FHE - Give a day get a day...

Last night for family home evening we did some selfish service. We went to the store to buy stuff for teachers. School teachers these days have to either buy some stuff they need in the class room or they have to do without. Stuff that we take for granted like paper clips, pens, post-it-notes ect. So there is a group that is collecting "teacher boxes" that have this kind of stuff. We put together 10 of these boxes last night. We all went to the store split up and gathered what we needed. It was fun and pretty quick. Then we came home and put them in the 10 boxes and tonight we'll write thank you notes to each teacher then wrap it up like a present. We then deliver them to the group in Tempe and they will deliver to the needed places. I said it was selfish because four our trouble (and our $$) we get 10 tickets to Disneyland. Yeah. so we get to go in June. should be fun but I don't know what we'll do with Derek and Anny since they aren't going to get to go... (maybe Anny will). Anyway it was fun for the kids to do something for others. They knew exactly why we were doing it because they have the same problems at their schools. Marly took half a ream of printer paper today because her school is out. The funny part was Grandpa Whetten couldn't understand why we needed to do this. We had to explain to him a few times that teachers don't get these kind of things that they should because there is no money in the school district to pay for this stuff. He just couldn't get it... oh well he helped us a lot setting them up anyway. He said "Where are these going?" I said "there are some schools that need supplies for the teachers" he said "why" I said "I guess they don't have the money for the teachers to get this and the teachers shouldn't have to pay for stuff like this out of pocket" and he looked at me like all confused and said indignantly "like where?" I didn't know what to say so I said "I don't know... maybe poorer neighborhoods like South Phoenix"... That was probably not a good thing to say because I really have no idea where and we don't have to know the group we take them to has to know. I felt bad about naming an area but oh well. I've been there many times for football and it does look like they could use a little help, I'm just sayin'

randomness is bestest

So today I was looking around my cube (padded cage i work in when I go to work), and saw that there was nothing on the walls at all. so I added a couple of things just "beautify" it a bit. It's not beautiful, but it is less dull. So I'm going to add a few pictures to my blog that I've captured via my phone as I have lived lately just because I want to make it a little better.

Mr. Whiting getting an earful from an upset fan at a basketball game at Queen Creek. It's blurry because of the distance but I thought I'd better take this in case Jeff needed evidence in the court case... That guy seemed upset.

Sky on the way to Cody Rothlisberger's house ("But I'm not tired Dad!")

Derek When I baby sit... no matter what time (I'm good!)

A girls soccer team ripped off our football team. I'm not sure how I feel about this (Hmmm....)

Here's how I feel about Stacy's School (yucky)

Here's a picture of the Mesa Temple. I don't know why I took this I just felt like it when I went there the other day :)

I had more but most are inappropriate! ha ha just kidding. I don't roll like that... If you're bored (and you must be because you are on my blog) go to my friend Anjie's blog. She's coolio! http://anjiesantics.blogspot.com/

All good (or not so good) things come to an end

As you may have heard JD Hayworth is retuning to politics. He has left his job KFYI to run for senate. Most people wouldn't have to leave their job that puts food on the table but he did because we live in a FAIR society. Anyway JD is running against John "Lettuce" McCain. I think this is a good thing. I was hoping that John would "go away" after he lost to BO but he didn't. I was hoping that Jeff Flake would run for Senate once lettuce returned to where ever the H he came from. But he didn't consult me...oh well. JD is a good 2nd to Jeff Flake. I like lettuce A war hero, yes, a good man, yes, a family guy yes, but in the world of politics none of this matters much. I think that what we need is someone that stands for principles and votes accordingly. I think it's interesting that JD is running because he has always been a conservative yet he lost his way with the rest of the republicans in the early 2000s... However I don't really think that we can fault him for that. The Post 9/11 political environment was different, it made us choose differently, it made us a little scared not to watch our own. Lettuce on the other hand didn't really do much more then: threaten to leave the GOP, embarrass the GOP vs. BO and lied about Mitt many times in his campaign for the GOP nomination in 2008... not to mention doing nothing for Arizona. I mean how many of you can tell me one good thing he's done for AZ in the last two terms (12 years). He ran for president twice, passed a well known liberal policy to govern elections that was recently declared unconstitutional by the US Supreme court and generally supported illegal emigration, stem-cell research and spoke out big time against water boarding (being a POW himself its no wonder) but then in the moment of truth voted for it.

Now I like JD as a guy, he's an entertaining talk show host. But is he a senator? I don't know. He is not my first choice. That would be Jeff Flake, however I think Congress is where Brother Flake wants to be. So we have to look at who there is to vote for. I don't believe in voting against someone but for someone, I also don't believe in not voting, so I do. When I look at Lettuce vs. Hayworth I am leaning RIGHT, to JD. Emigration, the Mitt Romney things and time for a change is why.

