English Class, Part II

*NOTE: This post is on a very sensitive subject, same as the previous post, and also brings in more of a religious aspect. I do not wish or mean to offend any with what I may say. But if you feel up to reading, I would really appreciate your thoughts.

Alright. I would not be writing another post on this same topic if it weren't for my teacher bringing up another point in class that really left me thinking. It was strong enough to uproot my previous standing. Not throw it out, but uproot it and take a look at the reasons why I believe the way I do. 

In the beginning of class, the discussion topic hadn't changed. We were still arguing the same idea: People shouldn't call abortion murder. There were a few people in my class getting upset and rather heated about the debate. I sat quietly and observed. That's just what I do. Unless I have a solid, strong opinion that I know will never be swayed and I am confident that I have backing to prove my point, then I sit quietly, absorb what's being said, and think it all through. 

When it came down to the last twenty minutes of class, my professor put his hands up and said, "Now class, I am going to make my very last point. And of course, I save my strongest point for last." This perked my interest, because thus far in the class I had not been convinced to not call abortion murder. My professor continued to give us this hypothetical situation:

"There are two women in their late 40's that are living together in California. They are good friends who were both single and decided to rent a house together solely for economic reasons. A pair of LDS missionaries knocks their door, and the women open themselves up to the message and take the discussions. Not too much time passes and they are presented with the challenge to be baptized. They both accepted.
"In their baptism interviews, they both were asked about any serious issues or grievances that were bothering them, that made them feel like maybe they weren't ready to be baptized. Woman #1 said, 'Yes. I was married once. I got married at the young age of 19. I was in love. Not too long after we were married I got pregnant. My husband and I were both in college, we were poor, we were scraping to get by, and so we sat down and decided to abort the baby. I cannot express to you the difficult time I have had over that decision. I feel so incredibly horrible about what I did, and I wish I could go back and undo my decision. It wasn't long after that my husband and I got a divorce. I hate the decision we made to abort our baby.'
"Woman #2, when asked about serious issues responded with this, 'You know, I got married really young. My husband and I were happy, but we were devastatingly poor. Barely making it by financially, no food on the shelves, and a dump of an apartment. So I got this idea that if I killed my husband and got the money from the insurance policy then life would be grand. So, I killed him. But I got caught and received a 60 year sentence. I was 20 years old. I served 25 years of it, and have been out on parole for four years now."

My professor stopped his story there, and the classroom was silent. He looked at us all and asked us this question: "Now, who do you think will be able to be baptized?"  

There was no hesitation in the room as people quietly said, "The first woman." My professor then asked us to consider why she would be able to be baptized but not the second woman, when they had both committed "murder" at the same time in their lives? The second woman would have to wait until her parole was over to even be able to think about the possibility of being baptized. But the first woman would be able to be baptized very soon. 

That hypothetical situation shook me. In the Church we treat the two things differently. Abortion and murder are both sinful, extremely sinful. But the woman who had aborted her baby would not undergo such rigorous obstacles on her path to baptism. So why are they treated differently? Is it because abortion is not considered as serious of a sin as murder? That's what my professor thinks. He believes that there are varying degrees of severity with abortion. An earlier one is not as severely punished as a later one, just as there are different degrees of murder. But, he made it clear that he does not think abortion should be called murder because the punishments and the repercussions of the two things are different.

I don't know what to think. I know that in my personal beliefs abortion is something that I will never consider unless put into a very rare and tragic situation. But whether or not I will continue to call it murder? ...I'm not sure. 

At the end of class, my professor asked those of us who could agree with him on the idea that abortion should not be called murder to raise our hands. My hand stayed on my desk. Simply because I don't know yet. I still have to think everything through. It will probably be a little bit longer before I can choose for sure whether to raise my hand or not.

English Class

*NOTE: This post is centered on a sensitive topic. I do not mean to offend any by writing this, however I would like to hear what you think.

