Passing of a Great Man

SALT LAKE CITY 2 December 2008 Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, the oldest living apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, died last night, age 91.
Elder Wirthlin had gone to bed at his Salt Lake City home, and died peacefully at about 11:30 pm of causes incident to age. His oldest daughter, Jane Wirthlin Parker, was present. A member of the family had been staying and caring for Elder Wirthlin, whose wife, Elisa Young Rogers Wirthlin, died in 2006.
He had continued to work at his office right up until the Thanksgiving holiday. Funeral arrangements will be announced.


He will surely be missed.

Savior of the World

So I know I've been a total slacker, I just haven't had any motivation to post pics. We have done a quite a bit of things since my last post. But here I am slacking. Last night when went to go see the play Savior of the World in Salt Lake at the conference center. It was great, very moving, very inspiring and totally lead by the spirit. I loved it. We have a guy at work named Ethan, he was in the play, he played Nicodemus. You can still buy tickets at this site. There are only $8.00 a ticket. A steal. Check it out there is a variety of shows and times.

New Calling...

Now don't think I don't like church...I do..I swear. I just don't like it when I am coming into the chapel and the 1st Counselor in our Bishopric comes up to me and says "Can I speak with you for a moment". Now the first thing that goes through my head is, oh crap, here comes the calling. I kind of had an idea, that someone put in my head, of what my calling was. My friend Kendra and I are the new Marriage and Family Relations teachers. I am a little scared. I have only given one lesson in RS since I have become an adult. Almost 6 years. Everyone said I did a good job, but that still doesn't change the fact that it scares me. I will be spending a lot of time on my knees to prepare for this lesson. Now because there are two instructors we have to figure out how to teach together. It will be a learning experience and a way for us to become better people in general. Here's to a wonderful, trying time. Wish me luck.....

Halloween...

As young adults I wonder what are we suppose to do on Halloween. I mean we are too old to go trick or treating, the apartment building we live in doesn't have children (so we cant hand out candy), and it takes a lot of work to find a party. So what do we do? I had never been to haunted house, so Matt and I and some friends (Brian and Kendra) decided to check out Haunted Hallow in West Haven. Before we had left I told Matt that we needed to go to the ATM to get cash, because we didn't know how much it would be. Actually I thought it would be about 10 to 15 dollars. Matt thought it would be about 5 dollars. So we get there and its 15 dollars. I was totally right. Matt said he just hopes it is 15 dollars worth of scariness. I hoped it wouldn't be. It was. Check it out. We are just disappointed that we didn't go several times this season. So for all those people that have never been, I recommend going to a haunted house next year. I heard there is this one in Salt Lake that is 15 floors high and cost 50 bucks, I don't know if I would like to be scared that much.

Corn Mazes.....

On Monday night, Matt and I were invited by our friends Brian and Kendra to go to a corn maze. I don't think I had ever gone before and Matt hadn't gone in years.


There were signs all over the place that said "DON'T JUMP IN THE HAY". Now for some reason that wasn't a good enough reason for Matt or Brian. Boys, Boys, Boys...They just couldn't behave. Now don't think I did everything right. There were also signs that read "DON'T THROW CORN", Kendra and I both are guilt for throwing corn. She pulled the kernels off and threw them, I just threw the whole cob. We had some much fun, I really enjoyed going, we might take the boys when Ash gets back into town. I know they will enjoy going down the slide. I sure hated it, I hate not being in control of how fast I go. It's terrifying. Just like the stupid ride, Lady Bug Drop. (For all those who have been to Lagoon).

Thriller

On Friday night, Matt and I went to see the show Thriller. It was our first time going. I loved it, I love the singing, the dancing, and especially those crazy women walking around before the show. The show was awesome. When I was younger, my family loved to watch Monty Python and the quest for the holy grail. So when the guy comes out and says, BRING OUT YOUR DEAD, I just died laughing. It was hilarious. I recommend the show for everyone. I think you should at least go see it once. I know that we are going next year. Here's to crossing my fingers that it comes back, next October.

General Conference....

I know I'm a little behind, but I thought you all should know anyways..... That I love General Conference. I love to hear our prophet speak, and to listen to all the wisdom of the apostles and other general authorities. I was lucky enough to go to the conference center a couple of sessions ago. I think everyone should have the opportunity to go, so when April come around try to get tickets. Elder Oaks gave a talk about Sacrament dress, appearance, and participating in a appropriate manner talk; I have to say it was a great talk. It is the talk that I remember so clearly, it was great. I can't wait to get my Ensign so I can read it. Totally check it out.

