Also posted at feministmormonhousewives.org

When Lisa was here last week, we were chatting briefly about the new Supreme Court Justice, Sonia Sotomayor and she suggested that I need a t-shirt that says "Wise Latina" because I am the resident Latina on fMh and (she thinks) I'm wise.

I was surprised and thrilled when, a few hours later, I flipped over my current issue of Latina magazine and found this image staring back at me.

I'm totally buying this in hopes that one day I can live up to its words.

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I'd like to take a minute as a half-brown woman to share with the world how great I think it is to have a bona-fide brown woman sitting on the Supreme Court of the United States.

My grandmother, mother, aunts and cousins all Latin immigrants; Mexican, Cuban, Spanish, came here seeking a better life and though they never made it to positions as high as Ms. Sotomayor, they paved the way for me and my cousins to aspire to greatness. I am the first in my line to receive a college education and my cousin BJ the first in hers.

It wasn't easy for either of us. We came up poor and without the social /cultural expectations and/ or emotional and financial support needed to get us through University. Both of us on the receiving end of ugly words and deeds directed at us personally, directed at our families and directed at our people.

But somehow, despite the hardships, we pressed on.

And one day, hopefully, my daughter, who is brown, yellow and white, and BJ's children, who are brown, black and white, will not ever know what a big deal it is to be the first [insert gender/color here] to achieve [insert high ranking title here].

I hope that when they are 35, they will only know of a time when women, gays, blacks, yellow, reds and browns were considered less than equal to white men as an event only existing in the history books.

Beauty

Many things are beautiful to me.

Today, it's carrots.

I love the feeling of pulling the root out of the soggy ground; mud squishing between my fingers as I tug the top of the plant. It a surprise each time because every carrot has its own unique shape. Some long and straight, others short with multiple carrots growing from one base.

All of them tasty when roasted with olive oil, garlic and rosemary.


This is my first official harvest of carrots

just for kicks, here's a partial view of the Superfund site:



...and the finished product! another beautiful thing to see.


everything but the chicken came from the back.

Sunday at Mueller Park

Look! We got a new camera.

Now I have proof that I don't spend all day everyday tuned into fMh or Facebook.
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As I've been looking over the many years of pictures, it's obvious to me that n and I are the "couple that does stuff", but not in the adorably cute couple, Les and Christy, kind of way. More like the hey, I need a riding buddy and your proximity makes it convenient, kind of way. (Remember the proximity friend?)

I was trained to believe that couples are supposed to get over each other and activ-a-tate apart after they’ve been married a few years-- but not us. We seem to get more active as we age and I'm not talking about the occasional camping trip or weekly visit to COSTCO. We play hard together and do it often.

This is a *good thing because we get to, hopefully, keep having fun and continue to find interest with each other as the years pass.

It also means that when he wises up and leaves me for some peace and tranquility, he'll not have his built in proximity buddy to do stuff with and end up coming home.

So here are some pics of our most recent outing. I only wish we had bought the camera on Saturday when we rode the Big Water trail at the top of Millcreek Canyon—that’s one gorgeous trail full of fir and aspen trees with a lake at the top of the climb.

These are of Mueller Park Canyon in Bountiful. It’s less than 10 miles from the house to the trail head, and though it aint no Millcreek, it’s a decent climb and fun descent and we can take Mr. Pink along.


it's a long way to the top when you only have four legs.


no, i'm not pregnant!





my hunny is hawt! i think i got the better end of the deal.

*If you don't count all the times I’m “moody” or “irritable” ( if you’re married to a woman you know that's those are code words for bitchy)