The Zoo

To all you Oklahomans: the OKC Zoo is free every Monday through February! The playgroup in my new ward took advantage of this yesterday and we all went. Nichole and Matthew joined us too - thanks Nichole. Since it was Groundhog day yesterday they also had a special Groundhog presentation at 10:30. Samuel and I showed up a little late and missed it. It turned out they didn't do a presentation with a groundhog, but with a bear...So, no groundhogs, but the bears were pretty cool. Here are some pictures of our adventure:Samuel and Matthew checking out the fish. Samuel absolutely loves fishMatthew and Samuel in front of a giant gorilla. The gorillas were pretty cool too - one came right up to the glass and stared at Samuel. He was pretty excited.In front of the giraffes - my favorite animals! Samuel was watching the Ostrich in this picture.Playing on the jungle gym.
Samuel had a lot of fun. We didn't check out the whole park because it was a little chilly and Samuel was starting to get tired. However, when the weather warms up a bit we are definitely going to do this again, hopefully with Dad next time.

Text messaging...

...and why I do NOT like it.

1. It is anti-social. Whatever happened to a good friendly phone call? Or getting together to tell your best friend about your most recent date? Instead we depend on receiving text messages.

2. It encourages illiteracy and bad spelling. People can't spell anyway and now we encourage it with texting. I am positive there are plenty of teenage girls who are convinced that "l8r" really is how you spell "later."

3. It really is NOT faster to text me. No this reason does not apply to everyone. But I can guarantee that texting me is not your fastest way of communicating with me. I will respond to emails much faster than I respond to text messages. There are several reasons for this. One, I have not had my phone surgically attached to my body, which means I do not carry it with me all the time. I also cannot work the numeric pad very well and despite my best efforts I can't intentionally misspell words, leave out punctuation, and forget capitalizing things. If you text me, I will most likely respond by just calling you. And really, it would have been faster to just call me in the first place.

4. If you can't call me then you probably shouldn't be texting me. I hear this excuse a lot "what if I can't call you, like I'm in class or something." Wait for you class to end then call me. Here is a news flash: if flipping your phone to call someone is socially inappropriate then flipping your phone open to send a text message is also socially inappropriate - and rude.

5. It is not an emergency. A true emergency would not leave you time to text me. No, a true emergency would require a phone call and if I did not answer a frantic voicemail saying "CALL ME BACK RIGHT AWAY!"

I do understand that there are sometimes when texting is appropriate. For instance, maybe I am meeting you at a concert and I can't hear you on the phone then texting comes in handy. Or maybe you had a baby in the middle of the night and you sent out the announcement so I can see it first thing in the morning instead of waking me up at 2am. So next time you go to text, think twice about it. Maybe that person would really appreciate a phone call. Especially if they are me and do not have a text plan with their cell phone.

Samuel's To Do List:

Help Dad start a fire - check.Unpack box - check.Unload dishwasher...
...with a smile on my face - double check.

Help Dad with computer stuff - yep.

My work here is done.

"Where all your dreams come true!"

Before I overload you with pictures - I will give you a few comments. First off - Orlando was a blast! If you have never been to Disney World or Disneyland I highly recommend it. Even if you are 23 years old like myself. It was so much fun and I can't wait to take our kids there. Secondly, I finally experienced a real roller-coaster. The roller-coasters at Frontier City are baby's play compared to Universal Studios. WOW! My favorites: from Magic Kingdom I liked a lot of the traditional rides, Pirates of the Carribean, Haunted Mansion, Carousel of Progress, and a new 3-D show called Mickey's Philharmagic. From Universal Studios - Revenge of the Mummy, MIB, and Jaws. From Island's of Adventure: The Hulk, Dueling Dragons, Spiderman (an awesome 3-D ride), and Jurassic Park. Really everything was fun. My advice: save up your money and go to Disney. And now onto the pictures:

Epcot - also a blast. They have the World Showcase there which is just amazing.
Me in front of a statue in "Italy."
Cocoa Beach - it was so nice. My first time to see the Atlantic. In fact, my first time to the East Coast.
Orlando Temple. It was so beautiful and peaceful.Samuel saying good-bye to Florida on the airplane!

