Dear TV,

This is what you taught me in the past week:

Waking up in bed with someone you don't know is great subject material for a dance. NOT!!! What are they thinking?! "So You Think You Can Dance" is a family show, or should be. Was the movement cool. Yes. Was it creative choreography? Yes. Sweet dance moves? Yes. Appropriate content? I vote ABSOLUTELY NOT. The female dancer didn't feel comfortable with the theme either. She said something like, "I've never woken up next to a guy... I sleep with my pillow-pets." And then the judges and everyone kept making these sexual jokes. Ugh. I am spitting mad about this one. Especially because it is so deceptive. Satan is a master of taking something evil and cloaking it in good... Good looking dancers. Good choreography. Good technique. Clever ideas. Crowd-pumping music.... you get it. What bothers me most is knowing my two sweet teenage sisters are watching this and I just hope they don't let all the "good" things and the judges "oohs and ahhs" trick them. That is wrong. We can't justify and say, "Well its just a dance." We are what we watch and support and do. The dances we do should represent who we are. That dance was wrong and NOT appropriate for public television.

On a lighter not, ESPN just taught me this: "Labor negotiations. Labor means work. Negotiation means negotiation." Thank you oh wise announcer for that enlightening little lesson.

Friends with the Fishes

This last week we have been making friends with some fishes... or turning some friends into fishes... or fishing around the swimming pool with some friends...

The Jeppsons are some of our favorite people here in Texas. We know a lot of great families here, but we feel like the Jeppsons have truly become dear friends. Neal is the Institute Director and we love going to his class each week. He has also been great about training me to teach seminary. Lori is one-of-a-kind. She's super sweet but not in a syrupy way. (Like that made any sense to anyone but me.) We both love dance (she's more of a hip-hopper), aerobics, cooking, and eating sweets. The biggest difference between us is that she has completely eliminated sweets from her life, but I am sitting her eating a bite of bananna cake with cream cheese frosting in between each sentence I type! (Hold on for a second, let me grab another one...)

The Jeppsons have three additional things weighing in their favor. We call them Meg, Kate, and Avery. They are possibly the cutest girls in Texas... maybe in the whole Southwestern United States. I think if I could only have 5 friends in Texas, Meg would still make the cut. She, Kate and Avery are my little buddies and I sincerely love playing with them.

These little girls are SWIMMERS. How convenient that we have a swimming pool at our apartment! Neal and the girls have come swimming with us twice in the past week and we hope they keep coming. It has been such a fun way to stay cool and do something with friends. It definitely beats laying by the side of the pool and jumping in every now and then. We love this family and feel so lucky to have them as our pals!

(I would post a picture of these cute little fishies... but I left a piece of our camera in Utah and I told my mother dearest not to send it back until she send the beautiful quilt she has been working so hard on for us. When that day comes I promise to take lots of pictures of the swimming-cuties AND of the quilt so my blog won't be so boring.)

The Edge of the Solar System

That is where Bret and I journeyed for our date last night. Ok, not literally, but we did go to ASU's planetarium where we watched a movie (you know, on the big dome ceiling) by that name. It was....? Disappointing. Cheesy. Confusing. Jam-packed with information but not entertaining enough to keep a person interested. Lacking visual splendor. Even the chairs were a let-down, as it required all your abdominal (and neck and arm and back and leg) muscles to keep the chairs reclined.

However, the planetarium had two big things going for it. 1) It was practically free. 2) At the end the guy running the show did some awesome things with the screen where he showed us the sky exactly as it was above us... then dimmed it... then highlighted constellations... then changed the date (like, "Here's what the sky will look like on July 4th.") so we could see how things shifted in the sky. I am still totally co

nfused about how so many things are rotating in so many ways around us, but it made me appreciate God's incredible majesty. We will be studying the Old Testament and Pearl of Great Price in Seminary this year. We start with Moses, Abraham, and Genesis.

Moses 1:3-4, 33,35, 38-39 - "And God spake unto Moses, saying: Behold, I am the Lord God Almighty, and Endless is my name; for I am without beginning of days or end of years and is not this endless? And, behold, thou art my son; wherefore look, and I will show thee the workmanship of mine hands; but not all, for my works are without end, and also my words, for they never cease.... And worlds without number have I created; and I also created them for mine own purpose... and innumerable are they unto man; but all things are numbered unto me, for they are mine and I know them.... And as one earth shall pass away, and the heavens thereof even so shall another come; and there is no end to my works, neither to my word. For behold, this is my work and my glory - to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."

