Utah State Legislature

I have started emailing the legislature everyday. I am so upset about the immigration legislation that they are trying to pass through. Legislators keep coming on the news talking about how they just believe in the law and obeying the law... well, duh. They also say they believe in legal immigration but I would bet my entire tax return that they have no idea what is involved in legal immigration. Our experience with immigration has been horrendous! Everyone out there thinks that if someone from another country marries a US citizen, they automatically become a citizen themselves. Far from true. We have spent hours (4 hours, 3 hours, 1.5 hours... the farther along we get in the process, the less our wait has been) in that dirty waiting room in the INS offices in Salt Lake. At least now they let you have access to a bathroom. Things are really improving (sarcasm, my friends).

Immigration is so inflexible and puts so many obstacles in your way, for example, they have extreme requirements for pictures. A certain percentage of white space needs to show in the background and your face had to be at a 45% angle. You need a physical from their list of doctors that wouldn't accept our insurance. Always three years of taxes, birth certificates from the entire family, housing documents etc... and you have to take them every time. We have had to submit all of the crazy list of documents four different times. E has been fingerprinted at least five times since we have been married.

Now after over fifteen hundred dollars, eight years, interviews, documents, INS raids (at my in-laws while E was there visiting), picture taking and lots of waiting... it is now time for the citizenship test! His appointment is March 11th... we would love everyone's prayers, fasting, quizing E everytime you talk to him... anything you can do would be appreciated.

Just for fun, here are the citizenship test questions... I will post the answers later alligator, but if you can't wait the link will take you to the questions and the answers.

The following are sample U.S. History and Government
Questions that may be asked during the Naturalization Exam.

1. What are the colors of our flag?
2. What do the stars on the flag mean?
3. How many stars are there on our flag?
4. What color are the stars on our flag?
5. How many stripes are there on our flag?
6. What do the stripes on the flag represent?
7. What colors are the stripes on the flag?
8. How many states are there in the Union (the United States)?
9. What do we celebrate on the 4th of July?
10. Independence Day celebrates independence from whom?
11. What country did we fight during the Revolutionary War?
12. Who was the first president of the United States?
13. Who is the President of the United States today?
14. Who is the Vice President of the United States today?
15. Who elects the President of the United States?
16. Who becomes President if the President dies?
17. What is the Constitution?
18. What do we call changes to the Constitution?
19. How many changes, or amendments, are there to the Constitution?
20. What are the three branches of our government?
21. What is the legislative branch of our Government?
22. What makes up Congress?
23. Who makes the Federal laws in the United States?
24. Who elects Congress?
25. How many Senators are there in Congress?
26. For how long do we elect each Senator?
27. Name two Senators from your state.
28. How many voting members are in the House of Representatives?
29. For how long do we elect each member of the House of Representatives?
30. Who is the head of the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government?
31. For how long is the President elected?
32. What is the highest part of the Judiciary Branch of our Government?
33. What are the duties of the Supreme Court?
34. What is the supreme law of the United States?
35. What is the Bill of Rights?
36. What is the capital of the state you live in?
37. Who is the current Governor of the state you live in?
38. Who becomes President if both the President and Vice President die?
39. Who is Chief Justice of the Supreme Court?
40. What were the original 13 states?
41. Who said, “Give me liberty or give me death”?
42. Name some countries that were our enemies during World War II.
43. What was the 49th state added to our Union (the United States)?
44. How many full terms can a President serve?
45. Who was Martin Luther King, Jr.?
46. What are some of the requirements to be eligible to become President?
47. Why are there 100 Senators in the United States Senate?
48. Who nominates judges for the Supreme Court?
49. How many Supreme Court Justices are there?
50. Why did the Pilgrims come to America?
51. What is the executive of a state government called?
52. What is the head executive of a city government called?
53. What holiday was celebrated for the first time by American colonists?
54. Who was the main writer of the Declaration of Independence?
55. When was the Declaration of Independence adopted?
56. What are some of the basic beliefs of the Declaration of Independence?
57. What is the national anthem of the United States?
58. Who wrote The Star-Spangled Banner?
59. What is the minimum voting age in the United States?
60. Who signs bills into law?
61. What is the highest court in the United States?
62. Who was President during the Civil War?
63. What did the Emancipation Proclamation do?
64. What special group advises the President?
65. Which President is called the “Father of our Country”?
66. Which President was the first Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Army and Navy?
67. What was the 50th state to be added to our Union (the United States)?
68. Who helped the Pilgrims in America?
69. What is the name of the ship that brought the Pilgrims to America?
70. What were the 13 original states of the United States called before they were states?
71. What group has the power to declare war?
72. Name the amendments that guarantee or address voting rights.
73. In what year was the Constitution written?
74. What are the first 10 amendments to the Constitution called?
75. Whose rights are guaranteed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights?
76. What is the introduction to the Constitution called?
77. Who meets in the U.S. Capitol building?
78. What is the name of the President’s official home?
79. Where is the White House located?
80. Name one right or freedom guaranteed by the first amendment.
81. Who is Commander-in-Chief of the United States military?
82. In what month do we vote for the President?
83. In what month is the new President inaugurated?
84. How many times may a Senator or Congressman be re-elected?
85. What are the two major political parties in the United States today?
86. What is the executive branch of our government?
87. Where does freedom of speech come from?
88. What U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services form is used to apply for naturalized citizenship?
89. What kind of government does the United States have?
90. Name one of the purposes of the United Nations.
91. Name one benefit of being a citizen of the United States.
92. Can the Constitution be changed?
93. What is the most important right granted to United States citizens?
94. What is the White House?
95. What is the United States Capitol?
96. How many branches are there in the United States government?