For more photos you can go to our Flickr account (link on the right).

Good-bye and Hello

So many good-byes and hellos within the past couple of weeks I don't know wear to start.

Good-bye newborn Samuel - hello crawling-absolutely-curious-about-my-world-growing-up-too-fast Samuel. 7 months old and ready to conquer the world, I will have to post pictures later.

Good-bye Stillwater - hello Norman. I will miss the honest simplicity of Stillwater and most of all I will miss the people. So many good friends and my family. I'm excited to find what Norman will hold for our little family. We have only been here 5 days and so far we have experienced more adventures than I have time to write about - maybe a later post.

Good-bye 2008 - Hello 2009. So many exciting things happened in 2008, I can only imagine what 2009 will hold.

On Friday it will be:

Good-bye Oklahoma - Hello Orlando, Florida. My first time to Disneyworld! I'm so excited.

We had a great Christmas filled with family and food. Now it is time to cuddle with my hubby as we bring in the New Year together.

Happy New Year.

Graduation

"Every you'll find us, loyal and true, to our alma-mater...

...O...S...U!

Happy Graduation to my wonderful husband. He worked so hard to get his degree and I am so proud of him. He is incredible, dedicated, and intelligent.

I Love you, Carlin!

Books v. Movies

I thought I would combine two hobbies of mine and do a comparison of books-to-movies.

Book/Movie: Princess Bride
Love this movie - it's witty, funny, and has a lot of my favorite one-liners. The book is a bit long-winded, but most of the dialogue from the movie comes directly from the book. If you love reading then I would recommend the book, otherwise just stick with the movie.
Winner: Movie

Book/Movie: Ella Enchanted
Loved the book so much I bought it for my little sister. It's a retelling of Cinderella. Sadly, the movie falls very short. After watching an interview with Anne Hathaway (who plays Ella), I knew the movie wasn't going to follow the book. I was still sorely disappointed. Disney took a perfectly good story and warped it into a shallow, pre-teen targeted movie. Skip the two hour movie and just spend a few hours reading a great story. Better yet - make it a family affair and read it to your kids, they'll love it.
Winner: Book

Book/Movie: Twilight
Loved the book, liked the movie. The movie isn't the book by any means and you might be a little lost if you haven't read the book before watching the movie, but it's still good. Stephenie Meyer has a style of writing that I absolutely love which is why I like the book so much. Remember that the book and movie are targeted to teenage girls who are romantics.
Winner: Book

Book/Movie: The Devil Wears Prada
Loved both the book and the movie - for different reasons. I feel they did a good job adapting this book to the screen. They managed to capture the essence of the book without completely ruining the story. It does have a bit of Hollywood ending while the book is a bit more realistic.
Winner: Both

Book/Movie: Nanny Diaries
Loved this book, but was a little disappointed in the movie. Overall I liked the movie but I didn't like the relationship between Nanny and her mother in the movie. In the book she has a great relationship with both of her parents. The other strike against the movie is the Hollywood ending that the Nanny's words had an effect on her employer, Mrs. X. If you are in the mood for a humorous character-study read the book. However, if you do not read at all, the movie will be a satisfactory substitute.
Winner: Book

Book/Movie: Memoirs of a Geisha
The book is an interesting look at the Japanese culture, the movie a beautiful portrait (even though the actors are Chinese). The book has better character development, but then again, how much character development can you do in a 2 hour movie?
Winner: Book

Book/Movie: About a Boy
All. Time. Favorite. Movie. Enough said. The book is a bit depressing (yes, even more so than the movie) and one of the rare occasions where I liked the movie more than the book. Don't get me wrong, the book was wonderful... I just really like the movie.
Winner: Movie

Overall I prefer the books to the movies. I love the character development, the style of writing an author uses, and the ability to imagine things the way I want instead of the way the director saw it.