New Ties

So, a couple days back, I got an unexpected package in the mail. It was full of Don Loper ties. For those of you not familiar with Don Loper ties, you should be ashamed of yourself. I shall only say that Don Loper ties are perhaps the classiest ties on earth. Here I am with one of my new ties, and with Jacob (in his candy cane suit). Notice Jacob marveling at the tie, and wondering why he cant have a wardrobe so classy. Thank you Don Loper tie sender!!

Day Trip to Logan

On Wednesday we rode up to visit my Aunt Dee, Uncle Bob and cousins Corynn, Cristin & Ryan. It was great to see everyone, and Jacob got to ride in the car with his Davis cousins and I got to hang with my sister for the day. All in all it was a fun day, and a much-looked-forward-to break from being glued to my desk writing the previous several days and staying up until after 1 AM.

Jacob is three weeks younger than my cousin's little guy, Clayton, and they happened to be wearing coordinating outfits that day. Naturally, I decided it was important to document their cuteness!

New tricks!

Jacob is learning to do all sorts of things babies his age do. Here's a quick list of some things he can do, in no particular order, and then the video is a cute one I took recently of him doing trick #2. 1. Holding his bottle (and throwing it, of course!) 2. Peek-a-boo! 3. Picking up his own Cheerios. Or Toasted Oat, really, since it's the Wal-Mart kind. I usually just call them O's. He gets really excited when I put them on his high chair tray. 4. Turn pages in books. Maybe not in order, but he can turn them. And hit them. 5. Pull nebulizer mask off his face repeatedly during albuterol treatment, which Dad says is for teething but really it was for RAD which flared up with a recent ear infection. 6. Take books off the shelf while laying down on back or belly. 7. Move large items closer to him, such as bouncer seat or car seat. I have to watch out for this one, obviously. 8. Keep a good beat by hitting or kicking bookshelf, bottle, my arm, Jeff's arm, his own leg, etc. 9. Like any and all foods fed to him. This is an important one that we hope lasts, but may not, who knows? 10. And just as I was beginning to write this (seriously!) he was rolling around and then started going around in a circle, kind of crawling, but all on his belly and not up on his legs. Very cute! I'll have to get a video of it next time when I've got the camera here. Jeff is hiking so he has it this morning.

Speechless Saturday - Jacob Through the Months

September 20 - day of birth

October 20

November 20 December 20 January 20

February 20

March 20

April 20

May 20

Friday night hike!

For a couple months now Jeff has wanted to have us all hike up to the Y together and I've been reluctant for weather-related reasons or Jacob-doesn't-feel-well reasons. Tonight was a beautiful night and Jacob is healthy as a horse, so I had no excuse. We had a nice time and did the whole thing in less time (75 min) than the time limit (90 min) Jeff suggested at the outset, including our time at the top. We thought Jacob might sleep in the pack but he just loves to look around & take everything in. It's really fun to watch him enjoy himself being strapped in and up high, he was so happy! He took his hat off on one of the last switchbacks, but we couldn't see it from where we were when I noticed it was gone, so I figured we'd find it later. Luckily someone hung it on a fence for us and we got it on the way down. Hooray for the Y!

After all these years...

...I decided it was time to write a letter to the editor of BYU's newspaper, the Daily Universe. Last Wednesday I read this article: Then I wrote the following in response to the above article, because, well, I just had to. (Anything to take a break from thesis-writing, right?!)

A Vote for Rocky

I do have to differ strongly on one opinion offered in Mr. Walker's viewpoint piece (May 21, "'Rudy' is cream of the sports movie crop"), and that is that "Rocky" is merely a film about "mentally slow boxers." This is utterly false. Most of the Rocky films contain fabulous analogies for life (like most of the films that made the list) and are worth watching multiple times. Besides, who doesn't love the famous line from a battered, bloodied, and bruised Italian Stallion: "Adrian!!!"?

In our family, we watched "Rocky" the night before my husband took the GMAT, and the musical theme to Rocky may or may not have been sung by my husband while I was delivering our son eight months ago.

And, for the record, Sylvester Stallone does a much better job in "Rocky" than Dennis Quaid did in "Miracle." But I do think that Kurt Russell was great as Coach Herb Brooks, if that is who you were really referring to.

Stacey Hoopes Herndon, Va.

Because just writing the letter wouldn't be very exciting, I guess I should mention that it was printed in Thursday's newspaper. I'm almost as famous as those two Davids that happened to make the front page!! :)

And, after all these years out here, and being a Utah resident now, I still paid homage to my original home state in my signature. This brings a song to mind that I will share here, written by James Bland, an African-American musician and songwriter, many moons ago. I did read that this is no longer the official state song, as of 11 years ago, but I somehow missed the memo. And no, I never learned this in school, as you can probably see why.

