I love the fall weather!!!

Sorry it has been a while since I have posted anything. Working and evening activities have swallowed up my time.We made it to Little Cottonwood Canyon today. We have been trying to get to the canyons to see the leaves before the snow storm that is suppose to be here this weekend. The weather is perfect right now. In the morning we have that crisp, cool air. I absolutely love it. The smell in the air right now is perfect. I can't describe the smell nor do I know what it is, but I love it. The boys loved hiking on a little path we took. It was beautiful. Spencer is already anxious for snow. He loves to ski.

Spencer and Tanner posing.

Tanner also goes by Jiffy at school. I don't like it but he loves it.

Spencer is my little buddy.

Little Cottonwood Canyon

Working Mom

Now that my boys have gone back to school and left me home alone during the day I have decided to go back to work. I have been blessed with a wonderful opportunity to be an enrollment councilor for Grand Canyon University. I am impressed with everything this school offers. I am excited to be part of it. This also allows me to FINALLY finish my B.S. degree and get an MBA. I am totally stoked about this opportunity.

Tom and the boys are totally supportive of this. Tom has been so helpful in getting me out the door in the mornings and the boys off to school. Tom, Tanner and I have managed to fit in jogging in the morning before work and school. It has been awesome.

It does make things busy. When I get home I have to fix dinner, help with home work and keep the laundry moving. I do my best to keep the boys on their sleep schedule. Spencer has cub scouts on Thursdays and a special reading group right after. Tanner has scouts or YM's on Tuesday evenings and Chinese class on Thursday evenings. Basketball starts up in October for both boys. So we keep busy and understand now more than ever the importance of a weekly calendar meeting to go over everyone's schedule.

I am so excited for this opportunity. I feel like it is an opportunity to make myself a better person and by doing so maybe helping others grow and develop their strengths.

Obama vs Pailin

Immediately after McCain's surprise pick of Sarah Palin as his VP Obama's fans in the media began attacking Alaska's governor as being a poor VP pick because she is completely unqualified to be President. Every allegation of lack experience thrown at Palin by the media actually applies to Obama just as much as it applies to Palin. Palin has nearly a decade of executive experience as mayor and governor as well business experience in the private sector. Obama has neither. But rather than look at what jobs Obama and Palin have had it is far more enlightening to look at what they have done in their current and previous jobs and how they got them.

Palin challenged her own party, blowing the whistle on corruption in Alaska's old boy network. This is not usually how one ascends to the top post in your state. In fact, standing up for what's right against powerful incumbents is often a career ending decision. But Palin did the right thing despite her career. (We don't really know her motives, but it's either what I just wrote or she's an evil freaking genius.) I believe Palin did the right thing career be damned and voters appreciated her back bone and values. Now she's the youngest governor in the history of Alaska.

Contrast Palin's career path to Obama's. Obama came to power in Chicago, the most liberal and nepotistic city in the country. This is the city where the phrase "vote early and often" was born. So how did Obama rise to power in this liberal and corrupt political environment? He embraced it.

Obama launched his political career in the home of former terrorist Bill Ayers. Bill wasn't a guy who made a one-time mistake, he was the founder of the Weather Underground organization which bombed the US capital and planned to bomb the pentagon. A few years ago when a reporter asked Ayers if he had regrets about his terrorist past he responded that not only did not regret bombing the Capital building, he felt like he and Weatherman didn't do enough.

Obama basically lied when asked about Ayers and said he was just a guy that lived in his neighborhood. In fact Ayers gave Obama one of his first jobs as the director of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC) which spent over $100 million to improve Chicago's schools with no measurable impact. The records for the CAC have just been released, but I'm afraid all the records showing a connection between Ayers and Obama have been removed and destroyed.

Even though Jeremiah Wright damned the very country Obama now seeks to lead, Obama sat in Wright's church for years and said nothing. Obama didn't challenge Ayers or Wright because these were the very men who gave Obama his start in politics.

Either Obama is an extreme radical with the same politics as Ayers and Wright and his move to the middle is the biggest con job in history or Obama is a purely political animal with no foundation of values who simply seeks advantage in whatever situation he's in. My guess is that both are true. I believe Obama is much liberal than his platform suggests in an effort to appeal to mainstream America and he's the kind of person who is intelligent enough to constantly consider how is words and actions will impact his long term career and makes adjustments accordingly.

This was evident the last debate where McCain gave straight forward answers where as Obama talked around issues. On abortion McCain took a stand and said he was pro life. Obama indicated he was pro choice but also said the issue of when human life begins was "above my pay grade." What job is Obama applying for again?

Obama befriended political radicals (not radical by Chicago standards, but definitely radical by mainstream America standards) correctly believing they could help him launch his political career in Chicago. Only later, after entering national politics, did Obama condemn the very politics that launched his career. Did Obama suddenly have a change of heart about Wright and Ayers? More likely he simply didn't need them anymore.

The contrast between Palin and Obama is striking. Palin rocked the boat challenging members of her own party to end political corruption in Alaska. Obama managed to navigate the political waters of Chicago without making so much as a ripple. Even his most ardent supporters cannot name an accomplishment outside of becoming President of the Harvard Law Review, getting elected to the Illinois Senate, getting elected to the US Senate and becoming the Democratic nominee. But what did Obama accomplish in these jobs other than give wonderful speeches and plan his next career move? Even his supporters don't have an answer.

Some may think Palin's resume isn't long enough to qualify her as the next VP of the United States. But perhaps no job experience compares with being the VP or the President and instead of experience we should instead be looking at character instead. Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt were great presidents because of their character, not because of their prior job experience. Palin's fights against political corruption offer ample evidence of a solid ethical and moral foundation.

Obama's moral compass seems to point to the White House via the path of least resistance.

