Tag Archives: music

The Importance of Creativity in Education

1 May

My friend posted this video on her blog. She and I share the same love and gratitude for our High School Creative Writing  Teacher Mrs. Bean. I am so thankful I had the experience and privilge of having Creative Art teachers who allowed me to have free reign on my creativity in school. I was able to sculpt whatever I wanted, paint/draw whatever I was inspired to do and write whatever my heart felt. For that, I found happiness where I could have easily remained in tears. This video illustrates beautifully why it’s so important to allow our kids and even encourage our kids to be creative and energetic. It’s how they learn and become strong and independent minded individuals. It’s how they sculpt our future, their future, and their kids future. We should not hold them back from their potential:

Elementary, Jr. High, and High School education is one of the most vital parts of human development. It’s where are minds grow, it’s where we find who we are and where we’re going in life. It walks hand in hand with development in the home. As he explained with kids easily being diagnosed as ADHD, if children are both held back in school and in home – then their future is easily hopeless. But if one, home/school – sets the child free – they are trusted, they are loved and they are allowed to feel they can do and be whomever they wish – there is hope. The education system cannot bank on the child being creative at home. They should step forward and be that creative outlet first and foremost, because in doing so- the child will desire to be more, because they crave to be. :)

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Donny Osmond had Panic Attacks too

28 Apr

I have been a BIG fan of Donny Osmond since I was 13 years old. Kids in my generation didn’t understand why, but I thought (and still think) he’s quite handsome and has an AMAZING voice! He’s such a good person too. I really admire him for always being a positive example of his faith – even while being in the spot-light in the entertainment business. It’s really hard to keep to your moral standards while dealing with the pressure the media gives you. This interview [below] was very interesting to watch. If you’re like me, you gain even more respect for Donny learning what he went through.


After I learned that he too endured Anxiety, Depression and Panic Attacks – I felt comforted knowing that I’m not alone. Even this guy – who is SO well known around the world, goes through similar weaknesses/struggles that I do! To hear that he got help the same way I did (seeing a therapist/counselor) is all inspiring. I’m just so happy that there are Stars like him out in the world who are good strong moral examples, and who can also take off their ‘Star‘ hat and show even further that they are normal human beings who go through the same stuff we all go through and give hope that you can make it. :)

It’s not any new news, and of course ‘mega stars’ are normal human beings. It’s just comforting to hear/see it. :D


Listen to Donny Osmond Music

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Motorola Droid Review

15 Feb

My husband and I have now had our Motorola Droids for a few months now, and we are constantly raving about HOW COOL they are! However, with ALLLLLL the cool features, there are a few items that could be better. Here are our Pro’s and Con’s:

PRO’S

  • The Applications
  • Google/gmail & Facebook contact integration
  • Google Maps – Navigation
  • Call Filter
  • Three Home screens
  • 3G Internet (unlimited)
  • Wi-Fi
  • GPS Locator 
  • 16GB SD card = LOTS ‘o Memory!
  • Google Voice
  • Text Messaging
  • 5MP Camera
  • DVD-quality Video
  • Rubber no slip back, NICE!
  • Open source APPS = greater possibility of REALLY COOL APPS!
  • Voice Recognition for texting! SO cool! Just say what you want to text and it does the work for you in typing it out. :)
  • Pinch zoom – like iPhone

CON’S

  • Battery life – not terribly inconvenient, but could be better
  • Back of phone battery cover slips off easily
  • Touch Screen = dirty screen
  • Touch sensitivity is hard to get used to, and on screen keyboard, small buttons – easily touch wrong letter. Also, you can easily touch wrong action and end up doing something you didn’t want to. grrr . It took awhile to get use to this, but after awhile you adapt and it gets easier.
  • Phone does not come with Car Charger… bummer…
  • Qwerty, pull out keyboard – small keys, have to learn a new way from old LG Env large keyboard
  • Open Source Apps = greater possibility of phone virus

