Free Admission to Disneyland on Your Birthday

It appears that 2009 is a year of celebrations at Disneyland. In honor of this, they are giving away free admission to the park on your birthday. Go to Disneyland.com to register your birthdate and personal information. I'll be looking for someone to go with me for my birthday...

Thank you USC!

I'd like to thank USC...for losing your game this week. Thank you for stepping aside so that BYU could move ahead of you in the the polls...enjoy your number 9 ranking...number 8 is looking pretty good to us! Go Cougars!

Saturday in Sunnyvale

I worked in the Bay Area this past week--I spent Tuesday through Friday with the client I work with up there. I decided to stay over Friday night and drive down to Sunnyvale to visit Bryan, Melissa, and Aiden. I arrived in time for dinner and a little bit of fun time with Aiden before he headed for bed. On Saturday, we hung all out, went to the mall, and had lunch at Chevy's. While we were at the mall, I found this great lion for Aiden at Pottery Barn Kids--he was so funny--when I showed it to him and roared, he roared back. He's at such a fun stage--walking, starting to talk, laughing, dancing, etc. It was hard to leave! I really wish we lived closer to each other. It would be fun to spend lots more Saturdays together!

Photo 1: Aunt Jen, Aiden & the Lion

Photo 2: Aunt Jen, Aiden & Bryan at Babies R Us

Grateful for the little things in life...

I admit that I frequently get caught up in my life. I know that I have been blessed with many, many things and am grateful for all that I have in my life. But, when I get caught up in my life, I tend to feel sorry for myself for the things I don't have.

In the past ten months, though, I have had friends whose lives have taught me to be grateful for what I have and to be grateful for the small things in life.

In December 2007, a friend of mine from law school was killed in a skiing accident, leaving behind his wife (another friend from law school) and new baby daughter.

In February 2008, a friend who is a single mom lost her job--not a job that pays big bucks--but a job with an income my friend relied on to make ends meet for her little family. In the process of being fired, she was slandered in the community and struggled to negotiate a separation agreement with her former employer that did not prevent her from ever being employed again. (You gotta love it when the big guys try to squash and take advantage of the little guys in these processes.) (Please read the sarcasm in that last statement!)

And, this week, a friend who is in her mid-30s and is the mom of 3 has a brain tumor removed. I talked to her tonight, and they were able to remove the entire tumor, but she is walking unsteadily with a walker, has horrible problems with vertigo, and has problems with the hearing in her right ear.

Yeah, I feel pretty lucky right now.

Go BYU!

Fall is one of my favorite seasons of the year...it gets cooler...I can anticipate wearing warmer clothes (OK, may not here in LA...but, I used to be able to)...and, I get to watch endless amounts of college football. This year, college football is better than ever because the BYU Cougars are undefeated!!!! And, they are not just barely, one penalty away from losing a game, undefeated--they haven't allowed even one point for their opponents in the last two games. Ahhhh, life is good! (Even ESPN has good things to say: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=282640252)

Input Needed

On September 21, I am in charge of a fireside for the parents of the Young Men and Young Women at church. We are trying to do a few things with this fireside: (1) explain what is involved in the programs, (2) help the parents see the value in the programs, and, (3) get parent participation in the programs. So, I'm looking for input from those of you have have been in the Young Men's and Young Women's programs and/or have supported your children in those programs. What were your hopes and dreams when you were a teenager/for your teenage children? How, if at all, did the Young Men's/Young Women's program help with the realization of those dreams? What were the best parts of the Young Men's/Young Women's programs? Memories? Relationships with Leaders? Etc.? Tell me about the positive and influencial parts of these programs in your life...

Young Women's

So, at the end of May, I was called to be the president (aka the one in charge) of the youth program for the 12-18 year old girls at church. This is a daunting task to say the least with 38 girls, 12-15 of whom come to church on Sunday on a regular basis and 4-5 who come to our weekly activities on a regular basis. Our group also encompases a very LARGE area of Los Angeles because (for those of you who are LDS or understand LDS terminology) my young women come from 2 traditional wards and the greater Los Angeles area Korean ward. (We have 2 chapels, so the 3 wards overlap.)

One of the challenges has been to find activities that the girls actually like to attend. One such activity was a photo scavenger hunt. They had to run back and forth from one end of the church to the other and back again taking pictures of random items. Here are some examples of their handiwork.

It really was hysterical to watch them run around and take these! If anyone wants the list of items, let me know.