Family Life, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Why I only support marriage between man and women

March 27, 2013 Hubbard's Cupboard 2 Comments

I claim full responsibility for this post. These are my beliefs. I do not speak behalf of anyone else or any organization.

Where do you draw the line between church and state? Was America founded by the hand of God and His laws? If so, what are His laws? Are there a universal defined morals that can not be changed? I’ve heard a lot of your beliefs and debates. Here is my beliefs (you don’t have to read if you don’t want to… it’s very religious and it most likely be different than yours):

I don’t believe this is an issue on equality rather an issue of is there a God? I believe there is a God and He has defined laws/morals. I believe that God’s laws will always be decided by God Himself and cannot be changed by majority vote or democracy. Just like I believe that God has said sex before marriage is immoral and adultery is immoral. I believe that a relationship between two same-genders is defined by God as immoral. I believe that by allowing same-gender marriage is similar to if we all voted in the right for us to run red lights, to steal or to murder. I believe that as a nation will have to face the consequences of what ever laws are put in place whether those consequences are good or bad. I believe that when we obey God’s laws we are blessed and when we don’t we eventually have to face negative consequences. It may seem unfair that God doesn’t want same-gender relationships but it’s may also seem unfair to people who want to have sex before marriage or people who want to have multiple partners or people who want to steal to get things for free. I believe that these acts all the equivalent in God’s eyes but the good news is that God has the power to help us overcome our temptations to sin. We can also repent for the mistakes we make. I also believe that it’s easier to avoid sins rather than repair sins.

I believe that ideally children should be born to a mother and a father who are married. Now, because the world is not perfect, I believe that the government should have laws that support traditional family values and help families that do not have both a mother and a father for the betterment of our society.

This is why I believe that marriage should only be between a man and a women. I believe that our government laws should uphold good moral principles that are established by God himself.

I also believe that God has given us a choice to choose for ourselves what to believe and how we want to live our lives. He can only give us guidelines. He can never force us to believe what He wants us to. I believe that God loves everyone and He will allow us to make choices for ourselves even if those choices are not aligned to His will.

So weather or not the supreme court decides on Prop 8 is now up to the supreme court. The voice of the people have already spoken and the issue is equally divided even within different religious congregations. I will accept what the supreme court chooses but I won’t change my beliefs. Everyone can and will continue to live their lives the way they want.

I believe the future is as bright as I can make it be. The best thing I can do is live by what I believe. Our society needs to work together to love, to vote and to compromise because all our individual choices will affect the future of our world.

It always brings me peace to know that no matter what happens God will be the final judge and everything will turn out the way He wants it to.

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If you want to know what the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes on this topic you can look on their website:

http://www.lds.org/topics/same-gender-attraction?lang=eng

http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/church-responds-to-same-sex-marriage-votes

http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/church-mormon-responds-to-human-rights-campaign-petition-same-sex-attraction

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Feel free to express your beliefs, opinions and comments. Please keep it nice and kind.

Family, Family Life, Ireland, Landscape, Photography, Travel

Glendalough

March 23, 2013 Hubbard's Cupboard 1 Comment

Lough (pronounced lock) in Irish means “lake”. This is such a pretty tourist site. We picked the perfect day to go see this area. It was partly cloudy and around 45 degrees f (~8 degrees c) that day. We toured the cemetery and the old watch tower. I was surprised to see real mountains in Ireland! It reminded me a lot like Utah. The hike is easy half mile to the first lake and then one mile to the second lake. Glen in Irish means the number two so Glendalough means “of the two lakes”.

I’m not much of a landscape photographer but Dallin really likes scenic photography so I decided to give it a try.

Here are pictures of the cemetery:

Ireland, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Travel

Irish Mormon

March 19, 2013 Hubbard's Cupboard Leave a comment

I thought this was really cool when this video popped up on my Facebook feed. This guy was at my branch a couple of weeks ago and his son spoke at our church that week. This video really highlights what Ireland looks light. You can see how green it is here! It also has some clips of the Dublin city. His wife is also in the movie and she is not a Mormon. I feel connected to this movie since I’m here in Ireland right now! 🙂 Enjoy.

