Election Talk

Another Friday, another date night, another exchange between Corey and I on why we both greatly fear Donald Trump being leader of the free world. We started off with a few Colbert videos that Corey hadn't seen yet - both hit the spot:

"If we just give him what he wants, maybe he'll go away!!"

I know the general election in November is still a ways off, but the "trump-train" lunacy that has seemed to taken over "the people" of the Republican party makes me think our country is on the brink of disaster. Corey read one of Trump's books on his trip to Brazil last week ~ "Never Enough: Donald J. Trump and the Pursuit of Success" ~ and, well, let's just say it gives an accurate portrait of the Republican frontrunner. I appears very unlikely that there will ever be enough to satisfy Donald Trump, and that should be a problem for US voters.

So, with the help of Jonah Goldberg's recent "news" letter (read that article) here are just a few of the reasons why no sane person should or would support Donald Trump. (and take note that in the list below "Drumph" = Trump, and a big thank you John Oliver for my "Make Donald Drumpf again" chrome extension, we give it an A+):

• Drumpf said it doesn’t matter what the media writes about you “as long as you’ve got a young and beautiful piece of a**.” 
• Drumpf boasted that his ordeal of avoiding the clap while sleeping around so much amounted to his own “personal Vietnam.” 
• He said that John McCain’s ordeal avoiding dying at the hands of his torturers wasn’t heroic. 
• As for everyone else’s Vietnam, Drumpf got out of that by claiming to have a medical condition that instantly healed when hostilities ended. 
• He bragged — in print! — about bedding married women and has admitted to cheating on at least two of his wives. 
• He boasted that he “whines until I win.” 
• He’s condemned Charles Krauthammer, George Will, and many other friends of [conservatism] with far, far more vitriol than he condemns Vladimir Putin, the butchers of Tiananmen, and David Duke. 
• The man is so lacking in moral clarity that he dismissed Vladimir Putin’s murdering of journalists by saying, “I think our country does plenty of killing also.” 
• This is a man who expresses a passionate desire to change the First Amendment so he can punish journalists who don’t kowtow to him. 
• This is a man who praised the mass murder at Tiananmen and criticized Gorbachev for not being as tough-minded. 
• This is a man who says he “reads the Bible more than anybody” but can’t — after months of opportunities — speak intelligently about it for 30 seconds. 
• This is a man who, by any objective measure, lies nearly as much as Bill Clinton but with a tenth of the skill. 
• He lacks the patriotic seriousness to do minimal homework, even when his ignorance has been pointed out time and again. (Bill’s colleague Hugh Hewitt asked Drumpf about the nuclear triad in August. Several months later, when the question came up again Drumpf was, if anything, more ignorant.) 
• This is a man whose business dealings have been shot through with shady practices, mob ties, and fraudulent claims (also known as “lies”). 
• This is a man with a totally thumbless grasp of what the Constitution is about or what conservatism is (“Conservatism means,” according to Drumpf, “to conserve our money”). 
• This is a man who boasted for months that he will torture our enemies and indiscriminately murder their children as a matter of policy. 
• This is a man who says that the last Republican president deliberately lied us into war and plays coy about whether 9/11 was an inside job. 

So, that's that. Praying for our country, and hoping the lack of morals of the current Republican frontrunner candidate isn't wholly reflective of the rotting state of morals in our country. 

Election Day Hangover

We turned on the tv last night to watch the election results come in. We were fully expecting Hillary to win. We stayed up long enough to hear the winner and were a little stunned. How did we get here? Or as Corey said "It's like a nightmare..." (Not that we would have been thrilled with a Clinton presidency...) And there we see Donald Trumps picture with a big title "President Elect Trump" underneath. We didn't stay up to hear him address the world but caught up on it this morning. Corey said his only regret this election cycle was that he became too well informed on Donald Trump. So, if you would like to have hope, DO NOT READ Donald's book "Never Enough". That was the one that sealed our opinion of this man as a "bad guy" - as Sophi put it at the end of the at post.

I was glad to have Evan McMullin on the ballot here in Utah and to be able to vote for him. No one can be criticized for voting this way or that. Everyone had their reasons, their strategies, I'm sure many people headed to the polls holding their noses nose, some more than others. But wow, I did not see this coming.