Seeing this show put this into perspective. When I read that God's works are endless it is hard for me to grasp. I read it, think "WOW," and move on. Seeing how our solar system is just a small part of our galaxy which is part of an immense universe doesn't help me understand things any better, but it sure helps me appreciate the majesty of our Creator. It makes me even more aware of His compassion and goodness. Can you believe that with an entire universe before Him, He takes the time to tell Moses, "thou art my son; wherefore look, and I will show thee the workmanship of mine hands." I find it even more incredible that He takes the time to stop and listen to my prayers, to teach me when I read the scriptures, to forgive me when I make mistakes, and to comfort me when I need His protection. "Now for this cause I know that man is nothing, which thing I never had supposed" yet I am so grateful that although small and insignificant in comparison to His endless and magnificent creations, I am still of enough worth to Him that He would care for me, send His Son to atone for my sins, and make it His top priority to see that I gain eternal life (Moses 1:10).

What a timely learning experience and a fun date night. While I don't necessarily recommend ASU's planetarium, I do recommend that you take a minute to look up at the sky, think about your place in this vast universe, read Moses 1, and then say a little prayer of gratitude. :)

Followers

I obviously love blogging. I have always loved writing, but I have a hard time journal writing. Blogging is fun because...

A) I love being on the computer but don't have as many reasons to use it now that I'm not researching and writing college papers.

B) I can type faster than I can write.

C) Who do you address your journal to? Dear self? Dear future children? Probably just some vague nobody that we refer to as "Dear Journal". I know this sounds dumb but I find it hard to write without a specific audience. There are times I want to record more private, meaningful thoughts and Dear Journal is great for that, but otherwise I find that I keep a better record of our life when I write it for someone.

But that last thought leads me to a reason I don't like blogging. Because I think many bloggers, myself included, tend to get obsessed over the someone. We hope that that someone is actually a lot of someones who are for some reason enthralled with our lives and who want to know about and comment on everything we do.

I love reading blogs of my family and friends because I get to share in their achievements and hear, through their own words, what is going on in their life. However, I roll my eyes when I see posts where the author laments that no one ever comments on their posts and wonders if anyone even cares. I understand the desire for feedback and response (yes, I check my blog frequently to see if anyone commented and yes, I secretly hope someone has) but I always try to check myself and remember that this blog is intended to for ME to record my ideas and for my FAMILY and close FRIENDS to get updates on us since we all live so far away now. If people want feedback from friends, wouldn't it be so much better and more personal to call them and have a real conversation?!

And there you have it. Cami's opinionated thoughts on blogging. Please feel free to share your comments (but recognize that I am not begging you and my mood will not be affected lack of responses). :)

I really am a nerd, right?! This just drives me CRAZY!

Wardle Family Updates

So we have a solid answer... Bret will be doing his first clinical rotation in SAN ANTONIO this fall for two months. We are so happy about that. It was actually his first choice, but it was a very complicated and frustrating process that we had to go through to finally end up there. Bret will be gone for two months while I stay here to work, but since San Antonio is only 3 hrs away we will be able to see each other most weekends. I'm dreading our time apart, but I will do my best not to complain. (I think of all my friends whose husbands serve in the military and have to deal with deployments and realize I can't complain.) We are so happy that he will be so close.

As for now, Bret just finished his summer session of school and gets a two month break! He is doing great work and putting in lots of hours at his Graduate Assistant position (mostly helping the first years in their anatomy/dissection class). He's looking for another summer job, as am I, but we're loving all this free time and time together!

And for my news... I was released from my calling as nursery leader today (I can't believe its been a year!) and set apart as the new seminary teacher. I feel very humbled by the idea of being responsible for the spiritual growth of these youth in San Angelo, but I have faith that the Lord knows exactly what He is doing. If I stay in tune with the Holy Ghost and try to prepare and teach by the Spirit I can't mess up too badly. I'm apprehensive about the time constraints this will impose... I'll teach at 6 am each morning, go to my full-time job at the high school, and then spend a few hours teaching at the ballet. It will require lots of prep time, too, but I have a feeling that there will be a way to accomplish it all and that I'll learn to rely more on Bret and on the Lord. Although I'm a little nervous, I can't wait to begin learning.

And if, by chance, you are interested in our physical well-being, we are pleased to announce that we will enjoy THREE CONSECUTIVE DAYS of weather in the upper 90's rather than our three-week streak of mid/upper 100's. The pool, air-conditioning, and lemonade have become our new favorite things in life.

title not necessary...

I love summer. I love summer. I love summer, hey hey hey hey!

Summer Arts Conservatory

Look what was on the front page of the San Angelo Standard Times this morning...

Photos by Patrick Dove/Standard-Times Cami Wardle, an instructor at Angelo Civic Ballet, leads a group of young girls during a creative movement dance class at the Summer Arts Conservatory at First Presbyterian Church in San Angelo.