Expectation failure. It's something that the "Best College Teachers Do" according to Dr. Ken Bain. It is something that a teacher creates in their classroom to challenge the commonly existing beliefs or views of life and society, otherwise known as paradigms. In class this last Monday, my English professor posed this question/scenario to us:

Say a student is hungry and wants to run to McDonald's between classes. They are a native resident of Rexburg and as such, hop in their pick-up truck (his words, not mine). As he pulls into the drive-through and orders his food he pulls forward to the pick up window. He looks inside the window and sees a man with a gun trying to get all the cash from the till. At first, the student freezes but then comes back to life as he sees a patron try and run for the door. The criminal shoots that person and kills them. Then an employee runs for the back room to try and reach a phone. With another shot they are dead as well. The student realizes he has his shotgun on a rack in the cab of his pickup (again, my professor's words, not mine). He reaches up, grabs it, aims and takes fire. His shot hits the criminal and kills him. Did the student make a mistake? Is he guilty of murder? Or did he make a morally correct decision in stopping a murderer from continuing his work?

He closed class with that hypothetical situation on Monday and told us to come prepared for a civil argument on Wednesday. In my mind I did not feel that the student made an immoral decision. It seems like as a citizen we have a responsibility to help and protect those around us. If we are in a position where we can stop someone from doing harm before they have shot anyone, then a shot in the shoulder or leg would be adequate. However, if the person has already done harm then anything should be done to stop them from hurting more people. 

In class this discussion was had and the conclusion I had come to on my own was generally agreed upon by the students in my class. After about ten minutes of discussion, my teacher then wrote the claim of his argument on the board. I was shocked as I read what he wrote:

"People should not call abortion murder."

Instantly I was confused. "What? I am at Brigham Young University-Idaho, a church endorsed school, and yet my professor is telling me that we should not call abortion murder?" Whether or not my mouth hung open for a few minutes I am not sure of, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did. My personal beliefs have always been that abortion is murder. You have a child growing inside of your body, you are the source of its life, and you choose to rid yourself of that "burden." I understand that in some circumstances, an abortion is necessary. While those circumstances exist and they are very sad, choosing an abortion because you simply don't want to have a baby does not sit well with me.

It is wrong. It is disgusting. And it is morally grotesque.

So why is my teacher telling us that we should not call it murder? Yes, I know that the Church has made no statement as to at what point the soul enters the developing body, but to me I have always felt that abortion = murder. But my professor was arguing that point. It's hard to sway me from my view point, but if you have a good argument, it's very possible.

My professor's argument was this: "If you believe that using deadly force to stop a murderer from continuing his work, and you believe abortion is murder, then logically you would be in support of using deadly force against all abortion doctors." 

There was a man who laid in wait in a very well known abortion doctor's office. This specific doctor was in support of late term aborting, and was known to be the one doctor to go to if you wanted an abortion late in your pregnancy. This man laid in wait for this doctor to finish up for the day, and as he was about to leave his office, he shot the doctor and killed him. In this man's trial, he said, "I was just stopping a murderer from continuing his work, because I believe abortion is murder." 

Obviously what this man did is wrong. But, if you were to follow the logic of:
1. Believing that using deadly force against murderers to stop them from killing more is morally correct.

2. Believing abortion is murder.

3. Thus, it is not morally incorrect to use deadly force against abortion doctors...

...then what he did was not morally wrong. However, all of our moral compasses would point us towards the view point of "killing is wrong." So how do we solve this issue? I honestly don't know.

My professor believes that people only call it murder because they are disgusted with the poor and irresponsible choices of those women that choose to get abortions. (He did acknowledge that there are special and rare circumstances where an abortion is necessary.) He is disgusted with abortion. But, he does not think people should call it murder because by doing so it justifies the use of deadly force against those who practice abortion. 

I am not saying that abortion isn't murder. And I'm not saying that we should go around bombing abortion clinics and putting out a contract for every practicing abortion doctor. I basically just want to know what you think. Do you think his argument is ridiculous? Do you think he even has a valid point? 

