"You must study it out in your mind..."

I snapped this picture yesterday. Julie is preparing for her lesson presentation in the Gospel Doctrine class Sunday. I contrast this preparation to when guys usually prepare their lesson; on Sunday during Sacrament meeting.

OK, Ashley, here goes......

My Man Tag

What is your husband’s name? Bradley Vern Green

How long have you been married? 28 years, what should we do for our 30th?

How long did you date? uh, kind of a loaded question... we knew each other and wrote letters for a year, but only actually dated a few months.

Who eats more sweets? for sure Brad. He's met very few sweets he doesn't like. I've met very few that I do. Mostly just chocolate.

Who said I love you first? That I don't remember.

Who is taller? Brad, by 7 inches.

Who can sing the best? Brad, no question. He has a beautiful voice. I try.

Who is smarter? well, probably me. Sorry, honey! Unless it's about computers or math or the Gospel. Then he's smarter. Much smarter.

Who does the laundry? I do. But he can!

Who pays the bills? Brad does. Especially since it's all on this newfangled computer program. He better not die before me or no bills will get paid.....

Who mows the lawn? Brad does. And all the other outside type jobs. Except I plant flowers. A few flowers. A couple.

Who cooks dinner? I do, but Brad helps sometimes, especially since it's just been the two of us. I still don't like to cook, or think about cooking. I wish we didn't have to eat, except for pleasure.

Who drives? Brad does. Rarely, I do....but it always feels weird....for both of us.

Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Probably him. But then he has much more practice! :)

Who kissed who first? I think it was a mutual activity! He was a good kisser, very soft lips. TMI?

Who asked who out first? Well, since he'd already asked me to marry him before we went out, I guess it was him!

Who wears the pants? We have more than one pair too. (hey, where'd the orange print go?) Neither of us is in charge, we're a team! Go team!!

OK, I tag Lindsay and VoNique and Kristi. Can't wait to hear it!!

Some fun things lately....

We had a fun ward party the other night - it was Chinese New Year theme. Happy year of the ox! This is a picture of me and my good friend Ruth.
Brad had a birthday! We had a yummy shrimp dinner with my parents to celebrate. Nobody makes better shrimp, even a restaurant! Here's a picture of the 52 year old. I still think he's too old for me to be dating.
AND, Kevin sent some pictures - so here's some for you to enjoy....
He calls these the "onesies". I guess they keep him warm in the MN winter.

Looks pretty cold!

Another case of chex mix explosion.
Seems to happen often to Kevin! :)

A couple more.

And last but not least...

There are no words.

I wonder....

what would've happened to Sarah Palin - if, when she had to disclose her finances, it was discovered that she hadn't (oops) paid $34,000 in taxes. Do you think she would've gotten these quotes - the ones given today by Sen Max Baucus (D-Montana) regarding Geithner's nomination for Treasury Secretary:
"disappointing mistakes, though innocent ones nonetheless" and "he needs to get to work to restore confidence in the US economy."

And Geithner called them: "careless mistakes and unavoidable ones" "unintentional" and "I should've been more careful."
This from the man who will be the head of the IRS.

What do you think the reaction if it were Sarah Palin would be?? What would the media have said?

Well, that didn't take long.

Gitmo Decision Outrages Families

Relatives of people killed in 9/11 attacks respond in disbelief to Obama's call to suspend war crimes trials | PHOTOS
• Obama's Draft Order Calls for Closing Gitmo Within Year
• Groups Providing Abortions Overseas to be Funded

