modern miracle

What a blessing the technology of today can be! It really is a miracle! I was able to sit in a chapel in Payson, UT and watch the wonderful leaders of our church speak in the General Relief Society Meeting. Woman were able to do this all over the world. This truly is a miracle! The speakers were so inspired and their messages motivating. I had some very personal and important things taught to me in this meeting. I really feel like this conference is off to a great start! I am so excited for this coming weekend! I was able to attend this with my mother-in-law and sisters-in-law. It was funny to me that we were trying to decide where to watch and we had so many options. This is a dilemma of our day. What a great way for technology to be used. 

have yourself a merry little christmas

I love Christmas music! One day this week I was having a hard time and was stuck at home alone, so I turned on some favorite Christmas songs. What a treat! It just makes me feel so warm and fuzzy inside. I know that it is only September...but when I listen to this music I just feel so happy! It really helped me to have a better day. This is one of my very favorite Christmas songs...

Saved by an iPhone

As I mentioned in my first email I do not have an iPhone. Luckily my husband does. We have turned to the Waze app a couple times this week to make sure we were taking the best route or to avoid getting lost. I am actually doing this post from his iPhone because we are out of town and don't have Internet access other than his phone. Technology can be such a life saver. If you don't have an iPhone, my advice would be to become friends with someone who does.

Connect to the Past

This week my husband and I have both been talking about movies that we liked during childhood. He mentioned that Mountain of The Lord was one of his favorite movies as a kid. This is a movie produced by the Church about the building of the Salt Lake Temple. He said he got it for his birthday once but lost it. I surprised him with the movie and we watched it Tuesday. He was so excited...like a kid again. He was so disappointed when I fell asleep. This little experience just made me consider how much media from childhood influences us throughout life. It is almost like re-experiencing childhood when we are able to watch/listen/etc. again.
This film was also a great way to feel a connection to the early pioneers and increased my appreciation for all the sacrifices they made to build a temple. I am motivated to sacrifice more to serve in the temple because of their examples portrayed in this movie.

who does my media connect me too?

this week my husband and i were driving to the store in his car. as he was going through the radio stations i thought it was funny that a few of his programmed stations are country music. he did not really listen to country music before we dated, but now he listens to it quite a bit. it just made me think about how much of our media is influenced by the people we surround ourselves with. he listens to country because i like it...i think he likes it now too. the best part is that i really don't listen to that much country music. my husband probably listens to a lot more than i do now. i actually made a comment to him a while ago about how much he listens to country now. he said that it is something that makes him feel connected to me and maybe in a while he will go back to what he used to listen to.

This song by Brad Paisley is one that my husband did not know before we were dating. But now it is a very special song to us because it is the one he chose to dance with me to at our wedding reception.  I had nothing to do with that selection, but I am very pleased. 
so do you really like your media choice or is that choice driven by your fondness of another person?

my life and media

i have appreciated the media since my little pony and pound puppies were my choice of entertainment. now i am more attracted to a show or movie that will make me laugh or give me that warm fuzzy feeling. although to the world i may appear to be a "grown up," i would still choose the disney channel over the news any day. what a blessing is to live in today's world were commercials have become optional and it doesn't really matter if you have a blank vhs to be able to catch what you missed while you were out doing something slightly more important. in reality i have this twisted love/hate relationship when it comes to a lot of the media. here are some of the struggles i have...

 the television: once upon a time i grew quite addicted to this box full of entertainment. i could watch csi: new york for hours and laugh at episodes of the office that i had seen multiple times. however, i didn't have this medium for 19 months as i served a mission, and now the television is really a complicated thing in my life. i realized how easily time is wasted in front of a moving picture. too add to that it seems to paralyze my husband from doing anything...even if he would not normally watch re-runs of the pyramid game show from the 70s. it seems to erase from his mind any previous objectives he was working on. i am aware that television has been a weakness of mine in the past, so it is unfortunate that free cable comes with our apartment. however, it is a blessing when i am home alone for hours at a time. being the social person that i am, i enjoy voices talking and movement on the screen...even if i am not really watching at all. 

 the cellphone: i am one that has yet to own a smart phone, but i do not feel any dumber than the person playing words with friends next to me in class...in fact i am probably getting a lot more out of the lecture. moments when i wish i had a smart phone would be (1) when i need to look something up on the internet and don't have access to a computer and (2) when i need a gps to figure out where i am going. i am not opposed the the smartphone at all, in fact i would really not mind having one. what i am opposed to is the time and priority people give it. i can go a couple days without making a phone call or sending a text. i really only contact a few people regularly and it is usually on an as needed basis. i prefer face-to-face communication. it is a lot easier to get the whole meaning and purpose of the message. 

this weekend i went to zions national park, a first for me. i saw this family of four on the shuttle: mom, dad, and two teenage girls. the girls were both on there smart phones staying connected with the world the whole way up the canyon. my thought was along the lines of "i would be annoyed if i took my kids on vacation to a place where they could really enjoy the outdoors and all they wanted to do was play around on their phones." there was a audio description of things so i thought these girls should be listening and looking at the landmarks outside. i wanted to say something about it to my husband, but a few minutes later when the girls wouldn't be able to hear anymore, i turned to him and he was on his iPhone...so i didn't' say anything. 

 Facebook: so i am actually quite happy to admit that i am not a user of the social network Facebook...or twitter or pinterest. again, this relates to the time spent without as a missionary. before my mission i would spend too much time on Facebook, usually avoiding homework. then i came back and tried to log in. over that time, i had forgotten my password and quickly gave up on ever logging in again. i didn't want to let it suck my time away as it had in the past. i am told by many people that i need to get back on. i guess they assume i don't know what i am missing out on. in reality i don't feel like i am missing out. the people that are the most important to me are still aware of what is going on in my life, so i feel fine about it. maybe one day i will get a new account, but it won't be tomorrow. 

...just a few of my thoughts on the media.

blah blah blog

So this is my first attempt EVER to post on a blog of any kind. This blog is coming into existence because of my new class Media, Family and Human Development. Just a quick little post here to see if I have figured out how to do this thing...hopefully this works!