I can’t tell you HOW COOL this phone is. You dream of a phone doing something – this phone does it! I am constantly surprised at its capabilities and am SO HAPPY that I secretly purchased these Motorola Droids as a surprise for Clark for Christmas :D

My Favorite Apps:

  • Google Voice – WOW! SO COOL, you get a text transcript of the voice message, so you don’t have to call into your voice mail to hear the message, you can read it on your phone!
  • Zedge – Huge selection of Wallpaper and Ringtones
  • WeatherBug – No complaints, accurate weather. It’s nice that the temperature stays in the top left corner of your phone. It’s connected to GPS so wherever you go, the temp and weather reports/warnings are current and up to date!
  • Google Voice Recorder – NICE! If you need to make a quick verbal note, it’s there to do the job well.
  • USA Today – I’m not a newspaper reading kind of girl, so I depend on this little App to keep me up to date with headlines for politics and current events. Also, good Weather app too.
  • Twidroid – No complaints, does all that I need it to. Great organization for @replies, and Attachments.
    * Update – Twitter came out with an official App that I like a lot better.
  • Tube Downloader – COOL COOL COOL! A fantastic way to find your favorite Google Video, or YouTube videos, and actually download them to your Droid! Don’t have to search for them, you have a hard copy on your phone! I instantly downloaded all my favorite Dave Matthews Music videos! :)
    * Update - I uninstalled this after it became way to slow for me. I am looking / hoping for another App like this that works better.
  • SitOrSquat - LOL! So cool! If you drink A LOT of water, or just have a weak bladder in general – this is a MUST! It provides a Google map of all your local reported public bathrooms. Comes in handy in an emergency!
  • Scan2PDF – If you don’t have a scanner handy and need to email a document to someone, this is a handy App to have. Take a picture of your document, convert it to PDF and send it via email!
  • Photoshop.com Mobile – Provides very basic photo editing settings, but is nice.
  • Robo Defense – FUN game!
  • Furdiburb – The cutest Droid pet I ever did see!! Fun game.
  • Replica Island- I almost feel like I’m playing a gameboy game with this. Which says a lot – that they built a game that all Droid games should be like.
  • Monkey Kick – An oddly fun game. Play it and you’ll know what I mean. ;)
  • Gem Miner – AWESOME game! Will keep you occupied for hours. You feel like you can mine for hours and sometimes do, finding Gold, Silver and lots of other things. The strategy is to dig deeper and deeper, build ladders to make sure you can make it out before you get too tired and die!
  • What the Doodle? – It’s like a pictionary game, live with people all across the world. Pretty darn entertaining!
  • Sketcher – Fun to draw a quick (good-looking) sketch to a friend, or to draw what you’re trying to say and txt them.
  • Shopper’s Paradise – So fun!
  • Gentle Alarm – Great App that’s literally gentle in waking you up with a pre-alarm and actual alarm that plays .mp3 music lists.
  • Reveal – Free LDS Scriptures, Ensigns, Church Gospel Sunday School manuals, and even Free Classic Novels (like Jane Austen Novels!)
    * Update - While Reveal is great, the Church has come out with an official scripture app called “Gospel Library“. It has Study Helps, Church Publications and General Conference as well as all the scriptures, plus you can actually search the Gospel Library which is something that Reveal does not have.
  • Mormon Channel - LDS radio App, really cool! You can also listen to Conference Talks, Scriptures, Magazine Articles Audio tracks right on your Droid!
  • LDS Radio Live Streaming – This App is awesome for listening to LDS music, talks and the BYU channel.
  • Ward Central – Get your LDS Ward directory App here. Easy to email ward members from and easy to call them right out of your own LDS Member Phonebook! :)
  • My Days – Every woman who still goes through PMS, download this App. MUST HAVE! SO cool!
  • My Coupons – Doesn’t provide a HUGE selection, but its cool and does provide some local coupons for places like Target, etc
  • QuickUnit Price Compare – Can’t decide which is the better deal? This simple to use App will help you figure out which one is the better buy. Very helpful when shopping!
  • Movies – No complaints, has local Movie Time Listings, and reviews
