I can't wait for 2010 to get here!

"New Years" is always kinda bland to me. I don't really get excited about time passing because I am usually discouraged by how little I have actually done with my life. This year however, I have a TOTALLY different attitude. This year has been...horrible. I am absolutely ecstatic about a NEW YEAR! I want to put 2009 up on a book shelf and start anew. Before I tell you about all the amazing goals I have set for the new year, I first want to go back and think about all the great things I did this year. Although it was without a doubt my least favorite year of my life so far, I gained many insights into life's challenges, and received blessings without number! Here we go... lets see what all I can remember...

January:

Dad lost his job but because he wasn't at work, we were able to spend a lot more time with him and talking to him since he was home all the time. I LOVED calling home in the middle of the day and Dad would be the one to answer the phone.

February:

Dad was still unemployed but I was in my capstone class for the PR program. It was an intense class but we were working for a client that was helping highly qualified people find jobs. It was very comforting to know that there were people out there trying their best to help people like my dad and the millions of other people who found themselves unemployed. Also, my group for that class created some long lasting friendships that I will forever be grateful for! LOVED my COMMS 485 group!

March:

This was a tough month because we were trying desperately to pull our project together for my capstone class. WE DID IT though and we did a GREAT job with the help of countless others...especially our amazing professor!

April:

Finally, the end of Winter semester. I hate winter semester and somehow manage to sneak out of them as often as possible. This month was great because I moved home from Provo to spend time with my family before I went to LA!

May-July:

Mom and dad drove me to Sacramento to start my internship. Great road trip. Dad got a ticket and my mom didn't even get mad. She said "Even though we have no money, and that ticket is going to take all the money we have left, I still love you. YOU ARE MY BOYFRIEND!" haha I loved that. I moved back to LA for the second summer in a row for an internship and it was AMAZING. I made more life-long-friends this month! Emilie, Marianne, Kainoa, KJ, Macie, Eva, Brady and Ashley. I love you guys so much and I am so glad we had such adventures in LA! The beach, It's Thai, driving in traffic with signs, Yogurtland, 21 Choices, alarm salesmen, Disneyland, awkward sacrament meetings, Bon fires, giving rides to people, Michael Jackson's funeral giving us the day off, Gold's Gym, smoothies, polystyrene, fun, fun, fun. Dad also got a great job in June (or was it July?) We were SO happy! We were going to keep the house, Jesse got accepted to Medical school, CALEB was born! Aww... a great summer.

August:

I moved home from LA and got ready to head to BYU for what I thought was my FINAL semester. I walked at graduation! Dad got to see me "graduate" and we had a great time (even though dad was acting totally out of character). Mom and dad and Allie dropped me off in Utah, I moved in with Rachel, Melissa, and Brookey. Three of the funnest girls. I was so sad to leave them so quickly, but I LOVE them! School started and I was DETERMINED to have a GREAT last semester. It lasted a little while.. haha

September:

Mom and dad lost their house because mortgage companies are run my brainless, spineless inbreds. Luckily for us, Bradley, our amazing cousin, let them move into his house in Reno. It's perfect for what we needed at the time. Dad was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer with only 7 weeks to live. He was happy, confident and fearless throughout the 7 weeks.

October:

A hard month full of unbelievable blessings, wonderful memories, and the worlds greatest friends.

November:

I said goodbye to my Daddy on November 6th. Lucky for him, he is now pain free, no worries about debt, pain, cancer, jobs, the Utes, democrats, Obama, Hillary Clinton or anything else that bugged him. We get to stick around and deal with all of that for him! In all seriousness, it was a very special experience for everyone in my family to experience an untimely death of a loved one. We each grew stronger spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. We are never ready to say goodbye to someone we love so much, but really it isn't goodbye. We thank the Lord for allowing us to feel his love everyday and have faith that we will see our dad, husband, grandpa, and friend again someday. I realized this month just how important my dad's friends were to him. He was a great friend and had no enemies. I want to be more like him.

December:

Jesse and Sarah and the kids are home for Christmas. Allie is waiting to hear back from BYU! I adopted a kitten! His name is Mr. Schuester, but that changes daily. I got a job at Dr. Childs office and I LOVE IT! I am working on finishing my pesky online classes, but greatful I don't have to go back to Provo.

As I look back on this year, I can name a million bad things that happened, but it is so much better to think of the great things that happened. Still, I want this year to be over. I am ready for a fresh start, a new direction and a new attitude. This is going to be the BEST year yet! I just know it. I can't wait! It has been a hard year for a lot of people out there! We can do it! Make goals, reward yourself, and just love life!

Someday I will post my goals for 2010, but for right now, I think this is good...

PRODUCT REVIEW: The NINJA and other blenders

For those of you who are considering laying down some serious cash for a top-of-the-line blender, hold on just one second. I may have found the most amazing blender on the market. THE NINJA! Here is a demo I found on YouTube if you are interested....

I was a skeptic, but this thing is AMAZING. I can make smoothies in seconds and there are absolutely NO chunks of ANYTHING in them. You can make peanut butter! I love it!

I was considering paying over $400.00 for a VitaMix or a Bledtec Blender. I am so glad I did not!