I'm not sure. I haven't been swayed by his argument. And I still think that the student in the hypothetical situation made the morally correct decision. But I've been left in a kind of stupor all day by my professor's argument. I would love to hear your thoughts.

In Case You Wanted to Know... But You Probably Don't

Age: 21 years, 2 months, 11 days


Bed size: Queen


Chore you hate: Cleaning the tub... I hate how impossible it is to avoid getting water all over my shorts while cleaning.


Dogs: No dogs yet... but Derek and I are both dog people, so someday!


Essential start of your day: Breakfast. If I don't eat I'm a big ol' grumpy pants.


Favorite color: Orange


Gold or silver: Silver


Height: 5'4"


Instruments I play (or have played): Piano, clarinet, alto saxophone, soprano saxophone


Job title: Student, Web Tech, Chem 105 Lab TA and Chem 105 Grader


Kids: Not yet! Hopefully we will start our family once we are graduated from school. We're thinking four kids... if life was perfect, we'd have two boys and two girls. We even have names picked out. Yeah, we're prepared. But I'm more than willing to bet things will change by the time we're ready to have kids.


Live: Rexburg, Idaho


Mom's name:  Jerri


Nickname:  Tay


Overnight hospital stays:  Not once. I did go to the hospital once at night... it was when I crashed my head through the window on my little brother's 3rd birthday. Had to get glass pulled out of my forehead and got 13 stitches. I was 5.


Pet peeve: I have many. Probably too many. But one of my biggest pet peeves is when people gush over every second of their life on facebook with status updates every five minutes. Come on... maybe one status a day, MAYBE two if something really important happened. But one every 5 minutes? Come on. You have got to have better things to do.


Quote from a movie: "Tommy: Did you hear I finally graduated?
Richard: Yeah, and just a shade under a decade too. Alright.
Tommy: You know a lot of people go to college for seven years.
Richard: I know, they're called doctors." -Tommy Boy [1995]


Right or left handed: Right


Siblings:  I'm the fourth girl. I have three older sisters, a younger brother, and a younger sister.


Time you wake up:  Somewhere between 7:15 am and 7:30. Even on most Saturdays because Derek gets home from work around 7:00 am. 


Underwear:  un-der-wear [uhn-der-wair] noun - clothing worn next to the skin under outer clothes. Courtesy of dictionary.com.


Vegetables you dislike: Peas and asparagus


What makes you run late:  Being forgetful. I forget I need to bring something with me to class, so once we're out the door, I have to run back to the bedroom. Or I forget about a worksheet I need to print off for class. Yeah, I'm real good at forgetting.


X-rays you've had done:  Teeth and I've had an ultrasound on my heart before!! Pretty cool.


Yummy food you make: Green chile chicken enchiladas. They're delish. And... I make these chocolate chocolate chip cookies... Derek says they're the best cookies I make. 


Zoo animal: Giraffes. I've always liked them. And big fat monkeys. I think they're funny.

Climate Control

I have come to the conclusion that my husband knows. He knows the precise moment when I'm just barely getting comfortable. I don't say anything to alert him of this, and there is no change in body language. But he knows.

There have been multiple instances when we get into the car, it's freezing outside, and so I turn the temperature dial as far as I can down the red line. With my arms and legs covered in goose bumps, I sit there and try to warm up. Five to ten minutes later, when I finally start to feel warmth returning to my body Derek reaches over and turns the dial toward the blue line. I am not warm yet. I was just barely beginning to feel a little bit of relief from the terrible cold! It's like there's this little evil voice inside of him that convinces him that he is too warm and needs to turn the temperature down. 

But what about me? The poor, freezing person in the passenger seat? I usually suck it up and look forward to the moment when we can go inside and I can grab a blanket and curl up on the couch. But until then, how I hate that little evil voice. 

If there is one thing that I demand on having in our car (once we are all rich and famous and such) it will be his and hers climate controls. Until then, wish me luck.

FHE with The Carson Family!