Ireland, Travel

Things I wish were in Utah

March 7, 2013 Hubbard's Cupboard Leave a comment

European Chocolate – Chocolate is better here.

Fresh Baguettes – These things dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar are sooo good!

Irish Cows – Milk, Cheese & Yogurt… I wish I could take a cow home with me. The cows here have a lot of grass to eat while the cows in the US are fed corn. So that’s why I think cows make better dairy products here.

Tea Time – Since we don’t drink tea or coffee, we need to implement hot chocolate time when we get home. We can even have hot coco with biscuits aka cookies.

European Pastries – There’s a pastry shop just down the street!

UK Fish and Chips – They are famous and now I know why. They serve everything with chips here… even Chinese food!

Irish Pork Sausage – Nothing like I’ve ever tasted 🙂

Metric System – It makes more sense to me now.

More Irish People – They are the most friendly people I’ve ever met.

Irish B&B with Full Irish Breakfast – The bed and breakfasts here are way fun! They always serve you a full Irish breakfast…. just don’t ask what pudding is made out of.

Ireland, Travel

Things I wish were in Ireland

March 7, 2013 Hubbard's Cupboard Leave a comment

Hidden Valley Ranch – One of my good friends spend over $20 sending me some ranch packets. I’ve been savoring them. I don’t think they’ll last me much longer.

Cafe Rio – Enough said… They don’t even sell fresh tomatillos in Ireland!

Mexican Food – The Mexican food isle at the store is small and I haven’t seen a Mexican restaurant in town.

Scott Jarvie – I wish I had my favorite photographer to take professional pictures of us in Ireland. 🙂

Gym with Childcare – No such thing as Gold’s Gym or 24 Hour Fitness here.

Distribution Center or Deseret Book – It was so convient to pick up gospel material when I needed it. We still need a picture of Jesus and the Temple at our apartment. I just need to order it online. Those blue copies of the Book of Mormon are precious in Ireland.

Costco or Sam’s Club – Since when is buying in bulk MORE expensive? It’s cheaper to by the 1 kg rice verse the 2 kg rice here. 😦

My Kitchen Aid – Cooking just hasn’t been the same without it.

Sun – Oh Mister sun, sun Mister golden sun please shine down on me!

Egg Nog (Dallin’s Request) – We celebrated our new years without Egg Nog this year.

Temple – Haven’t been to the temple since we left Utah! I miss just seeing the temple.

Child #1: Micah, Children, Family Life, Parenting, Photography, Toddlers

Happy 18 Months Micah!

March 4, 2013 Hubbard's Cupboard Leave a comment

I can’t believe Micah is now 18 months. Woot! He is old enough to go to Nursery at church now. How exciting! Now we just need a bunch of nursery aged kids to move into the branch so there can actually be a nursery. 🙂

At 18 months Micah likes:

Lasagna, Ham Fried Rice, Pesto, Eggs, Sandwiches and Cold Cereal (He could live off of cereal)
European Chocolate, Ice Cream, and Cheesecake
Push Cars, Buggies and Trolleys (aka Shopping Cart in the USA)
Knock on doors on our street like a missionary
Chasing the seagulls and pigeons
Go down the slide and be on the swing
Conduct music in church and FHE
Ipad (he’s a little obsessed)
Gigglebellies and Other YouTube videos
To read books (sometimes we have to read all his books before he goes to bed)
To pray!