If you decide to buy one, I hughly suggest NOT getting on from the infomercial. You end up paying $120.00 for 1 system, a "free system", and a recipe book. GO TO BED BATH AND BEYOND! You can get it for 39.99 if you have one of their coupons for 20% off one item!!!

It is what I did....LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!

My man

While all my friends are calling to tell me they are either pregnant or engaged, I decided to find a man of my own! His name is Mr. Schuester. He is perfect.

Angels, Zebras, Cookie Monsters! OH MY!

I am thoroughly convinced that holidays are infinitely more amazing with little kids around. When I was a kid, I loved holidays, lived for them even. While often times my reasons for liking certain holidays are totally unrelated to the real reasons for the holiday, I can't help but love everything about the special days we set aside each year to reflect on our love for our friends, family members, country, freedom, and more. While I have always been a proponent of holidays, Halloween is probably close to being number 2 on my list of faves. Over the past 8 years or so, I have been battling with an internal struggle that I think I have found the solution to. When you are sadly too old to go trick-or-treating, and too young to go out partying, what are you supposed to do? Sit home and knit? Well, luckily or me, the majority of my time spent in this limbo was when I was at BYU. People like to have parties, watch scary movies, eat candy corn, but nothing that I would consider to be as fun as trickery.

This Halloween was different though, I discovered the secret to enjoying the holidays when we are stuck in the rut of lameness. KIDS!

I know I promised that this wouldn't be a mommy blog, but I can't help it. Avery and Caleb came to Reno on Thursday and I was so excited when I realized that we would have them here for HALLOWEEN! I took some pictures and videos and I want to share them! Hope you enjoy them!

So you like the product reviews?

I have had a number of people ask me to do more product reviews. I kinda like the idea. Also, I kinda like the idea of maybe doing some vlogging. I don't really have the right kind of video camera, but we will see. I think I may get stage fright. Maybe in like 5 years, they will change the words of this song to "Vlogging killed the blogger star".

Maybe I will just post videos of other people. I have a bunch of videos from over the years and I need to do something with them. Maybe I will call it the "EMBARRASSING VIDEO OF THE DAY FROM THE DEPTHS OF BETTY'S HARD DRIVE" No? Yeah...that was lame. Well, I will think of something. UNTIL THEN, stick this in your pipe and smoke it.

Product Reviews of the Day:

A&W Diet Root Beer with Aged Vanilla

If you are like me, then you probably hate soda. I really can only stomach one kind, A&W Diet Root Beer. I think they just changed the recipe or something because it used to not taste this good, and they have a new label that says "With Aged Vanilla." I suggest you snag a can if you get the chance. I love it, and I hate soda.

And.... just for fun. Here is a video of my amazing brother...teaching us all a dance:

Follow up on Recession Obsession

So, I tried the warm wax and it is SO MUCH BETTER. I love it. This is what I bought:

Right now, Sally Beauty has them on sale for around 40 dollars (with a sally card) 50 without a card. The great thing is that with a Sally card, you get discounts on EVERYTHING in the store and it is only $5.00 for a whole year. Just get one. You can also pick up a ped-egg while you are there. :)

The kit comes with everything you need. It will last you forever too. One thing I would also recommend you buy would be baby powder and baby oil. Not necessary, but I think they would be advantageous. Make sure you read the instruction booklet because it tells you everything you need to know.

Enjoy being hair free! haha

Recession Obsession

During my long hours at home taking care of my dad, I often find myself looking for new forms of entertainment. This usually leads to trying bazaar things, and then I get to blog about them. I read a lot of news, watch a lot of Glee and for just a few minutes, try to come up with things to do to take my mind off what is really going on in my life.

I recently read an article that basically said the recession is showing signs of being "over", but that unemployment rates will continue to hover where they currently are (12-13% in many places) well into the next decade. I don't think that translates into "Hurry, everyone! Go spend as much money as you possibly can!" But hey, I'm not an economist.

I do wonder if the amount of debt people are in has increased or decreased over the last year. I can't help but think that the economy is still the same, people have just been scared to spend a dime for the last 9 months or so, and now they have some extra cash to burn and are finally getting the things they wanted. After all, wanting something really really bad is a great reason to buy it, right?

Anyway, the real purpose for this post is to help out those of us who are still very careful with our money, whether by choice or circumstance... So, for those of us who are still trying to SAVE, SAVE, SAVE to ward off anymore unforeseen economic crisis, I have decided to post some money-saving ideas which I have come across. Take them or leave them, but I have actually tried most of them. I will rate them as well so you know what to expect. If you have some ideas which have worked for you, e-mail them to me and I will post them on here for all to read.

1. Homemade lip scrub.

I don't know how your lips react whenever the seasons change, but you would think I was part snake, shedding my summer skin every time fall rolls around. I always get really dry lips and I found this simple recipe online because I didn't want to pay $12.00 for a lip scrub at Ulta. Here it is:

• 1 Teaspoon honey (warmed)
• 1 Teaspoon baking soda
• 2 Drops of Olive oil

Mix all three ingredients together, put some on your clean dry lips and let it sit for about 30 seconds. Then gently start to rub your lips with your finger. (you can rub them together but when I did that I got a taste of the stuff and it was not very pleasant, use your finger:) Rub them for a couple minutes and then wash off the goo with warm water. Then, get some more olive oil and rub a little on your lips.

rating: (***- -)

reason: I think the baking soda actually dried my lips out a little. I think next time I will use sugar instead...

