Keepsake box

I finished one of my 30 before 30 goals, without even really trying. I've always had a treasure chest type box in mind for a keepsake box, but I wanted a metal one and I could only find really expensive ones online. The past two Saturdays have been nice so my mom and I have gone to garage sales, and I found this chest at one of them. It's not perfect, but I love it. I thought about spray-painting it, but Adam doesn't want me to so I decided not to for now.

Coming up on 2

Brayden's first "rock climb" from Megan Bishop on Vimeo.

I looked back and realize I haven't really given an update on Brayden since March. He's 22 months old now.

He can say 2-3 word phrases, but usually just with prompting. He's singing along more to songs. When I sing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" to him, he sings the last word in each phrase- star, are, high, sky, etc. And with "Wheels on the Bus" he pipes in with town, "wah wah wah" and "shh shh shh." When we laugh and he doesn't really understand why, he has this fake laugh he does, and then he says "uh-huh funny." He also says "funny" when he makes us laugh. Oh, he finally started saying "grandma" this week. Up until now, he has just said "grandpa" and used the term for my mom and Adam's mom as well. I don't know what took him so long, but he says it now and my mom loves it.

We got him one of those little basketball hoops, and he really likes it. Toy Story (any of them) have taken over the top movie spot from Tangled. He's now obsessed with bugs- he is a boy after all. When we go on walks, it takes forever and we never get very far because he keeps stopping to look at bugs, rocks or flowers.

He doesn't like the stroller anymore. Or holding our hands. Or being held on walks. We usually go back and forth between letting him walk until he tries to run off, and then picking him up. It's very annoying, but I know it's a sign of independence and that's good. He's growing up, whether I want him to or not. Which reminds me, I'm freaking out realizing that the next update I give will probably be when he's 2.

Politics and religion

Yes, I'm getting back into posting about politics. Didn't you know there's an election in 18 months? That's like tomorrow. Just kidding- I know it's a long ways away, but even though I'm over 99% sure I will vote to re-elect President Obama, I'm feeling sorry for one of the bajillion possible Republican candidates.

Did you read the article in the Salt Lake Tribune about former Utah governor Huntsman's faith? Basically, He said this in a TIME magazine interview: “I’m a very spiritual person and proud of my Mormon roots.” And then on whether he is still a member: “That’s tough to define. There are varying degrees. I come from a long line of saloon keepers and proselytizers, and I draw from both sides.”

In response, a political science student at BYU said, “I understand what he’s doing to an extent, but why not just come out and say ‘yes,’ or ‘no’? He’s been so coy about his beliefs that I just kind of find it somewhat disingenuous.” Seriously? He think he's just being coy? There's no chance he actually feels that way and is in a questioning phase (similar to the one I've been stuck in for a few years)? It's wrong that he brings part of the Hindu faith into his family because he adopted a girl born into that faith? I think not.

I loved Robert Kirby's response, especially this quote: Had the “good Mormon” question been posed during my campaign last year, I would have instructed my press spokesman to issue the following statement: “Thank you for coming. Mr. Kirby went to church last week. Here’s a picture. Beyond that, his level of commitment to his faith is none of your [flippin’] business. Thank you.”

Even though I consider myself liberal, I liked Huntsman as Governor, especially once he left and we got stuck with his way more conservative Lieutenant Governor. I think he's a good centrist. He obviously showed that by taking a post in Obama's cabinet. Of course, that's yet another thing hard Republicans don't like about him- he's actually able to work well with a Democrat president. Good heavens, people. It is a good thing to be able to reach across the aisle. And while faith shouldn't matter in politics, it does, so we should appreciate his honesty about his spirituality and faith (or lack thereof).

California- Kidspace Museum

The drive to California wasn't too bad. We left at the crazy hour of 4:30 AM. Leaving that early and gaining the hour when we got into the pacific time zone made it so we actually beat my brother-in-law, Andy, to the hotel. We didn't do much that first night, although we did go to Trader Joe's. My first time there and I so wish we had one here.

