September Fun

We went to the Jelly Belly Factory on September 13th! I had to get some good Jelly Belly beans since the Cold Stone ones were so gross.
Kelsey, Krystal and I took Kelsey's nephew Andrew on his first outing without his parents. He was a perfect angel and we had lots of fun.



For lunch I had a Jelly Belly shaped pizza! Cute!


Kelsey had peaches/squash.


Just kidding, that's what Andrew had. Isn't his chubby face adorable?


No pictures are allowed during the factory tour, so I can't share any Jelly Belly secrets. But I bought lots of candy. My favorite flavor is juicy pear! It's tantalizingly tasty. I also love the JBz which are like M&Ms but the candy shell is flavored. They used to have tons of different flavors, but they scaled back to just a few, coconut, caramel, chocolate, vanilla, and cappuccino. Caramel and coconut are my favorite.

West High finally got its own football stadium! For the inaugural game on September 19th the alumni were invited to be at the ceremony. We all signed a football that was presented to Coach Steve Lopez who the stadium is named after. He has been the WHS football head coach since the school opened in 1993. He said he was just glad it's not a memorial stadium, haha. Most of the former quarterbacks were there and Andy Sansaver, the QB from my class, said a few words and presented the ball. The new stadium is really nice and so big. The craziest thing to me is the artificial grass, it's way nicer than astroturf and will never need to be mowed or watered.

Adam, Kelsey, and Krystal outside the stadium.


Adam on the field. Look at the cool grass!


Andy presenting the ball to Coach Lopez.


Ah, what a beautiful evening in Tracy.



On September 27th Adam, Eric, and Paige hosted an amazing Hollywood Party. We all dressed up and walked down the red carpet to an evening of elegance. It was way fun and everyone looked so beautiful.

Blogger is having troubles uploading the rest of my pictures right now, so I'll have to try again later. Stay tuned...

These are the real Belly Flops

I am a HUGE fan of Jelly Belly. I like Cold Stone creamery. But oh, how I detest this Ice Cream Parlor Mix. There are five different flavors of awfulness and I was really disappointed because Jelly Belly always makes such high quality, yummy stuff. The only one that is bearable is strawberry blonde. The cinnamon in the apple pie bean is all I could taste. The mint and chocolate beans were way too fake and the birthday cake looked so promising.... I would recommend Bertie Bott's over these little nasties any day. Play it safe and try grass, soap, or pickle flavor.

Rant 1 (there will surely be more)

I'm sorry but I have to rant. Even though I already posted today, I can't keep this in.

The thing that set me off today is the recently released movie House Bunny. Now, I am not saying that anyone who sees this movie is evil and will go to hell, but I definitely think we should stop and consider the messages it is sending. Anna Faris who plays the main character is a Playboy bunny (the fact that Playboy has become a household name is very disheartening) who goes to live in a college sorority house and teaches the girls there how to get guys. I have read a few different interviews that Anna gave about this role and there are several things that really worry me. First off, she was told to lose 10 lbs for the role. She was already a twig, but she pretty much had to stop eating in order to lose the weight and keep it off during the shoot (she has since gained it back). She also had to wear 7 inch heels and a push up bra for the role. And she said that for a while she wore a robe to cover herself when she wasn't in a scene because she was basically wearing underwear the whole time.

Are you kidding me?! So pretty much they are portraying an impossible body image. Girls see that stuff and think that is what they are supposed to look like. I know I have been influenced by media images of women throughout my life. As much as I tell myself that what I see in magazines, films and TV shows isn't real and I don't have to live up to it, this stuff seeps into my subconcious and has an impact on the way I think and feel.

Beyond the inaccurate and damaging messages the film is sending about women's physical appearance is the premise around Playboy. I hate pornography! I cannot believe how prevalent it has become in our society. It can be found in any form of media and it has become incredibly simple for anyone, of any age, to find and partake in it. It all just makes me so sad. Sad for the women who do this stuff for money and fame. Sad for the people who make money in this evil industry. Sad for the people who get involved in watching/reading/viewing pornography. But most of all, heartbroken for the people whose lives are hurt by others' involvement in this spirit-damaging practice that has eternal consequences.

From http://lds.org (emphasis added)

Pornography is any material depicting or describing the human body or sexual conduct in a way that arouses sexual feelings. It is distributed through many media, including magazines, books, television, movies, music, and the Internet. It is as harmful to the spirit as tobacco, alcohol, and drugs are to the body. Using pornographic material in any way is a violation of a commandment of God: "Thou shalt not . . . commit adultery . . . nor do anything like unto it" (D&C 59:6). It can lead to other serious sins. Members of the Church should avoid pornography in any form and should oppose its production, distribution, and use.

The prophets of our day have increasingly warned against the dangers of pornography.
President Gordon B. Hinckley from "True to the Faith"

I cannot emphasize this too strongly. The makers and marketers of this slimy stuff grow wealthy while the character of their customers decays. Stay away from it. Stand above it. It becomes addictive. It will destroy those who become its slaves. [. . .]

My dear young friends, it is all a matter of self-discipline. Of course you know what is right and what is wrong. You have been trained from your childhood in these matters. When you find yourselves slipping in the direction of that which you know is wrong, it may be difficult to stop and turn around. But it can be done. It has been done by hundreds of thousands, millions just like you who experience the same emotional appeals that you experience.

I make a plea to anyone who has been tempted by any form of pornography, do whatever you can to avoid it. If you have a problem, get the help that you need to overcome it. I know that nothing worthy or uplifting can ever come of it. Please.

Organizing

So right now I am working on organizing all my digital pictures. I like to have them organized by year, month, date. For example a picture taken on June 16, 2007 would be in the . . . nevermind, you don't care.

The point is, while I've been organizing, I found some fun pictures to share. Here they are in chronological order, of course:

This is me and my first college roommate Natalie Nielsen. We lived in 503 U-Hall of Deseret Towers. Goodbye, dear old DT. I'll always remember the fun times we had. This is a rare shot of me actually studying. Not my strong suit freshman year when I discovered instant messaging, email, and Napster. This is either 12 September 2000 or 9 December 2000, but I think it's September.



Me and Lyndsee at the Salt Lake Olympics. We are in a snow globe! And we are figure skating! How cute. This was during our "Spring Break," the only one we ever had at BYU. The school gave all the students a week off during the Olympics so they could volunteer, but we just went and checked out downtown SLC. 21 February 2002



So cruel and yet so funny. This is still one of my favorite pictures of Mason. Maybe Ashley can help me out with the date . . . .
Update: Ashley (who admits her son is OCD) informed this picture was taken 21 August 2005.

Mason the Munchkin man

My sister, Ashley and her son, Mason were here to visit for the last week. It was fantastic! I wish they could be here all the time...or I could be there all the time (I think I like that idea better). I already miss them. Here are some pictures of the fun we had!

I watched Mason while Ashley went to Super Stampers with my mom. This is us making our Moari warrior faces. Intimidating, I know.

Silly faces. Mason always laughs when I cross my eyes for him.

Mason is learning how to use the camera. We're practicing checking the display screen before taking the picture and not putting fingers over the flash.

At Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in front of SHOUKA STADIUM, home of Shouka the killer whale. See my Batman cape?

We did lots more stuff but I don't have the pictures on my lappie yet. Check out Ashley's blog for the full story. http://toddandashleybraun.blogspot.com/