Bono's message for World AIDS Day

He says all that needs to be said. And no, it isn't just because it's Bono. Go to joinred.com! No one has to die from this disease.

Don't Forget

There is an emergency in our world

• More than 1 billion people around the world live on less than $1 a day.
• A child dies every three seconds from AIDS and extreme poverty.
• Africa has been hit harder by the HIV/AIDS virus than any other region of the world.
• Sub-Saharan Africa is home to over 70% of the total world HIV-positive population.
• Over one billion people do not have access to clean water.

December 1st is World Aids Day. Don't Forget!

Election Day 2006

It's that time of year again... you know, the time of year when I get on a soap box and make sure all 2 of you who read this blog know where I stand. I can hear you thinking "damn, she's going to start spewing her liberal leftist ideas." Don't worry, I'm not so don't stop reading. What I do want to say is this: If you haven't already, and if it is at all possible...VOTE!

Vote Democratic. Vote Republican. Vote Libertarian. Vote Green. I don't really care which way you vote, just VOTE! Living in the state I live in (... I guess I should capitalize that. No, I won't because Utah is as much as a state of being as it is a State in the Union) sometimes I feel like my vote doesn't matter. Sometimes it feels like 99% of Utahans are registered republicans ... I know, it's only like 85% :-) ... but I definitely am in the minority.

My point is, my vote matters. Especially this year when I'm voting for State officials and propositions. This is when I can make a difference, and YOU can make a difference. We need officials in our government that will work for us. And that isn't going to happen if on election day we, as my friend Lara so eloquently put it, "sit on our butts and eat cheese."

So, again, if it isn't too late and you've run out of cheese, go to the High School, or the Library, or the Elementary School, or the City Offices, and VOTE!

Happy Election Day!

Phucket Thai

The funniest thing just happened to me about 20 minutes ago...and we're talking so funny that I just barely stopped crying I was laughing so hard. Loria (best friend/roommate/in Napoleon Dynamite), came home about 20 minutes ago and asked me a question. The question she asked wasn't so funny, it was the outcome that was the funny part. The question was, "Did you ever think of the name of that Thai place?"

BACK STORY:

In June, Loria and I drove to So. Cal. to see my sister Emily and my friend Robert (and Celine Dion on the Teacups). While we were there, Emily drove us past a Thai place in Long Beach called Phuckit Thai. And yes, I know it is spelled P-h-u-c-k-e-t, but for pronunciation purposes, we'll spell it Phuckit... and for those of you who are clueless, in this story we pronounce ph as f, and yes I know that it isn't actually the pronunciation.

CURRENT STORY:

That said, let's return to Loria's question which, in case you need a refresher, was "Did you ever think of the name of that Thai place?"

My reply to her question was "Hu?"

You see, 20 minutes before she originally asked her question, she called...someone... to ask, and I quote,

"What was the name of that Thai place your sister took us to in California? Phucking Thai or something?"

The reply she got to her question was a very bewildered "I don't know."

To which Loria answered,

"It's OK, I'll be home in a minute. See you soon." And she hung up. Only, the conversation (unfortunately for Loria) wasn't that short, she said the name of the restaurant several times.

Who is she called you are wondering? Well...

...it was my Mom.

...I love my friends.

***UPDATE***

It is now Friday morning, and I have spoken to my Mother. As it turns out, the person Loria was swearing at was not my Mom, it was my Dad.

...This story just keeps getting better and better.

The Crazy Grover Family Reunion

Last week I went to my favorite place on earth with about half of my favorite people on earth, the Grover Family Reunion. So for the one of you who reads this blog that isn't a member of my family, that's where the photos in the following posts (August 9) come from. For those of you who are family and aren't in these photos, WE MISSED YOU!

If you want to view these photos larger, just click on them and it will take you to a bigger file on the flickr.com website. I also have other photos from last week on flickr, you can click here to see those.

Enjoy!

The Whole Family

The Grownups

Naomi, Lew, and Farrell

The Seamons Family

The Scott Grover Family

Scott, Debbie, Austin, Heidi, and Josh

The Randy Grover Family

Randy, Calleen, Dallin, Audrey, Ben, Brigham, Jessica, Alisha, and in front, Rudy. :-)

The Paul Grover Family

Sheri, Paul, Emma, and Tanner

The Rooks

Ron, Gavin, Naomi, Garrett, and Paige

The Lew Grover Family

Randy, Scott, Carol, Lew, Doug, Cari, and Paul

Happy 50th Anniversary! Heres to 50 more years!

