Proud

Today, I am proud.

Proud to be in a nation where we have a peaceful transfer of power.

Proud to witness history in the making.

Proud to have hope that our nation can and will repair.

Proud to see Martin Luther King's dream made a reality, at least in part.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

I urge everyone to take the time to watch the entirety of Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech. Until today, I honestly don't think I have. Most people, including myself, have seen the part of the speech that begins with "I have a dream." That part is truly amazing, of course, especially with what is happening tomorrow. However, the whole speech is good. There's one quote that I had to write down, I just thought it was so profound.

"In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must ever conduct our struggle on the high plain of dignity and discipline."

I know my struggles are so small compared to others, and that I have been blessed tremendously in my life. However, I have had some struggles recently, and I have to admit that I haven't necessarily avoided "drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred" or conducted my struggle "on the high plain of dignity."

I'm so thankful for MLK and all he did for civil rights in our country, but on this day, I'm also grateful for the reminder his speech gave me to try to be better.



Slate has a cool slideshow of pictures of MLK and some of the marches he did. And for those of you with kids, I really like this book about MLK. I already own it and plan it reading it every year on this day.

Baby Boy Bishop

I am totally eating my words tonight, because we ended up at one of those ultrasound places today. It's not all my fault, though. :) I wanted to go down to Provo to a rice pudding place I like down there, then to the mall to go to Motherhood Maternity. My mom and Nicki ended up coming with us. Nicki started working her magic and telling Adam that her and my Mom would help pay for it. She kept talking about it, about how we were already at the mall so after we found out we could buy some outfits. She eventually talked him into it.

It took the girl awhile, but she got the "money shot" after her and Adam both shook my belly around a little bit. He apparently didn't like it, because at the end he started kicking back! We are so excited!!! Truth be told, I've always wanted a boy for my first child.

Boy or Girl?

I've been pretty patient about finding out the gender, but that changed this week. I get an e-mail every week as I enter a new week of pregnancy that says what's growing and just basically what is going with the pregnancy. Well, I got my 15 week e-mail on Monday. It said that the gender is usually visible in ultrasounds now.

After reading that, I almost felt tempted to go to one o\f those Fetal Photos places. We really shouldn't spend the money though, and my ultrasound is only 3 weeks away. However, just since Monday, I have had SO many people ask me if I know whether the baby is a boy or girl yet. It's starting to drive me nuts! February 5th cannot come soon enough. :)

Not many people read my blog, but just for fun I thought I would put a poll up on the side. I can't wait until I can know for sure though!

W.

Adam and I went and saw W. at the dollar theater on Saturday. I've been wanting to see it since it came out, so when I saw it was at the dollar theater, we decided to go. I know a lot of it may not be exactly true, and some of it may be far from accurate, but it was interesting. Even though I've heard the director, Oliver Stone, is liberal, I think he actually portrayed President Bush in a sympathetic light. Of course, that is coming from someone who isn't a fan of him. Adam voted for Barack Obama but has almost always defended President Bush and his character. He said this movie made him think that maybe he was wrong. It was interesting to go from having all these debates in the past with me against Bush and Adam for him, to me actually defending him in a way by reminding Adam it's just a movie and not necessarily true. Even though I don't agree, Adam's entitled to his opinion, and a Hollywood movie shouldn't change it.

Movie and a Mani/Pedi

On New Year's Day, Adam and I went to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with our friends Karen and Steve. We really enjoyed it. I love movies that make you think. I guess I'm not too picky, because I love entertaining escapist movies as well. But sometimes, profound movies are just the thing for me. And the first day of a new year was a good day to see a thought-provoking movie.

Afterwards, Adam had to go to work, but I went with Karen and Steve. First, we had lunch at Hire's. After that, we went to their house. I didn't really know what we were going to do, but Karen brought out her nail polish and offered to paint my nails as we watched tv. It was so nice of her and she did such a good job. I felt like I was at a spa! Thanks Karen!

Books and Movies of 2008

Books

I read 100 books this year, but a lot of them weren't anything to write home about. However, here are the ones I enjoyed:

-Looking for Alaska by John Green(also enjoyed his other 2 young adult fiction novels as well)
-Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
-The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama(and also Dreams From My Father)
-The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
-Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six Word Memoirs
-The Host by Stephenie Meyer
-Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison
-Stuff White People Like by Christian Lander
-The Good Fight by Senator Harry Reid
-Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
-The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
-The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
-American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld
-Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
-Hamlet and Othello by William Shakespeare

Movies
The Dark Knight
Iron Man
Twilight
Penelope
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
Under the Same Moon
Lars and the Real Girl