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Beach Boys--I Get Around
1 year ago
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Some more pictures from Malaysia
Hello, hello. We are back in Bangkok and I thought I'd post a few pictures I took with my phone in Malaysia. Check it out!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Greetings from Malaysia
The second tallest buildings in the world, Petronus Towers!
Location:Lorong Perak,Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia
Aubrey has been born!!
Jaime and Shelli's second little girl was born Tuesday night. She had a little bit of a rough start but she is doing better. Everyone pray for her.
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
New Years resolutions and other short journeys
Every year we come to the end and say, wow, I forgot to lose weight, or save money, or volunteer at the food pantry or show up for church. We humans just love to look at what we didn't get, didn't do, didn't understand, didn't finish and so on. I think it would be better if every person came to December 31st with a list of what we did do and be happy about it. So here goes. What everyone did in 2009.
Jared and Heidi lived in England, supported every school activity, went to some plays, saw some castles and museums, went to church, Jared grew his school program and Heidi jumped in to complete her degree, and they stayed married and did not kill any of their children. They also accomplished the amazing feat of living far away and yet keeping current with all of us and helping their kids remember us too!
Erik and Ashley got Jax through his first 5 months brilliantly as he is a content, fat and rather advanced baby. They also worked as a good cop bad cop tag team to give Brayden the proper ammount of smack down and understanding. They both worked clown jobs and worked out a schedule that kept their kids out of "kiddie koral" and other daycare prison camps. They got engaged and started to plan a summer wedding. Erik continued to work on his music with objectivity and passion, a tall order. Erik and Ashley made Nae nae and Papa feel welcomed for Christmas and served many yummy meals.
Kurt became Torben and became more do than talk in the art world. Ris showed grace and talent as well as impressive earning power with her producing and directing her Generations project. Torben (the artist formerly known as Kurty) had great success with his movie and he and Ris demonstrated how best friends, artists and mates can create seamlessly together. T and R followed their dreams better than anyone I have seen and definately fell deeply in love as they blissfully took chances and made gambles. T and R also went to Thailand to be with Ris's family and to follow her cinema dreams before the cutest babies (even cuter than the tiger/piglet cubs) are created. T and R also created a family of dear and life time friends and proved that they have ultimate loyalty, especially appreciated by Janae' and Randy as they celebrated every artistic milestone with T and R cheering them on.
Janae and Randy stayed married and continued to get a kick out of each other. Janae figured out that the one thing she really does well is be a mom, wife and Nae'nae'. Janae taught a lot of bad singers to suck less and tried her hand at acting in ANNIE. Randy rode a tidal wave of change, stress, reorganization and lay offs at the theater. He also driected and taught and supported other directors at the theatre. Janae' continued to try to make something every day and she improved on her Nae'nae maker skills. Randy drove to Michigan in the winter in the worst weather ever because his friend Janae really wanted to go. Randy and Janae pulled together as a team and have decided to circle the wagons as far as theater as well as extended family drama. As a team we can do more. That is our motto. We hope to someday compare to Nana and Grandpa in that arena.
So folks, we don't suck after all. We all seem to create impossibly high standards for ourselves and forget to just be still and remember all that is good in our lives. Happy New Year!
Jared and Heidi lived in England, supported every school activity, went to some plays, saw some castles and museums, went to church, Jared grew his school program and Heidi jumped in to complete her degree, and they stayed married and did not kill any of their children. They also accomplished the amazing feat of living far away and yet keeping current with all of us and helping their kids remember us too!
Erik and Ashley got Jax through his first 5 months brilliantly as he is a content, fat and rather advanced baby. They also worked as a good cop bad cop tag team to give Brayden the proper ammount of smack down and understanding. They both worked clown jobs and worked out a schedule that kept their kids out of "kiddie koral" and other daycare prison camps. They got engaged and started to plan a summer wedding. Erik continued to work on his music with objectivity and passion, a tall order. Erik and Ashley made Nae nae and Papa feel welcomed for Christmas and served many yummy meals.