Carry me back to old Virginny, There's where the cotton and the corn and taters grow, There's where the birds warble sweet in the springtime, There's where this old darkey's heart am long'd to go, There's where I labored so hard for old massa, Day after day in the field of yellow corn, No place on earth do I love more sincerely Than old Virginia, the state where I was born.* CHORUS: Carry me back to old Virginny, There's where the cotton and the corn and taters grow, There's where the birds warble sweet in the springtime, There's where this old darkey's heart am long'd to go. Carry me back to old Virginny, There let me live 'till I wither and decay, Long by the old Dismal Swamp have I wandered, There's where this old darkey's life will pass away. Massa and missis have long gone before me, Soon we will meet on that bright and golden shore, There we'll be happy and free from all sorrow, There's where we'll meet and we'll never part no more.

*Okay, okay, so maybe I wasn't born there. But I don't remember Georgia at all.

Jacob

We received feedback that there have not been any pictures of Jacob lately on this blog. We are sorry we have only posted about things not important enough. Here is a picture of Jacob. Who would have thought they now perscribe laughing gas as a remedy for teething?

Why We Like Ann Arbor Already and More!

I am getting more and more excited for the big move in a few months. Tonight I found another reason to be thrilled. 30th out of 100 isn't too shabby! In other news, my alma mater is ranked 141st in Newsweek's America's Top Public High Schools list, where they figure out the rankings based on an index determined by "the number of Advanced Placement, Intl. Baccalaureate and/or Cambridge tests taken by all students at a school in 2007 divided by the number of graduating seniors." Kind of a strange way to rank, but I was happy to see Herndon on the list, and I guess it is a type of measurement that allows us to see indication for how well the schools are trying to prepare students for college. A shout out to my three cousins currently located up in Logan whose high school in Virginia, Robinson Secondary, is at a notable 214th. My aunts' school, Wakefield, was ranked 420th, still in the top third of the rankings. Most amazing, however, is that my uncle's and my dad's high schools were 64th and 74th, respectively. I don't know any W-L fight songs to sing for my uncle, but I'd like to end this post with a brief tribute to my father's alma mater, also the alma mater of a certain CBS anchor named Ms. Couric: HOORAY FOR YORKTOWN HOORAY FOR YORKTOWN Someone in the stands is yelling: "HOORAY FOR YORKTOWN"

Ogden Marathon

A year ago from today I ran the Ogden Marathon. This years marathon was this last Saturday. My home teacher ran it. Thinking on it, it is kind of sad the physical condition I am in now compared with a year ago. So, that is that.

Canonized Accounting

So, I just took the Auditing section of the CPA exam on Wednesday. Contrary to what most people think, most CPAs DO NOT do taxes. There is much more to the work of an accountant. One of the primary services they provide is to audit financial statements for companies. Given this, I am always delighted every year as the church provides the audit report during April general conference. I was considering going line by line and talking about what everything in the report means (for example, whole books could have have been written about the implications of "independent", "control", "all records and systems", "safeguarding", "opinion", and other such terms that are used in common day language, but which have huge and significant implications when applied to the formal and prescribed verbiage of an audit opinion), but decided against it. Things like this remind me of how little 99.9% of the population understands about financial reporting, which sometimes makes me a little sad as that is what my career will be all about. I talk to people and say I am studying accounting, and I know they think they know what accounting is, but the vast majority of them do not. Anyways. That is a little pet peeve of mine that I rarely get the opportunity to express. Here is the full text to the opinion, which, while not in strict GAAS format (because it is not a GAAS audit), is close. One last thing--there are very few professions whose end product is canonized and sacradized as pure doctrine. Accounting is one of them. Here it is: To the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Dear Brethren: As prescribed by revelation in section 120 of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Council on the Disposition of the Tithes authorizes the expenditure of Church funds. This council is composed of the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and the Presiding Bishopric. This council approves budgets for Church departments and operations. After receiving the council’s authorization, Church departments are to expend funds consistent with approved budgets and in accordance with Church policies and procedures. The Church Auditing Department has been granted access to all records and systems necessary to evaluate the adequacy of controls over receipts of funds, expenditures, and safeguarding of Church assets. The Church Auditing Department is independent of all other Church departments and operations, and the staff consists of certified public accountants, certified internal auditors, certified information systems auditors, and other credentialed professionals. Based upon audits performed, the Church Auditing Department is of the opinion that, in all material respects, contributions received, expenditures made, and assets of the Church for the year 2007 have been recorded and administered in accordance with appropriate accounting practices, approved budgets, and Church policies and procedures. Respectfully submitted, Church Auditing Department Robert W. Cantwell Managing Director

Ward Activity

So, recently we had a ward activity for my singles ward. It was very pleasant. We had hot dogs, and ate cotton candy. I was in charge of making the cotton candy, and it was more fun than you can ever imagine. I especially liked eating it. I love cotton candy. It was also amazing to see how little sugar can make such a large ball of cotton candy. Anyways. Here I am eating one of my latter creations.

