Minor Incidents

Christmas 2009

megan@zurcherfamily.org (Megan Zurcher) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 07:40:00 +0000

I thought I'd better post this since it's already January! I can't believe that. Anyway, remember when I told you I was working on a special drawing? Well, I finished it back in November, but I couldn't show you it yet. That was because I had Kate this year for sibling gifts and I decided to use one of her pictures she had taken with her harp a few years ago and turn it into a pencil drawing. Here's the result (I think it turned out pretty good):

Kate is trying to pose like the drawing here.

Christmas this year was low-key and quiet. Briton and Melissa came over on Christmas Eve and Jacob and Heather came Christmas night. Luckily, Emily and Danny were able to have a few days off and were both home for Christmas. Here are few more pictures from the day.

Kate got a Wii.

Dad got a new Kindle and gave his old one to Emily.

Mom got some new Pottery Barn sheets for her bed.

Grandpa got a novel.

I got a new blu-ray player.

Emily got a puzzle of Santa Monica. She also got a blu-ray player; same one as mine.

We didn't get a picture of it, but Danny got a Pottery Barn lamp for is house in St. Louis.

Banished Words

megan@zurcherfamily.org (Megan Zurcher) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 19:08:00 +0000

Here's the list of the words you can't say in 2010; they've been banned! Reading this always makes me realize how annoyed I am of most of these words. I bet you'll feel the same way. If you're interested in last year's list, refer to my December, 21, 2008 post.

SHOVEL-READY

"Apparently, the generally accepted definition of this phrase is to imply that a project has been completely designed and all that is left to do is to implement it . . . however, when something dies, it, too, is shovel-ready for burial and so I get confused about the meaning. I would suggest that we just say the project is ready to implement." – Jerry Redington, Keosauqua, Iowa.
"A relatively new term already overused by media and politicians. Bury this term, please." – Pat Batcheller, Southgate, Michigan.
"Do I really need a reason? Well, if so how about this: I just saw it in tandem with 'cyber-ready' and nearly choked on my coffee. It's starting the '-ready' jargon. Makes me 'vacation-ready.'" – Karen Hill, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
"Stick a shovel in it. It's done." – Joe Grimm, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

TRANSPARENT/TRANSPARENCY

"I can see clearly that this is the new buzzword for the year." – Joann Eschenburg, Clinton Twp., Michigan.
"In the lexicon of the political arena, this word is supposed to mean obvious or easily understood. In reality, political transparency is more invisible than obvious!" – Deb Larson, Bellaire, Michigan.
"I just don't see it." – Joe Grimm, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

CZAR

Long used by the media as a metaphor for positions of high authority, including 'baseball czar' Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, appointed by team owners as commissioner-for-life in 1919. U.S. president Woodrow Wilson had an 'industry czar' during World War I. Lesser-known 'czar' roles in government during the last 100 years include: censorship, housing and oil czars in 1941; rubber czar in 1942; patronage czar (1945); clean-up (1952); missile (1954); inflation (1971); e-commerce (1998); bioethics, faith-based and reading czars (2001); bird flu (2004); democracy (2005); abstinence and birth control czars (2006); and weatherization czar (2008).

"First it was a 'drug czar' [banished in 1990]. This year gave us a 'car czar.' What's next? A 'banished words czar'?" – Michael F. Raczko, Swanton, Ohio.
"We have appointed a czar of such-and-such; clearly that's better than a 'leader,' 'coordinator' or 'director'! – Derek Lawrence, Thunder Bay, Ontario.
"The president has been handing these "czar" positions out like party favors." – Scott Lassiter, Houston, Texas.

TWEET

And all of its variations…tweetaholic, retweet, twitterhea, twitterature, twittersphere…

"People tweet and retweet and I just heard the word 'tweet' so many times it lost all meaning." – Ricardo, Merida, Yucatan, Mexico.
Mikhail Swift of Hillman, Michigan says the tweeting is "pointless . . . yet has somehow managed to take the nation by storm. I'm tired of hearing about celebrity X's new tweet, and how great of a tweeter he or she is."
"I don't know a single non-celebrity who actually uses it," says Alex Thompson of Sault St. Marie, Michigan.
Jay Brazier of Williamston, Michigan says she supposes that tweeters might be "twits."

APP

"Must we b sbjct to yt another abrv? Why does the English language have to fit on a two-inch screen? I hate the sound of it. I think I'll listen to a symph on the rad." – Edward R. Bolt, Grand Rapids, Mich.
"Is there an 'app' for making this annoying word go away? Why can't we just call them 'programs' again?" – Kuahmel Allah, Los Angeles, California.

SEXTING

Sending sexually explicit pictures and text messages through the cell phone.

"Any dangerous new trend that also happens to have a clever mash-up of words, involves teens, and gets television talk show hosts interested must be banished." – Ishmael Daro, Saskatoon, Sask., Canada.

FRIEND AS A VERB

Came into popularity through social networking websites. You add someone to your network by "friending" them, or remove them by "unfriending" them.

"I'm certainly as much of a Facebook addict as the next person, but I'm getting a little weary of 'friending' people and being 'friended' by them. My daughter talks of 'sending friend requests,' which doesn't rankle me as much, so maybe we should all take her lead." – John Wetterholt, Crystal Lake, Illinois.
"'Befriend' is much more pleasant to the human ear and a perfectly useful word in the dictionary." – Kevin K., Morris, Okla.