Peace! What do the Red, White and True bloggers have to say I wonder?

BYU to the PAC 10

Well religious persecution will never end :) Just kidding (kind of)... most PAC 10 articles about the pending PAC 10 expansion have said that BYU is not an option... They say that it is because BYU isn't a "research" school. That's a big bunch of hoey! What they mean is BYU won't play on Sunday and the ever expanding Sunday basketball schedule is the problem. I think that a review of history will help us understand what is happening now. This is a lesson in what is reported and what is reality and how they are often different.

Roger Reid was a good basketball coach at BYU as an assistant and head coach for a long time. In fact he won a lot. He recruited well and was overall pretty good (not great). Then BYU took a hit on recruiting and Roger got frustrated about it. He was under pressure to beat Utah and others in conference. Also BYU started to lose . So some LDS recruits went to other places like Utah or Stanford, or someplace closer to their home. Along came a big recruit named Chris. He was a McDonalds All American he was LDS and good, very good. He was choosing between Utah and Duke with BYU as a thought. Roger made a mistake and asked Chris to commit. When Chris said no, he said "10 million Mormons would be disappointed". Chris then committed to Duke and ESPN and everyone else ran with the "Disappointed Mormons" quote. BYU went 1-25 the next season and Roger got fired. Roger made a big stink about it. The papers said that Roger was fired because of losing and low attendance and "time for a change". BUT that wasn't it! It was because he made the LDS church look bad. The only reason there is BYU sports is for the missionary efforts of the church. So if a coach, player or fan makes the church look bad then it should be shot down... (not my point). My point is what was reported wasn't reality.

They are now saying that BYU can't join the PAC10 because it's not a research institution. What a joke. ASU is? UA is? ok Cal-Berkley, Stanford and USC I will give you, but most of the state schools are equal or below BYU. Another thing I heard was that BYU didn't have a medical school... Neither does ASU sheesh! does USC? BYU doesn't need one because 50 miles awayat UTAH there is one of the best and could the community support both? BYU's Law school is the best in the whole MTN area. Why don't the just say it: "BYU won't play on Sunday and if they are good in basketball one year (like top 10 or something) we won't be able to case in on it!" Crazy.. well I finally found one guy who almost said it (link at bottom). At least he is saying that it should be BYU and UTAH and not COLORADO (1000 miles from LA -dumb). Here's the reaility if BYU had made a BSC bowl like Utah (big if I know) this wouldn't even be a discussion. BYU has won more games in the last 5 years, been higher average ranked in that last 5 years then any team in the entire west except USC... so UTAH made 2 BCS bowls in the last 6 years... but BYU has more wins and high average ranking at the end of the season... Utah should be taken, but both on the field and off of it BYU is better! In all 29 sports that the Mountain West awards conference champions in BYU won or shared 23 in the 2008-2009 school year. In non-revenue sports they lead at least 8 PAC10 teams in a lot of them (XC, Track (mens), Gymnastics, men's volleyball (2 national championships), and others. It's silly to think that it's because of academics BYU can't join. Just go apply to BYU and ASU/UA and see which one accepts you... Utah should be in... But history tells us that BYU should be in too, but are fighting against more then the normal parameters...

Link:http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/02/09/SPTB1BUVCC.DTL

Family and Fun Weekend

Yesterday was Derek's blessing day. We have 8 am church and had planned to just go to Sacrament meeting and then leave to have a brunch/family gathering in the park. However Saturday night it rained all night and the park was flooded and muddy. Stacy was very stressed about this. But we got up early and She, the kids and I got the tables and chairs in the house and arranged it (with help from Uncle Matt Angel) so that we could seat 48 people at tables and chairs. It turned out good. We got to Sacrament meeting plenty early and enjoyed a good Fast and Testimony meeting. Derek is officially blessed and on the records as a church baby. We all all went home and enjoyed out breakfast and then people headed home. My parents and nephew Colton were here for the weekend and headed home to Utah around 10 or 11 am on Sunday. I'm glad they came. They were in town a little early because My Dad's Uncle Albert Christensen passed and his funeral was Friday in Mesa. We enjoyed their visit. We will be going to Utah on March 5th-7th for Colton's baptism. We spent the rest of Sunday with fast offering route (Drew and me), Choir practice (Vance and Me) and naps, football game (super bowl 44) and fun with Rocky and Jana Chapman's family. Stacy's parents and little sisters Brittney and Melissa and Brady Garret (Brit's husband to be) stayed all afternoon it was great. The laziness was nice and we also felt like it was a spiritual day. Testimony meeting was great. Vance and Marly bore their testimony about their Patriarchal blessings and the spirit was strong through out the meeting. I also appreciated my friend Jeff Whiting's testimony. Man the change in the brother since the day I met him is fantastic, he's a real hero to my kids and me.