The Power In You

This is a very powerful clip of my former Bishop, who lost his pregnant wife and two of his four kids when their car was hit by an underage drunk driver, talking about how he overcame tragedy.  Bishop Williams was never angry, never set on revenge and was, and continues to be, a true example of courage, and Christ-like love.  It's worth the few minutes - check it out:  Overcoming Tragedy

Hot Date!!

Last Friday night I got a phone call from a very cute young man and he asked me to go bowling with him the next day.  I accepted and even went and picked him up...  and this is how it went:

Yes, that's my nephew and he was out cold before we even got to the bowling alley!!

How Time Flies - try two

I can't seem to get this post straight... so one more try

Well, it's been a while... partly because I am slow and partly because it's been busy, but I'll do my best to catch up in a flurry of posts... First off the holidays:

With two of my gosh dang cute nephews (Kirk and Luci's boys)over Thanksgiving.

It's a Robinson family tradition to act out the Christmas story on Christmas Eve - here we have Mary riding the donkey (no comment Brett as much as I'd love to...) accompanied by Joseph, as well as a chorus of heavenly angels.

Christmas morning found us with our very own firemen!!

Deb, Sara and I attempted to make caramels - you needed a jackhammer to eat them!! Any suggestions or no-way-you-can-mess-these-up caramel recipes??

Of course there was bowling!! Brett & Val's kids are great bowlers, great cheerleaders and great ball boys!!

And finally, with the sisters at the airport... We live so far apart now - me in SLC, Sara in Maine and Deb in Bogota, Columbia - I treasure the moments we get to hang out - they don't come that often anymore!!

Love those nephews!

I've been lucky enough to see a lot of Kirk and Luci and their boys this year...  I promised the J-man that I would post a picture of us.  He seems to like me most days ...  love you a million red M&M's J-man!!

And J-man's little brother is a funny boy that I love a million pairs of shoes - the bigger the size the better!  Look at that grin!

A soapbox rant

Yup - that's right - jury summons.  I think I have had more jury summons than anyone I know.  I got my first one when I was still in high school (my basketball coach convinced them to let me graduate from high school first, so it got put off until the summer), and I've actually been called in twice now.  The first time we were seated and the defendant walked in and freaked out - ran out and made a deal with the DA.  This last week was the second time.    Just about everybody had advice for me on how to get out of jury duty before I went in.  I had to report at 8 am one morning and just before noon the judge came and told us that new evidence had come to light and he had to grant a continuance and dismissed us.  In those four hours (during which I got to read and not be interrupted by the phone or feel guilty that I should be doing something else!!) it was interesting to hear others conversations and how many of them were so put out about having to come in.  After being dismissed the woman in front of me was ranting and raving about what a waste of her time the morning had been.  And so here comes out the soap box.  It really bothers me how some people will do just about anything, including lying, to get out of jury service and that it's considered a waste of time.  Trial by jury is one of the fundamental rights of our country and really, a small civic duty.  Unlike other countries we don't have mandatory military service, nor are we required to serve in the legislature or vote or provide security, and our government goes above and beyond in "bailing" us out of many of the predicaments we put ourselves in.  Nothing in life is convenient - there is never a good time to get sick or to lose a job or have a family but we deal with it because it's part of life or a choice that we have made.  We're proud to be Americans, but don't want to have to deal with the unpleasant aspects or do anything to support those liberties we're so proud of.  While I don't know that I would enjoy being a juror, I would hope that if  myself or a family member or friend ever needed a jury that they would have a choice of good people who would be fair and listen and do their best to give an impartial decision.  A morning of sitting in a room and reading was valuable to one person, and how do you put a price on that?  Just my thoughts...

Goals...

In the past I've been a very goal oriented person.  But since graduating from college, that has kind of disappeared...  partly because this was not the the future I envisioned for myself (not that it's bad, but living in Salt Lake and my current job was not ever something I pictured) and life just seems to be out of my control.  Since the New Year, I have felt guilty about my lack of direction... and while I can't control some things, I can try to make some changes in my life.  So here are two of my goals for this year.

FIRST - to be more physically active.  The rest of me works better when I am active.  So my friend Rena and I meet three days a week before work and go running.  We're kind of stuck at 2 miles, but we'll get over it.  My goal within a goal is to run (from start to finish - I know I can finish a race, but I want to RUN a whole race) first a 5 K and before the end of the year, a 10 K.  If I can get that far, I would like to try a half marathon...  no desire to do a full marathon though (unlike my friends Missy and Cherie - you go girls!!)

SECOND - to eat better.  Life has been so crazy the last year and especially the last 6 months or so that I rarely eat dinner - no time to grocery shop, no time to plan menus and no time to cook, and a girl can only eat so many bowls of cereal or bagels...  And with no dinner leftovers, that means nothing for lunch.  I'm still working on finding a good solution for all of this...  I have become a customer of Dream Dinners (like My Girlfriend's Kitchen or Supper Solutions), and that's helping, but I still have a long ways to go.  Any suggestions or favorite easy recipes would be greatly appreciated!!

I will try to keep my blog updated with my progress and other goals...

After 13 years...

Progess continues on the new building at work... but we found out late last year that Myriad Pharmaceuticals is going to be spun off into a stand alone company on July 1, 2009, and this building will be ours.  It's hard to think that after 13 years I won't be an employee of Myriad anymore...  As part of the preparation for this separation, after the Christmas and New Year's holidays we had a big layoff...  Discovery Biology (which I'm in) went from 72 employees to 41.  I have never been so grateful to have a job!!  I figure we have about 1 1/2 to 2 years worth of money and the hope is that in that time we'll be able to get one of our drugs currently in clinical trials either FDA approved or find a partner to help with the costs of clinical trials.  Work is really, really busy...  which is good, I just hope it lasts!!