Dearly Loved

I feel inadequate to write of such a great man, kindred friend, and wonderful prophet. I feel that I have not only lost a leader, but my best friend, the one who has been my strength through the hardest times of my life; the one I have turned to for words of comfort, for reprimanding, for guidance. It is hard to portray the feelings I have for President Hinckley, a man I have never met in person, but feel that I know so well. President Hinckley may have been great in years, but the innocence and purity that his face portrayed was that of a small child. In a world that is often feared, his presence brought comfort and reassurance of God's plan.

I am comforted to have a sure knowledge that President Hinckley has a special place prepared for him in Heaven, alongside his beloved wife. As for myself, he will be truly missed.

I need a vacation from my vacation!

I'm not sure how everyone else feels, but I know that nothing makes me more angry than when I sit down from a long, strenuous day and realize that not one of the seven blog friends I have, have posted anything new. I feel lost that I cannot spend my hour that day thumbing through the lives of others and snooping into their personal business, secretly wishing my life resembled theirs in one fashion or another. For those of you that feel the same way, I am strictly writing this blog for you; that you may not find that hour of the day void.

My month long vacation from school that prompted me to begin online blogging is quickly coming to an end and I find that all the free time I thought I had, never really existed. Ben and I arrived back home last night after being out of town for almost a month (back and forth). Our last expedition of the holidays was to bring home a girlfriend for our lonely son. What began as an ambitious idea ended in empty hands. We were depressed to find out that we have failed as parents, and raised a jealous and selfish son, one that does not share well with others. Since we were unable to adopt this young lady, we snapped a few shots to show just how gorgeous she is and in hopes that someone out there will find her as appealing as we do.



The house that Lola (we picked this name when we thought she was coming home with us) was also home to another Akita named Zues.

As you can see, Zues was beautiful and huge! I have to admit I was slightly nervous to put my face next to his for the picture.

San Diego wasn't a complete loss without Lola; spending time with my family is always my favorite vacation. The trip was short but we fit in the Zoo.



Carissa was so kind to remind us that there is only something like 3% difference between our dna and that of a monkey.

Beautiful Life

So last night after thumbing through everyone else's blogs, I experienced my very own "midlife crisis". Regardless of being only twenty-four, I had come to the conclusion that my life was passing me by and I was missing it (probably how Rose felt in Titanic). I realized that I don't participate in many of the fun activities that I used to. I don't ride my bike anymore (Ben tried to claim that that was when I was eleven, but to his dismay I had to correct him...that was college), I don't swim in the ocean anymore (excuse the fact that I don't live by the ocean), I don't eat snowcones, ride the lazy river at the water park, watch chick-flicks (the last one I saw was Because I Said So with Ben, and I quickly regretted taking him after all the complaints), I don't get pedicures, or go on long scenic runs, I don't dance to 80's music, go to bonfires, dress up just to take pictures, have long leuserly lunches with friends, sing at the top of my lungs, enjoy cleaning to music, and make an event out of getting slurpees. I probably could go on much longer, but it's depressing. So to get myself out of this rut, I've vowed to make time for these small simple joys in my life and to tell you a few of the joys I am grateful for:

-My wonderful husband who loves me, and tries to always make me happy.


-My son, Gus, who loves me and wants to be around me no matter how mean I am.


-My family who is always there no matter how far away.


-Wacations, that help me escape real life every once in a while.


-The Church, that can be found no matter where you are.


-And days like these!!

Hello...Is anyone out there....?

So Jessica is asleep right now, and left her computer on while logged into this online universe... She crashed after finishing hosting a baby shower with Katie Gregory for Courtney Stewart, and left me and Gus to do the clean up work. No I'm kidding, but seriously, does anyone else get this erie feeling when writing this blogging thing, kinda like they are the last person alive, and you are just posting this to see if there is anyone out there? It's like I'm writing into a black hole waiting for this computer to echo back after I type something. I can hear it in my head- Hello? Hello! - Wow it's talking back, nevermind, that was an echo, got me though!

Rough Day

I seem to be stuck in a dilemma and don't know where to go. I'm hoping that someone out there might be able to assist me. Here it is: I've over-committed my computer to more than it can handle by downloading the contents of my camera. It is throwing a fit and refuses to carry out the tasks I ask in a quick, orderly fashion. Panicking (spelling???HELP!), for my computer is my whole existence, I bought cd-r's to copy all my pictures to. The problem is that now that I've ruined five out of the seven cds, still none of my pictures are saved. I think my computer is playing a trick on me, it says the pictures are written onto the cd, but then I can't open them. Someone...HELP.

To add to my already stressful life (I am constantly busy and stressed, yet I really have nothing to do), my sister called me today from Jerusalem!! and I missed it. Yes, I am the girl who refuses to pick up the phone unless I know who will be on the other end, and feel that that particular person will enhance my current situation instead of distracting. This ridiculous attitude cost me my first phone conversation with someone in Jerusalem! And probably the only conversation from there I will ever have. The voicemail that I checked directly after it was recorded, cursed me for being such a piece of work (not really, but it should have). From now on I vow to answer every phone call that is labeled "unknown"!



The winners!!





These have nothing to do with my posting, but we did have an ugly sweater party a while ago and here are some pictures.

Attack of the Macks!

I decided it is finally time to post my life on the web. I've tried myspace and facebook, but cannot seem to figure out how work those programs, and since my wonderful husband likes to change them to make me look like some kind of freak, it is time that I took control. But I have to admit that the main reason for this new creation is that my first semester in my master's program is over, and rather than watch another True Hollywood Story or join Ben on craigslist, I fingured I would put my skills to something productive. I can't promise that I will keep up on this blog, or that I will create another post, but here's a start.

Blogging is a complicated process in that everything has so many choices. I obviously haven't gotten very far, but already I had to chose from a number of layouts. That by itself was difficult since I could not see the difference between the layouts. And then there's the fonts, which all pretty much look the same except for windings or whatever the hell that is that no one can even read so I don't understand why they even give you that option. Maybe one day I'll write a posting in that to give me some type of appreciation for the font.

My sister just informed me that my first blog is supposed to be a background on the family...sorry. In short, there's me (Jessica), my husband Ben, and our son Gus. We live in Las Vegas and are readily awaiting the day we get to leave this hell-hole (maybe that's just me...and I'll claim Gus for that one too). Ben and I are both full time students. Ben works for Apx Alarm during the summers, and for fun he plays on the computer. Seeing that I wouldn't be blogging if I had anything better to do, this is my hobby...tonight.