Update coming soon!

Sorry I haven't posted anything for almost a month. Our computer has been "in the shop" for 3 weeks! I've been able to check my email at work a few times. I'm hoping to get some new pictures up today. Stay tuned!

NOTE: These pictures are supposed to be at the bottom (that's where they fall in the story).

Yesterday David and I spent the morning spreading the word about Proposition 8, which will be on the ballot here in California in November. We knocked on a few doors, but people weren't home. We are working with the "Yes on Prop 8" campaign. Prop 8 is an amendment to the state constitution that says, "Only marriage etween a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California." It's the same wording as Prop 22, which was passed in 2000 by a 61.4% majority. It was overturned by a 4-3 vote of the California Supreme Court and that's why it's on the ballot as a constitutional amendment. If the people vote yes, it will re-establish traditional marriage as the law. A no vote will allow the legalization of same-sex marriage. It's about preserving marriage; it's not an attack on the gay lifestyle. It wouldn't take away the legal rights of same-sex couples. Under California's domestic partner law, they already have (and would keep) all the rights that a state can grant to a married couple. If this amendment is not passed, teachers could be disciplined and dismissed if they do not teach that both are equally approved in society. (They are required by Education Code 51890 to instruct children about marriage in health education class.) Also, churches that are open to the public (almost all) would be required to perform marriages for same-sex couples if asked, whether it goes against their teachings or not. If they refuse to perform those marriages they will lose their tax-exempt status. If you are interested in reading more you can go to http://www.protectmarriage.org/. Anyway, we are just trying to figure out which voters are yes, no, or undecided. We were not trying to talk anyone into changing their minds. Since we didn't have much luck at the doors, we came home and called people. That was better, but we still had to leave quite a few messages. The responses were mostly positive. Between the two of us, we were only hung up on 3 times. Not bad. I'm not sure exactly how many phone numbers we called, but it was over 60 for sure. In case any of you are wondering: The members of the church in California have been encouraged by the First Presidency to donate our time and money to this cause. As most of you know, the church does not ever tell us (or even suggest) for whom we vote, but because this is a moral issue, the church has taken a stand. I hate to think what this might lead to if it is defeated. We have been asked by the man on the watchtower to really get involved. I am so grateful to have a prophet that we can look to for guidance and direction. I'm grateful for the scriptures and the lessons we learn from reading about people who fall away from the teachings of the Lord.

Back to the story:

So when we finished with that David started cleaning out the garage. How do we get so much stuff? He had a garbage/recycling pile, a give away pile and a keep pile. He hung more hooks for bikes, reorgainzed cycling gear, tools, nuts/bolts/screws, etc. He was out there for hours (and I helped some, too!). It was really hot. After he finished the garage we went to Target for a few things. Well, David has a driving game for the Playstation and for his birthday I gave him a steering wheel/pedals for it. He's been holding it on his lap which isn't ideal when you are trying to race a super car. At Target he found a black wooden TV tray and a black folding chair with a cushion. When he got the steering wheel attatched to the tray he realized that it was a little heavy on that side. So, (joking) I said, maybe you should put a big soda and a plate of nachos on the other side to weigh it down. Five minutes later, and his problem is solved. Notice how close this set up is to the TV.

Can anyone tell me how to get my photos in places other than the top of my post?

First day of school

Well, it's come and gone. Sara loves her teacher. She's tall...6'1", and is "super fun!". Lauren's favorite class is yearbook. Dallin likes high school. He refused to let me get a picture of him and I didn't have the camera ready so he escaped before I could get it out!

Our adventure with friends

Our very good friends, Chris and Michelle, flew down from Portland to visit us for Labor Day. We had a wonderful time and we picked up right where we left off! Sara loved doing word searches and crosswords puzzles with Michelle. On Saturday, we all got on bikes (thank goodness for our little "bike shop" in the garage) and rode 15 (yes, 15) miles to the beach. It took us an hour and 45 minutes to get there. Chris rode one of David's bikes, Michelle rode my bike, I rode Lauren's mountain bike, Lauren rode her cruiser, Dallin rode one of David's bikes (not sure why, as he has four of his own), and David rode the extracycle with Sara on the back. We had all of our baskets filled with sunscreen, snacks, water bottles, and towels. David had more of all of that and a beach blanket and beach umbrella. We rode on the Mountain-to-Sea Trail that passes right by our house. We played in the water, went to a pizza shop and an ice-cream shop, sat on the beach and read books and magazines and played in the ocean some more. Then it was time to get back on the bikes and ride home. It only took an hour and 15 minutes to get back. So we rode a total of 30 miles that day! It was so great! And no one crashed or had any bike trouble.

I'm thankful for great friends, a beach close by, and bicycles.

