sister wives

Have you heard of TLC's new show Sister Wives? It's about a polygamist family that lives right here in Utah (of course). You can watch the first episode online. Find it here. We watched it last night and were totally fascinated by this family. Kody Brown has three wives and 12 going on 13 children. He's been married to the first for 20 years, the second for 17 and the third for 16. During the first episode you find out they've decided to welcome a new wife to the family-- a divorced mother of 3.

What is so interesting about this family is first of all how fairly normal they seem. We are so used to seeing the pioneer dressed, puffy hair kind of polygamists. This family is more along the lines of "Big Love". The other thing that struck me is how happy they all are with this arrangement. It really works for them. Two of the wives work and Kody has a very good job. They live in one large home that is divided into three separate but connecting apartments. The kids all wander freely between the homes. Kody seems to do a great job dividing his time between the wives. And the wives area all great friends.

I could never share my husband but I do see the appeal in having other women around to help out. For example one of the wives really loves working and doesn't enjoy all the housewifely duties so it works out well that her sisterwife loves taking care of all the kids while she works. It's an amazing little system they have worked out.

The other thing we are really curious about is their religion. They are FLDS but obviously not of the Texas compound variety. Kody actually explained the difference between LDS or Mormonism and FLDS really well. He said they are totally separate although related religions similar to Catholics and Protestants.  Jared being the religion teacher totally wants to find out if they have open church services. Wouldn't that be so interesting to see how they are similar or different from mainstream LDS meetings?

So yeah check it out. We don't have cable so I'm really hoping they keep posting the episodes online.

amazing!

I know this has been all over the news and internets this week, so you've probably already seen it, but in case you haven't, here it is. You MUST watch this and hear this woman sing. She is AMAZING! I seriously get goosebumps and a little teary eyed watching it. Embedding is disabled so you'll have to CLICK HERE to see it. Susan, you are certainly talented!

excuse me while I rant

I hate tv network executives. I hate that they are ratings slaves. I know tv is a business just like everything else, but its product is something people care about and are invested in creatively. Television shows tell stories, and when shows are cancelled before the story is complete it is like only reading 3/4 of a novel. Who wants to do that?! This year has seen the demise of two of our favorite shows--and the only 2 that Jared actually took the time to watch each week--Pushing Daisies and Kyle XY. I have already lamented the loss of Pushing Daisies, one of the most creative, witty, and darling television shows ever! I won't go into it more because it depresses me.

Last night was the "Series Finale" of Kyle XY and it ended on a complete cliff-hanger. No resolution whatsoever. I am so mad! It turns out ABC Family decided to cancel the show after this season was filmed, so the writers didn't have the chance to wrap up the story. I hate that the powers that be base their decision solely on ratings and don't give shows more of a chance. Why don't they try a better time slot and more advertising? Kyle XY was a really interesting show and different than other things on TV. If they really wanted to end it, they could have wrapped up the story satisfactorily in just a few more episodes. But no, now we are left hanging. I think it is ridiculous. Cancelling shows so abrubtly shows a complete lack of integrity and respect for the creative process in story telling. Shame on you, ABC... again!

depression: pushing daisies dead

I guess rumors have been swirling for awhile now, but it was confirmed last week that ABC is not renewing Pushing Daisies. In essence it's been canceled! This is tragic! Pushing Daisies is seriously the best show on television. It is so clever and funny and unique with so much charm and wit and a fantastic cast. I am really, really sad about this. ABC what are you thinking?! Maybe if you actually promoted this show once in awhile the ratings would be better. That stupid writers strike last year is still causing damage. All the new shows last year lost their momentum.

The only good news right now is that Daisies creator Bryan Fuller told E! News that he may finish the storyline in a serious of comic books or a movie. Please, please, please let their be a movie!!! I love this show so much. I love Ned and Chuck and Olive and Emerson and the Aunts. I love the Pie Hole. And we need to know what happens to these characters. Apparently, the last episode that will air is a total cliff hanger too!

Big sigh. I hate that good shows like this get canceled. It was nominated for like 12 Emmy's! What is the deal?

Here is ABC's address if you want to complain:

ABC
500 S. Buena Vista St.
Burbank, CA 91521-4551

Here is their online comment form: http://abc.go.com/site/contactus.html

And someone even started a website to try to save Pushing Daisies where you can sign a petition. Check it out: http://savedaisies.com

luv-ahs!

