So as I was walking around campus yesterday I noticed some flowers in bloom! I am not sure if it is due to global warming or not, but if it is I might not be terribly against it. What an incredibly beautiful fall we have had up here in Logan.

This other picture is just kind of weird. This is at the office where Maddie and I work and they have this pink light in the ceiling. No one is sure what it is there for so they use it for parties. On this occasion the Bosses are gone for the week so it has been on all week so far.

Confession: I've got issues

It’s the vampires. They’re starting to get to me.

I have never been NERVOUS to see a dumb movie before. I’ve never been so caught up in anything before as I am with the Twilight series. It’s a little embarrassing. I am proud to say, however, that I AM NOT IN LOVE WITH EDWARD CULLEN. I had to get that out of the way. I have never had a dream about him, and I do not fantasize about him.

I think it’s Stephenie Meyer’s style of writing that gets me, actually. The story’s dark, misty, mysterious and magical tone is so evident because of her style. I love her use of description and, as what’s-his-name from the Music Man would say, “phraseology.” Warm, liquid topaz eyes, hiss from deep in the chest, lips curling over his teeth into a snarl, are a few among the many descriptions I enjoy. I often find myself reading over the same paragraph three or four times because the image the words paint in my head is amazing. I can’t get enough of it!

But maybe I have had enough of it. On Saturday night, I got like 15 minutes of sleep. I couldn’t fall asleep to begin with, and when I finally did, the next thing I know, I’m awake and picnicked. Scared to death of the dream I just had. Can you guess what the dream was about? Yep, vampires. But, not the vamps from the story, not even anything to do with the stories besides the monsters. For some reason, I can’t forget the dream, so if anyone is considering jumping off a cliff, keep reading this, and I’m sure I give you the last push you need:

My dream: I was living in this small community on the top of a hill. I have a friend who is nameless, and nobody I knew. Somehow, I just knew that he was my best friend. He had silver hair. Suddenly one day, we heard there was a vampire infestation in our little community, and all the humans were being evacuated. You see, the community was surrounded by a gigantic gate, and the humans were going to lock all the vampires in. Well, the next thing I knew, my best friend had become a vampire! He was really scared about getting locked in, but humans were checking everyone as they evacuated, making sure no vampires got out. He was terrified, so I told him we would trick the gate keepers on our way out. We made a run for it, and as we were being checked, I told them that my friend was my husband and he had an eye problem. Somehow, we got by, and hopped safely onto a shuttle bus heading away from the doomed community.

But, as we were sitting on the bus, my friend suddenly turned to me with a horrifyingly evil look in his face. He made a face like he was sniffing me and everybody on the bus, and then he attacked and killed them all, including me. As soon as he turned to kill me, I was suddenly outside of my body watching. I saw everyone on the bus dead, and my body was covered in blood (which doesn’t make much sense at all, considering a vampire killed me).

That’s it. I woke up and every time I started drifting off to sleep, these images would come back to my head. So I forced myself to stay awake for a long time. And Ben is no help at all. The house could be on fire with a marching band stomping through it and he wouldn’t even twitch an eyelid. He is the deepest sleeper I’ve ever known. If I need anything after he’s asleep, I’m on my own.

So, maybe I have had enough of that story, but, for some reason I can’t put those dag-nabbed books down! And it's not just the Twilight books, I love The Host as well, maybe even more than the "bloodsucker" (as Jacob would say) books.

However, I just listened through the movie’s soundtrack, and I think I heard the F-bomb more than a few times in some of the songs. What’s up with that?

Surprise!

My mom called me this morning, shocking me with the news that an article I wrote in May for the Deseret News was published in the print section of the Mormon Times today!

Back when I wrote it, the editors did not want to publish it because I was writing about a relative (Ben's aunt who lives in Australia, who I've only met three times) and was therefore not objective. So I was shocked when the editor called me about a month ago asking about my relationship with her. But even then, I still didn't think anything would happen. But I'm really glad it actually did!

Things have happened with Susan's life since I wrote the article. She's had some serious health problems, but I hope her family will understand why that isn't covered in the article.

Anyway, here's the address:Architect goes far from S.L. to return home

Happy Election Day!

Well, I've never been so nervous about election day before. I feel kind of retarded coming to grips with just how anxious I am. Let's just say I'm afraid that if a certain someone is elected to a certain position, they will use their power to attack and destroy mankind in a bloody horrific massacre.

What a looming dread I have been feeling lately! The dark, rainy ominous weather seems to justify my fears. Although, since reading a certain book about voluptuous vampires, I'm really starting to appreciate and enjoy this this kind of weather! I really am pathetic.

At least I don't make my husband pretend like he's a vampire and bite my neck -- which I've heard women do -- ... he already does that on his own! (I think he secretly loves the series, too.)

Act on what you believe

I have an article in the Mormon Times (print edition) today, and it's also online for anyone who would like to take a look at it.

