A trip down memory lane

Rich and I have been having fun playing around on Facebook finding old friends which of course triggered the urge to get out the old pictures of when Rich and I were first dating. You will see none of me...I don't generally like pictures of me, but I have no problem posting them of Rich. Above is Rich in leather with Bill Lindsay. Rich lived in leather back then. (Isn't he cute?)

Here is the picture by my grand parent's pool in Riverside. Darren Parker, Lisa Flanders, David Luke, my little cousin Rachel who is all grown up and married now, and Rich sitting in his GQ pose. Wow, so 80's! Nice white socks with the monkey boots honey.

This is our buddy Scott Glad with Coleen (I can't remember her last name) and Rich heading out to a formal dance. Rich actually did have reading glasses that he lost before we got married and never replaced but he liked to wear them sometimes as a fashion statement, as seen here...kind of like Jeremy. Like father like son!

And the whole gang; Scott, Lani, Mike, Kristin, Connie, Carrie, Darcy...not necesarily in that order, I don't know everyone else's names....and yes that would be the future Bishop Meservy, father of five, standing on the table playing air guitar. I think all of these pictures are about 1991-92. What a difference 17 years makes!

The Rose parade camp out... I wonder how safe that is now? Ahhh, the memories.

Prop 8 sign

It's too bad that some of the opposition to Prop 8 feel that it is okay to trespass and trample on peoples rights. I know most people don't do this many are just uniformed as to the facts of prop 8.

This sign was on my mother's front lawn for one hour before this happened. The scary thing is that she lives alone in SVL; not somewhere you would normally expect this sort of thing.

My humble thoughts...

Things have been getting a little crazy with Prop 8. Some of my thoughts...should anyone care to read them... are as follows;this is a very emotional and difficult issue for a lot of people. This is not an issue where there is a clear right or wrong in the minds of many people. It's not like deciding if we should pass a bond measure to build another school or something political. This is not political, it's moral. That is where the problem is...it's difficult to argue a moral issue with people who don't have the same values as you do or really the same religious views. I do not want to offend people, but at the same time I don't want to have something I hold sacred, my marriage, mocked. That is the problem. I have dear friends who are gay, I adore them, I want the best for them and want them to find happiness in their lives although I don't agree with their lifestyle. There are plenty of heterosexual couples that don't respect marriage, that cheat on each other and I don't agree with that either. But cheating on a spouse is not being put up to a vote deciding that people who do cheat are just as moral as those who don't and cheating should be recognized as being okay by a traditionally religious ceremony as if to say that God thinks it's okay....and if it were recognized as a moral way to behave, it is taught to my children in school that cheating on your spouse is a perfectly good way to behave. I know that sounds ridiculous, but that is how I see this issue. Some gay couples will sue religious institutions who refuse to adopt to them causing them to have to shut their doors, or sue doctors who refuse to artificially inseminate them. It has been happening in states where gay marriage is legal. In the future will they sue pastors, priests, ministers and other clergy who refuse to marry them? Not all but I'm sure it will happen. I know some people think that that is fine because they feel that it is discrimination...what about disregarding the religious views of others? Since when do we have to condone immoral behavior by law and ignore our good conscience? Isn't that discrimination too? Being force by law to teach something or do something that is so against our religious beliefs, isn't that wrong? Under California law gay couples already have all of the same rights and benefits as any other couple. The only difference is the wording of the union. Now they want to take the word marriage, which has a sacred religious significance to so many, so they can feel like religious people must accept their lifestyle as being morally clean. In doing so it opens doors to take rights away from religious people who feel gay marriage is wrong. I am really sorry, I hate to offend people, but it is wrong. Now this is where the argument of beliefs comes in. I believe that God created man and woman to work together, to have families, to become one under a sacred covenant. I believe that we all have weaknesses and temptations in different areas. I believe that just because we have a weakness for something, or tendencies toward something...it doesn't mean we are just that way, or it's not a choice so it's okay to give in. I know some temptations are terrible and strong but we all have the choice to give in or not to give in. I know the Bible is true, I know the Book of Mormon is true, and I know we have a living prophet, Thomas S Monson, who guides us through revelation from our Savior who loves all of us more than we can understand. He sees a bigger picture than we do and knows the direction this will take our country. I know that many LDS people have struggled with their support of Prop 8, hence the special broadcast to further explain the church's position. We are a people who are sensitive to discrimination and intolerance because of our history. We are still teased and made fun of because of our beliefs. But we do not force our beliefs on others...we don't pass laws to teach children in school that our church is the true one or sue people for discrimination who don't listen to the missionaries. Should gay people be teased and targeted for violence? Absolutely not. Should their beliefs be forced on me and my family as being correct? Again, I have to say absolutely not. I know many people won't agree with me and that's okay and I respect that. Sometimes I just think we need to stand up for what we believe in even if it's a hard thing to do.

First Graders Taken To San Francisco City Hall For Gay Wedding

October 11, 2008

Contact: Chip White/Sonja Eddings Brown, 916-215-4392

SAN FRANCISCO, October 11 – In the same week that the No on 8 campaign launched an ad that labeled as “lies” claims that same-sex marriage would be taught in schools to young children, a first grade class took a school-sponsored trip to a gay wedding. Eighteen first graders traveled to San Francisco City Hall Friday for the wedding of their teacher and her lesbian partner, The San Francisco Chronicle reported. The school sponsored the trip for the students, ages 5 and 6, taking them away from their studies for the same-sex wedding. According to the Yes on 8 campaign, the public school field trip demonstrates that the California Supreme Court's decision to legal same-sex marriage has real consequences.

