22min cut of Mormon Myths

new cut. Ignore the music. It is a bit longer.

Mormon Mythellaneous

Extremely rough. No b roll. Let me know what you think of the subject matter. I should have a nicer version in a few days.
First title is a bit long because it is actually a placeholder for the host. So there ya go!

Disneyland Our Way: The First of Many Ideas.

If you know us at all, you know that we go to Disneyland quite a bit. Quite a bit meaning since we were married three years ago, we have gone at least 7 times. That does not include the roughly weekly visits while I had my internship at Walt Disney Pictures in the summer of 2006. Some must think we are crazy. Some ask us how we can afford it. Some want to go with us. Well, here are a few tips on how we can go on a trip to Disneyland for a reasonable price.

- Buy a Deluxe annual pass. Sadly for a family of 4+ this probably doesn't sound like very much fun to pay for. At $250 a piece, they get expensive. However, If you buy a three day pass for everyone in your party (I think it is roughly $140 each or $110 each for a 2 day pass) and go once a year, the year pass is a better option. Plan a trip once a year like you normally do. Let's say you go on October 1, 2008 and buy your pass. Plan your next annual trip to be inside the year window. Your second trips cost will dramatically go down because by that time the illusion of your tickets being "free" will have set in. The passes also get you discounts on food, a mere 10%, but that adds up across a two or three day stay.

- Use Priceline.com . I cannot stress this enough. Hotels around the Anaheim Resort area can tend to seem really expensive. Location is everything. People can pay $120 a night at the Best Western across the street. The hotels smell of smoke, parking is terrible, and so on. While they have never really been within a comfortable walking distance (with one exception), we have been very pleased with all of them.

Here are a few examples:

- Holiday Inn, $40/night. Two and a half stars.
- The Hilton Suites, $52/night. Three stars.
- The Hilton (twice), $52/night. Three stars.
-Candlewood Suites, $35/night. Two and a half stars.
- Grand Hyatt (our first time using priceline), $70/night.
- Quality Inn, $40/night. Two stars.

There are taxes and what not associated with the price so it really ends up being $5-$7 more a night, but that's a steal compared to paying face value.

A Disney Rewards Visa Card. So the 1% rewards rate doesn't look so great. I end up putting a lot of businesses expenses on the card and every couple months they have a promotion for 3% rewards in certain categories. Usually our rewards we get pays for the food we eat at the park. In the past couple trips we got some bonus rewards on accident from a customer service call so we were able to do character breakfasts.

That's all I feel like posting at the moment. Let me know other questions you have about the way we do things. I hope this gave some good insight and hopefully you can save a little bit next time you go.

It's apparent you're a parent when. . .

So, Nancy here. Do you remember those Family Circus cartoons called "It's apparent you're a parent when. . . "? I remember reading them as an eight-year-old-child-or-so and pretending I knew what they meant. I'm not so much a comic reader these days, but my college roommates make up for it (yes Dani, Angela, I'm talking about you two.) They always kept me up on the funny ones and do I dare admit? the soap opera ones. Hilarious.

Anyway, sorry about that tangent. This post is in honor of those childhood days when you never knew certain things about being a parent. And this post is certainly not about how I know everything... heavens, no. This is about some of the things that I have learned since the day Derek was born. Some of these things are the obvious, I understand, but I feel that their new addition into my life is at least worth a blog post.

1. You buy so many tissues. In travel, upright, and bulk, we have tissues. At least enough for today. This may have to do with my obsession to make sure that Derek always has a clean nose, but I had NO IDEA how many tissues I would purchase in one winter with one child. It's insane. The boxes are all over the house (sometimes more than one in a room) and the travel packs are all over the car, my purse, and Bryce's computer bag. Tissues are everywhere -- snot is not.

2. Your house can transform from a pretty clean state to an utter disaster in about 2.4 minutes. I have a routine to clean up Derek's toys while he takes a nap in the morning and one in the afternoon. But somehow after those 2.4 minutes since he woke up have passed, I step on some sort of sharp object. Never fails.

3. No WONDER my mother hates doing laundry. Hello!? I swear that our washer and dryer are always going. Oh, and Oxy Clean is sent from heaven. I thought folding my own laundry as an elven-year-old was bad. No way. Folding laundry blows.

4. Thank heavens for Teddy Grahams and Goldfish. These two buddies have been a very recent addition to my shopping list, but they always seem to make Derek happy. The brilliant idea for crackers to have smiley faces is one I wish was on my track record. Gotta love cheese and graham baked into one small bite.

5. Light blue minky blankets are better than me. It doesn't matter what the competition, Derek's blue blanket is much more loved than his mother. The picture here is of Derek in the bathtub this morning upset because he couldn't bring his blanket with him. Sometimes it's hard to be one. You should have seen him when I had the brilliant idea to let him help me put it in the laundry. He sat in for 20 minutes whining to the washer for taking away his best friend. It was awesome.

"Mornin' Dad"

Tonight I am going to write about my dad. Sterling and I were having a chat and a few of my dad's signature phrases came to mind. So lets go through a couple of things.
Dad's Best Phrases or One-Liners

1. "Well, there is some truth to that."
This is something that usually comes up when I tell Dad something that either annoys or upsets me. I can tell he doesn't completely agree with me or want to come full on to my side of whatever disagreement I have, but he is trying to be help me out. It's one my favorite dad sayings.

2. "Love ya, bud." (pat pat pat, rub rub rub, pat pat pat)
My brothers and I like to mimic this back patting to each other as a joke, but what it really means is "remember how dad does this..." I don't know if he got this from his dad or what, but we have a good time with it. You know you have done well when Dad gives you this message.

3. "Welcome to the real world"
This is really the only one that sometimes drives us bonkers. Dad is trying to help, but this one always seems to add a slight sting. Ouch! But I think this is part of his responsibility as a parental figure.

My dad is quite the superhero. The other night someone from High School was asking about how dad can do music and BYU at the same time. I laughed. Lately Mom has decided to restrict Dad's latest business idea, but it isn't like he should be bored until then.

Dad is not only a BYU Communications professor who gets a lot of work published, but he is also a business owner. Dad is one of the owners of DrumsonDemand.com. He spends a bit of time doing that. He also is in a band called Joshua Creek. We joke around that Joshua Creek's target market is women age "24-54." A colleague of Dad's, Dale Cressman, added to that "who have breastfed." I find that hilarious because it is true. Dad is also into bees. Growing up he worked in that "field" (no pun intended) for some time and in the past two years he has continued that dream occupation. He also stills owns Hockey Player Magazine, which I run now, but he still involves himself with random phone calls.

I try to be more like my dad. He has a very interesting background and I like to learn more about his childhood. I love it when he starts to explain his songs, stories, and give light to experiences he has had. He may be involved with so many things, but he is still my dad. He is a good grandpa to Derek and a great dad to both of us.

"Love ya, dad."

The Green Team 2008 at THS

Sterling, Bryce's brother, and Natalie, Nancy's sister, ran for Student Council this year. Sadly, Sterling lost, but Natalie won. This was their skit/dance for the assembly. I think they both did a great job. It obviously doesn't look great, but we didn't zoom in so that we didn't miss anything from the sibling that wasn't zoomed in on. Sterling is usually front and center.

APX!

It seems that now and then I will find myself on the APX stuff. I think it is a good edit, but funny acting.

Derek Dances and says Hello

Lately we have noticed that Derek likes to bob his head in the back seat. We didn't ever see him do this before, but now his seat faces forward. It's a good laugh. He also is learning to say Hello. Check it out.