Appropriate soundtrack for the below entry

As you read the next (previous) blog entry, you can enjoy this music clip. I know the words will be ringing through your heads anyway.

Orson Scott Card Address

Last weekend my husband and I attended BYU's "Life, the Universe and Everything" their Science Fiction/ Fantasy writing symposium. ( If you havn't started the video clip on the above blog entry, you can do so now!)

My favorite speaker there was their Guest of Honor, Orson Scott Card. He is the author of such books as "Ender's Game", "Wyrms", "Worthing Saga" etc.

In the address I attended, he spoke on the topic of "Why are LDS writers so heavily represented in the Science Fiction/Fantasy writing genre?" What he had to say on the subject really made me think.

Among other things, he said that as a religion we believe in the scientific method. We are not told to just believe what others say. We are challenged to find out things for ourselves. We are told in the "Book of Mormon" by Moroni to pray about it for ourselves to know that it is true. We are constantly told we cannot live on borrowed light and we must get our own testimonies.

Another reason we are interested in Science Fiction and Fantasy is that we believe in miracles. We believe in practical heroes. They will do all they can and then some other "force" will come in and help him/her to conquer whatever it is they are fighting. In a fictional book it would be called some sort of "magic" but in reality it is our Heavenly Father who is helping us through miracles and Priesthood power.

I am grateful for a gospel that not only tells me we have a Heavenly Father who loves us, that we have Prophets, and a Savior. We are told and expected to find this out for ourselves that it is aall true. Card's address also made me grateful for how the gospel helps me to have a more positive view of our world and our future. It is a gospel of joy and hope and because of it, I know that despite hard trials in life there are happy endings. In fact if you live a righteous life there are no unhappy endings. Everything will work out for our good.

One of my favorite quotes by C.S. Lewis explains this ability to dream and believe in happy endings.

"You and I who still enjoy fairy tales have less reason to wish actual childhood back. We have kept it's pleasures and added some grown-up ones as well"

"Cafe Rio" Style Pork

If you like the sweet pork at "Cafe Rio" here is a recipe you can't miss. It is so easy and so yummy. Andrea Brown (Tim's co-worker at UVSC) can be thanked for this recipe, at least for sharing it with us. Thanks Andrea we love it!

Sweet Pork
1 Cup Salsa (Pace is good, not a fresh salsa)
1 Cup packed brown sugar
1 3-5 lb Pork Tenderloin

Place ingredients in a greased crock pot for 8-10 hours on low (to shred I find it best on medium low) Shred pork and leave lid off for about 15 min to let juice thicken. Use meat to make burritos (and freeze for future use)

Valentines Day

(Thank you again David for another great picture to illustrate my Blog!)

Valentines Day was great! I have a lot of people to thank for it too. I spent some time with Tim at Brigham Young University's Science Fiction/Fantasy Symposium "Life the Universe and Everything." Other than the pains you can expect would come with attending such an event with a 2 and a 5 year old, it was great. Orson Scott Card, the author of two of my favorite books ("Ender's Game" and "Wyrms"), is a guest speaker this year.

We ate lunch at the "Indian Palace" lunch buffet on Center Street in Provo. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. It is one of our favorites. I will give more info on that in another blog.

When we got home I remembered how frustrating it is when kids get home from school on Valentine's Day because they come home with all their candy. I get to hear Lincoln and Sam complain that Elisabeth and Joe wont share their candy, which means in their language, "Joe and Elisabeth wont give me all of their candy!" because they do share within reason. This isn't enough for them though.

Imagine how thankful I was when within moments of my kids getting home from school, we got a knock at the door and it was Lincoln's primary teaacher with a goodsized bag of assorted Valentine candy's for him. She must have kids of both school age and preschool age is all I can say. Even perfect timing. If she had come earlier the candy would be gone by the time Joe and Elisabeth got home and it wouldn't have had the same effect. Thank you primary teachers ! I hope I remember that if I ever teach that age group in primary. What about Sam you might ask? Well, Lincoln in his thrill of being included in the candy showers was more than generous with his candy. What a stud. He even put the candy down to do the cleaning we had asked him to do right before there was a knock at the door. He didn't even have to be reminded!