As you can see, some of the questions are easy... but some are pretty challenging. They don't ask every question, but you have to know all of the information because you aren't sure what they will ask.

I think I have them all down except for the one that asks which amendments deal with voter rights. I just keep forgetting.

Anywho, the illegals who have risked their lives to get here and work here... they didn't do enter our country legally because they wouldn't be able to. They don't just give out visas (permission to enter our country) to anyone who applies. The illegals are here illegally because that is their only option. Most support their entire family from what they make here. If we tell people to just fill out the paper work and pay the hundreds/thousands of dollars to apply... they will be denied.

That is why I believe so strongly in a work permit program. And the application process for visas and citizenship needs a complete overhaul! But, back to my original point, the state can't fix those problems, they are federal problems. The state just wants to do something... but their ideas are inhumane. Part of Senate Bill 81 would make it illegal to rent a home or apartment to an illegal. We rent to murderers, rapists, drug users... but heaven forbid we rent to a good LDS family with little babies.

They also want to give police the ability to arrest someone for being illegal. Once the police have someone in custody, their immigration status can be checked. The new bill would allow police to arrest on the suspicion of illegality. They could arrest E and lock him up until I took in proof of legality. Please, he can't carry his green card. Do you know how often he looses things, if you lose it... you are out of luck. Also, the credit cards he carries get so dirty that the magnetic strip doesn't work. We can't risk ruining the green card, that I like to call the golden card, the card to rule all cards. It is beautiful and shiny with many holograms of USA-ish things... My precious, we worked so hard to get it!

Can you tell I am a little passionate about this issue? If you would like to write to the legislators let me know. It took me forever to get all 90 or so addresses into the email. But now that its done, I could just forward it to you.

God Bless the USA. We are lucky to live in such a choice land. Thank your lucky stars that you weren't born south of the border... you just might be losing your chance to go to college or drive or rent a place to live with your family. Just imagine...

Happy Birthday E

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways....

He met the requirements on my list I made in YW for the kind of husband I wanted: honors his priesthood, a hard worker, honest, great father, returned missionary, ...

He loved me fat. Someday when I am super fit and thin I will still be just as grateful that he loved me when I was fat. He can see my good hidden behind all of the craziness.

