December Birthdays!

The December Birthday Party is Here!
Here are the Birthday People:
Nora
Duane
Dawnie
Luke
and one November Birthday for Ella (she is ONE YEAR OLD!)
This Sunday, at Darla's house, call her for details.

Happy 50th Mom and Dad!

We love you Mom and Dad! Thank you for giving us such a great reason to party!

It felt strange not to post something on this blog as well as my own. I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone. I think everything came off really well, and the end product was definitely worth it. Even with a sick Isaac, some picture mishaps, and a temporarily misplaced child, among other things, everything turned out just beautifully. What a great team we all make.

Pumpkin Time

For those who don't know:

We are visiting the Pumpkin Patch on Thursday at 2pm. We are carving pumpkins at Don and Donna's sometime after 6pm. Hope everyone can make it!

Letter from Darla

I hope that Darla doesn't mind me posting this letter, I thought that it was very well articulated. And I think we can all agree with what she says. Thank you Darla!

Dear Family and friends,
Tim and I have been working hard on the Yes on proposition 8 campaign along with thousands of other individuals, families, and churches in California. Whether you live in California or not, this proposition will affect you. Recent events have fueled my fire, and I wanted to share my opinion with all of you. I know that some of you may not agree, but I would feel like I was letting my cause down if I did not open my mouth. Election day is rapidly approaching and we need as much support (financial and/or otherwise) as we can get.
For those of you that are not familiar with Prop 8, it will add an amendment to our state constitution that says "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California". This may sound familiar to many of you. It should. Back in 2000 California voters approved these 14 words. But now, because 4 activist judges in San Fransisco wrongly overturned the vote of the people we need to pass this measure as a constitutional amendment to restore the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman. Do we or do we not live in a democracy? How is it OK that these judges were able to take away what we already voted for?
Below I have included some of the reasons why I am voting yes on Proposition 8. Please take the time to read them and study the issue on your own.
I want to make something else perfectly clear. We are not anti-gay. We are pro-marriage. You will find that this proposition is so much more than simply allowing same sex marriage. There are so many consequences. Please stand with us and help us restore marriage to what God intended it to be.
Here are just a few some of reasons why I have decided to vote Yes
Children
I’m concerned about the impact on children. I do not want school children taught that marriage is between any two adults regardless of gender. Teaching about marriage is the right of parents according to their own values and beliefs. Some people don’t think this would happen, but I did some research and it has already happened.
For example, after Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriage, second graders were taught about a prince marrying another prince. The parents sued the schools for the right to be notified and the right to pull their children out of such instruction. The court ruled that parents had no legal right to object, and the appeals court upheld it. This is what will happen in California unless we pass Proposition 8. [Parker v. Hurley]
It seems like our priorities are all wrong. A school nurse cannot give a child so much as an aspirin without parental permission, but the schools can teach alternative lifestyles and parents have no say.
I don’t know about you, but I feel that it is up to me, as the parent to decide when and how to teach my children about these things. It is not the right of the public school system.
Religious Rights
I do not believe government should overrule a person’s religious beliefs. A lesbian sued a doctor at a San Diego fertility clinic who refused to perform a requested artificial insemination because of the doctor’s Christian beliefs. Even though another doctor was willing to perform this elective procedure, the court ruled that anti-discrimination laws are more important than religious beliefs.
In Boston, after same-sex marriage was legalized, Catholic Charities was told by the government that their adoption agency had to place children with same-sex couples regardless of their beliefs. They ended up shutting down their adoption agency rather than violating their beliefs. All that this government coercion accomplished was to increase the number of children waiting to be adopted.
Free Speech
A California court held that municipal employees may not say “traditional marriage” or “family values” because these terms constitute hate speech. If same-sex marriage is permanently legalized, government will be obligated to create laws and regulations not to suggest tolerance, but to enforce societal acceptance, and that could lead to broader censorship of speech.
For example, the City of Oakland’s Gay-Straight Employees Alliance was openly allowed to attack the Bible and Christian beliefs in widespread city emails. When other employees attempted to refute this attack, they were threatened with immediate termination. [Good News Employees Association v. Hicks]
*****No Lost Rights******
I wanted to support traditional marriage, but was concerned that my vote might take away other peoples’ rights. I found that no one will lose any rights they had before the state supreme court overturned the traditional definition of marriage. Prop 8 will not take away from same-sex couples any rights they have under a legal civil union. This is stated in the California family Code
Before you make up your mind, please study this issue and think carefully about what will happen if courts are allowed to change the traditional definition of marriage.
It’s about more than marriage. There are bigger things at stake.
If you would like more information, please let me know. Believe it or not, I have edited this email to make it as short as I could. I have mountains of information and examples of what will happen if this does not pass. If you are interested in putting a sign in your yard, I can get you one. Please let me know. And if you are interested in donating financially to the cause, you can do so at http://www.protectmarriage.com/.
Thank you!

