What the?!

Miss Lu loves to say "What the?!" to express her surprise and/or confusion. The thing is, sometimes I want to ask her the same thing—what is going on in her marvelous little mind?

1) I tell her to get dressed for a walk to the park. While it's reasonably warm, there is still snow on the ground. When I ask her why she won't put on pants (let along boots) she says, "Because I'm trying to encourage Spring!"

2) At dinner, Mr. Nick and I note that Calvin Jesse needs a haircut because he's getting a mullet. "A mullet?! Oh no! Is he going to die?" is Miss Lucy's seriously concerned response.

3) Lately Miss Lu likes to play "would you rather" games, presenting various scenarios from which we need to choose an option. For example, "Hey Mom, would you rather die, or would you rather break both arms and both legs?" (I chose broken limbs).

Last night's "would you rather" question stopped Mr. Nick and I in our tracks wondering "where does she come up with this stuff?"

"Hey Dad, would you rather that everyone in the whole world dies, or that God dies?"

What the?!

PS She then followed up with evidence of her mormon theological training: "But don't worry, if God dies we'll still have Jesus!"

PPS Reading back over this entry, it appears that Miss Lucy is also thinking a fair amount about life and death. Guess we'd better see where that's coming from ...

Conjugation

 

Favorite part of General Conference: Miss Lucy, listening to Pres. Eyring quoting a scripture about Alma, asks "Is he speaking the words that Alma spake?"

Oil

Hey Nick—remember that time we were in the church kitchen getting the spaghetti dinner ready and you reached for that bottle of olive oil and then we realized just in time that it had the word "consecrated" written on it in black sharpie marker and you put it back and we found some other oil to use to keep the spaghetti from sticking together? Me too. Still makes me laugh :) 

Mr. Nick, ever curious, at Bandelier National Park this summer

Webbs = Winners

So. As the Activities Committee, Mr. Nick and I (with help from our honorary committee member Miss Lu) hosted a ward 5K run/walk in conjunction with a healthy breakfast and a massive clothing swap. There was awesomeness to spare. Behold:

Mr. Nick "winning" the race (ok, just posing after we set up the ribbon)

Miss Lu winning the kids' race. Really. She definitely does not get this from my side.

Mr. Nick handing out the awards to the winners with Miss Lu accepting. 

This all seems to indicate that the entire event was just the Webbs running around and having fun, but there were other people there, and other winners too. But this is a family blog. So it's about one family. One winning family :)

And just to prove I was involved, here's the poster I designed (really quickly) for the event:

Nick was making fun of the guy with the little red box around him, but I assured him it was a design element. I liked it, at least.

Stuff I like: the eco edition

Time for a little roundup of things I've seen over the past few weeks on the internet that I still love. And today, as a special bonus, they're all eco-friendly (or at least architecturally interesting)!

1. Woolypockets

Plantable pockets you can install vertically to create a garden anywhere. Genius!

2. The custom Mobii bike by Veloris. Seatbelts for the kids, large enough for a grocery run—I want this bike in my life! (Anyone have a couple grand they want to get rid of?)

3. The recent move by the LDS Church to apply green building standards. Solar panels, xeriscaped landscaping, and parking for electric cars, among other things. Bishop Burton described the move as "doctrinally sound," and I agree! Two articles: the LDS Newsroom release and one in the Salt Lake Tribune (pics from LDS Newsroom).

4. Amazing underground house in Switzerland by SeARCH and Christian Muller Architects. Sign me up! (via design(dot)fr)

5. Kavellaris Urban Design's Gold Street House. I love all the light streaming through and then sense of openness. 

Trouble in Idaho

I posted this on Salsanight today; hopefully there might be some discussion on it. I'm cross-posting it here because I really do think this story is representative of several problems in LDS cultural norms and perceptions regarding women, as well as its Americanization of the Gospel (another topic for another time). And these are things I care about. And this blog is for things I care about.

Ummm ...

Has anyone else heard about this?

Apparently an LDS gubernatorial candidate in Idaho is holding a meeting in a few weeks. Ok. But the meeting is for active Elders only, and the purpose is to discuss the "White Horse Prophecy."

I don't know about you, but this seems wrong to me on several levels.

1. An LDS candidate using his membership and perceived authority via secular position in order to gain political capital among other members of the church. Isn't the Book of Mormon pretty clear that priestcraft (using religion for one's personal gain) is a not a good idea?

2. Religion aside, what kind of person running for public office in the United States arranges a meeting and then explicitly states they're not inviting one gender? The article quotes Rammell as saying that "he hopes that the men will take the message home to their wives." Nice. Last time I checked, women in Idaho could vote. I hope they're taking notice of Rammell's perception of women.

3. I perceive the topic—the "White Horse Prophecy"—to be problematic for several reasons. To begin, it's not scripture, it's not canonized, it's not officially taught, etc. Its compositional history (recorded 10 years after the death of Joseph by two men who relied on their memories) is open to criticism and leaves us with a text that cannot be defended doctrinally. (Note: I have nothing against the men and their integrity, but the history of the prophecy does not support a defensible text. FAIR has a decent article on this here.)

If you're going to have a political meeting for members of a specific religion, it's probably best to discuss something doctrinal / canonical rather than engage in speculation regarding a problematic text. Especially one that has been appropriated at times to justify the idea that Mormons need to take over the US government and ultimately institute a world government.

I paid attention to the story because, initially, the whole thing just got my feminine hackles up. I expect it to raise all of your feminine hackles as well. And your church vs. state ones. And your "what the hell?!" ones.

Seriously, am I missing something here? Am I the only one to see this not only as ridiculous, but dangerous? Next time I need evidence of the latent sexism in Mormon culture (not the church, but the cultural mores that have developed in the western "Mormon belt" in the US [Utah, Idaho, Arizona, etc.]), and specifically Mormons of a certain age (because honestly, I don't see this attitude as much in Mormons in their 20s and 30s) this story will come to mind.