SAN ANGELO, Texas — About 93 local students gathered Monday at First Presbyterian Church in San Angelo for the start of the Summer Arts Conservatory. The weeklong program offers classes in art, music, dance and drama, which are taught by local professionals in their field.

** I think at this point of class we were working on making more interesting shapes... twisted, angular, etc. Apparently they caught me in a very interesting shape... making a very interesting face. I can't find the full size picture, but this one cuts out the cute girls who were dancing with me. So far it has been a fun experience teaching a little more creative style of dance!

Two Years, Baby!

Friday marked our two year anniversary! And I don't think we could possibly be happier. We love life and we love each other. Marriage has made us so happy and we're grateful for that!

To celebrate, we decided to go to San Antonio, stay in a fun hotel, eat dinner on the Riverwalk, go the temple, and finish off the trip with a day at Sea World.

Here we are looking so excited to go in!

Right?!...

TRICK! Gotcha. Of course we would forget our camera on a fun trip like this! So these pictures are complimentary of our honeymoon two years ago, when we went to Sea World in San Diego. And when I say "went to Sea World", what I mean is "walked to Sea World from Mission Beach so that we could get a free ride back to the hotel." This adventure took us much further than we expected, climbing up gravely hills and sneaking past wedding receptions and darting across freeways. But we eventually made it to the front of Sea World where we took a picture and waited for the hotel's taxi to pick us up.

THIS trip to Sea World was a blast! I had a free pass from the school district so we figured it was now or never! We both liked the dolphin/diving/acrobatic show called "Azul" the best. We also enjoyed this water-ski and wakeboard trick show. We learned that we are getting old and get a lot more scared and shaken up on roller coasters than we remember. Bret doesn't mind death drops and I don't mind spinning, but we don't much care for the other person's preference. Our friends, the Livseys, joined us for a few hours and it was fun to have their company. We are so grateful for the good friends we've made here in TX.

After a weekend of fun, we finished off the night by driving home in the dark, not arriving until 1:30 am. Surprisingly, we had funny conversations the whole way (we may or may not have been slightly delirious) and sang our hearts out to the Beach Boys and Rascal Flatts.

Thank you, Bret, for a fantastic weekend and the best two years yet! I love you.

Highlights of Utah

I had so much fun being home with my family for a week! Some of the most fun things included:

* Eating dinner, just me and Drew. I made dinner for the whole family while my mom and dad were in Logan for the night and one by one the kids called saying they were eating somewhere else, so Drew and I ate together. He was so nice to sit and chat with me and tell me my food was delicious (even though it wasn't).

* Driving my dad's car around. It didn't matter if I was picking someone up from school or running errands or what... it was so fun to drive my dad's car, which is a little more sleek than my "blue rumbler".

* Going to lunch with my Grandma and Meg. I love chatting with my grandma and since Megan wasn't around for much of the week it was a perfect time to talk to them both.

* Dinner at my Grandma and Grandpa Wood's with the extended family. Nothing is more like home than having the family gathered for Sunday dinner at Grandma's. This occasion was a little different since we were celebrating my Grandma's birthday so she wasn't allowed to do any cooking. We had pizza and cake and my mom and her siblings all took turns sharing funny stories about my Grandma. We love her and I hope she knows how much she has influenced the lives of her grandchildren.

* Playing tennis with my mom. She has been taking a lesson once a week with some ladies in our ward. So she got me to come take a lesson with her (we were sad Megs couldn't come, too) and although I secretly dreaded it we ended up having tons of fun. I'm pretty bad at anything that involves a ball, but I appreciated having someone coach me!

* Seeing "17 Miracles" with my parents and Jackson. If you live in Utah, I totally recommend going to see it. If you don't live in Utah, look for it to come out on video. Its a church movie but not an official one (like not put out by the church). It was a very well-done way of sharing the experience of the Willey Handcart Company. I can't wait to get it on DVD and watch it again.

Utah

I flew into Utah on Wednesday (to finish some dental work, of all things). It has been so fun to be home and see my family! Unfortunately though, they still have regular life to attend to... school, work, meetings and bike races. So this is what I have been doing to occupy my spare time...

Is it boastful for me to say that it looks delicious? Because I think it looks delicious. I made it for my mom to take to a dinner party since she wouldn't have time to make a treat. (She, Megs, and my dad were all in Logan this weekend where the girls rode in a 100 mile bike race! They are awesome! Meg says her legs don't even hurt!) I made a smaller one for the rest of us to enjoy and can't wait to dig in tonight. I LOVE CHEESECAKE!

I've also been spending plenty of time thinking about my handsome husband. Life is always so much brighter when he is around. I am looking forward to celebrating our 2nd anniversary next weekend in San Antonio!