Tuesday, January 29, 2008

It's Your Fault

We had some very fun Saturday adventures (okay, Ryan did. Mostly, I just watched). But they are not worth posting about until we get some pictures. So those of you who took those pictures make sure you send them our way! Otherwise, you may not get a post for a very long time. But you can only blame yourselves. Forget the fact that we should have charged our batteries and taken our own pictures. We still blame you.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

We're Back


Well, after having a pretty uneventful January, we made up for it last weekend. We had our great friends Royce and Heather come down from Utah to visit with us. They allowed us to take part of an exciting moment in their lives because Royce proposed from a hot air balloon while they were here. This is actually not the first time they have let us butt into their lives because I was the one who actually set them up in the first place (but I'm not gloating or anything). You can read about our fun weekend adventures on their blogs, but I wanted to give my point of view also.


It was so fun to bring the Thunder Committee back out of retirement to pull off the surprise proposal (if you don't know what that is-don't ask). Royce emailed us several times throughout the week to make sure that everything was put into place. And everything worked out perfectly in my opinion. I definitely lost sleep over whether or not Heather would be surprised or not-luckily she was.


Even if it had not resulted in an engagement, helping to set up a hot air balloon and then riding in one is awesome! We didn't get as long as a ride as them, and we didn't get to go very high because the wind would have crashed us into the mountains, but the 5 minutes we were in the balloon were so great. I now know what it is like to be floating on air.


The stress of keeping secrets and lack of sleep definitely caused us to have one of the best Sunday afternoon naps in history.


But we were back in action on Monday to try out yet something else I had never done before-golf. My father in law will probably be shocked to hear that I set foot on a course, but I have to add that this was a very cheap, run down, very much so a beginner course so I felt better about it. And I definitely overcame my complete fear of the sport. I still will never love the frustration of hitting a tiny ball (maybe) into a tiny hole with lots of khaki wearing business men building up behind you. But I also am very pleased that I actually shot a single bogey on one hole. I think I can finally overcome my flashbacks of high school when I did not hit one single golf ball further than the grass I dug up on the field.


So thanks, future Seversons, for a great weekend. Oh, and I did want to add that I'm not sure Ryan and I were the best examples of what a great marriage of 5 years entails, but if your marriage is half as good as ours-you will be very happy. I love you Ry!

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Happy Birthday Jenny!


I figured you needed some sort of recognition from me, since I didn't even send you a card! But I did buy a card and I did find it yesterday so eventually you may get it :)

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

And the winner is...


Anyone who thought that I would become a Primary Worker.


That's right. The new calling is in. I am now teaching the CTR 7A class which are kids turning 7 this year.


The last time I even set foot in the primary room on a Sunday was 4 years ago. It definitely took me awhile to get used to the noise, and the constant waves of motion and the chaos. I don't handle chaos very well. But this is why I am grateful that my class consists of 6 very quiet and well behaved children. (you know, quiet and well behaved for being 6).


You might think that after YW pres this would be a piece of cake for me. But not so. I have great fears of little children and the fact that they very well may be smarter than me.


But such fears were dispelled a little when after I completed my first crayon drawing in years, all of the kids copied my picture. Who knew that little kids could give you such an ego boost!


I am officially on my own this Sunday, and I have a feeling I'm not going to be able to "wing" my lessons quite as well as I could with a group of giggling adolescent girls. Nor will I be able to gossip about boys. So...if anyone has any great ideas for me....Help!

Saturday, January 12, 2008

The Answer is 4

OK friends, here's what you get when Amy insists that I blog something. Antiestablishmentarianistic rants. And yes, I just used a 27 letter word.

The Answer is 4

Have you ever been to a sporting event and seen a wave start in the stands? All waves begin with a single individual. If that person’s lucky, a few more courageous folks will join in. It usually dies out after 10 or so people. Then, if that first person is willing to risk looking foolish, they’ll begin again. This time 20-30 new people join in. The others, cautiously pessimistic towards the idea that this small group will actually mobilize an entire stadium, remain glued to their seats. Each of them thinking, “As soon as there’s a majority, I’ll join in.” Once a few hundred people have taken the plunge, the numbers multiply exponentially, and thousands sit anxiously awaiting their turn. At this point, everyone joins in.

There seem to be two schools of thought on who to vote for.
A: The candidate that best represents your views.
B: The lesser of 2 evils with a realistic chance of winning.

