Lauren's birthday tribute

Since I was actually visiting Lauren when she celebrated her 3rd birthday, I didn't write up a birthday tribute for her. I wanted to include that on my blog so she will remember how much I love her. She is very bright, sweet, independent, kind to her sister, a quick learner, funny, silly, a good dancer, a great reader, a big mommy's helper, daddies little angel girl, friendly to her little playmates, "a little shy" sometimes, she has beautiful big blue eyes, almost white blonde hair, a darling smile, an inquisitive mind, she is obedient, helpful, loves to say prayers and always says very good prayers. She loves to watch Dora shows, play with princesses, play "mommy," swing, go swimming , go to the park and play and do a craft for fun. She always remembers to bless Uncle Andy in Mun-go-l-i-a. I look forward to many more
years being Grandma to little Lauren. Grandma and Grandpa love you sweet girl!

Lauren & Ellie videos

Stand tall

Check out this interview recording with an LDS student at Harvard named Rachel Esplin. It takes about 20 minutes to hear the entire interview, but it is well worth the time it takes to listen to it.

This young woman (who is a student at Harvard) spoke at a religious symposium and represented the LDS church. I think she is only 20 years old, but she is amazing. She is very poised and articulate as she explains what we believe and the principles of the Gospel as we understand them to the audience. President Hinckley has always asked us to practice tolerance with other people's beliefs. I hope other people were tolerant of her beliefs as well. She does a beautiful job explaining what we believe and in answering the questions that were put to her. She is a credit to my religion and she capably explains my own religions beliefs.

Facebook

I did it. I succumbed. I joined Facebook this week. I've received invitations to join, but never really though it would be for me. Then came this week's issue of Time magazine. See this article. It gave 10 reasons why Facebook is for Old Fogies like me. I bought the hype. Here is a partial list of reasons to join Facebook from the article:
1. Facebook is about finding people you've lost track of - I've already connected with several in one week.
2. We're no longer bitter about high school. - I wasn't bitter, but it's good to see that people do move on.
3. We're lazy. It's very easy to operate.
4. We're old enough that pictures from grade school or summer camp look nothing like us.
5. We have children. There is very little that old people enjoy more than forcing others to pay attention to pictures of their children. Facebook is the most efficient engine ever devised for this.
6. We're too old to remember e-mail addresses.
7. We're not cool, and we don't care.

There was a time when it was cool to be on Facebook. That time has passed. Facebook now has 150 million members, and its fastest-growing demographic is 30 and up. At this point, it's way cooler not to be on Facebook. We've ruined it for good, just like we ruined Twilight and skateboarding. So git! And while you're at it, you damn kids better get off our lawn too.

Let me know if you want to be my friend!

Romeo & Juliet

Last night we saw R&J at Pioneer Theatre. I would give it a B grade. As you may know, this is one of my favorite Shakespeare plays and I'm rather picky about the players. Juliet was quite shrill and over dramatic and the Nurse was completely overcooked (even though she plays a comic character.) Romeo did a fine job. I give all the actors praise though because they memorized and delivered three HOURS of continuous dialogue in Shakespeare without a hitch- no small task. The set was amazing and the costumes authentic.

I liked these notes from the director: One need search no further than daily news headlines to find palpable evidence that Shakespeare's story lives on. Long-standing feuds whose root causes pre-date memory continue to sever families, countries, cultures, classes, races; bloodshed erupts, young people die, lessons are sometimes learned. It is, in part, because we do not embrace these lessons that we are compelled to re-tell this story, it is also because Romeo and Juliet is a ravishing feast for the ears and for the eyes, that its symmetrical structure gives us a perfect balance of comedy and tragedy, and that the traffic on the stage is peopled with some of the most memorable and compelling characters Shakespeare created.