Birthday CELEBRATION Weekend!!! WooHOOO!

So today I turned 25. I think that if I wasn't married I'd start to feel little bit on the older side and maybe a little bit more dismay of being 25 and single in the mormon culture (which there is nothing wrong with being 25 and single but it's hard to remember that when all the 20-21 year olds are getting married and you are the last of your friends to be married.) But since I'm married and am in a ward surrounded by young married couples with little babies, I feel young. I see how much I am at the beginning of a long and wonderful life. And can I just say, I am married to the most wonderful man? Because I am. He is simply perfect for me. Not just anyone can handle this silly girl. He is patient enough, kind enough, loving enough, self sacrificing enough, thoughtful enough that he can survive me. :) I love him!!!

Well, due to our schedules and today being fast Sunday it's been a weekend of birthday celebration. Friday night he took me on a date! Yes a date. I know we've only been married for four months now, but it seems like forever since we've been able to go out. He took me to Lazlo's, my favorite restaurant, and then we came home and watched a movie. Simple and perfect. I loved it!

Then Saturday morning, he made me breakfast in bed. Granted, he didn't make me my normal birthday breakfast of apricot stuffed french toast but he did make waffles and orange julius a good second best. :) I never have had breakfast in bed but I could definitely get used to it!

That evening we went to a Husker game. We sat on the south side of the field instead of the normal east side. There was difference in the crowd that we sat by. I think somehow we got a group of people who should have belonged in the student section. There was one girl who had the most annoying shouting voice. She kept on saying, "Come on Skers!" Who says, "Skers". Does she lack the vocabulary to say "Huskers"? In my 25 years in Huskerland, I've never heard anyone say "skers". I don't know why I was so annoyed but her voice just pierced my ears and sent them ringing. I just wanted to turn around and deck her one. Grrr...

So today he gave me my birthday present. He bought me a beautiful watch. And tonight is Birthday Cake!! Mom is making my traditional Banana Split Cake! Yum! It's made from scratch. I tried to make this cake once when I was away at school, let's just say my mom's was much better.

Listen to a Prophet's Voice

Sorry, more political stuff. As I listened to President Bush's 12 minute speech (http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/09/24/sot.bush.economy.entire.cnn?iref=videosearch), I started to feel that we, the American people, we who don't think we have an impact in what happens to the Nation, as a whole, may have had some responsibility in this economic crisis by our excessive debt and bankruptcies.

I received a copy of a letter to a congressman via my boss from one of our advisory council members who is a very intelligent farmer who received a few degrees including a law degree. He had some interesting thoughts, thoughts that I think that Americans should know. We shouldn't be left in the dark to the fact that our lifestyles may be part of the problem.

HIS OBSERVATIONS:
1. Much of the current problems were caused by having too much credit, at too low an interest rate, for too long.
2. This allowed too much debt to be accumulated at the private, corporate, and government levels.
3. Today, a shortage of credit is part of the problem.
4. The Current Accounts Deficit has been running about $700 Billion a year, which is almost 5% of GDP, or over $2,000 per year for every American! This is NEW debt owed to other nations. Until now, other nations have been willing to “enable” our addiction to living beyond our means with very low interest rates for T-Bill type of instruments. There is no guarantee they will continue to indulge us with cheap financing, especially if they fear the US Dollar sliding against their currencies.
5. This excess credit also caused asset price bubbles. Housing price declines seem to underlie many of the other problems currently plaguing Wall Street.

Here is only one part of his recommendations as they relates to us:
The American public needs to be clearly told that we have lived beyond our means for too long, and there will be pain associated with shifting to a more sustainable life style. Till 20 years ago we had a recession about every decade. These were a reality check where people learned to become more cautious. Having one now would not be the end of the world. Clearly we should not put our long term viability at risk by foolishly stimulating the economy for short term pleasure. That would be a Pyrrhic victory.

...As a nation we lived beyond our means for many years. Thus it is foolish to believe that we can go back to the excesses. We are like a heavy smoker going to the doctor with lung problems. The doctor says, the good news is that there is no cancer, the bad news is that there is emphysema. If the person changes lifestyle by giving up the smoking he enjoys, then the emphysema will slowly get better. But if the person returns to smoking three packs a day………….