By Tom Martin

The Next President of the US

Not long ago Obama looked unbeatable, but that is no longer the case.

Recent successes in Iraq makes the Republicans look like they knew what they were doing when Democrats were calling for withdrawal and surrender. China on the rise and Russians on the march make the world a scary place. As poorly as the 3am call ad flopped, it's true and American's know it. American's just didn't appreciate Hillary saying it because...well, she's Hillary. But war hero McCain will continue to make this charge and it will stick.

Inflation, a weak dollar, housing and auto industries in the toilet and bank failures make for a scary economic landscape. Most Americans are smart enough to realize government regulation and higher taxes are not good for America, especially now. The have-nots might embrace socialism because they stand to gain from it. But I think most of the working middle class believe big government is not their friend, even when its well intended, and run the other way.

McCain should pick a qualified conservative woman as his running mate. He'll nab a bunch of Hillary supporters and for the next two months we can watch multiple sound bites of Biden ripping Obama courtesy of the committee to elect America's Favorite Grumpy Grandpa. Not to mention the "pay grade" commercial that's coming courtesy of Mr. Smooth himself.

America may support generally the right for a woman to have an abortion, but most American's are not comfortable w/ the idea of late term abortions. The thought of fetuses surviving abortions and Obama somehow defending this horrible practice will hurt Obama. If the Dems can shift the debate to Roe v Wade this issue could favor them, but if the Republicans can keep the focus on late term abortions this will favor McCain.

Perhaps the greatest weakness of Obama, Pelosi and Reid is their claim that drilling for more oil will not help reduce the cost of oil. McCain wants to drill to save America from OPEC. Obama wants to save the world from warming by drastically reducing American consumption of oil and he's willing to let the American economy take a major hit to make this happen. Obama has pie in the sky pipe dreams about clean energy saving the planet but his only answer is to throw billions of taxpayer dollars at the problem. This approach failed in the 70's and will fail again. Having the government try to guess which technologies to back is a losing strategy. The end result will be billions spent on failed technologies and solutions that require permanent taxes and subsidies to keep them viable. Why not allow the market develop efficient sources in the first place? The one safe and effective renewable source of energy is nuclear and Democrats won't even consider it. We need more oil and more nuclear energy to keep American going while renewable technologies like solar and wind are being developed.

There is no reason for America to jump off the cliff of global warming and hope the solutions will be there by the time we hit bottom. All of the scientific studies on CO2 and warming have proven correlation (they occur at the same time) but none have proved causation. Even Al Gore's pop culture pseudo scientific documentary shows that warming has historically occurred slightly before increases in CO2 levels. Global warming may actually cause increases in CO2 (by facilitating its release from the oceans) instead of the other way around. A recent study measuring the temperature of the oceans for the last five years shows that the oceans have not warmed at all. A recent discovery of plant fossils in the arctic areas proves that thousands of years ago arctic regions were much warmer. In fact the earth has gone through several ice ages and warmer periods. Man obviously wasn't the cause of these warning and cooling periods and polar bears and all the other species on the earth today obviously survived. Species adapting to their environment is the foundation of Darwin's theory of evolution, but apparently liberals only believe in evolution as a way to keep God out of our schools. If warming and cooling are normal for the earth's environment, why are liberals asking us to sacrifice our prosperity in an attempt to maintain the temperatures of Al Gore's childhood? Because despite all the talk of scientific studies, saving the planet by halting global warming has become a matter of faith, a new liberal religion. Unfortunately, liberals are working to make warming the official religion of this country and force all Americans to sacrifice for the cause, regardless of reason, logic and science. And when liberals fail to get their policies adopted via the ballot box they will do an end run around democracy and have them adopted and enshrined by the courts.

McCain is old, ornery and possibly unbalanced. I pray he gets elected.

By Tom Martin

Spencer's Baptism

Tom and Spencer

On August 9th Spencer was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Tom baptized and confirmed him. He had such a special day. So many people came to support Spencer on his special day.

Shelby and Spencer

Spencer and Shelby Burdette were baptized during this service. It was a wonderful day.

Spencer and Lindzie

Spencer had lots of friends and family come to support him. Both sets of grandparents made to the trip to be there for him. His cousin Kelly and Grandpa Watts gave talks. Grandma Zan gave the closing prayer and Uncle Matt and Uncle Joe were witnesses. Afterwards we had a nice luncheon.

Draper Temple updates

Angel Moroni was placed on top on July 9, 2008. I can't believe what a difference it makes in the look and feel of the temple. It has been incredible to watch the progression from the ground up.

Presiden Gordon B. Hinckley, broke ground and dedicated the site for the temple on August 5, 2006. "It is a great tribute to our people," he said. "They are so faithful in temple attendance and it is for this reason that we construct this beautiful house of the Lord." Construction of the temple is expected to be completed in 2008. We have heard it will be completed by November but that has not been confirmed.


Angel Moroni being placed on the top of the temple marks an important milestone in construction and coincides with completion of the exterior granite facing.

The Draper Temple is the 12th temple to be built in Utah and is the 3rd temple to be built in the Salt Lake Valley. (http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/draper/)

Skoose

Skoose

Dear Suzanne (aka: Skoose, Sister Grannis),

I want to publicly thank you so much for everything. Thank you for creating my super cute blog site that I get so many compliments on. Thank you for being the wonderful friend that you are and for the wonderful memories in Taiwan. Some of my favorite memories in Taiwan are with you and Sister Bailey. You two kick started my Chinese. I still can’t speak as well as you but I can get from here to there on my own.

Thanks for sharing your adventures. I have enjoyed following your life From Jia Yi to the US and now with your family in Shanghai. Life is awesome.

Thanks for being you! Love you.

Kim