Who Coined the Phrase, 'Coined the Phrase?'

When you are bored, just search for "interesting questions". There are some classic ones that are boring. Then there are sites like this one:

www.crazythoughts.com

Some are intriguing, some are a little weird and some are more like jokes.
Here are some examples:
A "Duh" moment: Why is there a disclaimer on the Allstate Auto Insurance commercials that says "Not available in all states"? 

Joke: If pro and con are opposites, wouldn't the opposite of progress be congress? 

Just Checking: In the song Yankee Doodle, is he calling the horse or the feather "macaroni"? 

Tricky One: What do you do when you see an endangered animal that is eating an endangered plant? 

One I've always wondered: How can something be "new" and "improved"? if it's new, what was it improving on? 

Pun: If a kid refuses to sleep during nap time, are they guilty of resisting a rest? 

Contradictory: Why does caregiver and caretaker mean the same thing? 

Another one I've wondered: Why do we sing "Rock a bye baby" to lull a baby to sleep when the song is about putting your baby in a tree and letting the wind crash the cradle on the ground? What about most other nursery rhymes for that matter?

Yet another one I've wondered: If parents say, "Never take candy from strangers" then why do we celebrate Halloween?  



And here are some other ones if you don't end up checking that site out.
Is there ever a day that mattresses are not on sale?

How come toy hippos are always blue, or purple, when real hippos are brown?  

Why do they say a football team is the 'world champion' when they don't play anybody outside the US?

If a bunch of cats jump on top of each other, is it still called a dog pile?

On Gilligan's Island, how did Ginger have so many different outfits when they were only going on a 3 hour tour?

Doesn't a lightning rod on top of church show a lack of faith?

Even if you don't know the answer to these questions, its still fun to think about them.    

The Day I Wore Pajamas to Church

At first glance you might think I'm just wearing some festive clothes for church....

Look again. At second inspection maybe I look slightly...off?

Yup! Its Christmas day and you should dress up even more for church because of that right? {Uh-huh.} SO I did! Yes. Yes. Those are PJ pants. Oh and that red shirt is the shirt that goes with the pants...which means that I wore my PJs to church. (Not to mention the socks. Mismatched no less.)

OK maybe that was more of a rebel move more than anything but it made people laugh so I'm willing to make a crazy fool of myself sometimes if it makes someones day.

I hope you had a great Christmas too!!!

Winter Break

This is what I'm doing over winter break:

I'm making a short movie!
 Visit the Channel:
youtube.com/user/HalesterProductions/featured

Into the Archives 43-Christmas 2003

12/22/2011

Christmas 2003 is the second Christmas I remember from my own memory (2000 being the first...its weird how my memory skips the 2 years in between).

One of my favorite toys I got was a Tinker-bear. I'm not exactly sure what I was thinking here...

 Oh but I loved her. (I think she came form Aunt Kari and Uncle Allen)

 A big marble run still loved by the whole family. (From the Reinsteins, I'm pretty sure.)

 And my first real porcelain doll from grandma and grandpa Webster.

And then there was the food machine...but that must be saved for a post of its own!

Fact-New Shirt Part 2

You can never have too many KH shirts....

Thank you McCann family! This shirt is AW-E-SOME! Its a FAAACCCT!

(this quote is from episode 4)

YW Recognition Award

OK so that last post was actually to lead up to this one...
On Wednesday December 7th 2011 I got my YW Recognition Award! 

It was during our YW in Excellence which is a program at the end of the year where everyone can show off what they have accomplished in Personal Progress that year. I was the last person to get up and talk about what I had done. I didn't have much to show off so I just gave all that highlights of the last few years doing the PP program. Then I got my necklace. And yeah I don't really know what else there is to say but...I'M DONE!