He is so handsome. You should see him with his "long hair." It is really long but you can't tell because it is so curly and delicious. And I always was more partial to brown men.

He is so mellow and easy going.

He dedicates his life, his entire being to his family.

He's a great mechanic and keeps all of our vehicles clean and running smoothly.

He has been a blessing in the lives of many other people. The service he has done is note worthy.

He is funny and can make me laugh.

He has silently put up with racism and prejudice without lashing out or letting it make him bitter. That reminds me of the Savior, "y no abrio su boca," something like, " He did not open His mouth." He just keeps improving himself and working towards his goals. That is my manly man.

Happy Birthday Amor.

My Favorite Things

• Primary teachers and presidency who love your kids and magnify their callings. We had a primary activity today where the kids filled out little books about themselves. Then they decorated a frame that we put their picture on one side and right next to it a big heart that says "I am a child of God." It was so well organized. I really appreciated all the work they put into making the activity great.
• S singing all the time, today she was making up a song about a pirate. I just caught the line, "...and the pirate died, the pirate died."
• R and L playing together with their "dolly house." They take turns role playing with all of the family members and pets that live in their little house.
• B's love for his "building" toys including transformers, bionicles, legos... I see it as a sign of genius. : )
• Receiving two emails from missionaries I served with in Guatemala! I heard from Hna. Allred and Elder Cordero this week. What a great season of my life the mission was.
• Hearing that a chocolate factory is going to open in my very own town!
• The Complete Jane Austen on Masterpiece, PBS.
• R's love for puppies, Diego, Woody, and especially her papa.
• L's love for kitties and any princess will do.
• B reading out loud to me.
• L's scrawny little legs climbing up to the counter top in the bathroom to wash her hands after she goes potty.
• Curly hair.
• My girls all decked out in a princess gown, crowns, gloves, slippers, and jewels. Especially when I didn't have to help them!
• S and B on the computer at the PBS kids site. They can do everything without my help. Technology and young minds, amazing.
• My children gaining their own testimonies and learning about their divine worth. Tomorrow we will be singing as a family in sacrament meeting. I Am a Child of God in English and Spanish, then I will throw in a verse in Navajo. Yes, we are crazy... but its the church, what can you do? Just sing I guess, just sing. I am positive that our kids are cute enough to take all attention off of the talent, or lack thereof.
• Watching my cats get so much joy from turning circles, counting, getting dressed by themselves, coloring, going potty, dancing ...

Happy Birthday Brigham!

Our lovey lovey boy just turned six. He was so excited for his B-day that he woke up at 5 a.m.! I decorated his room with hearts and he had to come in to tell me about it. Then he saw his unwrapped gift and E told him to go ahead and open it. He woke S up to share in the joy and he had plenty of time to play with his Transformer before he went to school. He also had time to burst into tears because he couldn't transform it and give the gift back to his sleeping mother. The Transformer layed by me for a while but B came back to give it another try... all before I ever got out of bed.

B has had a big year. He learned to write his long firt name back in the beginning of his sixth year, before he turned six he also mastered his enormous last name. B started Kindergarten and learned to read! This week he read to me the following out of Night Creatures: "Some animals are awake at night, and they sleep during the day. Owls and bats are awake at night. Crocodiles, foxes, and jaguars are awake at night, too!" I am very impressed by my smarty pants.

We had a simple dinner of heart shaped sandwiches, heart shaped cheese and apple slices. On his cake we put two transformers fighting and called it good.

Friday Night Lights

If you know me, you know I love Friday Night Lights. It is one of the only TV shows with a real relationship between a husband and a wife. Coach Taylor and Mrs. T are the worlds cutest couple and the greatest parents ever! I am so sad that we are losing great TV shows to reality TV. Must stop the madness!

I've no idea who has taken the time to set up this web site, more power to them. I wouldn't want my children to have made this website. However, here are my favorite things from the site Save Friday Night Lights.

