Lost Returns

I am so excited for today to be over to be able to go home and watch the season premier of LOST! With the writers strike halting all good TV I had completely forgotten about Lost coming back until last night when Robert flipped on the TV and last season's finale was on. I am so excited! What's more, we have the the last full season of The Office at home right now from Netflix. So I can go home and watch The Office until Lost comes on. Yay!

Also, can you image what it would be like if this happened here? No internet?! Take a minute to think how your day would be affected. Now be grateful that we have the internet.

Active Activity Part II: The Bike Ride

This weekend our active activity was a bike ride with Robert's Uncle Steve and Aunt Wendy. We have done this before by riding from the (Sr.) Wheat's home to Venice beach (which is always good for people watching) and then either riding the bike path north to Santa Monica or south until we get tired. This week we decided to go a little farther south than Robert and I have gone in the past, so we loaded up the bikes on the truck and drove down to Dockweiler Beach. The bike ride south was tough because the wind was blowing against us.
FYI: I look cold in the picture but don't worry, I really wasn't. I brought a jacket but took it off. We really were working hard riding against the wind.

We made it down to Hermosa Beach and stopped at the pier to look around. At the end of the pier was a little aquarium where you could touch some of the sea creatures and look at(but definitely not touch) fish, sharks, and other sea life. The ride back was terrific, since the wind was now going with us. I was glad there was a little break in the rain we have been getting all week so we could get out and do something fun.
See how responsible Wendy and I are, the sign said you may touch the animals with one finger.
Hey, I just noticed this was our 100th post!

Romney Videos I Love

I love the line "who's your daddy?"



From my favorite political blog, www.politicalderby.com



One of my favorite movies just got better.

Griffith Park Hike

The Griffith Observatory and downtown Los Angeles

Robert and I have committed to doing something active every weekend. Today we drove out to Griffith Park, this massive park in L.A., and hiked up to the top of Mount Hollywood. We read that if you parked near the entrance of the park and hiked all the way to the top of Mount Hollywood it was a five mile hike. We started our hike off at the bottom the mountain, but soon realized we must have taken the wrong path. The trail is suppose to be a well traveled trail, but pretty soon we were going straight up the mountain on this tiny rocky path, grasping onto branches to make our way up. It was quite the workout for our first weekly activity! We eventually made it to the right trail after hopping the fence to get onto the road to the Griffith Observatory. We also stopped by the newly remodeled observatory for a peek inside on our way back down, but decided we'd have to come back another day to really look around.
View from the top. We look tir-, ah, I mean thrilled to be there. Okay, so we were a little tired.

Why Do People Become Homeless?

Note: The following description is fictional, but based on the experiences of dozens of homeless families that I've known.

Hi. I am a single mother with two kids, a seven year-old boy and a five year-old girl. Their daddy ran out on us a few years ago and I haven't heard from him since. I've been making ends meet using my welfare money (cash and food stamps) to help out with my income from work. I graduated from high school but never got any more education than that, so I work as a cashier at a retail store. When my daughter got sick I had to take care of her and I lost my job. Since I was no longer working my cash aid was increased, but that still left me a few hundred dollars short each month for my rent and bills.

I had no savings and two months after I lost my job I lost my apartment. We stayed with my mom for three weeks but then her landlord found out I was staying there and kicked us out. The county welfare gave us motel vouchers for two weeks, but I wasn't able to find a job during that time. Since then we have been bouncing around, staying with different friends and paying for motel rooms. It's hard for me to find a job when I am moving all over the place, plus I still have to take care of my kids. I haven't been able to save any of my money and I don't know how I am ever going to get my own place again without saving money for a deposit and first month's rent.

Sunshine on My Shoulders Makes Me Happy

and so do sunsets on the beach. These are some pictures from a trip to the beach last week.

Random and Weird: Part II

I was tagged by David and Jen.

5 Random or Weird Facts About Myself:

1. I want a big closet with wooden hangers and I want all my clothes professionally laundered. The closet will have to have a small couch with an ottoman so I may comfortably tie my shoes in the morning. It will have several large thin pull-out drawers so I can lay my ties and belts out flat, and it will have a nice vanity mirror. I'm sure Melarie will have a nice closet as well, but it won't be inside mine.

2. I would say I have a mild case of obsessive compulsive disorder. My current obsession is NCAA football on Playsation 2 where I have built BYU into a dynasty with 33 straight victories, including Rose Bowel, Sugar Bowel, and BCS National Bowel victories over three seasons.

3. I hate people touching me, especially on my neck and face, even clothing, which makes wearing ties on Sunday very uncomfortable.

4. Ironically, I love ties. I love very very nice ties. I own 31 ties. That's not very many. I'm kind of disappointed with that. That's only enough to last me a month. I could use more ties. Maybe I will go get more ties tomorrow. Or maybe I will wait until I can go to the Robert Talbot outlet. I like that place.

5. I love political blogs. I love politics in general and I am excited that I can devote time following the presidential primaries now that it is actually 2008.

No One Mourns the Wicked...

My sister-in-law Lauren's Christmas present from her parents this year was a trip out to L.A. to see Wicked. She got two tickets, one for herself and one for a friend, and she chose me to go with her! Thanks Lo! I had already seen it once over the summer but that made me even more excited because I already knew how fabulous it is. There were no picture allowed in the actual theatre so here we are in the lobby of the Pantages Theatre.

Help with New Year Resolution

One of my resolutions was to start reading my scriptures more consistently. While browsing online for a Book of Mormon reading schedule I came across this website, http://www.readthescriptures.com/. After you create an account you can choose which book you want to read and how long you want to take to read it. Then they will send your daily scripture reading to your e-mail. If you are already halfway through a book you can choose where in the book you want to start your schedule. Or, if you want to follow the Gospel Doctrine B of M reading schedule you can select that schedule as your schedule. You can also print off your reading schedule if you just want to have a visual, but not acutally read at the computer.

So far I am doing well using this program because I am a habitual e-mail checker, so having my daily scripture reading right there in my e-mail reminds me about it. We'll see how it goes for the rest of the year.