Micah can say:

In English: Mama, Dad, Ball, Car, Dog, Baby, Whee!, No, Oh oh, Temple, Jesus, Ipad, Moo, Quack Quack, Oink Oink
In Portuguese: Agua, Orar, Pexies

Micah can sign:

Milk, Airplane, Teddy, Bus, Pray, Book, Spider, Telephone, Hello/Bye, “Yay!”
Itsy Bitsy Spider
Wheels on the Bus
Popcorn Popping
Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam
Patty Cake
Hop you Bunnies
Do you Ears Hang Low
This Little Piggy
Head Shoulders Knees and Toes
When You’re Happy and You Know It

Micah can point out:

Bellybutton, Ears, Nose, Head, Shoulder, Knee, Fingers (he thinks his fingers bunnies), Toes (he thinks his toes are piggies)

Micah can follow instructions:

Set the table
Put groceries in the fridge
Find his shoes, socks, and jacket
Put laundry in the washer
Put something in the trash
Go wash your hands
Go to the potty
Go brush your teeth (He loves brushing his teeth!)
Clean up
Blow on the food, it’s hot
It’s time to say “Bye Bye”
It’s “Night Night” time

Micah can answer:

Are you hungry?
Do you want some juice?
Are you tired?
Do you want to take a bath? (In Chinese)
Do you want some milk? (In Chinese)

Here is are the pictures I took of at 18 months photo shoot. I’m very please by how these pictures turned out!

Family, Family Life, Ireland, Landscape, Photography, Travel

Bray Ireland Pictures

March 1, 2013 Hubbard's Cupboard Leave a comment

Here’s some random pictures on our weekend adventures to the city Bray outside the border of Dublin. It was a really really cold day! In fact, it snowed right after we took these pictures. That’s why we all look like eskimos because we wore four layers of clothes that day. We actually starting walking from Dun Laoghaire to Dalkey. Then took the train called the Dart to Bray.

There are a bunch of Catholic churches here so we stopped by when they were having their mass on Saturday.

I thought these washing basins are similar to the ones in King Soloman’s Tabernacle. Way cool!

The architecture of the churches are so neat! I can’t believe how old they are.

Ireland, Travel

New Grange and Four Knocks Tombs

February 28, 2013 Hubbard's Cupboard 1 Comment

This post is more about New Grange. New Grange is a very old tomb. It was predicted to be build back in 3200 BC! I won’t go into much detail about New Grange because you can just read the wiki on New Grange.

Now for the adventure to Four Knocks… you have to go ask Mrs. White who lives in a white house next to the tiny village of Four Knocks. Her number is +353 (0) 1 8354722. This is Mrs. White’s House:

You give her some money for the key. The money is only a deposit. You’ll get it back if you return the key to her before 6 pm.

She’ll give you the instructions on how to get to Four Knocks Tomb.

Here’s the Four Knocks Tomb on the left:

Here’s the door of the tomb:

Here’s some facts about the Four Knocks Tomb:

Here’s inside the tomb:

If you want to see more you’re just going to have to go for yourself cause we didn’t get very many pictures. We were a little creeped out and we didn’t bring a flash light!

Here’s some fun pictures we took outside the tomb:

Happy tomb finding! 🙂

Main Dishes, Recipe

Making Menus… Yikes!

February 25, 2013 Hubbard's Cupboard Leave a comment

Sorry for the absence. We’ve been traveling on the weekends and we were a little “under the weather” for a week or so.

I never thought I’d do it but I’ve started making weekly menus. With the high food prices in Ireland and not having a car… I need to make menus. I’ve actually kinda liked it. It’s really hard for me to sit down every Monday to figure out the entire week’s menu but it’s worth the time. It’s nice to have the rest of the week planned and not have to think about what to make or running to the store for last minute ingredients.

Old Tactic: Run to the store, buy stuff that’s on sale/clearance, stock our fridge… then make up recipes with the food I bought. This worked fine. I’m pretty good at making stuff up on the spot. I only bought the essentials so I didn’t spend that much money. It worked well in Utah because I could buy stuff in bulk. That doesn’t work here! Sometimes buying bulk here means it’s more expensive… crazy huh?

New Tactic: Make a weekly menu on Monday, figure out what I don’t have, make a shopping list, go to the store twice a week (I can only carry little amounts home), and then make recipes on my menu.

It’s been really fun. It’s saves us money and we don’t waste so much food. We’ve been eating healthy. I think I’ll stick with it even when I get back to Utah.

So here’s what has been cooking in Mother Hubbard’s kitchen:

California Rolls