Josh, Jenn, Ashton, Emmy and Ethan…

A few months ago, Josh read “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand.  He absolutely loved it and insisted that I read it.  Since my ongoing challenge in this world is to be able to carry on intelligent conversation with my ever-progressing, knowledge-absorbing, ingenious husband, I decided I’d read this 1100+ page novel.

I finished the book a couple weeks ago and…..

I LOVED IT!!!!

It has changed my life!  It hasn’t changed the way I think but it verbalized my thoughts, beliefs and fears about the society that we live in.  This book was written in the 40′s and I am telling you, Ayn Rand is a prophetess!  I was shocked by the things I was hearing on the news and the things politicians were saying in real life while I was reading because it was exactly what was happening in the book!  It has been a couple of weeks since I finished the book and every day something will happen that makes Josh and I turn to each other and say “Just like in ‘Atlas Shrugged’!”  I know I’m not making this novel sound very interesting, but it really was so well-written.  I feel completely attached to all of the characters.  I miss Dagny (if the heroine had been named anything besides ‘Dagny’ I would have named a daughter after her) and Francisco.  And now I almost get as excited as Ashton and Emmy when a train passes by our neighborhood.

The basic premise of the book is that there are three types of people; Looters, Moochers and Producers.  The way it works is the producers create everything (evil capitalists like Sam Walton, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford).  The Looters (the government) then take what the producers have created by force (Taxes, Tariffs, Subsidies) and give it to the moochers to keep themselves in power. Pretty simple right? In the book the looters keep passing laws they think will solve all of the problems that their laws created.  The looters and the media are in colusion, lying to the public to keep themselves in power.

On January 20, 1981, in his first inaugural address, Ronald Reagan told the nation: “Government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem.”

I wasn’t going to write a long, passionate ‘Atlas Shrugged’ post but today I saw something on the news that made me so mad and frustrated and, of course, made me think of the book.  Everyone is so mad at the lady who had eight babies, blah blah blah.  Anyway, some people are calling on the government now to regulate in vitro fertilization.  ‘Atlas Shrugged’ portrays fascism, socialism, and communism – any form of state intervention in society – as systemically and fatally flawed.  Not everyone is as irresponsible as the Octomom (I really don’t know her name).  There is no reason to involve the government.

It’s so frustrating to hear about all the bail-outs and junk.  The government never should have dictated to the banks who they could lend money to.  Now we’re in this huge mess and to fix what the government messed up, they pass more bills and get more involved.  ATLAS SHRUGGED!!!!!!!  It’s so scary.  ANYHOOOO!

This quote by Thomas Jefferson keeps running through my head “A GOVERNMENT THAT HAS THE POWER TO GIVE YOU EVERYTHING, HAS THE POWER TO TAKE EVERYTHING AWAY! “

Our good ol’ pal, Jason, invited us to his cabin at Northstar/Lake Tahoe again this year.  If I ever had a second to stop and think during the past two months, you’d better believe I was just smiling, thinking about going to Tahoe.

The first day, we hung out at the resort where the Dew Tour was being held.  We rode the gondola up to watch the skiers do some half pipe.  It was cool but the BEST part was this video we took of Jeff (I laugh like an old man every time I watch it).  Jeff found the moon boots in the garage (If you check out my blog post from last year, you’ll see that the garage was bursting with treasures from the past 50 years):

It was rainy for a few days so we got to hang out in the house a lot.  It was actually really nice not to have any plans.  Josh tried really hard not to work – it is difficult when he has it with him at all times.  We played pool, laughed at Jeff, watched movies, played Rock Band (of course!), laughed at Jeff, chilled in the jacuzzi, drove around the lake, and laughed at Jeff.

The rain finally cleared up and Josh got to snowboard with all his pals the day before we left.  I was praying and praying for good weather.  Not that he couldn’t snowboard anywhere in Utah, but I knew that he’d never have time once he got back to civilization.  All the guys went together in the morning, then Caroline and I left our babies with Meric (THANK YOU, MERIC!!!) and joined our hubbies in the afternoon.  It was waaaaay fun!!!!  That night we went back to the resort to roast ‘mallows and make S’mores around the fire pit.

The fire pits surround an ice skating rink.  The zamboni driver was so nice to Ashton and Emmy and waved at them and gave Ashton ‘five’ whenever he could reach him.  It was cute.

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Friday night, Josh and I gathered up a bunch of our peeps and went cross-country skiing at Aspen Grove.

Cari, Deven, Shelley, Eddie, Lindsey, Jess, Jed, Gary, Josh, Jenn

I think the only people who had ever done it before were Josh, Jed and Gary who tried it once in scouts or something many, many, MANY years ago.  I don’t know if it was because we were all beginners, there were 6 inches of fresh powder, the ski’s hadn’t been waxed for ten years or ALL OF THE ABOVE, but we truly experienced hardly any SKIING.  It was mostly falling and walking with ski’s stuck to our toes.  It all made for one of the most hilarious nights EVER.

