Protect Marriage

As you may be aware, on election day, California voters will be voting on a proposition to amend the state constitution with the words: "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid and recognized in California." Proposition 22 was passed in California in 2000 that stated this, but the state supreme court overturned the voters' decision. Now California must amend the state contitution in order to make this law in CA.

President Monson and the First Presidency of the Church have come out strongly in favor of this proposition, and have asked California residents to support this proposition with their time and means. In our Stake, they have organized the support effort into a 3 stage campaign. First is a door-to-door poll of opinions and leaving information for those who are unfamiliar with the proposition. Second is a telephone campaign to houses that weren't reached in the door-to-door effort. Third is a media blitz close to election day.

Members of our ward have been asked to volunteer for the door-to-door effort, and Doug and I volunteered last weekend. We spent about 3 hours walking through a neighborhood. What an interesting experience! We found quite a range of responses. Most people weren't home (or didn't answer the door). Many declined to participate in the poll, and some flat out refused to give their answer. Of those who responded, many were unfamiliar with the proposition, although knew the issue once we clarified what the proposition would do. Disappointingly, most of the people we talked to were opposed to the amendment, or in other words, do not want marriage defined as between a man and a woman in our state constitution. We did find some supporters, but of those a surprising number seemed apologetic for their opinion. Only a handful came out in strong support and said - Yes, marriage is definitely between a man and a woman! We found it interesting that this issue did not seem to fall along party lines, indicating to us that it is largely a religious question, and not so much a political one.

It is scary to see what a thick web of deception Satan has spun. The attack on the family and on marriage is real, and a battle is being waged. I don't know how things are going to turn out for California, but we are doing everything we can to support the Protect Marriage effort.

100% Band Geek

I am a band geek. I can admit it with pride. I still sleep in my marching band t-shirts from college. I decided not to go to the alumni football party because the band wasn't going to be there. I love the feel of those polyester marching pants, suspenders and sharp jacket all buttoned tightly around me. I love the anticipation of standing on the sidelines during the last few seconds of the first half, then marching under the flood lights in front of a stadium full of screaming fans. I love sitting in the stadium huddled next to my fellow piccolo players bundled under as many blankets as we could carry with our instruments tucked up our sleeves to keep them warm. I conversely love unbuttoning my uniform jacket and feeling the breeze against my sweat soaked t-shirt after a long parade. Yes, I am a band geek. Go PICCOLOS!!

I come from a proud heritage of band geeks--my father, my grand father, my uncles and cousins--we're from the same mold.

Here is a slide show my cousin put together of his little brother's high school band camp. I think he did such a good job of capturing the emotions of band camp -- those are some of my favorite memories. Nice work, Carl! You can see more of my cousins' and uncle's work at:

Blog Archiving Option

Any one interested in archiving their blog may want to check out this website: http://www.blurb.com/create/book/blogbook. Blurb.com has software you can download that will then link with your blog, pull down the text, images and comments and allow you to format into an actual book. They print the books and ship them to you.

It looks like it could be a pretty neat deal. Books start at $13 for the smallest soft cover style and go up from there, but for a nice archive of your family/personal history, it might be worth checking into.

If anyone tries it, or has already tried it, let me know how it turns out!

Awesomely Tasty GF Cheese Bread

I made my yummiest gluten-free bread yet this weekend. Most of the gluten-free bread I've made has turned out dry and crumbly, but I was very pleased with this one. And Doug went back for more, then a bit more, and then just one more chunk. Yeay! Thanks Bette Hagman, for your gluten-free recipes!

From: The Gluten-Free Gourmet; Revised Edition

Cheesy Bread Sticks

1/3 cup Garfava flour
1/2 cup white rice flour
2/3 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/3 cup dry milk powder
1 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon dry yeast (I used one envelope)
1/2 cup warm water (110 deg)
2 teaspoons sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup hot water
2 egg whites
1 cup grated sharp Cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 400. Grease a cookie sheet. Cut an opening 1 inch across the corner of a strong plastic storage bag.

Dissolve the sugar in the warm water and sprinkle in the yeast. Let this foam.

In bowl of mixer, place flours, cornstarch, milk powder, xanthan gum and salt. Blend on low.

Put butter to melt in the hot water (I put both in a bowl and microwaved for 30 seconds).

Add butter-water mixture to dry ingredients and blend. Add the egg whites and blend. Pour in yeast mixture and beat on high for 4 minutes. *At this point, my dough was like a glob of paste (thanks xanthan!) so I added about 2 tablespoons of water a teaspoon at a time until it looked less globual* Stir in the cheese. The dough should be thick but still thin enough to easily press through the opening of the plastic bag. If too thick, thin with warm water adding 1 teaspoon at a time.

Put the dough in the plastic bag with the corner cut out and press out long strips across the cookie sheet. *My strips were pretty thick so I only got 3 long mini-loafs rather than actual breadsticks.*

Let rise 20 minutes and then bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until golden brown on top. Remove to a rack to cool.

Oh baby were they good! The cheese was oozing out the top and side and was toasted. Inside the moist, soft bread had little pockets of buttery cheese. Oh so bad for me but so tasty! We agreed that this is one of those things best eaten fresh and hot out of the oven, but the small morsel we had left over was pretty good zapped in the micro. Sorry gluten-eaters--you'll have to find your own way of making this tasty treat!

Movie Review: Cloverfield

Whoa scary! Doug and I watched "Cloverfield" on Saturday. It seriously freaked me out. It's rated PG-13, but could have been a stronger rating we thought. Watcher beware. It's a serious monster movie all filmed in the first person (is that how you'd describe it?). The film is like a home movie of "attack of Godzilla" filmed by the characters in the plot. If you are prone to motion sickness, watch this on a small screen, or not at all -- the camera shake was kind of difficult to handle at times.

However, the director did an excellent job of capturing the terror that the characters experienced. I was completely sucked into the film and the action. It was really violent and high stress and a major adrenaline rush. I think the thing that wigged me out the most was the characters were regular people who just happened to have a camcorder running when they get swept away by a catastrophic event--I found myself wondering how I would have reacted in the situations they found themselves in and if I could handle this or that. That personalization made the movie sink even deeper under my skin.

Recommendation: If you aren't easily spooked or live for the adrenaline rush of a scary movie, and appreciate non-traditional filming techniques, you'll love this movie. If you like being able to eat popcorn while you watch, pick out something else for this weekend.