Excuse me. I believe I ordered the large nasal gas delivery system...

Baby Girl lost a filling. We've found the Nitros to be a very helpful addition to our dental excursions. No more screaming, crying, throwings fits, grabbing the Doctor's hands and jumping out of the chair.

- jake

Disney videos of my youth

I loved these when I was a kid. I was talking with my kids about them the other day, specifically about Lambert the sheepish lion, and I found them on youtube - of course. Here they are for my kids, and for you all too. Enjoy.

Peter and the Wolf part 1


Peter and the Wolf part 2


and to complete the wolf theme, Lambert the Sheepish Lion


BTW - I was terrified of these wolves when I was little. For literally years after I first saw them, I was certain that the wolf lived in my laundry room and when it was dark in the house, I'd run like crazy for my bed, and if I couldn't get to sleep, I'd see the wolf's nose edging around the corner of my bedroom door. Chilling! I'll confess that I still get a frisson of remembered fear when those wolves snap those jaws, even today.

- jake

Big dance trophies are cool!

What you can't see here is that the trophy is sitting on the floor (yep - it stands nearly as tall as does BG)

-jake

Books

At the end of our team meeting at work today, after we'd wrapped with business and were just chatting, we started talking about books. Someone asked me if I was a member of goodreads (yes) and suggested that we should be goodreads friends. We went on for 20 minutes asking around about which books we'd read, what each of us like reading, made recommendations and so on.

It was great.

Then I realized that I still haven't really made the effort to keep goodreads up to date, or even to make the smallest effort to actually add books I've read in the past. So at lunch today, I logged into my account and started updating. I've made a small dent, but the process has made me feel kind of weird - almost melancholy. I don't know why - sometimes I get that way in the middle of a Barnes & Noble too. Not sad really, more contemplative. I can't really explain it.

Why is it that my association with books tends to put me in that mood? Books definitely have the ability to cause me to swing out amongst the entire gamut of my feelings. As a kid I spent a lot of time reading. Though I had good friends, I never had lots of friends, so when Bob or Jeff or Brooks couldn't play - I'd read a book. Whatever the case or reason, I still read all the time, at least an hour a day, not counting scripture study. Crazy? Selfish? Perhaps, but fulfilling to be sure.

Ah well. As with all things, I'll try to do better about getting goodreads up to date, so if you're interested in being friends - just ping me with a comment. If not, that's fine too.

-jake

Why Mormons build Temples

Why do Mormons build Temples anyway?

I guess we could thank HBO and Big Love for raising awareness about the Temples built by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Temples are built by the Mormon church in obedience to commandments from a loving Heavenly Father. They are built to allow for the conducting and performance of sacred ordinances that enable our Heavenly Fathers children, both living now, and those who have lived in all ages of the world, to receive a fulness of the blessings that our Father desires for each of us.

Why can't anyone go in? Why all the secrecy? It's important to make a distinction between secrecy and the sacred. A careful review of scripture shows us that the Lord hasn't told all things to all people. Certain prerequisites must be met in order to receive sacred information. All members of the church who are worthy and in good standing are encouraged to participate in Temple ordinances, and to do so with regular frequency.

Embedded here is a new video which shares information from leaders of the LDS Church on the Temples. I encourage you to watch it. (P.S. After the video plays, you can scroll through other Mormon Message videos - I also encourage you to do that.)

And you may check out this page for more information and to see pictures of all the Temples arround the world.

Respectfully,

-jake

Cari did it first - but this was cool

Snoozin'

Life is hard when your name is Titan