Campaign Slogans

By now, you know that I'm an Obama supporter, so this will no doubt be a biased reading, but I thought that by looking at campaign slogans of the remaining candidates might be interesting.

McCain: Ready to Lead on Day One
This slogan goes hand in hand with his repeated insistence that he has the most experience of all the candidates. However, it does little to inspire followers, and I can't really see people chanting it at a rally.

Huckabee: Faith. Family. Freedom.
This slogan speaks to his conservative core. It has great alliteration, which makes it easy to remember, and it lays out his priorities. All in all, it is a very good slogan, certainly the best from the Republicans.

Paul: Hope for America
This might belong to any of the candidates, but I'm most surprised that it belongs to him. Reading over his stand on the issues, his paranoia about government seems in direct contrast to his message of "hope." It is short and sweet but hardly a standout.

Clinton: Make History!
Clearly, she is appealing to those who are eager to elect a woman to the White House. Not only that, but it would make history to have the first ex-President as First Gent. However, it would also make history to elect either Obama (the first black president) or McCain (the oldest president to take office). Additionally, it says little about how she would govern as much as about what it means if she's elected. All in all, I was disappointed with this slogan--it seems to speak more to those who vote their gender or who want the Clinton dynasty back.

Obama: Yes, We Can!
I know that he's my candidate, but I genuinely like his slogan. He has repeatedly asked voters to not only commit to helping him win the campaign but also to keep going to help make positive changes once he's elected. Michelle said in her speech here in Utah that voting for Barack is voting to become involved in our communities and our country. In fact, on his website, the header reads, "I'm asking you to believe. Not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington . . . but in yours." I like that his slogan is inclusive and reflects not only his positive approach to the campaign but also inspiring others to participate in campaigns, communities, and the entire country (the complete opposite of the isolationist tendencies of Paul).

What do you think about the slogans?

The Total Money Makeover

Nate and I just finished reading this book and spent all last night working on our budget. I was first impressed with Dave Ramsey's plan when I heard that he advocated the Debt Snowball, which I first heard advocated by Elder Marvin Ashton (I'll explain what it is below). As Nate and I have been working on this, I've been really pleased. Not that I was excited to learn we have more debt than I realized, but I am excited about working on our finances together and working to make sacrifices that will greatly benefit our family in the long run.

So here are his seven steps to becoming completely debt free and building wealth:

Step 1: Set aside $1000 for an emergency fund. The goal is no longer use credit cards for anything, so you have to have an emergency fund to pay for a real emergency and not use the credit cards.

Step 2: The Debt Snowball. Write down a list of all of your debts from smallest to largest (don't factor in interest rates because part of the point is to have some early successes paying off debts so you'll keep at it and don't include the mortgage). Make minimum payments on all of your debts but the smallest, and put as much as you can on the first. Once you've paid that first one off, use what you were paying on the first to add to the minimum payments on the second until you've paid that off. Then add the accumulated payment to the third and so on. He says that most people who are really committed are able to finish this step in 18-24 months. All extra money made by supplementing income or selling things should be used to pay off the debt.

Step 3: Fully fund your emergency fund. Once all of your debt is paid off, use those payments to build your emergency fund so it equals 3-6 months of what you would require to live on. Again, this step is right in line with what the church says (the new emergency preparedness guidelines include 3 months of food that your family already eats, a 3-6 month financial buffer, and then long-term storage).

Step 4: Invest 15% of your income toward retirement. He says you should put whatever your company matches into your 401K and then put the balance into an IRA. We're still learning about investing, but we have already been contributing heavily to the 401K at IMFT.

Step 5: Invest in education funds for your children's college, so they can go to school without being in debt. We are lucky in Utah because the state and the church heavily subsidize tuition to make it much more affordable. Additionally, Utah has one of the three best 529s in the country (you can invest in any state's plan, but it's cool that ours is so good).

Step 6: Pay off your mortgage. He suggests only ever getting a 15-year mortgage, and we're looking into seeing whether it would be worth refinancing at this point depending on the interest rate and closing costs. People who are really committed to the plan pay their homes off in an average of seven years. I am very excited about this step; I watched my parents become wealthy for the first time once they paid off their house.

Step 7: Build your wealth. This involves charitable giving, investing, and spending some for fun.

So this is our plan. We will be living very frugally for a while, and it will be challenging, but I have decided that this is just pushing me to be more creative in terms of shopping, etc. Can we do this? Yes, we can!

Btw, it has come to my attention that some people reading would like to make comment but don't know how. At the end of every blog is a little link that shows you how many comments there are. Click on it, and it will take you to a screen where you can read what has already been written and make your own comments.

Getting fit

So, I'm adding to my resolutions . . . I'm trying to get spiritually, financially, and physically fit. I decided that all of them are really important, and Nate's been very supportive.

To get more spiritually fit, I've just been redoubling my efforts to make sure that we're having Family Home Evening, family prayer, and family scripture study (challenging to say the least with both Ryan and Sofia) and to make sure that I'm doing everything I can for my calling as Webelos leader. I also want to go with Nate to the temple several times this year; kids seem to make it all the more difficult.

To get more physically fit, I switched to skim milk, I have been exercising using my balance ball or jogging tramp at least 5 times a week (to get active until I can break out the bike trailer and stroller this spring), and I'm trying to be better about getting proper sleep.

To become more financially fit, Nate and I were introduced to Dave Ramsey by a friend. We've been reading his book The Total Money Makeover, which gives step-by-step instructions on how to get out of debt and how to build wealth no matter what your income. We don't have a ton of debt, but it's about how to completely change your lifestyle to become financially independent and make wise decisions. Nate and I are planning to write out a budget tonight and start saving cash in envelopes for various things to ensure that we keep to the budget. Being faithful to our plan, we hope to have our house paid off in 10 years (give or take a year).

My brother, Warren, who has studied a lot about money and wants to become a financial planner, is a great cheerleader and has been very supportive, bringing us other things to read and giving us all sorts of suggestions.

So anyway, I figure if I write down these three fitness goals they're more real and I'll have to be accountable. :D

Yes, We Can!

Megan, this post is for you. This covers at least some of the things that were talked about at the rally.

First of all, the man who introduced her is actually from Utah, he's served several tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, and now works for the State Department in the Middle East. Before the primary runs started, he flew home to meet with several of the potential candidates on both sides of the aisle, and he decided that Barack is the real deal. His second flight home in the last while was to come introduce Michelle Obama. (As he said, "Yes, there are donkeys in Deseret!")

Michelle was an intelligent and dynamic speaker (it's so nice to have women in the campaign that are articulate and powerful!). She mentioned how children like Ryan and Joy are so full of hope and that it is our responsibility to see that they have opportunities and that we give them a world where they can dream because dreams are so important. She mentioned that as she and Barack have been traveling across the country she's been amazed at how we are all trying to live and be decent people and we all pretty much want the same thing: that if we work hard every day, we can make enough to live decently and provide for our children; that our kids get a good education in the public schools; that after working hard throughout our lives, seniors can retire without fear of losing their pensions or going into bankruptcy because of health problems. She talked about how most families would love to have a parent stay at home with their young children, but that those who do often do so at their financial peril. Because so many households have both parents working, grandparents are more important than ever in young lives.

She talked about her own parents who worked blue collar jobs. Her father continued going to work after contracting MS, proud to go to work because he could. The kids went to public school. He and his wife put both of their kids through Princeton. She said that this is what most families want to be able to do, but our quality of life has been declining.

She also dismissed the attacks that have been made against Barack. She said that they've heard them all before when he was running for the Senate: he doesn't have enough experience, he's too black, he's not black enough, he's too young, he should wait his turn, etc. She said that he's the kind of man who comes around only once in a lifetime. (I completely agree, btw. My father and others have compared him to Kennedy with his vision and inspirational leadership.)

After yesterday, I'm feeling even more hopeful (especially since Hillary has just had to inject $5 million of her own money to try and keep up with Barack). Yes, we can!

Michelle Obama rally

Yes, I am a Democrat and an Obama supporter. So when Megan told me about Michelle Obama speaking in SLC on Monday, I knew I had to go. I wasn't sure how it work with taking the kids, but I figured that they did really well on Friday for four hours to see Pres. Hinckley, so they'd probably be okay for an hour or two for the rally.

We parked under the Salt Palace, so I didn't have to walk with the kids in the snow. Ryan was viewing this as an adventure. We had packed his backpack full of toys and goodies, so he carried it happily as we went up and down the elevators and escalators (I told him if he was good, I'd let him do all of the escalators in the convention center--and we did!).

When we first showed up to the room, right when the doors opened, there weren't many people there. I was really worried that Utah was going to give her a lousy showing. I shouldn't have been worried; by the time she came 45 minutes later, the room was completely filled.



We ended up sitting right behind a father and his two-year-old daughter, Joy. She and Ryan became fast friends. They played with her blocks, his coloring book, and they shared goldfish and oranges.



In fact, I was worried because they were running around when Michelle Obama started speaking (they chased each other around the Secret Service agent's legs for a minute).



She actually looked over at them though, and then she started talking about how "children like these" (pointing at Ryan and Joy) come to us so pure, so full of love and life, and about how we want to give them every opportunity and we have to think about the world that we want to give them. I was pleased.

Jane Austen quiz

Take the Quiz here!

You are Elinor Dashwood of Sense & Sensibility! You are practical, circumspect, and discreet. Though you are tremendously sensible and allow your head to rule, you have a deep, emotional side that few people often see.

My friend had this on her blog, so I took the quiz. I don't know how well it describes me, but I really like Elinor, so I'm happy with it.

Paying Respects to Pres. Hinckley

Spontaneously, my brother Warren and I decided to take the kids up to Salt Lake to attend the viewing of President Hinckley. I thought the whole process might take a couple of hours because people on Thursday were walking right in. We came completely unprepared, sans diapers, food, or toys. It took us two hours to get into the Conference Center, and the kids braved the cold fairly well.

When we got in, they seated us in orderly fashion and we were told it would be another two hours at least. They were playing the tribute to him on his 95th birthday, and we had to come up with all sorts of ways to keep Ryan occupied: going through wallets to look at pictures and cards, drawing with pen on old receipts and hands/arms, singing along to some of the music, learning to take pictures with camera phones, dropping things behind chairs to let him go after them, flipping him upside down, and playing peek-a-boo. Ryan never got upset, but after about three hours, he did start telling us that he was done. Instead of food, I only had a couple of mini Reese's cups in my pocket, so I gave him one each hour we were in the Conference Center.

When we finally were able to walk past the casket, we were only there for twenty or thirty seconds. I decided that it wasn't so much actually seeing President Hinckley--it is just a body and they never look the same. But we were able to pay our respects and someday I'll be able to tell the kids that I took them there.

With that, I'd like to say how much I loved him. He was in the First Presidency from the time I was four, and I really felt like he was my prophet. I loved his optimism, his sense of humor, his love for other people, his intelligence, and his vision. I will miss him.