Griddle

So, I got a new griddle for my Camp Chef stove. It weighs in at 22.5 pounds, and can cook several pancakes at once. I tried it out this Friday, and made some pancakes and eggs, and it worked well.

It is nice. I got it as a gift from a very generous Mr. M. R. So, that is that.

Shoes in the Army

I recently learned something very interesting. In the army, you no longer shine your shoes. They wear mostly suede shoes that do not shine. While in the past shining was a big deal (big enough there are whole books written on how to shine a shoe in the Army, for example see The Art of the Shine .) Anyways, they do this because shiny shoes don't win wars. I just thought this was interesting. So, for any of you who would have been stopped from having an enjoyable military career because of your disliking of shining shoes, you've no excuse now. Enlist.

Y Mountain

So, as the first hike of the summer, some friends from school and I hiked Y mountain. While most folks are familiar with hiking this mountain only up the large block Y on its side, we went all the way to the top. It took us about 4 hours, with some sliding fun and with the 20 minute stop at the top. Here are two pictures, and a video. Fun stuff.

Books

So, it has been a while since I commented on the books that have passed through me in the recent weeks/months. Here they are:

Nothing is Impossible by Christopher Reeve: This basically talks about his life as a quadriplegic. One startling revelation from this book is how liberal "superman" is, and also how much of a New England, rich, play-a-round-of-cricket-then-bake-clams type of life he led before his accident. His liberalism and lack of support for his liberalism made the book almost insufferable, but, it had its redeeming qualities. A month after finishing it, I cant remember what they were, but there were some.

President and Prophets by Michael Winder: This was actually a very good book, that essentially went through every president and talked about their relationship with the Church. There were many fascinating stories, and things I did not know. Very, very interesting. Also, since each president has his own chapter, it makes for a book that you don't have to have a very long attention span for, which is good for me, since sometimes I struggle to focus on things for very long.

First into Nagasaki by George Weller: The author is a famous WWII war correspondent's son, who edited and published a lot of stuff his dad wrote that was censored by the military during WWII. The title story is the story of how he snuck into Nagasaki before any other American had gone there right after the bomb. He also did a lot of other things the military did not like, and a lot of his articles were censored. There was nothing wrong with them, but apparently, General MacArthur was very selective and strategic about what he wanted released to the public. It was very interesting. The most interesting parts were the stories from the Japanese POWs about their stay in Japan. Stacey picked it out for me.

Use What You've Got, and Other Business Lessons I Learned from My Mom by Barbara Corcoran: This was actually a very good book by a lady that was the founder of a fairly successful real estate company in New York. She talks about things she learned from her mom as she grew up in poverty with 10 brothers and sisters, and goes from her moms tips to how that fit into running her business. It was actually very well written, and I enjoyed it. For example, the alternative title to the chapter about "Use what you've got" was "If You Don't Have Big Breasts, Put Ribbons on Your Pigtails". It tells the story of how the author was a waitress in a small town café, but no one ever wanted to be served by her, because the other waitress was more "well-endowed," and the men preferred the other waitresses. She was really upset that she couldn't get any tables to wait, and her mom told her she might not have two friends to help her acquire customers, but she could put ribbons in her ponytails, look cute, and schmooze her customers, which she did, and she ended up doing very well as a waitress. What was interesting about this book is that while the stories were good, it did convince me of the inherently dishonest nature of sales. While telling her stories about business, she would talk about things she did or said to sell something, and while most people would pass it off as business puffery, it was lying. Anyways. A great book. Stacey picked it out for me.

Reflections: Life after the White House by Barbara Bush: A very interesting and good book. In the end, Barbara Bush is just a very funny, old lady, who is very rich, and has a lot of power. As a result, the book was very interesting. It was interesting to see the direct contrasts her book had with what other politicians think about things (specifically some of the comments from Bill Clinton when I listened to My Life, and what he had to say about Ken Starr). Anyways, it was a very enjoyable book that any older lady would enjoy very much. Things she does and says really remind me of someone I know who recently went to a masseuse for a massage (her first one), who when told to remove any clothing she felt comfortable removing said, "I will take off my shoes."