Conference craziness

I've loved reading all your cute posts about conference! I'm glad so many of you had such a wonderful and inspiring experience with General conference this weekend.

Well, girlies, enjoy it while it lasts!!! Conference with 3 very small kids is NOT the same experience as when you don't have kids!

I REALLY tried. We downloaded conference packets for the kids, played conference bingo, had snacks, games, special coloring books, puzzles, etc. Lots of things to keep the kiddies quiet so we could listen. But that's not exactly what happened. I literally do not remember a single talk on Sunday. How sad is that?? I heard that Julie B. Beck got released, which was sad, but I couldn't tell you about anything else. Let me tell you: Sitting quietly and listening and a 1 1/2 year old do NOT mix. Which I already knew. I'm a child development scholar for crying out loud! But for some reason I thought if I really tried hard, it would all work out.

Conference bingo sort of worked. But the kids don't read well, so they kept asking me to jump up and check to see if they had one. Which I did happily about every 30 seconds until it got old. Then Aidan kept snatching the Froot Loops the kids were using as Bingo markers....even though he had a whole cupful for himself! He stole their markers, ripped their pictures, and generally wrecked havoc. Which is exactly what toddlers do, so I don't know what I was expecting! Funniest moment. Paul was on the couch eating a bowl of Cheerios. During conference, Aidan wanders over to Paul to get a bite, trips and falls right on the bowl of Cheerios. It tips and dumps ALL over the poor baby's head! So he's crying and crying (I'm trying not to laugh). Paul is pissed because there is milk and Cheerios all over the floor and we JUST had the carpets cleaned. I get Aidan cleaned up and dressed in new clothes. Then he climbs up on the stool at the counter and falls off and whacks his head. Which wasn't funny at all. But this gives you a sense of how conference went!

I love this mischievous little monkey!



So I'm feeling particularly sorry for myself and jealous of all you lovelies who get to just listen to conference. Then the closing hymn came on. It was "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing". One of my favorites. If you remember, there is a part where the men's section comes in really strong. When they started singing, suddenly everyone in my entire house was quiet. I really felt the Spirit here, especially the part that says, "here's my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above". It hit me that my heart was in the right place and Heavenly Father knew that I was trying my best even though things didn't exactly work out as planned. I had a strong feeling of His love for me and a peace that my family was exactly where we needed to be.

Here is the choir singing this beautiful song (from 2007, but it's the same version. I LOVE IT!)



Well, that was the morning session, and the afternoon was pretty similar. But conference was a success in my opinion....I'm just glad that the Ensign publishes all the talks cause I'm going to need to read them! :)

Murder Mystery Party

Last weekend I threw my sister, Laura, a surprise Murder Mystery Party! She was turning 30 so I knew I had to step up my game!

Luckily, I found a great website: www.dinnerandamurder.com and found the perfect murder mystery. The website is great: they give you all the character backgrounds, evidence, "weapons", confidential information, instructions, nametags, and more. There was even an online RSVP center where you could manage the party! It was NOT free, which is the only way it could have been better!

Here are some pictures of the party! The theme was the 1920s, and we had a blast getting all dressed up! Enjoy!

My sister the birthday girl! She was totally surprised!


Just some of the many decorations



Okay, my dad was HILARIOUS! He is generally very straight laced and serious, but he totally got into his "role" as an Italian mob boss. He did an accent the entire night and totally cracked us up!



My dad and Paul...partners in crime.


I totally could have lived in the 20s! LOVE the clothes!



Me and Paul...who ended up dying! SAD!


The boys...and my sister Marlena who ended up playing a boy!


The girls...how I love you all!


So, if you've never done one of these, they are a TON of fun, so have a look at the website for your next party! Also, a TON of work (I was there for hours decorating!) but it was seriously a blast!

P.S. I was NOT the murderer! :)

Disconnect

Today I skived off work early and Paul and I went to the temple (haha, don't tell my boss! :) There's not a lot of media in the temple! It was so refreshing to leave my phone in the car, and completely disconnect for a few hours. I had the distinct thought that sometimes it is so sweet to turn off all the media in our life and to just.......listen.