We recently finished reading the Book of Mormon as a family. In Ether 15 near the end of that book I saw the bad side of the two party system and felt like there was a message her for us. They weren't having an election, but there was a race taking place for the future king to leader their country. And there were just two choices. They spent (verse 14) 4 years gathering all the people on all the face of the land, gathering them to the side they wanted to be on. Verse 15 - it's Shiz or Coriantumr? Make your pick. Then you have to defend it to the death. I don't think I would have fought for Coriantumr just cause he wasn't as bad as Shiz. Would anyone be willing to fight to the death for the candidates this year? Wow. I'm gonna say neither. If I had been a Jaredite I would have fought my way away from the war and joined a 3rd party.

My brother in law said something on a Sept 27th that I liked and felt articulated my feelings well... (Bek, you can tell Matt I just spent a long time scrolling and scrolling down his facebook wall trying to find this) He said: "Please hear me out. If you were told you have 2 choices, either everyone you love or care about is killed, or you must run a gas chamber and exterminate 10,000 people you never met, what would you do? Would you debate the two options and pick the lesser of two evils? Would you do only the two things those in power tell you to do? Or would you choose the third option of fleeing the country with everyone you know? There is always a third option. The same is true for this election." I wonder if any of the Jaredites tried to flee? Sad thing is they didn't have a good choice. And in the end it didn't matter which side you were on, they died fighting it out and millions were slain until it was just the two king-elects left. Then Coriantumr slew Shiz and was declared the winner, yay. As The Donald would say: "Sad".

So it's pretty surreal. And our situation is not now as dire as it was for the Jaredites or people in WWII Europe. And if it were, I'd try to not worry. I took Mitt Romney's loss in 2012 harder than I did this election - this one wasn't going to have a good ending anyway, but Mitt would have been so good, sigh. I'm still regret his loss and during this election have often found myself thinking how great it would have been if Mitt won. Sigh. But we try to move on. We had a great testimony meeting at church this past Sunday (6 Nov) and were blessed to have Elder D. Todd Christofferson attend our ward. Many shared thoughts about America and the future, including Elder Christofferson. He said shared John 16:33- there may be things in the world we fear, but Christ has overcome the world! He also said "I am very much at peace. The Lord knows how important this nation is to His church - to be a light, for resources, for a refuge, and it will continue to be so as long as it is needed."

So, yeah, what a political year, I'm glad it's over, and now, what's done is done. I think I should probably have the boys remove the photo of now President Elect Trump that they had on their dart board (it was just a magnetic one, not as bad as putting real darts through his head). All through the day I've had moments where I pause and say "President Trump..." Once Corey turned to me and shushed me with "we do not say his name..." Trump might be our new Voldemort? But we will pray for him, hard. I liked something Tom Hanks said recently - "I hope Trump does so well that I vote for his reelection" And as for me and my house, we will strive to move on with optimism for our country and kindness for our neighbor, remembering what we can control ~ as shared by Barbara Bush (via Tim Ballard's facebook) "Your success as a family, and our success as a society, depends not on what happens in the White House, but on what happens in your house."

Sundown Runaround

It happens everynight... The sun goes down, and the boys begin to run around. They run circles on the main floor, screaming, chasing, squealing, laughing, wrestling, hitting, crying, making up, repeat... Peter is starting to get in on the action, which is pretty cute to watch...

They'll often wrestle in the front room, sometimes we can get them to go up into our room to fight it out, giving the girls more of a chance to practice their instruments in the front room or music room. Look at Peter taking on both of them! 

Pretty funny. He is starting to hold his own, it's cute. He's almost two years old, crazy. 

Tonight Corey and I went out to India House for date night. They do not currently have dine in, cause covid cases are pretty high here in Utah at the moment. We got take out and went to eat in the Sandy Amphitheater parking lot. There's an ok view of some valley lights from there. We talked about Trump and the misinformed Americans who support him. Sorry if that is mean, that is just how we see it - people are misinformed or uninformed. But then again some of them would say that we are uninformed. Corey knows more than I do, but I agree that Trump is a man without principles. I hope he leaves peacefully, but I don't think he will. He can't admit or accept losing, it goes against everything he learned from his father. That's one of my take away's from the book "Too Much and Never Enough" by his niece, Mary Trump. It was a good book and I believe her message. It also made me able to look on Trump with compassion. I still don't want him leading our country. Anyway, discussion for another day. Covid, election results being contested, sometimes it looks like the world is falling apart, but we are happy and thankful to be safe and have a quiver full of happy healthy children, even if they are crazy noisy everyday after the sunsets. "There's gonna be opposition, ain't no way around it." Of all the possible problems and trials out there, ours is a good problem to be blessed to have. 