Cooking School...

Last Tuesday I went to this cooking school at the Dee. I went the first year we were here and then this year. I just love to go. The first couple hundred people get these bags full of Tupperware, coupons, seasoning samples and cookbooks. Even if you just go to get the bag, it's totally worth it. At the show they give out lots of stuff and teach you how to make some recipes. On the side of the picture you see those brown paper bags, they are full of groceries. They give those out too. I have been unfortunate not to win. A couple of ladies around me won. It was terrible I never win. I got some great ideas, and learned some new things about cooking. I think they will come in handy when I start doing those cooking classes.....Yes I am going to start teaching cooking classes. Let me know if your interested in coming. Anyways, you should attend this school next year. It's so worth it.

Dinner with Friends

We had some friends (AnnMarie and Larry) invite us over for dinner. They live next door to us on campus, we share a patio. We really enjoy hanging out with them. Larry is unbelievably the hairiest person I know. Its awesome. They (Larry) grilled tri-tip steak for us. I have never had it before. It was so good. I am not sure how much it cost a pound, but to me it was totally worth it. Next time I go shopping I am going to buy some. If anyone knows of a good butcher, be sure to let me know.

Movie Lover

If you know me, you know that I love movies. I watch movies at work, at home, online, and occasionally I go out and see one. I watched this the other day. I just love everything about it. It is the perfect chick flick. It has humor, love and heartache all rolled into one. I highly recommend it for your next girls night out.

New Job

So, I started this kind of new job... I worked for the Housing Maintenance department part time, and the Housing department part time. Same umbrella different office. About a month ago, the other part time girl Rachel got another job, so the big boss man Lynn asked if I would like the full time spot. I jumped at the chance to finally have one job, not two. So last Monday the 15th was my first full day. It was great. Lynn got the girls at Art Services to make this sign for us. I thought it was way cute. He wanted to make this transaction as smother as possible, I am grateful for an awesome boss. My hair is a mess in this picture, sorry about that, that's what happens when you have curly hair.

Matt and I had a date night on Saturday night. We went to a marriage seminar at the institute building. The speaker was Val Baldwin, she did an awesome job. We had dinner and then we found out about our love languages. It was really cool. Afterwards, we went back to our house and watched this movie called Nim's Island. I liked it, it's a nice family oriented movie. If you like family movies, this is a must see. It was a wonderful date night.

St. Paul, Minnesota

In the church news the other day, there was an article about a fire at the St. Paul Minnesota temple. I was upset that someone would try to burn down a temple. Whether this was intentional or not, it's just wrong.

