Happy 200th birthday Mr. President

I thought these photos were so interesting, and I wanted to give a belated shout out to Abraham Lincoln on his 200th birthday! It's been wonderful to read more about his life in the last few weeks and to celebrate his amazing accomplishments as the greatest President this country has even known. Ever since my dad worked for the Lincoln National Life Insurance company, I've had a keen interest in Abe. My dad had some keepsake Lincoln items that I loved to look at. He had some plaster casts of Lincoln's hands that I remember well (where did those end up anyway??) They were huge hands that accomplished much good in his life. Happy 200th Birthday Mr. Lincoln!!

Here is some Lincoln trivia I found interesting:

• When Lincoln was inaugurated, there were five living ex-presidents: Martin Van Buren, John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan.
• Lincoln was the first president to have a beard, is the only one to have had a beard and no mustache.
• Lincoln was the first member of the Republican Party to be elected president. However, he was re-elected on the National Union ticket. Following Lincoln, Republicans were the dominant party from 1869 to 1885.
• Lincoln taught himself law and was admitted to the bar in 1837, when he moved to Springfield, Ill. During his 23-year law career, he was involved in more than 5,000 cases in Illinois. He and his partner appeared before the Illinois Supreme Court more than 400 times.
• Lincoln made good money as a lawyer before becoming president. By 1858, he was earning about $5,000 a year. In terms of dollars his biggest case dealt with ownership of land at the mouth of the Chicago River. Sued for more than $600,000, the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad hired Lincoln. The case eventually went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, but his clients ended up paying only half the original amount.
• When moving to Washington, the Lincolns decided it would be too expensive to move their belongings, so they held one of the first "garage sales" of their day. A bill of sale in Lincoln's handwriting shows that a druggist named S.H. Melvin paid $82.25 for "6 chairs, 1 spring mattress, 1 wardrobe, 1 whatnot, 1 stand, 91?2 yards of stair carpet and 4 comforters."
• When Lincoln was shot, the only money in his pocket was a $5 Confederate note.
• Lincoln's assassination stunned the nation. As the first president to lie in state, his body was viewed by tens of thousands of mourners.
• At 6 foot 4 inches, Lincoln was our tallest president.
• When it came to his likeness, Lincoln preferred photographs to paintings. That may have been in part due to the fact there was an exceptional photographer named Matthew Brady in Washington at the time. In fact, Lincoln credited an early photograph taken by Brady for helping him get elected. In those photographs, Lincoln never smiled — so no one knows what his teeth looked like.
• Among other things, Lincoln has had an automobile, a ballistic missile submarine, an aircraft carrier and an American faction of the International Brigades (during the Spanish Civil War) named after him.

Here's a fun quiz to take to test your knowledge of our 16th President.

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!