2. In-home body hair removal.

I don't know about you, but I could potentially spend a lot of money on hair removal. I am not a fan of body hair. My friend Roxanne is an esthetician and taught me some tricks to remove my own hair, rather than paying someone a boat-load to do it for you. While, I must admit, practice makes perfect and the first few times you try, well, you may just get what you pay for. In the long run you can save yourself a lot of money. An eyebrow wax can cost upwards of $25.00. I like to have mine professionally done every so often because over time, the shape of the brow needs to be fixed, but I am really cheap and like "free" things. Waxing at home for a few months between professional visits can really make a difference.

I just so happened to come across the "Nad's Hair Removal Strips" (pictured above) in a beauty supply store and they were on sale for $4.00. I love having hair-free arms so I purchased these to try them out. After all, way back in the day, the Nad's infomercial would suck me in every time and I would pine for smooth limbs. I anxiously purchased them and went home to try it out. If you have never waxed your arms before, don't worry, it hurts WAY less than eyebrows.

First you start out by "desensitising your arms" with the little cloth they give you. To be honest, the cloths are like the wet-naps from rib night at Applebee's. However, they did the job. Then you separate the wax papers and place them on your arm, rubbing in the direction that the hair grows. Then, in one swift movement, you rip the sucker off as quickly as possible in the opposite direction in which you rubbed. You can re-use the same strip many times and when it gets un-sticky, you just fold it in half, rub it a little, and then unfold it and wa-lah! Good as new. Highly recommended. HOWEVER, DO NOT attempt to remove hair that is less than 1/4 inch long. It won't work. So, it may take a while before I will be successful at waxing my legs with these strips.

rating:(****-)

reason: It worked well, but I still want to try a warm wax method. I'll let you know how it goes.

3. The Ped-egg

Pedicures are just as important for the cold months as they are for the warm months. Cold weather makes them crack and hurt. I can't afford the $40.00 to get a pedicure every couple weeks so I use a ped-egg. It is AMAZING. I love it! I use it when I get out of the shower and then I put lotion on my feet. Love it, HIGHLY recommend it. You can get one for about $10.00 at Sally's Beauty Supply, or maybe even Wal-mart... I don't know for sure. But I have seen them many places.

rating: (*****)

reason: It works! It's cheap!

So, there you have it. When I am bored and trying to think of things to do, I get dry lips, hairy arms, and nasty feet. So hot right now.

Hello Hello

To be completely honest, I have been avoiding writing an update. Dad seems to be doing just OK. These last couple days have been hard as he has had nausea, headaches, and he can't keep much down. Today was a little bit better because he was able to eat some shrimp tacos from his favorite Mexican food place, and even some See's candy. As the "Pill Nazi", I take care of all the medications. He calls me the Pill Nazi because I don't take "no" for an answer. I have to bribe him with See's candy just to get him to open his mouth sometimes, but I like my job. I believe my official title is Pharmacy Benefits Manager. Sounds so important huh? My other duties include opening the window, closing the window, restarting the CD, getting water, getting See's candy, KFC, McDonalds, and whatever else he wants.

We are so blessed to have such great family members. Just here in Reno alone we have a crew of people on call to come at a moments notice should we need something. My Aunt Carol (an RN) and Uncle Nate (Dad's brother) have been wonderful to us. They sure have been an amazing support to us. We also have an unlimited supply of great friends here that are also equally willing to help out. We call on them frequently and I know this sounds lame and cliche but i REALLY don't know what we would do without them all.

Bradley (dad's cousin) came into town over last weekend. That was fun, despite the circumstances (I say that a lot). I always love when Bradley comes to town. He didn't bring Kendal and Izzy this time which made me sad, but I'm sure we will see them soon. Bradley and my dad have always had a really good relationship. That has trickled down to us kids. We have loads of funny stories about Brad doing crazy things. So many in fact that I could probably have a whole other blog just dedicated to all the fun times.

Some other friends have come into town over the past week or so and it's great to hear stories about my dad in college, law school, and so on. He sure is amazing. He has so many good friends and I think that is because of 2 reasons. 1. He is really funny and everyone just automatically loves him, and 2. He is a really good friend to everyone he meets. Even to people who may have wronged him. He is very forgiving, loving and charitable to everyone he meets. When he was diagnosed, I heard someone say "this is hard because we all think we are his best friend!" It is true. You all are really his best friend because he wouldn't think of anyone as less than that.

Dad seems like he is getting more headaches and more nausea. He gets really tired and nauseated when he has to talk or listen to conversations. He still laughs and jokes when he feels like it though, so that is good. He will still tell a funny story when he can.

I don't know if there is much else to say. I guess I will check back in in a few days...

Love love love!

Oh, also, in my home24/7-ness, I got behind on what is hip and missed the coolifying of the band Owl City. It wasn't until about a week ago that a friend helped me discover them. I literally got out of bed at 2 a.m. and danced to a few songs with headphones. I'm sure, had someone seen, they would have called 911 immediately to report a deranged idiot freaking out in silence. It was fun...

Also at the moment, all my clean clothes are in my hamper and all my dirty clothes are in my laundry basket. How in the...? Life is awesome.

