Mormon Questions: Book of Mormon Musical

I've started off every post of this series talking about how hilarious I think it is to be asked these questions about Mormonism. So why stop now, right? (But really and truly, being asked about Mormonism has never been offensive, only varying degrees of amusing. Keep on asking away!) Every time someone asks me if I've seen the Book of Mormon Musical I can't help but think they are joking. Except they never are. They're always asking in order to ask the follow-up question: What did you think of it? The problem is, I've never seen it! Or ever wanted to see it, or ever known another Mormon who has seen it. So. . .

We watch musicals, just not ones that make fun of our religion. You understand, don't you?

The thing is, I already know about Mormons. . . I am one. And I don't really care to watch several hours of Broadway that make fun of not only my beloved religion but all organized religion in general. If you have more specific questions about the musical then maybe I could address those? Like, post a comment or something? e.g. someone once asked me in the subway if we really believe that Joseph Smith pulled gold plates out of the ground and translated them into the Book of Mormon. Yes, we do. You can read more of what I believe about Joseph Smith in a past post.

If all you really wanted to know is how I feel about a Tony-winning musical making fun of my religion, then I can say most of what I feel is eh with *shoulder shrug*. Haters gonna hate. Though I do know some people who take offense. You can read my friend's response to the musical on her blog Valpo Studio (I don't think she's seen it either).

The official statement released in response to the musical by my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is only one sentence:

The production may attempt to entertain audiences for an evening, but the Book of Mormon as a volume of scripture will change people's lives forever by bringing them closer to Christ.

Word.

Other posts from my Mormon Questions series:
Do you practice polygamy? // Do you really believe Joseph Smith was a prophet? // I don't understand all this Mormon jargon. // Do you have special underwear? // Why do Mormons get married so young?

Baby Love

My little sister, Alexa, truly is a godsend to my money-poor, photography-loving self. She has a natural talent  that cannot be denied and that I will wake up at 5 a.m. to sneak into an orchard and take pictures. Bless her talented heart.

These were all taken on a nice DSLR camera and then edited on my phone because I'm swag like that. Or because Photoshop is now a subscription service that I can't/won't pay for. Can anyone recommend a good, intuitive editing app for Mac?

Him and Her: Top 3 New York Experience

Let it be said, Carter and I did not waste any time in New York City this summer. We hit pavement almost everyday exploring the sights and generally being annoying tourist who like to act like New Yorkers. Carter has high hopes that we'll live here again in the future and after a truly spectacular summer I think I can see it.

Him

1. Bronx Zoo - Carter and I crowned the Bronx Zoo as THE ZOO OF ZOOS after we spent one afternoon killing ourselves se we could see every. single. animal. We failed, alas, because this zoo happens to also be the largest zoo in America, but we did see more animal activity and gorillas than we ever have. The gorillas, man. The gorillas are where it's at.
2. Natural History Museum - Not only is this the museum where we first learned about the mantis shrimp and saw a giant squid, but also Carter had every boyhood dream fulfilled in the dinosaur exhibits. 
3. Financial District - Walking to work as the sun hit the financial district was Carter's greatest daily joy. He also loved working at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York where he worked with people who have and still do influence financial policy. 

Her

1. Shakespeare in the Park - I skeptically waited in line for a couple of hours for free tickets but even though I don't consider myself a "shakespeare person" and there was a torrential downpour during the second act, I triple-L loved it. Shakespearian actors are a league of their own and these particular actors were obviously the best. 
2. Central Park - It's big, it's beautiful, and the north woods remind me of western Oregon. It's worth it to spend at least a few hours, if not a full day enjoying the park.
3. 9/11 museum - New York has no shortage of world-class museums, so the fact that I chose this one as my favorite should speak volumes to it's quality. I loved that they choose to make the final message of the museum one of hope and endurance. Democracy and freedom can't be crushed by the will of a few violent men.