Kurt became Torben and became more do than talk in the art world. Ris showed grace and talent as well as impressive earning power with her producing and directing her Generations project. Torben (the artist formerly known as Kurty) had great success with his movie and he and Ris demonstrated how best friends, artists and mates can create seamlessly together. T and R followed their dreams better than anyone I have seen and definately fell deeply in love as they blissfully took chances and made gambles. T and R also went to Thailand to be with Ris's family and to follow her cinema dreams before the cutest babies (even cuter than the tiger/piglet cubs) are created. T and R also created a family of dear and life time friends and proved that they have ultimate loyalty, especially appreciated by Janae' and Randy as they celebrated every artistic milestone with T and R cheering them on.
Janae and Randy stayed married and continued to get a kick out of each other. Janae figured out that the one thing she really does well is be a mom, wife and Nae'nae'. Janae taught a lot of bad singers to suck less and tried her hand at acting in ANNIE. Randy rode a tidal wave of change, stress, reorganization and lay offs at the theater. He also driected and taught and supported other directors at the theatre. Janae' continued to try to make something every day and she improved on her Nae'nae maker skills. Randy drove to Michigan in the winter in the worst weather ever because his friend Janae really wanted to go. Randy and Janae pulled together as a team and have decided to circle the wagons as far as theater as well as extended family drama. As a team we can do more. That is our motto. We hope to someday compare to Nana and Grandpa in that arena.
So folks, we don't suck after all. We all seem to create impossibly high standards for ourselves and forget to just be still and remember all that is good in our lives. Happy New Year!
Saturday, January 02, 2010
Happy New Years from England!
New Year's Eve was a family friendly affair this year. We played games, watched movies and had a slumber party in the family room because the kids wanted to try to make it to midnight. Only Ulysses made it. We also wore these masks and Thorunn kept telling me all night, "Don't worry Mom. It's only me!"We love and miss you all!
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Trip to Rayong
We walked on the beach
We ate delicious seafood by the beach
We went to a zoo on the way back that had these tigers feeding on this pig
And this angry tiger
We held baby tigers and hung out with orangutans -- one named Jesse and the other Jerry
We also rented a boat for a day and went snorkeling in the ocean
Monday, December 14, 2009
CINEQUEST
I received the following e-mail last week:
Dear Torben,
We are thrilled and honored to invite THE SONOSOPHER: ALEX CALDIERO IN LIFE…IN SOUND to participate in the 20th Annual Cinequest Film Festival as part of the Official Competition, occurring February 23 – March 7, 2010 in San Jose, the heart of Silicon Valley.
A festival of discovery, Cinequest celebrates new and legendary voices in cinema, and through those voices creates an adventurous and eclectic program. Your participation in the festival will provide exposure to over 80,000 film lovers, film artists, technology leaders, media representatives and film industry attendees.
Our publicity and marketing teams will work with you to put in place an aggressive campaign for your film and in the coming weeks will be talking with you further about how we can provide you with the ideal festival event. In January, you will be contacted by our hospitality and film traffic teams to help arrange your further needs and to ensure your exciting screenings during the festival.
We are attaching the publicity forms for requested materials and our screening agreement form. Please return the agreement form as soon as possible. Of course, we are here to answer any questions you may have. We cannot wait to work with you and your film to give you fantastic screenings!
Thanks so much for introducing us to your amazing film. We look forward to hearing from you soon!
Best Wishes,
Michael Rabehl
Programming Director
Saturday, December 05, 2009
Do you believe in Santa?
It is Christmas time and many fine yarns are being spun regarding the North Pole, Santa's workshop, Mr. and Mrs. Claus and the flying reindeer. Many parents of believers have never enjoyed their children more as elf spys are keeping track of behavior. It is a fanciful, magical, intense time and through the years we all remember that feeling of wonder and possibilities.