Since Derek and I just barely got settled in our apartment, Abbie and Adam had mercy on us and invited us over for Sunday dinner. They kinda like us. It was really fun! Abbie made Mom's Meatloaf, delicious, and we had potatoes and corn on the cob. For dessert we had rice krispie treats! While we were all sitting around the table after the whole pan of rice krispie treats was gone, we decided it would be fun to have Family Home Evening at our apartment Monday night so that Abbie and Adam could see the apartment. We planned it for 7:00 pm with the Carson's in charge of a lesson and the Morgan's in charge of activity and dessert. 

Today Derek and I went out to have lunch with some friends. Afterward, we ran into Porter's. Derek has been wanting one of those calendars made of wooden blocks. You paint them, put on the vinyl lettering, and ta da! You have a cute calendar. So while we were at Porter's we picked up two of the kits to make these calendars, picked out some colors, got 5 sponge brushes, and some scrap booking paper and rushed home!

When we got home I grabbed the big black star off of our wall and started on my project. I have been wanting to decorate one of those five-point stars with scrap booking paper for a long time, so I finally got around to it! This was my first try and it's definitely not perfect, but I think it turned out pretty good!

Seven o'clock rolled around and the Carson's knocked on the door! I gave them a quick tour around the place and then we started FHE. Abbie gave a beautiful lesson on what Easter really means. It was wonderful. Then came the activity!

We covered the counter with newspaper, divvied out the supplies, and got to work! It was really fun. Here are the end results of mine and Derek's calendar.

It's very fun and is currently sitting on top of our stove.

Hooray for FHE!

Our First Place

Well ladies and gentlemen, we are moved in. We made it through the millions of cardboard boxes, and the duffel bags and suitcases full of clothing. The best part was going through all of our wedding gifts! It was like another big party for us since we hadn't looked at them since we opened them in December! 

We are mostly settled. Right now the second bedroom is still kind of messy. Mostly a place to put random things we don't know what to do with yet. But I think for only being here for three days, we're doing pretty dang good!

When you walk in the front door and look to your left, this is what you see!

A beautiful centerpiece that we inherited from Marcie.

The beautiful mirror. We love this! It's directly in front of you as you walk in the front door.

Our kitchen.

Our flour, sugar, and canisters.

We love this canister set!

There are some recessed shelves across from the kitchen, so this is how we filled them.

These closet doors open up to our washer and dryer. I love the "MORGAN" sign. It goes perfectly with the colors of the kitchen!

Bathroom counter.

We have another set of recessed shelves in the bathroom. And this is how we filled these ones.

This is one of my favorites. 

And we hung a green star on the inside of the bathroom door.

The bedroom! 

A close up of the embroidery on our quilt.

Another view. This one is of the closet. Ooo la la...

And here we are. 

Oh, how I love my husband. Always willing to smile so nicely for pictures... ha! If only. But we're very happy to be almost completely settled. And extremely happy to have our own place! It feels like home already.

(There will be more pictures to come as we finish putting up all of the picture frames.)

And So We Part

Well, Derek and I are leaving Washington in a few hours. He is currently in the process of loading the truck and trailer (no, I'm not being lazy and skipping out on helping. I asked him and he said there wasn't really anything I could help him with), and I have made a few rounds around the house to make sure that I am not leaving anything behind. But I promise you, my mom will find stuff and I will be getting a package in the mail in a few weeks. That's how it always goes.

I am not quite sure how to feel about this change. This is what I know:

1. It's going to be so fun to have our own place! I'm very excited to use all of the wonderful gifts we got at our wedding to decorate.
2. Moving is exciting! A lot of work, but exciting.
3. I can't wait to get back to Rexburg and be close to Abbie, Adam, and Jace (and soon to be baby girl!)

While this is all very fun and exciting, there are some things that we are not looking forward to so much.

1. We're going to miss all of the wonderful family members that we have been able to be so close to the past few months.
2. We're going to miss living rent-free (thanks mom and dad!).
3. Going to school means spending money, which has become something I do not like to do.
4. And leaving means leaving all of our amazing friends here in Washington! We will miss you all.

