Our Christmas card..,

three more days...at this point...this is all I am thinking about to get me through...

Birth of Margaret Naomi Burk

I had the pleasure of being there for her arrival and seeing my awesome BF Melanie have a beautiful, natural birth in a local hospital. That's right - the bump featured so prominently in my Stonehedge pictures is now here in her full head of hair glory. I have seen 19-year-olds at BYU with less hair!

I had such a great time being there...and if maternal urges were rated on a scale like water rapids...I was a class V last night.


Yeah for birth and babies!

Werewolf Bar mitzvah spooky scary...

100 points to anyone who can name the source of that lyric (and who isn't my husband because we sing it all the time...)

Some belated Halloween pictures - and yes - I had three different costumes this year (I was supposed to have four, somewhat like my mom and christmas trees) but then again, its a fabulous holiday and it does take some ingenuity to dress up these days in something that doesn't come in a unmarked box with complimentary blinking clear plastic heels (if you know what I mean.)

My first costume was actually impromptu because my original hadn't made it in time. I'll give you a hint...its a sari..and I may or may not have had a headset on. Groans or laughs...you be the judge -- but the little kids thought I was a princess.

This owl pumpkin is sweet...so naturally it wasn't mine but was our good friends Jared's, who was nice enough to carve it because his wife Lexy LOVES owls.

This is Mike's...which you could tell because it is the most violent of the bunch. As a side note, that toy revolver has been in our family room ever since and my husband likes to indiscriminately fire off shots. I hate this. He knows this.

These are the bunch. Mine on the right end is supposed to be a snake...but yeah...its winning any prizes.

Costume one: Tiger Lilly (Graciously provided by my mother. It pays to have a seamstress/someone with butloads of costumes, in the family.) I dressed up for the Omniture party, which in Mike's area, sales, was Peter Pan themed this year. Check this video out for the highlights, because Omniture takes Halloween seriously. Michael worked did a lot of work the Peter Pan area and was in charge of the artillery for the pirate ship, naturally).

Lexy went as a beehive and Jared a beekeeper. It turned out really cute, which was good since Lex had been talking about this costume since...oh, September even though it was off the Martha Stewart site for a six-year-old. In earlier brainstorming rounds she exclaimed "You can be Hitler and I'll be beehive!" Needles to say, we think this version goes better together, although I can't really speak for Hitler's proclivities for honey cultivation.

Mike went as a ski bunny. He is wearing my googles and I am a little concerned because he is in fact, the ONLY person who might have a bigger noggin than me. I went as Medusa, mostly because I wanted to put fun yarn in my hair like Lex.


With our friend Sara Vranes.

Hair up close...so you can appreciate the snake-like effect.

Stonehedge

(I can't figure out how to get the underline to stop because I am using our new Mac and honestly...I am totally that person who is way too proud to google the shortcut for non-underline, guilty as charged, so we're just going to pretend its witty and clever.)

Well stonehedger....in provo....at a retirement facility. Because really -- what says "Grandma will be happy here" like a giant neolithic rock creation copied out of a England travel guide??

'Nuff said. Some pictures of Mel and I exploring this before we explore Target. Love Target. Love cute Mel's bump in these pictures more and understand I am not nearly as exciting as her impending baby largesse is but here go regardless...





(aren't you glad that I made her pose?? can't get enough of it..and no..I am not pregnant Cathie...even though I may or may not have checked out Birthing from Within from the library, a work that happens to have a nice chapter on creating your own transcendental birth art...so what are the chances of getting my spouse to one day draw a birth picture... any takers?)




Awesome.

Great statement on religous freedom from Elder Dallin H. Oaks...

You can find the transcript of his remarks here.

My favorite line --

"[A]s advocates of the obvious truth that persons with religious positions or motivations have the right to express their religious views in public, we must nevertheless be wise in our political participation. Preachers have been prime movers in the civil rights movement from the earliest advocates of abolition, but even the civil rights of religionists must be exercised legally and wisely.

As Latter-day Saints, we should never be reticent to declare and act upon the sure foundations of our faith. The call of conscience - whether religious or otherwise - requires no secular justification. At the same time, religious persons will often be most persuasive in political discourse by framing arguments and positions in ways that are respectful of those who do not share their religious beliefs and that contribute to the reasoned discussion and compromise that is essential in a pluralistic society." (emphasis added)

Aside from my own religious testimony of this man and his mission as a special witness of Christ, he is a brilliant attorney who worked for the University of Chicago Law School as a dean before becoming a Utah Supreme Court justice. The word on the street was he could have made it to the Supreme Court had he not been selected for higher church service. I just hope that wherever future debate about religion, freedom, abortion, gay rights, etc, take us as American people that we can learn to be respectful about beliefs and argue with reason, rather than rage.

The new Idaho State Junior Miss...

Madison Leonard

(yes, little sister of yours truly, who in addition to looking fabulous and winning the judges over with her jazzy voice, garnered a bunch of cash-ola for school and a ticket to the Junior Miss nationals in Mobile Alabama! In June!)

Sweet!

We had a great time cheering her on and dressing up for Walmart (what--you don't go in costume in midnight in Pocatello??). Rock on Ruski.




The finalists.



Parental units finally getting to congratulate Madi -- you just can't resist those Leonard girl cheeks.

If you can't get enough of this hottie...check out her talent here. She sang "The Nearness of You", originally recorded by Hobie Carmichael, made famous by Norah Jones. Enjoy.