I feel very lucky to be asked to write some of these articles, especially this one, which covers a talk Elder Marlin K. Jensen gave at the Institute here at USU. It was one of the sweetest and most touching talks I have ever heard! Although he said he didn't, Elder Jenson came very prepared and spoke some inspired words. I can't say enough!

Here's the link:

Believing means doing, Elder Jensen says

BYU = Overrated

YBU when you can be USU?

We went to perhaps the most exhilarating football game I've ever experienced! What's really crazy is that our team even lost. By a lot.

There's something surprisingly satisfying about cheering on a group of guys who, for years, have been pretty much in the depths of despair. They score one touchdown and it's like they just won the Super Bowl! And when they score two touchdowns against a number 8 or whatever the heck they are team, it's like all the fans have died and gone to heaven!

That would be just plenty, but then our small but fiesty Aggies went on to saturate the fans with 2 interceptions (on the once upon a time "Heisman candidate" Hall even), one awesome field goal block, and, the greatest of all, a serious sack to the "beloved" guy who wears #15.

The vision of fat linemen struggling to chase our small, wiry quarterback will forever be engrained in my head.

Seriously, is that any way that highly ranked of a team should be playing? I mean, consider the competition! (No offense meant toward USU)

To the fighting Aggie football team: know that we're rootin' for you! We believe in you! And, um, THANK YOU FOR BEATING UP ON THAT TEAM FROM DOWN SOUTH! Anyone who causes them emotional or physical pain (which they felt both of yesterday, for sure) will instantly become my hero.

"Show me a true-blooded Aggie in Utah, and I'll show you a place where the sage brush grows."

Is it the Utah War or Utah Expedition?

I have an article on the Deseret News (Mormon Times) Web site today about the 14th annual Leonard J. Arrington Lecture held at the Logan Tabernacle!

It's about the future history (if that makes any sense) of the Utah War. It was a very interesting lecture; I have never heard much about that war, which I learned isn't suprising. (There hasn't been much published about it)

I have to admit, it was quite challenging trying to write about something that I have no background in. Luckily, I used my trusty recorder, listened to parts of the lecture dozens of times, and did my best.

More Utah War attention predicted

My last article

This is the last article I did as a Mormon Times intern! I really enjoyed my time at the DN and feel like a learned a lot of great things (although sometimes I had to learn the HARD way). I miss it!

The importance of Lucy Mack Smith's record.

Opera: Just what the world needs: More fat women screeming

We are just sitting watching Everybody Loves Ray and I heard this brilliantly inspired quote! Ha!

Well, we've officially moved to lonely Logan.

What else do we have to say? We don't know.

Ben's blurb: I've got nothin'.

(We've had kind of a rough day).

The glorious Redwoods

We traveled through barren, sizzling desert, over smoky mountains (literally -- we drove through a forest fire west of Redding, Calif.) and into the cool, dark, misty trees of the Redwood National and State Park in northwestern California!

I don't know if I've seen anything so beautiful or different in my whole life! The trees were ginormous, the forest was thick, and the spiderwebs were ... a glistening creepy.

By our second day of camping, everything had a thin film of moisture, even though the forest has not had rain since may!




The mornings were cloudy, the sun peeked out for a couple hours in the afternoons, and the clouds blew in again in the evenings. And, partly because we came from the hot dry Utah climate and partly because I'm just a wimp, I was cold the ENTIRE time! Brrrr!




The closer we got to the ocean, the thicker the fog got. We learned that the Redwood trees depend on that fog to survive.

I didn't want to leave. I was pretty sure that, on our hike through the thick damp, tick-infested forest, I spotted a vampire or two lurking about. But, maybe I was just seeing things...

And, yep, we drove through a tree!

I find the ocean so mesmerizing. It's like therapy.

Ben might need therapy after spending a week with nobody but ME!

Maybe it's just the ticks getting to him ...

Breakfast before packing up on the last day ...

Happy trails to you!

Elder Oaks

I had the opportunity to meet Elder Oaks on Friday! He spoke at the Lyman Family Reunion,which I was assigned to cover for the Mormon Times.

I had to go through Church public affairs to make sure he knew I was coming. After I contacted them, they called me back and said, "Elder Oaks is expecting you to introduce yourself to him, and he will give you a copy of his talk." I was nervous all day! But, he was EXTREMELY helpful.

He gave a very interesting talk. Here's the link to the story: Be cautious about LDS history articles, Elder Oaks said.

Mormon Times stories

I wrote two stories over the weekend:

The Pioneer Heritage Festival on Saturday.

The Ogden Stake Centennial celebration on Sunday.

Happy trails to you!

Anyone know how to put up links to other blogs?

We're dumbfounded.

We're also trying to put up a photo gallery, but can't figure out how to get our photos in the gallery.

Is it sad when all my younger sisters are more computer savvy than their eldest sister?

Perhaps Emily will be so kind as to give me a lesson in the matter someday.

Oh, well. At least I can try to talk like Edward.

This is the most recent picture of Ben and me, taken at the "Wilson family photo" last week!