"Taking children out of school for a same-sex wedding is not customary education. This is promoting same-sex marriage and indoctrinating young kids," said Yes on 8—ProtectMarriage.com Campaign Co-Manager Frank Schubert. "I doubt the school has ever taken kids on a field trip to a traditional wedding," Schubert said.

When asked by the Yes on 8 campaign, The San Francisco Chronicle reporter said she did not know if the school had ever sponsored a field trip for students to a traditional wedding. Telling the Chronicle that the field trip was "a teachable moment," the school's principal believes it is perfectly appropriate for first graders to attend a same-sex wedding. Officials in other school districts disagree.

"Prop. 8 protects our children from being taught in public schools that 'same-sex marriage' is the same as traditional marriage," said Santa Ana Unified School District board member Rosemarie "Rosie" Avila. "We should not accept a court decision that results in public schools teaching our kids that gay marriage is okay. That is an issue for parents to discuss with their children according to their own values and beliefs. It shouldn't be forced on us against our will," Avila added.

The lesbian teacher's wedding was officiated by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. Newsom is featured in a Yes on 8 television ad, released last week, in which he arrogantly declares of same-sex marriage: "The door's wide open now. It's gonna happen, whether you like it or not."

The Yes on 8 campaign's ads explain that if the voters do not overturn the California Supreme Court's same-sex marriage ruling, teachers will be required to teach young children that there is no difference between gay marriage and traditional marriage. “It's totally unreasonable that a first grade field trip would be to a same-sex wedding," said Chip White, Press Secretary for Yes on 8. "This is overt indoctrination of children who are too young to understand it.” The field trip underscores the Yes on 8 campaign’s message that unless Prop. 8 passes, children will be taught about same-sex marriage in public schools. “Not only can it happen, it has already happened,” White said.

I saw this article on the Protect Marriage website. We all need to continue to make a stand for what we believe in. We cannot sit on the sidelines and allow other people to choose for us. If you have not registered to vote, do it now. October 20th is the registration deadline. Visit Can I Vote? for more info.

---Richard

Disneyland!!!

It's Halloween time at Disneyland and since our passes expire at the end of the week we took the family for our last visit on Tuesday. We only get passes every few years because the kids start to get bored of it if we go too often. We love this time of year at Disneyland. The decorations are very cool and of course the Haunted Mansion is all decked out in the Nightmare Before Christmas decorations. We spent the day getting in everything everybody wanted to do.
Here's the family at California Adventure. We headed over there for the last two hours we were at the parks. We got to the Bug's Life show, some rides, and we saw the parade before leaving. One of the things we love there is the tortilla factory and sourdough bread factory...free samples, yum. Ally was still eating her tortilla and refused to put it down for the picture...it must have been a good one.
At Disneyland Julia got to meet Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore...her favorite characters besides Mulan. She met Tigger first and was excited until she got to the front of the line, then she was scared of him. I'm sure he was bigger than she imagined, they are always smaller than Christopher Robin in the movies. She got used to it by the time we saw Eeyore so she actually hugged him.
One of Jack, Ally, and Julia's favorite things at Disneyland is the big suckers!! Okay, this is from our Disneyland trip two weeks ago, but it was cute and never got posted, so here it is.
I think Gage got bored quite often when we went on the little kids rides, but he's sweet and never complains...about that at least.
Jack, Ally and Julia were very proud of their Autotopia driver's licenses.

Jeremy, who hates to have his picture taken so I had to be sneaky about it, was not so interested in all of the rides so he helped me out a lot with Julia. I really just wanted to put this picture on the blog because I seem to always have pictures of the three little ones, especially the girls, and not so much of the two older boys. So this is proof they do exist.
Ally had her face painted like a cat. She's going to be a black cat for Halloween so this gave me some good ideas of how to do her face then. (I thought of you Maria since you always call her Alley Cat).
Julia had a butterfly painted on her face. I was amazed that she left it on so well and didn't rub at it like my other kids have done. We finally had to wash it off in the bath the next morning and she was very upset that her butterfly was gone.
Rich had to buy Julia pink princess ears since it was our last visit for a while. All in all we all had fun and all the kids except Julia have had their fill of Disneyland for now. That may only last for a few months for Jack and Ally, but Jeremy and Gage have kind of out grown it. That is until they can go on their own with friends, or dates, then they will love it again.

A day at the beach!

Last Friday we went to South Carlsbad State Beach to see the Morgan clan who had been camping there for a week. It's a yearly ritual for their family and used to be for Rich when he was little. It was overcast and misty, reminded me of home (Oregon). The day before was stormy and all kinds of rocks washed up on shore so we took a walk down the beach with the little kids looking at the different colored rocks and shells. We took home a small collection but I wish we had buckets to bring more of the smooth round rocks home for my flower beds. It was so nice to visit with old friends and just relax for a little while. The kids had fun going down to the beach after the sun set and roasting marshmallows by the fire. We loved it there, so we think we will join in the camping fun next year.
Julia had fun looking at all of the rocks and the designs the waves made in the black and tan sand.
Ally immediately got into the water,
Julia thought it was a bit cold!

Bubbles!!!

My girls love a good bubble bath with lots and lots of bubbles. I don't put actual bubble bath in the tub, I just wash them off then turn on the jets (in my bathroom) and it creates mountains of bubbles. Julia was "swimming" in circles with her face just barely peeking out of the bubbles. It was so funny I had to take a picture. I know it's a little blurry, but you get the idea.

Bubble beards are always fun!

Eating bubbles, yum!