Alright, so I know you are just dieing to know what I did in PP. 
Here is an overview:
Of course I did the 3 required experiences in each value.
Faith (White)
Electives: #s 4, 5 & 7.
Project: Read 2 books on faith.
1) A Rational Theology (7 hours)
2) Change Your Questions-Change Your Life (4 hours)
Total hours spent: 11
Passed off on: May 15, 2011

Divine Nature (Blue)

Electives: #s 5, 6 & 7.
Project: Read and do all the projects in the D&C Seminary Student Manual. 
Hours spent: Over 20 is my best guess
Passed off on: March 31, 2011

Individual Worth (Red)

Electives: #s 4, 5 & 7.
Project: Plan and carry out PBLO Evening of Achievement. (A talent show like program for my school group.)
Hours spent: Over 10
Passed off on: November 30, 2010

Knowledge (Green)

Electives: #s 4, 5 & 6.
Project: Learn a few hymns on the piano. 
(Definitely not my favorite) 
Hours spent: About 15
Passed off: October 14, 2011

Choice and Accountability (Orange)
Electives: #s 5, 6 & 7.
Project: Get more out of General Conference (Oct 2010).
1) Watch GC
2) Take notes
3) Re-read talks
4) Memorize a scripture someone quoted (Isaiah 53:3-5)
Hours spent: About 10
Passed off on: December 12, 2010

Good Works (Yellow)

Electives: #s 5, 6 & 7.
Project: Make a slideshow movie with pictures/videos from YW activities 2010. 
Hours spent: 21
Passed off on: January 30, 2011

Integrity (Purple)

Electives: #s 4, 5 & 6.
Project: Choir. Attend all practices and performances of the Mormon Chorale, spring 2010.
Hours spent: Uhhhh lot! (A 2 hour practice every week for about 3 months plus around 5 performances in a season...eh...I don't want to do the math.)
Passed off on: May 15, 2010


Virtue (Gold)
 This value is a little different. I did all 4 required and read the Book of Mormon for the project, which is also required.
Hours spent: It's hard to know for sure, but it could have been upwards of 100 hours.
Passed off on: October 9, 2010 

The one thing I learned: it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.  I think that's true with most projects though. If you just start you will find it's not as bad as you expected it to be. Maybe that's why I am attempting to start Personal Progress over again...

Am I crazy?

 

The YW Program

So you hear me talk about YW (aka the young women's program) all the time. But if you are not familiar with the program you may be left guessing at what I'm talking about. I guess I should help you with that.

History

This program was started in 1863. Ultimately Brigham Young, the second President and prophet of the church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), felt that the teenaged girls of the church needed a program especially for them.

It has had a few different names throughout the years.

1869 — Young Ladies’ Department of the Cooperative Retrenchment Association
1875 — Young Ladies’ National Mutual Improvement Association
1904 — Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association
1934 — Young Women’s Mutual Improvement Association

1974 — Young Women

This is our theme that we recite every week at church to remind us of our goals in life:

 "We are daughters of our Heavenly Father, who loves us, and we love Him. We will “stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places” [Mosiah 18:9] as we strive to live the Young Women values, which are:

Faith

Divine Nature

Individual Worth

Knowledge

Choice and Accountability

Good Works

Integrity

and Virtue

We believe as we come to accept and act upon these values, we will be prepared to strengthen home and family, make and keep sacred covenants, receive the ordinances of the temple, and enjoy the blessings of exaltation."


 The Young Women motto is “stand for truth and righteousness.” 
The Young Women logo is a torch surrounded by the Young Women motto. The torch represents the light of Christ, inviting all to “come unto Christ” (Moroni 10:32). It invites all young women to make a commitment to hold up their light by being an example and remaining worthy to make and keep sacred covenants and receive the ordinances of the temple.
 

“Arise and shine forth, that thy light may be a standard for the nations” (D&C 115:5).

Classes

We are divided up into classes by age group to more personalize our experience, though we still interact with all the girls about as much as we are separated into classes.

Beehive, ages 12 and 13

The beehive was a symbol of harmony, cooperation, and work for the early pioneers of the Church. Beehive was also the first name by which young women were known. Beehives today learn to work together in cooperation and harmony as they strengthen their faith in Jesus Christ and prepare to stand for truth and righteousness. This is a time to “arise and shine forth” (D&C 115:5).