Capitol

Corey and I have both watched more news today than we have for a long time. Today it started with Corey sending me a link about passengers on a plane harassing Senator Mitt Romney. I'm so proud of him and how he handled that. The poor guy was minding his own business, just leave him alone. That lady was mean, and I wouldn't like being treated like they treated him. It'd be nice if we all channeled a little more Mr. Rogers into our daily walk with our fellowman. So that started the day for me and then things got crazy from there, as the world is well aware. We were both kinda glued to our computers. He watched things from work and sent me stuff, I was watching here at home. I'd say I generally don't follow the news except for video clips that Corey sends me. Today he sent me a link to the President's speech, and then we saw what happened afterwards with the capitol being stormed. (photo credit)

I loved Mitt Romeny's comments tonight. I'm really proud of him. Corey's liked him for forever. I think I first heard of him when he turned around the Salt Lake Winter Olympics in 2002. I remember being really excited about his first run for President in 2008. And even more when he won the Republican nomination in 2012. I was really bummed when he lost. That was when I decided, once again, to focus my efforts on my kids and my home. That is where I will make a difference. So I was just looking over the list of my reasons why I was voting for Romney and also voting against Obama, and all my Obama reasons have been like a TON worse with Trump - more debt, more golf, more dishonesty... like I'm just shaking my head at how much worse Trump has been. We knew it would be bad. Corey and I never liked him. Corey just said "You don't vote for crazy people." He said as much after Trump won. Corey tonight: "I want to be on the right side of history when it comes to crazy mad men with power." It took me a little while to get over it after Mitt lost, but that was when I decided to let God prevail and turn the fate of our country over to Him. I think it's gotten so much worse since then and we haven't had any good presidential choices since, but I will Trust in God. Of all the things I read and heard today, I'll just share Senator Romney's remarks tonight (the video here includes a few unscripted comments he made, like about losing an election "I've been there myself... its' no fun!" We are proud he represents our state:  

“We gather today due to a selfish man’s injured pride and the outrage of his supporters whom he has deliberately misinformed for the past two months and stirred to action this very morning. What happened here today was an insurrection, incited by the President of the United States. Those who choose to continue to support his dangerous gambit by objecting to the results of a legitimate, democratic election will forever be seen as being complicit in an unprecedented attack against our democracy. They will be remembered for their role in this shameful episode in American history. That will be their legacy.

“The objectors have claimed they are doing so on behalf of the voters. Have an audit, they say, to satisfy the many people who believe that the election was stolen. Please! No Congressional led audit will ever convince those voters, particularly when the President will continue to claim that the election was stolen. The best way we can show respect for the voters who are upset is by telling them the truth. That is the burden, and the duty, of leadership. The truth is that President-elect Biden won this election. President Trump lost. Scores of courts, the President’s own Attorney General, and state election officials both Republican and Democrat have reached this unequivocal decision.

“We must not be intimidated or prevented from fulfilling our constitutional duty. We must continue with the count of electoral college votes. In light of today’s sad circumstances, I ask my colleagues: Do we weigh our own political fortunes more heavily than we weigh the strength of our Republic, the strength of our democracy, and the cause of freedom? What is the weight of personal acclaim compared to the weight of conscience?

“Leader McConnell said that the vote today is the most important in his 40 plus years of public service. That is not because this vote reveals something about the election; it is because this vote reveals something about ourselves. I urge my colleagues to move forward with completing the electoral count, to refrain from further objections, and to unanimously affirm the legitimacy of the presidential election.”

Christmas Day

Merry Christmas! It was a happy day. Kids playing with Katharine and enjoying time together. 

They enjoyed their sleepover in the front room under the tree. 

They ate the treats in their stockings. After Corey and I got up, Corey gave everyone the letter that Hyrum wrote to them. 

In the letter to Corey, Hyrum let him know that it took him FOREVER to write everyone.

...followed by "You have a lot of kids."