Please comment! I LOVE Comments!

Grrr. Attack of the Angel fish!

Update from the Jenkins house!

I apologize for taking so long to update you all like I had promised. I have been very busy with family coming into town, friends of my dad visiting, and dealing with the emotional roller coaster of this whole mess.

For those of you who do not know, my dad was diagnosed with very advanced brain cancer on Tuesday of this week. He had kidney cancer nine years ago and underwent surgery and treatment and it has come back with vengeance. . .this time in the brain. He has been acting strange for the past few months--very sleepy, non-engaging and impatient. We didn't know what was going on because these are very uncharacteristic behaviors of my dad. We thought maybe he had some sort of a chemical imbalance going on that was causing symptoms similar to depression. Turns out, we were wrong.

There isn't anything the doctors can do that would leave my dad in a state worth living in. We are enjoying our time together as a family and need all the prayers we can get. We have experienced such a generous out pouring of love from our dear friends and family members. It is overwhelming to think just how many people know and love our dad, and how many people he has touched throughout his life.

I withdrew from school for the semester and will continue back when I can. I am not sure when that will be right now... but it will happen sometime. BYU has been great in helping me get out of my classes, I hope I can get out of my housing contract as well... oh well. I have other things to worry about. Jesse came home and will be here for a few days. It will be hard when he leaves. We don't really know what the future hold for our family but we are blessed to have the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives and we know that families are forever. We will live with our father and our Father again someday. That day will be a great day.

Right now I am just trying to help out as best as I can. I am taking care of all my dad's medications and funny demands. The other night when he was still in the hospital, he called at 2 a.m. asking where is razor was. Then he called back at 4 a.m. asking for an egg mcmuffin with cheese. He never ceases to crack us up. He makes us smile and laugh all the time.

I will write again soon just to keep everyone updated. Right now things are great. We have a window here where 'the elevator is going almost all the way to the top.' Not sure when this will end, but we consider it our gift and will cherish it forever.

Things to do incase boredom consumes your soul.

As you can probably tell, I am partial to lists. I love them and can't do anything without one. This is a list I made in the event that I am bored. I am making it available to the world because I oppose boredom. Enjoy.

1. Public Library
2. Museum of Peoples and Cultures
3. Take Pictures and edit them
4. Go to the temple
5. Spray paint stencil-pictures
6. Hammock party
7. Dress like a biker and go on a scooter ride
8. Make homemade smoothies
9. Bake a cake and doorbell ditch it
10. Watch the Office
11. Make a music video
12. Make Clay pots
13. Flower Bomb some cars
14. Make a chalk target and throw stuff at it from the top of a tall building
15. Water game-Like beer pong but with water
16. Tennis
17. Go to an art gallery
18. Styrofoam telephones like 1989
19. Fugitive
20. Finger-paint with pudding
21. Invent a new game
22. Four square tournament
23. Make up a dance and perform it in a public place and work the crowd
24. Play “Who's that” in a restaurant
25. Burn things with a magnifying glass
26. See how many licks it takes to get to the center of the tootsie pop
27. Write a song about being bored and perform it for a random apartment
28. Have a pic-nic in your front room
29. Put on as many clothes as possible and take pictures
30. Juggle
31. Make a tire swing
32. Volunteer
33. Climb Trees
34. Flip coins into the ASB or JSB fountain
35. Put soap in a fountain
36. Double dutch
37. Bottle cap hockey with pens as the stick
38. Popsicle stick puppet show
39. Change your message machine
40. See how many fast food workers you can confuse
41. Hypnotic cliff jumping
42. Dye hair
43. Tube down the river
44. Slip-n-slide
45. Ultimate spoons
46. Make toothbrush bracelets
47. Make a pinata
48. Press flowers
49. Make ice cream
50. Hide in a bush by the Botany Pond and scare people
51. Throw water balloons at canoodling couples in the park
52. Learn to play the harmonica
53. Make chili and invite friends over to eat it
54. Make a torch and burn stuff
55. Go fishing
56. Pool Hop
57. Shopping cart races
58. Dress up like hicks and go to Demolition Derby
59. Shave a word in someone's back or chest hair
60. Get a facial
61. Freeze things with liquid nitrogen
62. Buy live baby chickens and raise them
63. Sew a quilt or pillowcase
64. Invent new food combinations
65. Make a fort
66. Melt records into bowls
67. Have a Lemonade stand
68. Find a stray dog or cat and keep it for a day then return it
69. Make a match head bomb in a tennis ball
70. Light Artillery shells
71. Ultimate hop-scotch
72. Shaving cream sculptures
73. Banana split party
74. Put live gold fish in someone’s bathtub.
75. Progressive dinner
76. Explode a watermelon with M-80s
77. Stage a ninja fight and afterward pass out cards saying we will perform at birthday parties
78. Cheap Theater
79. Make sock puppets
80. Play the Wal-mart game
81. Human Statues in the park
82. Kiss in the rain
83. Puddle jump
84. Make an instrument
85. Scavenge
86. Write a limerick
87. Make a paper press
88. Gallon Challenge
89. Talk with a lithp
90. Sharpen carrots and stab people
91. Fake sneeze on people
92. Fake run into doors
93. Spin around really fast while staring at your shoe then try to jump over it
94. Make popcorn balls
95. Make cup cakes and hide secret messages on paper in them
96. Cup cake cones
97. Saran wrap everything in your roommates’ room
98. Write a letter to Santa and mail it.
99. Breath fire by spitting powdered sugar on a lit match.
100. Put Mentos in a 2-liter bottle of Diet Coke

My bucket list.