TEACHABLE MOMENT

What might otherwise be known as 'a lesson.'

"It's a condescending substitute for 'opportunity to make a point,'" says Eric Rosenquist of College Station, Texas.
"If everything's a 'teachable moment,' we should all have teaching credentials, including the guy at the bar who likes to fight after one shot too many." – Kuahmel Allah, Los Angeles, California.
"This phrase is used to describe everything from potty-training to politics. It's time to vote it out!" – Jodi, Youngstown, Ohio.

IN THESE ECONOMIC TIMES . . .

Nominations concerning the economy started rolling in as the 2009 list was being put together last year, i.e. "bailout." They kept coming this year, in these trouble economic times. " South Park " warned us about what would happen if we angered The Economy.

"Overused and redundant. Aren't ALL times 'these economic times'?" – Barb Stutesman, Three Rivers, Michigan.
"In this economy, we can't afford to be wasteful . . . In this economy, we all need some security . . . In this economy, frogs could start falling from the sky . . . In this economy, blah blah blah . . . Overused for everything from trying to market products as inexpensive to simply explaining any and all behavior during the recession." – Mark, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
"When someone prefaces a statement with 'in this economic climate,' its starts to sound like a sales pitch, or just an excuse on which to blame every problem. And if a letter or e-mail message from your employer starts with this phrase, usually it means you're not getting a raise this year." – Dominic, Seattle, Wash.

STIMULUS

"Everything in the news is about the stimulus packages . . . it is no longer a grant, it's stimulus money, stimulus checks, etc. I think it is just being over-used." – Teri Heikkila, Rudyard, Michigan.
"Overused by companies to advertise a promotion." – David Willis, Houston, Texas.
"What next, can I go down to the local bar and down a few drinks and call it a stimulus package?" – Richard Brown, Portland, Oregon.

TOXIC ASSETS

We think we're going to be sick.

"Whatever happened to simply 'bad stocks,' 'debts,' or 'loans'?" – Monty Heidenreich, Homewood, Illinois.
"What a wretched term!" – Lee Freedman, Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.

TOO BIG TO FAIL

"Just for the record, nothing's too big to fail unless the government lets it." – Claire Shefchik, Brooklyn, New York.
"Does such a thing exist? We'll never know if a company is too big to fail, unless somehow it does fail, and then it will no longer be too big to fail. Make it stop!" – Holli, Raleigh, North Carolina.

BROMANCE

"Have we really reached the point where being friends has to be described in a pseudo-romantic context? Just stop it already!" – Greg Zagorski, Washington, D.C.
"I am sick of combined words the media creates to make them sound catchier. Frenemies? Bromances? Blogorrhea? I'm going to scream!" – Kaylynn, Alberta, Canada.

CHILLAXIN'

Nominated for several years. We couldn't chill about it anymore.

"Heard everywhere from MTV to ESPN to CNN. A bothersome term that seeks to combine chillin' with relaxin' makes me want to be 'axin' this word." – Tammy, Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.
"A made-up word used by annoying Gen-Yers." – Chris Jensen, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.
"Horrifying overuse, even in face-to-face conversation . . . It should receive bonus points for its ability to exhort the opposite reaction from the receiver." – Bret Bledsoe, Cincinnati, Ohio.

OBAMA-prefix or roots?

The LSSU Word Banishment Committee held out hope that folks would want to Obama-ban Obama-structions, but were surprised that no one Obama-nominated any, such as these compiled by the Oxford Dictionary in 2009: Obamanomics, Obamanation, Obamafication, Obamacare, Obamalicious, Obamaland….We say Obamanough already.

Finally!

megan@zurcherfamily.org (Megan Zurcher) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 06:56:00 +0000

After almost 6 years of dating, these two are finally getting married! We're all so excited for them, but it's going to be a quick wedding. It'll be the end of February! In the picture below, Amanda is holding a key chain that has her future initials, ACZ, engraved on it. Danny gave this to her with a key to his house in St. Louis, where they'll live for the next 3 and a half years. Congratulations Danny and Amanda!

Briton & Melissa's Christmas Card 2009

megan@zurcherfamily.org (Megan Zurcher) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 05:52:00 +0000

I did Briton and Melissa's Christmas card again this year. I feel like I've put more in this card than any other years, because I went with them when they took these pictures so I could make Cole smile, which wasn't the easiest task that day! This year, it's just a simple folded card. The first picture is of the front and back and the second picture is the inside.

Gloria

megan@zurcherfamily.org (Megan Zurcher) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 02:45:00 +0000

Emily came into town this weekend to play in Lex de Azevedo's production of Gloria: The Life of Christ Part I - The Nativity. My mom went on Friday night to see her and my dad and I went on Saturday night. It was a beautiful production and Emily played a major role. The only other instruments besides the harp, were the organ and piano. There was also quite a large choir made up of 3 choirs. One of them was a high school choir. After the production, my dad and I were standing by Emily while she was talking to some people. A kid from the high school choir came up to Emily and said he and some of the other guys in the choir were really impressed. As he was walking away, he turned around and said, "and not just with the playing!" Since this kid was about 17, we got a laugh out of that.

I was glad I was able to spend time, however short, with Emily this weekend. I'm so excited for Christmas. Kate comes home on the 16th, Danny the 23rd and Emily on Christmas Eve. It will be great to have a full house. It's too quiet sometimes.