Then it was the moment they'd all been waiting for and they opened gifts from each other. the kids drew names for Secret Santa over Thanksgiving, and it was supposed to be: J - A, M - Eth, E - Wes, W - lily, A - Joseph, L - Mel, S - O, N - S, O - D (Lily help), D - N (Abi help), and P and K did not participate. Ethan didn't buy Wes anything, but I had a gift that I let Ethan pay for and he gave that to Wes - a metal earth SL Temple, which Wes loves. After opening the first present and putting the wrapping in the trash, Natalie jumped up and grabbed it from the trash "Don’t throw that away! That bow is still useful!” Uh oh - she might be her mother's daughter. Two other quotes from today - Corey and people talking about India - “it’s a different world…” Ethan- “There are a lot of different worlds in this world...” haha. Also, Corey warning the children "The more you complain, the more your mother will laugh." Some highlights of the gifts: Sophi gave Wesley a coupon book - 

Some of the coupons will be very helpful. Most of the gifts were just regifting personal items, or someone else's items that they found. 

Joseph put Katharine in his Christmas sweater that he got in a thrift store in Guatemala. She didn't like it.

Mel gave Ethan a poor student discount plan but disguised it as digital Trump cards as a joke. It looked pretty legit that it really was Trump cards, so funny!

He wasn't very excited to get digital Trump trading cards.

Everyone knew what it really was, haha.

We've enjoyed having Ethan's pet fish Sushi here over the break. He's a nice fish. Abi gifted Ethan some of her fish's former belongings, on loan until Sushi dies or Abi gets a fish. 

Then to the side room for more presents. 

Lego sets...

The mission books for JME were a hit. The only problem we realized was that some of Ethan's photos must not have downloaded onto his blog, so there were a few weeks that were missing the photos. I don't know if he'll get it reprinted sometime, but I don't think I'll redo it, unless I give it to him again for Christmas next year. I'll let him decide if he just wants to make do or if he wants to pay for it himself. 

Joseph looking at the photo of him, on the side room tv, wearing the same sweater, just two years ago. 

Peter liked the Spidey and his amazing friends cars that Wesley chose for him at Costco.

At one point, Daniel was crying cause he couldn't carry all his stuff. We were laughing at the first world problem. Joseph went to help him. 

We went to church for just an hour today, for a special musical Christmas program. Sophi and a group of girls sang one of the numbers.

Katharine wore her pjs to church. But with a bow and pearls!

A photo from someone in San Diego who was taking care of Hyrum today. 

It had been an early day for Peter, and he fell asleep during church. 

We went over to Corey's parents house around 1 and enjoyed lunch/dinner over there, visiting, and more gift giving.

Katharine being sweet and beautiful.

Talking to Hyrum!

Playing with more presents. 

Back at home - basking in the Christmas fun explosion. 

Wesley helped Owen build his Ninjago temple lego set, it was pretty cool. It reminded Wesley of Avatar. 

I'm glad I've been able to sneak in some blogging up here (Today is actually 2/26/23 but I truly am grateful I was able to sneak in blogging, yay, I'm almost done with December!) Time for bed soon. Katharine with a tiny bottle of sparkling apple cider that I stole from my parents. Merry Christmas. 

Election Day

Hello November 3rd! It's election day. Good luck America! Let's see what we all decide to do. Corey and I voted a while ago. As we were pondering our situation, I told him he couldn't vote for Biden and he told me I couldn't vote for Trump, and it's all a mess so yeah, good luck America and I'm sending prayers all around. I put my heart into Romney years ago and I still think we're collectively idiots for not voting for him, so we're just getting what we deserve. I also realized, more after Romney's loss to Obama, that I should not have put my confidence in the government anyway. What happens in my home is more important than what happens in Washington, plus I don't have control over Washington, so I'm putting my focus in my home and neighborhood, and that's it. Corey did go over to his parent's house to have an "election party" with his brother and his boys, who recently joined in a Trump parade.

And as for home and our life here, it's all good. I've got my baby chicks at home - 

They are watching Disney's Cars (Peter likes cars, and he gets 100% of the vote, so we watch Cars a lot) I liked seeing Daniel snuggling up to him, ha

And this afternoon, Lily was reading to Peter on her bed and he fell asleep. I love it when that happens, it is nice having extra hands to give him attention.

Here are a few cute drawings that Daniel did - 

I liked these for the cheesy mischievous grins that his little characters have. 

All these guys "have pokies" on their fingers to poke. 

My fully grown children are out learning what they need to learn. Hyrum and I talked with Ethan for a bit, it is fun. It sounds like he's struggling a bit. 