This semester I am taking Accounitng 200 at BYU and it is an intense class. Hours of videos to watch online and many more hours of actually working out the problems for homework. I have been enjoying the class so far and I hope that I can get a decent grade. One part of the class is to try something new. I have put a lot of thought into this because I really want to try something awesome. I like picking up random hobbies every now and then and I think this is the perfect opportunity. To decide what it is that I will take up this semester, I have decided to post my secret list of things I want to do before I am too old and crotchety to do. Here goes:

1. Hang-glide over the Swiss Alps in Switzerland
2. Sky-dive
3. Take Trapeze lessons
4. Kiss under the Eiffel Tower in Paris
5. Make a wish in the Trevi Fountain in Rome
6. Ride in a Hot Air Balloon
7. Slide down a mud slide in Guilin
8. Play Ping Pong in China
9. See Wicked
10. Pet a sheep in New Zealand
11. Milk a goat
12. Meet the Prophet
13. Eat a fortune cookie in Hong Kong
14. See the Sacred Grove
15. Watch a performance at Carnegie Hall in NYC
16. Eat a hot dog in Central Park
17. Pose with a wax celebrity at a wax museum
18. Swim in the Atlantic Ocean
19. Snorkel at a white sand beach
20. Snorkel at a black sand beach
21. Hold an octopus on the Great Barrier Reef
22. Catch a firefly
23. Buy something at Harrod’s
24. Learn to Kite Surf
25. Pick a coconut
26. Send away for more pages to my passport
27. Visit the land of my ancestors and eat pizza
28. Go to Africa
29. Be a bee keeper
30. Learn to sail
31. Run a race longer than 5K
32. See the Terracotta Warriors
33. Ride an elephant
34. Kiss a dolphin
35. Weigh 130
36. Learn how to say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious backwards
37. Learn another language
38. Graduate from college
39. Learn to play the piano
40. Take Avery to Disneyland
41. Jump on a trampoline, again
42. Ride my scooter over the BYU bridges
43. Learn to make real Italian food
44. Meet Donny Osmond
45. Run a marathon
46. Perform the Hoedown Throwdown
47. Fish in the Atlantic ocean
48. Train my tongue to do that clover thing
49. Get a Vita Mix
50. Go spear fishing in the Caribbean
51. Surf in Australia
52. Eat fish and chips in New Zealand
53. See Death Cab in concert
54. Paint an old chair with ZEBRA
55. Go back to 21 Choices
56. Ride a Ducati 1098...tri color.
57. Buy and Honda Rebel
58. Go horse back ridding down the Grand Canyon
59. Visit Nepal
60. Go to Tibet and buy Tibetan prayer flags
61. Dye my hair blonde, again
62. Go camping

Avery Licks Grandma

I think this video is so cute! It makes me miss Avery a lot!

Wow, I just realized that I am a total Mommy Blogger...and I am not even a mom. This will be the last post soley dedicated to Avery Rose.

Park day with Avery!

Before Jesse and Sarah and the kids moved, Allie and I took Avery to the Great Basin Adventure Park. It was so fun. Avery had a blast and then got a bloody nose which cut our day a little short. It was fun though. Here are some pictures of the cutest little girl in the whole world. I am seriously obsessed with her.

The lamb kept licking her. She likes it....

She wouldn't stop giving the animal kisses.

She seriously is soooo cute.

If she is terrified of horses when she grows up, don't look at me!

She didn't seem to mind this horse though....

Then we went to feed the ducks. It turned into feed Avery though...

I will miss her very much but I am so excited to go see them in January in the Caribbean!!!!

I so badly want to title this post "Da*n." Because that is what I want to say when I read it.

My friend Suzy showed this to me and I immediately wanted to cry..... and throw bricks at boys faces. It is called the MORMON SCALE OF ATTRACTIVENESS and Emily K. (whoever she is) finally came up with a way to describe to girls everywhere why even the ugly boys don't like them...

I think this is my problem... Here goes....

Here, you see a depiction of a normal Scale of Attractiveness. You are, I am sure, not wholly unfamiliar with this scale as it is a rather common assessment of beauty.

Here you see two adult people of "Average Hotness", both a "5" on the scale in the normal, everyday world. In this normal, everyday world, the ratio of single men to single women is pretty much 1:1. There are as many single men as their are single women.

This ratio does not hold true for the Mormon community, however. Since men tend to drift away from the teachings of the LDS church at a higher rate than women, the ratio of men to women skews a bit, becoming 1:2 or even 1:3 or 4 in some areas of the country.

In an area where there are 3 or 4 Mormon women to ever 1 Mormon man, the balance of power is thrown off. All of a sudden, men who would otherwise get no attention from women become desired commodities, merely because the demand is so high on the limited supply. How does this affect our scale?

Emily K. suggests that, because of the abundance of women, a Mormon woman will move down two points on the scale of attractiveness, while a Mormon man will move up two points. Two people who used to be equals are now 4 levels of attractiveness away from each other.