Mia Maid, ages 14 and 15

The name Mia Maid refers historically to the Mutual Improvement Association, which adopted the emblem of the rose as a symbol of love, faith, and purity. Mia Maids today learn about love, faith, and purity as they strengthen their testimony and accept and act upon the Young Women values.

Laurel, ages 16 and 17

For centuries the laurel wreath has been a crown woven from the leaves of the laurel tree. It is given to someone who finishes a significant achievement as a symbol of honor and accomplishment. Laurels today are finishing their preparation to make and keep sacred covenants and receive the ordinances of the temple.

When you enter a new class you receive a certificate of advancement. (picture below)

Personal Progress

Within YW's is the Personal Progress program. It is somewhat equivalent to the Boy Scout program and the big award, YW Recognition Award, is like the Eagle Scout Award. The Personal Progress program uses the eight Young Women values (the ones used in the theme) to help you understand more fully who you are. This is all the stuff that comes with it:

First is the booklet and journal that guides you through the program. Basically, there are projects for each of the 8 values. 3 required experiences, 3 elective experiences and one big project that takes a minimum of 10 hours. Times all that by 8 and you can get your award! You must also:

• Attend sacrament meeting regularly (where possible).
• Live the standards in For the Strength of Youth.
• Keep a personal journal.
• Attend seminary or participate in independent study (where available).
• Read the Book of Mormon regularly.
• Record your testimony of the Savior Jesus Christ.

As you pass off each value you get a ribbon bookmark for your scriptures.

Award

The award is a necklace that looks like this (they come in silver too):

 

If you look closely, you can find all 3 of the class symbols along with the temple, which is our ultimate goal. Many people ask if the stone in the middle of the rose is your birthstone. Nope. It's always a ruby. It come's from the scripture Proverbs 31:10

"Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies."

 But that's not all. You can also get bee charms. The Honor Bee charm was historically given to young women who were willing to do more than was required. All you have to do is read the Book of Mormon cover to cover and put in 40 hours of service and you get a bee charm!

Phew. That was a lot of information. But if you still want more go to:

personalprogress.lds.org

  There you can see what all the projects are etc.

Kid History-New Shirt

If you haven't see Kid History by now I consider you a sinner. Just kidding. 

But if you haven't, you should just YouTube it. Like...right now.

Now if you haven't seen their merchandise then you are also missing out:

www.zazzle.com/kidhistory/

A few weeks ago I received my first KH shirt! Thank you Jen!

(quote from episode 6)

Photography by my nutty brother KEW.

AND if you haven't already seen it a few times, episode 7 is here!

Into the Archives 42-Princess and King Ball

 12/15/2011

 Our stake has an annual father/daughter dance for Beehives (12-13 year old girls). This was my first year when I was 12.

 

 It was at the end of January 2009.

 There is a post on my family blog from right afterwords. This is what my mom said:
"KQW invited her friend EJ to join her at a Stake Young Women’s Activity where girls and their dads enjoyed a royal evening of dinner and dancing.  Neither KQW nor Eric are much into line dancing so they had a great time visiting with friends while EJ and her dad danced “for them”.  (I had fun fussing with hair-dos before sending them off for a special evening.)"
ebcbwebster.wordpress.com/2009/02/08/223

 Me and my little friend Bunny. She was the special little girl that got to go even though she was just a little too young.

As my mom said, I didn't really dance at all. I was still a little shy and self conscious back then (oh but you should see me now). In the two years that we went to this dance, I actually slow danced with my dad for half a song. Now that I just go to "normal" dances (normal meaning with people more my age) I have found that, crazy enough, its easier to dance with a stranger that is my age than my dad. I feel like that's kind of wrong...but what can I do?

Newspaper/Magazine Thingy

I am currently in a High school writing class with 36 other kids. As a class project, we split up into 4 or 5 teams and each team was in charge of making a "newspaper". As a team, we decided on what we wanted to write about and who would be the "publisher" to put it all together. I immediately volunteered to be the publisher before we had even decided what the paper was going to be about. Fortunately it didn't take us long to decide. Everyone quickly agreed that we should spotlight our city. 