Tim's co-worker babysat for us (Her husband was out of town for Valentine's Day so she was kind enough to serve us instead) so we could go to a Dinner and Dance at the Center Street Musical Theater. Thank you Abby! Good food and fun atmosphere. Fun dancing and great Company! (Tim) We finished the evening with a cup of cocoa from Borders Bookstore. Thank you Tim for a great Valentine's Date!

Weednesday, I heard another pretty song by Linkin Park(like "Shadow of the Day"), though depressing(also like "Shadow of the Day") . Since it is titled "Valentines Day" I will include it on this blog entry. Enjoy!

"Chinese" Food

Last night, as I waited in the car for my kids to finish piano class, I read an article in Readers Digest (yes I read it, and I love it) about "Chinese" food ("The Fortune Cookie Chronicles", by Jennifer 8. Lee. Nope that isn't a typo. It really is supposed to be an 8 according to RD) Amonng other things I got from it was a craving for Chinese food.

I suggested (demanded) that we eat at the chinese buffet for dinner. At first Tim was all for it..then as we got closer he started acting less enthused which put the weight of the decision on me completely. He remembered that eating out on a weeknight, (the same week as Valentines so we will prbably eat out again) and eating buffet style are both behaviors that aren't getting us closer to our goals (of staying in our budget and eating healthier.) I didn't fold though, I chose to ignore our goals.

The article brings up the fact that American Chinese food is very unlike real Chinese food. I think I knew that. It also said that Fortune Cookies are an American invention. I knew that too. The most interesting thing I learned from the article was what the "P.F." in "P.F.Changs" stood for: "Paul Fleming, the creator of Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar and founding visionary of Chang's restaurant chain." I had to chuckle. Here I thought they were abreviating it becaue it was too hard for us Americans to pronounce. Takes some of the culture away from it doesn't it?

Anyways, there is a good Chinese buffet in North Orem on State street if anyone is interested. It has a Mongolian Barbeque to boot. It was worth the money and the guilt buffet.

Bears are Smarter than Humans

I say this for one reason. Bears sleep through the winter. I know this is instinct on their part and not intelligence. I would ask at this point, why couldn't God have created humans to have this instinct too but I think he has. I know that I don't want to get out of bed in the morning when it is cold outside . Do I act on these instincts? NO! For some stupid reason I think I would be better off getting up and out of my cozy bed to clean my house and feed my family. Maybe it is part of that huge portion of our brains that we don't use.

I think that if we as humans could admit to ourselves that we aren't so different from the bears we would all better off. Maybe if we could make an agreement to at least not expect others to get out of bed all winter (I think we could just limit hibernation time from January 1 to March 21 because Christmas is really worth being awake for) this human hibernation thing could work. Think of all the car accidents and illnesses and discomfort we would avoid. Are these 3 cold tedious months really worth being awake for? Let's be honest with ourselves.

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood!

Today is looking like the beginnning of the end of a long cold winter. I imagine we have more snow ahead but there is a HUGE patch of brownish green grass on my lawn. Good enough for me for now. Hooray!

I also realized the other day that it was 6:00pm and it was still light. Another sign that there is warmth and light ahead. Today is a sunny day and a bit warmer than it has been too. Sam has been sick all weekend but appears to be back to his smiley fun self today so I think I will take my kids out and get us all some much needed vitamin D, fresh air and exercise. I don't think I have ever been so excited to see the the coming of spring.

Later same day.

Ok...so it isn't spring yet. I took my kids out to walk and ride their bikes around the path at the park behind our house. They wanted to go back within 10 minutes. Actually I will be honest...I wanted to go back in 10 minutes. My kids were crawling along on the bikes they insisted on bringing and everyone was freezing. When Lincoln refused to ride his big wheel anymore I knew that was the end of it. But all in all I think I got more sunshine and fresh air in that 20 minutes than I have in the last 3 months total so it is a good thing we went. Next time no bikes though.

(picture was taken by my brother David Sandberg)

Casino Royale 101

Note to self:

Don't try to catch up on 40 pages of textbook reading while watching "Casino Royale"! Oh...don't worry I studied. I just don't think there will be any questions like the following in my quiz tomorrow:

Which is better?