A big surprise at the Caucus meeting

I'm blaming it on the West Wing.

You all know that the West Wing is my absolute favorite show in the whole wide world (well....tied with Girlmore Girls). It has helped me become interested in politics and now I actually CARE what is going on in the world. Paul and I are re-watching the whole series. We are currently on the 7th and final season, where surprise, there is an election! We just got through the part where there are the primaries, and the debates, and it is so well done that I actually enjoy watching it, even as we are watching the REAL primaries and debates for the current presidential race!



In the real world, I've been following the primaries with great interest: I would love Romney to win.



Not because he is Mormon, but because his political ideals lie fairly closely with mine, and because I think he would be a great president. Rick Santorum is okay, but will never win. Newt is....well Newt. Seriously, who is voting for this guy?!?!?

So, I actually voted for Obama in the last election (don't send the hate please! :) Apart from a few things, I think he's been a very good president, and I honestly think that the Republican nominee would have to be excellent for me not to vote for Obama this time round!



I definitely call myself an independent and carefully consider all the candidates regardless of party. So with this in mind, and after the multiple announcements in church, I decided to attend my local caucus last week. I had no idea what to expect. But it was kind of cool! And.....somehow I got elected to be my precint's delegate for the state convention in about a month! Talk about getting involved!!! I'm pretty nervous, but excited to actually be getting involved in the political process. I mean, realistically, it won't matter much: we all know how Utah is going to vote! :) But thanks to the West Wing, I am doing my part to be civic and politically minded and I'm feeling pretty good about things so far! Now....who to vote for???

Pandora, oh how I love you!

I'm working in my office right now and am listening to pandora. I just discovered this like 3 months ago....where have I been?!?!? It is the best thing ever! I listen to it all the time in the office now. Right now a group called "Honor by August" is playing. I've never heard of this group, but am loving it! Pandora is great because it takes your musical preferences and finds similar songs and so far it has been great! (except for that one Brittany Spears song that came on....FAIL!)

Oh Canada!

I'm baaack! This last week I attended the SRA conference (Society for Research on Adolescence) in Vancouver. Not very many media talks, unfortunately. However, at one I learned that there is something called "transportation" that is very predictive of media effects. This means you feel like you are actually "transported" into whatever media you are watching. The woman who came up with this concept is a big Harry Potter fan and felt transported to Hogwarts whenever she watched the movie or read the book. Interesting!!

Laura Walker and Larry Nelson were there as well, and we took one afternoon off the conference to do a little sightseeing. Nobody brought a camera, so good thing I had my phone to take these pictures! Yay for new media! Here are a couple from our trip.

Note the flag in the background....Oh Canada!


Cute market on Granville Island


Read the sign, and think back to our fear and media lecture! Blah!



Fish and chips for lunch...I specifically took this picture to make my husband jealous!


Steaming clock...very random


By the totem pole made the the first nations people


Okay, this is after I got home, but how cute does Aidan look as a Canadian? :)


Overall, a nice conference: I learned a few more things about media and adolescence and importantly met some very big names in the media world. I'm glad to be back, though! See you in class next week!

Unbroken

Kind of a funny title to my blog post, as I've felt a little broken this week! Earlier this week I just stood up and my neck went POP! and I've been flat on my back for a few days now! YUCK! Luckily, I'm on the mend so am excited to see you all tomorrow! But I digress......

I am in two different book clubs (I told you I love to read!), and both of them are reading the book, "Unbroken" for March. I just finished it, and let me tell you, this is one of those books that sticks with you for a long time.



It is a true story about an Olympic runner, Louis Zamperini, who enlists in World War II. His plane goes down and he is a prisoner of war for like 4 years.



There were some very difficult parts in the book, like when he gets abused at a Japanese POW camp, as one officer tries repeatedly to break his spirit. But he remains unbroken no matter what happens to him. It is a wonderful testament to the human spirit, of someone who endures to the end, and who never gives up no matter how bleak things seem. And it's a true story, which makes it all so much better! (the guy is actually still alive! Here is him, lighting the Olympic torch at 94 years old!)