The lighting was not cooperating with the flash on my camera. We're pretty washed out. So my dad decided to stand far away and zoom in on us . . .

and this oblivious kid walked right in front at the exact moment my dad took the picture.

My dad took another picture. Successful this time, but I'm laughing.

I had to stand far away to get this one too, but no mishaps.

Here is Emily with Lex. Emily played Gloria for him last year and has done a few other productions with him over the years.

Here is Emily with Lex, the soloists and 2 pianists.

What's all the hype about?

megan@zurcherfamily.org (Megan Zurcher) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:53:00 +0000

In case you haven't heard, In-N-Out Burger opened in Draper this week. My dad said he went by around 11:30 AM on the opening day and the place was packed. I'm talking, cars-lined-up-for-a-couple-of-blocks packed. On the news they interviewed several people who had camped out in tents just so they could get a burger and fries at opening. I started wondering what kind of people would do this. Obviously, they weren't doing it for the food. Honestly, In-N-Out Burger is good, but it's not that good! Do you think they wanted to get on the news or do you think they wanted to have a good story to tell? I'm willing to bet that for most of the people, it's the latter. Confession: I once stood in line over night. Although I really wanted the item I was standing in line for, the story was probably a bigger motivation. So, here it is . . .

Do you remember when the Nintendo Wii came out 3 years ago and they were really hard to get? For some reason, Kate and I really wanted one. It was almost Christmas and our goal was to have one under the tree. I think that we may not have been so desperate to have one once Christmas was over, so a lot of of our motivation depended on getting one for Christmas. It would be a great triumph. I called around to so many stores and soon realized that the only way we were going to get one was if we waited in line . . . all night.

I called the Circuit City in Fort Union on the first Saturday in December and found out that they were getting a shipment of 6 Wiis, but they weren't going to sell them until Sunday morning. Kate and I loaded some chairs and blankets in the car, dressed in our ski clothes and headed to Circuit City around 9:00 PM. There were already about 3 people in line, so we set up our stuff right next to them. At first, I really couldn't believe what we were doing; it didn't seem real, but as the surrounding stores began closing and the parking lot emptied, I realized we were in this for the long hall.

Did I mention it was snowing? Yeah, there was a big storm that night. Luckily we were under the overhang of the building. Just across the parking lot at Target, there must have been about 50 people waiting in line. Target was getting a bigger shipment, but the people had to be out in the open. I almost felt sorry for them. Around 2 or 3 in the morning, my dad showed up and stayed the rest of the time. I don't think he could sleep while Kate and I were out of our minds. We alternated going to the car and sitting outside. Of course my dad brought the camera so I included the pictures below. Kate was so enthused!

I think it was 7 AM when Circuit City opened. Kate bought one and I bought one. We kept one and sold the other for almost double. I thought it was worth it because we got a Wii out of it. Now doing the same thing for a hamburger? I don't think so, but I do plan on heading over to In-N-Out eventually. It is pretty good.

Domestic Disturbance

megan@zurcherfamily.org (Megan Zurcher) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:21:00 +0000

Yesterday I went to Paradise Bakery for lunch. When I was walking back out to my car, I noticed a couple who passed me, walking fast. The man was carrying a crying 2-year-old girl while the woman was trying to keep up with the man. There were other groups of 2-3 people around me walking to there cars as well. So now I was walking about 15 feet behind this couple when the man grabbed the woman's phone and threw it hard on the ground. It bounced away, the woman went to retrieve it and then ran after the man saying, "you can't take my daughter." She looked around at the people in the parking lot and said, "will someone please help me?" She made eye contact with me, but I didn't know what to do. Luckily, there were 2 rather large, tough-looking guys nearest to her, so they went over to intervene. This is how the confrontation went:

Tough Guys: What's going on here? (These guys are pretty much ignored by the couple.)
Woman to Man: You can't take my daughter. She's crying because she wants her Mommy. She doesn't want to go with you. You can't take her.
Though Guys: Are you two separated?
Man to Woman: Do you think it's okay to do this in front of her? Let me just go put her in the car and we'll talk.
Woman: No. I'm going to call the cops.
Man: Let me just go put her in the car and then we'll talk.
Though Guys: We can't let you do that if there's going to be violence.
Woman to Man: Yeah, you're violent.
Man: I'm not violent. How am I violent?
Woman: You threw my freaking phone. Give me my daughter or I'm going to call the cops.

That's all I heard because at this point, I got into my car. There were a bunch of rubber-neckers and I didn't want to be one of those people. As I drove away, the man was putting the little girl into a car. He shut the door and then the talking commenced. Obviously I didn't hear anything, but I saw a bunch of angry hand gestures and people still standing around to keep the peace, I guess. It was kind of intense though. Have any of you ever seen anything like this? Did you do anything?

I Voted

megan@zurcherfamily.org (Megan Zurcher) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:24:00 +0000

So, you know those "I voted" stickers you get after you've voted? I'm just curious, do you guys wear those? Isn't it kind of like bragging or giving a guilt trip to those who haven't voted? That's what I've always thought. Today, when the lady handed me mine, she said "here's your badge of honor." I thought about that a bit and realized that that was really true. It is a badge of honor and it's sad that those who go and do their duty as Americans have to be honored for doing such, even if that honor is just a little sticker. Well, I attached my sticker to my sweater and I hope it will remind those who see it to go vote too.