So after only two short weeks, this is what my team and I created. Because I was the publisher, it was not necessary for me to write an entire article but I decided to add my little fun-facts I found about KC throughout the project and, in the end, it turned out to look more like a magazine than a newspaper. 

Here is the PDF so you can see our masterpiece. Enjoy!

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BwzRTLK863HrNmVkZmQ5NDctYTEzMy00OTA3LTgzNzItOGFiYjM3YzM5ZGMx

Into the Archives 41-Crazy Hair Day

12/8/2011

 If you woke up today and thought your hair was bad...think again.

Here, on a regular day in 2009, my siblings and I have some fun with our friend coming up with some awesome hair styles to show off. Why? Who knows. We were probably bored.

So what's the secret to my style? A plastic cup. Basically all you do is put a plastic/Styrofoam/paper cup on top of your head and pull your hair up around it and tie it off with a rubber band! Sometimes it takes a bit of finessing but it is worth it. Also, if you have short hair...I'm sorry! Use a mini cup? If it's too short to even do that I'm out of ideas. But don't feel too bad...I can't do it right now ether (with a full sized cup). My hair isn't even to my shoulders yet.

And lastly, where in the world did I get the idea? Girls camp of course! My first year in fact. An innocent 12 year old realizes quite quickly how crazy people really can be when she shows up at girls camp and is surrounded by it for a week. Trust me. I know. I'm one of them now! Mwahaha!

New Photography

As some of you know I have been doing nature photography for a while now. In fact I have a (unfinished) website for hopefully and eventually selling some of the photos: BeautyOfTheEarthPhotos.com But over the last year I have crossed over to some human interaction too. It's still slightly out of my comfort zone but I am finding fun it in a new way. If you can't see the slideshow above, click here: https://picasaweb.google.com/100916094605592356933/KQuinPhotography?authuser=0&feat=directlink I am doing a bit of hair bow modeling photography for DaisyRibbons.com so that is the main reason I started trying this stuff. Having a photo shoot with my little sister is a fun adventure! Although its been a few months since I took them (you know, back when it was warm...), I figured now was as good a time to show them off as any. I also threw some of my other favorite people photography just for good measure.

Into the Archives 40-Powell Garden

12/1/2011

On the outskirts of our city there is a large and beautiful garden called Powell Gardens. I haven't been there in a long time because of the cost but I remember the few times that I have gone. This particular time was when our friend Kim, aka our "adopted aunt", took us. She is a garden and outdoorsy kind of person and she enjoys sharing her knowledge with us. 

This is one of those childhood memories that has especially stuck with me for some reason.

There are lots of kid-friendly places scattered throughout the garden. Why are kids so attracted to sand boxes I wonder? 

The little stuffed animal I am holding is a frog that I named Diving Boy. It was given to me for my birthday by my best friend and I took him everywhere for a while. I thought it would be especially appropriate because we were going to a garden and even though I was worried that I might loose him I still insisted on bringing my blue frog. I love the thought processes of children especially when I can remember thinking that way.

Into the Archives 39-Thanksgiving 2004

11/24/2011

Happy Thanksgiving from the Webster kids in 2004!

Into the Archives 38-Balloon Gum

11/17/2011

Do you remember when you were little and you pretended a balloon was bubble gum? Yeah I think most kids do that some time or another. We are no exception. Come to think of it, I think I still might do it every once in a while... Just kidding! Or am I?

Individual Worth Skits

This is what the Mia Maids (and one of our Laural's) did for our Personal Progress activity this month. I was actually in charge of it but I asked one of our leaders to bring two bags with a few random objects in them. We split into to teams and each one got a bag and 10 minutes to come up with a skit. I call it Bag Skits. (No, not baskets)

Happy 11!

Happy 11/11/11 everyone!