SUCH an inspiring book! No matter how hard things get, and however hopeless life may feel sometimes, LIFE is always worth it!

Why did I watch this?

Too scary!!! And no real plot!!!! I am not a fan of scary movies, but my sister totally made me watch this with her! I wanted to go see the zoo movie (we bought a zoo, or something like that?) But noooo, so I spent the whole movie like this!


(note this is not actually me, in case you were worried!)

Harry Potter this movie is not! :(

Why I hate Valentine's Day on Facebook

Does anyone else feel like Valentine's Day is kind of obnoxious on Facebook? It almost seems like a contest to see who got the best gift, who LUVS their husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend the most, and who has the best husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend in the WHOLE ENTIRE WORLD! Don't get me wrong: I'm a romantic and love Valentine's Day as much as the next gal, but Facebook takes PDA to a whole new, overly cheesy, drippy, annoying level!



Yes, we should tell our loved ones that we love them on Valentine's Day. But I feel secure enough in my relationship that I don't need to prove it to the hundreds of "friends" that I have on Facebook, many of whom have never even met my husband! Sorry to be a downer, I'm just kind of annoyed with reading the same post over and over again: Seriously, all of you CAN'T have the best husband in the world: besides, he already lives at my house! :)

See: Case in point! How annoying was that!!

Random media goodness (and badness) this week!

I just found out that my favorite media website, www.commonsensemedia.org, reviews some books as well! I typed in "Tweak" (the book I talked about in class) and the review was fairly on key, though they recommended age 15, whereas I would put it higher. Seriously, this website is CRUCIAL for navigating the media world and every parent should know about it! Now that it reviews books, I love it even more!!!




In other news, my husband Paul was in Vegas this weekend, watching the Rugby Sevens tournament with his friends. So, I watched a couple of movies while he was gone (courtesy of Netflix)! First I watched "You again".



I was intrigued with the description as it is about a "mean girl" in high school who gets her comeuppance in the end. I liked Sigourney Weaver and Jamie Lee Curtis, but besides that it was pretty mindless. Lots of relational aggression too!!! Hmmm, maybe I could use some of the scenes for one of my studies.....

I also watched "I am number four" which I was excited about cause I thought one of my sisters said it was good (I later found it she was talking about a different movie!)



This movie had potential, but there is this huge alien fight scene that turned me off (I got really bored and started surfing facebook on my phone!) and there is one alien character that REALLY objectifies women: she is in a skintight black leather outfit most of the movie, has looong blonde hair, rides a motorcycle, shoots a big gun, etc. When I described this to my husband he said, "you know a guy wrote and directed this movie!!" Boooo!

For Valentine's Day, I think me and Paul are going to dinner and a movie (Yes, I know....but we actually NEVER go to dinner and movie! Add babysitter on that, and it usually costs way too much!) I think I want to go see that new Tom Hanks movie (Incredibly loud and extremely close). Anyone heard good things about this? After these two films, I could use a good one!!

My new life

This is such an inspiring story, and definitely worth watching!



I watched this with my kids and we talked about the things that really matter the most in our lives. What an amazing family!

Tangled time

Tonight Paul and Nate were out, so it was just me and little ones this evening. While I was making dinner Hannah put on her Disney CD, changed into a dance outfit and just went to town! She put on the song, "I see the light" from Tangled and really danced her little heart out. I danced all throughout my childhood and adolescence, and it makes my heart so happy to see my little girl twirl!

Hannah dancing!


After I put Aidan down for his sleep, Hannah decided that she wanted to watch Tangled (can you tell we are a bit Disney obsessed? Those of you on my Disney Princess project will so understand this!)First, in honor of all the hair in the movie, I gave Hannah a little haircut. She still wanted it long like Rapunzel so I only took a bit off.

After the haircut...it's more even than it looks!


Then, we made smoothies, cuddled on the couch, and then put the show on. I seriously love Tangled!



Okay, I'm not thrilled that we have yet another blonde, thin, princesses, but Rapunzel has so many great qualities; she is loyal, brave, self sacrificing, kind, persevering, and she's just so darn cute! I love the music and the entire movie is visually breath-taking! Hannah ended up falling asleep cuddled up next to me, and I was thankful for Disney for helping us have a wonderful night in!

Cigarette packaging in the USA

I heard this on the radio yesterday!

Apparently the US Court of Appeals is going to hear a case proposing putting graphic images on cigarette packaging in the United States, exactly what we talked about in class earlier this week! The images definitely don't seem as graphic as some I've seen. Here is one example:




From what I've heard, the case probably won't be approved because of First Ammendment Rights, but we'll see....

So interesting that we were JUST talking about this, and then I hear it in the news that same week!

Pester Power

I posted the below on my personal blog a few years ago. I thought it was pretty relevant to today's lecture, so thought I'd share!

Does anyone else despise going shopping with children? I used to LOVE to go food shopping before I had children! I'd wander the aisles and take my time picking out all the lovely things I like to eat. Now I race up and down the aisles just throwing in anything I can get my hands on, going as fast as I can because I know that my children have about a 2 minute threshold before they go ballistic. And when this happens, I have about a 1.5 minute threshold before I do the same.

What is it about kids in a grocery store? First, they want EVERYTHING they see. In the psychology world, we call this "pester power". Translation: the amazing and mysterious power that children have to maintain a constant whine while asking for at least 1500 random items while simultaneously driving their parents insane. "Mo-om! Can we get ice cream?" No, we've got some at home. "Mo-om, can we get a giant 20 pound bag of lollipops" I don't think so. "Mo-om can we get some dog food" We don't even have a dog! ARGGGGG!



Secondly, they won't stay in the cart. Yes, I strap them in, but eventually I can't stand the screaming/crying/whining/fighting/death stares from other grocery patrons so I let them out. BIG mistake. Now they can get their hands on the ice cream/lollipops/dog food so I end up spending more time taking things out of the cart than putting things in! Plus, they now have a great need to hang all over the cart. Climb in, climb out, climb in, climb out, fall on head, cry, climb in, climb out, and on and on! Right! Strap the kids back in, and bring on the screaming/crying/whining/death threats from other patrons.

We've tried it all: sitting in the "fun" car shopping cart, bringing toys, giving snacks, letting the kids help pick things out. Nothing seems to work!

Finally, we make it to the finish line....er...check out line and pay. Both kids want to push the buttons to enter my pin, so I end up putting it in 3 separate times. Finally, get all my bags, run out to the parking lot and throw the bags in the car. Phew! One giant sigh of relief.

But here's the kicker. Through this fiasco we call "grocery shopping" I've managed to forget the milk/bread/eggs that I originally went to the store to buy. So we have to do it all again tomorrow!

Though I do have a 40 pound bag of dog food if anyone needs it.

Macey's

Usually I despise shopping. Let's face it, with three young children, I usually leave the store feeling angry, frustrated, and exhausted. Today was different.

We were at Macey's food store in Spanish Fork. I had a complaint about some chicken I had previously bought. The store manager, Bill, came to talk to me. Even though I didn't have the receipt, or the chicken, he completely replaced the product. He even walked me over to the meat aisle, opened a sealed box for me to look in, and then loaded it in my cart. And later at the checkout, they were short on baggers. So Bill pitched in and bagged my groceries for me! I left the store feeling relaxed, taken care of, and a Macey's fan for life!



This is in stark contrast to an experience I had at Walmart about a year ago. In this case, I waited in their customer service line for 30 minutes only to be told that if I didn't have the receipt then it wasn't their problem.

Now why is this about media??? Okay, this is probably a stretch, but after this experience, I wanted to tell everyone I know to shop at Macey's! I posted it on Facebook so my 500+ friends could see it, posted it on my personal blog, and now have posted it here. I also went to the Macey's website and emailed my experience to the corporate office. Isn't technology wonderful that it allows me to reach so many people almost in almost an instant?