Aaaaaand just for fun a one-week to-do list for NYC (that you'll never be able to do in one-week):

Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4
Statue of Liberty (reserve tickets in advance to enter the statue) Ellis Island	Wall Street NY Stock Exchange Federal Reserve Gold Tour 9/11 memorial and museum (free tickets Tuesday after 4:30)	American Museum of Natural History Bronx Zoo (free on Wed)	Brooklyn Bridge Brooklyn Bridge Park Juliana's Pizza High Line Walking Tour

Day 5	Day 6	Day 7
MoMA (free entry Fridays after 5) Grand Central Station Tour New York Public Library St. Patrick's Cathedral Top of the Rock Times Square	Metropolitan Museum of Art The Cloister's Museum and Gardens	Central Park (Bethesda Fountain and Conservatory Garden) Riverside Church Riverside Park (go at dusk) Abyssinian Baptist Church Visitor’s Service (11am on Sun)

Landon Family 2014

We're united again after 18 months but mostly it just feels like nothing has changed! They will be changing very, very soon though. Primarily, in the form of a melon-sized fetus. We are all weirded out by the size of my belly and excited for this baby's arrival. I'm feeling increasingly anxious about caring for a baby. Everything is perfect right now; am I ready to let a baby alter everything? I don't know but I also don't know that there is anything I can do at this point. He's coming whether I'm ready or not!

New York! New York!

The best part about living in New York is having so many strangers tell me congratulations and offering up their subway seats to me! There's no better way to make this pregnant lady happy. The housekeepers in my building are especially hilarious. They always call me mama in their heavy Mexican accents, "Rest, mama, it's too hot" or "Mama, take it easy." It quickly became obvious that they don't speak very much English.

"Where you from?"
"My mom is from Korea."
"Where you having the baby?"
"I'm going back to Utah."
"Oh, not going back to Korea? You have the baby in New York,  it will be a citizen."
"Well, I'm having the baby in Utah so he will be a citizen...and I'm a citizen."
"Have baby in New York. It will be citizen."
"...Ok."

That conversation is, in a lot of ways, representative of life in NY, in that the range in the human experience is overwhelming.  I'm here relaxing in New York for the summer while these ladies work menial jobs, only wishing for their children to be citizens. And don't even get me started on homelessness.

Despite my earlier reluctance to move here, I love New York, too. Did you know 1 in 50 people in the U.S. live in New York City? Apparently, it can't be helped! It's a disease and I've caught the bug. We live in the Upper West Side right next to Central Park. It's practically a dream come true! I'm talking, long strolls in the park at firefly dusk and mid-morning breakfast picnics. Soooo dreamy.

So in short, Carter and I would be happy to come back to New York for a couple of years but we have other considerations that might get in the way of that. Ultimately, our future family and Carter's career are our priorities. We're not sure right now what that means for our next couple years but we've called upon the oracle of Delphi and we are waiting for the response. I guess, let you know when we get it?

p.s. Those pictures were actually taken a month ago. Right now I'm at 30 weeks!

Mormon Questions: Polygamy

A pregnant lady and her boo hitting up the sites in Washington D.C!

All the time when I tell people that I'm married and Mormon they follow up by asking - very politely - how many wives my husband has. LOL. I get it, it's a unique cultural heritage and Big Love is a popular television show. I explain that I am and will continue to be Carter's ONLY wife.

Polygamy was practiced by my church over a hundred years ago. In the late 1800s polygamy was outlawed in the United States and, in accordance with the new laws, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stop practicing polygamy as well in 1890. There are still polygamous groups of people in Southern Utah and Nevada who may call themselves 'fundamentalist mormons' but these groups are not affiliated with my church. In fact, any person currently practicing polygamy cannot become or remain a member of our church. So in short, no polygamists here.

So - as I imagine some people might want to ask - how can I belong to and believe in a church that used to practice polygamy, even if it was a long time ago? It's a valid question and one I've even wondered myself. After some thought, the answer comes down to the fact that I faith that God commanded it and it was necessary and important at the time. Having faith doesn't mean having all the answers, it just means that I choose to believe despite questions that I can't answer.

Both the Bible and the Book of Mormon teach that marriage of one man to one woman is God's standard, except when God has commanded otherwise, as in the case of Abraham, Jacob, and some of the early Mormons. Somewhere between 25 and 50 percent of the Mormon population (including children) lived in polygamous households. All polygamous relationships had to be approved by church authorities. Women and men were free to choose whether to enter polygamous or monogamous relationships, or none at all. Those who practiced polygamy did so because they believed that they were following a commandment from God and obedience to His commandments would bring blessings. I don't know the particular reasons God asked His people to practice polygamy but the Book of Mormon identifies at least one explanation in Jacob 2:30, "to raise up seed unto [the Lord]" or to increase the number of children born into the gospel. Today, we honor the sacrifices made by these early saints but do not practice polygamy ourselves. If you are further interested in this topic I would recommend this in-depth article written by my church.