The J.J. Seamons Family

J.J., Max, Meg, Sam, and Ellie

The Doug Grover Family

Chris, Doug, Johanna, and Sally

I miss Jamie!

The Bickleys

Nick, Rick, Dani, Cari, and Reggie

The Ben Grover Family

And last, but certainly not least, Alisha, Ben, and Brigham

The Paparazzi deserves credit

My sister Emily just called me and reminded me that she was the paparazzi that took the picture. Thought you should know. :-)

Will My Heart Go On?

Last week I went on vacation. And boy, what a vacation it was! I'm sure you are wondering what this photo is about, and I'll tell you. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Celine Dion was on the Teacups with us at Disneyland. And while that wasn't necessarily the high point of our trip, it was certainly one of them.

Actually the high point of our trip was seeing my friend Robert playing Javert in Les Miserables. Incredible! They are only on tour for another 6 weeks so if you are in one of the cities they are playing, I definitely recommend it. He really does kick ass.

Other high points were:

• The fact that I made it through a road trip without killing someone.
• Going to the Ocean for the first time in my life.
• Loria. (It seems that I can only survive road trips with her. She's incredibly Zen.)
• Spending time with Emily who is always good for a laugh.
• And Disneyland...again, another first.

Now let's talk about the low points. Low points didn't really happen until about 8:30 Friday night, the last night of our trip at... yes, the Happiest Place on Earth. First of all, I didn't take good shoes. I should have known, but I'd never had a problem with these shoes, so I thought they'd be OK. Hmmmm... no. By 8:30 I had the beginnings of a blister the size of Rhode Island on the ball of my foot, that grew in to a blister the size of Texas. We decided to watch the fireworks and Loria got punched in the chest, then yelled at for being too close to the person who hit her. Well, that was the beginning of the end for her. From then on she was thrown from one end of the park to another by incredibly stupid people.

By the end of the night we were ready to go home. The vacation was great and it was time for it to be over. Well, this is Melissa we are talking about and it's NEVER that easy. When we got off the shuttle to the parking lot Loria said to me "Did I give you the keys?" ...

Let's just make the long story short and say that God was smiling on us because the next morning they were at lost and found and we were able to drive home. Sigh!

So, yes, my heart will go on. I no longer have to hobble from place to place, and I can actually laugh about my first ever trip to "The Happiest Place on Earth."

Top 10 Most Beautiful Children

This post might just cause some controversy, but I do believe that the final spot in the 10 most beautiful children in the world was just filled...that is until the 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, etc. are born. She's my neice and her name is Chloe. And the older one is her big sister Hattie and I'm telling you, she is loving that kid! But you know, who can blame her?

I just needed to laugh today

If you are ever in a bad mood, one of these two people will definately help pull you out of it. Or you can just look at this picture.

World Water Day

You know, it seems that whenever I get around to posting lately I'm on a mission about something and today is no different. When I got an email today saying that it was World Water Day I thought it was it was kind of odd. But then I read about it and realized what a big problem it is. Nearly 1.1 billion people (roughly 20% of the world’s population) lack access to safe drinking water. Think of it this way, you have 5 people in your family, now choose 1 that has to walk 6 miles in the dirt and heat to get all their water for cooking, cleaning, and drinking. And to top it off, that water isn't safe for them to drink.

So the question becomes, what do we do? And to be honest with you, I don't know. I do know that when there is an opportunity, I will give. I'll give through my church, I'll write emails and make phone calls for the One Campaign. In fact, if you are in Ogden Utah on March 28, there is a benefit concert at Weber State University to build a water well at an orphanage in Rwanda. Tickets are only $8 at the door and there is a silent auction. I'll be going and I have some extra tickets if any of you are interested.

We may not be in a position to give large amounts of money, but we can give time. We can give our voice. We've got to carry each other!

Anyone know where Melissa is?

They took your life, they could not take your PRIDE

If you want to be important—wonderful. If you want to be recognized—wonderful. If you want to be great—wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That's a new definition of greatness.

And this morning, the thing that I like about it: by giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve. You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love. And you can be that servant.

~ Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., from The Drum Major Instinct speech

Today is the day that we celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a man who, as my brother says, changed our nation. His work and his spirit hopefully continue to do so today. Let us carry on his work, let us dream his dream. Let us not think of this day as a day off, but a day on.

If it ain't broke...

This cartoon, by the brilliant Calvin Grondahl, was in the Standard Examiner yesterday and it inspired me to blog. If you haven't heard about the controversy happening here (if you live in Utah like I do, you must live in a hole so please dig yourself out and read a newspaper), just google Brokeback Mountain, Larry Miller, you'll get up to speed. Anyway, after laughing my ... head off, I started to really think.

If you don't want to read, here's the gist. Larry H. Miller, owner of the Utah Jazz, several car dealerships and a movie theatre called Megaplex 17 at Jordan Commons, contracted to show Brokeback Mountain at his Megaplex. Actually, his managers did that. Frankly I don't think he keeps too close an eye on what shows at his theatre, seeing as there are currently two movies with "homosexual themes" and one that sounds horrifying, called Hostel. Well, at the last minute, after advertising that they were showing Brokeback Mountain, Larry pulled it. Apparently he heard that it was a "homosexual themed movie," and that was enough. Needless to say, there is now uproar on both sides of the spectrum.

The whole thing just makes me sad. Sometimes I find myself living a very naive existence. In my world (yes, it's a world inside my head), you love someone for who they are, not who they love. You love them for the simple fact that they are your "fellow man." Or if you are a Mormon like me, it's like the Primary song says "Jesus said love everyone. Treat them kindly too. If your heart is filled with love, others will love you." It's something I truly believe. I was taught to live my life with a heart full of love (Sorry, Les Mis moment. Robert, if you are reading this that was for you.), I was taught to love with out regard for difference. I was just taught to love.

Unfortunately, that is not the world we live in. It breaks my heart that we live in a world full of hate and fear and bigotry. I think sometimes we forget the struggles of those who came before us, specifically the Mormons. My great-great-great-grandparents were forced from their homes, driven from state to state because of what they believed. They were ridiculed, they were terrorized, they were ordered to be exterminated, and they fled. They came to the Salt Lake Valley where they could live free from fear. Yet, here we sit passing judgment against people who are different from us, people who believe differently than we do.

Yes, I have seen Brokeback Mountain, and yes, I thought it was a beautiful film. But I'm not here to tell you to go see it. All I'm asking is, please, don't judge someone just because they are different from you. Don't fear what you don't understand. It's like I've said before, there is too much suffering in this world, we’ve got to carry each other.

Wow, this post turned in to something different than it started out as. But I won't apologize for it. Again, it may be a post I get grief for, but I welcome it. Post your comments, I'll love you for them whatever your opinion may be.

P.S. A word about the title of this post. There's a search for a new slogan for the State of Utah. A friend of a friend ... and so on, thinks it should be "Utah! If the mountain ain't broke, don't fix it." :-)

December

I just got an email from a friend of mine who said "You'd better blog soon. I check so often that it's almost embarrassing." So here I am. I'm sorry for being absent for the month of December. The reason I didn't blog was because I didn't think I had anything to blog about, but then as I thought about it I thought, 'Isn't that what this blog is all about?' So here I am in a new month and a new year, still with nothing to blog about, but a resolve to blog more, even if it is about nothing.

Actually, as I look back over the last month, there are at least a couple of things that happened that are blog worthy the least of which was the U2 concert ... sigh. Christmas was very blog-worthy seeing as I had pneumonia (we think, I still haven't been to the doctor...I know, I know, but I just don't wanna). OK, so those were the only two blog worthy things that happened in December, but still they are pretty blog worthy.

Let’s talk about the U2 concert ... sigh. What can I say about the best 3 hours of 2005? They were just that, the best 3 hours of 2005. And that's pretty much all I can say about that. It was one of those "you just had to be there" things. Those of you who were there know what I mean.

Christmas on the other hand ... let's just say it was miserable. Don't get me wrong, the Christmas holiday was wonderful, my family was great, gifts were beyond great, but I was miserable. I'm telling you I was sick, sick, sick. The problem was that while my family and friends were having parties and having a great time, I was pretty miserable. I didn't even get out to see the lights. There were some great gifts though, (one of which deserves it's very own blog) and even though I couldn't taste, there was some great food.

So there is my December. I promise I'll post more soon!