GREAT customer service is rare these days, but if you want a truly exceptional shopping experience, then go to Macey's!!!

Pokemon 2000

Well, there is 1 hour and 42 minutes of my life I will never get back!



My 7 year old Nathan is obsessed with Pokemon. It's not my first choice of things for him to become obsessed with, but all his friends love Pokemon, ergo, he loves Pokemon.

Here is a picture of him with the "Pokemon train car" that we made for his 1st grade class.



So, he's been pushing me to get a Pokemon movie from Netflix for a while. Until recently, I was pretty firm about saying no. Why? I think Pokemon are stupid. Pretty harmless, but just really stupid!

But Nate is growing up. As much as I would like him to watch Little Einsteins, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and Sesame Street that's not realistic. I mean, what 18 year old still watches Curious George every night? There has to be a transition at some point.

So I decided to let Nate has a bit of autonomy within bounds. I told him we would find out about the Pokemon movie by reading about it at www.commonsensemedia.org (website for parents that describes exactly what content a movie has in it) and then we could decide whether we still wanted to get it. So, we looked at the reviews, and they seemed okay. No sex, no profanity, low levels of violence. He made the decision to get the movie and we decided we would watch it together.

Well, it came, and guess what: though it was a really stupid movie (it took me about 45 minutes to figure out the plot!), in fairness it actually wasn't too bad, in terms of content. The violence is mostly these giant bird-like things who breathe different elements (ice, fire, electricty) out. And the main character, Ash, actually shows great sacrifice and perserverance. Plus Pikachu is kind of cute! :) But what was really fun, was that Nathan kept saying, "That's Reshiram. He's a legendary. He's worth 990 points". Or whatever. He really knows his Pokemon!! It was cute, and I loved that I got to share in his excitement over this movie, even though it wasn't my first choice.

I realized that I've been okay when Nathan (or any of my kids) is obsessed with media that I like. I yearn for the Cars days when he was 2 and the Thomas the Tank Engine Days when he was 3 and 4. That kid had almost every single Car and engine on the book!

Age 2 with Cars. Yep, he has Cars pajamas on too.



Age 3 with Thomas the Tank Engine...just realized he is also wearing Thomas pajaams in this picture! Wow, we are total victims of marketing!



But I've got to reazlie that as much as I want him to stay in this safe little media bubble, that is not realistic and he needs room to grow, even in terms of the media. Though, let's just hope he doesn't develop a Spongebob obsession next! :)

Once upon a Time

Since half a dozen of you mentioned this was your favorite show, I decided to check it out over the weekend. And.......LOVE IT!!!! I'm totally hooked and I've only seen the first two episodes. I personally love fairy tales and fantasy so this is right up my alley. I love the main girl, Emma....cause she's Dr. Cameron from House! Plus, she's really good! Some violence, so I had to pause it when my kids came in the room, but no sex or violence to speak of...hopefully it stays that way!



I'm already thinking of my favorite fairy tales and which ones I want them to cover. I really like the story of the girl and the six swans. Her brothers are turned into swans and she has to knit them shirts out of starwort (like nettles) to turn them back into humans. Juliet Marillier wrote a FANTASTIC book series based on this fairy tale (the first in the series is called "Daughter of the Forest". I would HIGHLY recommend it!) and ever since I read these books, I just love this little known fairy tale.



Anyway, this particular tale would be a fun one for them to cover in this show! Thanks for a great recommendation, guys! Hopefully this one is around for a while!

I'm obsessed with the Gilmore Girls!

I posted this on my private blog about a month ago. Given our quick discussion in class, I thought it was relevant so thought I'd repost it!

I cannot even tell you how much I love this show. I am so lame...I study the media, so I really should know better, but I seriously LOVE this show!! For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of the Gilmore experience, the show is about a mom and her teenage daughter, who have a super close relationship. I think it's such a positive portrayal of the teen/parent relationship in the media. Most portrayals are very stereotypical and negative, but this shows that teens/parents can actually be really close! It even coincides with real research that shows that the vast majority of parents and teens have a good, close, loving, relationship!