In my experience, most Americans fall into category B. The most common reason given: “A vote for candidate A is essentially throwing my vote away, and making it more likely that my least favorite candidate will get elected.” A rational argument, no doubt. But is it the right decision? Wouldn’t it be interesting if everyone went to the polls to vote their conscience, regardless of what they thought the masses would do?

2+2 = 4. Most Americans know it. Yet many of us will vote 5 this year. We will debate and slander our opponent, who we feel is so far off the mark, that their politics would be likened to 2+2 = 13. Out of the many candidates running for office, there’s likely a candidate whose views almost exactly reflect yours. A candidate who believes 2+2 = 4 if you will. Yet politics have become so corrupt, that you’ll feel (with the help of the media), that said individual has no chance of winning. So rather than throw your vote away, you’ll follow the masses, and vote for 5. Now, 5’s pretty close to the correct answer. And certainly better than 13. But what if that 1 number inaccuracy happens to represent an issue as important as abortion? Or gun control? Or war? Can you rest comfortably knowing that you abandoned your principles on a key issue, because you feared how the masses would vote?

If you’re the smartest student in the class, you wouldn’t copy your neighbor’s paper. If you’re an educated voter, please don’t copy your neighbor’s ballot.

The term “electability” is thrown out a lot. Who decides whose electable? TV Networks. The same networks we ridicule for being immoral, biased, and unscrupulous are the ones we look to for our political marching orders. Long before anyone’s cast a ballot, the television anoints 2 or 3 “front-runners.” In a cyclical self-fulfilling prophecy of ignorance, Americans vote for who the TV tells them will win. Consequently they do well. Which validates the TV’s original opinion, which leads to more mindless votes, and so forth.

A common question I ask my LDS friends, is whether they would’ve voted for Joseph Smith during his 1844 Presidential Campaign, when clearly he had no chance of winning. A man who, long before Lincoln, stated in his campaign platform:

“Petition, also, ye goodly inhabitants of the slave states, your legislators to abolish slavery by the year 1850, or now, and save the abolitionist from reproach and ruin, infamy and shame. Pray Congress to pay every man a reasonable price for his slaves out of the surplus revenue arising from the sale of public lands, and from the deduction of pay from the members of Congress. Break off the shackles from the poor black man, and hire him to labor like other human beings; for ‘an hour of virtuous liberty on earth, is worth a whole eternity of bondage!’” http://www.bycommonconsent.com/2007/12/joseph-smiths-views/

Would you have voted for this man? Or for the status quo? Could your descendants look back at your 1844 journal, and see that you stood against slavery when that position garnered 2% of the vote? Or did you vote with the 98% who squabbled over Polk and Clay as the lesser of 2 evils? History honors those who stand for correct values, not those who block a slightly worse individual from power. If something was right yesterday, shouldn’t it be right, today, tomorrow, and forever? If ignoring “electability” and voting your conscience in an 1844 election was the right thing to do, should we not follow this pattern today?

I don’t condemn anyone for who they feel will best represent them. Everyone’s entitled to his/her beliefs. But what I can’t understand, is defying what you believe in, and casting a ballot for someone you don’t fully support.

2+2 = 4. And yet we’ll vote 5, because it’s more likely to win. Let us be the individuals to start the wave. If there’s one thing politics have proven, it’s that idiocy is contagious. But so is common sense. People are sheep. All it takes are a few bold citizens to stand up and begin a wave of common sense. If the underdog never won, there’d be no point in playing the game. If citizens always voted for the likely victor, we’d still be British.

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Happy Birthday Kevin!

"Blog Something"

Ryan said to me last night.

"You blog something," I retorted.

"I'm not the writer around here."

???? For those of you who have read anything Ryan has written (christmas letter, school paper, email, or phone message) you know that's not true.

But neither one of us have "blogged something" because quite frankly, life has been boring around here. We are definitely still in holiday mode.

But if you really must know what has been going on in the Fitzgibbons family, here is a taste:
  • Wehave taken turns being sick
  • We have taken turns taking care of the other while they've been sick
  • I have been going to church carrying only my scriptures and a pen
  • We have been introduced to Guitar Hero and may never go back
  • I have 2 new year's resolutions (to organize my photos from the last 3 years, and to clean out my closets that I haven't touched since we moved in) Ryan is working on his resolution (see letter 2007)
  • we have no new callings, jobs, travel plans, friends, or shoes

But despite being boring-we have spent the new year being very grateful for our blessings and the calm that is our life right now. So if you can still stand to be our friends after knowing how pathetic we are, feel free to comment--Happy 08!