Thoughts

Whats on my mind:

"Wo unto them that call evil good, and good evil, that put darkness for light, and light for darkness, that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter" 2 Nephi 15:20


"Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet...." 3 Nephi 14:6

"Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

Wherefore, by their fruits ye shall know them." 3 Nephi 14:16-20

Listen

I love Noteworthy. . . . that is no big secret I know but here is a video you should go check out.

A. it will make you smile
B. it is free
C. really pay attention at around the 1:40 point of the video (my favorite part)
D. a great way to spend 2 minutes

Have a great day! And please pass on the link to all your friends and help Noteworthy go viral.
(click on the link or if that dosen't work copy and paste into your broswer search bar.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmWdlMYRsVU

Kettlecorn Yumminess

Just thought I would share with you my newest gluten free treat. I have discovered a delicious treat that I CAN eat and it makes me happy. So, I thought I would share it with all of you...

I would like to introduce you to: Authentic All Natural Gourmet Kettlecorn Popcorn
it is"crispy, crunchy, sweet and salty" all in one bag!

It covers both the sweet and the salty cravings. I found it at Safeway on the chip isle. It is a red bag and says Popcorn, Indian Kettlecorn.

You should try it. Best kettlecorn I've ever tasted.

Gluten Free

Today is day 4 of my being gluten free. So, I have had a very unhappy gut for sometime. And I have grown very tired of ALWAYS feeling icky, sicky. I am, at least I think I am, lactose intolerant and so I try to stay away from diary. I will admit I am not as diary free as I should be but lately I have tried really hard to not consume diary of any kind and even when I completely removed diary from my diet I still had lots of stomach aches and pains. Someone suggested to me that I might be gluten intolerant as well and should try taking gluten out of my diet and see if that helped. Well, that was a very scary thought because I love, love, love gluten or wheat. It is in all the good food, bread, pasta, cakes, cookies, etc. I love bread, like alot! So, I tried to convince myself that I could not have a sensitivity to gluten and tried to push that to the very darkest farthest place in my brain. But I still continued to have so many bad days, nights and just felt ughh! Last week I had just had enough of feeling bad and decided that I needed to take that leap into a gluten free diet and see if that helped me to feel better.

Day 1 was Saturday and it was hard. I mean what can you eat if you can't eat bread? I was pretty hungry most of the day. But I stuck with it and did notice that my gut was not as bad as the day before but still wasn't great.

Day 2 Sunday - ahh, well it was Fast Sunday which was good because then I didn't have to think about what I could eat as much but it was still hard and I felt really hungry but my gut was feeling better.

Day 3 Monday - I decided that I better go to the grocery store and look for things that I could eat and I found I few things but it is still hard. I need to focus on what I CAN eat instead of what I can't eat. Bitter sweet for me because my gut is feeling so much better which is good but sad because it seems not eating gluten is working for me which makes me sad. To think that I may never be able to eat yummy bread from Panera ever again is devasting. I must focus on the positive.

Day 4 Tueadsay - So, I am still gluten free (yay for me)! The hardest meal is breakfast. I mean what do you eat for breakfast when you can't have cereal, toast, bagels. Ahhh, I have discovered gluten free cereal but I am also not eating dairy so for now cereal is out. I am getting tired of eggs and when I eat eggs I really want toast they just go together! Good news I am feeling so much better. My gut is happy not 100% but so much better. And I think I have lost some weight which is definetly an upside to this adventure.

So, this is my life for now. I can't even think I may have to live this way for the rest of my earthly life. I just have to take it one day at a time for now. I am still not 100% sure I am glucose intolerant or the technical term have Celiac Disease but I will continue on and see what happens. Wish me luck! Life is hard when you can't have bread.