   

I have been doing special posts about a favorite author of mine (and one of her projects that has to do with today) on my Media Blog. Head on over there to find out more!

http://helloyoutube.blogspot.com/search/label/11%2F11%2F11%20Project

Also our school group is doing this project today:

http://betterplace.principlebasedlearning.com/day-of-united-service/

Into the Archives 37-Toad

11/10/2011

Toads have always been one of my favorite animals. They are extremely easy to catch and their care is minimal, I just let them go after a week or two. 2003 was the first year that I started this little hobby of mine.

 A direct entry from my nature journal:

Toady and Spring

Spring 2003- 6 years old

It all started when we found a boy toad. It was April 1st and mom found a toad in the garden. Then mom called me, "A toad! Come and see a toad." I came and saw the toad. It was sitting on the dirt very still. When I tried to touch it, it jumped into the leaves. I dug into the leaves and I got it. But it wasn't easy but it was fun.

Mom got a tank ready for the toad. We brought him inside the house. Mom looked up "toads" in a nature book we got from the library. Later we checked out more books about toads and we learned that boy toads don't croak and they are a lot smaller than girl toads. And girl toads croak because they call the boys so they can spawn their eggs.

We brought the toad to the library to Teddy Time, then on Wednesday we brought it to story time to show the children.

Mom thought that we needed to let April Fool's Day go (that's what I names the toad). I said, "I don't want to let him go." Dad said we needed to get Toady Crickets so that he could stay alive (we started calling him Toady because it was a shorter name). So dad went and bought the crickets at the pet store. Toady ate them so fast that mom couldn't see his tongue catch the cricket, but I could. 

He started to look sick so we called Anna-Lisa, our friend that works at a nature center, and she said we should put some water in the tank and feed it every other day.

A few weeks later I was looking for lizards on the rocks. Instead I found a girl toad. I came running in the house and yelled, "A toad! Come and see a toad! I think it's a girl toad!" Mom came running out and I showed her the toad. I tried to catch the toad-it was as hard as catching the first. I finally caught it and I brought the tank outside and put both toads in a wading pool. I names the new toad Spring.

The first time I heard the girl toad croak was an hour later when I was getting ready to go to mom's concert. I was way in my bedroom and Spring was in the kitchen and she croaked so loud that I could hear her from my bedroom. We found out that Spring croaks more in the night time.

One day I put her into the wading pool. I was playing with some friends and when I went back to get her she was gone. In a few weeks mom was digging in the garden bu the gazebo and mom saw something moving in the dirt. It was Spring. we caught her and took her inside to the tank. I taught her toads tricks.

And then it ends right there. But the end of the story that is unwritten is sad. I was so attached to these first animals I had ever caught that I didn't want to let them go. But I also seemed to forget to feed and water them. One day I found Toady dead in the bottom of the tank. It broke my heart but I still refused to release the other one. A few days later she was gone too. I felt so guilty. To this day I still am. I still catch toads and many other little creatures but I always take good care of them. I learned my lesson and I am proud to say not one has died in my care since then.

Play Modern

Yesterday I was on my google reader looking at the staff pick blogs including "Design Milk", and as soon as I saw this post I was like "Wha...wait a minute!? I know that name!"
http://design-milk.com/modern-playhouses-by-play-modern/

The Hales are our good friends from church. Play Modern is their little (but not so much) business and I really haven't seen much of it except when they were finishing some boards in their back yard a couple months ago. This was the first time I have seen them put together. I just thought it was funny that I somehow happened to come across this and completely out of the blue too.

Into the Archives 36~Halloween 2008

 11/3/2011

I guess I probably should have done this one last week before Halloween but what ever. Post occasion works. I don't have anything from this year anyway.

This was Halloween 2008. We were at our friends, the Anderson's, house. We have been going to their house for various holidays my whole life. It used to be Easter and Thanksgiving but in the last few years it has mostly been just Halloween. Anyway after trick-or-treating Leslie got out a gingerbread house kit especially for the occasion. We used plenty of our candy to decorate it.

But my favorite part of the picture is this:

Bonus! My nutty brothers showing off the house: