My reality tv

I admit it, I totally get sucked in by certain reality tv shows. I finally had a few minutes to sit and watch a little tv this week. I haven't watched Deadliest Catch for several weeks and I was sucked in by the impending doom of a greenhorn on the Wizard. No one knew what was wrong with him, he had pain, went into shock and appeared to be having a seizure. I finished one episode and was ready to go on to the next, and what did I do? I accidentally deleted the wrong episode....so I couldn't see the one from Tuesday night that showed all the action and whether or not Chris was ok. On our trip to California, I madly searched the internet to see if I could find any clips of this...no luck! I finally found a little synopsis on what happened but it just isn't the same as watching it unfold in front of you........How lame am I? I guess at least a realize it, huh?

Sex in the Media, American Idol Style

Tonight was the finale of American Idol. Can I just say that I have loved Phillip Phillips the entire time? I'm so glad that he won. Anyway, we talked about sex in the media in class today and as I was watching the American Idol Finale, I really picked up on some things that were disturbing to me. They did a segment on Steven Tyler tonight, and it was kind of disgusting, especially since my 4 girls were sitting there watching this "family" show.... He basically welcomed you into his supposed house or "pad"...He had a sloth that he was carrying around as a pet (creepy) and then he had all these Playboy Playmate wannabees (maybe they were the real ones....) lining the hallway. They were going up to each girl and saying "Miss January, Miss February " and so on as he walked by them. I think he swore a few times and made a few more comments that were not appropriate for the audience. And of course the women were dressed in the Playboy Bunny outfits....Steven even pulled one of their tails off their bum to powder Randy's face with! I was a little surprised at how blatant they were being with their sexual innuendos. A few weeks ago, they had Jennifer Lopez perform her song "Love To Make Love To You".....Apparently adolescence really don't know the lyrics of the songs because she was out there dancing and singing this very provocative song, not to mention that her hotty 25 year old boyfriend back up dance was doing a naughty dance with her as she sang. Neither of my teenage daughters seemed to detect the real meaning of it all. Hmmm, I may have to screen out some more shows....!

Mom, I need a new phone!!!

There are so many cool phones on the market today..... They have nice big screens and they are so pretty and shiny. Don't gag, I'm a sucker for cool cell phones, covers, you name it! My 16 year old daughter has gone through 3 different phones in the last 2 years. So guess what she is eligible for now?? An upgrade She really does need one...Her screen looks like its about to shatter from so much texting. She really wants this new phone that a bunch of her friends have. It's the HTC VIvid and it is big and shiny and looks super cool. It's pretty inexpensive to buy the phone, but then guess what? You have to have a data plan! Almost any phone that looks like a modern device requires data with our particular carrier. What an aweful trick....Get the new cool phone at a great price, but then you have to have the data. Not only do I not want to pay an extra $20 a month, I do not want my teenager having unlimited access to the internet, facebook, or whatever apps she choses. I may be too strict or old fashioned, but texting alone to friends already takes up a lot of a teenager's time. Do I really want her to be handed the world on a plate? Okay, I am being a little dramatic, but the bottom line is that there aren't a lot of phone options out there anymore that don't require you to have a data plan. It's making it very hard to control if you give in. We haven't agreed to it and I don't think we will. She's sad and I get it, and she's a good girl so I really don't worry much about her if we did give in. I guess that's not really the point, is it? It's hard to raise teenagers today. You want them to have things, but what does giving them everything really teach them?

Things as they really are......

When Dr. Coyne showed the Mormon Message "Things As They Really Are" it reminded me of a brief family home evening we had about a month ago. Having 2 older daughters that use facebook, cell phones, etc... and 2 younger girls who are watching their examples, I wanted to share a few of the Mormon Messages with them as a family. I kept getting the titles mixed up, so I think we watched What Matters Most and a few others before I finally got to the correct title. All of the messages that we viewed together as a family came together and reinforced what my husband and I had been feeling: We should not get so wrapped up in our virtual communications that we don't see the people who are right there in front of us (or behind us in the video). What matter most are those interpersonal communications with our family, with our friends, face to face, no on some computer or cell phone. I love technology and gadgets, and so does my husband and all 4 of our girls. We definitely have ways we are working to improve on using our devices less and interacting more. I am always intrigued with the latest and greatest advancements in technology. I love how the church is using technology to help teach and spread the gospel. I don't know if anyone was more excited than me to see the updates online that can be used in conjunction with the old YW manuals that we use, as well as the Youth app and all the other church apps that can be used as teaching tools.

Favorite Books

This weeks assignment was to write a paper about our favorite book from childhood or adolescence and a book that we love now. It was so hard for me to pick because at different times of my life there have been many that I would have considered my favorites. So I picked ones that made a distinct impression on me in adolescence and now as an adult. There was definitely a theme developing when I picked The Diary of Anne Frank and The Book Thief, both about Jews and the Holocaust. I'm really not morbid but both books did make an impression on me. If I had to pick a book from childhood that I loved it would be the Pippa Mouse books. They were short chapter books with black and white pictures. I remember my mom reading them to me. Recently, she found them and mailed them to me. I plan to share them with my younger girls.

Music.....and the Spoken Word

I am the Young Women's president in our ward and this weekend I had the opportunity to attend Stake Youth Conference. As part of the weekend, we talked a lot about music and the effect that certain types of music have on our actions and attitudes. As a demonstration, they played a portion of popular song that many of us have listened to ("YoungWildFree"). Everyone was kind of laughing and rocking out to it for a minute. The lyrics are not great ("So what, we get drunk, so what we smoke weed".... you get the idea!). They then started to play a video of a college choir singing "Come Though Fount of Every Blessing" that was so powerful, it really brought everyone to silence. I think we all felt the spirit in recognizing the difference between good music and questionable songs that don't invite the spirit. As a conclusion to the weekend, we took all of the young men and young women in our stake to Music and the Spoken Word in the Tabernacle at Temple Square. What an amazing experience to see the Choir perform live with an orchestra! At the fast and testimony meeting that was held after Music and the Spoken Word, it was amazing to hear how many of the young men and young women talked about these two experiences with music, how they felt, and what an impact music has in their lives.

Infant Videos

This week for our class we had to interview someone with an infant between the ages of 6 months and 2 years. My sister has a 23 month old so I interviewed her. It was interesting to talk with her about what she allows her daughter to watch and why. My youngest two girls are 7 and 8, so I don't watch a lot of the infant or preschool programming that is out there. It seems like there is so much more out there now....My sister talks alot about Sprout which is PBS for cable. She mentioned shows such as Word Girl, Super Why and Poppy Cat. For her, the most important factors in letting her daughter watch television at such a young age are (1) is it age appropriate? and (2) Is she learning something from this? It was interesting to hear all of the different views about watching television that class members had or had encountered during their interviews. I believe that

if we use moderation with television viewing, it can be a great tool for learning and entertainment.

This week in 358 we were asked to interview someone with a child between the ages of 6 months and 2 years of age and find out if they let their child watch Baby Einstein videos or any other type of infant programming. I interviewed my sister who has two children ages 23 months and 3 years. She is not a big fan of the Baby Einstein videos and had never really encouraged her children to watch them, even though they had been given a few as gifts. She talked alot about PBS programming and the cable channel Sprout. Some of her favorite programs for her daughter Ava are Super Why, Word Girl, Poppy Cat. She likes this type of programming because she is looking for shows that will influence her daughter in positive ways by increasing her vocabulary and teaching her how to interact with other people. She believes Sprout is a great option for her 23 month old daughter.