If any of us knew what we were doing it might have been different, but for some reason all of our ski’s just kept sticking to the snow.  I believe they are supposed to stick a little to prevent you from sliding backwards.  But even when we were experiencing forward motion, the ski would be sliding somewhat nicely, then suddenly STICK, no more movement.  It was wild.  After walking up the first biggish hill, Deven and I decided we definitely needed some skiing action and we tried to ski down the hill we just came up.  That’s when I really started sweating!  It was ridiculously difficult just to slide!  We were laughing our butts off, though.  After all the work of TRYING to cross-country ski, the only muscles that were sore the next day were my stomach muscles from laughing so hard.

Here is my favorite picture.  Sure, it’s just Deven kneeling in the snow.  But right before I took this picture, Deven decided he was going to ski down a hill.  He stood there, ski’s parallel pointing straight down the hill, he bent his knees, dug his poles into the snow and pushed off with great force, completely committed to flying down this hill.  However, his ski’s did not agree with the idea and DID NOT BUDGE.  Deven fell forward like a tree, the whole length of his body was FLAT on the hill.  Oh man, we were all dying!!!  Everyone (except Josh who never fell at all) wiped out trying to go down this hill, as you’ll see in my slide show.

This past weekend, Josh and I went to the BYU 75th Ward Reunion.  This was the ward we moved into right after we got married.  The first bishop we had was great, a little stern, but great.  The week before he was released, he pulled me aside at a volleyball Enrichment activity…that I WAS AT obviously.  He said he was concerned that I was less active and HEARD that I hadn’t been seen at church for weeks…I was completely bewildered, thanked him for his concern and told him not to worry about me.  I’m pretty sure he thought I was someone else…I had no idea what he was talking about.

The Sunday of the changing of the guard the new Bishop Chappell gave a scary testimony and went on an on about pornography.  We were all very scared that he was even more stern than the old bishop.  The following week was the ward campout and “Carl” came out of  his shell.  He was jamming on the guitar, singing crazy songs and blasting country music from his truck.  I am sure everyone in the campground  was so annoyed but we loved him.

Here are some classic “Chappellism’s”:

• The first thing he announced was that in his ward, we only had to pay 9% tithing.
• If you didn’t sing in church you would immediately have a bishop’s interview
• “How can you identify an extrovert accountant? He will stare at your shoes”
• He would tell his kids “I love you but not as much as I love your mother”

At the ward Christmas party he insisted we have Karaoke and then showed off his Elvis skills.

We loved our time in this ward with the Chappell’s.  Josh was in the bishopric and I was the Relief Society Pres (strange, I know, and it wasn’t even that long after Bishop Chappell was called.  I turned myself right around…I guess) There are so many friends from this ward that we will love forever.  So many couples that were just working their bums off, going to school and working full-time, having their first babies (maybe even 2nd or 3rd), losing babies, hoping and praying for a baby, fulfilling church callings with willing and happy hearts, strengthening everyone around them, trying to progress spiritually and live the gospel every day.  It was incredible.

Josh and I were sure the Chappell’s loved us the MOST, buuuut I’m thinking everyone in the ward felt the same way, which is why when the Chappell’s have a get-together, their home is bursting at the seams.  They still ask about my sister who did a tap dance with me for the ward talent show.  See?  They meet you once and it’s like you are instantly best friends forever.  Love those Chappell’s!!!!

Josh, Kris and I ran the Long Beach Marathon last weekend. It’s strange, I don’t really know what to say about it. We worked so hard and I stressed myself out over reaching this goal for the past few months and now it’s just over. Leading up to it, I was sure that I would never run another marathon again, I could just put a check mark next to ‘marathon’ on my list and be done. But I can honestly say that I had tons of fun and I MIGHT even say I would love to run another one.

The first 10′ish miles of the course were right near or on the beach…GORGEOUS! I didn’t even turn on my music until mile 9, I was just enjoying the incredible scenery and feeling the energy of everyone around me. Kris and I ran the first 13 miles together, it was nice to have a buddy to keep me going. But by then, we just needed to concentrate on finishing and taking those spurts of energy when they came and we got separated. Josh hadn’t been able to run for five weeks before the race, having a completely messed up knee, so we weren’t even sure if he would be able to run 5 feet. He just took it easy and snapped these beautiful pictures with his iPhone along the way. By mile 13, he realized he might actually run another marathon and just kept going. The course double-backed on itself and when I was at mile 20 and just about out of steam, I saw Josh turn the corner and come running toward me on his mile 15! Just like when we were training, getting a huge hug from Josh gave me enough energy to keep going and finish! Sadly, because Josh took these amazing pictures, it used all his battery and he had no music to listen to from mile 20 to the finish.

There were people all along the course to cheer us all on and since we had our names on our numbers, it was nice to hear people yelling “Come on, Jennifer! You can do it!” I finished the marathon in 4 hours 45 min. I’m not totally happy with my time but ah well.

I love you, Josh and Kris!!!