I Love Halloween!

megan@zurcherfamily.org (Megan Zurcher) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 03:23:00 +0000

I've said it before, but I'll say it again. I love Halloween! All the scary movies come out, the weather starts turning cool and, as Kate wrote in a recent letter to me, it's the start of good things to come. I also really love dressing up. Always have. Don't you remember when I wrote about it before?

Today was such a beautiful and rather warm day. When I got home from my art class, I took the dogs out in the sun and set to work carving pumpkins. I thouroughly cleaned out 4 pumpkins with the intention of carving some incredible scenes into them. I started carving a haunted house, but got frustrated and sick of carving. My mom turned it into a "B" and carved "O's" in 2 of the other pumpkins. I decided I could handle carving a face and the result is the photo above. Not too bad I guess. We only had about 10 trick-or-treaters. I think our hill is too much work for a little piece of candy. These kids need to strap on the roller blades like I did. I collected so much more candy wearing those, but I think they're out of style now.

Last night, I went to a Halloween party and dressed in Emily's fairy costume (thanks Emily!). I must say the wings were a challenge though. There were a lot of people there and I think I hit just about everyone I passed with the wings. There were some really cool costumes. People are really creative. I think I need to be more creative next year. Unfortunately, the cops came to break up the party around midnight. I guess we were a bit too loud, or maybe it's just all the old people in Holladay who like their quiet little town.

Well, tomorrow is November. I can't believe it. I'm already looking forward to turkey! Happy Halloween!

A spooky story

megan@zurcherfamily.org (Megan Zurcher) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:55:00 +0000

Since I was a little girl, I've loved hearing and telling ghost stories. I don't know what it is. I don't know if I even believe in ghosts or paranormal activity. I guess I just like getting scared from the possibility. Why? I don't know, but I know I'm not the only one. Why else would all the haunted houses that pop up in the month of October be so successful if people didn't like getting scared?

I was talking to some friends who had gone on one of those Salt Lake City ghost tours. They were telling me some of the stories they were told and so I went online to find out a little more. I found another pretty spooky story that I'd thought I'd share. It takes place only 2 years ago at the Pioneer Memorial Museum downtown.

On October 10, 2007 Utah Capitol State Police saw an image on the monitors which come from the Pioneer Memorial Museum. One of the officers actually took a photo of the image in the monitor, and gave the photo to the museum. The monitors are in the Utah Capitol building and the images come from the cameras in the museum a few blocks away. State Police watch the monitors and respond if there appears to be an intruder.

The image appeared four times over an 8 day period and always appeared between about 11:00 PM and 3:00 AM. During these hours the museum is closed and empty, no one is inside except cleaning or maintenance. During this 8 day period the motion detectors in the museum were set off several times, and the image appeared 4 times. The ghostly image appeared without setting off motion detectors sometimes, other times motion detectors went off without showing the image. Each time the image was seen, it looked like the same person and the image always persisted for several minutes. Capitol State Police are the security for the museum, so they sent Officers to investigate and found the museum secure each time they saw unusual images or motion detectors went off.

In an interesting side story, the museum director speculates that she may know who it is in the image. 20 years ago a sampler was stolen from the museum. A museum staffer recognized the sampler recently listed for sale on eBay. That staffer contacted eBay and sent documentation that the item was stolen. eBay contacted the seller whose family had purchased the sampler in good faith years earlier. They immediately returned the sampler to Daughters of Utah Pioneers.

During the interval of the images appearing to the State Police and the return of the sampler, a Custodian reported that on one night, he saw a young lady who was dressed in black and sitting on a bench in the museum foyer. The custodian explained that the museum was closed and she must leave. He unlocked and opened the front door for her. She never spoke, but arose and walked out the door, but not down the steps! The girl floated above the steps and sidewalk until she disappeared!

I don't know if this is true, but I've always kind of wanted to experience paranormal activity. It would probably scare the crap out of me, but I'd have the best story to tell! So now I want to know, have any of you seen a ghost, heard a voice, anything? Let me know and have a happy Halloween!

Self Portrait

megan@zurcherfamily.org (Megan Zurcher) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 03:19:00 +0000

Well, I said I'd share some of my art, so here it is. This was my first, and so far only, attempt at a self portrait. I'm hoping I'll start moving more quickly because I have big plans. I've been playing around with gesso, watercolors and prisma colored pencils and that's just on one painting! I'm also working on a special drawing, but I won't be posting that one for a while.

A Good Read

megan@zurcherfamily.org (Megan Zurcher) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 04:13:00 +0000

For the longest time, when I'd go to the bookstore, I'd shy away from the Young Adult section. I always wanted to go take a look, but for some reason I felt that even looking at the books, let alone buying them, would make me seem like an immature, unsophisticated little girl or some such thing. Kate quite likes this genre of book, so I started reading some of hers. Easy reading? yes. Deep literary works? probably not, but some of the stories are so intriguing. That's the case with this book, "The Hunger Games," by Suzanne Collins. Both my sisters read this book so I finally decided to see what it was all about.

As you can guess, I enjoyed it immensely and thought I'd recommend it to anyone who isn't embarrassed to traverse the Young Adult section at Barnes and Noble. I'm too lazy to write a summary, but I want to include one I read on my friend's blog. You'll be intrigued! Oh, and it's a trilogy. I'm starting the second book tonight.

The former countries of North America have been run down by disease, famine, and war, until they dissolved completely. In their place, the Capitol with 13 surrounding districts took power. For a while all was calm, but then District 13 rose up and tried to rebel. The Capitol crushed them, of course, and peace returned but the Capitol, determined to remind the remaining 12 districts that they are powerless, institutes the annual Hunger Games.