Customer Service

Yeah, as most of you know I work as temp for the county and I work at the front counter helping "customers" anyway along the way over the years I have met some pretty interesting people. And well yesterday for example I had another unusual customer. It was a warm day so I guess he decided to stay cool by wearing a bright yellow tank top with a racing back which is interesting in it self but he also happened to be a very hairy fellow and well it kinda looked like he was wearing a fur coat. Yep, he was bald but was proud of the fact that he had lots of hair everywhere else I think. Ugh, can you say "hairball". Just can't get that out of my head.

And a couple of days ago another fine American came in and said "I need to register" and I said "to vote" and he said "no, I need to register" it was then that it hit me. We are located in the same building as the Sheriff Dept. Yeah, he needed to "register" and I definetly could not help him. Don't you just love the public.

Willy Wonka

Willy Wonka Kids
Starring David Jensen as Willy Wonka

This is some video from our tech rehearsal not the best but gives a little taste.

Willy Wonka The Bucket House


















Candy Man and kids Violet
















Oompa Loopmas Fizzy Lifting Drink Room
















Setting up for the show

This was a really fun show. The kids did such a terrific job. If you weren't able to make it you missed a really great time. I think it was one of our best yet. Stayed tuned for pictures of the Sr. Cast show. Alice in Wonderland.

Holi - Festival of Colors

Festival of Colors

Holi, also called the Festival of Colors, is a popular Hindu spring festival observed in India, Nepal, and countries with large Hindu diaspora.

The main day, Holi, also known as Dhulheti, Dhulandi or Dhulendi, is celebrated by people throwing coloured powder and coloured water at each other. Bonfires are lit the day before, also known as Holika Dahan (death of Holika) or Chhoti Holi (little Holi). The bonfires are lit in memory of the miraculous escape that young Prahlad had when Demoness Holika, sister of Hiranyakashipu, carried him into the fire. Holika was burnt but Prahlad, a staunch devotee of Lord Vishnu, escaped without any injuries due to his unshakable devotion. Holika Dahan is referred to as Kama Dahanam in Andhra Pradesh.

Holi is celebrated on the full moon day in the month of Phalugna or Falguna (Phalgun Purnima), which usually falls in the later part of February or March.

Rangapanchami occurs a few days later on a Panchami (fifth day of the full moon), marking the end of festivities involving colours.

Last weekend, Courtney and Katie went to a local celebration of Holi or Festival of colors. And I thought I would share some pictures with you. I don't know about you but I think this looks like so much fun. I want to do this someday before I die.

Nice and clean before the fun begins.

After --so colorful. And a beautiful temple.

Socialist

Socialists in Democrat clothing? What do you think? According to wikipedi this is the definition of a socialist:

"Socialists mainly share the belief that capitalism unfairly concentrates power and wealth among a small segment of society that controls capital, creates an unequal society, and does not provide equal opportunities for everyone in society. Therefore socialists advocate the creation of a society in which wealth and power are distributed more evenly"

Does this sound like anyone you know? Take from the rich and give to the poor.... Are you someone who is "pulling the wagon" or are you someone who is getting a "ride in the wagon". How does it make you feel if you are pulling the wagon?

A government owned bank and now a government owned auto company....even though "they" are being very careful to say they do not own or run GM they are just there to make sure it is run properly. Kinda is reminding me of the whole "frog in boiling water" story.

I am feeling more and more that are country is headed down a very slippery slope. And I don't know what I can do about it.....anyone have ideas? Please share with me.

Noteworthy In Sacramento

NOTEWORTHY

Here are some pictures of the big Noteworthy weekend. In case, you are new to my blog Noteworthy is an all female a cappella group from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. My daughters Courtney and Katie are both in the group. Noteworthy came to Sacramento this past weekend for a concert. They performed at Sheldon High Schools Performing Arts Center. The show was amazing. The girls did such a great job. And we had so many people come to support them and SHS choir program. This show was a fundraiser for the Sheldon High School Choir Program which needs funds desperately and it was very successful. Thank you to everyone who came out.