Back in college my friends and I would watch this skit from SNL: Best of Will Ferrell all the time. I remembered it the other day and hunted it down. So, so funny! The best part is how they are all trying not to laugh.

labor and SYTYCD

I spent the majority of the day yesterday in more labor before it petered out in late afternoon. The closest the contractions got were 4 minutes apart. Sigh. Not even the full moon helped. This morning we went on a nice little hike and that doesn't seem to have done much either. Oh well. I'm thinking maybe this kid is gonna hold out for his dad's birthday on the 29th. That also happens to be the day my doctor is on call, so maybe he really wants her to deliver him. :-)












Switching gears to So You Think You Can Dance... was anyone else appalled that Kherington went home on Thursday instead of Comfort? I certainly was. Personally, I don't think that Comfort should have even been brought back at all. I thought she should have gone home weeks ago. They should have just not eliminated a girl this week since Jessica got hurt. Comfort is a good hip-hop dancer but she has only been so-so in the other styles. She should not be in the top 10. And although Kherington didn't have a good night on Thursday, she is such a better dancer than Comfort! Come on people! I also wish that Mark would have gone home instead of Gev. I think Gev has really improved over the show and turned out to be way more impressive than I was expecting.

cable sadness

The new season of Project Runway starts tonight, but I will not be watching it. The free cable package at our new place does not include Bravo. Oh the tragedy! I guess now I'll be happy that next season it will air on Lifetime. For all you PR fans, enjoy! At least I still have So You Think You Can Dance.

summer tv

Remember back in the day when all that was on TV in the summer were reruns? Well, isn't it nice that these days we get so much more to choose from? Like reality tv shows. I'd like to share with you my favorites.

So You Think You Can Dance

This show is awesome. I have watched it the past three years and the dancers and choreography just keep getting better. It's from the same producer as American Idol, but the show is set up much smarter. To go from 20 to 10 dancers, viewers call in for their favorites, but then the judges get to pick one girl and one guy to go home out of the bottom 6 dancers (3 couples). This assures that the really good dancers stay in at least until the top 10 and don't go home due to ignorant viewers. Once it gets to the top 10 then only the viewers decide. The show airs on Fox on Wednesday and Thursday nights. We are just barely at the top ten now. I highly recommend checking it out. There are some seriously talented dancers on the show this year, but our favorite to win is probably Will.

The Next Food Network Star

This show has been on for several years and I've never watched it, but this year I happen to know one of the contestants--Kelsey Nixon. Kelsey was a year or so behind me in my Broadcast Journalism program at BYU, and I actually helped her produce and edit some of the first episodes of her cooking show--Kelsey's Kitchen. It aired locally on Provo Cable. It was a really fun project and a great learning experience for all of us. Kelsey is SO driven and focused. She is also extremely nice and fun and just plain adorable. After she graduated from BYU she went to culinary school and now she's on the Food Network! It has been really fun watching her. She has made it to the top 4, and I'm hoping she makes it all the way. The show airs on Food Network on Sunday nights at 10 pm eastern. Check it out! Also here is a link to where you can vote for fan favorite. Go vote for Kelsey so she can win some cool prizes.
Now it's your turn... any favorite summer tv? Or are you too busy with fun summer activities to watch this time of year?

david cook takes it home

photo from the huffington post

Let's talk Idol.

Was anyone else surprised Cook took home the prize last night?

First let me say that I LOVE David Cook! He's been my favorite from early on. Although Archuleta is a talented boy, he just didn't do it for me. I found him a bit on the boring side. Sweet, humble, and very talented, but boring nonetheless. However, after Tuesday's show, I really thought Archuleta was gonna win. He had a better night. David Cook was awesome, but he didn't bring the house down the way little David did. And with all those teeny-boppers and Mormons out there, I had pretty much given up hope that Cook would win. Not that I didn't vote for him... more than once.

So last night... I was really impressed when Simon actually apologized to Cook for his comments the night before. I'm glad that Simon realized upon watching the show again that it maybe wasn't the "knock out" he said it was. And then Ryan read the results. When he said the winner won by 12 million votes, I still thought it was going to be Archuleta. But then he said David.... Cook!

Yeah, I'm happy. He totally deserves it and he's going to make a killer album! And Archuleta is going to be juuust fine. We all know that you don't have to win to go on to be successful.