Each year, the names of all the boys and girls ages 12-18 are put into a drawing and one boy and one girl from each district are selected to go fight in the Hunger Games. The 12 girls and 12 boys fight to the death until only one remains. The whole thing is televised and required viewing for all the districts.

Katniss lives in District 12, one of the poorer districts, and she spends much of her time hunting since she is responsible for feeding her family following her father’s death in a coalmine seven years earlier. She has also put her name into the drawing extra times in exchange for extra rations of food (as many in her district do); the number of times your name is entered also increases each year – 1 for the year you are 12, 2 the year you’re 13 and so on, so she knows her chances of getting her name drawn are fairly good. Instead she is stunned when her younger sister, Prim, is chosen instead – after all her name was only in the pool once.

Determined to avoid the fate of watching her sister murdered on television, Katniss volunteers to go in her place. To add to the injury, the boy who is chosen from the district is her same age, Peeta, the son of the baker, who, after her father’s death, risked his mother’s wrath to give her two loaves of bread. She has always liked him and felt in his debt, but now they will be mortal enemies in the Hunger Games arena.

Newport Beach

megan@zurcherfamily.org (Megan Zurcher) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 17:52:00 +0000

My parents and I flew to LA last Friday because Emily had just started her 2-week vacation and we all wanted to do something. On Saturday, we drove down to Newport Beach where we rented a condo at the Marriott. On Sunday, we enjoyed a very relaxing afternoon at the beach in Newport Beach. I swam in the surprisingly warm ocean until a larger wave came and threw me against the ocean floor and left me with 2 rug burned knees. We grilled steaks that night and I got everyone to watch a scary movie.

On Monday we went to Laguna Beach and then went over to Balboa Island where we got frozen bananas and Balboa bars. We also took our car over the little ferry. Tuesday morning, my mom and I went the the Newport Temple. It was only about 8 minutes away from where we were staying. It is a beautiful temple and it's the first of the smaller temples that I've seen.

The weather was amazing and I will always love any vacation that involves the beach. It's going to be hard to go back to Utah, especially since I've heard that it got kind of cold there. But I love the Fall too, so I guess it'll be okay.

In Your Dreams

megan@zurcherfamily.org (Megan Zurcher) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 15:47:00 +0000

I was reading an article online about dreams and what they mean. I've read about dreams before and I've always found it interesting. I don't usually remember my dreams, but what I do remember is really bizarre. Like last night. I dreamed that I was singing "America the Beautiful" with another woman. It was really beautiful. I could actually hear the music! I had an amazing voice that I wish were real and I was harmonizing with the woman. You may be thinking that that's not too strange. Well, how about that I was the woman's hostage and she had a man with her who was going to kill me after we sang? I can't remember what happened after that. I do remember being scared and running through a parking garage with an unknown guy. So what does this mean? I have no idea, but I thought I'd share some of the things I learned from the article.

Falling
Have you ever had a dream where you're tripping and you stumble, or even fall off a cliff or something and then you jerk awake? I hate that! Here's what it may mean: "If you fall from a high place, you could fear you are failing, or falling from a position or status. If you trip and fall, you might be thinking you are taking a misstep in life, and need to rethink your plans. It can be that you are generally feeling insecure. But, always look to your life to see in what area you feel insecure, and this may present itself in the dream."

Flying
I've had a few dreams where I was actually flying. It was an incredible feeling. One time I was on a bike. I've never seen "E.T." but I'm sure that the famous silhouette of the kid on the bike with the moon behind had some influence on my dream. So what does flying mean? "Flying dreams are about independence and gaining freedom over self-doubt and insecurity. These dreams show you are experiencing greater control over life, growing and overcoming personal doubt."

Being Chased
I once had a dream where I was being chased by a witch in a grocery store. In another dream, I was being chased by a shark in a swimming pool. I was very interested in learning the meaning of this. "This sort of dream can occur when there is something upsetting that you are dealing with and is causing anxiety. Are you running away from it? Look at who is chasing you. Are you getting away or not? Maybe you need to figure out how to deal with someone who is being aggressive with you, and you have been avoiding it, so it is coming up in your dream. If it is some dark shadowy thing that is chasing you, that could be a past experience or trauma trying to come up to the surface."

Recurring Dreams
I've never had a recurring dream that I know of, but I've heard of people who have. I've always thought they must be some kind of warning. The analysis supports that thought. "These are important to take note of as something in your life is trying to get your attention so you can understand it. These dreams provide an important message about your life situation over which you may not have control. You may need to address habitual ways in which you deal with your internal or external world and then the dream may change or stop entirely."

A lot of people can't remember their dreams. I usually don't remember anything about my dreams. I've heard that if you keep a notebook by your bed and write down everything you remember the minute you wake up, you'll start remembering your dreams and some people even learn to control their dreams. I've always wanted to try this. I may not learn anything, but I'm sure I'd have some good stories! If you want to read the full article, you can click here.

More Wedding Pictures

megan@zurcherfamily.org (Megan Zurcher) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 02:00:00 +0000

Heather George was our photographer. She did an amazing job. Check her out at www.heathergeorgephotography.com. Enjoy the photos. I know, there's a ton!

Art Classes

megan@zurcherfamily.org (Megan Zurcher) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 02:54:00 +0000

I was a visual arts major in college and had to take many drawing and painting-type classes at the beginning before I got into graphic design. Anyone who majored in the visual arts field will tell you how subjective these classes are. For instance, I took two drawing classes. One was level 1 drawing while the other was level 2 drawing. In level 1, my grade was a B. The teacher was a graduate student who I thought graded rather harshly. A lot of the students in the class weren't even visual arts majors. In level 2, I received an A. This class was for visual arts majors only and the teacher was a professional artist. He even wanted to do a trade with me; one of my drawings for one of his.

My point is that the old adage, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder," has quite a bit of significance in the art field. One teacher thought I was mediocre at best, while the other thought I was quite good. I guess, if I always wanted to get that A, I would have had to adapt my style to suit the tastes of my teacher. That's basically what I have to do as a graphic designer, only instead of pleasing the professor, it's a client I have to please. This sometimes means going against my better judgement and design sensibilities. But I have to have a job, right?

Anyway, now that I'm out of school, I don't have to be graded on my work anymore. This is why I have decided to start taking art lessons again. One of the classes I took at BYU was oil painting. My teacher lived in SLC and taught out of her house. She also teaches private group lessons. I called her last week and, luckily, she has a spot available for me. So now I just need to dust off my old brushes, paints and pencils and get back to work. I'm excited and I thought that I could periodically post some of the stuff I was doing. Although, now that I think about it, that's kind of turning you into the graders. But why make art if no one is going to look at it? Sure, it will bring me happiness, but that happiness will increase if I'm able to share it will others.

Just don't grade too harshly.

Jacob and Heather's Wedding

megan@zurcherfamily.org (Megan Zurcher) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 16:46:00 +0000

Jacob and Heather were married in the Salt Lake Temple yesterday morning. It was pouring rain outside when we went in for the sealing, but luckily, it had stopped once we came out for the pictures. The luncheon was in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and it was just the perfect length. Everyone seemed to have a good time and the happy couple are off to Hawaii this morning. Congratulation Mr. and Mrs. Zurcher!

Here are some of the amateur pictures we took. I'll post some the professionals ones soon.

Bridal Showers and Lagoon

megan@zurcherfamily.org (Megan Zurcher) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 06:10:00 +0000

I don't really feel like writing much, so I'm just going to post a bunch of pictures. Last Wednesday, my home ward had a shower for Heather. Then on Thursday, my Aunt had a shower for her too. Friday, Jacob, Heather, Kate and I went to Lagoon. Maybe I'll feel like writing more next time.

Jacob & Heather's Wedding Announcements

megan@zurcherfamily.org (Megan Zurcher) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 19:11:00 +0000

I designed the announcements for Jacob and Heather and had them letterpressed at Bjorn Press in Provo. The design caters to letterpress and you can't really get the full effect from just looking at them online. Hopefully, we can get it photographed at the wedding and some of that letterpress detail can be captured. The wedding is 17 days away and we've got the announcements all sent out!

Six Down, One To Go

megan@zurcherfamily.org (Megan Zurcher) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 03:42:00 +0000

Ever since the fourth Harry Potter book, Kate and I have waited in line at midnight for every book and movie. I was a Sophomore in High School when I first picked it up, just before the huge craze started. Kate and I aren't the crazy fans that dress up and carry wands around, but we have grown up with it and really enjoy it. When we'd get the new book, we'd kind of have a contest to see who'd finish first. Kate always won, but I attribute that to the fact that I always had a job to hinder my reading time.

Last Tuesday night, we went to the movie at midnight. I didn't get to bed that morning until 4, but it was definitely worth it. No, not every event in the book was included in the movie, but obviously some things had to be cut. It was 3 hours long as it was! The picture above is of Me and Kate being excited with the sixth book right before we saw the sixth movie. Now there's just one left, which is a good thing since the actors are getting kind of old!

American Harp Society National Competition

megan@zurcherfamily.org (Megan Zurcher) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 20:40:00 +0000

This past Sunday, Kate played her harp in my ward. Since we don't have very many musical numbers, everyone loved it. They probably would have loved it anyway, but the lack of music just made her playing all the more poignant. As always, she did a beautiful job. This recent performance reminded me that I have not mentioned what an amazing harpist Kate is. Kate exhibited her great talent in the American Harp Society National Competition held a Westminster College at the end of June. Although she did not win, it was an incredible honor even to be chosen as 1 of 8 finalists out of 38 harpists to compete in the competition. I was able to attend the competition to hear her play. I was nervous for Kate, but I shouldn't have been because she did exceptionally well. Kate said she wasn't even nervous at all and thought it was the best performance of her pieces she had done yet.

She worked so hard and right before the competition, she did a series of small performances. One of these performances was held at our house and my mom invited friends from our ward and a few relatives that live nearby. Everyone enjoyed it and Kate held an impromptu Q&A session. Not many people are familiar with the harp and they are always stunned that a harpist has to push pedals up and down during a piece in order to achieve sharps and flats. It is a complicated instrument and I'm so proud that Kate has mastered it so well. She has a passion for music and I know she will go far.

Here is a picture from Kate's performance at our house answering questions and then one from her performance at Westminster with her friends from Harp Fusion.