This movement on the scale causes women of normal attractiveness to consider themselves fugly, impeding their ability to make wise dating decisions. It also inflates the ego of average mormon men into thinking they are more of a catch than they truly are.

Here is another example. Average man sees Beautiful Woman. In the Regular world, he would think her out of his league.

In the Mormon world, since they each slide, they are now considered equals, while Average Man's actual equal, Average Woman, is left down in the "3" range with men that could have started at a Fugly "1" on the scale.

You can scoff at this theory all you want. But, I'm telling you that I've seen it in action. Look around you at church--notice that average men are hooking up with women WAY out of their league all over the place. How many times have I had to listen to my thin, beautiful friends at church cry because none of the ugly guys at church give them even the slightest romantic attention? Every size 8 Mormon woman thinks she's fat. All the women are insecure and all the men have ridiculously high opinions of themselves.

This female insecurity leads my fellow mormon women to act in the most juvenile of ways. There is constant scheming to, not only attract male attention their way (through baked goods or dinner parties), but also put down all women around them (this is obviously not true of ALL Mormon women, but it IS a VERY common phenomenon).

Emily's full theory includes extra-notch-up-moving for men who went on missions or hold a high position at church--but, I'm going to exclude that aspect of the theory for now to let you all respond. Oh, I know you have a response.

Canoe Night With The Whole Fam-damily

My family loves to do outdoor things, but we don't like them to last very long. We like to canoe, kayak, swim, ride bikes, and have weenie roasts in the back yard. We love to camp out on nice house boats at Powell, but again...a few days at a time. Here are some pictures of our little outing.

Here is mom in the kayak. She loves it!

We suckered Avery into the canoe. "Let's go see gamma" gets her to do just about anything.

This is what we call "camping." And no, that is not an animal on my bro's head. That is all natural.

Highlights from Girls Camp 2009!

For the first time in 6 years, I returned to the bug-infested hills of Buck's Lake for this year's Reno, Nevada Stake Girls Camp.

One thing was different this year from the 6 years I spent as a camper in my youth. I was a leader! They put me personally responsible for making sure no one drowned in the lake. I was also what they call a "Tent Mom." I quickly changed that title to "Tent Queen" and the girls in my group were great. I had 3rd-years and they were all sweet and very willing to help out. Here are some really funny highlights from the week:

1. On Thursday morning, I woke up and walked up to the kitchen. When I got up there I over heard my bishop and his counselor talking about how the water in the lake had risen about 10 feet and all the canoes which I had left on the beach were now afloat in all corners of the lake. Luckily there was one canoe left on the beach. We hiked down to the beach and piled in one canoe, paddled all around the lake and rescued all of the canoes. I wish I had a picture of the train of 5 canoes trailing behind us and also a picture of the one canoe which made its way beyond a row of booeys, past a chain fence and was resting in a pile of logs.

2. I love pranks. Love, crave and addore pranks. This week at camp was the perfect place to pull some memoreable pranks, or so I thought....

Prank 1: There is a lady in my homeward and she comes to camp just about every year to help with crafts, and what not. She has three daughters and they have the biggest mouths so I had to be ultra careful because all three of them were there at camp and I didn't want them to find out what I was up to and tattle tell, LIKE THEY ALWAYS DO! Anyway, I asked the lady if she would braid my hair and she said she wouldn't because since she did another girls, a bunch of people had come up to her and asked her if she would braind their hair. The very next person that asked her if she would braid their hair she said yes to!! So, since she said no to me, I decided to get as many girls as I possibly could and have them go ask her if she would braid there hair. I rounded up about 30 girls to go ask her. It was glorious.

Prank2: The next prank was sure to be genious. I took a stuffed animal and sewed it to the bottom of my sisters sleeping bag. I sewed a string though the end of the sleeping bag and drew the string out away from the sleeping bag by about 10 feet. I waited intil Allie went to bed, snuck over and started pulling in the string. The reaction was supposed to be something like, "HOLY CRAP THERE IS AN ANIMAL AT THE BOTTOM OF MY SLEEPING BAG!" but, instead I was pulling on the string for about 20 minutes with absolutely no reaction. I had to wake Allie up and tell her I had just tried to prank her. We laughed pretty hard about it so it ended up being worth it.

Prank 3: The third and final prank was when my friends Alyse, Katy and I made a plan to get the camp dad out of camp for a few minutes. When Katy, his daughter, needed to go up the street to get some much needed coke, Alyse and I ran up the hill to snatch up the camp dad's tent. We ran down the hill to the beach. We first put the tent in a canoe and then put all the oars to all the canoes in our canoe as well. Then we paddled out into the middle of the lake and set up his tent on a floating dock on the water. We put all but one oar in the tent so he would have no way to retrieve his tent. Then we paddled back to shore with one paddle and then we hid it in the kitchen. We ran back up the hill just in time to see him getting out of his car. I am not going to share what happened to the tent or the parties involved as criminal investigation is currently underway and also the ending was kinda lame.

A taste of summer...

I don't have all the pictures I want to post, but here are some from this summer... in no particular order.