My favorite troubled teen:


LIGHTS ON: Send Light Bulbs To NBC To Save Friday Night Lights
The Official Motto of the Dillon Panthers Booster Club is Keep The Lights On, and what better way to get that point across to NBC than by taking a moment to send them a light bulb as a reminder that it’s a “good idea” to keep great shows on their network. NBC-Universal is owned by General Electric anyway, so these light bulbs will also be like little bribes, putting our whole campaign in a more financial context these studio types will be able to better understand. Light bulbs are cheap, easy to come by, and if they break during shipping, the shattered glass might even seem vaguely threatening when NBC opens the package. Sort of like, “You try to take away our Panthers, and we might just cut you.” So grab a bulb, write “Lights On” on the side of it, and send it to NBC honcho Ben Silverman at:


Ben Silverman
c/o NBC Studios
3000 W. Alameda Ave.
Burbank, CA. 91523


Go to the Booster Club, sign the petition, and send FNL-related tips to info@bwe.tv. Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose.

Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose is something they yell before their games and to get pumped up. Coach Taylor is a great man and I hope that my children get great coaches as they go through sports... not crazy mad swearing coaches. I repeat, I love Friday Night Lights.

B Playing in the Snow

Shopping with Little Monsters

Yesterday after B's school we went to the Dollar store to look for B-day party supplies. I parked by a cart with thoughts of trapping kids inside the cart for less touching within the store. As I was unloading the van, a man came up on his bike and asked for money. He had come down for a job interview on the bus and he forgot to bring return busfare. All he needed was $0.75... As he was blah, blah, blah, I was putting L into the little seat in the front of the cart. Then the search began for money. The wallet was empty of bills, and I could only find some dimes, nickels and pennies.

Then, crash, boom, screaming and crying. I look over to see the flimsy shopping cart with L still iln the seat laying on its side with R under it. Poor little R was just laying on her back, unable to move with the weight of the cart on her. Apparently R and S had both climbed onto the same side and caused the crash. S escaped injury but R has a big bruise on her cheek and L has a huge bump/scrape on her forehead. The worst was the money guy just rode off on his bike without saying anything. I was so frustrated with him I yelled out after him, "Don't you want your money?"

When I told E the story he said, "He was white wasn't he?" (And he was.) "I don't understand how someone who was born here, they have papers, a social security number... There are many job openings out there, how can they not have any sort of job. Yet, they are very comfortable asking for money." I must admit that I see his point. I have been hit up for money at least ten times in parking lots in the last few months.

That was just the beginning of the horror. The kids were tired, whiny, begging, fighting, peeing, touching, grabbing, almost breaking and very embarrassing as we went from the Dollar Store to Zurchers to Target. I am that mother wtih all of the rotten kids in public. I know it isn't all their fault for being tired and dragged around... but....what's a girl to do?

I forgot my favorite part of the piercing... her earings are titanium! I love titanium. It is such an amazing metal, one of my favorite elements. When my doctor told me that my tubaligation included titanium clamps my heart lept with joy. I am so proud to have a little Ti inside of me.

The best part is that the 14 K gold or white gold earings were $35 and the Ti earings were $16!

To Pierce or Not to Pierce

I feel that I must explain our decision to open holes in our 3 year old's ears. I spent plenty of time thinking about it. E thought we would just do it when they were born. I was adamantly against it, but I didn't know why. I, myself, had to wait until I was 12 to get my ears pierced, but then I was nervous about it. We didn't have anywhere to get them pierced, really. No mall, we didn't have a beautician... It just never happened. Then Mom died and that was that. At fourteen I finally got them pierced in a mall in Provo with Donna at my side.

Why did we have to wait till we were twelve? No idea. So, when S kept saying she wanted earings, I kept telling her to wait until she was older. "Like a big mama?" Exactly, like a big mama. Then she would see girls of all ages with earings and ask me why she couldn't. I really didn't have a reason. I decided that we would get her ears pierced while I was still alive. So, we did.

