Saturday, November 25, 2006

Earliest Memory

I'm not slow on the uptake, I promise (well, most of the time). I just didn't see Rachel's "tag" until now... so here we go. My earliest memory...

I think my earliest memory has to be when I was around two or three years old. We lived in the Spyglass house and I was at the across-the-street neighbor's house with my sisters. I remember I was playing in the jacuzzi while they were off chatting or doing something else. I was jumping from seat to seat and decided to try to go under the water and hold my breath. I was very little, and I think someone came and pulled me up out of the water, afraid I would drown. I think I could swim already (or at least float), because I took swimming lessons when I was about two I think. But I do remember going under the water and having someone pull me out because they were afraid for me.

Who knows how much of that is "real" and how much of it is dramatized from reflecting on that "earliest memory," but I'm sure there's some truth in it!

I have a lot of memories from age four and up... from Christmas memories (when I was four, I was so curious about the present from my Grandma Stayner that I would tear a little tiny piece off every few days... finally I got so excited and half opened it and it was a Rainbow Bright doll. I think I got in trouble for opening it, and I remember feeling bad because I knew I wasn't supposed to open it, but I loved the doll!); to preschool memories (my first crush, Will Esposito I think his name was); etc. etc!

Yay for random memories. (-Jocelyn)

Thursday, November 23, 2006

Happy Thanksgiving!


This will be on the brief side, because I need to get back to making a green bean casserole (yes, with the crunchy onion straws on top, yummy) for our Thanksgiving feast today . . . but I had to pause on this special holiday and give thanks for all of my blessings.

I read, for the first time today, George Washington's speech given as he instituted Thanksgiving as an official U.S. holiday. I highly recommend it as an uplifting and thought-provoking read (that will only take you one, maybe two minutes). Check it out here:
http://www.pbs.org/georgewashington/milestones/thanksgiving_read.html

I am so grateful that George Washington had the vision to see that all of the blessings he had received as a man, as a leader--were because of the providence of God. I firmly believe that. I firmly believe and know that God is our Father, that He loves us, and that He desires to bless us and does so in innumerable ways.

My life is blessed to the brim! I have my faith; I have a wonderful family (and a baby, healthy by all reports, on the way); I have my freedom; I have opportunity. I have so many blessings, many of which I know I fail to recognize. But I do want to write that I know that all of my blessings (whether I acknowledge them at this point in my life or not) come because there is a God and He loves me.

In closing, I want to include a passage of scripture from the Book of Mormon that is very meaningful to me, particularly on this day. It is taken from a speech given by a king to his people as he is about to pass away. This king is very righteous and as such, spent his days in the service of his people and thus in the service of his God. This is what he had to say about giving thanks:

Mosiah 2:20–22
20 I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has kept and preserved you, and has caused that ye should rejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another—
21 I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.
22 And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.


I know that those words are true. That though we can never deserve the blessings we receive, as we do our best and trust God, He will nonetheless bless us for our good.

Happy Thanksgiving to all! (-Jocelyn)

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Schpeal Time




Hello Blogger Fans!

Okay, okay. I probably don't have any Blogger fans. But I can dream, right?

Above are two pictures from one of the Halloween parties we attended this year. This one is a "How to Host a Murder" party with friends of mine from high school. It was based in a dig site in Mesopotamia. I am an archeologist; Robert is a "flamboyant" actor. Very fun! (And yes, you can see little suck in my stomach. HE is getting huge. Not me. HIM!)

I'm finally in my third trimester and I am ready for the home stretch. Pregnancy has been fun in ways . . . but I have been sick and/or uncomfortable for most of my pregnancy, so after 28 weeks, I'm ready for the next 12 to be over. Sad thing is that every day brings a "fun" new symptom, like increasing heartburn, leg cramps (holy cow they hurt at 3 in the morning!), more back aches, hip aches . . . everything aches. It's definitely "worthwhile" pain, but it's still pain!

Robert's finishing up his law schtuff and is poised and ready to send in his applications. Should be this week, at latest, the next week. Then it will be the waiting game. Robert's current list of schools is as follows:

1. University of Chicago
2. Stanford
3. UCLA
4. USC
5. George Washington
6. Iowa University
7. Boston University
8. Brigham Young University
9. Creighton

A friend of Robert's is currently attending Creighton law school, so we get that application for free (wahoo). For sure U of Chicago is our favorite, but the rest are all pretty closely tied for second. Hopefully he'll get a scholarship somewhere. That's our ideal situation at least.

Well, this blog is getting long and boring. If you made it this far, good for you! And if you're in the Orem, Utah area this Christmas season, do come by the Hale Center Theatre (Orem) and see us in A Christmas Carol. (-Jocelyn)