Overall, Derek and I are very excited to go back to Rexburg. While starting off our marriage living at my parents' house has been a challenge in some ways, it has been an overwhelming blessing. And so, as we part from our home here in Washington today, I can't wait to finally start our life together! ...even if it is in Rexburg.

It All Started With a Hankering for Popcorn...

For those of you with weak stomachs when it comes to bathroom talk... this post is not for you.

The warm no-bake cookie sitting in my hand was slowly but surely disappearing with each bite. My stomach and taste buds thanked my mother silently as my husband got up from the chair in the family room. Upon entering the kitchen, he looked straight at me and said, "I want some POOP-corn." We all got a good chuckle out of it until I brilliantly added, "Can you imagine what poopcorn is? It's like digging the whole kernels of corn out of pieces of poo-..." and before I could finish my hilarious sentence (or so I thought at least), my mother interrupted me with a very loud verbal exclamation of pure disgust. My gut-wrenching laughter filled the whole house as my mom clapped her hand on the counter and said, "Oh, that's butt-sgusting!"

Such ingenious conversation sprouted from a hankering for popcorn. I love my family.

Ocean Shores 2011

This past Monday and Tuesday, my family left for a quick trip to the ocean. Derek, my parents, Morgan, and I got in the car around 12:30 and started making our way west.  When we arrived and got checked into our hotel room we were all just setting stuff down and getting organized when Derek looked out the sliding glass doors and said, "What's that?!" Of course, everyone turned and did their best to catch sight of what had caught Derek's attention. It was a doe! She walked carefully through the grass behind the hotel and then started to go down one of the trails heading to the beach. Not too long after, two others joined her.

We were all out on the balcony, and mom decided it would be a good idea to feed them Doritos. They loved them!

After the deer wandered off we decided to take a trip to Dick's IGA, the local grocery store, for some dinner supplies. We had mandarin chicken salad for dinner, one of my favorites! After dinner we all sat down and watched the Mariner's game, I fell asleep, and upon waking up the game playing began! First up was Catch Phrase. It was Mom, Morgan, and I on a team and Dad and Derek on the other. It was a disadvantage to have three on one team, but it was still fun. Once we got tired of that game, we played Cranium. I love that game! 

At one point Derek had to draw with his eyes closed, and the object he had to draw was a bottle rocket. I got "firework". And another time, Derek and I drew a "Humdinger" which is where a person on your team has to hum a song without any words or actions. I was the appointed hummer, and the song was "On the Road Again" by Willie Nelson. I only knew a few phrases from the chorus, so I hummed that over and over until Derek finally got it at the last second. I was relieved. 

Later that night Morgan, Derek, and I went down to the pool while Mom and Dad stayed to watch some TV. 

On Tuesday, we all got up, got ready, checked out of the hotel, and went shopping at the little strip mall down the road. After we were done shopping, we went down to the beach to fly kites. Once we were finished there, we went to the slick track. Derek, Dad, and I were the only ones brave enough to face the rain and wind. It was a grand trip. 

Derek trying to help my kite get back up after I had crashed it.

Morgan flying her Barbie kite.

Dad. I'm pretty sure we've had the kite for EVER.

Derek writing his name in the sand. How cute.

Morgan is sad...

...because she crashed her kite.

Surprise, surprise. The Barbie kite is down again!

Dad fetching his kite out of the tall grass.

Dad flying the Barbie kite. I LOVE this picture.

I added the words "Fart On" above Derek's name in the sand, just as a good wife would.

Morgan doing her best to get Barbie airborne once again.

Dad's kite, lost in the grass.... again.

So he gave the controls to Mom.

"Wait, I need to get my hair out of my face!" Click! "Oh, okay."

Derek and I tried a million pictures but I either cut his head off or I was barely in the picture at all. It makes taking pictures difficult when there's a height difference of over a foot.

I like this one though.

Thanks Mom and Dad for a wonderful trip!