A. Daniel Craig in a black shirt

B. Daniel Craig in a white shirt

C. Daniel Craig in a suit

D. Daniel Craig in no shirt

Hmmm. . . I'm not sure I know the correct answer to that question either.

A Recipe I Can't Keep to Myself!

Last night we had a yummy dinner. It was quite simple to make and VERY tasty. Of course I love all the ingredients so when I saw the recipe combining them all I craved it and wanted to make it. It did not disapoint!

Maple-Glazed Sweet Potato and Sausage

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into ½ to 3/4 –inch cubes
3 tbsp butter or margarine
1 lb smoked sausage, cut into ½ inch pieces
1 medium onion, halved crosswise and cut into thin wedges
1 large apple, peeled, cored and diced
¼ Maple Syrup
2 Tbsp packed brown sugar
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp nutmeg (optional)
1/8 to ¼ tsp ground red pepper or cayenne


1. Bring 1 inch water and ½ tsp salt to boiling in Dutch oven or large saucepan. Add potatoes; return to boiling. Cover and cook over medium heat 3-5 minutes, or until potatoes are fork-tender, Drain well.
2. Meanwhile, melt butter in large skillet over medium heat. Add sausage, onion, and apple. Cook and stir 5 minutes. Stir in maple syrup, brown sugar, salt, nutmeg, if desired, and red pepper, mixing well.
3. Stir in sweet potatoes, stirring to coat. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until lightly glazed.

Prep time: 17 mins Cook time 12 mins Serves: 14

Why Wal-mart is like life.

1. You have a greeter welcome you when you get there....You have parents when you enter the world. Neither is always as friendly as you think they should be.

2. When you go to Walmart there is nothing at the store that will actually make you happy. There is plenty to entertain you for a short time but nothing that will bring you lasting joy. The world is the same way. Sure we will find some fun stuff here but the only things that will bring true joy, the world can't offer. You have to find those elswhere. Only the things you come in with or have left at home give you that.

3. You need to go the store to survive. You need food, clothes, shelter and TP, so you need to do it even though it is a miserable expereince and it is frustrating to spend money on stuff that just gets consumed. There is pain and sorrow and the world is a dangerous place . If you make the wrong choices you can get messed up but we had to come to progress.

4. It is easy to get distracted by the funner less important and healthy things. Good idea to go with a list. In life, we are here to grow, be tested and bless one another. It isn't always as fun as some of the stuff the world suggests but you'll regret it if you get sidetracked and forget why you are here. The list is the gospel or the scriptures. They remind us what we came for. In both cases, of course a little fun is ok...in moderation...as long as you aren't sacrificing the more important stuff.

5. Our abiltiy to have good relationships is tested....A lot. The point is NOT to kill your kids. You are tired, your husband is tired, your hungry, you all want to kill eachother, not to mention some of the other wonderful customers that can be so rude at times and the unavailable or worse grumpy workers. We need to learn in this life to be kind to one another even when we are stressed.

6. We learn from experience lots of things, like what product is good and what is not, and" Sure that ice cream looks really good but it isn't good for me and I will regret it." "I think that buying something will fill a void for me cause I am feeling depressed, but later I will regret it and it wont really bring me satisfaction." We keep buying the stuff in our weak moments though....hmmm maybe when I am perfect I will be able to resist the Ben and Jerrys.

7. You learn these lessons and you teach them to your kids when they are begging for things that aren't good for them. It is our responsibility to teach our kids from our experience what things will bring happiness in this life and how to make good choices.


8. When I go to Walmart now, I always bring my cell phone. If Tim came with me it is easier to find him later. If he didn't I can ask questions about things we might have at home already . In life it is a good idea to stay in close touch with those you love so they can help you make good choices and guide you. They can help give you support when you are having a tough time too.

9. Your kids can get lost...Keep an eye on them! Don't send them out with out them knowing the way to get back. Teach them to be safe. We have to teach them the gospel so when they can't be watched constantly they know how to get home to our Heavenly Father on their own.

10. You die a little every time you go to Walmart....just like in life.