Thoughts on Obama

Today was quite a day in this nation of ours. Many thoughts have come to mind about our new president in recent days....here's 10:
l. Obama seems like a genuinely nice guy, Michelle a nice woman and they have a beautiful family.
2. He is one of the most inspirational speakers ever, able to inspire with his words.
3. His words in his inaugural address and particularly in his speech at the ball with the military were wonderful.
4. If he holds true to the philosophies and ideals expressed in those speeches, we are in good hands.
5. If he holds true to what he has said he would do, during the campaign and before the campaign, then I'm worried about a slow descent into socialism, and a very government heavy approach to every problem. I'm worried about higher and higher tax rates on the income generators of our nation. The stock market drop today, I think, shows the degree to which business owners, corporations, entrepreneurs and others, are worried about the changes coming down the road.
6. I hope the above doesn't happen.
7. It's a great day for African Americans and all Americans who are so tired of race baiting and division.
8. It was a great day for African Americans and all Americans who are so tired of race baiting and division when we had the first black Supreme Court Justice and the first black Secretary of State. You just wouldn't know it because they were Republicans. Someday we'll judge everyone by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin or their politics.
9. My heart has broken many times lately by the treatment of Pres. Bush, who I also know is a good and decent man who has the best interests of the country at heart. He's not stupid, he's not evil and he's not a liar. The treatment of him lately has crossed over from oppositional and demeaning to unbelievably cruel.
10. I hope Obama is a wonderful president, who will save the economy, end all wars, end poverty, make sure we all have well paying jobs, food to eat, a home to live in, end global warming and all other crises that we face. That would be great. I also hope that he will just be a good and honorable man, who will do his best with a difficult hand to play, that he will be true to the philosophies espoused today, and that America will begin to heal what ails her. GOBAMA!

ahhhh...

the smell of wet carpet! It's great. Due to the shift of almost 60 degrees in a couple days, and gale force winds - Anchorage has seen flooding like crazy. We had the enjoyable experience of stepping off the bottom step into the basement and feeling the carpet go squish and seeing water pool up around our shoes. With the help of some great friends we got the carpet pulled back, the pad removed, gallons and gallons of water sucked out and now things are drying. The big question of why we have water, where it's coming from and what to do about it, loom. One step at a time.

An amazing young woman

The video Brad posted of the young woman at Harvard is really something. It is 20 minutes, but you will be glad you took the time. She is a credit to herself, her parents and the church. Could any of us have done as well?

Weirdness...it's 6:45 am and I just heard the schools are CLOSED!!

I'm sure you're all sick of hearing about our weather, but just one more. Today it is 34 and RAINING. The schools are closed because of the ice that is coating everything. The streets are ice rinks and they want everyone to stay off. And on that happy note - the high pressure system that had us in the deep freeze for so long is now over Minnesota and the Midwest, so say an extra atta boy at Kevin, where he is biking at -15.

Now for the good part....I'm going back to bed!!

Cold?

mmmmm... broke zero today. Toasty. 'Course when I got in the car after church my water bottle was frozen.

Let's have a little global warming!

Today is the 10th straight day of negative double digit temperatures. Yes, not just negative temps, negative double digit temps. I really don't remember seeing numbers like -20, -30 around Anchorage since I was a little girl. Sure, up in Fairbanks it's expected, but not here. It is brutal, let me tell you. Only a few years ago we were marveling that Anchorage really was the perfect place to live (except for the cost of getting out of here) I mean, we had balmy summers, mild winters, a temple, most stores people can't live without - now we even have a Target for heaven's sake - but the last couple years have seen a turnin' tide. I think last summer we had exactly 2 days over 70 degrees, and this winter - well, let's just say, it's WINTER. So, Al Gore, get your rear in gear and make your doomsday prophecies a reality why don't cha!! I guess we can call anything that happens "climate change" and then you're never wrong. That's just it, climate changes over time, in cycles. I remember in high school, we were being warned of an impending ice age. It's always time to panic over something, I guess.

Have you noticed that the same people who tell us it's impossible to build a border fence are the same ones who think we can knock the earth off it's axis or some such? Don't get me wrong, I want clean air and clean water as much as the next guy, but I also want to drive my SUV and heat my house, and solar ain't gonna cut it. Especially around here.

One of my favorite things

Baskin-Robbins Baseball Nut Ice Cream
Many gallons were consumed this past year. I had help!