Anne of Green Gables: Intrigue without the sex!

On Sunday my hubby and brother in-law went to a priesthood meeting while I watched a "girl movie" with my sister in-law. Our movie choice? Anne of Avenly from the Anne of Green Gables series! I had not seen this movie since high school and I forgot how much I loved it. This movie is all about Anne going through emerging adulthood and falling in love with two different men and then realizing what she wants. It has nothing even remotely referring to sex and is one of the most intriguing love stories ever written. These movies are so wonderful to watch because they stir the emotions and leave you uplifted and wanting to be a better person!

NEW MOON and socializing

I have to say that New Moon was ten times better than twilight and now I am going to have to actually read the books. I was considering starting over the break, but then I would only be able to get through like one with all the family stuff I am doing and that would be bad with finals coming up because I heard that the books suck you in! I enjoyed watching the movie not only because it was good, but because I feel like it helped me to connect with my husband's family because we watched it as a huge group in celebration of my sister in-law's birthday. they are all really into the books and now I can sort of have an intelligent conversation about the plot and it is nice to not feel excluded from the excitement I guess. This was a real life example of the theory of one of the self gratifying uses of media being to socialize.

Oposition in all things

The last post I wrote was about the blessings of all the new technology and it got me thinking about all the conversations and lessons I have had lately concerning the dangers of these inventions. My family processes class had a lecture on infidelity and emphasized the growing prevalence of emotional affairs, especially through internet chat. Our class spent over half the time with personal stories of good LDS families, sealed in the temple who were torn apart by this type of unfaithfulness. My husband and I had a very good discussion about what boundaries we want to have when it comes to internet use in order to avoid Satan to destroy our relationship in this way. It is such a testimony to me that we are in the latter days to see his insidious traps ensnaring families all around me and makes me hold to the truths of the gospel ever tighter for protection.

Facebook and twitter infestation

So lately school has made life super busy and not much time has been available for watching tv or movies, but the shows we have seen have had references or plots that involve facebook and twitter. It made us laugh to see that those programs have become so popular so quickly that even public television includes them. We also had a discussion with my husband's older brother and his wife about what technology was big when they were in junior high through college and it is amazing how quickly things have changed. During this thanksgiving season it made me grateful for the internet and how "easy" it is to write research papers now compared with my parents and those who only had books to research in and type writers to complete their papers with. We have it so much easier!

Christmas songs- to everything there is a time and season!

through the years I have found that listening to Christmas songs is a touchy subject with people. Most folks either listen to Christmas songs as soon as possible or else they wait until the last possible second to begin the process. I was reminded of this controversy when I turned on the radio and heard Christmas songs already! I loved hearing them for the short trip I made to campus, but I am not sure I want to hear them everyday from now until Christmas, not because I don't like Christmas songs, but because they replay the same 20 songs over and over so I get tired of the radio by Christmas. My husband would listen to Christmas music all year (along with other music) in high school and his philosophy was that we should remember Christ and the spirit of Christmas all the time, not just in December. I think that we do need to remember Him always, but would listening to these songs all the time make them less special or make them have less of an impact on us during the Christmas season?

the great BYU.edu site

Today I helped my very frustrated husband register for his classes next semester at UVU and it was a very difficult process trying to figure out just what he needed and what would function along with his work schedule. In the process of helping him I realized just how awesome our registration system is on the BYU website by seeing the UVU site and how far behind us they are in that particular area. then I got thinking of what students must have gone through back before the internet and everything and it just makes me sick to my stomach how complicated and inconvenient that must have been. We are so spoiled these days with everything right at our finger tips and I am embarrassed to say how often I let the "slowness" of my computer and little things like that get me frustrated instead of being grateful for how blessed I am with all the modern conveniences I have.

the New Family Search site

This past summer I got involved in doing some family history with my mom and my great uncle who are basically Family history fanatics. My hubby and I have done at least an hour of family history every Sunday since then and it has been such a rewarding experience. We combined both sides of our family and then went through our PAF file and tried our best to fix any duplicates and such. When the new site was made available to our area we got right on and took the tutorials together and last night we started putting my husband's fathers ancestors on the site. It took three hours because some of the information on the site was messed up, but we were able to link a very limited amount of information to several long lines that we would never have been able to find, it was SO exciting. We also found out through researching about this new site that with all the duplicate temple ordinances that are done in the church they could close down three whole temples (the busiest ones too)!!! that is one of the main reasons that site is so important because it significantly reduces duplicates and helps the work be done for those who really need it! If you get a chance you should really check it out! (www.newfamilysearch.com)
p.s.-we went to the temple on Halloween and got to seal some family names and it was AMAZING!!!!!