River Trip 2012

We just returned from another successful year at my uncle's river house in Big River, CA. It is always so great to be there with our family and to spend the holiday's with them. Kieran couldn't come this year, he stayed home to work while Becca and I went with my family. It was great to be with my family but I sure did miss him so much! It was such a wonderful reunion to see him again.
We completed 3 floats (which are my favorite part) and only one did Becca not enjoy only because the current was so strong that she had to be thrown into the little raft we brought for her. Some of the family swam across the river and back with much effort. And of course we spent lots of time gathered around talking which truly reminds me how grateful I am to have such a wonderful family that likes to be together.
I hope that we can continue to have get togethers like this in the future, every year we have more and more people and it just becomes more wonderful! Thanks Scott and Debbie for inviting us!

 Look at that face! This was during a potty break on our way down.

 This is in the "Crow's Nest" that overlooks the river. My girl is such a cheese!

Becca's Birthday

The summer is already whizzing by. I can't believe that its already the middle of July; Becca turned 2, we went to the river, are preparing for our family reunion in 2 weeks and I only have 4 weeks of school left forever!
For Becca's birthday this year we decided to go the the Hogle Zoo and the Aquarium. We took my brother David with us to the zoo because it was his 18th birthday too. We really enjoyed having him with us and it was a fun seeing all the animals and going on the train. However, we felt we would enjoy it more when we have older kids who know more about animals, so I don't think we'll go back for a while.

We went to the Aquarium on Becca's actual birthday with my mother-in-law, aunt Lyn, and Lyn's family who is visiting from Scotland. It was so much fun and so much cooler than being outside at the zoo (so Kier enjoyed it much more). We touched a sting ray and star fish and saw penguins and otters, which was mine and Becca's favorite part by far. We also had a lovely picnic at a place up near the Aquarium before hand where we had cake and opened presents. I love being with my family and sharing these experiences with them!

 Linda's great-niece Caitlyn in the back there. She has become one of Becca's favorite people. We'll be sad to have her return home.

Do you see that penguin? They were swimming right next to us.

Then of course we came home and had cupcakes with our favorite friends the Denning's and Nance's. These 3 kids are always together but its so hard to get a good picture of all of them at the same time!

Facing the Giants

First off, I love Netflix! Today I watched Facing the Giants. Its a christian film made by the same company as Fireproof. It actually has the wife from Fireproof in this movie as a news anchor. It was about a high school football team that couldn't win until they turned their lives over to God.
Let me just say that I used to hate these types of movies. I felt like they were too forward in their worship and it was awkward to see so much praising and hallelujah's in a movie. However, through some sort of change of heart I have come to really love them. I watched this one today and found that I related to the story in more ways than one and my testimony was greatly strengthened. In fact, as soon as it ended I went upstairs and said a really nice prayer. I love watching movies that have good values and that make me feel closer to my Heavenly Father.

I would strongly recommend this movie to any one who loved Fireproof. This movie company makes a lot of really good films, I watched another one with my sister a while ago called "Courage". Also really good!

Home Videos

When I was growing up my siblings and I would always find the funnest things to do on Sunday afternoons after church. We would make obstacle courses in our backyard, roll each other up in blanket burritos, set up hot wheels tracks, make home movies and more. One time we wrapped my naked little brother up in butcher paper, put him in a box and "shipped" him to my parents room where he popped out. Or there was another time at dinner where we were being so obnoxious that my parents left us at the table and the laughing continued even after my brother got a pea stuck in his nose and my older brother had to take charge to get it out.
One of my favorite memories has been captured on video of us retelling the story of the 3 little pigs. We spent what felt like hours creating face masks and props for the different rooms that would represent the houses and we were all a part of it. I love to watch this film only because it reminds me of those good times and then I start to think of other happy childhood memories.
We were lucky enough to be given a video camera one year for Christmas from my sweet mother-in-law and we have started capturing Becca's fun moments. She has yet to do anything as creative as my 3 little pigs story but we all still love to gather around and watch her on film, especially Becca herself.
I wish I had the capacity to share some of our home videos but I don't know how and I don't think they would be fully appreciated by anyone but us so I won't try to hard:)

Letter to Pres. Samuelson

President Samuelson,

            I thank you in advance for your time. I am a senior majoring in Family Life and one of the classes I have taken this term has been Dr. Sarah Coyne’s Media, Family, and Human Development. We have talked about many aspects of the media including: infant media, sex, reality TV, literature, social networking, advertising, music, etc. It is music in particular that I wish to speak with you. I have learned from my own experience that music can be one of the most influential types of media we have access to today. It has the power to increase good feelings and welcome the presence of the Spirit but it also has the ability to drive the Spirit away and enhance negative and destructive feelings.

            Since my first semester here at BYU I have noticed the fast-growing trend for students to walk around on campus with headphones in their ears listening to music. As a first-year student I was nervous to join the ranks at such a wonderful university especially, when it seemed that everyone was more interested in the noise in their ears, rather than the people around them. Please do not misunderstand, I know the uplifting power of music and I also know the peace students can find in moments of solitude. However, I believe our university could be a much better place if more emphasis was placed on reaching out to our fellow students and offering a hand of friendship rather than being distracted by this form of media.

            Part of the saying that is inscribed on the monument as you enter BYU campus is “Go Forth to Serve;” I submit that we should not have to wait until graduation to serve God’s children but that there are opportunities all around us, everyday, on BYU campus. I hope that with your encouragement more students will be inclined to observe the people and places around them at our beautiful university and seek out opportunities to show love and friendship. Thank you again for your time and your continual support for the students and university.

Sincerely,

Bonnie Buhler

Brigham Young University

The Race of Life

We went visiting teaching this month and I gave the lesson on President Monson's talk on Sunday morning titled The Race of Life, the talk focused on questions such as why are we here? where will we go after death? etc. However he always talked about getting your priorities in balance and reevaluating where your place your importance. He related the story of an older woman who before being diagnosed with a terminal illness always had a clean house and focused on keeping herself beautiful; she rarely had her family over because she was worried they would break something precious in her home. After she was diagnosed she decided that none of those things were important and that she was going to spend the rest of her time with her family.
This made me reflect of the things that I place the greatest importance in. Am I always focusing my energy on my family, the thing of greatest importance, or do I neglect them for temporal pleasures? I encourage everyone to read this article and decide for yourself if your life is balanced.

Amy Adams

I didn't realize this before but for both my content analysis and the inter-rater reliability assignment I watched movies that starred Amy Adams. I really like this actress, mostly because she always seems so wholesome. I looked her up on IMDB to see if she was LDS because she is so wholesome and also wears a lot of modest outfits and it turns out she is, or was. She was born into an LDS family but I doubt she's practicing anymore. Reading her bio was a bit disheartening, I'm pretty sure she had a child out of wedlock. I always think its funny that biographers are sure to mention the fact that someone is LDS and then of course those people are no longer practicing but do you think people remember that they're not active or just that they were born LDS? Luckily, even if she's no longer practicing, I hope she really comes back, she is still a good actress and always plays very clean roles.
Just a bit of FYI, her hair is not naturally that red, its strawberry blonde. I never would have guessed, she looks like such a natural redhead.