I wanted to prepare her to make sure she wanted this. I pinched her ear and said it would hurt a little... "do you still want this?" She did. While she sat in the enormous chair, waiting for the piercing, she was so quiet. Two girls did the piercing so both ears could be done at the same time. I was ready for one of the big crying/screaming fits. Worried... 3, 2, 1... pierced. Silence. S just looked around, no crying, no "Ouch!" She was a little surprised, but so brave. She is still very pleased with her lovely earings.

And I am still alive.

Sarah and Mama's Saturday

More - Much, Much, More SNOW!

So first on Friday we woke up to about 10 inches of snow. E kindly shoveled before I left in the morning. I was amazed at his speed and snow shoveling skill. He made the mountains so compact and solid and he cleaned right to the pavement. Amazing. Saturday was a sometimes sunny day, cloudy for a while, snowed for a couple of minutes... but all in all it was a nice day. I anxiously watched the news for word on the next big storm. We were told that we would get about 4-9 inches but the worst of it would be in the central and southern part of the state. Imagine our shock when we woke up to at least a foot of snow on the driveway. E shoveled again before church and we frantically loaded up to get to church on time. I zoomed right out of the driveway and felt pretty confident... then when I had to turn at the light the van gave out on me. The tires were just spinning and the light changed from red to green to yellow and again to red before I inched my way around the corner. It was a horrifying drive to church... but we made it. They actually cancelled Sunday School and Relief Society, so after sacrament we came back home. B had fun climbing around in the snow, but the girls were too cold. It is still snowing even now. Thank goodness for our neighbors. We had three neighbors snowblowing our sidewalks while we were at church. That is so appreciated. Neighbors have been so good to us!! May they be repayed in double the kindness that they have shown us.

President Hinckley

I have just spent the last little while watching tributes to President Hinckley on YouTube. It is fun to think of the people putting them together and wanting to do something to honor a prophet they love so much. I love President Hinckley for his optimism, humor, vision and like President Eyring said... his ability to make people want to do better and make them feel like they actually can be better people. I almost forgot about "Stand a Little Taller," and "Ways to Be." Lets not forget the Proclamation on the Family and The Living Christ. Wow... I want to make sure I don't forget what he taught us.

I also learned that the best place to get information about the church is the church. The following is from www.lds.org (the newsroom). You can also watch his funeral tomorrow on line... or maybe at your stake center. Technology is great.



President Thomas S. Monson:

“It was my privilege to know and love President Hinckley long before either of us was called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles or the First Presidency. Through the years I have sat next to him, have served with him and have learned from him. I am a witness to his prophetic calling.

“President Hinckley was prodigious in his work ethic and was totally dedicated to the gospel of Jesus Christ. He was a friend to one and all and a leader who inspired spirituality. His outreach on an international scale was unprecedented. He was truly a prophet for our time. Like the Master, he devoted his life to doing good, and God was surely with him. His life was a gift to the world.”

President Henry B. Eyring:

“President Hinckley had the gift to make people want to do better and to feel that they could. Last Tuesday I sat in a meeting with him as he considered and then decided matters of great importance, some about individuals and some affecting the entire Church. He was pleasant, incisive, and clearly inspired. For me, he raised the standard of what it is to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, giving all.”

The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles:

“Members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles express our heartfelt love and admiration for President Gordon B. Hinckley and the singular life of service he lived. He was our prophet, our leader, our brother and our friend. We feel a deep, personal loss at his passing. He unfailingly demonstrated his devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ, whose witness he was at home and abroad.

“We will miss his wit and his wisdom, his leadership and his love. However, we cannot but rejoice in his reunion with his beloved Marjorie, with his parents and other family members who have gone before, and with the prophets of God, both ancient and modern, among whose eternal ranks he now stands. As the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles we echo the voice of the Master, ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant. … Enter into the joy of thy Lord.’ ”

I will keep striving to be a little better each day. That will be my tribute to a prophet that I love so much.