Halloween

'Twas the Night before Halloween, 10/30/07, 8:50pm, just flew home from Disneyland.

Mom: "Brandon, let's go get your Darth Vader costume ready to go so in the morning you'll be all set for school."

Brandon: "But Mom, I don't want to be Darth Vader anymore, I want to be a JEDI MASTER like I was in DISNEYLAND!"

Mom: "But Brandon, it's too late. All the stores are closed and we already have your Halloween costume!"

Brandon: "Well then just call Muga (Grandma) and have her make me a Jedi Master costume!"



Well, I'm sure you know how the rest of the conversation went. A few more changes of his mind led to him wearing his brother's Karate gear the next morning. At this point, I didn't even know what I was going to be yet. And that is a carnal sin where I work. Halloween is a very, very big deal at Bonneville Radio. Primarily because it's the big bosses favorite holiday. You must show in your costume severe forethought and creativity. The past 6 years I've been everything from Daphne from Scooby Doo, Wilma Flintstone,

Avril Lavigne,

Beth the Bounty Hunter (Dog's Wife),

and a Flapper Dancer.

So of course you must out-do yourself every year but this year I just didn't have it in me. No plans with anyone else on a group theme, and just returned hours earlier from a Disney Vacation. So first thing in the morning before I entered my closet I took a big breath and crossed my fingers that as usual I can do something on the fly at the very last minute and have it turn out smashingly. Well, as luck would have it I threw on the black Ostritch cowboy boots, a leather vest, a Harley Davidson bandana, a few of my more edgy accessories and became a Harley chick.


Or Biker Mama, Biker bitch, Harley Ho, whatever you choose. It got me through the day. The hit however, was sweet baby Jane, in her butterfly costume. Pretty much the only thing I've paid full price for in my entire life because I just couldn't resist..............

What was Easton? A really scary, 13-year old boy dressed as himself. Too young to ditch trick-or-treating all together but waaaay too old (in his estimation) to actually get into a costume.

Thinking about our Children's Children

Today is Blog Action Day! Bloggers around the web are uniting to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind - the environment. The aim is to get everyone talking towards a better future. So I figured I'd join in and give just a few of my thoughts.

I frequently think about and worry about the environment. Just watch the news for 5 minutes and you'll inevitably find a news story about a huge weather disaster that can be directly linked to global warming. I get so concerned about what kind of earth we are going to leave for our children but feel helpless that I can do anything about it.

After all, I'm no Al Gore - who the Nobel committee singled out as "probably the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that need to be adopted". If you haven't seen his documentary, I HIGHLY suggest it, but it will scare the buhjezzus out of you. None of us are Al Gore. But if every person in the world daily did just a little, it would make a huge difference in turning this ship around for our precious generations to come.

The web is full of tips on how to 'go green' and ways to reduce your personal and families use. I'm just going to give a few obvious tips that don't cost anything and take very little effort.

• Turn off the water when you're brushing your teeth. (Why is it running anyway!)

• Turn OFF your automatic sprinklers! It's just as easy to keep an eye on your lawn every few days and turn the sprinklers on only water when the lawn needs it. (Water deeply and infrequently, many areas can handle less than once per week!) Many people water more on their lawns than it rains in the rain forest!! That is completely insane to me!

• Don't throw that water bottle or soda can in the garbage. Our society is so incredibly wasteful and it absolutely kills me watching someone drink a measly 16 ounces of water and chuck the plastic in the garbage can. Pleeeease recycle it. Aluminum cans take 200-500 years to decompose and plastic water bottles take 80 years! Yet if recycled they can be back on the shelf in less than 90 days!

• Plant a tree. I'm not trying to go granola on you, but it's very simple science that if every single person in the world planted just one additional tree, we could completely reverse global warming altogether.

• Bring your own bags to the grocery store - even a few help! Albertsons has awesome ones for only .99 cents and when you reuse them at some stores, you get .05 cents off per bag you reuse.
  

• When you're on a shopping spree at the mall, it's ok to have Victoria's Secret put your purchase into the huge Nordstrom bag only carrying your new pair of sexy boots.

So be kind to the earth today. Let's leave some fresh air and clean water for our precious children's children. Make one small change at a time to reduce the amount of impact you make on the environment and be concious about it. And together, it will all add up and we will make a difference.

What small change can you make?

PS. Here is a link to a fabulous article with additional ways to help save the planet from my very favorite magazine - Real Simple.

Baby Jane makes her on-stage and radio debut!

.....ok, so it sounds a lot bigger than it was. I've been involved lately with the Signing Time Live! Concert that was here in Utah on 10/8. Jane was able to be onstage as a Brown Turkey in Leah's Farm. Boy those brown eyes look SO adorable in brown! The cutest thing ever was during the performance, she got as excited as I've ever seen her when she looked out into the audience and saw Daddy, Brothers, Hannah, Palmer, Auntie, Abby and Ryan waving at her! (see second video below!) She squealed with so much excitement! More than when she saw Hopkins the frog onstage during the dress rehearsals! It was a fantastic show.

Her other favorite moment? Seeing Rachel, Alex and Leah backstage!

As far as her radio debut!? Once you click the link below, make sure to click 'Audio' in the middle of the page and listen to the Kid Stuff Feature that airs on my station KSL NewsRadio. Pay particular to the baby jibberjabber in the background. Take a listen!