In a last interesting note, I am descended from polygamists on my dad's side. One of my ancestors, Edwin Rushton, had three wives married in 1842, 1857, and 1862. He had children with each of his wives for a total of 21 children, though many of them never survived past childhood. I am descended from the third wife. In 1887 he was prosecuted by the United States Government for polygamy and elected to serve a four month prison term rather than renounce his wives and children.

Some Thoughts

On hair...

I'm the type of person who is very emotionally attached to their hair. I usually follow trims up with a cry, but last week I cut off more than eight inches and I loved it! No regret at all.

On driving in Utah...

I never really thought about road rage until I moved to and started driving around Utah. I used to think it was just a stereotype that Utah drivers are crazy but as it turns out,  it is 100% true. At any given intersection you can be sure that at least two cars will run the red light. It's also the only state where I can reliably drive 5 mph over the speed limit and still be the slowest one on the road. And signaling? People only signal in Utah after they are already entering your lane, like it or not. I eventually realized that people in Utah are just used to driving like this. They don't realize they are being unsafe or rude. If I got upset over everything I thought other drivers were doing wrong, I would develop full blown road rage. In fact, I'm certain I was developing road rage because suddenly I felt like cutting rude drivers off and driving slow when someone rode my bumper. I'm learning to let go and move on.

On diets and fad foods...

I watched Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead on Netflix and while I was enthused and amazed and inspired, as a true believer in science, I'd like to tell everyone that a juice-only diet or 'juice-detox' is not necessarily healthy. Sure vegetable juice is healthier that a Mickey D's but fat and fiber are an essential part of diet, none of which you can get from juice. In fact, omitting fat and fiber causes the sugar in your juice to be absorbed into the blood stream too quickly, spiking blood sugar and thereby increasing your rick of diabetes.

On living in New York...

I'm slowly feeling more and more like I'll love living in Manhattan, partially because of my Aunt's New York tour book and partially because of prayer. I guess that's the beauty of putting things in God's hands. You end up loving things you never thought you would love and doing things you never thought you would do.

On Blackfish...

I watched the documentary and was horrified. Whether or not anyone values animal life, everyone should be repulsed by how obviously little Seaworld values human life. I could not believe the cover-ups highlighted in Blackfish. Instead of being candid with the trainers about the danger they were in and developing effective emergency protocols, they refused to acknowledge the orca were responsible at all! Totally sickening.

On doctors and dentist...

I'm dying young and letting my teeth fall out. On the whole, going to doctors and dentist has been throughly not worth the medical bills. Sorry Carter.

On pregnancy...

I'm almost 20 weeks and will very soon find out the gender of this child. Carter and I already love this baby more that we ever knew would could love a fetus. Little fetus, I'm going to the gym and eating vegetables for breakfast just for you!

Body Image

a Las Vegas vacation

It's true that Carter always tells me I am the perfect size. I don't believe him. He tells me I don't need to lose any weight and I still don't believe him. At first, I thought he was lying to keep me happy. When he convinced me that, in fact, he really believes it, I thought, "How can he not see what I see?" Cognitively, I know overall health should be the goal rather than losing weight; I even strive for it by exercising and eating moderately. And yet, I don't really believe it.

I never thought I had body image issues until I married Carter. I thought I was normal. I mean, I wasn't extreme dieting or throwing up in bathroom. Ultimately, the problem is that I am normal. When I think about where this 'normal' mode of thinking came from, I think about the girl in high school who only drank water at lunch to lose a few pounds, the middle school acquaintance mentioning that she liked lying on her back because it flattens her stomach, or the college neighbor who said all her problems would go away if she were skinny. Of course none of those girls were overweight, in fact they all looked just like me. Cue internalization.

People like to blame body image issues on Photoshop and Barbie but I played with and stopped playing with Barbie long before I thought about what I looked like. For all I knew she looked just like me. I didn't even realize people could visually tell I was a different race until middle school. And I started feeling fat long before Photoshop and the Internet were a thing. I think the fact I have several explicit memories of girls I knew talking about their body speaks volumes as to how society really perpetuates body image issues. Reading this letter to a mother about body image helped me understand it even more.

And so I guess this is a call to all girls to change, if not the way we think about our bodies, then the way we talk about our bodies. If all mothers and sisters and friends talked about the things they liked about their bodies instead of the things they didn't like, we could change an entire generation. Of all the things I want to give my baby, a healthy body image is a definite priority.

poolside, Las Vegas