For years, we have been counseled to live within our means and to get out of debt.
Here are a few quotes from the Prophets:
From Joseph B Wirthlinin the May 2004 Ensign, "The counsel from other inspired prophets in our time on this subject is clear, and what was true 50 or 150 years ago is also true today.
President Heber J. Grant said, “From my earliest recollections, from the days of Brigham Young until now, I have listened to men standing in the pulpit … urging the people not to run into debt; and I believe that the great majority of all our troubles today is caused through the failure to carry out that counsel.”

President Hinckley had this to say in the October 1997 General Conference, " I urge you to be modest in your expenditures; discipline yourselves in your purchases to avoid debt to the extent possible. Pay off debt as quickly as you can, and free yourselves from bondage.This is a part of the temporal gospel in which we believe.

God Bless America

I'm not sure I'm going to be able to convey a clear thought on my take on what is happening in America right now but for me to get my ideas out of my head I'm writing in this blog. Your thoughts and comments are welcome.
For a couple of weeks now, I've been trying to become more informed. I've always thought that I wanted to be informed but for the first time I'm actually paying attention. I don't know if it is just because there are some really BIG things happening that I can't help but want to know what is going on or if I'm just finally growing up.
First, the presidential election. How do you really now who to vote for? Really, how do you? You don't know them. You don't know if they are truely sincere in their aspirations-they could be just words for all we know. Obama may just posses the talent of speaking and win our hearts by his talent. McCain, he may win by the sheer fact of who he chose for his running mate. But do you vote for him based on who he chose for his running mate. In fact, I think I know more about Sarah Palin than I do about either presidental candidates.
And here's the other thing. I am so easily swayed by the perspective of the person speaking. When I read an article it filled with the authors own personal biasness that you have to evaluate the article and identify where their bias lies or else you end up believing what they say.
And this being swayed thing has me confused on what should happen with this financial crisis thing. I read an article that my boss sent me and I left work questioning whether the government really should bail these companies out. And then I listened to President Bush's address and I can see how critical it could be for the goverment to spend $700,000,000,000 of the taxpayer's money to help out businesses.
If only I could really understand the issue and see ALL sides of it at once maybe I could make an honest and fair opinion of what needs to happen and who to vote for. But it is so complex for a "lay" person like me. I'm glad that I don't ever have to make those decisions but it's also scary to think that we have to trust in our leaders and pray that they are trusting on a higher and greater source. I think that for the first time last night I truly and sincerly prayed for the leaders of this nation and prayed that they were trusting in God. The decisions they make in the next couple of days can have a tremdous impact on what is to happen the next several years.
I have soo many other thoughts but this is getting long so I'll stop and leave the other thoughts for another day. GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Victory's Turn

So since this blog does have my name on it, I suppose I have some type of an obligation to write on it, if but briefly. Although with all the time's Alissa has spoken on my behalf, I think I might try to write more so that I can put my two cents in at least every once in a while.
As Alissa has mentioned I'm an assistant football coach at North Star High School in Lincoln. Varsity's record is 3-1 with our first loss happening yesterday. In a way it's a good thing because you just get more pressure the longer you stay undefeated. Now we start our district games and they are the ones that really matter. On the JV level I'm the offensive coordinator and our record is 2-1. It's been a real learning experience calling the plays. You don't really get to watch or coach your players as much because you have to constantly be thinking about what play you want to run next. Anyway I know Alissa can't stand all the time coaching keeps me away from her but I'm having a blast and I love the strategy and challenge involved.

While Alissa is working her two jobs (Younkers on the weekends is so she can have spending money for clothes and things) I am also working besides being a paid assistant coach. I am a mentor for gifted students. Every day for an hour I work with a 3rd grade boy who is gifted in science. We've just finished a unit on Energy and he's doing a project by giving a power point presentation to his class about the Atom.
Then I travel to Dawes Middle School and mentor a gifted student there. He's a 6th grader gifted in Math so we are flying through Pre-Algebra. The sections that teachers usually take a day or two to teach a whole class, we get through two of those sections a day. I'm really amazed at how well and fast he picks things up. He can do mental math with some pretty big numbers.
After that I usually have lunch with Alissa before I go to my practicum at North Star High School. (Yup, I start at an elementary, then middle school, and finish at the high school every day) I help teach in Mr. Lenz's sophomore Geometry class. This is my practicum I do for school so every once in a while a guy from UNL will come in and observe me. I also have a night class once a week for three hours. In the spring I plan on student teaching at North Star as well and come May I will finally have my teaching degree.
I think that's all I'll write for now because Alissa is next to me and I can't write anything embarassing about her yet.

Our first place together....

Victory doesn't count the apartment we lived in when we got married as our first apartment since it was already mine for nine months before we got married. So he was excited to move into a new apartment and call it OURS. However, I feel like it has taken us forever to get settled. We moved out of our first apartment (I guess I should say "my" apartment) on August 30th. We moved all of our stuff to a garage at our soon to be apartment. We lived with my parents for a for about two weeks while we waited for our new apartment to open up. We were able to begin to move our stuff in on September 10th. And since then we've slowly been trying to organize things and find ways to store all of our stuff since this apartment is lacking in storage. Unfortunately we still have stuff that needs to find a home-not to mention the couple of suitcases full of stuff still sitting in our bedroom. It's amazing to me how much stuff we actually have even after we've tried to get rid of the things that we didn't need.

The pictures are of our new home. I know there are some out there that like to know where we live so that when they think of us they can have a place to picture us at (at least Stacey said something to the effect of that once.) So enjoy. I still want to do some more decorating and need ideas beyond candles and pictures. I've been looking at fake floral arrangements but I just can't convince myself that they will look good in our apartment or that they are really worth the expense. So if you've got any grand ideas, let me know!

You're what??! Story from the past...

I think Victory and I have had some fun experiences when we were dating and every once in awhile I get to tell a story to someone. I think it's just so much fun to tell these stories and plus, I think I should have these written down somewhere. So every now and then I'll tell and story (and maybe I'll get Victory to tell some too so you aren't just getting one point of view).
So for today's story: The First Time "I love You" Accidentally Came out.
I was over at Victory's apartment after he had finished with football practice and classes for the evening. I can't remember exactly what was going on that night. But I must have been being a pest or pouting that made Victory question my age by how I was acting. All I really remember was saying that I was 13 years old. And he replied with, "What? I'm in love with a thirteen year old?"
It all happened so quick and naturally that I wasn't so sure he meant to say that. I sat there wondering what I should do. Do I point out the fact that he said that he was in love with me or do I act like I didn't hear the "in love' part? What if he really didn't mean to say that? OR what if he did? I finally realized couldn't let that just fly by. I eventually said, "...you're what?"
There was some discussion that followed that comment but all in all that was the first night that "I love you" was said.

Stand up! Sit down! Fight! FIGHT! FIGHT!!!

Hello Friends! Not much has happened in the Haines world this last week. And usually having nothing to report is a good thing. That means life is happy go lucky without any major drama.
For all of those who are interested in Victory's coaching, you would be happy to know that the Gators had another win. It was an exciting game, even for me. My secretary at work, who had a son play high school football years ago, had been giving me tips on how and when to cheer because I don't usually get involved in sports and often don't feel the need to cheer too much when I actually attend. Well, this usually cheerless girl had red hands from clapping and a throat that was sore from too much cheering. I just might be turning into a coach's wife afterall. :)
They won 40 to 39 in double overtime. It was a very good game. I really wished I had remembered to bring my camera to the game- Victory was super cute hugging all the players after they made the last two point conversion to win the game. Southwest was one of the best teams in Lincoln and this was the first time North Star has ever beaten them. Here's the link to the news story in the Journal Star: http://journalstar.com/articles/2008/09/06/sports/prep_extra/football/doc48c214fcace10340693962.txt