Musical Maddie

This is a player piano at Ben's sister Becky's house. It is a lot of fun to be able to pump the pedals and make music. Tommy is our nephew he is on the bench next to maddie.

The Sky Is Falling

I don't know how many of you heard about the crazy weather that hit the Stapley and Wilson households this past week but it was amazing. 1/4"+ hail and rain that just wouldn't stop. The Stapley's even had some flooding in the basement. Thank goodness it didn't cause much damage. Anyway to get to the point, I was working in Fruit Heights that day when Maddie called to tell me about the weather. So I made my way out to the deck where there is quite the view of the valley, and well this is what I saw...the sky was falling.

Holy Crow!

I have three stories on the MormonTimes.com home page today!

The first one is about Marvin Perkins' interview to air on CNN.

The second is about the Odgen Stake Centennial anniversary.

The third is a book review for Glory From on High.

There is also a story (that I did not write) about a new satirical blog that I absolutely love! But, beware. If you can't handle criticism, sarcasm or satire, don't read it. It just cracks me up, though!

Hope you've got your reading glasses on!

Well, I remembered this time

OK. I've forgotten to post about a couple of stories withing the last week. Oopla. But today I remembered! I have a story on MormonTimes.com about a very inspiring young woman who I was lucky to meet yesterday!

Take a look!

mormontimes.com/MITN_newsmakers.php?id=1544

Thanks for the tip, Haley

Thanks to a suggestion from Haley, I am going to strive with all my might to post whenever I have a story on MormonTimes.com. (Although I wish I would have thought of this earlier. I'm now almost finished with my internship.)

For all the family history buffs out there, there is a new application to help you greatly with your research!! If you want to hear more, read my story today at http://mormontimes.com/ME_familyhistory.php?id=1476

Ancestors, here we come!

Benji

A picture I stole from Haley. Ben was so lucky to see a member (who is now a missionary) from his mission! They saw each other at Grandma's on the 4th of July and talked forever in French. Buenas dias Benji! (I'm supposed to be working, so I can't write anything more.)

The Late Shift

The life of a journalist includes some late nights. I'm currently being trained on the 4 p.m. to midnight shift, so I've been working late quite a bit. Every night at 12 a.m., a whole bunch of stuff has to be loaded on the Deseret News Web site, so here I am blogging!

There's always some free time, because there's not much else you can do on the night shift that you usually can during the day - like interviews, phone calls, etc.


I wish I had some pictures to put up or something, but I don't. But maybe I could go get some off of Facebook, that magical wonderful place.

By the way, did I mention how creepy downtown is at midnight? Especially when you have to walk down a dark alleyway and into a big scary parking structure, which, by that time, is completely and eerily empty. Why do things seem so different in the dark?

Here's cowboy Ben and cowgirl Maddie from last summer.

Adios Estudiantes

I wrote my last article for USU. Boo-hoo, boo-hoo. Here's the link in case anyone is bored or suffering from insomnia. It could be the answer to all your sleepless nights!

http://www.hardnewscafe.usu.edu/opinion/042208_college.html

Hello world!

Conference Sunday - we had Ben's brother Paul over for dinner, and this is the masterpiece we had for dessert!

My tribute to President Hinckley

I have been writing about 1 article a week for the Hard News Cafe (www.hardnewscafe.usu.edu). It's an online newspaper for USU. This week I took on the assignemnt to write a column about what I learned from President Hinckley. It was an enjoyable and special privelige (?spell) for me.

The exact address for the article is: http://www.hardnewscafe.usu.edu/opinion/020508_appreciation.html

If that doesn't work, you can go to www.hardnewscafe.usu.edu, look under the Opinion section and click on the headline "Tears at first, yes, but now a glow of gratitude for President Hinckley" if you would like to read it.

It's colder outside than in our freezer

It should be illegal for people to live in Logan during the winter! It was -16 yesterday morning, negative whatever today and is barely getting above 0 at the warmest time of the day. I don't think it got THIS cold last year in Logan. It seriously HURTS to go outside. Your ears, your lips, any part of skin that is not covered up. Whenever you step out and take your first breath, you automatically cough because it takes your breath away. I've been watching people up on campus coming out of buildings, and it happens to everyone.

It's almost 10 p.m. and Ben just went outside to take a picture of the ridiculous snow, and I'm afraid he'll be stuck frozen out there until it starts to thaw, which I think will be about late June.

What makes it so bad?? Our furnace STINKS! As in the smell. Pee-you. Our apartment complex was built in the 1960s and some of its features are a little scary.

Well, Ben made it back inside, but not with a picture. I think our camera got eaten by the horrific, snarling, teeth-clenching monster of frigidity sitting right outside our door, ready to devour us the second our toes land on the door sill.

I'm not going to make it. I would cry, but the monster outside would just freeze my tears, causing my eyes to be stuck closed forever. I don't even care if I spell words wrong! @#%**!J?? If anyone does care, I'd like to see you come and tell that to my face. Good luck getting past the darkness and abyss of the torturous cold that is Logan.