No pictures this time

This morning I got into a discussion with a coworker of mine. He wants to make changes to the sex offenders registry so that it not only includes those persons with crimes of a sexual nature but of all persons committing any crime. We talked about that for a little while and he mentioned that there were teenagers that were on the registry because they had committed that specific sort of crime to another minor to get on the list. He said he would rather know if there was a drug dealer in his neighborhood then he would some teenager that is just exploring things. Well, I was somewhat troubled by this because obviously the registry that exists exists, in my opinion, because the most sacred relationship that a person could potentially have with another is eternally violated. I brought up the possible argument of requiring any criminal to be known to his neighbors may be invasion of privacy, but by this point in the conversation my coworker had taken a turn. He mentioned that there were so many teenagers (under 18) these days being prosecuted as adults because they are committing "adult crimes" that he thinks in ten years the age of adulthood will be lowered to 16. I mentioned that at the age of 16 a person does not have the maturity to be tried as an adult. When I was sixteen I was far from figuring life out, and even now at 24 am only a little closer. He then mentioned that at ages 12 and below children are sexually active and that only a few hundred years ago children were given in marriage at 12 and there must have been a reason that they did that. I quickly pointed out that those ages were dark and that today if a 12 or 13 year old has a child the child has a much greater likelihood to have disabilities, and that the reproductive system is hardly beginning to develop at such an age. He mentioned that the LDS church says that the age of accountability is 8 years of age and that is to mean that they know right from wrong. I told him that I fear for the day that at 8 years old a person is tried as an adult and is sentenced to federal prison. He continued that today's elementary children are learning what he learned in high school subjects, adding that when he was in high school only juniors and seniors may have had a problem with smoking and that this terrible habit is now in elementary schools and prevalent in the later grades. His point was that there is so much that has changed over the years and only seems to be getting worse. I reassured him that this was true. He mentioned television and how the influence of it changed people noting a theory a long time ago that whatever happened on TV would happen in reality just a few weeks later. He named some court show and that judges had come up with the theory as they noticed that what happened on the show they would see only a little later in their own courtroom. Then he mentioned the internet and the terrible things that are brought into our very homes. I commented that of course as technology and good ideas progress so would the opposition. The marvelous things that come from the internet and every other good thing is nearly matched by the adversary in crudeness and degrading things. For the number two things searched on the internet are pornography and genealogy. Since the discussion stemmed from his desire to add all criminals onto a registry I told him that he had good intentions to do so and make changes in society, I told him that all of this can be solved in the home. The greatest that he and I can do is raise our children in truth and righteousness then they can be examples to their friends and in faith this can continue on through the generations. He mentioned that people are pushing to regulate the position of a computer in the home, that parents must have the computer in the open to monitor the children's internet surfing. In my opinion, I told him, this is obviously a great suggestion but for the government to regulate such a thing as little as that would induce an uprising in the people that the government might be in danger. He pessimistically continued that things were only going to get worse and if we did not do something about such societal problems then we would be in for it. Of course things are going to get worse, that is only since, however, that the power of good will only become stronger and the spreading of the gospel will only increase. I responded by saying that the prophets have said that the family is the basic unit of society and without the strength of the family society is pretty much going to fail. We ought to place our emphasis upon loving and teaching our families as we have been taught, forsaking the things of the world and being Christlike to all around us. I left the discussion with a knowledge of the ability and potential of the family to become something great, and also a feeling of urgency to make my own family great by doing what is right and then standing for it. I have always felt a need to explain to others why I do certain things, but I left with a feeling of "if it is true, then do it, what is the big deal?" and "truth does not need an explanation, it is true." This happened this morning and it is only 7:30am, hahaha!

Been a while...

There is too much that has gone on in the past couple of weeks to adequately display, but here are a few highlights! We have had a lot of fun visiting family and friends recently!

This was at my birthday. I received lots of presents, Thanks everybody! This was a picture of myself and a friend (Mike E) playing with some army men, they are great little toys!

On the fourth of July we visited with my sister-in-law and her sons, my nephews. This is two of them and myself having a little fun on the trampoline, both of these boys do flips and all sorts of tricks on it, they are amazing! The other two were preoccupied, one had been injured pretty badly and the other was in trouble because he caused the injury. They are all great boys though!

This was also on the fourth, in their backyard doing a little swimming. Now the fourth nephew not in the picture is sitting down watching us have fun just having returned from the ER. It was nice to take a little dip. These boys have so much energy it is hard to keep up with them!

On the 12th we went to Rexburg to visit my sister and my cousin and his family. They are attending the "I" (you know, the "Y", the "I", and the "H"). We played a little guitar hero to pass the time!

This is my cousin Andrew and his wife Tiffany and another cousin, Rebecca; all Norris'. We went to a Thai restaurant and shared food, we had a blast!

The weekend of the 12th in Rexburg was action packed, we attended a Demolition Derby! Just a crazy awesome event that everyone should attend at least once a week. haha!

My sister Meredith, myself, and Jade at the demolition derby. Meredith was dressed up as part of a "white trash bash" with her roommates and other friends. I had a cowboy hat, and Jade was just happy to be there! It was very smelly and loud: cars leaking all sorts of stuff and putting off all sorts of burned gases with a muddy arena and decked out engines! Oooooooo, you know you want to go!

Fireworks from the "Pops Concert" on campus.

Jade and some friends waiting for the fireworks to start. The fireworks were supposed to start at 10pm and we started waiting and playing games at about 5:30pm just enjoying the atmosphere!

This past Saturday, Jade picked up my sister Meredith and we visited for a bit with my sister-in-law and nephews before she left. These two nephews were rockin' some nintendo game that I was terrible at!
Woohoo, we've had fun, but the summer is not over! Just this week we have planned a campout right on campus with friends and neighbors for Pioneer Day!

The Beginning......

So here it goes....We have another blog, however, it's a family blog. We wanted to start are own personal one though. So keep coming back for more updates on the wonderful life of Matt and Jade. We are excited for all your comments.