I told him it's ok to not write a big entertaining weekly email. If he doesn't feel like writing or making things all rosy, it's ok (and that is what he decided to write today). As long as he is writing in his personal journal, that is what's important. 

Inauguration

Daniel had his 4 month check up today at 10, which was the time that President Trump was taking the oath of office. So I was grateful to be able to watch it on youtube. It was cool to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, I love them. My favorite album by them is America's Choir. I listened to that a lot when we lived in Virginia, so that is kind of my go to album for all things Patriotic. Trying to be patriotic right now. I was more depressed when Obama won in 2012 than I have been this time. But this is bringing back the old feelings and I'm wishing for what might have been - it could be Mitt taking his second term right now... Yeah, I should get over it. I have moved on, but am using the same coping mechanism this time. I feel a bit more detached from the whole situation this time. More like I'm just a spectator and it doesn't really affect me. That was the kind of attitude I tried to have with Obama - that I just need to focus on my family and my life and the things that I do have control over. I feel the same with this - I think Trumps election is just a manifestation of the decaying morals of our country. Last time with Obama it was for different morals, but I feel like it's basically the same deal, which is why I find it so interesting that liberals are so upset. One of the reasons I don't like Trump is cause he is liberal (and a total wild card). Liberals. you guys have a Republican pres who said good things about Planned Parenthood! Abortion is the main deal killer for me with Democratic Party. I'm currently party-less, and that's okay.

So Inaguration, that was the big news thing of today and there is my 2 cents. I love this country and feel like I live in Zion here in our absolutely wonderful neighborhood and with all of our wonderful friends here, so I'm going to keep loving and serving my family and neighbors, and praying for our country and it's leaders. It's in God's hands, Thy will be done. From a friend's facebook post that made me chuckle - "Our country has survived 44 presidents. I know that our country can make it through 4 to 8 years of Donald. Embrace The Suck"

In other news - Corey's burdens are at an all time high again. We've been here before and have faith that things will yet again workout, but it's never fun. Poor guy. I'm doing okay, but that's cause about 5 years ago I gave up worrying about it. I can't do anything about it other than pray, so I just pray. Worry is the facade of taking action, Prayer actually is. I also suggested that tonight for our date, to help his mind escape for a little bit, we did something we usually don't do and go to the movies! We grabbed some sandwhiches at Jimmy Johns (my first time there - they make fast sandwiches, wow) and saw the movie La La Land. I really liked it - visually the colors and the shots and the camera work was awesome. I loved it all ...except for the end - that having your career is what you have to do. Listen, if you don't end up with the person that you're supposed to end up with, then what else matters? Call me old school, but when they got together and then knew it was love, they should have made a commitment, or covenant perhaps, to be together and then come what may, they'll get through it TOGETHER. Corey and I are in this together, and as long as we stay together, nothing else matters. If he never makes it big or if we have to move or I don't know whatever - it does not matter. It's just a test for us to prove what is really important to us. What is important - money, wealth, fame? Nope. Family, your spouse, children? That would be a yes. Don't sell out on love and family for a career or anything else, boo!! Not sure if they message of the movie was "don't do this is you can avoid it" or "it's nice to pretend you can have it all, but you can't, this is reality folks, make your choice - love or fame". Yeah, so, other than the ending (and possibly the whole overall message of the entire movie), I loved it. :)

(Update a week later)
This did make me laugh about our predicament, "Help, I'm gonna barf!"

Good job BLR.

What I Can Focus On

So, it appears that Trump is on his path to becoming the Republican nominee. I think it is a very very bad thing, but I do not find that I am totally terrified or worried about it, which I am grateful for. I can't control where our nation goes, so I'm focusing on what I can control, things that I can do, and places where I can make a difference. And that place is here in my home and in my family. (...Although with Trumps inevitable nomination, I did decide today to finally answer the phone with caller ID "Washington DC" that I've been ignoring for weeks. As assumed, it was someone asking for donations for the election. It was the RNC. I was able to tell them that we will no longer support or contribute to the RNC at all. With Trump at the standard bearer, we are out. I'm disappointed that voters have chosen him, and I do not believe he represent conservative values. We'll look for and support conservative candidate on our own, but will not support the Republican Party. Sorry folks!)