What's crazy is that more than 97 million votes were cast overall, 23 million more than American Idol's previous high.

Did you vote? Who did you vote for? What did you think of the results?

newsflash

Could someone please tell me why I was not informed that Grey's Anatomy went back on the air last week?!!! How was I not made aware of this? There is another new episode tomorrow night and you can bet I'll be getting online to catch up on last week's episode. Um, yeah I don't remember at all what's going on at Seattle Grace after all these months.

100-days of strike

Isn't it just like creative writer types to end their strike on exactly the 100 day mark? It has such a poetic ring to it. All I can say is WAHOO!!!! Now hurry up and bring back some shows people! I miss Seattle Grace and the Pie Hole. And now I've forgotten what other shows I liked because it's been... so... long!!! Sadly I read that a lot of shows, such as Pushing Daisies, probably won't be coming back this season at all. Tragedy. At least I have CNN with all the political shenanigans still ongoing. By the way, Obama is on a roll!

What show's return are you most anxiously awaiting? Or could you care less?

paralyzed and pregnant

I've already become slightly obsessed with all things pregnancy related. However, I am going to make an effort to keep my blog somewhat varied over the next 8 months, so that it doesn't turn into "musings of a pregnancy". But today's post is pregnancy related.

The other night I watched a documentary on Discovery Health Channel called "Paralyzed and Pregnant". It is about a woman named Michelle Carston, who at 23 years old dove into shallow water off the coast of Mexico and injured her spinal cord. She is now a quadriplegic.

This story hit close to home because my brother-in-law is also a quadriplegic caused by a diving accident when he was a teenager. Something I didn't know until I met Mike is that there are varying degrees of paralysis in quadriplegics. It all depends on where your spine is injured. So many quadriplegics have some use of their arms. Such is the case with Mike. And also with Michelle, who has quite a bit of upper body movement.

When Michelle was in her mid-thirties she met and married her husband and 11 months later she got pregnant. She endured an incredibly difficult pregnancy and was then able to deliver her baby boy vaginally. I was so inspired by her. She has immense challenges, but her dream was to be a mother. The pregnancy took a huge toll on her body. And the birth was amazing! She didn't want a cesarean. She had an epidural and actually pushed the baby out. The doctor also used the vacuum to help.

Michelle then had a very long recovery, and her husband is truly a saint! He has had to take on the bulk of the responsibility because obviously Michelle can't do a lot, especially right after the birth. I got emotional watching him do so much. You can see the love he has for his wife and son in his service to them.

Watching this documentary made me so grateful for all that I have. I'm so grateful for my healthy body! I'm grateful for my loving husband. And I'm extremely grateful for the little baby that is growing inside me. I pray that he/she will be healthy too.

The film was made in 2005. Unfortunately I couldn't find much updated information on Michelle and her family. If you are interested in watching it, Discovery Health Channel is showing it again Saturday, Dec 15, at 11:00 am.

affirmation

This afternoon I watched What Not to Wear as always whilst eating my lunch. In the final reveal, the makeover recipient wore a little ditty from H&M that I in fact own. I guess that means I know what to wear.
Check it:

this and that

It's still raining! It was coming down pretty hard when I left this morning. Thank you, rain gods!

My husband is leaving me tomorrow to spend a few days in Utah with his kiddos. This will be our first time apart since before we were married. :-( I'm really grateful that he gets to spend time with the kids though, especially since they don't have school Monday and Tuesday, and Wednesday is Halloween. They will have a lot of fun. I just wish I got to go too! I can't believe it's already been two months since we were with them.




The only thing I'm looking forward to about Jared being gone is watching the entire last season of Friends on DVD. Thank you Netflix! And maybe the last season of Sex and the City too if I'm feeling kinda scandalous. ;-)






Also, Ohio State football is #1!!! Yay! Saturday night they are playing Penn State and ABC is showing the game. Woohoo!!! I've only been able to watch one other game, so I'm excited. Go Bucks!

And lastly, I can't resist these types of quizzes. This one is fun. Take it and come back and tell me what your accent is. Below you will see mine. For the record, I was born in Utah, moved to Ohio at age 4, moved to Utah at 18 for college, and am now in North Carolina. So I guess all that gives me this....

What American accent do you have?
Created by Xavier on Memegen.net

Western. Like Midland, Western is another accent that people consider neutral. So, you might not actually be from the Western half of the country, but you definitely sound like it.

And if you're not from the West, you are probably one of the following:
(a) A Pittsburgher - the quiz can't tell the difference;
(b) Someone from Canada (probably southern Ontario) who doesn't have a Canadian accent;
(c) Someone from northern New England who doesn't have a New England accent; or
(d) Someone from Texas or the Heartland who was born after 1980.
You are definitely not from New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Detroit, the Deep South, etc.</font>

Take this quiz now - it's easy!

We're going to start with "cot" and "caught." When you say those words do they sound the same or different?

Same Same, no wait I mean different, maybe, a little bit different... Different

guilty pleasures

We all have them. Here are a few of mine.

*People--Even though I'm disgusted by our culture's obsession with celebrity, I still love checking out the latest celeb photos and "news" at People. Is J.Lo pregnant? Will Britney clean up her act? Where will Brangelina be spotted next? Why must I know these things?!!! I don't really care and yet I still waste time finding out. Why?!!!


*Go Fug Yourself-- So this goes along with the last one. But these girls are so funny, clever, and vicious in their critiques of celebrity fashion, they are addicting!


*Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice (aka Addison's Anatomy)--These shows have clever writing, great casts, witty dialogue, and sometimes realistic situations. But at the end of the day they are still soap operas. And I love them!

*America's Next Top Model--My husband questioned his love for me the other day when I spent an hour and half catching up on this season's ANTM online. He did not realize that I have watched this show from the very first cycle, and even though I don't subject him to it, I still get a kick out of it, despite Tyra's antics. I have to say though, that this cycle's girls are all crazy dramatic. I just want to see the shoots and photos and skip the crazy drama.

What are your guilty pleasures?

pushing daisies

I like TV. It's true. But I do try to limit the amount of shows I get addicted to. This fall we have a few we must watch. Mondays: Heroes. Thursdays: Smallville (Jared) and Grey's Anatomy. But now Wednesdays have 2 shows I don't like to miss: Private Practice (aka Addison's Anatomy) and a new show called Pushing Daisies.

I am telling you all right now that you should watch Pushing Daisies! It is so fun and so delightfully quirky. Plus I have a crush not only on the adorable Ned, the pie maker, played by Lee Pace. But also on his equally adorable childhood sweetheart Chuck, played by Anna Friel.

The basic premise of the show is that Ned has the power to bring things back from the dead by touching them. But there's a catch... If he ever touches them again they die again. And if he brings someone back for more than a minute, then someone else dies. Ned has teamed up with a private detective and together they collect reward money for unsolved murders. Ned wakes the dead person up and asks who kills them, then touches them again to go back to being dead. Get it?

Well things get tricky when Ned finds out his latest case to solve is the murder of his childhood sweatheart, Charlotte (Chuck). He ends up not touching her again and so she's now no longer dead, but they also can never touch again. And she can't be recognized by anyone because she's supposed to be dead. Of course, sparks fly, but it's the perfect answer to keeping the tension alive because they can never really get together or she'd die.

I really want this show to stick around so you should all watch it. And if you are like us and can't always be home at 8 pm on Wednesday night. You can watch it online! Just go here. All the characters are so fun and one of the best characters on the show you never actually see--the narrator! He's great and gives the funniest insights into what people are thinking.

Watch it tonight! Or later online.

planet earth

For those of you unaware, Discovery Channel has the most amazing series on right now. It's called Planet Earth. It is an eleven part documentary about our little blue planet and its inhabitants (but not us) that took five years to make. Creators used the latest in cinematic technology to capture never before seen parts of life on Earth. Photographers hung out in the arctic for a year just to film polar bears, and others braved -60 degree weather to capture male emperor penguins guard their eggs through four months of winter.

Last week was the first week it aired, and Jared and I LOVE it! It is so fascinating. There are not words to describe to it. I join with Oprah in saying that this is the best thing I've ever seen on television.

Tonight we watched a starving male polar bear desperately try to hunt a walrus, only to finally succumb to death himself. And we saw desert lions travel hundreds of miles for food. Last week we saw elephants swim and birds in the rain forest dance. This truly is giving me a whole new view of our planet. We will definitely be using some of wedding money to buy the DVD.

Planet Earth airs Sundays at 8 p.m. Eastern time through April. Check out planet-earth.com for more info.