P.S. The recent events that have fueled my fire are the following:
“Yes on Prop 8” yard signs being stolen or destroyed and property being vandalized. Homes being egged and cars being damaged…right here in Temecula. If we are suppose to be so tolerant of their viewpoint, why are they not tolerant of ours? Do we not have freedom of speech on this country? You don’t see any of the “Yes” people out there vandalizing property.
Recently my niece went on a field trip to the Museum of Tolerance in LA. My sister was told that they would be learning about the Holocaust and Black Slavery. The very first seminar that the children were brought to was given by a homosexual man speaking about the discrimination he had suffered and he discussed many issues about homosexuality. The parents were not informed in advance that this would be in the curriculum.

Elder thomas Land, now in the MTC, has an E-mail address which will be good for his whole mission. It is Thomas.J.Land.NMM@myldsmail.net. You can E-mail him anytime although he cannot E-mail you back but he can write you snail mail back or I will forward his letters from time to time.

THOMAS GOES INTO THE MTC IN 14 DAYS, therefore he will be speaking on Sunday,
Oct. 12th at 11:00am in the Colton Bldg. as usual.

Saturday, the 11th we will have a BBQ and swimming (since it refuses to cool down) around 5:00pm for the Land clan and whoever else shows up. We will also have an Open House for him Sunday night 6-9pm. Love ya all , Gayle

The Fryer Fall Festival

As if anyone needs a reminder ... (I just am addicted to blogging, and feel an incessant need to blog something regularly, so sorry if this is redundant).

Family Reunion for ALL descendants of Shirley and Donna

WHAT: “The Fryer Fall Festival”
WHEN: Saturday September 20, 2008
WHERE: Yucaipa Community Park, Shelter #2.
(Address: 34900 Oak Glen Rd. in Yucaipa, California)
TIME: 10AM to 3PM

PLEASE BRING:
∙ A picnic type side dish (note: we will call some of you for specific assignments)
∙ Your own drinks (we will also provide some bottled water)
∙ Picnic stuff: Folding camp chairs, blankets, sunscreen, etc.
∙ Play equipment: softball stuff, tennis, volleyball, basketball, frisbees, bikes, tricycles, scooters, etc.
BIG FAMILY GROUP PICTURE:

This will be taken at 11AM. If you would like to order a picture, please pay Todd and Denise that day. The costs are as follows (includes postage/shipping):
16” X 20”: $12
8” X 10”: $7


DONATIONS: We are asking each family to contribute $10.00 (or more) to help pay for this reunion and also to start a fund for future reunions (we will be collecting money that day).
GAMES: We will have a few group games and also hope to play a softball game together.

September Birthday Party

We are celebrating the September birthdays this next Sunday (I know, we just can't seem to get enough of eachother), September 7th at DeAnn and Abe's. Time and assignments TBA. September birthdays include: Emma, Rachel, Jill and a belated birthday for Tim (we missed him at the August party :( ).

Welcome Home Elder Land!

As you all know, Michael has returned triumphantly from the mission field. We are so glad that he is home safe! Sorry, no pictures, I forgot my camera. FYI, Michael will be giving his homecoming talk this Sunday in Colton, 11am! Hope everyone comes!

July/August Birthday Party

Save the date!

We are combining the July and August Birthdays!

Sunday August 10th

Time TBA

Location TBA

Birthday People:

July: Isaac and Joyce

August: Tim, Aunt Shirley, Todd, DeAnn, Thomas, and Paul

If this date doesn't work for you, let Donna or Jill know.

Lucky Texans!

Well, Doug and Jessica have left us for the Lone Star State! Those lucky Texans! We miss you guys already, and can't wait for your return visit! Hope your trip went well!

And for those of you who are into blogs, a link to their blog is there on the right.

Blogs

If you have a blog that you want to add to the blog list, email the link to me and I'll add it!
Am I the only one who uses this blog??

Mother's Day Celebration

When: This Sunday May 11 5pm
Where: Don and Donna's

As if you didn't already know! :)

No Cable ... Sorry

Well, we are not going to have cable like we had hoped for conference. Sorry! See you all at 5pm!

This is great, thanks Jill.

Thanks Jill for setting this up, what a great way for our family to keep informed on what is going on with each of us. I will definitely be using it.

March/April Birtday Party

It's Birthday Party time again!

April 6th 5pm at Duane and Jill's house. We are having Taco Salad. If you haven't received an assignment, call Darla or Jill for your assignment.
Duane and Jill are trying to get cable before Saturday, if we are able to get it you are invited to come early for conference. We will let you know if we are able to get it by then, so keep checking the blog for updates on that.

Welcome to the Family Blog!

After some minor miscommunications last Saturday, Gayle and I were thinking what a good idea a family blog might be. So here it is! Now we can post messages about family parties, pictures of kids, letters from missionaries, etc! So let's try it out and see how it goes!