The Fourth of July

This 4th was incredibly lame... Emilie and I were alone for the weekend so we did the usual Cali-4th things... we went to the beach, had a picnic, walked through a swarm of bums, watched the fireworks and had a BBQ. Sounds great right? Wrong! It was ridiculous. The beach was COLD and parking was absolutely insane. The food we ate on the beach looked like the seagulls got to it first, and the bums, well lets just say bums are to Venice Beach like Mexicans are to Mexico... that is all there is there. One funny thing happened there though... we were walking down the walk way that runs along the beach and this guy who was clearly insane walked past us and wished us a happy 4th. He then proceded to slip in a huge pile of horse business. It was awesome.

After a few hours of complaining to each other, Emilie and I bounced. We decided to go to the grocery store, get food for a BBQ and then catch the La Cresenta fireworks. We watched the fireworks from an overpass in La Cresenta. They were pretty good. Then we went home and after 20 minutes of trying to get the coals to light, we roasted hot dogs, mallows and then went to bed.

I thought things were about as bad as they could get then I called my family. They were in Boise, Idaho with my 91 year-old grandpa partying it up. They bought roman candles, artillery shells and all sorts of crazy stuff. They sure had fun. I wished I was with them. Oh well... next year!

iPorn: How Apple just completely lost my trust.

So, apparently the iPhone app store now has porn apps for purchase. Perfect! Just what I always wanted.

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/06/porn-comes-to-the-itunes-app-store/

NOT. What the heck Apple? Are you seriously contributing to our already decrepit society?

UPDATE: TechCrunch is reporting that Apple has pulled the app from its App Store, stating, “it appears someone over at Cupertino [has] ultimately decided to reject the first such app.” However, the removal of the app is only a temporary one, according to the app’s developer, who states the he made the decision to stop distributing the app himself.

Allen Leung, developer of Hottest Girls, posted on his web site that his app is “temporarily sold out” due to overload on his image server.

Ok, so I first have to apologize for not blogging in an incredibly long time. I know you are all waiting on the edge of our seats to see where I am and what I am up to.... snore.

I am in LA, doing basically the same thing I did last summer. I love it. This summer is different than last summer on too many levels to count, but I am loving it. I share an apartment with three amazing girls who are all so fun. I think we scored big-time because everyone just fits. It has been a while since I have had a harmonious apartment. If you are a past roomie and you are reading this thinking you are the one I am hinting about, you are right. :)

I don't really have anything profound to say today other than I have embarked on a new life mission. Treat my body like the temple it is. Yes, my body is a temple. So is yours. We were created in the image of our Father in Heaven and our bodies are a gift from him so that we might be able to become more like him. I am no longer going to put unhealthy things in my mouth. I am eating food that only comes from the earth. I will not be a vegetarian, but I will not be eating processed foods, refined sugars, or white carbs. Of course S'more pop tarts are exempt from this new life plan, but in moderation...

Having grown up with a mother who works for WeightWatchers, healthy eating has pretty much been drilled into my brain, but I think the most important thing to know about healthy eating is that we should eat healthy foods in small portions. we need to drink lots of water, and exercise lightly daily.

New Recipe From My BFF: Coffee Mug Chocolate Cake!!!

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE 

4 tablespoons flour 

4 tablespoons sugar 

2 tablespoons cocoa 

1 egg 

3 tablespoons milk 

3 tablespoons oil 

3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional) 

a small splash of vanilla extract 

1 large coffee mug

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again. 

Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts (high). The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed! Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired. 

EAT! (this can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous).

 And why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world?

 Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night!

Utah Tap TV Spots!!!

Check out the Utah Tap Project. Want to help out? Go out to eat at a tap-participating restaurant!!! Need to know where one is? Go here: www.tapproject.org


Utah Tap :: Glass Half Full from Mike Morris on Vimeo.


Utah Tap TV Spot from Mike Morris on Vimeo.


Utah Tap :: Here's to the World from Mike Morris on Vimeo.

Twitter-pated?

Twitter is a new obsession that is sweeping the world. How does it work? watch this video..

As you can see, this powerful new site can be very helpful. When I log into my twitter page, I can see updates from people all over the world and from all different backgrounds. You can cater your tweets to a certain field, hobby, interest, occupation, religion and the list goes on and on and on. I like social media, running, dating advice, fashion, PR stuff. I 'follow' people that tweet about these topics. Twitter is a fun and easy way for businesses to meet the needs of key publics they had previously missed. It also allows for us mere commoners to network with the big wigs. 

On my page, I follow the head of social media for Ford, Scott Monty. Find him, follow him, he has a lot to offer. 

I also follow Katie Paine, the "Queen of Measurement." She is very well known for her ability to measure success in a variety of fields. She actually just came to BYU and spent a few days with us, sharing her insight. She is fantastic. She has a book out, too. If you are interested in measurement, it's the one to get. Find it here.

To find people who tweet about the things you are interested in, there are a few places to go.

Search.twitter.com is a great one. This is best for searching by topic. 

Twello.com is a great place to go if you are looking for a specific person. Try them out, cater your twitter page to what interests you the most.

Twinfluence.com is an interesting site as well. You can type in the profile name of a tweeter and see how their level of use compares to other tweeters. Pretty interesting to see how you match up with others, and also a great way to measure your popularity over time. 

Hope this was helpful. This is a funny video my friend Ed told be about. It pretty mush depicts how not to use twitter as an effective social networking tool.