She's discovered a new talent

On Wednesday night at Young Women's (church group for girls 12-18) a woman in our ward that does cake decorating brought her "tools" and taught the girls basic cake decorating. They all loved it. Lauren would like to keep practicing. She really enjoyed it and as you can see, she did a great job on her cake! She wants to make her own birthday cake this year. Each girl got to take home 2 frosting bags and 4 decorating tips. I see more cakes in the Davidson family's future!

I am thankful for: 400 count white sheets, dentists (we've been getting our teeth taken care of), good friends.

Back to School

Well, it's that time of year again. Schedules, new teachers, early to bed, early to rise, brown bag lunches, new clothes. School starts for us on Sept 3rd (next Wednesday). I have to go to work today and tomorrow for a couple of hours each day. Just need to start getting the library ready. I will have a couple of weeks of school without students so I can finish up anything I need to. I should have several boxes of new books waiting to be catalogued when I get there today! Yeah! It's so nice to be able to spend thousands of dollars on new books and not have my bank account go down!

We registered Dallin and Lauren last week. Dallin is excited for high school. He's running cross country and they started practice this past Monday. 7-9 am. Today they ran on the beach. I had to take him there so I stayed and read and took some pictures of the ocean (above). He likes his schedule. The entire school has to read The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd by the beginning of the year because they will be tested on it. I'm also reading it. I like it, but am failing to see why, of all of the books that could've been chosen, this was it. To me, it seems like a book that most young men are not going to connect with. The girls, yeah, but since studies show that boys reading drops off more than girls after fourth grade, let's try to choose something a little more "relatable". It was a summer reading assignment after all. Anyway, he'll be getting up at 5:30 for seminary which starts at 6 am. I feel for him as I went to released-time seminary (it was part of my high school schedule of classes). For anyone who doesn't know, seminary is basically a Sunday School class that high school aged kids take, generally Monday-Friday while school is in session. During each of the four years, they study a different book of scripture: New Testament, Old Testament, Book of Mormon and Doctrine & Covenants. It's a great way for them to start off their day, before heading into the craziness of high school living. Dallin is looking forward to it, but not the early time!

Lauren likes her schedule. She's on the yearbook staff this year and is very excited about that! She's also taking a cooking class that will be fun. She's scoped out her locker and it's at the perfect height. Last year her locker was on the top row, so it was a little hard to reach, but this year it's one row down and it's perfect! She has PE 4th and is a little worried that it's going to be too hot. Last year she had it 2nd period and it was just right. She'll live, though! She will be taking two dance classes/week and takes tennis lessons (through a family friend...for FREE!) once or twice a week.

Sara will be meeting her teacher on Tuesday at an ice-cream social. I ordered her supplies to be delivered to her desk. It's so nice. We go to a specific website and tell them what grade, what school and pay and the supplies are waiting for the student on the first day. No hassle school supply shopping...I love it! It was a little more (maybe $10) but it's a fundraiser for the school and I didn't have to drive around or fight crowds! Last year she was in the Earth Club after school. This year she wants to take the pottery class. It's one day per week. She is also taking tennis lessons and she wants to go to the Olympics in 2016. Keep practicing Sara and you can do it!

I'm thankful for seminary, Katherine (our friend and tennis teacher) and dishwashers (mine is running right now!).

Junior Track Nationals

This week is Jr. Track Nationals. Dallin has been looking forward to it for a couple of months. We are lucky enough to have it in Carson this year. Last year it was in Colorado and the year before it was in Pennsylvania. My pictures are not very clear. The first is Dallin on the track warming up and the second is a shot of the infield where all of the cyclists are set-up in little waist high "cubbies" made of fencing. Dallin and two girls are the only members of their team (Sho-Air) that are competing. They are sharing a "cubbie" which is nice because we don't have to bring everything. We share a trainer (for the kids to warm-up or cool-down on), chairs, bike pump, etc. He's already competed in one race. It was a 200 meter sprint qualifier. There are 31 kids (for all over the country) in Dallin's age group. He got 23rd and took .3 seconds off of his previous best time. That doesn't sound like much, but it's quite a bit in that short of a distance. He was very pleased with that. Dallin is 14 and because he turns 15 during 2008 (Dec. 16), he has to compete with boys that are 15 and 16. That's the drawback of a December birthday...sorry Dallin! He's got three races left: 500 M Time Trial (alone on the track...just against the clock), 8K Scratch Race (mass start...1st, 2nd, 3rd place), 15K Points Race (every ten laps the 1st-5th place crossing the line get points and at the end of the race the rider with the most points wins). The last one is pretty fun because the winner of the race may not have crossed the line first during the race at all!

Good luck Dallin :)