I really like the mom (Loralei) on this show! She is so funny and such a good mom (though a little lax at times!) She has this on again/off again relationship with Luke, and I have never been as invested in a TV relationship before (akin to the Ross/Rachel relationship of yesteryear's!!) Don't tell me if they end up together....I don't want to ruin the anticipation! But they better end up together!!!

There are seven seasons, and I am now on the last season (we get it from NetFlix). I am purposefully trying to drag things out, only watching an episode occasionally to make the goodness last.



Seriously, I know how SAD I sound! It's a TV show, with fake characters for goodness sake!!! But it's funny, I feel like a part of their lives: in the research world, we call this a "parasocial relationship": a totally non-existent relationship where we still feel connected and get something out of the relationship (even though it doesn't really exist)! I feel like I'm going to go through a mourning period when this is all done! At least I have something to talk about in my media class now, right??

Anyway, if you haven't seen this series, GET IT! All 7 seasons are on NetFlix and I would highly recommend it!! Paul even watches it with me, and he even likes it! And that is saying something! LOVE IT!!!

Free Willy

Tonight me and Nathan watched "Free Willy" together. Aidan was asleep and Paul had Hannah on a "daddy/Hannah" date so me and Nate popped some popcorn, snuggled on the couch, and had some rare one-on-one time (very rare with 3 kids!!!) Nate is so darn cute. He turned 7 last week, but is still such a sensitive little guy. He cried a couple of times; he was epsecially worried that Willy wouldn't make it, even though I said I had seen it and knew there was a happy ending! I cried too: who doesn't love the ending when Willy does that awesome jump over the kid!!! Good nostalgia (I vividly remember watching this film in the theatre when I was a kid) and some GREAT media time with my son. Love it!

Video game study!

We've had some nice coverage of our video game study (co-playing with parents). Below is the TV spot from Fox 13 news! Funsies!

 

A Lesson from Dancing with the Stars

I just posted this on my private blog and thought it fit well here!

We just finished watching "Dancing with the Stars" with the kids.



Something I don't normally do, but it just happened to be on. Well, I research the media, so I never pass up a chance to teach a lesson with what we are watching. We were watching one dancer who was dressed very immodestly, so we were talking about how our bodies are a temple and we should dress modestly and classy. We talked about how this girls was showing WAY too much leg, back, breasts, and everything else!

Hannah didn't really get it. She just lifted up her shirt and said, "Look! Boobies!"

Okay...

However, I really thought Nathan was internalizing this when the next girl came on, who happened to be wearing a rather modest outfit.

"Mom! She is beautiful! She is dressed very classy. Much better than that other girl"

YES! My son will NOT grow up to be one of the millions of men who drool over the scantily clad girls who seem to be everywhere we look! TV, magazines, billboards, on and on. Girl after girl came on the show and Nathan would always remakr whether she was dressed modestly or immodestly. And how the modest ones were always the more beautiful ones! Hooray!

Just as I was congratualating myself on a good piece of parenting, he came out with this little gem:

"Well...I like the ones who show too much of their boobies. It's very important to be nice to everyone no matter what they look like"

Hmmmmmmmm....true sentiment, but not quite what I had in mind!! At least he wants to be inclusive right?!? :)

It's a BOY!!!

We would like to introduce the newest addition to our family, Aidan Matthew Coyne!



Aidan was born on July 8th at 11:23 pm. I am really funny about even numbers, so I was thrilled that he was born on an even day (with 37 minutes to spare!)



He weighed 8 lb 5 oz (so not too huge like I was expecting!) and was 20 1/2 inches long. Lots and lots of dark brown hair.



Aidan is one week old today and we are LOVING having him home! He is the best baby so far. Good sleeper, good eater, doesn't cry too much! He loves to just look around and snuggle. I am really loving having a newborn again! There is nothing like having a newborn to snuggle up to!!!



We love you Aidan!!!