Here the group is singing for one of the classes on campus. It was so fun because when the group first entered the classroom you could see the look on the students faces was very skeptical and they would say "who are you and what are you doing here" with tons of teenage attitude. You could tell by the looks on their faces that they were thinking this was going to be stupid and they were not going to like it but once the girls started singing the students attitude changed immediately and then they would turn to each and say "wow they are good" and by the end of the song the kids were sold and loved the girls in noteworthy. It was very fun to be able to see the change. And the Noteworthy girls loved it as well this was one of there favorite parts of the whole weekend.


these next couple of pictures are of the NW girls singing at lunch and hanging out with the students. They were dancing and having lots of fun.



This is a picture of Sheldon's principal Ms. Duncan as you can see by the look on her face she loved them as well.




And the next few are of the NW girls giving a workshop for the choir kids. The choir kids loved them and really got into it. Here NW is practcing the song they would sing the choir at the show. Courtney sang the solo. She sang this when she was in high school and part of the vocal ensemble.



This is just a picture of the combined song with the vocal ensemble and noteworthy.




I love this one...one of Noteworthys newest fans.

And this is a picture of two of Noteworthys newest and biggest fans from Sacramento.



Noteoworthy girls are now Huskies forever!

Katie and Ciara after the show giving each other some sisterly loves

Courtney, Kelsey and Catherine driving...yeah they did alot of driving over the weekend



Courtney and Cooley just being silly ....these girls love each other and all get along so well. I find it amazing how well they get along. I mean think about 9 girls spending that much time together would normally mean lots of cat fighting right? Nope not with these girls they truly love each other and it is great to be able to watch them and feel their love.


Here they are being thier usually silly selves.



My favorite.....the "noteworthy tie throw-down" ahhhh so cool.



NotEworthy with some of their fans from the Oakland Youth Conference. They sang for a 16 stake youth conference ....and the youth loved, loved, loved them.



More Noteworthy sillyness. I love how Rachel's hair is standing up in the next picture.

















Grecian Urn---"trickle, trickle, trickle"


And here they are performing before the youth dance. Apoligize-one of my favorite songs.


So, overall it was a great weekend. It went by so fast. Again, I just felt priviliged to be able to hang out with them all weekend. I could feel the spirit so strong while I was around them. And the people they performed for also could feel that spirit. They didn't always know what they were feeling but they knew there was something special about this group. If you missed seeing them you should go check them out on my brother-in-laws website. He took some amazing video of the show. www.jensenweddingvideo.blogspot.com. It sure it sweet to have a family member who is so talented in his field of videography and is so willing to share that with us.

AMGEN

Yesterday, we went to see the AMGEN bike race in Sacramento. This was a major event for our city. The cream of the biking crop was here for this race...lets just race it was as close as you can get to the tour de france without actually going to France. It was a great day. We had lots of fun. It was great to see so many people out to support the race. We will definetly be going back next year and I would recommend it even if your not a bike race fan. I have only ever heard of Lance Armstrong and still had a really great day. It was nice to that the weather coooperted the rain held off until we were walking to our car after the race was over. Here are a few pictures of the day.

This is right near the beginning of the race. Right behind the rider is a camerman riding on the back of the motorcycle. I really want to do that. I think the cameraman was having lots of fun.
And behind the motorcycle is the race team car.

Just a picture to show how fast the riders were going.

This is a picture of Lance Armstrong. We were right at the finish line in this picture. If you look at the ground you can see chalk. People had written messages all over the street to their favorite riders. Lance was one of the riders everyone was very excited to see. This is his first major race after 3 years. He just recently came out of retirement. FYI did you know that he won the tour de france 7 times? Lance came in 10th place. He rode 2.4 miles in 4 minutes and 37 seconds.

This is just a picture of the finish line. So, next year if we are lucky enough to be part of the AMGEN bike tour you should go because if was quite exciting, free and overall a great way to spend a saturday afternoon.