Want to learn more about proper twitter etiquette? Check out this great article: HERE

This is a re-post, for all those still a little foggy about social media.

Cheryl Snapp-Conner is the president and founder of Snapp-Conner PR. I don't know if she planned on talking about social media when she presented to my PR class, but what she said really inspired me, and also made me realize that all forms of social media are a necessary evil.

Why evil? Because never before in the history of the world has anyone had this easy access to personal and revealing information about us. From blogs to micro-blogs and social networking sites like Facebook and linked in, anyone can see what you are doing and who you are doing it with. This is scary...but also intriguing...need I mention, addicting?

As a future PR professional, I need to be connected with people. People are my source for everything. I can't survive without them. In 5 years (or even sooner) our Facebook friends list will turn magically into a professional network. Our linked-in accounts might land us a sweet job, and our Twitter followers might provide us with conversation currency when talking with friends or colleagues. In a perfect world, our Facebook pics might provoke a prospective lover to ask us on a date. Of course, these sound like extreme outcomes, but they do happen. They happen everyday.

I deleted my Facbook account last summer because I was so annoyed with the social media craze. This was a huge mistake. After about two months, I realized I had totally lost touch with people. I had no idea who was where, and who was with who. I was meeting new people, and wanted to stay in touch, but the old fashioned ways of calling and hanging out have gone the way of the buffalo. Face it. We are busy people. That doesn't mean we don't want friends. Quite the opposite in fact. We NEED friends. We need to feel connected. This is perhaps the best way, and a revolutionary way to be connected to all those people whom we might need, and those who will need us in the near future...

To help you on your way to being a social media whiz, I have done some research on the most popular sites and have complied a list of need-to-know items. Study-up. Or else you could get lost in the midst of social networking, and left out of the game. Remember, I am new at this too, so if you are a social networking guru, please help me out and let me know if I am forgetting any key players.

Social networking sites:

 Facebook: This is the most popular social-networking site among college students. Totally free and getting more updates every quarter. Increasingly, we are seeing more professionals joining in. The fastest growing demographic for facebook is people 30-40 years old. The easy to use interface and the clean style make it something almost everyone can master. You can easily search for friends and add them to your friends list. Basically, Facebook is so popular that if you don't have it, you are out of the loop. So out of the loop, that you might not even be able to hoola-hoop....ha ha, forgive me. I found it funny that Facebook has been banned at many places of work to increase productivity. I can't lie, my GPA would be higher if I was not addicted. It has more than 110 million active users worldwide

 Linked-in: This is primarily for professionals. It is also free but, I don't like it, but I probably will when I am getting ready to graduate jobless. It allows people to upload resumes and network or 'connect' with people in a specific field. People can also 'recommend' other people they trust in business for a position, or just vouch for them in general. Employers use the site to list jobs and people can search the listings for free. It is definitely catered to the older more professional generation, but like I said, most of the people reading this blog will be there soon if not already. This site gets over 3.2 million visitors per month.

Bebo:"Bebo" is an acronym for "Blog early, blog often" It too, is a social networking site. Not unlike Facebook, bebo users can add quizzes and polls for their friends to vote on and comment on. Photo albums with a maximum limit of 48 per album, can keep their friends updated on what fun things they have been doing. It also has its own blog section--kind-of like the Facebook 'notes' with a comments section. There is also a list of bands of which the user is a fan, and a list of groups that the user is a member of. (Facebook has these too)

Blogs: 
Not up to speed on what a blog is? Have you been living in a barn for the past year or so? Wiki it and you will find this: "Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs."

Blogger: THIS IS BLOGGER..isn't it great?

Wordpress: Another blogging service. I have heard good and bad commentary on both blog services...I like Blogger. Wordpress.org however is a lot more vesatile. You can make webpages that are very custom. They do most of the hard work for you so that is nice.



Micro-blogs:

Micro-blogging is another type of blogging, one which consists of blogs with very short posts. 

 Twitter: Twitter allows you to blog as a network. With limited characters, you answer the question, "What are you doing?" You and your friends, or random people you 'follow' can have discussions about whatever you want. When I first joined Twitter I was was a little confused. Why on earth would I want to know what someone else is doing? Well, it is pretty fun. Also, you get to know people a little better. Cheryl Snapp-Conner said she is connected with some very powerful people on her Twitter page. She said she might not have a personal relationship with them, but she knows what they ate for breakfast!

Twitterfon is a free iPhone app. I use it and it is great. You can tweet a picture, search, read updates and more. I love it. 

 Twinkle: It t is basically just like twitter only it is an Iphone application (get it for free here). Users like it because it syncs to your phone and it also says where the person is located. If someone twitters that they are having a bad day and it says that are in Hawaii... you should probably tell them they are stupid because even if they are having a bad day...they are still in HAWAII.


Popular Stories:

 Digg:  Digg is a Web site made for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the Internet by submitting links and stories, and voting and commenting on them. Voting stories up and down is the site's cornerstone function, respectively called digging and burying. Many stories get submitted every day, but only the most Dugg stories appear on the front page.


Here is a list of other sites I would recommend you check out. They all offer something different.

Stumbleupon
Del.icio.us


Don't be afraid of social media...embrace it. It is the wave of the future.