Also celebrated at this time of year is another story. A story about teenagers who traveled too close to the due date of their first child. A story about miracles, and possibilities and humility. No matter how hardened we become to organized religion and its hypocrisy we still feel a tug on our heart strings when we watch little kids perform this story in bathrobes and towel headresses. We may look at this as a bit of a wishful thinking fable, but when we hear "Drummer Boy" we feel something simple and sweet, it is hope. Possibility.
Do I have a testimony? Well I can tell you, it isn't the one I had as a child, it isn't the one I struggled to keep during my late 20's or the one I proudly held when my husband was Bishop. Instead it is a smaller testimony, made real through time and experience, study and prayer, betrayal and redemption. As a child I needed it to be absolutely true, it was impossible to think I lived in a world where people I loved would tell me anything that wasn't the truth. As a young mother I realized that there was more to it and that my perfect truth was flawed. I felt lost and betrayed when promises for blessings for obedience were ignored. As a mother of teenagers I often prayed and pleaded for my children, for their happiness and safety. I realized then that despite what I had been taught, teaching your children correct principles was only half of the picture. And now with adult children struggling with their faith, I recognize their journey. Especially the confusion of teaching your own small children the kind of faith they need while fighting for the kind of faith you must have.
So do I believe in Santa ? I believe we need him. Do I believe in religion? I believe we need it.
Do I think it is simple, no, none of it is.
Also celebrated at this time of year is another story. A story about teenagers who traveled too close to the due date of their first child. A story about miracles, and possibilities and humility. No matter how hardened we become to organized religion and its hypocrisy we still feel a tug on our heart strings when we watch little kids perform this story in bathrobes and towel headresses. We may look at this as a bit of a wishful thinking fable, but when we hear "Drummer Boy" we feel something simple and sweet, it is hope. Possibility.
Do I have a testimony? Well I can tell you, it isn't the one I had as a child, it isn't the one I struggled to keep during my late 20's or the one I proudly held when my husband was Bishop. Instead it is a smaller testimony, made real through time and experience, study and prayer, betrayal and redemption. As a child I needed it to be absolutely true, it was impossible to think I lived in a world where people I loved would tell me anything that wasn't the truth. As a young mother I realized that there was more to it and that my perfect truth was flawed. I felt lost and betrayed when promises for blessings for obedience were ignored. As a mother of teenagers I often prayed and pleaded for my children, for their happiness and safety. I realized then that despite what I had been taught, teaching your children correct principles was only half of the picture. And now with adult children struggling with their faith, I recognize their journey. Especially the confusion of teaching your own small children the kind of faith they need while fighting for the kind of faith you must have.
So do I believe in Santa ? I believe we need him. Do I believe in religion? I believe we need it.
Do I think it is simple, no, none of it is.
Friday, December 04, 2009
Hiring yourself and the need to fire yourself
It has come to my attention that all of us have job titles that we hate and most frustrating of all is the fact that we interviewed and hired ourselves for that job. What jobs, you ask? A few are "best listener" " Fashion consultant" "Family party planner" " Mr. Fact finder" and so on.
These jobs are never posted, no one interviews you and no one hires you. But rest assured, you are hired and it is life time title. People who have these jobs tend to say two sentences often. One, "If I don't do this it won't get done", and Two, No one appreciates how much work this is." As the holidays come we all go in to hyper drive in our self appointed jobs. We remember many people with gifts and know that few will be received in return, we bake and take and come home to a sink full of dishes. Often we don't know we are on probation at our jobs because no one tells us they don't need us. People will just let you go on and on with facts, advice or criticism three of the top positions, because it makes for interesting stories to tell other people behind your back. People let you go on and on because they don't think you are right for the job, they think you are not very good at it and they hope you quit. But.. quit, of course not. We love being so very very helpful. Even if people who receive our help want to shoot us in the head we keep it up because we are our own boss and we suck to work for. So, it is my hope that during this recession, that people, fire themselves. Please fire yourself, only person who ever picks up the family room, Fire yourself person who volunteers everywhere that people are short of help, Fire yourself blackberry sherriff who googles any topic being discussed and corrects everyone. It is okay. I know jobs are hard to come by now, but you look tired. Go ahead give yourself a pink slip.
These jobs are never posted, no one interviews you and no one hires you. But rest assured, you are hired and it is life time title. People who have these jobs tend to say two sentences often. One, "If I don't do this it won't get done", and Two, No one appreciates how much work this is." As the holidays come we all go in to hyper drive in our self appointed jobs. We remember many people with gifts and know that few will be received in return, we bake and take and come home to a sink full of dishes. Often we don't know we are on probation at our jobs because no one tells us they don't need us. People will just let you go on and on with facts, advice or criticism three of the top positions, because it makes for interesting stories to tell other people behind your back. People let you go on and on because they don't think you are right for the job, they think you are not very good at it and they hope you quit. But.. quit, of course not. We love being so very very helpful. Even if people who receive our help want to shoot us in the head we keep it up because we are our own boss and we suck to work for. So, it is my hope that during this recession, that people, fire themselves. Please fire yourself, only person who ever picks up the family room, Fire yourself person who volunteers everywhere that people are short of help, Fire yourself blackberry sherriff who googles any topic being discussed and corrects everyone. It is okay. I know jobs are hard to come by now, but you look tired. Go ahead give yourself a pink slip.
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
This makes sense to me
Suffice to say we are all busy. Lots of cool stuff happening for all of us. If we don't want facebook to snuff this blog out I challenge everyone to post!!!
Random thoughts: I think you can divide all people in to two groups. Group one; in every situation this person subtracts the people and only focuses on the situation. Group two; in every situation this person subtracts the situation and only focuses on the people. So.. if you like this idea do a short insightful glance and decide which group you belong in. Next ask your significant other if you indeed do fit in to that group. Most kids are relieved to report that neither of their parents fit into both groups. Thus a fine balance is created. The group ones have us all slaves to lists, clocks and rules. Group ones are impatient waiting anywhere, be it in lines or in traffic. However, Group ones are considerate about time, plan things that actually come off, are ideal employees, and seem objective and fair often. Group twos want to talk out EVERYTHING!! Group twos know why everything is happening is happening. Group twos have detailed stories and continue telling them even when defensive sleeping is employed by listeners. Group twos have no time or money sense and they tend to let the "mood" of the room ruin their day. However, group twos never forget your birthday. They give you thoughtful gifts that they remember you had admired. Group twos are never "on the way out the door" regardless of their plans for the day, they will drop them if you need to talk and be heard. Group twos are also really nice to kids, they are some of the few people who talk with and not at kids.
So, alas, I believe you are born a one or a two. No matter how impassioned the speech, no true group one member will leap to join group two members.
And aren't we glad that don't!
Random thoughts: I think you can divide all people in to two groups. Group one; in every situation this person subtracts the people and only focuses on the situation. Group two; in every situation this person subtracts the situation and only focuses on the people. So.. if you like this idea do a short insightful glance and decide which group you belong in. Next ask your significant other if you indeed do fit in to that group. Most kids are relieved to report that neither of their parents fit into both groups. Thus a fine balance is created. The group ones have us all slaves to lists, clocks and rules. Group ones are impatient waiting anywhere, be it in lines or in traffic. However, Group ones are considerate about time, plan things that actually come off, are ideal employees, and seem objective and fair often. Group twos want to talk out EVERYTHING!! Group twos know why everything is happening is happening. Group twos have detailed stories and continue telling them even when defensive sleeping is employed by listeners. Group twos have no time or money sense and they tend to let the "mood" of the room ruin their day. However, group twos never forget your birthday. They give you thoughtful gifts that they remember you had admired. Group twos are never "on the way out the door" regardless of their plans for the day, they will drop them if you need to talk and be heard. Group twos are also really nice to kids, they are some of the few people who talk with and not at kids.
So, alas, I believe you are born a one or a two. No matter how impassioned the speech, no true group one member will leap to join group two members.
And aren't we glad that don't!
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
Another Article
Monday, August 31, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
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