Summer of Birthdays

megan@zurcherfamily.org (Megan Zurcher) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 23:36:00 +0000

4 out of the 7 kids in my family have birthdays in the Summer months. The other 3 (including myself) have birthdays in the Winter. The most recent birthdays were Emily on June 25 and Jacob on July 10. I've tried to post pictures where it's just me and Emily and just me and Jacob, but with as many siblings as we have, there's always bound to be another kid thrown into the shot. But I found quite a few. I'm not always good at doing these birthday blogs and I'll probably quit doing them soon. It just seems like someone is always having a birthday.

Anyway, Emily and I are number 4 and 5. Growing up, we were either the best of friends or the worst. I'll try to focus on the times when we were friends. We both had sticker collections and one of my favorite things to do was to trade stickers with her. Sounds lame, but I loved it. We also both had American Dolls. I had Kirsten and she had Samantha, whom they don't make anymore. We use to have little tea parties with our doll's miniature porcelain. I don't know why, but hours and hours would pass when we played with those dolls, or so it seemed. We shared a room and had bunk beds; mine was the bottom. Sometimes Emily would come to bed after me, but I'd still be awake and I'd grab her legs while she was climbing up and ladder and scare the crap out of her. She was already scared of the sharks since we were convinced the bedroom floor turned into the ocean in the dark. Children's imaginations are so funny.

Now that we're older, we usually aren't even living together, let alone sharing a room. The last time we were under the same roof for an extended period of time was before she graduated from Med School and I moved home after I graduated from BYU. That only lasted 2 years though. Now she lives in LA and I just got a chance to visit her, as you can see from 2 recent posts I made. She just moved into a new apartment. It's more like a duplex because, although it's attached, it has two-stories and a garage. It even has a little backyard with grass! The best part is that the house is literally across the street from the temple. Now, every time she goes anywhere, she will pass the temple. Anyway, she's an amazing person with so much ambition and perseverance. I wouldn't last one week doing the things she's done. Obviously, she's quite accomplished. She has both and Bachelor's and Master's in Harp Performance and now she's a doctor! Emily, you truly inspire me and I'm proud to call you "sister." Happy birthday. I love you.

Me, Mary and Emily in our playroom in Vacaville. We had a lot of fun in the room.

Me, Emily and Jacob on our deck in Vacaville.

Me and Emily. I don't know where we are.

Me and Emily at the Sacramento Airport with matching dresses. I love Emily's sweater :)

Me, Emily and Kate. I'm not sure what year this is.

Me and Emily in Lisbon last Spring. We were in the castle going down this narrow spiral staircase crammed with a bunch of smelly Europeans.

Jacob is my closest sibling in age. We have always been really good friends and played endlessly together growing up. Most of my childhood memories with him are when we played in the backyard. We use to pull the trampoline under the swing set, then climb to the top and jump onto it. I loved doing that. I really need to go skydiving. We also put the trampoline underneath the basketball hoop so that we could dunk. My favorite was gathering up all the balls (we had about 20) and putting them on the trampoline and then jumping while trying not to get hit until all the balls were on the ground. We also loved to read scary stories when we slept out on the trampoline in the summers. Is this about my memories with Jacob or the trampoline?!

Jacob came to live with me in Provo the year before his mission. I wish I could go back to those days. I loved it. Now he's getting married next month and although I'm happy for him, I'm going to miss him. I know he's not dying, but our relationship will alter. He'll have someone he'll need to put before everyone else and I'll never live with him again. It's bittersweet. He's really done well since he's been home from his mission. I'm talking about an A in Organic Chemistry among other great grades! He's taking the DAT on Wednesday and I know he's going to do well. He's such a hard worker and really knows where he wants to go in life. He's not letting anything hold him back and I admire him for that. Jacob, good luck with your test. I'm so excited to see you home soon (he's been in Maryland since May) and I love you. Happy birthday!

Me and Jacob playing in the playhouse in Vacaville.

Me and Jacob on the boat in McCall, Idaho. I always thought it was funny that Jacob sucked his finger rather than his thumb.

Jacob got this Jeep for his birthday one year. We use to take turns driving it.

I thought this picture looked so funny. We're cruising down Cheyenne Drive in Vacaville.

First day of school. This is a signature face of Jacob's. To this day, you'll find him doing it in a lot of pictures.

Me and Jacob at the Salt Lake Airport in 2005. We were headed to Maryland to visit my Aunt Janet. Actually, that's exactly where Jacob is now.

Me and Jacob on Ellis Island.

Fourth of July Fun

megan@zurcherfamily.org (Megan Zurcher) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 03:56:00 +0000

Thanks to all the rain we had in June, we haven't been able to take our boat out. July 4th, despite the threatening clouds, we took the boat to Utah Lake. It turned out to be an awesome, warm and sunny day. I went with Kate, Briton and Melissa, and the two kids. We enjoyed wake boarding, skiing, swimming and the Big Mable. Cole was a bit hesitant with the swimming and Big Mable, but he ended up loving both. Caroline turned into a little fish this year and loves jumping off the back of the boat.

After boating, we had a BBQ at Briton's house. Blue Cheese Hamburgers, white corn, watermelon, guacamole salsa, chocolate cupcakes, star-shaped sugar cookies . . . a true American meal! Cole had to go to bed before the fireworks, but Caroline was so excited. She liked the Sparklers, but got scared when they burned down close to her hand. We all had a great time. Thanks Briton and Melissa.