  • Mobisle Notes – Awesome app for keeping notes and shopping lists. Love it!
  • iMusic – Free Music Downloads… ’nuff said. ;)
  • Google Translate – Different from other Translating Apps that I’ve come across, because you can use the voice feature to say (not type) what you’d like translated into nearly almost any language. It will then provide an option to speak back the translated text so you can hear how its pronounced. Very cool
  • FxCamera – My Favorite way to take pictures! Provides photo effects like Polaroid, Toy Camera, etc. Really neat.
  • Calorie Counter – Really really really cool if you’re trying to lose weight and keep track of your calories. This app even goes as far as to provide an option for you to scan the bar code of your food so you don’t have to search or input the nutritional information. You’ll scan it and up pops up all the nutritional information with serving size and you click ‘save’ and it adds to your Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner or Snack. Then when you’re done inputting your food for the day and any exercise you did – you can sync with your free account on FatSecret.com online! You don’t have to use the free account online, you can just keep everything local to your Droid. Oh yeah, you can weigh in too. It calculates your RDI (Recommended Daily Intake for your diet plan of losing x per week). Pretty much has everything you need for keeping track of your daily exercise and food intake. A MUST HAVE!
  • Buzz Off – Ever went to the movies, turned off your ringer and forgot to turn it back on after the 2 hour movie? No more worrying, set the timer on this app to vibrate/go silent for 2 hours and let it take care of turning back on your ringer afterwards! AWESOME!
  • Call Filter – Block those annoying telemarketers/Unknown Calls, or for a specific number. Nice to have.
  • Call Location – Find out where a certain number you are unfamiliar with/ or are familiar with is calling from. Utah? New York? Virginia? This App will tell you as each number calls you.
  • Bump It – Did your other Droid or iPhone buddy just take a really cool picture you want to have on your phone too?  Or how about inserting their contact information into your phone? Don’t go through the hassle of emailing or IMing it to your friend, or opening up a new contact card -  BUMP it! Both of you open up your Bump It app and select whether you want to share a file or contact information then bump your phones together and wa ‘la , there you go! SO cool!
  • Reverse Lookup - Somebody called and you didn’t catch their number or who they are? This App will help you figure out the number and where they called from.
  • BMI Calculator – Nice to have to keep track of your Ideal Weight and current Body Mass Index.
  • AndroBlogger – If you have a blogger blog, this will provide a quick basic way to blog from your phone!
  • WordPress – If you have a WordPress blog on WordPress.com or self-hosted (wordpress.org), this is a must have! Basic settings, but all you need to blog from your phone. You can even edit your pages!
  • WP Stats – If you have WordPress Stats installed to your website, this is a nice app to have to check your traffic to your WordPress site.
  • mAnalytics – Good Google Analytics App
  • ASTRO – Best file organizing App I have found so far.
  • EEBA – Envelopes – AWESOME for keeping track of your daily budget. I’d be lost without this, it’s so easy to balance where all your money goes, how much you have left to spend and keep track of your daily transactions. LOVE it!
  • Uninstaller - Essential App to have to easily uninstall Apps without having to click through the settings to get to where you uninstall. This is quick to pull up and quick to get those uninteresting Apps gone!

What are your thoughts on the Motorola Droid?

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Respect for Emma

1 Nov

This song never fails to make me cry :( For the amount of Love I have for Clark, I can’t imagine the anguish her heart went through being without Joseph so often – then living through him being murdered… oh my face is soaked. I think we all should count ourselves so lucky to not have to go through what she went through, she will be – if not already so blessed to be so strong. She is such an example to me…

Scenes in video from movie: Emma Smith: My Story

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