On Tuesday, we got up and had the hotel breakfast. It was AWESOME. They had a waffle machine where you could make your own Belgian waffles, then they had fruit toppings, chocolate chips, whipped cream and syrup. My favorite was chocolate chips with whipped cream.  Nicki and I decided we would check out the Kidspace Children's Museum. We got there 20 minutes before they open, but no worries- there was a park on the grounds. The museum was great. Amazing for older kids, like my nephew Jack. Brayden had fun too, though, it's just based for older kids. If you're friends with me on Facebook, you've heard this already- we met Julie Bowen today. AKA Claire Dunphy on Modern Family. AKA the coolest mom on television (well, tied with Gloria and Cam). I was so excited! She has a 4 year old and two year old twins (and she even showed a picture of her breastfeeding the twins last year on the George Lopez show). She was so nice even though I was totally awkward. I was trying to slyly get a picture of her, and at one point Brayden and one of her twins were playing at the same exhibit. The Brayden walked away though, and she bent over to help her son... so yeah. Still took a picture, just to laugh about it, but I won't post it.

Brayden crawling out of the ant hole

One of a few different climbing structures in the museum

Jackson playing the drums with water

Jackson and Brayden playing in the splash fountain



28

The world we live in

I know I haven't posted for awhile, and I have other stuff to blog, but I just have to write this post on Twitter and the death of Osama bin Laden. Hardly anyone reads this anymore, it's basically a personal journal and I want to make sure I can tell my kid(s) and hopefully grandkids about where I was, how I found out, and tell them some jokes about it too. However, if you do read it, and think you might be offended that people were joking on Twitter in regards to bin Laden's death, just skip over the joke part at the end.
I was sitting in the bathroom using the Twitter app on my iPod while Brayden was in the tub. People started mentioning around 7:45 pm that the President was going to speak at 8:30. Multiple people in my twitter stream (if you don't know about Twitter, it's just like the Facebook news feed) started wondering and getting worried since it was late (Eastern time) on a Sunday, and definitely not a typical time for the President to speak on the television. Most people thought it would be about Libya, but that was soon denied. I should have taken this time to put Brayden to bed, but I didn't. The President was supposed to speak in 15 minutes, after all, and I didn't want to miss it.

Around 8:15 it was all over Twitter that Osama bin Laden was dead. And if reports are right, the news broke on Twitter. One, a former chief of staff for Donald Rumsfield tweeted that a reputable person told him we got Osama, but that he wasn't completely sure. Two, there was an IT guy in the same town as the compound that unknowingly live-tweeted the raid.

By this point, I had heard the news and put it on Facebook, but I still wanted to hear the President say it before I truly believed it. And so Brayden stayed up. And the President didn't come on at 8:30, or 8:45. I may be wrong but I think it was about 9:00. I think his speech was just right. He emphasized that the thanks needs to go to the intelligence and counterterrorism professionals and especially to the men who carried out the mission, as to all people who have served in the military since 2001. He let the American people know that he only ordered this to be done after being completely sure Osama was there and that the intelligence was good. And amazingly, no Americans were harmed and it sounds like there were few civilian casualties if any. That's the way it should be done, in my opinion.

Here are some of the tweets I took note of last night:

Serious, heartfelt tweets
-Bin Laden dead. May God have mercy on his soul. I am grateful for the US military and their long, patient service.
-We should also thank the many members of the CIA who carried out this dangerous mission and will probably never get any credit.
-Spontaneous singing of national anthem outside White House gates
-What worries me? Bin Laden has had almost 10 years to plan retaliation for his death. SO hoping our country stays safe still.
-He sat and laughed at the Correspondent's Dinner last night knowing that this was imminent. Balls of iron. (And then her next tweet, because Twitter limits you to 140 characters- Yes, yes, this is why I voted for him. Because he can lead. He is not perfect. But he can lead.

Funny tweets
-Mr. President, you're late.
-Got Bin Laden AND interrupted Celebrity Apprentice? Win for Obama all around. (Jimmy Fallon)
-Watching CNN stall for time is very entertaining. They have absolutely nothing to say, but they're saying it very urgently.
-Let's all take this time to thank the one person who no doubt was behind the killing of -Jack Bauer.
-So the Kenyan Muslim president got it done?
-No matter what Obama says, bin Laden's not dead until Donald Trump sees his death certificate.
-Well, at least this'll put an end to f'in Royal Wedding talk. (No, it didn't. The Today Show still talked about it in great deal this morning.)
-Turns out sending some badass special ops guys into Pakistan is a more effective way of killing Bin Laden than invading Iraq.
-I hope it turns out that Bin Laden was killed by an openly gay soldier.
-True story: Bin Laden was caught while watching "Real Housewives of Islamabad" on an 80" plasma. (Rainn Wilson... aka Dwight from The Office)

And this last one is my favorite. I couldn't wait until I finished this post, so I've already posted it on Facebook:

The military got suspicious when they found a mansion built by the Bluth Company in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

Arrested Development, baby!