My parents weren't able to spend the fourth with us because they were in LA helping Emily move to her new apartment. The weekend before, my dad drove with Danny to St. Louis and helped him move into his new house. Hopefully those two will stay put for a while and the moving will be limited to every couple of years rather than every year! A couple of weekends ago, we almost had the whole family home (only Jacob was missing) for about a 2-day window. It was Emily's birthday, so we had a family celebration. I love it when we are able to get the family together like that, especially since those occasions are getting less frequent.

I had Friday off since the fourth was on a Saturday. Kate and I went to Steiner to swim. When we went to pay, the guy asked us how old we were. I said 25 and Kate said 19. The guy looked surprised and said never mind. We asked him how old he thought we were and he said 17 and 15 tops. Really? Do I look 8 years younger? I decided this underestimation of my age was due to my lack of makeup. Later that night, we went to Public Enemies and because it was rated R, I got carded! So with makeup on, I look younger than 17? I'm sure it was just a case of CYA on the theater's part, but still! My mom thinks we all look younger than we actually are because of our 25% Danish blood. I don't know. Maybe I'll appreciate it when I'm older.

Here are some pictures of the above events. Enjoy!

Los Angeles Trip, Part II

megan@zurcherfamily.org (Megan Zurcher) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:25:00 +0000

Emily had to work over night from Monday to Tuesday. It was pretty dull without her and I was too scared to leave the apartment to go anywhere by myself, so I watched John & Kate Plus 8 to find out what the big announcement was. No surprises there. Anyway, when Emily got off on Tuesday around 1 in the afternoon, we went to lunch in Westwood Village where they were setting up for the premiere of Public Enemies at one of the little theaters. There were already a bunch of crazy people waiting in line for a chance to see Johnny Depp/Christian Bale that night.

After lunch, we went to The Getty Center, which sits up on a hill near Bel Air. It was beautiful architecture with numerous views of the city and gorgeous gardens. Oh yeah, the art inside was pretty cool too! It was a nice sunny day, but it was a little bit chilly up there. That night, we went to Santa Monica Pier and walked around a bit. Pretty cool, but really touristy. I know I was a tourist, but still!

Wednesday, Emily, her friend, Nick, and I went to Conan O'Brien. We went to Universal Studios and walked around the shopping area for a while before the show. We watched some kids doing that fake skydiving thing. Pretty funny. Then we went to Conan where we stood in line for a couple hours and then finally got into the studio where it was freezing! Note: if you go to Conan, make sure you take a sweatshirt, no matter how hot it is outside. Anyway, we were on the second row right across from Max Wienberg and the band. Conan had an animal expert on, so they brought out a black bear cub, a bob cat, a white python, a timber wolf, a vulture and an elephant (awesome). They also had a little baby zebra that they brought in at the end of the show. I wasn't familiar with the second guest or the band, but it was still pretty cool to be there live.

Here's a little cafe area at The Getty Center with the city in the background.

Emily is pointing to wear she lives. The tall, white building to the right of her finger overlooks her apartment.

There were some pretty cool water features at The Getty Center. I really liked this one.

Another view from the top.

We had a few of these. Raspberries and shaved white chocolate. Mmmm.

Santa Monica Pier.

Me and Emily with the Santa Monica Pier Ferris wheel in the background.

Emily and I didn't really get any pictures when we went to Conan (except the one of us at Universal Studios at the very top of this post), so I decided to include this one of when Jacob and I went to Conan in New York back in 2005. There was no photography allowed, but I somehow managed to get this one without any of the pages seeing. If that guy in front hadn't put his stupid hand up, you could have seen more of the stage. Oh well. At least I got Jacob's big face in there.

Los Angeles Trip, Part I

megan@zurcherfamily.org (Megan Zurcher) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 17:48:00 +0000

I flew down to LA on Friday after work. Emily picked me up at LAX, which was a madhouse, and then we went to a movie. The Proposal was actually pretty good, despite the negative reviews. Emily and I were definitely laughing, especially at the naked scene. Anyway, on Saturday we went shopping at The Grove and then at Beverly Center. Later that night, we walked around Westwood Village since it's so near Emily's Apartment. They were showing a movie on one of those big blow-up screens and all of the little theaters were showing LA Film Festival movies.

Yesterday, we got up and went to the Farmer's Market. We got some amazing, white peaches, nectarines, apricots, strawberries, white cherries, and asparagus. So good! The gloomy morning cleared up so we decided to go to the beach. Emily lives about 3 miles from Santa Monica Beach, but she drives further so she can go to Manhattan Beach, her favorite. She actually bought a surfboard and is teaching herself, but we didn't bring it. We just went to soak up the sun. It was glorious. I've missed the sun in stormy Salt Lake. Escaping with only a few burn spots, Emily and I went to her ward, which meets right behind the temple. Of course I wanted pictures, so we walked around the grounds for a while. It was beautiful and peaceful.

There's more to come. Enjoy some pictures in the meantime.

This is The Grove. It's an outdoor shopping center and they have about any store you can think of.

Emily and I thought this was so funny. When we were growing up in Northern California, we had a grocery store by us that had Thrifty's ice cream and the scoops were cylinders. We were excited to see this unusual ice cream shape hasn't completely died out.

Here's Me and Emily at Manhattan Beach. Across from where we're sitting are a bunch of beach houses. Emily says that once she's a rich doctor, she's going to buy one. I'll be visiting a lot. :)

The front of the temple with the reflection pool in front.

There were these beautiful rose trees.

So we both had to take pictures by them.

The gardens all around were gorgeous and very Southern Californiany.

The entrance to the temple.