So, since I have been spending less time on social media and reading news the past month, I have been using my time to get reacquainted with family history on FamilySearch.org and Ancestry. I just so happened to major in Family History at BYU 16 years ago, but things have changed a lot since then. Luckily it's changes for the better and easier! And guess what - last night, for the first time ever, I printed up my first card to take to the temple to do temple work for one of my direct ancestors! It's a sealing ordinance to seal one of my 5th great grandmothers to her parents. I'm hoping to take it and do the work on Saturday. :) Yay!

Although I must say that her family is a mess - Ellen is married to Joseph Barlow, and Joseph is also married to a Helen (no last name) but I think Helen and Ellen are the same person, but they are in two families with some of the same and some different children, so gotta go try and sort that all out. But Helen didn't have any parents, so hopefully this work for Ellen/Helen really is something that needs to be done. I'm still getting my feet wet and trying to figure out places to research and stuff. But I like doing family history, it makes me feel good. And even if I spend 3 hours on it, I don't feel like I'm wasting or idling away my time, like I tend to feel like when I read the news or link to different facebook videos or such. That being said, I really love some of the stuff I see on facebook and enjoy sharing them with my children, like this video.

We live in a wonderful world. Lots of wonderful people from wonderful and amazing lands and countries, most of which probably have had their share of corrupt and horrible leaders. So whether the US gets stuck with Hillary or Drumpf, I have hope that life will go on and all can be well with me and my family as we focus on following Christ and serving others.

Jumping and Dreams

It's been another good Wednesday. I had to get outside and fill up the trash bins again before the garbage truck came by. Need to try and clear up leaves and pine needles while I still can before winter comes. I really should have the kids do it on Saturday... But it's good to get outside since it's not as hard now as it will be once there is snow on the ground. The kids put on their shoes and coats and out we went. It didn't take long to fill up the garbages. We had time to spare before the kindergarten bus came, so we went over to jump at the neighbors house.

It was quite chilly in their shaded back yard but the kids had fun. 

They told me to jump with them and they were all quite surprised and delighted with the amount of air they got as I jumped with them. Just a few small bounces from me and they went flying. It was fun. We only stayed over there for 30 min before we headed back for lunch before Natalie left. We've got a good toddler routine going these days and on most days both Owen and Daniel go very willingly down for naps either right before or right after Natalie leaves. So sometimes they come out to the bus with us, other times they are already resting. That gives me a good 2 hours of quiet time to get things done! Yeah! Yesterday and today I've been working a little bit on going through the piles and files of papers that I have around the house. Now that I have scrapbooks for all of the kids in place (2nd to last pic), I've begun to attempt to organize or toss the years of artwork, school work, photographs, certificates, etc. I must say I'm impressed with the elementary school's 3rd grade efforts of having the kids write down things that capture their thoughts at that time of their life. They have a whole big notebook, bound and laminated, that they make for the kids at the end of the school year. Yesterday I went through Lily's 3rd grade book to put things in sheet protectors in my scrapbook and today I did Abi's. I had to take off the binding and go through each paper. I threw away some that didn't mean anything to me (like of reports of some class science observations) or things that I've already blogged (like the wax museums Abi as Helen Keller and Lily as Amelia Earhart). For things that I wanted to keep I had to trim them down or take off the construction paper behind them. I got a kick out of these little write ups from Martin Luther King day - I read Lily's yesterday and thought it was a bit scary/sad and I felt the same today when I read Abi's. I mean what kind of horrible "dreams" for a better future are they having? I have a dream to not be kidnapped or killed?!?!

Oh my sweet children... Let's have some dreams about good things, shall we? Although it might be our fault... Abi's below on kidnapping might have something to do going back to 2012 when we told our little 5 year old Abi about Sierra Newbold. Perhaps that wasn't the best parenting move on our part... 

I just googled Sierra Newbold and saw this picture here - such a beautiful little girl - reminds me of our sweet Natalie. Oh what a hard trial that must have been for her family - to lose their little girl in such a horrible way. I haven't talked to the kids about things like that for a while - though I'm not really up to date on news and current events these days, as I've kinda checked out of the news since Novemeber 2016 when Trump won. I used to get some news from facebook, but I've hardly been on there the past month now - after doing the 10 day social media fast from President Nelson's challenge, and finding I much enjoyed it, so yea, now I'm mostly get my news from Corey, my mom, or catching things from comments people make at church. I'm definitely out of the loop. But I don't mind. I'm going to try to focus on things here in my home with my children, things that I actually have some control and influence over.